Olubiyo, Kolade Gabriel, PhD

Department of History and International Studies,

Bowen University, Iwo. Osun State – Nigeria.

E-mail: kolade.olubiyo@bowen.edu.ng

Abstract

The discipline of military history is a branch of historical writing that systematically studies a nation’s military activities and technology such as warfare, campaigns, intelligence gathering, tactics and strategies, military-civil relations, among others. Thus, the knowledge of military history is pivotal to building strategic leadership in any nation. Post-independence Nigeria is plagued with huge leadership gap, laden with unhealthy ethno-religious competition and rivalries, mediocrity and other variegated issues that borders on national question. Thus, in a bid to overcome leadership challenge in a heterogeneous society, it is expedient that the knowledge of the past particularly its military history is required as it would help in building transformational leadership. Against this backdrop, the paper attempt to examine the relevance of military history in building strategic leadership in Nigeria. The paper adopts qualitative descriptive method of research using secondary sources. The paper concludes that knowledge of military history has an intrinsic value that could build strategic leadership to manage heterogeneous and complex society like Nigeria.

Keywords: Military, History, Nation Building, Strategic leadership and Intrinsic Value

Introduction

The relevance of military history in building strategic leadership in any nation cannot be overemphasized. The discipline of military history is a branch of historical writing that systematically studies a nation’s military activities and technology in the past, and the changes that had occurred over a period of time. Such military activities include state formation, warfare, campaigns, intelligence gathering, tactics and strategies, humanitarian services to victims of violent conflict, military-civil relations, among others. Of significant importance in military history is the lesson that accompanies military activities, which is useful to the warriors, commanders/leaders and the society in general.  For instance, the lesson learnt from the battlefields by the surviving commanders, warriors/troops and leaders alike would help them not to repeat past mistakes but rather improve their tactics and techniques in subsequent battles.

Considering the present state of many nations in Africa, Nigeria inclusive, there is no gainsaying that there exist leadership question; this has birthed ethno-religious rivalry, corruption, communal clashes, economic crisis, high rate of poverty, political violence civil strife, agitation for secession, insecurity, among others. All the aforementioned have not only been clogs in the wheels of nation building but set the continent backward. The return to democratic governance in the twenty-first century by many African nations re-enact hope of strategic leadership through credible election, but this hope is dashed due to election violence, absence of good governance and resurgence of military coups. 

Recent socio-economic and political developments in Africa demands strategic leadership in order to overcome barrage of the challenges and transformation. Strategic leadership is the ability of a leader to influence the people in order to accomplish the set goals of the organization or the society. In doing this successfully, Chammers opines that the leader must have possessed certain qualities such as good character, courage, prudence, and discipline,[i] among others. While these attributes may be innate or acquired over a period of time, knowledge of the past particularly the military history is also very critical for strategic leadership. Knowledge of military history has an intrinsic value that could build strategic leadership to manage complex society. In fact, as stated by Gbor, military history is an indispensable tool that anchors past military operations, institutional development and activities to the present.[ii] Thus, military history is one of the veritable tools for any leader because it provides a historical understanding of war and society. This historical understanding would help the leaders and the society not to repeat the mistakes of the past

Ironically, many societies and leaders have neglected the relevance of military history in governance as lessons from the past have been thrown to the dustbin. The overall consequence of such neglect is weighty on the society negatively. In contemporary world, many nations are plagued majorly with absence of good governance and conflicts, thus, this has resulted largely in huge security crises and violent attacks in which the military has assumed important role as peacekeepers and peace builders. The quest for strategic leadership becomes imperative to overcoming the aforementioned challenges that threatened and has continued to threaten the existence of mankind globally. The study of military history by modern military professionals is critical to the development of skills directly applicable on the battlefields of today and the future.


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