Strategy & Tactics Quarterly Magazine #17: Napoleon’s Art Of Battle

Manufacturer:

Decision Games

The rise of Napoleon Bonaparte to the French throne stemmed from a series of battlefield victories over the armies of every European dynasty. Those battles were sought by Napoleon after careful planning and maneuver to give him the edge on the contested field. This work examines the nature of that process, both in the weeks and days leading to the collision and the hours during which it was brought to fulfillment.

Table of Contents:

Prologue: System or Genius?
 Napoleon was one of the great battle captains in history, but was that due to his genius or being in the right place at the right time?

Part I: Elements of Battle
 A battle is a complex thing; even a genius has to understand the basic components of an army and how they must be coordinated to achieve victory.

 Chapter 1: Armies
 As an outgrowth of the Revolution, France developed the means of raising and organizing larger armies than seen before in Europe, giving Napoleon an unmatched weapon.

 Chapter 2: Tactics
 Getting the most from a single unit or single type of weapon requires detailed knowledge of its capabilities and weaknesses.

Part II: Fields of Battle
 The changes of victory on a given battlefield can be largely determined before the first shot is fired.

 Chapter 3: Campaigns
 Battles always take place in the context of larger operations, and the general who best organizes those operations into a battle plan is most likely to succeed.

 Chapter 4: Designs
 Victory was largely a matter of inflicting, or threatening to inflict, disproportionate casualties on an opponent, and that required a carefully devised plan.

Part III: Days of Battle
 Two of Napoleons’ battles, once a greater and one a lesser victory, were separated by seven years but just a few mils in Saxony, and serve as exemplars of his art.

 Chapter 5: Jena
 Prussia belatedly entered the war against Napoleon in 1806 and took an aggressive position, drawing a swift French reaction and yielding a crushing defeat.

 Chapter 6: Lützen
 Defeated in Russia, Napoleon swiftly organized a new army and marched into Saxony, needing a quick victory ot reestablish his reputation.

Epilogue: Blueprint or Anomaly?
 Though ultimately beaten, it is Napoleon’s methods, not those of his conquerors, that are studied in hopes of producing battlefield success.