Развој доктрине у војсци Краљевине Србије 1882 – 1903.
The Doctrine Development in the Military of the Kingdom of Serbia 1882-1903

Summary/Abstract: Serbian military thought in the 19th century was influenced by many factors, and most of all the experience from the wars waged against Turkey in 1876 and 1877, and against Bulgaria in 1885, as well as the European military theories, above all the German, then the French and the Austro-Hungarian. Speaking about a phenomenon which in the 19th century was not yet articulated, it may be said that doctrine existed only in Germany and France. As for the other European militaries, including the Serbian, it cannot be said that they had a defined, consolidated doctrine. Regarding the general knowledge, they took most from the Germans, and that was what they considered useful and usable. Among the Serbian military theoreticians, a prevailing position that the art of war integrates both the science and the skills, and that one cannot exist without the other. Officially, the art of war was not divided to the strategy and the tactics, because they were considered to have narrow links and to interweave. However, such division was applied in the theory of the art of war for the purposes of easier studying. Not before the very end of the 19th century, the Army of the Kingdom of Serbia had ready war plans in case of war with potential adversaries, Turkey or Bulgaria. The war plans developed in 1898 represent a basic document for preparation, organization, use and provision of the military in a possible war with Bulgaria and Turkey, and they can be considered a document of strategic significance made operational at the operational and tactical levels. Then, some basic positions of the Serbian military war doctrine were outlined, and under the influence of the German military doctrine, the attack was given priority to the defence.

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