Marine Corps Doctrinal Publication (MCDP 1-2) Campaigning

Marine Corps Doctrinal Publication (MCDP) 1-2, Campaigning 1 August 1997 Tactical success in combat does not of itself guarantee victory in war. What matters ultimately in war is strategic success: attainment of our political aims and the protection of our national interests. The operational level of war provides the linkage between tactics and strategy. It is the discipline of conceiving, focusing, and exploiting a variety of tactical actions to realize a strategic aim. With that thought as our point of departure, this publication discusses the intermediate, operational level of war and the military campaign which is the vehicle for organizing tactical actions to achieve strategic objectives. MCDP 1-2 supersedes Fleet Marine Force Manual (FMFM) 1-1, Campaigning, of 1990. MCDP 1-2 retains the spirit, scope, and basic concepts of its predecessor. MCDP 1-2 further develops and refines some of those concepts based on recent experiences, continued thinking about war, and the evolving nature of campaigning in the post-Cold War world. The new version of Campaigning has three significant additions: an expanded discussion of the linkage between strategic objectives and the campaign, a section on conflict termination, and a section titled “Synergy” that describes how key capabilities are harmonized in the conduct of a campaign to achieve the strategic objective. These additions have been derived from the development of the other doctrinal publications in the MCDP series and joint doctrine.