Warfare in the Napoleon era is similar to warfare practiced today Essay

Warfare in the Napoleon era is similar to warfare practiced today - Essay Example Indeed, weapon systems and technology have changed over the years with increased sophistication ; however, warlords of today still embrace and practice the fundamentals of warfare upon which the Napoleonic era thrived. The Napoleonic era inspired changes in warfare and created organizational changes in the army that increased their lethality and ignited military reform, tactics, and strategies that are currently being used today. Napoleon created corps and divisions in order to have unity of command for his large troops, which allowed him to have better command and control, and flexibility over his units; Napoleon gave his orders through established channels of command to each division. The organizational changes that were made to the French army increased their flexibility, lethality, and maneuverability in warfare, thus, making it possible for Napoleon to trounce his opponents in combat with ease. Additionally, the Army developed Brigade Combat Teams, which enhanced the organizations ability to be flexible, and agile in warfare, thus, being able to move swiftly into combat zones and taking on the opponents with remarkable success. Similarly, armies of this era are divided into divisions to facilitate unity of command and control of troops, in addition to, enhancing flexibility, lethality, and maneuverability in warfare; combat teams that are thoroughly grounded in tactics and weapon systems to undertake tec hnical missions exist today as well. Napoleon era warfare thrived on the skills and competence of the armies, thus, warlords like Napoleon ensured that their combat teams were well trained in warfare tactics and weapon technologies of their time. Additionally, warfare in this era involved logistics trains, and combined arms that were self-sustaining and dominated enemy forces throughout Europe. For instance, the 1809 Vienna campaigns was successful because the French used combined arms simultaneously, which allowed them to achieve greater impact than if each element was used separately. The French developed the logistics regiment and strictly dedicated it to supplying, and transporting equipment to units on the battlefield2, thus, ensuring the smooth undertaking of missions and operations. Armies today are highly trained in weapons and tactics of combat to be able to handle sophisticated artillery and to execute highly delicate operations with success, and warfare still relies on logistics carriages, which ensure a ste ady supply of equipment to armies in war zones, besides the simultaneous use of combined arms, like in the Napoleonic era. Napoleon’s strategy involved maintaining battles all over Europe in all the volatile areas, where enemy forces had dominated, and this ensured that the enemy forces had no time to regroup or reorganize themselves for counter attacks, thus, they were thoroughly paralyzed and defeated. Nonetheless, the French army fought on several fronts simultaneously, thereby maintaining the territory borders from all angles against the enemy forces; for instance, they fought Britain and Spain on the western front, but at the same time, they also fought Russia, Prussia, and Austria on the eastern front. In the same manner, countries today engage in and maintain battles in their enemy areas where their vulnerability lies in the attempt to neutralize enemy forces; in this regard, warfare still involves invasion and occupation of enemy territory, and such domination of