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war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...
fare, a theater or theatre is an area in which important military events occur or are in progress. A theater can include the entirety of the airspace, land and sea area that is or that may potentially become involved in war operations.


Theater of war

In his book ''
On War ''Vom Kriege'' () is a book on war and military strategy by Prussian general Carl von Clausewitz (1780–1831), written mostly after the Napoleonic wars, between 1816 and 1830, and published posthumously by his wife Marie von Brühl in 1832. I ...
'',
Carl von Clausewitz Carl Philipp Gottfried (or Gottlieb) von Clausewitz (; 1 June 1780 – 16 November 1831) was a Prussian general and military theorist who stressed the "moral", in modern terms meaning psychological, and political aspects of waging war. His mos ...
defines the term ''Kriegstheater'' (translating the older, 17th-century Latin term ''theatrum belli'') as one that:


Theater of operations

''Theater of operations'' (TO) is a sub-area within a theater of war. The boundary of a TO is defined by the commander who is orchestrating or providing support for specific
combat operations Combat operations area - process is undertaken by armed forces during military campaigns, major operations, battles, and engagements to facilitate the setting of objectives, direction of combat, and assessment of the operation plan's success. ...
within the TO. Theater of operations is divided into strategic directions or military regions depending on whether it is a war or peacetime. The United States Armed Forces split into Unified Combatant Commands (regions) that are assigned to a particular theater of military operations. A strategic direction is a group of armies also known as a task (field) forces or battlegroups. A strategic command or direction in general essence would combine a number of tactical military formations or operational command. In the modern military, a strategic command is better known as a
combat command A combat command was a combined-arms military organization of comparable size to a brigade or regiment employed by armored forces of the United States Army from 1942 until 1963. The structure of combat commands was task-organized and so the force ...
that may be a combination of groups.


Soviet and Russian Armed Forces

The
Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
and
Russian Armed Forces The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (, ), commonly referred to as the Russian Armed Forces, are the military forces of Russia. In terms of active-duty personnel, they are the world's fifth-largest military force, with at least two m ...
classify a large geographic subdivision—such as continental geographic territories with their bordering maritime areas, islands, adjacent coasts and airspace—as a theater. The Russian-language term for a military "theater" is , ''teatr voennykh deistvii'' (literally: "theater of military operations"), abbreviated , ''TVD''. This geographical division aids strategic and operational planning, allowing
military operation A military operation is the coordinated military actions of a state, or a non-state actor, in response to a developing situation. These actions are designed as a military plan to resolve the situation in the state or actor's favor. Operations may ...
s of fronts. Fronts were originally named in accordance with their theater of operations; for example the
Southwestern Front (Russian Empire) The Southwestern Front (russian: Юго-Западный фронт) was an army group of the Imperial Russian Army during World War I. During the conflict it was responsible for managing operations along a front line that stretched 615 kilometers ...
(1914–1918), the
1st Ukrainian Front The 1st Ukrainian Front (Russian: Пéрвый Украи́нский фронт), previously the Voronezh Front (Russian: Воронежский Фронт) was a major formation of the Soviet Army during World War II, being equivalent to a ...
(1943–1945, which fought in Ukraine, Poland, Germany, and Czechoslovakia), and the
Northern Front (Soviet Union) The Northern Front (russian: Северный фронт) was a front of the Red Army during the Second World War. The Northern Front was created on June 24, 1941 from the Leningrad Military District. Its primary goal was the defense of the Kola Pe ...
(June to August 1941). In peacetime, lacking the urgencies of a strategic direction, fronts were transformed into
military region Military districts (also called military regions) are formations of a state's armed forces (often of the Army) which are responsible for a certain area of territory. They are often more responsible for administrative than operational matters, and ...
s (districts) responsible for an assigned section of operations. In 1986 the U.S. Department of Defense's ''
Soviet Military Power ''Soviet Military Power'' was a public diplomacy publication of the US Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), which provided an estimate of the military strategy and capabilities of the Soviet Union during the final years of the Cold War, ostensib ...
'' identified ten continental and four oceanic TVDs, however, most being merely geographical areas without forces or headquarters: North American, South American, African, Australian, Antarctic, Arctic Ocean, Atlantic, Indian Ocean, and Pacific. Four others - the Far Eastern, Western, South-Western, and Southern, had identified headquarters established in 1979 and 1984. Plans appear to have existed to form a Northwestern TVD headquarters on the basis of the Staff of the
Leningrad Military District The Leningrad Military District was a military district of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. In 2010 it was merged with the Moscow Military District, the Northern Fleet and the Baltic Fleet to form the new Western Military District. Hi ...
. In their most modern form, High Commands for the TVDs were first reestablished in February 1979 for the Far East. Harrison wrote in the 2020s that the new command encompassed the
Far East Military District The Far Eastern Military District (russian: Дальневосточный военный округ; Dalʹnevostochnyĭ voennyĭ okrug) was a military district of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. In 2010 it was merged with the Pacific ...
and the
Transbaikal Military District The Transbaikal Military District (russian: Забайкальский военный округ) was a military district of first the Soviet Armed Forces and then the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, formed on May 17, 1935 and included the ...
. An official military encyclopedia published after the
Fall of the Soviet Union The dissolution of the Soviet Union, also negatively connoted as rus, Разва́л Сове́тского Сою́за, r=Razvál Sovétskogo Soyúza, ''Ruining of the Soviet Union''. was the process of internal disintegration within the Sov ...
stated, said Harrison, that the
Soviet Pacific Fleet , image = Great emblem of the Pacific Fleet.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Russian Pacific Fleet Great emblem , dates = 1731–present , country ...
, an air army, and an air defence corps were also operationally subordinated to the new formation; and that the high command "coordinated" with the armies of Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, and Mongolia. The headquarters was set up at
Ulan-Ude Ulan-Ude (; bua, Улаан-Үдэ, , ; russian: Улан-Удэ, p=ʊˈlan ʊˈdɛ; mn, Улаан-Үд, , ) is the capital city of the Republic of Buryatia, Russia, located about southeast of Lake Baikal on the Uda River at its confluence wi ...
, near
Lake Baikal Lake Baikal (, russian: Oзеро Байкал, Ozero Baykal ); mn, Байгал нуур, Baigal nuur) is a rift lake in Russia. It is situated in southern Siberia, between the federal subjects of Irkutsk Oblast to the northwest and the Repu ...
. The
RAND Corporation The RAND Corporation (from the phrase "research and development") is an American nonprofit global policy think tank created in 1948 by Douglas Aircraft Company to offer research and analysis to the United States Armed Forces. It is financed ...
said in 1984 that the Soviet air and ground forces in Mongolia ubordinate to the Transbaikal Military Districtand elements of the Mongolian Ground Forces and
Mongolian Air Force The Mongolian Air Force ( mn, Монгол Улсын Зэвсэгт Хүчний Агаарын цэрэг) is the aerial warfare service branch of the Mongolian Armed Forces. History Early years and WWII On 25 May 1925, a Junkers F.13 pilote ...
were also at its disposal. In September 1984 three more High Commands were established: the Western (HQ
Legnica Legnica (Polish: ; german: Liegnitz, szl, Lignica, cz, Lehnice, la, Lignitium) is a city in southwestern Poland, in the central part of Lower Silesia, on the Kaczawa River (left tributary of the Oder) and the Czarna Woda (Kaczawa), Czarna Woda ...
), South-Western (HQ Kishinev), and Southern (HQ
Baku Baku (, ; az, Bakı ) is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. Baku is located below sea level, which makes it the lowest lying national capital in the world a ...
)


