In the present issue, one may be surprised to see Frederick's "oblique order" covered quite extensively in a new section (new at least to the new EE&L) called On The Background of the Napoleonic Warfare. After all, Frederick's "oblique order" is not Napoleonic! So why does a subject pertinent to the Seven Years War finds its way into a Napoleonic journal like EE&L? Well take a look at what Paddy Griffith (quoting Christopher Duffy) has to say on the question in the Trudging the Peninsula section. Also, to be complete, take a look at what is said in the Reliability of Data section. We'll take a look at any book describing the Battle of Austerlitz and it will become evident that the Austro-Russian battle plan of attack developed by General Weyrother was simply a variation of Frederick's oblique order, with consequences that were not surprising when such an attack was made against an enemy that could maneuver like the French army of 1805. In addition, in EE&L 2, we also have quoted Clausewitz's On War, as well as the translation of Bressonet's conclusion of his famous Etudes Tactiques de la campagne d'Allemagne, 1806, in which it is clearly shown that the Prussians of 1806 repeatedly attempted to use the oblique order in the disastrous battles of Saalfeld, Jena and Auerstadt. So like it or not, the oblique order was still pretty much a tactic used at least in the early wars of the Napoleonic period. Our interest on the oblique order should not make us forget the other excellent articles to be found in the present issue such as Major Gray's "Battle of Zurich". Back to Empire, Eagles, & Lions Table of Contents Vol. 2 No. 4 Back to EEL List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1994 by Emperor's Headquarters This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com