Napoleon's Maxims of War

Summary

Napoleon's Maxims of War is not a book Napoleon wrote but a compilation made by a French officer, General Burnod, who in 1827 published Maximes de guerre de Napoléon, drawn from the emperor's memoirs dictated on St Helena and other sources. The British officer George Charles D'Aguilar translated it into English in 1831, adding explanatory notes with examples from the campaigns of Gustavus Adolphus, Turenne, Montecuccoli, Frederick the Great and Napoleon himself. The version stored in this library is an 1862 reprint published at Richmond, Virginia, under the title The Officer's Manual for the newly raised Confederate army, with a recommendation from the Union general Winfield Scott and a short publisher's preface; it contains seventy-eight maxims, each followed by a note. The maxims move roughly from strategy to tactics to the moral qualities of armies and commanders. The opening group treats theatres of war: frontiers formed by deserts, mountains and rivers; the need to foresee the enemy's moves when planning a campaign; the danger of uniting separate armies close to the enemy; and the rule that every war should have a definite object and forces proportioned to it. Maxim IX compares the strength of an army to momentum in mechanics, mass multiplied by speed, and ends with the command 'Press on!'. Many maxims concern lines of operation and communication, which must be single, secure and short, especially for an army burdened with siege guns or convoys of sick and wounded, and the choice of positions, flank marches, river crossings, mountain warfare and the use of fortified places as depots and hospitals. A middle section addresses the arms: the proportions of infantry, cavalry and artillery, the placing of batteries, the formation of infantry in two or three ranks, and the soldier's essential equipment, which Maxim LIX lists as musket, ammunition, knapsack, four days' provisions and an entrenching tool. Later maxims turn to morale and command. The soldier's first qualification is fortitude under fatigue and privation, courage only the second, and hardship the best school. Veterans should be honoured and paid more than recruits. Councils of war end in the most timid course; the only true wisdom in a general is determined courage. Capitulations in the open field are forbidden, and Maxim LXXI condemns any general who betrays his country's frontier. The first quality of a commander is a cool head, one that weighs impressions at their true value without being elated or depressed. The last maxim urges officers to read again and again the campaigns of Alexander, Hannibal, Caesar, Gustavus, Turenne, Eugene and Frederick. D'Aguilar's notes, which often run longer than the maxims, are a substantial part of the book and supply most of its historical narrative.

Plot or Argument

• Front matter of the 1862 Richmond edition

  Winfield Scott's recommendation, the publisher's preface, and D'Aguilar's introductory statement that the art of war has one unchanging part (the genius of the general) and one variable part (matters of detail).

• Maxims I–XI: theatres, plans and concentration

  Natural frontiers, foresight in campaign planning, the danger of joining separated armies near the enemy, definite war aims, the decision to advance, and the comparison of an army's force to mass times velocity.

• Maxims XII–XXXI: lines of operation and positions

  A single, well-guarded line of operations; short lines to depots when carrying sick, wounded or siege trains; flank marches, positions, rear guards, and the conditions for giving or declining battle.

• Maxims XXXII–LVII: the arms and their handling

  Advanced guards, artillery placement and proportions, river crossings and bridgeheads, fortresses as depots and hospitals, infantry ranks, cavalry charges and the combination of arms.

• Maxims LVIII–LXVI: the soldier and the army

  Endurance before courage, the soldier's five necessities, attachment to the colours through respect and pay for veterans, the use of decorations and proclamations, and the futility of councils of war.

• Maxims LXVII–LXXVIII: honour, judgement and study

  No capitulation in the open field, condemnation of treason, the commander's cool head, the conduct of occupied territory, and the closing injunction to model oneself on the great captains by rereading their campaigns.

Characters

• Napoleon Bonaparte, source of the maxims

  Presented as the 'greatest captain of modern times', whose campaigns in Italy, Egypt and Germany supply many of the notes' examples.

• George Charles D'Aguilar, translator and annotator

  British officer whose notes illustrate each maxim with historical cases and quotations from earlier commanders.

• Raimondo Montecuccoli, authority quoted in the notes

  Seventeenth-century imperial general whose memoirs D'Aguilar cites on lines of communication, speed and the qualities of a commander.

