Afterwards come the works of M. Ségur the younger, a writer full of genius and of wise views, who has proved to us, by the history of Charles VIII, that with a little more nature in his style he might bear away from his predecessors the historic palm of the great age which yet awaits its Polybius. Jomini never graphed the high degree of improvisation Napoleons’ campaign. I pray that my readers, well penetrated with these truths, may receive with kindness this new summary, which may now, I believe, be offered as the book most suitable for the instruction of a prince or statesman. FeuquiPres and Lloyd had indicated the road without having had many imitators until the Revolution. A year after the publication of this analytical table, the Prussian General Clausewitz died, leaving to his widow the care of publishing posthumous works which were presented as unfinished sketches. - Offensive actions are generally most advantageous. But the strategic work of Bülow, and the historical narrative of Lloyd, translated by Roux-Fazillac, having then fallen into my hands determined me to follow another plan. Capitalising on Napoleon’s success as a pragmatist and simultaneous failure as a theorist, Jomini’s literary contributions dominated the military-strategic consciousness of European armies and their conduct of war in the first half of the nineteenth century … A more neutral treatment can be found in John Shy's, "Jomini," in Peter Paret, ed., Makers of Modern Strategy: From Machiavelli to the Nuclear Age. In this manner the commander could aggressively engage fractions of the Clausewitz sees this as a much less linear relationship. Jomini prescribes maneuvering the mass of an army so as to threaten the “decisive points” in a theater of war and thenr to hurl all available forces against a fraction of the enemy force defending those points. The works of Clausewitz ( On War) and Jomini ( The Art of War) can both rightly claim a lasting legacy, but … In all the arts, as in all the situations of life, knowledge and skill are two altogether different things, and if one often succeed through the latter alone, it is never but the union of the two that constitutes a superior man and assures complete success. But although that author has resolved none of those questions in manner to make of them a connected system, it is necessary to render him the justice to say that he first pointed out the good route. The latter especially made a certain sensation in Europe by his Spirit of the System of Modern Warfare, the work of a man of genius, but which was merely sketched, and which added nothing to the first notions given by Lloyd. Jomini defined strategy as the “art of properly directing masses upon the theater of war, either for defense or for invasion” (11). First, keeping in mind the military objective, one should carefully select a theater of war that … These simple truisms included the use of strategic movements to maneuver the mass of the friendly army against decisive points in the theater of war. It is extraordinary enough to accuse me of having said that the art of war did not exist before me, when in the chapter of Principles, published in 1807, of which I have before spoken, and which had a certain success in the military world, the first phrase commenced with these words: "the art of war has existed from time immemorial." If, out of forty-five articles, some have ten positive maxims, others one or two only, are not 150 or 200 rules sufficient to form a respectable body of strategic or tactical doctrines? I profited of this occasion to defend the principles of my chapter on lines of operations, which several writers had badly comprehended, and this polemic brought about at least more rational definitions, at the same time maintaining the real advantages of central operations. What I have said is that there were no books which proclaimed the existence of general principles, and made the application of them through strategy to all the combinations of the theater of war: I have said that I was the first to attempt that demonstration, which others improved ten years after me, without, however, it being yet complete. G.H. But the art, confined to the understanding of great captain, existed in no written treatise. Besides that, the author shows himself by far too skeptical in point of military science; his first volume is but a declamation against all theory of war, whilst the two succeeding volumes, full of theoretic maxims, proves that the author believes in the efficacy of his own doctrines, if he does not believe in those of others. * This essay is reproduced (with minor editing) from the 1854 American translation of Jomini's The Artof War, trans. Mendell and Lt. W.P. With very few military theorists out there, a competing view was a threat to the sales of his writings. The military historians of the 18th century who had held the first rank were, Dumont, Quincy, Bourcet, Pezay, Grimoard, Retzow and Tempelhoff; the latter especially had made of it a kind of school, although his work is a little overcharged with the details of marches and encampments: details very good, without doubt, for fields of combat, but very useless in the history of a whole war, since they are represented almost every day under the same form. In The Art of War (1838), Jomini outlined several Principles of War, of which three were essential. The artillery, since Gribeauval and d'Urtubie has had its Aide-Memoire, and a mass of particular works, in the number of which are distinguished those of Decker, Paixhans, Dedon, Hoyer, Ravichio and Bouvroy. Context: Career military staff officer; failed to achieve command; served as an advisor to the Russian Czar; wrote to impress and be published Thesis: - Strategy defined: the art of making war upon the map, comprehends whole theater of operations Focused on LOC (threaten FI com line, while protecting your own) and Decisive point (massing your forces towards this). These unchanging patterns make war a science, even if politics are an art. The man they called the “devin de Napoléon” (the man who guessed what Napoleon was about), because he wrote a definition of his way of making war, was born in Payerne (Switzerland), in the Vaud canton on 6 March, 1779, into a wealthy family (Payerne (Vaud) is 50 km S.