Study On Jomini And The Art Of War

Antoine·Henry·Jomini was a general in the period of Napoleon’s France andlater in the Russian service, and one of the most celebrated writers on the Napoleonicart of war in the19thcentury. He was one of the founders of modern strategy and hisideas were a staple at military academies before World War I. Most of Europeangenerals and almost all the senior generals of the American Civil War--those that hadattended West Point were well versed in Jomini’s theories in the mid-19thcentury.The Art of War, which is the most important book wrote by Jomini, was the mostfamous best selling and most influential book in military theoretical field in the19thcentury.Jomini’s military thinking has a initial formation in his youth, affected by thesocial thoughts in Age of Enlightenment, and was nurtured in a special humanenvironment in Switzerland. From the Napoleonic War th the Crimean War, theideology of Jomini had been improved through the practice in the battlefield. Joministated war in its ensemble is not a science, but an art, but strategy may indeed beregulated by some fixed laws resembling those of the positive sciences in The Art ofWar.In The Art of War, Jomini stressed that the war is an art rather than science, butthe strategy is guided by unchanging laws of war. The history of warfare is the onlycorrect way to study the warfare, the principle of war is dialectical. Premising themental factors and the individual initiative can make discipline of war play a betterrole in battlefield. Meanwhile, Jomini both emphasize the impact of strategy on theoutcome of the war, but also emphasis non-strategic factors on the impact of the war.He contacted strategy of the law with his own rich experience in the battlefield, firstproposed the grand tactical principles of military organization in history.The induction and generalization of military science is very perfect. Thetheory in The Art of War showed different results in the practice of war in the19thcentury among Europe and the American. In Europe, because of the long-termrelative peaceful environment and the relatively limited war, the ideology of The Artof War had not been a big rush. In the American Civil War, the ideology of The Art ofWar had some impact from the new technology，although it didn’t shake the Jomini’sauthoritative status in military field.