131. "Let them make SOUP:" The Essential Ingredients of Euro-American Grand Strategy and the Amerindian Conquest
- Author:
- Tony Mullis
- Publication Date:
- 06-2011
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Journal of Military and Strategic Studies
- Institution:
- Centre for Military, Security and Strategic Studies
- Abstract:
- Grand strategy is a nebulous concept. It is virtually impossible to define the term in a meaningful and unequivocal manner. Some even doubt that it actually exists. Others acknowledge its existence, but avoid authoritative definitions because of the notion's elasticity. Grand strategy is somewhat akin to Carl von Clausewitz's idea of the culminating point. The concept makes sense in hindsight, but it is extremely difficult to identify when one is engaged in battle or in warfare. Grand strategy offers a similar dilemma. Because it consists of both physical and metaphysical components, grand strategy, much like Clausewitz's use of the paradoxical trinity to describe war, defies a simple, straightforward definition. Nonetheless, historians have a distinct advantage when trying to determine the components and forces that contributed to what can be described as grand strategy. This historical perspective is particularly useful when assessing sweeping paradigmatic changes involving multiple actors and dissimilar cultures over hundreds of years of interaction. The Roman and British Empires, for example, offer many opportunities to dissect the essential ingredients of imperial strategy. The persistent conflict between Amerindians and European and later American peoples provides another opportunity to break down the critical parts of a grand strategy. From first contact in the late fifteenth century to the tragedy of Wounded Knee in 1890, it is possible to distinguish the key elements of a grand strategy that guided Europeans and Americans, either consciously or subconsciously, in their conquest of the western hemisphere.
- Political Geography:
- Europe