or practical use during the process of solving military
problems will therefore provide a basis, primarily, for the selection
of correct objectives. However, the procedure for such selection,
though requiring consideration of the action involved in attaining
objectives, will seldom call for a complete analysis of such
operations. Therefore, it is also desirable, for the solution of
military problems, to provide a valid guide for the determination of
effective operations, in detail. This guide may be used on occasions
when, the correct objective having been selected, the only remaining
problem is to work out the detailed operations involved.

The Fundamental Military Principle, developed in the preceding
chapter, has been formulated to fulfill the requirements described in
the preceding paragraph. Through the exhaustive analysis of the
elements involved, there has been provided, in the form of a single
fundamental principle, a valid guide for the selection of correct
military objectives and for the due determination of effective
operations for their attainment.

In the present chapter, the abstract application of the Principle is
discussed in terms of fundamental considerations. Section II of the
chapter deals with the selection of objectives; this subject, in more
specific terms, is later expanded in Chapter VI. Section III of the
present chapter deals with the determination of operations; this
subject, in more specific terms, is expanded in Chapter VII. The
present chapter affords a treatment applicable to military problems of
any nature. Later expansion is applicable, more especially, to naval
problems.

This arrangement of the subject matter has been adopted for two
reasons. First, discussion of fundamental considerations, thus taken
up at the present point, immediately follows the formulation of the
principle (in Chapter III). Furthermore, a fundamental treatment,
prior to Chapters VI and VII, permits maximum brevity in the
discussion, therein. The commander, having mastered the fundamentals
dealt with here, can later follow the detailed procedure with minimum
distraction due to reference to the preceding discussion.

Essential Elements Involved. As previously stated, the problems of war
differ from those of other human activities with respect, only (page
35), to the specialized character of the factors that enter.

The final outcome is dependent (page 8) on ability to isolate, occupy,
or otherwise control the