Expeditions with MCUP
The “Big Three” Revisited
Initial Lessons from 200 Days of War in Ukraine
Yagil Henkin
1 November 2022
https://doi.org/10.36304/ExpwMCUP.2022.13
Abstract: This article deals with the tactical lessons of the first six months of
the Russian war in Ukraine. The war, which has sent seismic shocks
throughout the world, was conceived by many to be a new kind of conflict,
with innovative, high-technology weapons and equipment bringing a sea
change to the history of warfare. However, a closer look shows a more
nuanced picture. While there are many lessons to be learned from this war,
it is not as much a break with the past as it is a continuation of it. For all the
technology being introduced, not only do tactics remain important, but the
war itself is closer in many aspects to the “classic” wars of the twentieth
century than to any futuristic concept of warfare.
Keywords: Ukraine, Russia, war, drone, innovation, tank, maneuver
Dr. Yagil Henkin teaches military history at the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Command and
Staff College. Among his books are Either We Win or We Perish: History of the First Chechen
War, 1994–1996; Like Fish in the Bush: Rhodesia at War, 1965–1980 (both in Hebrew); and The
1956 Suez War and the New World Order in the Middle East: Exodus in Reverse. Dr. Henkin also
is a reserve officer in the IDF’s history department, commanding the history teams of the
IDF’s Northern Command.
