Reinhard von Bonaparte
Walter Amos (amos@sedl.org)
Wed, 2 Apr 1997 19:25:58 -0600 (CST)
Since we've been having a little more list traffic here lately, I thought I'd
bring up something of a more serious note I've been meaning to discuss for a
week or so now. Last week in the local Barnes and Noble I was browsing the
discounted books section and noticed a slim volume entitled "Napoleon's Art of
War". It was only about $5, so I picked it up. It is a collection of maxims
by Napoleon on how to conduct troops and campaigns in the early 18th century
style of massed army warfare. After each maxim is some commentary by a
General Burnod.
Now, at the very beginning of the book, Maxim 2 says "In forming the plan of a
campaign, it is requisite to foresee everything the enemy may do, and to be
prepared with the necessary means to counteract it." A fairly obvious
statement, but what struck me was Burnod's commentary afterward, which is
excerpted below:
"Sometimes we see a hazardous campaign succeed, the plan of which is directly
at variance with the principles of the art of war. . . . Such was the fate of
the plan laid down by the Aulic Council for the campaign of 1796, under the
command of Marshal Wurmser. . . . Wurmser, supposing the French army fixed in
the neighborhood of Mantua, divided his force into three corps, which marched
separately, intending to unite at that place. Napoleon, having penetrated the
design of the Austrian general, perceived the advantage to be derived from
striking the first blow against an army divided into three corps, with no
communication between them. He hastened, therefore, to raise the siege of
Mantua, assembled the whole of his forces, and by this means became superior
to the Imperialists, whose divisions he attacked and beat in detail."
Now is it just me or does this sound like an exact description of the Battle
of Astarte in LoGH? I know the comparison has been made here before between
the battles of LoGH and the campaigns of Napoleon (as opposed to trench
warfare of WW1, which I frequently compare it to to explain to people what the
show is about), however I hadn't realized quite *how* closely the parallel
ran. Clearly Tanaka must have studied Napoleon before writing LoGH.
==============================================================================
"Zu jeder Zeit, an jeder (sic) Ort, bleibt das Tun | Walter Amos
der Menschen das gleiche..." - Galactic Heroes II | amos@sedl.org