Blitzkrieg and the Russian art of war moves beyond discussions of 'hybrid' warfare to offer a broad account of contemporary Russian thinking on war. Exploring key concepts in Russian military thinking, it contributes to the debate about Russia's role in international affairs and the challenge the country poses to the international order. -- .
'A compelling, sophisticated guide to Russian ways of war.'
>'Monaghan takes his deep knowledge and intellectual firepower to decades of half-truths and buzzwords.'
>'Every officer in every NATO member state should read this.'
>Russian strategy in the twenty-first century has been described in terms of 'hybrid' warfare, an approach characterised by measures short of war, such as cyberattacks and disinformation campaigns. But as the invasion of Ukraine has brutally demonstrated, conventional armed violence remains a key element of Russian power.
In Blitzkrieg and the Russian art of war, Andrew Monaghan offers a high-level view of Russian thinking about warfare. Drawing on extensive Russian sources, he addresses important questions that have been overlooked by most Western commentators: what is the military leadership's distinctive idea of twenty-first-century blitzkrieg? How does it understand holistic territorial defence? How does it manage the shifting balance between offence and defence?
Introducing key concepts from Russian military thinking, Blitzkrieg and the Russian art of war is a crucial resource for understanding Russia's resurgent role on the global stage and the devastating threat the country poses to the international order.
Andrew Monaghan is Director of AM Leadmark Research Ltd. He is a Global Fellow at the Wilson Center's Kennan Institute in Washington, D.C., a Senior Associate Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute in London and a Senior Associate Fellow at the NATO Defense College in Rome.