. Great captains : a course of six lectures showing the influence on the art of war of the campaigns of Alexander, Hannibal, Cæsar, Gustavus Adolphus, Frederick, and Napoleon. ore be compared,as it has been, to Hannibals great achievement, nor in-deed to Alexanders crossing the Paropamisus, than aPullman excursion to Salt Lake City can be likened toAlbert Sidney Johnstons terrible march across thePlains in 1857. Napoleons crossing was merely anincident deftly woven into a splendid plan of Switzerland, a geographical salient held by them,the French could debouch at will into Italy
. Great captains : a course of six lectures showing the influence on the art of war of the campaigns of Alexander, Hannibal, Cæsar, Gustavus Adolphus, Frederick, and Napoleon. ore be compared,as it has been, to Hannibals great achievement, nor in-deed to Alexanders crossing the Paropamisus, than aPullman excursion to Salt Lake City can be likened toAlbert Sidney Johnstons terrible march across thePlains in 1857. Napoleons crossing was merely anincident deftly woven into a splendid plan of Switzerland, a geographical salient held by them,the French could debouch at will into Italy or , the Austrian general in Italy, had his eyes fixedupon Mass^na in Genoa. A large reserve army wascollected by Napoleon in France, while Moreau pushedtoward the Danube. Mdlas naturally expected that theFrench would issue from Provence, and kept his outlook NAPOLEON. 187 towards that point. When Napoleon actually descendedfrom the Great St. Bernard upon his rear, he was asbadly startled as compromised. This splendid piece ofstrategy was followed up with Napoleons usual restlesspush, and culminated in the battle of Marengo. This %.. mi # t^rj^tesi ^%*«^. was at first a distinct Austrian victory, but good counte-nance, Melas neglect to pursue his gain, and Na-poleons ability to rally and hold his troops untilabsent Dessaix could rejoin him, turned it into anoverwhelming Austrian defeat. And Napoleon, by thedirection given to his mass, had so placed M^las thatdefeat meant ruin. He was glad to accept an armisticeon Napoleons own terms. This superb campaign had lasted but a month, andhad been characterized by the utmost dash and clear- 188 GREAT CAPTAINS. ness of perception. Again Napoleons one mass pro-jected on one properly chosen line had accomplishedwonders. Napoleon once said to Jomini, The secret of warlies in the secret of communications. Keep your ownand attack your enemys in such a way that a lost battlemay not harm you, a battle won may ruin your adversar
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Keywords: ., booksubjectcaesar, booksubjectgustaviiadolfkingofsweden15941632
