The principles of war are considered timeless and are described differently depending which scholar is studied. The purpose of the thesis is to further the discussion on the principles. This thesis focuses on surprise and conducts a case study with a theoretical framework based on Basil Liddell Hart and Jim Storr to examine if the framework can explain what factor was the most contributing for achieving surprise in the cases of the battle at Golan heights 1973 and the assault on the port of Narvik 1940.
The results show that movement is the most contributing factor, but can be critiqued because of the dilemma posed by surprise. It can only be proven that surprise have been successfully achieved after knowing the outcome. The results also argues that the principles of war are based on previous observations and will therefore be able to explain the outcome of most events that take place within the realm of contemporary military theory.