Blitzkrieg and the Russian Art of War (Russian Strategy and Power)

Description

A cutting-edge study of Russia's military capabilities.

Russian strategy in the twenty-first century has often been framed in terms of 'hybridity', an approach characterised by interference in domestic politics through cyber warfare and disinformation campaigns. But as the invasion of Ukraine has brutally demonstrated, conventional armed violence remains a central element of Russian power.

Moving beyond the concept of hybridity, this book looks more broadly at Russian thinking about warfare. Drawing directly on Russian sources, it addresses questions that have been overlooked in the existing Euro-Atlantic literature: 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 offensive and defensive?

Exploring key concepts and terms used in Russian military thinking and action, Blitzkrieg and the art of Russian war contributes to the active debate about Russia's resurgent role in international affairs and the major challenge the country poses to international order.