#337 Napoleon's Maxims and Strategy

Napoleon fought more battles than Alexander, Hannibal, and Julius Caesar combined. He is beyond any doubt. The greatest of European soldiers. He never wrote his series or principles on the conduct of war, although he often expressed the intention of doing so.

that everyone would be surprised at how simple they were. I'm gonna interrupt this real quick because when I read that part, everybody would be surprised at how simple they were. I thought about one of my favorite quotes I've ever read. And it says a novice is easily spotted because they do too much. Too many ingredients, too many movements, too much explanation. A master uses the fewest motions required to fulfill their intention. Back to this book. It remained for Napoleon alone among the great generals of his time to seize all these possibilities and develop from them a calculated system of strategy and a system of tactics calculated with equal brilliance.

No other general of his time realized these possibilities until forced to learn by combating Napoleon. He astounded his opponents by the crushing rapidity of his battles. Speed and the importance of speed might be the thing that he repeats the most in these maxims. He astounded his opponents by the crushing rapidity of his battles. His strategical system. Where was based on marching rapidly and secretly past the enemy's flank to get on the hostile line of communications. This forced his opponents to turn and fight at a disadvantage. The way you and I have talked about this in the past is that you want to compete on your terms. You only want to play games where you have the edge. His battles were the result of his strategical movements and were carefully calculated. The art of strategy as developed by writers for the past century has its foundations in his operation. So, in other words, he influenced the generals that came after him, just like he was influenced by the generals that came before him. Closowitz grew.

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