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The Principles of War have long been debated about their relevance and usefulness within the military context. Some theorists think that the Principles of War are laws that should be followed to achieve success in battle, while others see them more as guidelines. The principles have also been discussed on which level and type of warfare they should apply on, furthermore which types of principles to include.

A theorist that has published a revised set of nine principles is Marvin Pokrant (2021), these Principles of War aim to be relevant across all levels and types of warfare. They are also one of the most contemporary sets of principles and has not yet been tested. Therefore, are the purpose of this study to both contribute to the overall research about the principles of war and more specifically if Pokrant’s (2021) set of principles has any explanatory value about success in modern military operations.

The result of this study shows that this set of principles has explanatory value about the success in modern military operations. This is because the successful case had eight out of nine principles present, while the unsuccessful case only had two.