Commanding H.M. 34th Regt. Bengal Infantry Twelve years Interpreter of 25th Regt. N.I.; and late Assistant-Commissioner at Lucknow and Tarvarik-i-Ahamed Shah Doorranee' and Author of the 'Essay on the Administration of Lord Mornington' HENRY S. KING & Co. 65 CORNHILL & 12 PATERNOSTER Row, LONDON PREFACE JOMINI says, 'It is necessary to know little, but to know that little well.' The object of this work is to provide young officers with a certain number of military facts, and to draw attention to the precarious tenure on which all military success is based. They are invited to remember that A general who has thought much on war will be qualified for command.'1 It is by knowing well what has been already done, that commanders can guess what their antagonists will not be prepared for. In this lies the art of war-in knowing your enemy's mode of attack, that is to say, and anticipating him, as the Prussians did the French. The card system fails. The man who never reflected in his life cannot be expected to reflect on an emergency. An inequality or contraction of ground puts him out, the unexpected appearance of a 1 Jomini. |