War Termination: Do Planning Principles Change With the Nature of the War

Abstract : Despite the volumes of research and literature on the subject, belligerents mismanage war termination. The United States had more than its share of poorly terminated conflicts. This paper discusses answers to a three part question concerning war termination: do war termination principles differ with the nature of the war, if so, should operational commanders discriminate between conflict termination principles when exercising operational art, and is joint doctrine sufficient in providing guidance for conflict termination? Classical theory of war termination and lessons learned from previous U.S. military operations indicate that principles of conflict termination do not differ with the nature of the war. Although the nature of the war drives the operational design that causes conflict termination, the operational commander can apply war termination principles to all types of war. Joint doctrine, specifically Joint Pub 3-0, is more than adequate in offering planning guidance to the joint force commander. Joint doctrine has incorporated lessons from past operations and conflict termination theory to provide thorough planning guidance.