There is nothing in them that
ought to scare away the average reader. Their style has the
geometrical lucidity which is the polytechnician's birthright,
but in spite of the deliberate impersonality generally
attached to that style of writing, there emanates from it a
curious quality which gradually shows us the author as a
living person.
We have the impression of a vast mental capacity turned to the
lifelong study of a fascinating subject and acquiring in it
the dignity of attitude and the naturalness which mastery
inevitably produces. War has been the constant meditation of
this powerful brain. In "La Conduite de la Guerre" this
meditation is the minute historical examination of the battles
of the First Empire and 1870. "Nothing can replace the
experience of war," writes the author, "except the history of
war," and it is clear that he understands the word "history"
as all those who go to the past for a lesson in greatness
understand it.
"Les Principes de la Guerre" is more immediately technical,
yet it strikes one as being less a speculation than a
visualizing of what modern war was sure to be.
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