United States

The term ''theater of operations'' was defined in the American field manuals as the land and sea areas to be invaded or defended, including areas necessary for administrative activities incident to the military operations (chart 12). In accordance with the experience of
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
, it was usually conceived of as a large land mass over which continuous operations would take place and was divided into two chief areas—the combat zone, or the area of active fighting, and the communications zone, or area required for administration of the theater. As the armies advanced, both these zones and the areas into which they were divided would shift forward to new geographic areas of control.


See also

*
Battlespace Battlespace or battle-space is a term used to signify a unified military strategy to integrate and combine armed forces for the military theatre of operations, including air, information, land, sea, cyber and outer space to achieve military ...
*
China Burma India Theater China Burma India Theater (CBI) was the United States military designation during World War II for the China and Southeast Asian or India–Burma (IBT) theaters. Operational command of Allied forces (including U.S. forces) in the CBI was officia ...
*
European Theater of Operations The European Theater of Operations, United States Army (ETOUSA) was a Theater of Operations responsible for directing United States Army operations throughout the European theatre of World War II, from 1942 to 1945. It commanded Army Ground For ...
*
European theatre of World War II The European theatre of World War II was one of the two main Theater (warfare), theatres of combat during World War II. It saw heavy fighting across Europe for almost six years, starting with Nazi Germany, Germany's invasion of Poland on 1 Sept ...
*
AfPak AfPak (also spelled Af-Pak) was a neologism used within United States foreign policy circles to designate Afghanistan and Pakistan as a single theatre of operations. Introduced in 2008, the neologism reflected the policy approach that was int ...
*
Locus of control Locus of control is the degree to which people believe that they, as opposed to external forces (beyond their influence), have control over the outcome of events in their lives. The concept was developed by Julian Rotter, Julian B. Rotter in 1954 ...
*
Unified Combatant Command A unified combatant command (CCMD), also referred to as a combatant command, is a joint military command of the United States Department of Defense that is composed of units from two or more service branches of the United States Armed Forces, an ...
* Western Theater of the American Civil War *
Formations of the Soviet Army The Soviet Ground Forces, successor to the Red Army, the title changing in 1945, employed a wide range of different military formations. Formations * Theatre of Military Operations (TV). * Theatre of Military Operations (teatr voennykh deistvii ...


References

{{Authority control Warfare