Famous sayings and quips
If in a country, those warriors who sacrifice their lives, health and happiness to defend the country are not as good as pot-bellied businessmen, then the country's demise is not wronged at all.
Tactics is the art of using troops at decision-making points, with the aim of making them play a decisive role in the timing and place of decision-making.
There are at least 1000 factors directly related to the war.
Brief introduction to life
Jomini 1779 was born on March 6th in Payne, French-speaking Switzerland. As a child, Jomini had a strong interest in military affairs, but under the pressure of his parents, he had to give up this hobby temporarily and enter the Basel Bank School. After he finished his studies with honors, he entered the business circles in Paris.
Like many young people at that time, Jomini's worship of Napoleon at this time has reached a fanatical level. He is eager to enter the French military academy and become a glorious soldier in Napoleon's army in the future. However, contrary to expectations, I applied several times and was not accepted. But this did not dampen his interest in military affairs, but encouraged him to be firm in his determination. So, regardless of his family's resolute opposition, he resolutely resigned from the superior jobs of banks and exchanges and embarked on the road of self-taught military. His method is to widely read the military works written by predecessors, especially the works on military history, and at the same time pay attention to collecting and sorting out the development of the ongoing Napoleonic War, and record the military situation of each participating country in detail every day. He focused on Napoleon's expedition to Italy and commented on the war in his diary. Jomini thus took the first step in his long military theory research career.
Jomini, who joined the French army at 180 1 as he wished, performed very well in all the assigned tasks and was quickly appreciated by his superiors. Marshal Nye took a fancy to this Swiss young man who was keen on learning military knowledge and working hard, and made him his own personal adjutant. Because of this position, Jomini participated in many major battles organized, planned and commanded by Marshal Ney. On one occasion, Ney sent Jomini to Napoleon to report the fighting situation face to face. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for him. Jomini presented his first book, A Course in the Theory and Application of Grand Tactics (revised and renamed as On Large-scale Military Action) directly to Napoleon. Napoleon was overjoyed after seeing it, and soon appointed Jomini as the chief of staff of Marshal Ney and awarded the rank of Colonel.
However, in the eyes of some senior officers of the French army, Yomini is a foreigner after all, and some jealous people are born out of jealousy. They spread rumors that Ney often wins battles, mainly due to Yomini, in order to alienate the relationship between Yomini and Marshal Ney. After these rumors spread to Nair, Marshal was dissatisfied with Jomini, and as a result, he lost the post of Chief of Staff.
Jomini couldn't stand such a big grievance, so he angrily turned to Tsar Alexander I and asked to accept his service in the Russian army. However, this matter was soon known by Napoleon. Napoleon was very angry and immediately asked the secretary of the army to make a "suggestion" to Jomini: either continue to serve the French army or go to prison. Jomini had to submit to humiliation and continue to work in the French army. Later, through hard work, Jomini finally got the understanding of Marshal Ney, and with Napoleon's consent, he returned to Ney's army as the chief of staff.
18 13 years, Jomini made great contributions in the battle of Bautzen, and Marshal Ney nominated him to be promoted to the rank of major general, but Marshal Betty, the chief of staff of the French army, retaliated privately and denied this suggestion for an excuse. Jomini was so angry that he left the French army in August of 18 13 and once again asked to work for czar Alexander I. The czar was overjoyed and immediately appointed him as the adjutant of the emperor's retinue and awarded the rank of lieutenant general. In order to repay the kindness of the czar, Chomini devoted the rest of his life to czar Russia. He served as a military instructor for the czar and his princes, and served as a military adviser to the czar when the war broke out. Especially during the 1828 ~ 1829 Russian-Turkish war, Jomini served as the chief of the general staff of the Russian army, participated in the formulation of the Russian army's operational plan and personally directed the Russian army's actions. In the end, the Russian army won, and Chomini contributed a lot.
After the war, Jomini mainly engaged in military education and writing. 1853, when the Crimean War broke out, he returned to Russia as a military adviser at the invitation of the czar. He personally participated in the discussion and formulation of military plans, which made great contributions to the Russian army's defeat of the Turkish army in the early days of the war. In the late Crimean War, due to the military intervention of Britain and France, the strength was very different, and finally the Russian army was defeated. From 65438 to 0855, Jomini left Russia and returned to France, where he devoted the rest of his life to military writing. 1869, Jomini died in Paris at the age of 90.
Overview of works
Jomini's main works include: On Large-scale Military Action, History of Military Criticism in the French Revolutionary War, Napoleon's Political and Military Career, Basic Principles of Sun Tzu's Art of War, Introduction to Sun Tzu's Art of War, etc. Among them, An Introduction to the Art of War by Sun Tzu is the one with the greatest influence, the widest spread and the highest theoretical value. After the book was published in 1837, many countries competed to translate and publish it, and it was designated as a compulsory teaching material for military officers, which attracted great attention from many famous military figures.
