Origins of Theatre warfare – Explained

A theatre of war means – “the entire land, sea and air areas that is or may become involved directly in war operations”.

• The word ‘theatre warfare’ became more prominent during World War II with the battles being fought across continents.
• During World War 1 too, battles were fought across the world, but the major ones took place in what was then known as the European theatre. In World War II, new theatres emerged with multiple fronts — Nordic Front, Western Front and Eastern Front. There was also the Pacific-Asian Theater, Africa and Middle East Theater.
• These theatres referred to the geographical grounds of the battle and all deployments — army, navy and air force — happened accordingly in a unified manner. Depending on what kind of operations was being undertaken, officers from specific services took over the command, even though it was largely led by the Army.