Sarah Paine

The main theater...

is Russia in this war.

Not what you think.

Why?

Because between two thirds and three quarters of German ground forces were always fighting Russia.

That means these other theaters, which are peripheral to the main theater,

take up between one quarter to one third of German forces.

That makes them peripheral.

Doesn't make them unimportant, but they're not the main theater.

And by the way, who would want to fight on the main theater if there are alternatives?

People die on droves in the main theater.

So this man, Sir Julian Corbett,

very fine naval theorists of Britain who was heartbroken in World War I that Britain ignored his naval strategy, which was don't do the continental commitment and run the war through these peripheral operations.

And it wrecked his health.

But here's what, according to Corbett, are the prerequisites for a theater that makes a really good one for a peripheral operation.

One, it has to be overseas so the enemy can't invade you or wreck your productive base.

Secondly, you need local sea control to get in there.

But that local sea access has got to be better than the land access because you want to have it easier for Britain to get in and out than it is for the enemy because then attrition rates will favor Britain.

Britain also should deploy a disposal force.

What's that?