He went back much further, however, in
his choice of a master, and gave intense application to the campaigns of
Caesar. Napoleon and Caesar--these were the minds from which the mind of
the Marne and Ypres has learned some of its lessons of success.
Here Foch invites comparison with another of the dominant figures of the
war--General French. For French is described by his biographer as "a
worshipper of Napoleon," regarding him as the world's greatest
strategist, and in following out and studying Napoleon's campaigns
French personally covered and studied much of the ground in Belgium over
which he has been fighting. French is a year younger than Foch. They are
old friends, as are French and Joffre, and Joffre and Foch.
The inclination of Foch to something of the Napoleonic is shown beyond
the realm of strategy and tactics. Foch is credited with knowing the
French soldier, his heart, his mind, his capabilities, and the method of
getting the most out of those capabilities, in a way reminiscent of the
winner of Jena. And Foch knows not only the privates, but the officers.
When he went to the front he visited each commander; the Colonels he
called by name; the corps commanders, without exception, had attended
his lectures at the Ecole de Guerre.
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