|
In military strategy, a choke point (or chokepoint) is a geographical feature on land such as a valley, defile or a bridge, or at sea such as a strait which an armed force is forced to pass, sometimes on a substantially narrower front, and therefore greatly decreasing its combat power, in order to reach its objective. A choke point can allow a numerically inferior defending force to successfully thwart a larger opponent if the attacker cannot bring superior numbers to bear. ==Historical examples== Some historical examples of the tactical use of choke points are King Leonidas's defense of the Pass of Thermopylae during an invasion led by Xerxes I of Persia, the Battle Of Stamford Bridge where Harold Godwinson defeated Harald Hardrada, William Wallace's victory over the English at the Battle of Stirling Bridge (Wallace had around 2,300 men against the English army of about 9,000 to 12,000 men and the bridge collapsed during the battle), and the Battle of Agincourt, where Henry V of England decisively defeated the French when they were forced to attack his smaller army through a narrow gap in the Agincourt Woods. It was the suitability of the Caribbean as a chokepoint that attracted pirates and buccaneers during the 17th century. The Spanish treasure fleets leaving the Americas would need to pass this way in order to pick up the strong, prevailing, westerly winds that would take them back to Spain. The most important naval choke points were first identified by John Fisher in his defense of continued British colonialism (important colonies in parentheses): * Hormuz Strait between Oman and Iran at the entrance to the Persian Gulf * Strait of Malacca between Malaysia and Indonesia * Bab-el-Mandeb passage from the Arabian Sea to the Red Sea (Yemen and Socotra) * Panama Canal and the Panama Pipeline connecting the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans (British Honduras) * Suez Canal and the Sumed Pipeline connecting the Red Sea and Mediterranean Sea (Egypt) * The Turkish Straits/Bosporus linking the Black Sea (and oil coming from the Caspian Sea region) to the Mediterranean (Turkey) * The Strait of Gibraltar (Spain, Gibraltar and Morocco) * Cape Horn (Chile) * The Cape of Good Hope (South Africa) The Fulda Gap was seen as one of the decisive bottleneck battlegrounds of the Cold war in Germany. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「choke point」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|