Explore 50 Years of Parameters
1971 Over 334,000 US military members were deployed to South Vietnam. The US-Soviet space race saw significant milestones, but the year also heralded long-yearned-for detente. Against this backdrop, the US Army War College launched its academic quarterly, Parameters. The 11 articles in two issues considered combined operations, organization and leadership, the Soviet Union, and PME.
Read the Spring 1971 Issue
1971-80 Parameters’ first decade featured 210 articles across 10 issues. Reflecting foreign policy priorities those years, 35 articles discussed the Soviet Union. Twenty authors wrote about grand strategy and foreign policy, and 19 contributed to the discussion of civil-military relations. Other topics included China, leadership, military strategy, NATO, organizational structure, PME, and race and gender in the military.
Read the Fall 1971 Issue
1981 A decade that began with the murder of hundreds of Marines at the hands of state-sponsored terrorists and ended with the Strategic Defense Initiative and the fall of the Soviet Union, the 1980s saw America emerge as the global leader. Parameters was there to witness and respond.
Read the Spring 1981 Issue
1981–90 The 339 articles published in Parameters’ second decade focused largely on military planning and strategy. Many authors wrote about the Soviet Union and about our Europe and NATO Allies and partners. Contributions between 1981 and 1990 featured the highest percentage of articles devoted to military history, philosophy, and ethics of any decade.
1991 In the aftermath of the Gulf War and the fall of the Soviet Union, the era said to play host to the “End of History” would turn out to be simply a pause in great power conflict. The Peace Dividend, however, meant a US military drawdown and the resulting efforts to reconfigure military organizations and expenditures for the fights of the new millennia. Parameters contemplated our past and our future.
Read the Spring 1991 Issue
1991-2000 A majority of the 362 articles published in Parameters’ third decade covered topics of history, grand strategy, and military strategy and planning. Contributions focused on terrorism, information warfare, and urban warfare. The notion of whole-of-government appeared in the journal’s pages for the first time during this period.
2001 The terror attacks of September 11, 2001, marked the beginning of a somber, soul-searching decade for the United States. By the end of 2010, approximately 6,000 military men and women had given their lives in the insurgent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Parameters stayed focused on the business of war.
2001–10 At the birth of a new millennia, the 323 contributors to Parameters captured the priorities of the past and looked to the future. Many articles focused on matters of military strategy, planning, and doctrine. But in a reflection of the changing character of war, a growing number of contributors engaged topics such as insurgency, low-intensity conflict, and Special Forces.
2011 The decade began with a nation endeavoring to climb out of a deep financial recession and a citizenry increasingly opposed to military involvement overseas. By the end of the decade, relationships with traditional allies and partners had changed significantly, as had the United States’ view of its role in the world. Parameters documented these tectonic shifts.
Read the Spring 2011 Issue
2011-20 Parameters’ fifth decade featured 304 articles, many of which continued themes of the preceding decade—military strategy, doctrine, and grand strategy. This decade saw the highest percentage of articles concerned with China and the Asia-Pacific region of any decade, together with contributions on contemporary subjects of cyber operations, disinformation, and urban warfare.
1971 Over 334,000 US military members were deployed to South Vietnam. The US-Soviet space race saw significant milestones, but the year also heralded long-yearned-for detente. Against this backdrop, the US Army War College launched its academic quarterly, Parameters. The 11 articles in two issues considered combined operations, organization and leadership, the Soviet Union, and PME.
Read the Spring 1971 Issue
1971-80 Parameters’ first decade featured 210 articles across 10 issues. Reflecting foreign policy priorities those years, 35 articles discussed the Soviet Union. Twenty authors wrote about grand strategy and foreign policy, and 19 contributed to the discussion of civil-military relations. Other topics included China, leadership, military strategy, NATO, organizational structure, PME, and race and gender in the military.
Read the Fall 1971 Issue
1981 A decade that began with the murder of hundreds of Marines at the hands of state-sponsored terrorists and ended with the Strategic Defense Initiative and the fall of the Soviet Union, the 1980s saw America emerge as the global leader. Parameters was there to witness and respond.
Read the Spring 1971 Issue
1981–90 The 339 articles published in Parameters’ second decade focused largely on military planning and strategy. Many authors wrote about the Soviet Union and about our Europe and NATO Allies and partners. Contributions between 1981 and 1990 featured the highest percentage of articles devoted to military history, philosophy, and ethics of any decade.
1991 In the aftermath of the Gulf War and the fall of the Soviet Union, the era said to play host to the “End of History” would turn out to be simply a pause in great power conflict. The Peace Dividend, however, meant a US military drawdown and the resulting efforts to reconfigure military organizations and expenditures for the fights of the new millennia. Parameters contemplated our past and our future.
Read the Spring 1991 Issue
1991-2000 A majority of the 362 articles published in Parameters’ third decade covered topics of history, grand strategy, and military strategy and planning. Contributions focused on terrorism, information warfare, and urban warfare. The notion of whole-of-government appeared in the journal’s pages for the first time during this period.
2001 The terror attacks of September 11, 2001, marked the beginning of a somber, soul-searching decade for the United States. By the end of 2010, approximately 6,000 military men and women had given their lives in the insurgent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Parameters stayed focused on the business of war.
2001–10 At the birth of a new millennia, the 323 contributors to Parameters captured the priorities of the past and looked to the future. Many articles focused on matters of military strategy, planning, and doctrine. But in a reflection of the changing character of war, a growing number of contributors engaged topics such as insurgency, low-intensity conflict, and Special Forces.
2011 The decade began with a nation endeavoring to climb out of a deep financial recession and a citizenry increasingly opposed to military involvement overseas. By the end of the decade, relationships with traditional allies and partners had changed significantly, as had the United States’ view of its role in the world. Parameters documented these tectonic shifts.
2011-20 Parameters’ fifth decade featured 304 articles, many of which continued themes of the preceding decade—military strategy, doctrine, and grand strategy. This decade saw the highest percentage of articles concerned with China and the Asia-Pacific region of any decade, together with contributions on contemporary subjects of cyber operations, disinformation, and urban warfare.
Read the Spring 2011 Issue
Looking Back on Parameters