• Turenne, exemplar

  Marshal of France under Louis XIV, cited repeatedly for manoeuvre, retreat and the restoration of morale.

• Frederick the Great, exemplar

  Prussian king whose campaigns, including the 1757 junction before Prague, supply cautionary and positive cases.

• Winfield Scott, endorser of the 1862 reprint

  Veteran American general whose letter recommending the book opens the Confederate edition.

Lessons

• Speed as a multiplier of strength

  Maxim IX treats velocity as part of an army's force, and many notes show smaller French armies defeating larger ones by rapid concentration. The book teaches that timing and movement can outweigh numbers.

  • What are the limits of the mass-times-velocity analogy for armies?
  • How does the 1796 Italian campaign illustrate the maxim on rapid marches?

• Endurance before bravery

  Maxim LVIII ranks fortitude under fatigue and privation above courage. The note explains that young soldiers have dash but only experience teaches the patient endurance of hunger, cold and exhaustion.

  • Why might endurance matter more than courage over a whole campaign?
  • Is hardship really 'the best school for a soldier', or does the claim romanticise suffering?
  • What would a modern military psychologist add to this maxim?

• Decide alone, consult separately

  Maxim LXV and its note argue that councils of war produce timidity and leak secrets; a commander should take advice privately and bear responsibility for the decision. The point bears on any organisation where committees diffuse accountability.

  • Why would group deliberation tend toward 'the most timid' option?
  • When is a council of war the right choice despite Napoleon's warning?

• Maxims need cases

  D'Aguilar's notes, longer than the maxims themselves, show how bare principles mean little without historical examples, and the last maxim tells officers to study campaigns rather than rules. The book is an argument for learning judgement through history.

  • Does a maxim like 'press on' teach anything without an example?
  • Why would a Confederate publisher in 1862 reprint a book that ends with a reading list of great captains?

Context

After Napoleon's death, his St Helena memoirs dictated to Las Cases, Gourgaud, Montholon and Bertrand became a quarry for military lessons. Jomini and later Clausewitz turned the Napoleonic wars into systematic theory; Burnod's compilation offered the same material as aphorisms. West Point, founded in 1802, taught a largely Napoleonic curriculum through Dennis Hart Mahan, and many Civil War generals on both sides had studied the emperor's campaigns.

Composition

Burnod published the Maximes de guerre de Napoléon in Paris in 1827. Lieutenant-Colonel G. C. D'Aguilar's English translation with notes appeared in 1831 and went through several editions. The text stored here (Project Gutenberg #50750) reproduces The Officer's Manual: Napoleon's Maxims of War, published at Richmond by West & Johnston in 1862 and printed by Evans & Cogswell of Charleston, with Winfield Scott's recommendation and a short preface.

Reception

The maxims became a staple of nineteenth-century officer education in Britain, France and the United States; Stonewall Jackson is often said to have carried a copy. Later editions added more sayings, and modern compilations such as David Chandler's The Military Maxims of Napoleon (1987) restored and annotated them. Military historians have long warned that the maxims flatten Napoleon's practice into rules he himself frequently broke.

Comparisons

• letters-of-napoleon

  The letters show the emperor improvising specific orders under pressure; the maxims abstract those decisions into general rules, sometimes smoothing over the contradictions the correspondence reveals.

• on-war

  Clausewitz analysed the same campaigns but rejected rule-based teaching, arguing that friction and chance defeat maxims; D'Aguilar's notes, by contrast, claim nothing in war is problematical.

• the-art-of-war

  Sun Tzu's aphorisms and Napoleon's maxims share the compressed form, but Sun Tzu prizes winning without fighting, while the maxims prize decisive battle and speed.

• instructions-for-his-generals

  D'Aguilar drew on Frederick's instructions for his notes; Frederick's concerns with magazines and desertion reappear in maxims on lines of communication and the soldier's attachment to his colours.

• the-art-of-war-machiavelli

  Machiavelli's dialogue also tries to distil ancient and modern military practice into precepts for a citizen army, three centuries before Burnod did the same for Napoleon.

• personal-memoirs

  Grant was a product of the West Point tradition that taught Napoleonic principles, and his memoirs show how such maxims were adapted, and sometimes discarded, in the American Civil War.

