Napoleonic warfare : the operational art of the great campaigns PDF
Preview Napoleonic warfare : the operational art of the great campaigns
NAPOLEONIC WARFARE NAPOLEONIC WARFARE THE OPERATIONAL ART OF THE GREAT CAMPAIGNS JOHN T. KUEHN Copyright © 2015 by John T. Kuehn All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Kuehn, John T. Napoleonic warfare : the operational art of the great campaigns / John T. Kuehn. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-4408-3307-6 (alk. paper) — ISBN 978-1-4408-3308-3 (EISBN) 1. Napoleonic Wars, 1800–1815—Campaigns. 2. Operational art (Military science)—History—19th century. 3. First Coalition, War of the, 1792–1797— Campaigns. 4. Second Coalition, War of the, 1798–1801—Campaigns. I. Title. DC226.4.K84 2015 940.2'74—dc23 2015005479 ISBN: 978-1-4408-3307-6 EISBN: 978-1-4408-3308-3 19 18 17 16 15 1 2 3 4 5 This book is also available on the World Wide Web as an eBook. Visit www.abc-clio.com for details. Praeger An Imprint of ABC-CLIO, LLC ABC-CLIO, LLC 130 Cremona Drive, P.O. Box 1911 Santa Barbara, California 93116-1911 This book is printed on acid-free paper Manufactured in the United States of America CONTENTS Maps and Figures Preface Acknowledgments Chapter One: Operational Art Chapter Two: The War of the First Coalition and the Birth of Modern Operational Art Chapter Three: Coalition Operational Art in 1799: Suvorov and Masséna in Italy and Switzerland Chapter Four: Artists of the Waves: The Royal Navy, Nelson, and Operational Art at Sea Chapter Five: Napoleon Ascendant: Jomini and Clausewitz in Harmony Chapter Six: The Empires Strike Back: Symmetry Returns to the Operational Level of War Chapter Seven: Napoleonic Total War in Spain and Russia: 1810–1812 Chapter Eight: Operational Art and the Campaign of 1813 Epilogue: The Twilight of Napoleonic Operational Art: France 1814 and Waterloo Appendix: The Trachenberg Convention Notes Index MAPS AND FIGURES MAPS 1 Strategic Situation, 1796 2 Opening of Italian Campaign, 1796 3 From Lodi to Verona, 1796 4 Würmser’s First Offensive 5 Lake Garda and Mantua 6 Final Phase 7 Strategic Situation, 1799 8 Switzerland, North Italy, and Southern Germany in 1799 9 Suvorov’s Pursuit 10 Masséna and Suvorov in Switzerland 11 Trebbia and Novi 12 Europe in 1797 13 Strategic Situation, 1805 14 Central Europe, the Maneuver on Ulm, 1805 15 Pursuit to Austerlitz, 1805 16 The Theater of War, 1806 17 The Operational “Battalion Square” 18 Jena and Auerstadt 19 Pursuit after Jena 20 Poland and East Prussia, 1806–1807 21 Spain and Portugal 22 Strategic Situation along the Danube, 1809 23 Aspern-Essling and Wagram 24 Strategic Positions prior to Napoleon’s Invasion, 1812 25 Pursuit of Russian Armies, July 1812 26 Smolensk to Borodino 27 Late October, the Retreat Begins 28 Crossing the Beresina 29 Central Germany, Spring 1813 30 Lützen and Bautzen 31 One Victory and Three Defeats 32 Napoleon’s Movements in September 1813 33 Blücher’s Flank March and the Battle of Leipzig 34 Strategic Situation, 1814 35 1814 Campaign 36 Waterloo Campaign FIGURES 1 The Battle of Cape St. Vincent, 1797 2 Simplified Sketch of Nelson’s Battle of the Nile, 1798 3 Simplified Sketch of Nelson’s Battle Plan for Trafalgar, 1805 4 Locations of Key Personnel as Chiefs of Staff in the Allied Armies in the Fall of 1813 PREFACE WAR IS THREE DIMENSIONAL This book has a very simple premise: European warfare from 1793 to 1815 lends itself particularly well to an operational-level analysis. Modern war is three- dimensional, divided by modern doctrine into three “levels of war.”1 At the lowest end of the spectrum is the tactical level, the level of the engagement or the battle. Combat. At the high end are strategy and grand strategy, how the military forces are used with other forms of national power to achieve political ends. In between these two is the operational level, the level of the campaign, or a series of engagements, fought to achieve a particular military purpose, but which might or might not lead to a situation resulting in final military victory or a suspension of hostilities. It has only been in modern times that the term operational level of war has come to encompass its own distinct niche in discussions of military art and science.2 However, giving a phenomenon or concept a name does not presuppose the nonexistence of that phenomenon prior to introduction of its particular usage. Such is the case with the operational level of war. This term is of recent vintage and identifying when it came into common use depends on which professional military and its doctrine one is examining. I learned of it in my teenage years, until then being unaware of anything beyond battles and tactics at one end and war and strategy at the other.3 Most military historians treated the topic similarly (and some still do). War, it seemed, was naturally two- dimensional—tactics and strategy. War is certainly not two-dimensional, nor is it linear. Of the three levels of war—strategic, operational, and tactical—the one that is least understood and written about resides in that always uncomfortable middle ground, the operational level.
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