Strategic Lines
The salient and re-entrant frontiers, the subtle distinctions between the numerous kinds of strategic lines, and lines of operation, and lines of manœuvre, etc., etc., etc., which in Jomini and his predecessors and followers play so great, so pedantic, and so confusing a part,—for these Clausewitz has little respect. In his chapter on "The Geometrical Element,"[33] he says, "We therefore do not hesitate to regard it as an established truth that in strategy more depends upon the number and magnitude of the victorious battles than on the form of the great lines by which they are connected."[34] Of course he does not altogether leave out such considerations, but the above sentence shows how he regards them as only of minor importance. He therefore frees us from a great deal of pedantry, and takes us back to the heart of things.