Zombie Apocalypse Guide

Strategy and Conflict Part I

Ok, so bandits are demanding you give them 50% of your stuff. Or maybe there is an internal leadership dispute in your group. Whatever the reason is, you're in a conflict. This chapter deals with the basis of military strategy being applied in a zombie apocalypse.

(Some historical examples are given as a reference)

"War is the continuation of politics by other means"- Karl Von Clausewitz, author of On War

First off, by default, it is typically preferable to avoid war and physical battle. Conflict is preferably resolved peacefully, as war is always costly, and prolonged warfare is especially so. However, war starts when two groups have conflicting objectives that they are unable or unwilling to resolve peacefully. Someone wants their objectives badly enough that they are willing to use force to get it.

For example, assume a zombie has trapped you in an alleyway. The zombie's objective is to infect you and take your life. This conflicts with your objective of staying alive, which is pretty important to you. And since you can't negotiate a compromise, you're probably going to use force to kill the zombie. It may risk your life to do battle with a zombie, but you choose that option since you are guaranteed to lose if you do not fight it.

It may sound stupid when I put it that way, but that concept applies to larger and more complicated stuff.

Objectives drive people's actions, and those objectives can be separated into two types. Survival and Victory objectives.

Victory objectives seek to improve or maintain a group's position, but it is something that the group is ultimately not dependent upon to keep existing. As a result, the group may drop its pursuit of that objective should it become too costly to acquire it

Survival objectives are something that a group needs to keep existing or something they may value over their own existence. This can include the protection of a population or an individual, or achieving some kind of end goal. Keep in mind that survival objectives may not always include a group's own survival. A group may be willing to sacrifice itself to achieve an objective

Example of survival and victory objectives: In the American Revolutionary War, it was a victory objective for Great Britain to maintain control over the colonies. Then, when the war became too costly for them, they were forced to drop their claims to the colonies.

Great Britain was not willing to continue pursuing their victory objective of maintaining control of the colonies, as it would have put their survival objectives at risk. Meanwhile, on the other hand, despite taking more casualties than the British, the U.S. was willing to keep fighting because if they lost the war, then they would no longer exist as a country.

People rationally pick the option with the lowest amount of cost and the greatest amount of gain.

-
Now, when does war end?

War ends when one side either no longer has the will or the means to keep fighting.

Will to fight describes whether or not a country is willing to keep paying the costs to continue fighting. They decide that peace is the less costly option.

Means describes whether a country has the resources and lives to continue fighting. If a group no longer has enough fighters, or they do not have the resources, then they will no longer be able to keep fighting, even if they still have to will to do so.

For example, in the Vietnam War, the U.S. still had the means to keep fighting; however, political pressure from protests and the economic costs forced the U.S. to withdraw from the conflict. The U.S. still had the means to keep fighting, but it no longer had the will. The U.S. was inflicting higher casualties on the Vietcong and NVA, but North Vietnam was more willing to endure. As winning the war was a survival objective for them and a victory objective for the U.S.