FOCH ON NAPOLEON

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18447, 7 January 1922, Page 8

FOCH ON NAPOLEON

Concerning Napoleon Marshal Fobh, writes as follows: •, Napoleon was, beyond compare, the military. geniu? ofmodem.-, times. When, at 27,, ho. became General-in-Chief, he knew all that had ' been written and all that had been dope before him in the military ■ art. In studying its principles, with the of his rare natural faculties, he did mbre than- learn; hs understood events and grasped what had to be done under new conditions. He was already the absolute, master of his art, thanks, to • the extraordinary gifts which he applied (to 'it without reserve. Later on,- in politics/ Os in v administration and in the domain of law, he showed a like, superiority. His was, therefore, ah exceptional mind. i ■ This mjnd he fed by constant work. Recognising the importance of detail, he overlooked no" means of gaining knowledge. None understood better than he the value of flips (dossiers). Before he undertook a campaign he studied and classified .geography, » climate, . • .popular habits, and traditions, local conditions and' customs, iust as in military organisation he had thorough knowledge of every, arm, of all kinds of material, and alj means of communication. _ ; •'!■•■... j - Thanks to thkc minute preparation, to the perfection of his files, and to the remarkable' rapidity of the ‘working of his mind, his action, when the moment came, was swift and sure as a thunderbolt. In the dark hours of the war wo often asked ourselves; “If Napoleon were to rise from his, tomb at the Invalides, what would, he say to us,, what would, he do with our armies of tp-day ?” < He would have said to us: “You have millions of men; I never had Tou have railways, telegraphs, wireless, aircraft, long-range artillery, poison' gases; I had none of them; And you do not turn them ,to account'? '' I’ll > show you a thing or two!” , ' And in a couple l , of months,' he would have changed everything from top to bottom, reorganised everything, employed everything in some new way, and crushed jfce bewildered enemy. • Then he would have come back at the head of his victorious armies—and. would have been very much in the way. ■ Napoleon’s successes are known. Hso triumphs have been ■ thoroughly* studied. The causes of. his - failures are less known. Yet the campaigns of-4812, 1813, 1814 are the most interesting. He failed, they say, beoanne he. was l without Berthior. I do not think so. In' 1814, it is explained, he was already ill. Perhaps. • ' / But -'in- my view the deep reason for the disaster that overwhelmed him must be sought elsewhere. He forgot that a man cannot be God-; that, above, the individual, there is the nation - that', above men. there ; is the moral law; and that war is not the highest goal, since, above War, there is Peace