Lessons from the Past and the Dawn of Modern Strategic thinking.
In part 6 we discussed the ancient strategists who provided us with modes of thinking and practical guidance that were used in military strategy.
Early-modern military strategy enables us to discover lessons on how strategy emerged and how it can help achieve our goals. The Napoleonic era 1790 to 1815 when Napoleon for a time became the master of continental Europe exemplifies strategic thinking and the power of ideas over material resources.
Napoleon recognised that some view strategy as a checklist of techniques with the assumption that if you learn them then you to can become a great general.
This is a great danger for strategic thinkers today; to think of strategy as a formula. Napoleon said, “Unhappy is the general who comes to the field of battle with a system”. He understood the paradox that the best strategy can be overturned by its very implementation. He said, “In war, theory is all right so far as general principles are concerned; but in reducing general principles to practice there will always be danger”. The key, instead, is to retain flexibility and cultivate the skill of responding to an opponent’s action.
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