“The business of detail, on the contrary, is controlled by existing circumstances. It varies with the character of a people, and the quality of their arms.
“It is with a view to impress the justice of this remark, that I have sought for facts in different periods of history, to illustrate these maxims, and to prove that nothing is problematical in war; but that failure and success in military operations depend almost always on the natural genius and science of the chief.”
NAPOLEON’S
MAXIMS OF WAR.
MAXIM I.
The frontiers of states are either large rivers, or chains of mountains, or deserts. Of all these obstacles to the march of an army, the most difficult to overcome is the desert; mountains come next, and broad rivers occupy the third place.
NOTE.
Napoleon, in his military career, appears to have been called upon to surmount every difficulty which can occur in wars of invasion.