Sextus: You can break a man's skull. You can arrest him. You can throw him into a dungeon. But how do you control what's up here? [taps his head] How do you fight an idea?
Messala: Sextus, you ask how to fight an idea. Well, I'll tell you how... with another idea!
Ben Hur (1959)
Messala: Sextus, you ask how to fight an idea. Well, I'll tell you how... with another idea!
Ben Hur (1959)
In 2014, the city of Mosul fell to a battalion sized group of fighters in six days. ISIS used engagement, social media, YouTube videos, and grievances of Sunni disempowerment to fuel this amazing success. In the same year, the Russians seized the Crimean Peninsula with little green men and began an assault on the Eastern portions of the Ukraine initiated by gangs and thugs. These are examples of narrative war – conflict in which narrative use and manipulation is the decisive operation and organized conventional military violence is a shaping operation. Such is the present and near future of war.
An understanding of ISIS provides an excellent framework for understanding narrative war. Who and what is ISIS? When and why did it form? And, how does it use maneuver in the narrative space to effectively achieve conflict success against significantly more powerful opponents?
Understanding ISIS is only a tool to developing essential understanding for present and future opponents whether they be non-state, sub-state, post-state, or peer or whether the conflict be counterterrorism, counterinsurgency, or large-scale combat operations.
An understanding of ISIS provides an excellent framework for understanding narrative war. Who and what is ISIS? When and why did it form? And, how does it use maneuver in the narrative space to effectively achieve conflict success against significantly more powerful opponents?
Understanding ISIS is only a tool to developing essential understanding for present and future opponents whether they be non-state, sub-state, post-state, or peer or whether the conflict be counterterrorism, counterinsurgency, or large-scale combat operations.
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The following lectures will be presented at the Kansas City Public Library in 2019:
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2018 Symposium - National WWI Museum
1918: Crucible of War
November 1-3, 2018
Explore the irrevocable changes five years of cataclysmic conflict wrought on the global stage. Discover the complex impact on familiar structures as war was fought on three diverse continents of battlefields and the waters that connected them to the American homefront. As borders were literally and figuratively redrawn, Allies celebrated a victory and the world came to terms with the irreparable devastation and losses of the “war to end all wars.” Featured presenters include Mike Hankins, Robert Laplander, Adriane Lentz-Smith, Brian Steed, Graydon Tunstall, Kara Vuic and Geoffrey Wawro.
U.S. Army Command & General Staff College professor Brian Steed talks about the impact of World War I on the Middle East and how the outcome of the war continues to play a role in present-day conflicts.
View the C-SPAN3 recording of this presentation here.
View the C-SPAN3 recording of this presentation here.
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Coming in 2019
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U.S. Army Command and General Staff College 2018 Military Educator of the Year
© 2016-2018 Brian L. Steed - narrativespace.net
Disclaimer
All opinions and suppositions expressed on this website are entirely those of the author and in no way reflect the positions, opinions, or policies of the United States Army, the United States Department of Defense, or any official or
agency of the United States government.
All opinions and suppositions expressed on this website are entirely those of the author and in no way reflect the positions, opinions, or policies of the United States Army, the United States Department of Defense, or any official or
agency of the United States government.