The Heart Of France Lies

However Much Pains May Be Taken To Combine The Soldier And The Citizen In One And The Same Individual, Whatever May Be Done To Nationalize Wars, Never Will It Be Possible To Do Away With The Professionalism Of The Business; And If That Cannot Be Done, Then Those Who Belong To It Will Always Look Upon Themselves As A Kind Of Guild, In The Regulations, Laws, And Customs In Which The "spirit Of War" Finds Its Expression. It Would Be Very Wrong To Look Down Upon This Corporate Spirit, Or Esprit De Corps, Which May And Should Exist More Or Less In Every Army.

The World Has A Way Of Undermining Complex Plans. This Is Particularly True In Fast Moving Environments. A Fast Moving Environment Can Evolve More Quickly Than A Complex Plan Can Be Adapted To It. By The Time You Have Adapted, The Target Has Changed.

Kind-hearted People Might Of Course Think There Was Some Ingenious Way To Disarm Or Defeat An Enemy Without Too Much Bloodshed, And Might Imagine This Is The True Goal Of The Art Of War. Pleasant As It Sounds; It Is A Fallacy That Must Be Exposed: War Is Such A Dangerous Business That The Mistakes Which Come From Kindness Are The Very Worst.

[...] To Introduce Into The Philosophy Of War Itself A Principle Of Moderation Would Be An Absurdity

In Short, Absolute, So-called Mathematical, Factors Never Find A Firm Basis In Military Calculations. From The Very Start, There Is An Interplay Of Possibilities, Probabilities, Good Luck And Bad, That Weaves Its Way Throughout The Length And Breadth Of The Tapestry. In The Whole Range Of Human Activities, War Most Closely Resembles A Game Of Cards.