The Art of War.
"The
art of war, as generally
considered, consists of five purely military branches, --viz.:
Strategy, Grand Tactics, Logistics,
Engineering, and Tactics. A sixth and essential
branch, hitherto unrecognized, might be termed
Diplomacy in its relation to War."1a*
CLAUSEWITZ
"
. . . Strategy
is the art of making war upon the map, and comprehends the whole
theater of operations. Grand Tactics is the art of posting
troops upon the battle-field according to the accidents of the
ground, of bringing them into action, and the art of fighting upon
the ground . . . Logistics comprises the means and
arrangements which work out the plans of strategy and tactics.
Strategy decides where to act; logistics brings the
troops to this point; grand tactics decides the manner of
execution and the employment of the troops."1b
GUEVARA
" . . .
[T]here is one great principle
underlying all the operations of war, . . . It is embraced in
the following maxims:--
-
To throw by strategic movements the
mass of an army, successively, upon the decisive
points of a theater of war, and also upon the
communications of the enemy as much as possible without
compromising one's own.
-
To maneuver to engage fractions of the hostile
army with the bulk of one's forces.
-
On the battle-field, to throw the mass
of the forces upon the decisive point, or upon that
portion of the hostile line which it is of the first importance
to overthrow.
-
To so arrange that these masses
shall not only be thrown upon the decisive point, but that they
shall engage at the proper times and with
energy."1c
CLAUSEWITZ
ZEDONG
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*
Italics in the original.
1
Baron Antoine
Henri de Jomini
(1779-1869)..
The Art of War.
With a new Introduction by Charles Messenger. Lionel Leventhal
Limited, 1992. Introduction, Charles Messenger, 1992. London, UK:
Greenhill Books, 1996. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 1996.
The
Art of War was first published in 1838 as
Precis de
l'Art de Guerre
(Paris) and was reprinted in 1855 "augmentee d'un appendice."
The English-language translation of 1862 (J.B. Lippincott & Co.,
Philadelphia) was reprinted in 1992 by
Greenhill Books, with an Introduction by
Charles Messenger.)
a Summary of the Art of War.
Definitions of the Branches of the Art of War, at 13.
b Chp. III. Strategy. Definition of Strategy and the
Fundamental Principle of War, at 69.
c Ibid., at 70.
MK-BOOKS-JOMINI-20040912
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