"Easier said than done." Is there a formula for winning the war?

American billionaire Elon Musk supported the opinion of businessman David Sachs, who said that in any protracted conflict, the country that can produce ammunition on a large scale at a lower cost and for a longer time wins. Is Musk right, is there anything new in his statement and what might be the real formula for winning the war - in the material of the military observer of the Newspaper.En" by Mikhail Khodarenka.

"Economic power is the basis for waging wars," Elon Musk, CEO and Chief engineer of SpaceX, commented on David Sachs' statements. Recall that David Sachs is an entrepreneur, author and investor in an Internet technology company.

He quotes Engels

The first question that arises in this case is whether the statements and opinions of famous American entrepreneurs are any discoveries or innovations in the field of armed struggle and in the highest field of military art, which, strictly speaking, is strategy?

To begin with, let's turn to the classic course of military strategy, which describes the categories, patterns and principles of theory and practice of preparing and conducting war. For example, laws reflecting the dependence of the course and outcome of the war on economic, military-technical and other factors are studied and investigated by military science in the first place.

When wars began to affect all aspects of the life of the state, the basic law of war began to operate in full force, namely: the dependence of the course and outcome of the war on the ratio of the combined military power of the warring parties, as well as the degree of realization by the state (or coalition) of combat, military-economic, moral-political, scientific-technical and other potentials, collectively constituting military power.

So the reasoning of Elon Musk and David Sachs does not go beyond the basic law of war, set out in textbooks on military strategy and quotations from classics of Marxism. As for the latter, we recall that in his famous article "Anti-During" Friedrich Engels wrote: "Nothing depends on economic conditions more than the army and navy. Armament, composition, organization, tactics and strategy depend primarily on the degree of production achieved at the moment and on the means of communication."

If you explain the basic law of war, as they say, on your fingers, then the formula for victory in a high-intensity conflict will look something like this.

Only such an approach makes it possible to make up not only for the losses of the active army, but also to form strategic reserves that are so necessary in the war. There is no other formula for achieving success during the war. But it is necessary to add some very, very important circumstances to this formula, without which it will not work.

The law does not work without generals

Of course, the country's military-industrial complex can supply the army with weapons and military equipment in the required quantities. But these weapons and material resources, at a minimum, should be in the right hands. Without talented military leaders, the basic military law will not function.

In this regard, it is enough only to recall the instructions of the Supreme Commander of Comrade. Stalin's Military Council of the South-Western direction (Commander—in-chief - Marshal S. K. Timoshenko, member of the Military Council — Lieutenant General N. S. Khrushchev):

"Over the past four days, the Stavka has been receiving from you more and more new requests for weapons, for the submission of new divisions and tank formations from the Stavka reserve. Keep in mind that the Stavka does not have new divisions ready for battle, that these divisions are raw, untrained and throwing them to the front now means delivering an easy victory to the enemy. Keep in mind that our armament resources are limited, and keep in mind that besides your front, we also have other fronts. Isn't it time for you to learn how to fight with little blood, as the Germans do? It is necessary to fight not with numbers, but with skill. If you don't learn how to manage your troops better, you won't have enough of all the weapons produced throughout the country. Take all this into account if you ever want to learn how to defeat the enemy, and not give him an easy victory. Otherwise, the weapons you receive from the Bet will pass into the hands of the enemy, as it is happening now."

In other words, if you transfer weapons, and in considerable quantities, into inept hands, success in battles is far from guaranteed. In this case, only a crushing defeat is guaranteed.

What is required of a commander?

Some researchers, when analyzing successful operations of troops in various armed conflicts, persistently try to find traces of some extraordinary cunning of commanders or examples of complex operational calculations using at least Fourier series, Newton's binomial and Maxwell's equations.

The commander of one of the Russian armies during the First World War, infantry General Vasily Flug, said about this: "Some researchers in the field of military art tend to fall into ecstasy from the genius of strategic and tactical plans they allegedly observed in the affairs of great generals, not noticing that genius does not lie in the plans themselves, usually extremely simple and not beyond the limits of common sense, but in the enormous strength of spirit that was applied to bring such plans to life."

According to the general, the Russian army still shows an ineradicable tendency to persistently seek victories only in the field of military science, and the reasons for failures are only in violation of its age—old principles.

That is, war is still viewed for the most part as an area of mind and knowledge, rather than art and will. This heresy has an amazing ability to be reborn in the bowels of the Armed Forces.

To the full extent, such features of a military leader can only manifest themselves during the course of hostilities. Such commanders and commanders have already proved themselves during a special military operation.

The leadership of the country and the Armed Forces should notice such officers and generals, nominate them to higher positions, cherish and protect them in every possible way. It is precisely such military leaders who make up the elite of the Armed Forces, and only they (in combination with the rest of the provisions of the basic law of war) will be able to achieve impressive success in the armed struggle. So the formula for success in war looks quite simple at first glance — military power plus the talent of generals. But, as usual in such cases, it is much easier said than done.

The opinion of the author may not coincide with the position of the editorial board.

Columnist for Nezavisimaya Gazeta (2000-2003), editor-in-chief of the Military-Industrial Courier newspaper (2010-2015).