"The previous publication of the General Military Review put in highlights Lyautey's legacy and the success of its campaigns at the the peoples, obtained by the attention he paid to them and the form he took in the of reversibility that he was able to initiate in operations. We had written it: "the state of Lyautey spirit, it is a dynamic that pushes to the adaptation to men and circumstances combined with an assumed nonconformity".

This need to adapt continues to be a key element in the reflection associated with our current commitments, even if the formula of "..." is not always appropriate. winning hearts and minds" can sometimes seem quite vain, as the outcome of an intervention on a sustainable and stabilized situation seems difficult to achieve. From Galula's initial reflections, revisited by the American school, to the book "Un sentiment d'inachevé" (A Sense of Unfinished Business) rerecently published by Éditions de l'École de guerre, the views of operational engagement practitioners are a valuable contribution to the debate.

Peoples, populations: their simple definitions clearly illustrate the difference in the consideration given to them during an air-land engagement in their presence. They also indicate, in a wider field, the relationship of human societies to conflict, which is fraught with meaning and consequences.

The schooling of the École de Guerre-Terre is today clearly oriented towards understanding the complexity of air-land combat, which almost all engagements, in their brutality, are carried out in the following ways tirelessly increased by technological progress, takes place in the natural environment where, since the dawn of mankind, men have been born, live and (most of the time) die.

The hoplitic confrontation on a predetermined terrain, the skilful manoeuvres of the Alsace campaign of Turenne to fix and then confront the enemy, the fulgurating manoeuvre ofThe unheard-of destruction during the battles of the two world conflicts will certainly emerge again tomorrow during certain phases of the Scorpion's collaborative combat. But, as in the past, they will always be part of a larger, strategic and political-military conflict, which they not only draw inspiration from but also shape according to their results.

This third issue of the RMG, combining the reflections of academics and the testimonies of practitioners of air-land engagement, continues to review various perceptions of war among peoples, in a variety of circumstances that, despite everything, cannot claim to cover the immense field of possibilities.

From Plato's Lachès to Clausewitz's trilogy, from the man "main instrument of combat" for Ardant du Picq to today's teaching of interculturality, this understanding of the perception of the long history and dynamics of peoples is essential to us. It is indeed crucial, in this context which could see the armed confrontation of importance become unfortunately more than a hypothesis.

Enjoy reading (and do not hesitate to write in turn...)!