Military Doctrine is the expression of how military forces contribute to campaigns, major operations, battles, and engagements. War was a constant aspect on Earth and it is equally true in the New World, though not yet as destructive and numerous as on Earth. There are many reasons why nations goes to war, but all share some key aspects which affect their strategies and how they fight wars. These became key factors of how the nations of the New World came to fear, respect and resent the country of Japan.
Location[]
The New World is determined to have 6.3 times more surface area than Earth and the distance between nations is vast. As a result, the world has been split into three major regions: The First, Second and Third Civilization Areas. Anything beyond those three civilizations is considered 'outside the civilized areas' and is deemed as barbaric. Because of the lack of globalization, social and political immaturity of the New World, when Japan was transferred to the New World, it was in an area beyond the Third Civilization. This automatically made other nations deem them as primitive barbarians and most scoffed at the idea of the Japanese being from another world. This led to grave misconceptions about Japan's culture, economy, and most importantly, their technology and military strength. Both the Parpaldia Empire and the Louria Kingdom were completely ignorant of the Japanese people and their country and paid dearly for their lack of knowledge. The Gra Valkas Empire suffered similar experiences as well for being outside the civilized areas.
Economy[]
Money and cost is the bottom line for many military forces. Whether it is the driving force that causes a nation to go to war, or it is the force that sustains the military during a war. Frequently, it is cost that is the deciding factor. Because of the lack of the development and investment in non-military economic and industrial sectors mostly due to the undeveloped social and political mindsets in the New World, the majority of countries, especially Superpowers are extremely dependent on war economy to sustain themselves.
In terms of the Parpaldia Empire, they were trapped in a vicious cycle of expansionism and chronic dependence on war economy in order to sustain their military and vice-versa. They couldn't maintain their military and economy without conquering more territory, and they couldn't conquer more territory without maintaining their military. Furthermore, due to their arrogance and having little respect for those they have conquered and subjugated not to mention having almost zero knowledge of what to do to beside wars and conquests, the Empire tends to only know to exploit their conquests for everything they have, and when they lost all these conquered territories, the entire economy of the Parpaldia Empire collapses as they lost their only means to sustain themselves . The Gra Valkas Empire is in the same situation as they are a constant wartime nation. Should their military power fail, like in the case of the Japanese-Parpaldian War, then the nation itself will fail as the driving force for its economy, the military, is no longer able to function. The Parpaldians learned that without the military to instill fear into the other territories, they would lose their main source of revenue, (i.e.: land, magic gems, slaves, etc.). Rebellions couldn't be stopped and the 74 territories declared independence, thereby causing the Parpaldian Empire to lose its superpower status and eventually collapse. For the Gra Valkas Empire, they are coming dangerously close to suffering the same fate as the Parpaldian Empire during the New World War. In addition to being defeated by the JSDF, they would have to worry that the other nations they've intimidated might also attack them in their weakened state.
The cost of war also affects the Gra Valkas in a different manner. The reason why they abandoned research on jet and rotatory wing aircraft was due to the high cost. Add in their chronic nature of thinking that their present technology is good enough, and cost becomes even more a decisive factor in halting such developments.
Magic[]
Magic is real in this world, and it tends to affect the way people view others. Since magic also means power, the more magic a nation has, especially in their military, the more power and prestige the nation can wield. This was especially the case with the Ravernal Empire, where their magic technology eclipsed all others. The Holy Milishial Empire are presently the known highest authority when it comes to magical technology, though they are simply creating crude copies of the Ravernal Empire's technology. The country of Mu is second with their mechanical technology that is enhanced by magic, while the Parpaldia Empire was third with their wyvern air force and primitive magical cannons. Again the Japanese were looked down upon, along with the Gra Valkas Empire, because they didn't have any magic at all. This again led to grave misconceptions, especially with the Parpaldia Empire and the Louria Kingdom. The reason why Japan didn't have wyverns nor magic was because they didn't need them as their conventional science and technology outperforms almost anything related to magic. The same thing goes for the Gra Valkas Empire.
Level of Technology[]
This is possibly the biggest reason why military doctrine and strategy has been thrown completely upside-down in the New World, with the appearance of Japan and the Gra Valkas Empire. Before their arrival, people in the Third Civilization Area fought at levels comparable to the 15th to 18th centuries of Earth. They still used massed attacks and volley fire. Even ancient siege weapons were still in use. Huge armies of infantry would maneuver for position and close hand-to-hand combat was still a requirement. Ships were still propelled by sail and naval battles were won by who had the most guns. The only difference was the usage of air power in the form of wyverns.
With the invention of the internal combustion engine and more modern firearms, the Second Civilization Area changed the face of war as soldiers no longer had to fight in close quarters. The sword, bow and shield have been outdone by the bolt-action rifle and machine gun. Aircraft now made the wyvern obsolete and distances weren't so long as before. Remote areas can be reached in relatively short time. Ships are faster and are no longer powered by sails. Mu becomes the head nation of the Second Civilization with its technological level at around World War 1.
Then there is the First Civilization Area where the Holy Milishial Empire reigns at the top. For them, there is no one greater than the inheritors of the Ravernal Empire. Though their magical technology is not the equal to the Ravernal Empire's, there is no one in the present New World equal to the Milishial Empire's technology. Anyone who would dare challenge them would almost certainly face utter defeat. They have metal ships of unimaginable firepower. They have aircraft that does away with the crude propellers of Mu aircraft. They have magical cannons that is superior to any in the Third Civilization. And finally, they hold four, (formally five) of the Ravernal Empire's ancient magical, flying battleships. No one can challenge them.
