Combined operations

Pre-modern history

Although all combined operations until the invention of the combustion engine were largely dependent on the sailing vessels, it was with the creation of sophisticated rigging systems of the European Renaissance that the Age of Sail allowed a significant expansion in the scale of combined operations, notably by the European colonial empires. Some have argued that was the first revolution in military affairs, which changed national strategies, operational methods and tactics both at sea and on land. One notable example of that evolution was the French invasion of Egypt (1798).