The Spirit of Military Institutions: Or, Essential Principles of the Art of War |
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action advantage arms arrived art of war artillery attack Austrian army battalion Bizanet Blücher brave Cæsar calibre camp campaign cannon cause cavalry character charge Chevalier Folard circumstances column combat combinations command composed confidence Congreve rockets corps d'armée courage Danube debouched defence Desaix direction disorder dispositions division elements enemy enemy's English army eral established executed faculties favorable fight fire flank force formation formed fortified fortress France French army Gardes Françaises garrison genius give glory greatest guard Hohenlinden horses immense important infantry instruction Italy kind lance less light troops line of operation Lützen manner manœuvre Marshal Marshal Bessières Massena materiel means ment midst military Mont-Saint-Jean moral Moreau movements Napoleon nature necessary never obstacles occupied offensive officers organization Polybius position present preserve principles regiment rendered resistance retreat Richepanse Russian siege skilful soldiers strategic point strategy strength success superior tactics tion victory
Popular passages
Page 197 - AND PURSUITS. 1. It is not without justice, that great praise has always been accorded to retreats, made in presence of a superior enemy ; this is one of the most delicate and hazardous operations of war. The principal difficulty lies in the morale of the troops, which becomes much impaired in these circumstances ; it is a singular thing, — the different impression produced upon the soldier, when he looks the enemy in the face, and when he turns his back upon him. In the first case, he only sees...
Page 79 - All things equal,' he says, p. 48, ' it is certain that a hussar or a chasseur will beat a lancer.' If by ' toutet choscs fyales' it be meant that the parties opposed shall have had nothing but the usual regimental instruction in the use of their respective weapons, we have no doubt that the Marshal is right; but we also believe that the lance is by far the superior weapon in the hands of a horseman bred and trained to its use.
Page 56 - Art. 19. the front forward, and thus they arrive at the point to be attacked the more quickly. As a compliment to this disposition of troops, a great number of skirmishers would precede the columns, and march in a direction corresponding to the intervals of the battalions, in such a manner as to divide the fire of the enemy, and to cover the deployment if it becomes necessary, without masking the heads of columns, which may immediately commence firing. The skirmishers thus placed will find themselves...
Page 173 - In 1800, Napoleon debouched into Italy with an army of sixty thousand men. Having crossed the Po, and completely turned the Austrian army, he found himself upon their lines of communication, with the design to take possession of all the roads by which they might attempt to retire. To achieve that he placed on the Tessino a part of his force on the right bank of the Po, while, of necessity, he sent upon the Adda and Oglio one division to cover himself in that direction. Then, supposing that the Austrian...
Page 247 - ... the rectitude of the judgments he forms, and of the application he makes of them, in the varied chances of war, as well of his own troops as of those which he has fought and is going to fight. These constitute an independent faculty in the profession of arms; nothing less than an appanage of genius. All great generals have possessed it, and never did any man in the world have it in a higher degree than Napoleon. Discipline, the auxiliary of courage, is necessary also as a means of order. We may...
Page 100 - Owen, rockets, we have an arm of long range, which may be established everywhere in profusion upon rocky summits, as well as upon lower plateaux.* On level plains every building is transformed into a fortress, and the roof of a village church becomes, at will, the platform of a formidable battery.
Page 167 - ... soon gave up the idea of attacking us. He then put in motion the English army, marching it along a table-land parallel to the one we occupied. The two armies continued their march, separated by a narrow valley, always ready to accept battle ; several hundred cannon shots were exchanged, according to the circumstances more or less favourable arising from the sinuosities of the table-land, for each of the generals wished to accept battle and not to give it. They arrived thus after a march of five...
Page 122 - ... and the talent to satisfy these with order, economy and intelligence forms the science of administration.
Page 70 - Marraont thus expresses himself, as to the qualities necessary for a general of cavalry : — " To command cavalry, where large masses are concerned, superior qualities and special merits are necessary. There is nothing so rare as a man who knows how to wield, conduct and use them appropriately. In the French armies, we can count but three in twenty years of war ; — Kellermann (junior), Montbrun, and La Salle. The qualities necessary for a general of cavalry are of so varied a nature, and are so...
Page 48 - Strategy has a double aim : — 1. To unite all the troops, or the greatest number possible, on the field of action, when the enemy has only a part of his own there ; in other words, to cherish a numerical superiority for the day of battle.