The full name of Introduction to Sun Tzu's Art of War is Introduction to Sun Tzu's Art of War or the latest comments on major issues such as strategy, major tactics and military policy. This book has been revised and supplemented according to Jomini's book Large-scale Military Action. It is divided into 7 chapters and 47 sections (conclusion 65,438+0, addendum 65,438+0, addendum 2, attached figure 7). The first chapter is war policy, which mainly discusses various wars according to their purposes and forms. The second chapter is military policy or philosophy of war, which mainly discusses various basic factors that affect the outcome of war. The third chapter is the strategy. In addition to discussing the definition of strategy and some basic principles, various operational systems are also discussed in detail. The fourth chapter is grand tactics and engagement, which specifically discusses various battles such as attack, defense, circuitous maneuver, marching in battle, sudden attack, fortress siege and so on. The fifth chapter is the mixed operation of strategy and tactics, which mainly discusses the attack, crossing the river, retreat, pursuit and landing operations. The sixth chapter is the practical art of fighting logistics or mobilizing troops, mainly discussing the concept and scope of fighting logistics and other methods of reconnaissance and timely identification of enemy movements. The seventh chapter is about the operational deployment of the army and the single or joint use of the three arms, mainly discussing the formation and configuration of the army's operational formation, as well as the single or joint use of the three arms of infantry, cavalry and artillery.
The main viewpoints about war in An Introduction to Sun Tzu's Art of War are as follows: the study of war theory should be based on the study of war history; War is not science, but art; War does have some basic principles that must be followed; The key to all wars is to concentrate the main force and attack one wing or one point of the enemy; Strategy is the art of war, while grand tactics and tactics are the art of engagement and fighting. Attack is the most active type of combat, and defense is a temporary standby action to turn attack into defense at an appropriate time; The only way to defeat the enemy is to fight; In order to win, we must resolutely put the main force on the decisive point, strive to detour around the enemy's flank, and at the same time carry out lightning assault on the front; When it is impossible to outflank the enemy's flank, resolutely break through from the front and divide the enemy into several parts and break them one by one; After the victory of the first battle, we should turn to resolute continuous pursuit in time to achieve the goal of destroying or completely defeating the enemy.
Although it has been 1 century since the publication of An Introduction to the Art of War by Sun Tzu, it still has enduring vitality and extensive and far-reaching influence. One of the important reasons is that the book is based on practice and emphasizes the importance of theory and practice on many issues; Learning lies not in erudition, but in diligence; Grasp the principal contradiction; Correctly understand the relationship between cause and effect, phenomenon and essence, and necessity; According to the situation, using the principle of art of war, war is by no means a mathematical action; Oppose absolutism and admit relativity; Offense and defense can be transformed into each other; Modify the battle plan according to the situation; Spiritual power can produce material effects; Pay attention to the opinions of the masses, but don't rely on them, and so on. All these reflect dialectical thought to some extent.
Of course, due to the limitations of the times and classes, the book inevitably reflects some metaphysical and mechanistic colors, such as thinking that strategy is eternal and Napoleon's command art is an unshakable model. But on the whole, these views are a denial of the old military thoughts and operational principles and methods based on the feudal monarchy at that time. Most of the ideas expounded in Jomini's book are scientific summaries of the new strategic systems and methods created by the French revolutionary masses and the army at that time, so they have strong vitality and are still worthy of our study and attention today.
Character annotation
Jomini is a witness to Napoleon's success. Although Napoleon failed to leave military works, Jomini made up for this regret. Jomini theoretically summarized the laws, experiences and lessons of the Napoleonic Wars. Many people think that "Napoleon only made contributions without making a statement, and theoretically expounded that Napoleon's achievements were Yomini's credit". In the book Introduction to Sun Tzu's Art of War, Jomini realized his original intention of establishing Sun Tzu's systematic theory of art of war. In his works, he expounded the essence, laws, basic principles, strategies and tactics, causes of war and many other important theories, especially praised Napoleon's annihilation strategy, that is, concentrating superior forces, taking the initiative to attack and annihilating the enemy's effective strength. Chomini is also the founder of modern national defense thought. He put national defense in the first place in military and economic work, considered national defense to be the most important work, and advocated the establishment of a reserve system of "all the people are soldiers." Engels called Yomini a recognized military authority all over the world, and many military critics also regarded Yomini as a "pioneer of new strategic thinking in19th century".