The Officer's Manual: Napoleon's Maxims of War
Napoleon I · translated by Sir G. C. D'Aguilar
Seventy-eight numbered maxims, each followed by a commentary note with campaign examples dated from 1644 to 1814.
Editorial review. Written from the complete text of Project Gutenberg eBook #50750.
It is an approved maxim in war, never to do what the enemy wishes you to do, for this reason alone, that he desires it.
What it is
Seventy-eight numbered maxims run from Maxim I, on the frontiers of states, to Maxim LXXVIII, on studying the great captains. Each maxim is followed by a NOTE. The publisher's preface quotes the translator, who says he added illustrations from Montécuculli and from Frederick's instructions to his generals.
The two voices are separate. The maxim states a rule. The note argues in the first person, quotes Montécuculli, Saxe, Villars and Frederick, and sometimes narrows or overrules the maxim. The text never says who wrote the notes, and the last one claims its author formed the collection (Maxim LXXVIII).
What holds up
Maxim XVII is the most usable rule. A weaker army that wants to avoid battle with a superior force must entrench every night and hold a good defensive position. The note backs it with the Duke of Berwick's 1706 campaign, which took about ten thousand prisoners without a general action.
Maxim XXIX tells a general to collect his whole force before a battle. "Dispense with nothing. A single battalion sometimes decides the day." The note adds two points the maxim omits: fix a junction point behind the reserve, and keep reinforcements hidden, since the enemy imagines them stronger than they are.
Maxim XXXVIII says a general who cannot stop a crossing should reach an intermediate position between the river and the place to be covered, before the enemy does. The note adds that this position should be entrenched in advance, so its holder can strike the enemy's flank or rear.
What does not
The notes leave the harshest passages standing. Maxim XV puts the glory and honor of the army ahead of its men's safety. Maxim VII's note quotes Montécuculli's list, which says to fight battles to spread terror in the country and to treat those who resist ill. Maxim LXXVII says the principles it names, by inspiring terror, will secure subjection. Maxim LVIII calls hardship, poverty and want the best school for a soldier, yet its own note describes battalions in rags deserting for lack of food.
Maxim LXVIII is the sharpest split. The maxim says every general, officer and soldier who capitulates in battle should be decimated. The note says soldiers cannot answer for their chief's orders, so only the chiefs should be punished. It narrows the maxim without saying the maxim was wrong.
Rules also conflict. Maxim XII says an army should keep one line of operation and abandon it only in the last extremity. Maxim XX calls changing that line one of the most skilful manoeuvres in war. Maxim X says to avoid a general action when inferior in numbers, cavalry and artillery, yet Maxim XVIII praises the captain who, surprised by a superior force, marches boldly to meet it. The book does not reconcile these.
Some parts have aged. Maxim XLVIII limits infantry to two ranks because the musket's length allows effective fire only in that formation, though its note calls two ranks too light to resist cavalry in a square. Maxim XLIII says field fortification has made no progress since the ancients, a sweeping claim the text does not support. Maxim IX likens army strength to mechanical power, then multiplies mass by rapidity, which is momentum rather than power.
The dates need checking. The Maxim XX note places a Turenne campaign in 1746 and the Maxim XXIV note places the battle of Marienthal in 1745, though the Maxim XVII note has Turenne killed by a cannon shot in 1675. The transcriber's notes at the end flag both dates as misprints.
Who should read it
Staff officers and students who want short principles tied to named campaigns, and who will keep each maxim apart from its note. Skip it if you want a modern theory of war: the weapons, formations and field works belong to their era.
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