The publisher has reissued this little volume as a publication timely
for the occasion. A collection of maxims which directed the military
operations of the greatest captain of modern times, cannot fail to
prove of great use to such young officers as really desire a knowledge
of the art of war. The maxims are illustrated by instances drawn from
the campaigns of Gustavus Adolphus, Turenne, Frederick, and Napoleon.
These great men were all governed by the same principles, and it is by
applying these principles to the perusal of their respective campaigns,
that every military man will recognize their wisdom, and make such use
of them hereafter as his own particular genius shall point out.
“And here, perhaps,” says the translator, Col. D’Aguilar, “my task
might have been considered finished; but perceiving how incomplete
the collection was alone, I have endeavored to supply the deficiency
by having recourse for further illustration to the memoirs of
Montécuculli, and the instructions of Frederick to his generals. The
analogy of their principles with those of Napoleon, has convinced me
that the art of war is susceptible of two points of view: one, which
relates entirely to the acquirements and genius of the general; the
other, which refers to matters of detail.
“The first is the same in all ages, and with all nations, whatever be
the arms with which they fight. Hence it follows that, in every age,
great commanders have been governed by the same principles.
“The business of detail, on the contrary, is controlled by existing
circumstances. It varies with the character of a people, and the
quality of their arms.
“It is with a view to impress the justice of this remark, that I have
sought for facts in different periods of history, to illustrate these
maxims, and to prove that nothing is _problematical_ in war; but that
failure and success in military operations depend almost always on the
natural genius and science of the chief.”