Searching for principles of war across the history of French military thinking, from Anquity to the present day By Colonel Fabrice Clée, Head of the Research and Forward planning Department of the CDEC "War, like all other human acvies, undergoes changes: it does not escape the law of evoluon. "[3] - Marshal Foch The principles of war can be just as easily viewed as tenets of strategy and tenets of maneuver. As a polical and operaonal dual field, they prompt us to understand them, either as invari- ants, i.e. meless and universal laws, or as con- jectural rules of acon, interpretable via tech- nical, temporal and spaal conngencies. In pracce, differences in military cultures and command styles, issues, levels, specificies and contexts of engagement, generally lead to the highly variable applicaon of these principles. Since ancient mes, European war theorists have been searching for fundamental rules that would allow strategists and taccians to gain control over an opponent. Drawing inspiraon from each other over the centuries, they have contributed to the emergence of a common cor- pus, which each naon now applies according to its own military culture. Those principles of war known as "fochiens" (Foch’s principles), current- ly recognized by the French Army, stem from mulple influences. In the fields of the art and science of war, early Western military thinkers such as Xenophon, Fronnus or Vegeus, to name but a few, tried to determine some general rules. At a me when decepon was the dominant factor in the art of warfare, these rules were primarily related to the concept of stratagem, e.g. a situaon or device that could be replicated. The term "principle" only acquired the definion, "rule of acon" from the 16th century onwards with Machiavelli[4]. Later, Montecuccoli, Vauban, Frederick II and Napoleon developed maxims; general proposals stated as constants, intended to serve as reference points for acon. However, not all strategists and strategy officers were in- volved in this search. Some authors were reluc- tant to structure their theories based on princi- ples. For example, Marshal de Saxe stated that "all sciences have principles, apart from war June 2019—1 The Doctrine and Command Teaching Center will organize an internaonal forum on the princi- ples of war in 2035 on the 12 th and 13 th of June 2019. This study is in line with the reflecons ini- ated in 2017 by the Joint Centre for Concepts, Doctrine and Experiments (CICDE) [1] and by the June 2019
5
Embed
Searching for principles of war across the history of ... · practice, differences in military cultures and command styles, issues, levels, specificities and contexts of engagement,
This document is posted to help you gain knowledge. Please leave a comment to let me know what you think about it! Share it to your friends and learn new things together.
Transcript
Searching for principles of war across the history of French military
thinking, from Antiquity to the present day
By Colonel Fabrice Clée, Head of the Research and Forward planning Department of
the CDEC
"War, like all other human activities, undergoes
changes: it does not escape the law of evolution.
"[3] - Marshal Foch
The principles of war can be just as easily viewed
as tenets of strategy and tenets of maneuver. As
a political and operational dual field, they
prompt us to understand them, either as invari-
ants, i.e. timeless and universal laws, or as con-
jectural rules of action, interpretable via tech-
nical, temporal and spatial contingencies. In
practice, differences in military cultures and
command styles, issues, levels, specificities and
contexts of engagement, generally lead to the
highly variable application of these principles.
Since ancient times, European war theorists
have been searching for fundamental rules that
would allow strategists and tacticians to gain
control over an opponent. Drawing inspiration
from each other over the centuries, they have
contributed to the emergence of a common cor-
pus, which each nation now applies according to
its own military culture. Those principles of war
known as "fochiens" (Foch’s principles), current-
ly recognized by the French Army, stem from
multiple influences.
In the fields of the art and science of war, early
Western military thinkers such as Xenophon,
Frontinus or Vegetius, to name but a few, tried
to determine some general rules. At a time
when deception was the dominant factor in the
art of warfare, these rules were primarily related
to the concept of stratagem, e.g. a situation or
device that could be replicated. The term
"principle" only acquired the definition, "rule of
action" from the 16th century onwards with
Machiavelli[4]. Later, Montecuccoli, Vauban,
Frederick II and Napoleon developed maxims;
general proposals stated as constants, intended
to serve as reference points for action. However,
not all strategists and strategy officers were in-
volved in this search. Some authors were reluc-
tant to structure their theories based on princi-
ples. For example, Marshal de Saxe stated that
"all sciences have principles, apart from war
June 2019—1
The Doctrine and Command Teaching Center will organize an international forum on the princi-
ples of war in 2035 on the 12th and 13th of June 2019. This study is in line with the reflections initi-
ated in 2017 by the Joint Centre for Concepts, Doctrine and Experiments (CICDE)[1] and by the
tion of Foch’s three principles extended to the triptych
"Knowledge - Will - Power"[28]:
- freedom of action: principle that fixes or extends Power;
- economy of forces: the principle of Knowledge that allows
the calculation of risks;
- unity of effort: the principle of Will, the will to achieve the
objective.
French joint doctrine currently sets out, via the 2013 Concept
of Force Employment (CEF)[29], three major principles: free-
dom of action, economy of forces, unity of effort. These prin-
ciples, inspired by the studies of the future Marshal Foch at the
end of the 19th century, were included and completed in 2013
in the Army glossary[30] (ex TTA 106). Foch’s principles, plus
the principles defined at the end of the 20th century by Vice
Admiral Labouérie, uncertainty and speed, were listed in the
forward planning document, Future Land Action[31] in 2016.
