Evaluating Russian Nonlinear Warfare through Modern Chinese Doctrine

Grading Gerasimov
by Victor R. Morris

The following post was penned by Victor R. Morris, a civilian contractor and instructor at the U.S. Army Europe’s Joint Multinational Readiness Center (JMRC) in Germany. The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of JMRC, United States Army Europe, United States European Command, the Department of the Army, the Department of Defense, the United States Government, or Booz Allen Hamilton.
Wars are not declared, and having begun, proceed to an unfamiliar template,” stated General Valery Gerasimov, the Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, during a closed speech at the Russian Academy of Military Sciences. The primary topic of this speech was “The Role of the General Staff in the Organization of the Defense of the Country in Correspondence with the New Statute about the General Staff Confirmed by the President of the Russian Federation.”

This speech, given in late 2013, was crucial because it enumerated and elucidated the strategies that would develop Russian nonlinear military doctrine in 2014, known as the “Gerasimov Doctrine”. Russian Foreign Policy Reviews, State Security Strategies, and the “Gerasimov Doctrine” combined with Russian political views to codify nonlinear war as the emergence of a new kind of warfare. Nonlinear warfare is facilitated by 21st century technologies and multiple actors employing combinations of conventional and unconventional instruments. In short, “the very rules of war have been fundamentally changed” and, according to General Gerasimov, non-military means have surpassed the use of force to achieve strategic and political goals. The current situation in Ukraine and, to some extent, in neighboring former soviet republics (primarily Baltic States) highlight the application of nonlinear war.

Is it working?

To adequately assess current and future threats to European security and the methods to counter such threats, this article intends to “grade”, or evaluate, specific applications of nonlinear war in Ukraine based on Chinese military doctrine, geopolitical strategies, and conflicts in Europe.

• Russia’s Road to nonlinear war: Cold War, 1979-Present ...
• 21st Century Warfare ...
• Making the Grade ...
• Report Card Conclusion ...

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