The Art of War

by baron de Antoine Henri Jomini

Twelve essential conditions concur in making a perfect army:—

1. To have a good recruiting-system;

2. A good organization;

8. A well-organized system of national reserves;

4. Good instruction of officers and men in drill and internal duties as well as those of a campaign;

5. A strict but not humiliating discipline, and a spirit of subordination and punctuality, based on conviction rather than on the formalities of the service;

6. A well-digested system of rewards, suitable to excite emulation;

7. The special arms of engineering and artillery to be well instructed;

8. An armament superior, if possible, to that of the enemy, both as to defensive and offensive arms;

9. A general staff capable of applying these elements, and having an organization calculated to advance the theoretical and practical education of its officers;