-E. of Berne.Jomini was born at the address 48, Grande Rue (Répertoire mondial des souvenirs napoléoniens, p. 537). The war with Austria supervening the same year, did not permit me to give the work all the care desirable, and I was able to execute but a part of my project. The art of war, as generally considered, consists of five purely military branches, --viz. Clausewitz's contemporary and rival, Antoine Jomini, presents a significantly different perception of what war is and how warfare is conducted. Jomini also says that the “fundamental principle of war” is the following: To throw by strategic movements the mass of an army, successively, upon the decisive points of a theater of war, and also upon the communications of the enemy as much as possible without compromising one’s own Other articles where Summary of the Art of War is discussed: Henri, baron de Jomini: …l’art de la guerre (1838; Summary of the Art of War, 1868). Winship and Lieut. Jomini’s criticisms of C abated somewhat when he saw that his sales were safe, and his later writings show that he had actually adopted some of Clausewitz’s ideas, but by this time the “train” of his earlier ideas had already “left the station “, and noncritical thinkers immediately adopted his prescriptive approach to prosecuting war. E.E. This work made a great sensation in Germany, and for my part I regret that it was written before the author was acquainted with my Summary of the Art of War, persuaded that he would have rendered to it some justice. The determination of the objective point to be attained, whether it be offensive or defensive; 4. * For a rather negative (but accurate) treatment, read John R. Elting, "Jomini: Disciple of Napoleon?" Plenty of commentary out there comparing the theories of Clausewitz and Jomini, but here are your “Cliff Claven Little Known Facts”: Jomini was Swiss, French speaking but still an outsider from middle class background, but was very bright and well educated, studying in Paris, and in 1804 petitioned Napoleon to annex Switzerland, causing Switzerland to demand his expulsion from Ney’s Sixth Corps. But those writers had not penetrated very far into the mine which they wished to explore, and in order to form a just idea of the state of the art in the middle of the 18th century, it is necessary to read what Marshal Saxe wrote in the preface to his Reveries. NOTES As for myself, I own that I have been able to find in this learned labyrinth but a small number of luminous ideas and remarkable articles; and far from having shared the skepticism of the author, no work would have contributed more than his to make me feel the necessity and utility of good theories, if I had ever been able to call them in question; it is important simply to agree well as to the limits which ought to be assigned them in order not to fall into a pedantry worse than ignorance;*3 it is necessary above all to distinguish the difference which exists between a theory of principles and a theory of systems. Count Kevenhuller gave maxims upon field warfare and upon that of sieges. It will be objected perhaps that, in the greater part of the articles of this summary, I myself acknowledge that there are few absolute rules to give on the divers subjects of which they treat; I agree in good faith to this truth, but is that saying there is no theory? Finally, there is a third kind, that of critical history, applied to the principles of the art, and more especially designed to develop the relations of events with those principles. At the end of the Seven Years War, some good works appeared; Frederick himself, not content with being a great king, a great captain, a great philosopher and great historian, made himself also a didactic author by his instructions to his generals. Thanks to this concurrence of didactic works and of critical history, the teaching of the science is no longer so difficult, and the professors who would be embarrassed at this day, in making good courses with a thousand examples to support them, would be sad professors. *2 This latter raised in his interesting memoirs important questions of strategy, which he unfortunately left buried in a labyrinth of minute details on the tactics of formation, and upon the philosophy of war. Cario Nisas, too verbose with regard to the ancients, mediocre for the epoch from the revival to that of the Seven Years War, has completely failed on the modern system. There is nothing perfect under the sun!!! The works of Clausewitz have been incontestably useful, although it is often less by the ideas of the author, than by the contrary ideas to which he gives birth. The definition of this theatre and of the different combinations which it might offer; 2. In his Summary of the Art of War (1838), Jomini defined logistics as “the practical art of moving armies,” by which he evidently meant the whole range of functions involved in moving and sustaining military forces—planning, administration, supply, billeting and encampments, bridge and road building, even reconnaissance and intelligence insofar as they were related to maneuver off the battlefield. This last species, less brilliant in its forms, is for that perhaps only the more useful in its results, especially where criticism is not pushed to that rigor which would often render it false and unjust. "The maxims of application which are derived from those principles are also small in number, and if they are found sometimes modified according to circumstances, they can nevertheless serve in general as a compass to the chief of an army to guide him in the task, always difficult and complicated, of conducting grand operations in the midst of the noise and tumult of combats. - Maxims: (1) Mass forces against decisive points; (2) Maneuver to engage fractions of the hostile army; (3) Engage at the proper times and with energy. Jomini feels that politics end when war begins. An ignorant man, endowed with a natural genius, can do great things; but the same man stuffed with false doctrines studied at school with pedantic systems, will do nothing good unless he forget what he had learned. "Finally, the metaphysical and skeptical works of a few writers will not succeed, either, in causing it to be believed that there exists no rule for war, for their writings prove absolutely nothing against maxims supported upon the most brilliant modern feats of arms, and justified by the reasoning even of those who believe they are combatting them.". Context: Career military staff officer; failed to achieve command; served as an advisor to the Russian Czar; wrote to impress and be published, - Strategy defined: the art of making war upon the map, comprehends whole theater of operations. In this manner the commander could aggressively engage fractions of the The remaining notes are from the original. I found again, afterwards, the same cause in the first successes of Napoleon in Italy, which gave me the idea that by applying, through strategy, to the whole chess-table of a war (a tout l'échiquier d'une guerre), this same principle which Frederick had applied to battles, we should have the key to all the science of war. 1. Feuquieres was not sufficiently appreciated by his contemporaries, at least as a writer; he had the instinct of strategy as Folard, that of tactics, and Puységur that of la logistique. "On the contrary, nothing is better calculated to kill natural genius and to cause error to triumph, than those pedantic theories, based upon the false idea that war is a positive science, all the operations of which can be reduced to infallible calculations. 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