The Principles of War |
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accordance action advance guard advantage aims allow already appears army corps arrival artillery assembled attack Austrian battalion battery battle beginning Brigade carried cause cavalry column commander companies concentration considered continue cover crossing danger decisive defeat defense detachment direction dispositions distance Division duty employ enemy enemy's engagement fight fire flank forces French front ground guns hand heights hold idea important infantry Italy keep kilometers later main body maneuver mass means methods moral move movement Nachod Napoleon nature necessary numbers o'clock objective obtained occupy offensive operation organized position possible preparation principle protection Prussian pushed reach received regiment remain reserve resistance result retreat road Saalfeld seek seen soon space squadrons strong superiority tactics theory tion troops victory whole wood Wysokow
Popular passages
Page 34 - Prussians' victory only in the superiority of their armament. By realizing in this manner only the visible side of Prussian military strength they realized, also, only the visible obstacles which it encountered. It was an axiom of the French army to use to its fullest extent the power of armament, and to remain strictly on the defensive. They thought that the offensive power of the German army would be broken by the defensive action of new and terrible weapons. Our opponents did along the development...
Page 23 - You will be asked later to be the brains of an army ; I say unto you to-day : Learn to think. In the presence of every question considered independently and by itself, ask yourself first : What is the objective? That is the first step toward the state of mind to be attained ; that is the direction sought, purely objective. 'There, is no genius who tells me suddenly and in secret what I must say or do in any circumstance unexpected by others; it is reflection, meditation
Page 21 - today the Generalin-Chief can no longer direct everything. Even a genius requires a staff of helpers, filled with initiative, and well trained. How much more does a general of no more than ordinary ability need to be assisted. The command of an army is too complex for a single man. At the same time, certain technical questions require special knowledge," "And so," said General Foch (The Principles of War, p.
Page 311 - We hear in this an echo of a mighty warrior of the Heavenly Host, of whom it has been said: "You cannot beat him, for you cannot discourage him." "The will to conquer : such is the first condition of victory, consequently the first duty of every soldier; and it is also the supreme resolution with which the commander must fill the soul of his subordinates. "That necessitates, for an army that desires to conquer, the highest sort of command, and it necessitates in the man who undertakes to battle one...
Page 22 - It is necessary, finally, to employ unconsciously some truths. For that purpose they must be so familiar to us as to have entered into our bones, to be a component part of ourselves. "Those are happy who are born believers, but they are not numerous. Neither is a man born learned or born muscular. Each one of us must build up his faith, his beliefs, his knowledge, his muscles. Results will not spring from any sudden revelation of light as by a stroke of lightning. We can only obtain them through...
Page 31 - I will conduct you into the most fertile plains in the world. Rich provinces, great cities will be in your power; there you will find honor, glory, and...
Page 312 - Is it not the manner in which the leaders carry out the task of command, of impressing their resolution in the hearts of others that makes them warriors, far more than all other aptitudes or faculties which theory may expect of them?
Page 11 - As a matter of fact, there is no studying on the battle field. It is then simply a case of doing what is possible to make use of what one knows. And in order to make a little possible one must know much.
Page 40 - The present day army is therefore bigger and better trained, but it is also more nervous and more easily affected. The human side of the problem, which already had greater importance than the material factor . must now be more important still. . . . " "Nowhere can better models be found than in the actions of Napoleon, who made use of that wonderful military power...
Page 23 - The work is here a constant appeal to thought : . after the correction of work bringing one's ideas closer to those of the teacher. "Then only do minds stretch in accordance with the study undertaken; principles are absorbed to the extent of becoming the basis of decisions made. You will be asked later to be the brains of an army ; I say unto you to-day : Learn to think. In the presence of every question considered independently and by itself, ask yourself first : What is the objective?
Bibliographic information
| Title | The Principles of War |
| Author | Ferdinand Foch |
| Publisher | H. K. Fly Company, 1918 |
| Original from | the University of California |
| Digitized | Jan 16, 2008 |
| Length | 372 pages |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |