n
return to a mixed system of war,--a mean between the rapid incursions of
Napoleon and the slow system of positions of the last century. Until
then we must expect to retain this system of marches, which has produced
so great results; for the first to renounce it in the presence of an
active and capable enemy would probably be a victim to his indiscretion.

The science of marches now includes more than details, like the
following, viz.: the order of the different arms in column, the time of
departure and arrival, the precautions to be observed in the march, and
the means of communication between the columns, all of which is a part
of the duties of the staff of an army. Outside and beyond these very
important details, there is a science of marches in the great operations
of strategy. For instance, the march of Napoleon by the Saint-Bernard
to fall upon the communications of Melas, those made in 1805 by
Donauwerth to cut off Mack, and in 1806 by Gera to turn the Prussians,
the march of Suwaroff from Turin to the Trebbia to meet Macdonald, that
of the Russian army on Taroutin, then upon Krasnoi, were decisive
operations, not because of their relation to Logistics, but on account
of their strategic relations.

Indeed, these skillful marches are but applications of the great
principle of throwing the mass of the forces upon the decisive point;
and this point is to be determined from the considerations given in
Article XIX. What was the passage of the Saint-Bernard but a line of
operations directed against an extremity of the strategic front of the
enemy, and thence upon his line of retreat? The marches of Ulm and Jena
were the same maneuvers; and what was Bluecher's march at Waterloo but an
application of interior strategic lines?

From this it may be concluded that all strategic movements which tend to
throw the mass of the army successively upon the different points of the
front of operations of the enemy, will be skillful, as they apply the
principle of overwhelming a smaller force by a superior one. The
operations of the French in 1793 from Dunkirk to Landau, and those of
Napoleon in 1796, 1809, and 1814, are models of this kind.

One of the most essential points in the science of modern marches, is to
so combine the movements of the columns as to cover the greatest
strategic front, when beyond the reach of the enemy, for the triple
object of deceiving him as to the objective in view, of moving with ease
and rapidity