Recent years have brought fundamental changes to the structure and functioning of the logistics sector. The transformation of this sphere of economic activity, primarily associated with technological development and changing market conditions, concerns both military logistics and civilian logistics, which was shaped on its foundations. Despite the diversity in defining the contemporary essence of logistics, a significant majority of authors admit that its roots originate from the military sphere. Logistic solutions and mechanisms developed during military operations were gradually and successfully transferred to the civilian ground. For many years, it was military logistics that served as a model and source of inspiration for theorists and practitioners involved in organizing physical and information flows in the national economy. Today, in the era of universal economic calculation, these proportions are reversing, and currently, solutions from the civilian sphere are increasingly being transferred to the area of logistical support for the armed forces.
The purpose of this article is to characterize the mutual relationships between military and civilian logistics and to attempt to indicate the potential for broad cooperation between these fields in the 2030 perspective.
Genesis and development of military logistics
Effectively meeting the needs of troops has been a source of success in combat since ancient times, which is perfectly illustrated by the words of the ancient thinker Flavius Renatus Vegetius, who claimed that: It is more often lack than battle that destroys an army, and hunger torments more severely than iron. Almost all commanders in history, before major military expeditions, gathered large stocks of material resources necessary for fighting soldiers and used local food and fodder resources, which they tried to collect in an organized manner. Providing the means of subsistence was a primary task for both commanders and lower-level leaders. In antiquity, and even in the Middle Ages, this problem was solved in a much simpler way than it is today. Specifically, the quantity of resources entitled to warriors was not defined, leaving them great freedom in using local resources. In some armies, it happened that every soldier looted all available goods. Some took money and shoes from travelers, others stole bread from villages, and still others stole livestock from peasants. These ventures related to gathering supplies and meeting the needs of soldiers with extensive use of local resources during military expeditions were the beginning of modern, extremely complex systems of military logistical support.
The beginnings of a logistical approach in army operations can be found in the first known treatise “The Art of War”, attributed to the Chinese commander Sun Tzu (6th-5th century BC). Sun Tzu proposed planning military operations in such a way as not to destroy one’s own economic potential, and he also characterized selected principles of military organization (for example, using local resources). Logistical aspects also appear in the work of the Byzantine Emperor Leo VI (887-911), titled “Summary of the Art of War”. In this dissertation, the author identified logistics as a military science which, along with strategy and tactics, determines the success of military expeditions. A large group of specialists associated with the logistics sector points to the work published in 1837 by the Swiss general in French and Russian service, A. H. Jomini, titled “Summary of the Art of War”, as the source of the modern concept of “logistics”. In it, logistics was defined as the practical art of moving troops, including reconnaissance, military engineering, and staff work. Since then, a number of works have been created around the world that bring a new perspective on the organization of material and technical supply for troops and develop this sphere of army activity. They were based mainly on the experiences of officers responsible for organizing economic processes, securing the functioning of fighting troops during the numerous wars of that time. Mention should be made of such names as: A. T. Mahan, G. C. Thorpe, H. E. Eccles, or J. F. C. Fuller, who, as precursors of military logistics, provided solid foundations for its development in the functioning of the armed forces. The First and Second World Wars and the conflicts of the late 20th and early 21st centuries made an undoubted contribution to the development of logistics as a science and practice of military activity. Analyses of military operations indicated the priority role of logistical support in the success of combat operations, which resulted in defining logistics as the third member of the triad of the art of war, alongside strategy and tactics; art of war = strategy – tactics – logistics.
The concept of logistics was introduced to Polish subject literature by Wacław Stankiewicz, who dedicated his work titled “Logistics”, published in 1968, to the functioning of this sphere in the defense sector. Since then, these issues have been addressed by a number of authors who provided the foundations for the development of logistics in the activities of the Polish army. Particularly valuable studies in this area include, among others, the works of: S. Dworecki, M. Wasylka, K. Pajewski, E. Nowak, K. Ficon, E. Chylak, or M. Brzeziński. They made a significant contribution to the development of military logistics in Poland, bringing it largely closer to world standards.
The article comes from the journal “Logistyka” 3/2010.