Clio-Combinatorics

Abstract

This chapter proposes to apply combinatorial optimization to past military conflicts with the aim of producing quantitative data that help explaining history. To do this, we can go beyond the classical “problem solving” vision of operations research that focuses on algorithmic development and computation analysis to privilege solution analysis and the needs of matching the obtained solution to the reality we aim to represent, study and analyze. In particular, we propose an iterative logic search method that aims to identify and analyze military strategic logic in terms of logistics. Then, to illustrate it, an application to the French troop assignment plan (Plan XVII of Joffre, 1932) is made to analyze which could be the subjacent logic behind the defense plan of French troops and state on the consequences of the optimization choices in terms of regional distribution of troops. A discussion of the proposed framework and the directions to generalize it will be presented as a conclusion.