Urban Warfare
The trends of population growth and urbanization have resulted in more of the world living in and increasingly larger, urban areas. The urban environment poses exceptional challenges to the military for both combat and non-combat operations. The Madison Policy Forum conducts research to help understand the challenging nature of operating in the urban environment.
Products
Understanding Urban Warfare
The book, published by Howgate in 2022, presents readers with new ways to understand the distinctive characteristics of a variety of cities—megacities, global cities, feral cities, and even smart cities—and how those characteristics impact military operations in urban terrain. Readers will also be provided first-hand accounts of some of the most relevant urban battles in modern history—the 1993 Battle of Mogadishu, the 2004 Second Battle of Fallujah in Iraq—plus the 2020 Battle of Shusha in the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War, and more—to illuminate trends and lessons to better understand urban warfare.
Urban Warfare Project Case Study Series
MPF-supported reports have contributed to the publication of the Modern War Institute at West Point’s Urban Warfare Project Case Study Series. These case studies examine a single urban battle to draw tactical, operational, and strategic lessons that are relevant to future battles.
These cases include:
WWII: Battle of Stalingrad, Battle of Ortona and Battle of Aachen
Vietnam War: Battle of Hue
1973 Arab-Israeli War: Battle of Suez City
1993 Battle of Mogadishu
Iraq War: First and Second Battles of Fallujah, and Battle of Sadr City
2008’s Operation Cast Lead
2016-2017 Battle of Mosul
2017 Battle of Marawi
2020 Nagorno-Karabakh War: Battle of Hadrut and Battle of Shusha
Ukraine War: Battle of Kyiv