Jacques Antoine Hippolyte, Comte de Guibert (Mili. History)

Introduction

Jacques-Antoine-Hippolyte, comte de Guibert, was born in 1740, the son of an officer in the French army, Charles-Benoît Guibert. (He occasionally published under the name François-Appoline, possibly due to a birth certificate mix-up). He followed his father into the army and served as a junior officer in the French service during the Seven Years’ War, and he saw service in the battles of Minden, Vellinghausen, and the crushing defeat at Rossbach. The last inspired in Guibert a lifelong desire to reform the French army. During the late 1760s, he wrote a primer for his reforms. The Essai générale de tactique was first published in 1772, appearing in multiple editions and languages across Europe by 1775. The Essai générale de tactique called for wholesale reform of the French army, centralizing its command structure and removing many aspects of noble privilege. Guibert advocated a hybrid system of linear and fire tactics, combining traditional French and Prussian elements, in a system he called l’ordre mixte (mixed order). This created a systemic doctrine for the French army, the first in its history. The preface to the Essai générale de tactique offered a stinging rebuke of the Byzantine bureaucracy and noble-dominated French state, indicating his interest in politics in addition to military theory. Guibert’s first work propelled him to prominence in French society and government. He attended the leading salons in Paris, composed poetry and theatrical works, and continued his advocacy for military reform. In late 1775, he joined the ministry of Claude-Louis, comte de Saint-Germain, to implement his reform program. For the next eighteen months, the two enacted many of Guibert’s reforms. However, reactionaries within the government forced both from power in 1777 and reversed much of their work. He returned to the Ministry of War in 1787 and remained in office long enough to see the establishment of his doctrinal system in the Provisional Regulations of 1787 and 1788. Guibert died in 1790 after having stood unsuccessfully for the Estates-General. His legacy proves complex and vital to the late Enlightenment. He was a pivotal figure in the society of the period: Marie Antoinette commissioned performances of his plays, he carried on a relationship with leading salonnière Julie de Lespinase, and he won appointment to the French Academy in 1785. His military theory and reforms reshaped the French army. The Provisional Regulations became the Regulations of 1791, which remained in force until the 1830s. They provided the tactical and organizational foundation on which the armies of the French Revolution and Napoleon built their victories. Contemporary authors identified Guibert’s influence during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. Military and French staff historians expanded on this analysis in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Later historians examined his social and political writings, beginning the process of elevating Guibert to his proper place as one of the most influential figures of the late Old Regime.

Biographies

Biographies of Guibert remain limited in number and confined to the French language. Lauerma 1989 provides the first book-length treatment of the subject. Groffier 2005 is the most recent. Toulongeon 1803 is the earliest such source, serving as an introduction to the subject’s career contained in a collection of his works. Charnay 1981 collects the proceedings of a conference held on Guibert in the late 1970s and offers a variety of studies on the subject.

Charnay, Jean-Paul, ed. Guibert ou le soldat philosophe. Paris: Château de Vincennes, 1981.
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Invaluable collection of essays on Guibert’s career and influence drawn from the proceedings of a conference held on Guibert in the 1970s. Covers a range of topics from military to social, political, and literary.
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Groffier, Ethel. Le stratège des lumières: Le comte de Guibert, 1743–1790. Paris: Éditions Champion, 2005.
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Groffier’s work provides the newest monographic treatment of Guibert’s life and career. She seeks to rehabilitate Guibert’s rather tarnished image as a writer. Also provides the most current bibliography on the subject.
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Lauerma, Matti. Jacques-Antoine-Hippolyte de Guibert, 1743–1790. Helsinki: Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia, 1989.
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Written during Lauerma’s academic career in the mid-20th century and published after his death in 1983. It provides an excellent introduction to Guibert’s career and influence, particularly in the realm of the military.
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Toulongeon, François-Emmanuel. “Notice historique de Jacques-Antoine-Hippolyte Guibert, écrit en 1790.” In Journal d’un voyage en Allemagne. By Jacques Antoine Hippolyte de Guibert, 1–85. Paris: Chez Treuttel et Würtz, 1803.
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The first printed biographical treatment of Guibert. Toulongeon edited a collection of Guibert’s papers and offered the biographical data by way of introduction, chiefly gleaned from his service record; serves as the basis for modern biographies.
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General Histories

