Soviet revolutionary strategy

• Lenin, and after him Stalin, exploited the idea of crises and vanguards—that arise out of Marxian contradictions within capitalism—to lay out Soviet revolutionary strategy.

• Result:

– A scheme that emphasizes moral/psychological factors as basis to destroy a regime from within.

Lightning war (Blitzkrieg)

• Infiltration tactics of 1918 were mated with:

• Result:

– Blitzkrieg, to generate a breakthrough by piercing a region with multiple narrow thrusts using armor, motorized infantry, and follow-up infantry divisions supported by tactical aircraft.

Guerrilla war

• Mao Tse-Tung synthesized Sun Tzu’s ideas, classic guerrilla strategy and tactics, and Napoleonic style mobile operations under an umbrella of Soviet revolutionary ideas to create a powerful way for waging modern (guerrilla) war.

• Result:

– Modern guerrilla warfare has become an overall political, economic, social, and military framework for “total war”.