Quotes

For Students

A reading companion for classical Christian high school students. See the student guide.

Reading Guide

Watch for

• The difference between the maxims and D'Aguilar's notes. The maxims are a sentence or two; the notes often run a page and supply the battles. Ask whether the maxim proves the example or the example proves the maxim.
• Maxim IX, which borrows from mechanics to say that an army's force is its mass multiplied by its speed. Watch how often later notes show a smaller, faster army beating a larger, slower one.
• The turn in Maxims LVIII to LXVI from terrain and artillery to the soldier himself: endurance, pay for veterans, attachment to the colours, and decorations.
• Maxim LXV on councils of war and Maxim LXXIII on the cool head. Together they sketch the character of a commander, not only his technique.
• The front matter of this 1862 Richmond edition, issued for the new Confederate army with a recommendation from the Union general Winfield Scott, and the closing Maxim LXXVIII sending officers back to Alexander, Hannibal, and Caesar.

Key terms and names

Maxim

A short, general rule of conduct. Burnod gathered seventy-eight of them from Napoleon's St Helena dictations, presenting a lifetime of campaigns as a set of portable principles.

Line of operations

The route by which an army advances from its base toward its objective. Maxims XII to XXI insist that it be single, secure, and short, especially when an army carries sick, wounded, or siege guns.

Line of communication

The road back to the army's depots for supplies, reinforcements, and evacuation. Many of D'Aguilar's examples show armies ruined by having this line cut.

Council of war

A meeting of senior officers to decide a course of action. Maxim LXV warns that such councils end in the most timid choice, and the note urges a general to consult privately and decide alone.

Capitulation

A formal surrender by agreement. Maxim LXVII forbids it in the open field and argues that obstinate resistance more often brings rescue or success.

George Charles D'Aguilar

The British officer who translated the maxims in 1831 and added the long explanatory notes drawn from Turenne, Montecuccoli, Frederick the Great, and Napoleon's own campaigns.

The great captains

Alexander, Hannibal, Caesar, Gustavus Adolphus, Turenne, Eugene, and Frederick, whom Maxim LXXVIII names as the models every officer should study and imitate.

Seminar Questions

1. Comprehension According to Maxim LVIII, what is the first qualification of a soldier, and why does Napoleon rank courage only second?
2. Comprehension What does Maxim LXV say councils of war produce, and what does D'Aguilar's note recommend a general do instead?
3. Comprehension Which seven commanders does Maxim LXXVIII tell officers to study, and what does it tell them to do with their campaigns?
4. Interpretation Maxim IX compares an army to a body in mechanics, with strength equal to mass times rapidity. What does the comparison capture well about war, and what human elements does it leave out?
5. Interpretation Maxim LXXIII asks for a general who is neither elated by good news nor depressed by bad. Why would emotional steadiness matter as much as tactical skill in command?
6. Interpretation If Napoleon often broke his own rules, as historians note, what kind of knowledge do these maxims actually convey? Is the final instruction to study whole campaigns an admission that maxims are not enough?
7. Big Question Should a leader decide alone after hearing advice, or bind himself to the judgment of a council? Where does responsibility properly rest in a family, a church, or a nation?

Faith Connections

• Luke 14:28-32 (Scripture)

  Jesus asks what king going to war does not first sit down and consider whether he can meet the enemy with the forces he has. Maxim II's demand to foresee everything the enemy may do is the same counting of the cost, which Jesus applies to discipleship itself.

• Proverbs 20:18 and 24:6 (Scripture)

  Proverbs teaches that wars are to be waged with wise guidance and that in a multitude of counsellors there is safety. Set against Maxim LXV's distrust of councils of war, students can weigh whether Napoleon and Solomon actually disagree or are describing counsel and command as different things.

• 2 Timothy 2:3-4 (Scripture)

  Paul tells Timothy to endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ, one who does not entangle himself in the affairs of this life. Maxim LVIII's ranking of endurance above courage gives that metaphor its full military weight.

• Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae II-II, q. 40 (Church Fathers)

  Aquinas asks whether it is ever lawful to wage war and answers that it requires lawful authority, a just cause, and right intention. The maxims say how to win a war; Aquinas asks the prior question of when one may be fought, which the maxims never raise.

