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Comparing Uses Of The Strategic Defense (Fabian Strategy) By General Washington (1776-78) And Russian Generals (1904-05), Samuel W. Bettwy

Samuel W Bettwy

The Fabian strategy, also known as strategic defense, is a military strategy in which a weaker force avoids decisive battles with the enemy and creates delay in a war of attrition until the right moment arrives to deliver a decisive blow. General George Washington and his Continental Army, supplemented by the militia, employed this strategy successfully against the British Army during the War for American Independence. The Russian generals did not, however, employ a successful strategic defense against Japanese expeditionary forces in the Russo-Japanese War. To understand why, this paper considers the elements of the Fabian strategy and compares how …