In Indochina or North Africa, air-land bases were numerous and designed as real support points for tactical operations. This remains essential today.

"The general who launches into the war (...) with the certainty that he can and must annihilate the adversary will throw everything into the balance at the first battle in the hope that he will win the whole decision. Carl von Clausewitz

War is an enduring phenomenon in international relations where the clash of political wills is expressed over a wide spectrum of activities. However, its most emblematic form is physical and military, a concrete and paroxysmal expression of force and violence. It is therefore not surprising that, in the history and imagination of nations, battle continues to be a key moment. This concentration of armed violence, this place where wills and means collide, occupies a fundamental place because it has such a profound effect on the life of civilizations.

In 2017, the Paris Fire Brigade (BSPP) carried out more than 500,000 interventions for the benefit of the inhabitants of Paris, a number never reached before. The BSPP is very concerned by this operational over-solicitation, which mainly affects the field of personal assistance, to which must be added an increase in attacks against the city's "guardian angels". This altruistic mission to protect people and safeguard property is carried out by the 8500 men and women who come from all over France. Around the age-old principles of fairness, gratuity and efficiency which constitute the matrix of excellence of this military unit more than two hundred years old, the BSPP must prepare the challenges of the Parisian megalopolis such as Greater Paris and the 2024 Olympics in a context of lasting terrorist threat.

In the future, 80% of conflicts will take place in cities. Although the French Army was late in thinking about taking the urban environment into account in its doctrine, Mr. Ronan Hill considers that this point of view should be corrected. This reflection did indeed exist, first theoretically between 1955 and 1970, then physically in the decades 1980-1990.

Combat in urban areas is demanding in terms of support. Colonel Olivier Fort shows how to use the urban environment, but also the advantage of permanent artillery fire in urban clashes, with particular emphasis on the need for precision ammunition.

This relatively clear conceptualization of combat, however, suffers from a number of glaring limitations. The nature, form and size of the battle have indeed varied considerably over the centuries and especially since the beginning of the industrial era.

The battle scene opening the excellent peplum by American director Ridley Scott takes place around 180 AD, the date of the death of Emperor Marcus Aurelius. As with many Hollywood films, this film intended for a large audience should not be retained for the historical rigour of its scenario, as well as the representation of the battle itself, enamelled with many inconsistencies or anachronisms. For the historian Thierry Widemann, "Apart from the fact that no decisive battle took place in 180, the year of Marcus Aurelius' death, we see the artillery sending projectiles more than 1km away while the range of the Roman ballista did not exceed 300m.

Soviet operative art is a current of thought, developed in the 1930s in the Soviet Union, which defines itself as a discipline of war art that aims to inscribe tactical actions in a strategic purpose and give them meaning. Relatively unknown, this thinking on the art of operative art nevertheless constituted a significant doctrinal change and revealed its effectiveness during the Second World War. This article presents the various current applications of operative art and shows the extent to which the Soviet approach remains relevant in the conduct of operations despite the evolution of the frameworks of action.

Cyberspace has expanded extremely rapidly and has become intrinsic to our society. It is a place of expression and individual freedoms, of exchange and wealth creation.

Initially, we had initially considered discussing the word "battle" and its derivatives here, but it appeared to us that "beat", from which "battle" originated, took precedence. This is why we will talk about battle, combat, and battalion in a future issue of your magazine.

To beat comes to us from the Latin battuere, which means to strike, and most often repeatedly, as does the marshal who beats the iron while it is hot, but the cold beat that does not belong to him. It is the very principle of war and a good part of the warrior vocabulary at the same time, which gives it precedence.