Front line
Position closest to the area of conflict
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Through War and World War I
All branches of the United States Armed Forces use the related technical terms, Forward Line of Own Troops (FLOT) and Forward Edge of Battle Area (FEBA). These terms are used as battlespace control measures that designate the forward-most friendly maritime or land forces on the battlefield at a given point in time during an armed conflict. FLOT/FEBA may include covering and screening forces. The Forward Line of Enemy Troops (FLET) is the FEBA from the enemy's perspective.
Etymology
Although the term "front line" first appeared in the 1520s, it took until 1842 for it to be used in the military sense. Its first use as an adjective was from 1915.
The word "front" gained the military sense of "foremost part of an army" in the mid-14th century, which, in turn, led the word to take on the meaning "field of operations in contact with the enemy" in the 1660s. That sense led to the phrase home front, which first appeared in 1919.
The attributive adjective version of the term front line (as in "our front-line personnel") describes materiel or personnel intended for or actively in forward use: at sea, on land or in the air: at the front line.
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Evolution of the concept
In the land campaigns of World War I, FEBAs, FLOTs and FLETs could often be identified by eye. For example, in France and Belgium, they were defined by opposing defensive trench systems.
Typical modern conflicts are vastly different, characterised by "war amongst the people", the concept of a "Three Block War", and the presence of an asymmetric threat from irregular or terrorist combatants. In those cases, the concepts of front line, FEBA, FLOT and FLET may be of little relevance. The term "front line" has come to refer more to any place where bullets and bombs are flying or are likely to fly.
With the start of the Russo-Ukrainian war in 2022, "front-line" has somewhat regained its definition as the static positions of two opposing sides. This resulting from the adoption of trenched positions by both Russians and Ukrainians, which has seen the separation between the two become clearly defined, with exchanges of territory becoming rarer.