Guibert's General Essay on Tactics

Erscheinungsjahr 2021
ISBN: 978-90-04-47315-7
Verlag: Brill

Buch, Englisch, Band 137, 304 Seiten, Format (B × H): 215 mm x 289 mm, Gewicht: 1293 g

Reihe: History of Warfare

Winner of the Society for Military History Distinguished Book Award 2023 (Reference)

“’The God of War’ is near to revealing himself, because we have heard his prophet.” So wrote Jean Colin, naming Napoleon the God of War and Jacques-Antoine-Hippolyte, comte de Guibert, as his prophet. Guibert was the foremost philosopher of the Military Enlightenment, dedicating his career to systematizing warfare in a single document. The result was his magnum opus, the General Essay on Tactics, which helped to lay the foundation for the success of French armies during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. It is presented here in English for the first time since the 1780s, with extensive annotation and contextualization.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Abel, Jonathan

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Militärgeschichte
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Militärwesen Theorie der Kriegsführung und Militärwissenschaft

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Acknowledgments

List of Diagrams

List of Tables and Figures

On the Translation and Sourcing

Introduction

Jonathan Abel

book 1: Elementary Tactics

To My Patrie

Preliminary Discourse

Plan of a Work Entitled “France, Political and Military”

Introduction

Education of Troops

section I: Infantry Tactics

I Infantry Ordinance, Its Formation; Principles That Must Determine Both

II School of the Soldier, Manual of Arms, [and] Formations of Ranks and Files

III On the March

IV Fire

V Evolutions

VI Doubling the Ranks. Ordinance and Means That Must Serve the Infantry to Fight Cavalry

VII Conversion Movements

VIII Formations in Column

IX Formations en bataille

X Changes of Front

section II: Essay on Cavalry Tactics

Introduction to Essay on Calvalry Tactics

I Advantages of Cavalry; [the] Inconveniences That Render It Too Numerous in Armies

II Cavalry Armor and Equipment

III Speed of Movements, the First and Most Advantageous of the Properties of Cavalry

IV Cavalry Ordinance

V School of the Cavalier

VI Analogy between Cavalry Movements and Those of Infantry

VII Formations en bataille

VIiI Charge Movements

section III: Light Troops

I Origin of Light Troops; Their Too-Great Number, [a] Prejudicial Abuse

II It Is Possible to Create a System of War That Renders Light Troops Little-Necessary

III Line Troops May Advantageously Undertake the Service, or at Least a Part of the Service, Confined to Light Troops

IV On the Constitution of Light Troops

section IV: Essay on Artillery Tactics

I On the Artillery in General, Its Advantages [That Are] Too Elevated by Some and Too Abased by Others, [and] Its Real Utility

II Modern Constitution of Our Artillery [and] Parallel of the Old System with the New

III Inconvenience of Too-Numerous Artillery

IV Artillery Movements

V Artillery Execution

book 2: Grand Tactics

Avant-propos

I Army Marches

II Opening of Marches

III On the Disposition of March Orders

IV Disposition of Troops in March Orders

V Disposition of the Artillery in March Orders

VI On the Disposition of Baggage in Marches

VII On Orders of Battle

VIII Parallel Order

IX Oblique Order

x Formation of Armies; [the] Necessity of Assembling Camps Destined to Be Schools of Grand Tactics in Peacetime

xI Project of a Camp of Instruction; Composition and Division of the Army That One Proposes to Assemble There

xII Maneuvers That Must Be Executed in the Camp of Instruction

xIII Application of the Preceding Maneuvers to Terrain and to Circumstances

xIV Application of the Tactics Exposed Above to Defensive Orders of Battle. [The] Necessity of Making This Application Known to the Troops and to the General Officers

xV Continuation of Objectives That Must Be Put into Practice in the Camp of Instruction

xVI Rapport between the Science of Fortifications and Tactics, and with War in General

xVII Rapport between Knowledge of Terrain and Tactics

xVIII Rapport between the Science of Subsistence and War, and Particularly with Campaign War. Examination of the Manner by Which We Make Our Armies Subsist

Appendix A: The French Army in the Eighteenth Century

Appendix B: Glossary of Terms

Bibliography

Index

Über Autor(innen)

Jonathan Abel, Ph.D. (2014), Military History Center at the University of North Texas, is Assistant Professor of Military History at the US Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth. He is the author of Guibert: Father of Napoleon’s Grande Armée (University of Oklahoma Press, 2016).