Naval War College

So Whose Sword Is This Anyway? Applying the Three Levels of War to Conflict Term Naval War College

Joint Doctrine discusses three levels of war but fails to apply this concept to enemy surrender (conflict termination). The three levels of war correlate to a framework of three different levels of surrender; tactical, operational, and strategic surrender. The Operational Commander can use this framework to differentiate between three significantly different situations and respond appropriately. Wars throughout history have ended in both operational and strategic surrenders. Wars that end in an operational surrender must be converted to a strategic surrender. Otherwise, as history shows, failure to do so seriously jeopardizes the hard-won peace.