David och Goliat, en blodig dans i öknen : En teoriprövning av idealmodellen genom israelisk taktik på Sinaifronten 1967 och 1973

How to achieve victory in battle has been studied for ages. Today theorists mainly fall into two categories, those that favour physical superiority, and those that favour psychological superiority. One theory differentiates itself from the main body by combining these two views into one, the ideal model sequence by Thunholm and Henåker. The theory describes seven sequences that lead to tactical victory. Thunholm and Henåker claims a probabilistic relation between the use of the model and achieving tactical victory. The more sequences that are present in the case the greater the chance of success. Henåker has in his Ph.D. thesis tested the theory against wargames. This study aims to test if the theory can be applied to two historical cases of manoeuvre warfare during the second half of the 20th century. By applying the theory on two historical cases the theory can be tested in a new context, thereby expanding the knowledge of how to achieve tactical victory. By studying how the theory explains how the battles would have been fought and then comparing it the empirical material can we compare the result with the theoretical explanation. The result shows that the sequences in the theory can be present in the cases without resulting in a tactical victory. The study finds that merely the presence of the sequences does not lead to tactical success, instead to what degree the enemy is affected determines the outcome of the battle.