On War

Strategy is “the employment of battle to gain the object of the war” (81), which is often an overarching political goal. As such, it is strategy that provides the framework for all military action and “forms the plan of the war” (81). It is up to the political or military leader to show “the greatest proof of his genius” and organize war in such a way that he achieves his objectives (81).

The elements of combat in strategy include psychological, geographical, physical, mathematical, and statistical aspects. For example, the physical element describes “the whole mass of the military force” (86). Geometrical elements describe the terrain. All the elements from these broad categories “are generally manifold, and intimately connected with each other in every single operation of war” (86). The conquest of “provinces, towns, fortresses, roads, bridges” and other parts of the terrain is “the immediate object of battle, but never the ultimate one” (85). The 1814 capture of Paris is one such example that led to the collapse of Napoleon’s power and peace in Europe. Battles are to be looked at as a “chain” that is “strung together,” including the “capture of land” (85).