Logic and Rhetoric

Central argument: War is decided by the commander's ability to concentrate superior force at the decisive point in time. Force is mass multiplied by speed, so movement, secure lines, and foresight can overcome greater numbers. Armies are made of men, so endurance, fair pay, and morale matter as much as artillery. Councils and capitulations breed timidity, so the commander must decide alone with a cool head and determined courage. Since no rule covers every case, the officer must finally learn judgment by rereading the campaigns of the great captains.

Rhetorical device: aphorism. Maxim LVIII compresses a theory of military training into two sentences: endurance under fatigue and privation is first, courage second, and hardship the best school. The pointed ranking makes the claim easy to remember and to argue with, which is why D'Aguilar then spends a long note supplying the evidence.

Debate: Resolved: A general should never hold a council of war before a decisive action.

Memory Work

The first qualification of a soldier is fortitude under fatigue and privation. Courage is only the second; hardship, poverty and want, are the best school for a soldier

The first qualification in a general-in-chief is a cool head--that is, a head which receives just impressions, and estimates things and objects at their real value. He must not allow himself to be elated by good news, or depressed by bad

Writing Prompts

Essay: Napoleon's maxims claim to be timeless rules, yet the final maxim tells officers to study particular campaigns. Using Maxims IX, LXV, and LXXVIII and at least one of D'Aguilar's notes, argue whether military wisdom can be stated in rules or must be learned through cases.

Comparison with The Art of War: Sun Tzu and Napoleon both reduce war to short sayings. Compare Sun Tzu's emphasis on deception and winning without fighting with Napoleon's emphasis on speed, concentration, and determined courage, and argue which offers the more complete account of what makes a commander wise.

Medical Lens

The Maxims say little about medicine directly, and that silence is informative: the sick and wounded appear as convoys that slow an army, and hospitals as items in a list of depots to be protected. The book's real bodily content concerns endurance (fatigue, hunger and privation as the soldier's first test), the four days' provisions every man must carry, and morale. Maxim LXXIII's portrait of the cool-headed commander who is neither elated nor depressed by news, and its rejection of temperaments that dramatise every event, can be read alongside modern work on stress and decision-making, though it is a description of character, not of a disorder. For the medical history of Napoleonic warfare, Larrey's and Percy's surgical memoirs are better sources.

• Maxim XII, Note

  Montecuccoli quoted on the need for secure magazines, hospitals, arms depots and supply places along the line of communication.

  WAR WoundsPublic Health Sanitation
• Maxim XIX, Note

  The starving, ill-clothed Army of Italy in 1796, its draught horses dead from want, before Napoleon's offensive.

  Starvation Nutrition
• Maxim XXI

  Convoys of sick and wounded require the shortest possible line to depots.

  WAR WoundsNursing Caregiving
• Maxims LVIII–LIX and Notes

  Fortitude under fatigue and privation as the soldier's first quality; the four days' provisions and other necessities he must always carry.

  Starvation NutritionPain
• Maxim LXXIII and Note

  The commander's cool head and the unsuitability of excitable temperaments; Montecuccoli's advice never to be anxious or change countenance.

  Neurosis AnxietyMind Body

Creative Prompts

• Fiction

  Write a scene in 1862 in which a young Confederate lieutenant reads The Officer's Manual by campfire, testing each maxim against the chaos of his first battle.

• Essay

  Maxim LVIII calls hardship the best school for a soldier. Assess the claim against what military medicine now knows about malnutrition, sleep deprivation and combat stress.

• Dialogue

  Stage a debate between Clausewitz and D'Aguilar on whether war can be taught through maxims, with each using the 1796 Italian campaign as evidence.

• Classroom

  Give students five maxims without their notes and ask them to find a historical case that supports and one that contradicts each before reading D'Aguilar's examples.

Further Reading

• The Military Maxims of Napoleon, David G. Chandler (ed.)

  Modern annotated edition of D'Aguilar's translation.

• The Campaigns of Napoleon, David G. Chandler

• The Art of War, Antoine-Henri Jomini

  The most influential systematisation of Napoleonic principles.

• Memoirs of Military Surgery and Campaigns of the French Armies, Dominique-Jean Larrey

  The surgeon's view of the campaigns the maxims summarise.