Page 203 - Le Operazioni Interforze e Multinazionali nella Storia Militare - ACTA Tomo I

203
ActA
The strategy of Brazil on the Cisplatine war (1825-1828)

Sergio Paulo MUnIZ COSTA

1 – Introduction

a. The central role of strategy
n the twentieth century there were large-scale military operations that integrated
I substantial land, naval and air forces, of which the most famous are the Operation
Overlord, the Allied landings in Normandy in June 1944, and the North American am-
phibious operations in the Pacific during World War II. Since then, became increasingly
1
present in the planning of defense the employment of joint forces of a country and, due
2
the growing importance of military alliances and coalitions, of combined forces , pre-
3
sently merged on NATO’s concept of joint and combined operations .
However, such military operations have considerable history. In 480 BC, the heroic
defense of Thermopylae was the most notable episode of a combined and joint operation
of the Greek city-states against the Persian invasion by Xerxes. The Leonidas 8,000 men
had the well-defined mission of defending simultaneously on land while an allied naval
force moved against the channel of Euboea. This integrated operation implemented
the operational strategy of the defense project of Greek independence decided in Pan-
Hellenic Congress gathered on the Isthmus of Corinth. In the more comprehensive
framework of Persian War (481-479), Emperor Xerxes (485-465) extended his strategic
action to the central Mediterranean, joining an alliance with the Carthaginians against
the Greeks on Sicily and Italy . The episode shows the degree of sophistication in the
4
strategic thinking in ancient times.
In the late Antiquity, in the context of the disintegration of the Roman Empire, the
Vandal Genseric established an alliance with Attila, the Hun, that forced the Byzantine
Emperor Theodosius “to abandon his attack’s project against Genserico” (Fuller, 1980, p.
144) in North Africa. Much later, in the Central Middle Ages, already partly restored the
military expression of state power, John Lackland, King of England, achieved political
survival due the success at Damme (May 31, 1213) dispersing the French fleet gathered
there by Philip Augustus “to invade Britain and end completely in his own house the
detested Plantagenets” (AMEAL, 1964, p. 308).

1 “Joint Force - force composed of elements of two or more branches of the armed forces.” (AAP-6, 2010:
2-J-1) op. cit (SILVA, 2011, p. ix The A-2)
2 “Combined Force - force composed of elements of two or more countries. “(AAP-6, 2010: 2-C-9) op.
cit. Ibid.
3 “Operations conducted by forces of two or more countries, with the participation of elements of at least
two branches of the armed forces” (AAP-6, 2010 - 2-I-8). Op.cit. Ibid.
4 Salamine et Platée (FULLER, 1980, p. 37)