Then Japan and the Gra Valkas Empire appeared.
The ability to fight beyond visual range gave Japan and to a lesser degree, the Gra Valkas Empire with their carriers, a huge advantage over the other nations, who still clung to the outdated theories of visual range combat. The advent of radar, sonar and long-range weapons made their previous strategies ineffective. The sheer power of their weapons and their speed, put down the notion that magic was supreme. And finally, the ability for a much smaller force to fight and even defeat a far larger force, is something that military strategists cannot ignore, which causes many to realize that numbers alone does not guarantee victory on the battlefield.
Ironically, war spawns new inventions and they in turn spawn new ways of thinking of how to conduct battle in the future. With new invention, such as the tank, the aircraft and even the firearm, strategy must adapt in order to utilize and counter them. If a strategist clings to the old way of combat, he will succumb to the inevitable, which is defeat.
In terms of the Third Civilized Area, when the musket appeared, it changed the concept of warfare and made melee combat less effective. When Japan appeared, direct and visual combat becomes limited to Guerrilla Warfare.
The level of technology a military force possesses also influences the way the New World military commanders view the enemy, instead of gathering intelligence on the enemy. For the Louria Kingdom and the Parpaldian Empire, they were still in the medieval to 18th century level of warfare. Therefore, they assumed that Japan would need massive numbers of infantry, ships, and wyverns to overcome them. For the Gra Valkas Empire, they were still in the heyday of massive naval guns and assumed that if given the chance to develop, Japan would invent larger guns similar to theirs. As a result of these erroneous assumptions, these nations severely underestimated Japan's military capabilities.
Military Intelligence[]
“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.”
-Sun Tzu, The Art of War
One of the most astronomic blunders committed by the military minds of the New World is their methods of military intelligence or lack thereof. Since they readily assume their nation and military to be superior to others, they will either disregard any information about Japan, or begin gathering information about Japan at too late a date. Furthermore, any opportunity to gain vital data is wasted or ignored. Therefore, when a nation encounters Japan in battle, their forces and tactics are rendered ineffective or completely useless against the JSDF. This all stems from an inability or refusal to follow the basic step of knowing one's enemy.
Due to the location of Japan when it was transferred to the New World, nations such as the Louria Kingdom and the Parpaldia Empire, immediately assumed that Japan was a barbaric nation and had nothing to fear from it. For the Lourians, this would result in a catastrophic defeat of their country. For the Parpaldian, they would begin to gather information about Japan when it was far too late. Furthermore, due to their arrogance and denial of reality, they simply did not acknowledge the fact that none of their tactics could match Japan's technological might and kept on grasping at straws with no hope of victory. The Parpaldian Empire would later self-destruct after its 74 territories rebelled and a coup e'tat ended the monarchy.
The Gra Valkas Empire would commit the largest series of blunders thus far when combating with Japan. Their arrogance was even greater than the Parpaldia Empire. Despite gathering various documents and media about Japan, and even being shown some examples of Japan's advanced technology, the Gra Valkans would disregard all of it as one massive hoax. Only a few would take Japan seriously from the start, but their efforts to counter Japan's technological superiority would be too little and completely ineffective. Furthermore, under certain misconceptions, such as assuming a patrol boat to be a warship and initially ignoring the fact that Japan's weapons can reach beyond visual range, the Gra Valkas sent their fleets headlong toward the JSDF's forces with the assumptions would win by brute force and sheer force of numbers. As ships, ground forces and aircraft are lost at an alarming rate, the Gra Valkas military is starting to rethink their strategies. However, they are still assuming that Japan has neither enough forces or missiles to stop their overwhelming numerical superiority. This causes them to make more strategic blunders without gaining the proper information about Japan's true military capability.
Furthermore, due their arrogance and unwillingness to accept the possibility that Japan's technology may outstrip theirs, the Gra Valkas military makes the additional blunder of assuming that Japan's technology is equal or less than the Empire's. Under the assumption that it would take a long amount of time for aircraft to refuel and re-arm, the Gra Valkas military makes the rash decision to attack a Japanese Air Base in the Nahanath Kingdom without first determining the base's air defenses.
Tactics[]
Military tactics encompasses the art of organizing and employing fighting forces on or near the battlefield. They involve the application of four battlefield functions which are closely related – kinetic or firepower, mobility, protection or security, and shock action. Tactics are a separate function from command and control and logistics. In contemporary military science, tactics are the lowest of three levels of warfighting, the higher levels being the strategic and operational levels. Throughout history, there has been a shifting balance between the four tactical functions, generally based on the application of military technology, which has led to one or more of the tactical functions being dominant for a period of time, usually accompanied by the dominance of an associated fighting arm deployed on the battlefield, such as infantry, artillery, cavalry or tanks.
Military tactics answer the questions of how best to deploy and employ forces on a small scale. Some practices have not changed since the dawn of warfare: assault, ambushes, skirmishing, turning flanks, reconnaissance, creating and using obstacles and defenses, etc.
When encountering the other nations in the New World, Japan makes extensive use of its superior technology and especially its beyond visual range capability, to devastate its opponents. Close-quarters and direct line of sight tactics are rendered obsolete as the enemy can no longer rely on sheer force of numbers to guarantee victory. In terms of tactics, the JSDF can use its superior firepower for a smaller force to destroy a larger one with less probability of a counterattack. Like the Gra Valkas Empire, Japan understands the key fundamentals of modern warfare, by destroying the enemy's lines of communication, detection, supply and defenses. Since Japan hails from a world that has over 4,000 years of military history behind it, they are able to draw upon that knowledge to so far counter whatever enemy the New World has presented.