Principles Of War

Principles Of War

CHANCELLORSVILLE INSTRUCTOR NOTES

In this lesson, your students have been provided a case study of the battle of Chancellorsville, which occurred during the American Civil War. (May 2-5 1863).   The Cadet text has been broken down in sections, but generally following the progression of the battle.   Each section is preceded by a short explanation of the POW that is best illustrated by that piece of the battle.   However, different POWs can be applied throughout. This class is intended to allow the instructor to describe the battle, and to lead discussion on how to best utilize the POW in analysis of a battle, and emphasize the importance of implementing these principles in all future missions. These instructor notes are designed to give the instructor enough information to build his/her own lesson plan.   Since the Cadets will have already received a class on the Principles of War in their MS II year, the POW definitions are meant as only a review, and the majority of the time in this class should be spent on the Chancellorsville case study.

The instructor can conduct the class in several ways:   he/she may lead the discussion of the battle, or can allow specified cadets to discuss assigned portions of the class.   Also, you can lead in with the particular principle of war, and follow it with the historical example, or visa versa.   The instructor is encouraged to utilize the discussion questions and allow the cadets to explore why a certain application or disregard for a particular POW resulted in success or failure.   The instructor is also not limited to those discussion questions listed.   Due to the nature of the POWs, the instructor is encouraged to expound on the insights given, or create additional/alternate discussion questions.

It must be emphasized that the POWs are not a recipe for success or failure, but a set of tools that not only can be used to analyze any battle throughout history, but are also the bedrock of our doctrine, and should always be...