Shock and Awe - Historical Applications

Historical Applications

Ullman and Wade argue that there have been military applications that fall within some of the concepts of shock and awe. They enumerate nine examples:

• Overwhelming force: The "application of massive or overwhelming force" to "disarm, incapacitate, or render the enemy militarily impotent with as few casualties to ourselves and to noncombatants as possible."
• Hiroshima and Nagasaki: The establishment of shock and awe through "instant, nearly incomprehensible levels of massive destruction directed at influencing society writ large, meaning its leadership and public, rather than targeting directly against military or strategic objectives even with relatively few numbers or systems."
• Massive bombardment: Described as "precise destructive power largely against military targets and related sectors over time."
• Blitzkrieg: The "intent was to apply precise, surgical amounts of tightly focused force to achieve maximum leverage but with total economies of scale."
• Sun Tzu: The "selective, instant decapitation of military or societal targets to achieve shock and awe."
• Haitian example: "Imposing shock and awe through a show of force and indeed through deception, misinformation, and disinformation."
• The Roman legions: "Achieving shock and awe rests in the ability to deter and overpower an adversary through the adversary's perception and fear of his vulnerability and our own invincibility."
• Decay and default: "The imposition of societal breakdown over a lengthy period, but without the application of massive destruction."