However, the principles have not been updated in previous
land force doctrine documents, which still only mention the
first three. Such an update would encourage new thought on
the very nature of these principles, as well as the procedures
for their combination and execution procedures, allowing gen-
uine superiority over the enemy, whatever the context.
—————————
1] CICDE, Reflections on the principles of war: initiative, freedom of
action and efficiency, Joint Prospective Reflection (RPIA)-2017/003 n°
133/ARM/CICDE/NP of 7 July 2017.
2] CDEC, The Principles of War: Semantic Clarification, Point of Situa-
tion and Starting Framework for New Doctrinal Reflections, Doctrine
Letter, No. 09, January 2018. https://fr.calameo.com/
read/005141509e5aa4af7ce93.
3] Foch, Ferdinand, Principles of War. Lectures given at the École supé-rieure de guerre, Berger-Levrault, 1903, (http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k86515g), Économica, 2007. 4] Machiavelli, Nicolas, L'art de la guerre, 1520, reprinted 2011, Tem-pus. 5] Bonaparte, Napoleon, Maximes de guerre et pensées de Napoléon
Ier, Jacques Dumaine military bookshop, 1863, (http://gallica.bnf.fr/
ark:/12148/bpt6k864783), reed. Hachette, 2012.
6] De Bourcet, Pierre-Joseph, Principles of Mountain Warfare, Nation-al Printing House, 1755, reed. Hachette, 2016. https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k86486q.image 7] De Puységur, Jacques-François, Art de la guerre par principes et par règles, Jombert, 1749. (https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k865562.image) 8] Joly de Maïzeroy, Paul-Gédéon, Théorie de la guerre, 1777, Au dé-triment de la Société, (http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k86537s). 9] Jomini, Antoine-Henri, Précis de l'art de la guerre, or Nouveau ta-bleau analytique des principales combinaisons de la stratégie, de la grande tactique et de la politique militaire, Anselin, 1838, (http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k86539g), reprinted 2008, Tempus. 10] Von Clausewitz, Carl, De la guerre, 1832, reed. Tempus, 2014. 11] Viesse de Marmont, Auguste-Frédéric-Louis, De l'esprit des institu-tions militaires, Librairie militaire, J. Dumaine, 1845 (http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k96164s). 12] De Fonscolombe, Philippe, Historical summary of the progress of
military art from the earliest times to the present day, Military
Bookstore, J. Dumaine, 1854 (http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/
bpt6k939702z?rk=21459;2), cited in the thesis for the doctorate in
history of Michel Delion at the École pratique des hautes études, His-
toire de la méthode de raisonnement militaire, 2014 (http://
www.theses.fr/2014EPHE4037).
13] Von Bülow, Dietrich, Esprit du système de guerre moderne, destiné aux jeunes militaires, 1799, (http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k86490z) quoted in Coutau-Bégarie, Hervé, Traité de stratégie, Economica, 1999, reprinted 2011. 14] Von Clausewitz, Carl, quoted in Motte, Martin (ed.), La mesure de la force, traité de stratégie de l'Ecole de Guerre, Tallandier, 2018. 15] Ardant du Picq, Charles, Études sur le combat : combat antique et combat moderne, Hachette & Dumaine, 1880, reprinted Economica, 2004. ). 16] Foch, Ferdinand, Principles of War. Lectures given at the École supérieure de guerre, Berger-Levrault, 1903, (http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k86515g), Économica, 2007. 17].Von Clausewitz, Carl Op. cit.
18] Foch, Ferdinand, Op. cit. 19] De Gaulle, Charles, quoted in Gallo, Max, De Gaulle, volume 1: L'appel du destin, Robert Laffont, 1998. 20] Liddell Hart, Basil, Henry, Strategy (The strategy of indirect ap-
23] Labouérie, Guy, Stratégie, réflexions et variations, ADDIM, 1992, (http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k3329664n). 24] De Gaule, Charles, Le fil de l'épée, 1932, reprinted Tempus, 2015. 25] Irastorza, Elrick, Commander of the Unicorn Force, The Principles
of War, Basic References, Doctrine, 2005 (http://portail-
26] Hubin, Guy, La guerre, une vision française, Economica, 2012. 27] Hubin, Guy, Op. cit.
28] General Hubin refers here to an article written in 1906 by Captain
(commissioned) George Gamelin, Etude philosophique sur l'Art de la
guerre.
29] CICDE, Joint Concept (CIA)-01: Concept of Force Employment, EMA, 2013 (http://www.cicde.defense.gouv.fr/spip.php?article202). 30] CDEF, EMP 60 641 : Glossaire Français/Anglais de l'armée de terre, EMAT, 2013 (https://ct-pmd.intradef.gouv.fr/sites/CDEFDoctrine/DOCTRINE/REFERENTIEL%20CDEC/ref_doc/5_planification/5_2_terminologie/IA_EMP/20130128_EMP_60_641.pdf). 31] Future land action, Tomorrow is won today, EMAT, 2016 (http://www.defense.gouv.fr/actualites/la-vie-du-ministere/action-terrestre-future-demain-se-gagne-aujourd-hui).