of convex order very like
Fig. 11. At Wagram his order was altogether like Fig. 16, bringing up
two masses upon the center and right, while keeping back the left wing;
and this he wished to repeat at Borodino and at Waterloo before the
Prussians came up. At Eylau, although the collision was almost entirely
unforeseen on account of the very unexpected return and offensive
movement of the Russians, he outflanked their left almost
perpendicularly, whilst in another direction he was endeavoring to break
through the center; but these attacks were not simultaneous, that on the
center being repulsed at eleven o'clock, whilst Davoust did not attack
vigorously upon the left until toward one. At Dresden he attacked by the
two wings, for the first time probably in his life, because his center
was covered by a fortification and an intrenched camp, and, in addition,
the attack of his left was combined with that of Vandamme upon the
enemy's line of retreat. At Marengo, if we may credit Napoleon himself,
the oblique order he assumed, resting his right at Castel Ceriole, saved
him from almost inevitable defeat. Ulm and Jena were battles won by
strategy before they were fought, tactics having but little to do with
them. At Ulm there was not even a regular battle.

I think we may hence conclude that if it seems absurd to desire to mark
out upon the ground orders of battle in such regular lines as would be
used in tracing them on a sketch, a skillful general may nevertheless
bear in mind the orders which have been indicated above, and may so
combine his troops on the battle-field that the arrangement shall be
similar to one of them. He should endeavor in all his combinations,
whether deliberately arranged or adopted on the spur of the moment, to
form a sound conclusion as to the important point of the battle-field;
and this he can only do by observing well the direction of the enemy's
line of battle, and not forgetting the direction in which strategy
requires him to operate. He will then give his attention and efforts to
this point, using a third of his force to keep the enemy in check or
watch his movements, while throwing the other two-thirds upon the point
the possession of which will insure him the victory. Acting thus, he
will have satisfied all the conditions the science of grand tactics can
impose upon him, and will have applied the principles of the art in the
most perfect manner. The manner of determining the decisive point of a