Translator: Lt. Gen Sir George C. D'Aguilar
1901 Edition Introduction and Annotations: William E. Cairnes
1987 Edition Introduction and Annot-ations: David G. Chandler
Pages: 253
Illustrations: 10 black and white reproductions of period illustrations.
Maps: None
Footnotes: None
Appendices: Two. The first is a series of short biographies of the eight generals mentioned in the maxims. The second is a list of the maxims organized by theme.
Bibliography: None, but a short list of books for "further reading" is included.
Index: None
Publisher: Da Capo Press, New York
Publication Date: 1995 reprint of 1987 edition published in hardcover by Greenhill Books of London. Original published in 1831, with revised edition published in 1901.
Binding: Paper (softbound)
ISBN: 0-306-80618-5
Price: $13.95
Summary: This book is organized in a fashion that reflects its various sources. There are three introductions (those from the 1831, 1901, and 1987 editions), followed by the maxims themselves. The bulk of the work, however (161 out of 253 pages) consists of "annotations" where each maxim is repeated and then the various authors attempt to show how that maxim applied to the conduct of war in the author's day. While sometimes interesting, the book is of limited use to Napoleonic scholars.

The publishing background of Napoleon's so-called maxims is convoluted enough to require an explanation. The original English translation, by a mid-grade officer of the British Army, appeared in 1831. Historian David Chandler believes it to be a translation of French General Burnod's compilation of Napoleonic maxims.

This 1831 edition contained an introduction, 78 maxims, plus some annotations "clearly [written by] a Frenchman," notes Chandler, "as the Peninsular War is not mentioned once, and Waterloo appears on only a single occasion...." For the 1901 edition, William Cairns (a noted Victorian Era writer and inventor) added another introduction and even more annotations. His notes intended to apply the maxims to the Boer War just concluded in South Africa, and to make the case for the maxim's continued relevance.

The 1987 edition added yet another introduction by David Chandler, additional annotations, and some useful appendices.

General Aim

The general aim of all of these various editions was to explain the continued relevance (or, in the case of Chandler, the reasons for occasional non-relevance) of Napoleon's maxims to the contemporary audience. Chandler also had the more specific purpose of providing background on military thoughts of Napoleon and their influence on the major national schools of military science today.

It is interesting to note that this is but one of several collections of military maxims attributed to Napoleon. Chandler notes another version (translated from the French and published in Britain in 1823) that contained 469(!) maxims, and a 1900 version that contained the 78 of this book, plus an additional 37 maxims and 72 "Thoughts on War."

The problem is that none of these maxims can be traced to Napoleon either directly or indirectly. Exactly who recorded them and how much input Napoleon Bonaparte had is unclear. From the slipshod way in which the maxims are numbered in this edition (retained from the 1831 edition), clearly Napoleon, an organizer if ever there was one, was not the author. Nevertheless, there is some evidence that most, if not all, of these maxims originated with the great man. This limited set of 78 maxims may represent the best selection of Napoleon's thoughts from the various collections.

Unfortunately, while Chandler's contributions are clearly marked, those of the original (identity uncertain) French author and those of Cairnes are not clearly delineated. Obviously, all of them that refer to the Boer War are Cairnes', but that still leaves a number that are ambiguous in origin.

Weakest Points

The annotations are also the weakest part of the book. Unless the reader knows quite a bit about the Boer War and the various commanders, battles, locations, and commands involved (knowledge that Cairnes assumed his readers had), the Boer War annotations are hard to grasp.

The original Napoleonic references are a little better. The Chandler annotations are largely made in reference to the then (1987) current situation of a possible NATO-Warsaw Pact conflict in Europe. Strange as it seems, these references appear to the 1996 reader equally as outdated as the Boer War references of the 1901 edition!

The strength of the book lies in the introduction written by Chandler for the 1987 edition. In it he addresses the questions of what we really know about Napoleon's art of war, how the various collections of maxims came about, and, best of all, tries to assess the impact of Napoleon's military philosophy on the Western, Soviet/Russian, and Communist Chinese military philosophies.

Of how much utility are these maxims, and this book, to our understanding of the military mind of Napoleon? Probably very little. First, as Chandler successfully shows, there is doubt as to the authenticity of many of them. Some show far more clearly the thought processes of the Seven Years War than those of Napoleon (notably, those having to do with fortresses and the "honors of war"). Others are so general as to be attributable to nearly anyone.

A more useful study would be to translate (or read in the original) the correspondence Napoleon sent to his stepson Prince Eugene, the Viceroy of Italy, as Eugene prepared to take the field against the Austrians in 1809. To help Eugene with his first independent command, the Army of Italy, Napoleon attempted to explain how to run a military campaign in detail. The complete set of these letters has never been translated.

David Chandler's material notwithstanding, The Military Maxims of Napoleon is of limited value to the study of the Napoleonic era.

More Book Reviews:

Note Books of Capt. Coignet
Hougoumont: Key to Victory at Waterloo
Napoleon: An Intimate Account

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