Antizipation

Vego, Milan N. (2009). Joint Operational Warfare: Theory and Practice (Newport: U.S. Naval War College), S. III-20:

At the national strategic level one of the key issues to be resolved successfully is the sound appreciation of the character and duration of the future war. This is one of the main tasks of the military leadership in peacetime. Yet experience shows that in many cases, before the beginning of hostilities, one or both sides falsely envisioned the character or duration, or both, of the future war. This invariably had a significant negative effect on one's ability to both prepare and conduct the war successfully. Among other things, the false reading of the character of the war and the errors in peacetime in anticipating its duration have often had serious consequences on force planning, the development of service and joint doctrine, and the eventual outcome of the war itself.¨