The topic was a suggestion by Webgear ... from another thread on technology and consumerism, etc. I've guessed about where to put this thread.
Webgear:I have quickly read a few letters; Marx appears to have a good understanding of the general principals of war.The difference in types of warfare (mobility, defensive. counter-insurgent), do have similar principals however it's the degree of each principal that make understanding war interesting to understand.
These principals of war are constantly changing, depending on political and military leaders, equipment and the enemy, and are not even standardized in some countries (for example Canada) or armies.
Interoperability is not new; one could argue that European interoperability has gone back to the first crusades if not back to the Greeks and Romans before that. In which charters were establish to create large complex armies, defining such items shield production, arrow lengths, the number of horses per class of soldier.
A common problem with United Nation peacekeeping missions is that there are always yearly lessons learned on the principals of communications. Commanders need radios that are able to communicate with all his forces. The African Union is having this trouble right now in Sudan, too many nations with different radios.
Note: I am being very general in my thoughts; one could spend years just discussing one type of principal on one type of warfare.
2nd Note: I think we should start a new thread and maybe focus on a few letters to discuss.
I had, previously, provided a link to some letters from Marx and Engels on War and Military Science.
I had tried to make the point that Marx had, AFAIK, made use of changes that he noted in military technology and organization to back up his claims about how societies change in general (his theory that came to be known as "historical materialism") but I couldn't find an exact quote. Hence the link.
This is an open discussion so if others want to throw in their two bits, please feel free to do so.