The First Battle of Trenton: Applied Operational Artįollowing his defeat at Long Island in August 1776, Washington found himself and his army on the far side of the Hudson River in New Jersey. accepting defeat at the hands of the rebel colonies), while also accomplishing American strategic objectives, to include the preservation of the Continental army and expulsion of the British coalition from the American colonies. Washington had to force the British coalition into a strategic decision (i.e. The complementary nature of Fuller and Leonhard’s definitions are useful in analyzing Washington’s actions during the New Jersey campaign due to the nature of problems he faced. In briefly comparing the two definitions, Fuller’s thoughts are focused on the adversary-waging war to force the enemy to make a decision while Leonhard’s are focused internally-on achieving one’s strategic objectives. Because of this, the operational artist “must be skilled at using battles along with other assets to structure a winning campaign.” However, Leonhard cautions that the correct use of operational art always focuses on keeping the strategic objective within sight and is judicious in the expenditure of resources in pursuit of those objectives. Furthermore, Leonhard contends that battle is the foundation of strategic victory. Robert Leonhard, a late-20th century American theorist and veteran of the Gulf War, suggests operational art is the employment of grouped tactical actions, or campaigns, to attain the strategic goals of a given situation. The decision Fuller spoke of is the acceptance, either willingly or forcefully, of the contested policy, and that grand tactics is a battle of wills, embodied by competing plans, both of which are driven by their respective policy. Fuller wrote that, “Grand tactics secures military action by converging all means of waging war towards gaining a decision” and that the aim of grand tactics is the destruction of the enemy’s plan, which forces the enemy to culminate or accept the terms of peace. Fuller, an early-20th century British army officer and military theorist, spoke of operational art in the parlance of the time, referring to the concept as grand tactics. Fuller and Robert Leonhard-provide instructive definitions of operational art, both of which help elucidate George Washington’s role as America’s first operational artist.

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