The Principles of War (Classic Reprint)

Excerpt from The Principles of War

Shepherds' fires lit on a stormy coast, to guide the uncertain seaman these lines might well be applied to the following pages. They were written for young officers. The reader must not look to find in them a complete, a methodical, still less an academic account of the art of war, but rather a mere discussion of certain fundamental points in the conduct of troops, and above all the direction which the mind must be given so that it may in every circumstance conceive a manoeuvre at least rational. If it prove useful in this respect, by enlightening the reader, or by giving him a sound direction, this book will have fulfilled its purpose.

When young officers 1om their regiments and propose to study the conduct of troops in the field, they hear talk of certain principles which govern war. They attempt in vain to discover those guiding principles; they cannot find them either in what they have been previously taught, or in the reading of military works.

Principles, they are told, are a matter of common sense, of judgment; their application varies according to circumstance; they cannot be written down or learned.

When the moment comes for exercise on varied ground and for the autumn manoeuvres, they hear their senior officers criticise in the name of these same principles the tactics adopted. It then appears that though their elders know these famous principles, they often apply them wrongly. It is yet another example of the great gulf between the knowledge of a truth and its use in practice.

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