These works serve as an introduction to the warfare of the 18th century, the milieu into which Guibert proposed his reforms. Corvisier 1979 marks the advent of “new military history” in the historiography of the period, expanding the field beyond battles and commanders to examine a wider range of factors, including social, political, and economic. Duffy 1988 provides the most accessible survey of the titular subject. Anderson 1988, Black 1994, Childs 1982, and Starkey 2003 examine the political, economic, and social impact of 18th-century warfare. Palmer 1986 is the usual English-language introduction to studies of Guibert. Along with the sources in the Conduct of War, these all provide useful background to Guibert’s life and work.

Anderson, M. S. War and Society in Europe of the Old Regime, 1618–1789. New York: St. Martin’s, 1988.
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Examines the linkages between war and society in the period, focusing particularly on the political and economic considerations of fielding increasingly large armies during the period.
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Black, Jeremy. European Warfare, 1660–1815. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1994.
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A survey of the longue durée of early modern warfare. Black focuses on long-term trends and on peripheral conflicts between states often absent from other surveys, expanding the scope of historiographical analysis on the period.
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Childs, John. Armies and Warfare in Europe, 1648–1789. New York: Holmes & Meier, 1982.
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Challenges the commonly held notion that warfare was “limited” or less destructive between 1648 and 1789 than it was during the Thirty Years War or the French Revolution. This provides continuity with the periods surrounding the Early Modern era, illustrating the evolutionary process in which Guibert’s theories first took root.
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Corvisier, André. Armies and Societies in Europe, 1494–1789. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1979.
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Corvisier’s work envisions a dynamic and thoughtful military culture in Europe, particularly in France, as it sought to define and refine itself. Important for placing Guibert’s proposals in the wider scheme of military thought and reform.
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Duffy, Christopher. The Military Experience in the Age of Reason. New York: Atheneum, 1988.
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Superior study of the methods and nature of combat during the period. Duffy deftly examines the larger political and social matrix of warfare, providing a larger picture and a valuable introduction to the various fields surrounding Guibertian historiography.
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Léonard, Émile G. L’armée et ses problèmes aux XVIIIe siècle. Paris: Librairie Plon, 1958.
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Survey of the intellectual movements and reform efforts of the titular subject. Identifies Guibert with contemporary philosophes such as Voltaire and Rousseau, placing his work within the larger matrix of the Enlightenment.
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Palmer, R. R. “Frederick the Great, Guibert, Bülow.” In Makers of Modern Strategy: From Machiavelli to the Nuclear Age. Edited by Peter Paret, 91–119. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1986.
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Palmer’s article is the likely starting-point for a general study of Guibert. He draws a direct line from Frederick the Great’s Prussia to Guibert through Rossbach, noting the primacy of Prussian influence on the French reformer. Palmer is also unique in arguing that Guibert did not grasp the elements of what would become known as the operational level of war.
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Starkey, Armstrong. War in the Age of Enlightenment, 1700–1789. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2003.
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Primer on the relationship between the Enlightenment and the military reforms of the 18th century. Guibert figured prominently in both, to which Starkey provides an introduction and suggestions for further study.
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The Conduct of War

Ross 1979 and Nosworthy 1990 offer detailed explanations of the tactics and operations of the various armies in use throughout the 18th century.

Nosworthy, Brent. The Anatomy of Victory: Battle Tactics, 1689–1763. New York: Hippocrene, 1990.
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Comprehensive survey of warfare in the titular span, focusing on tactics. He charts the evolution of French army formations, organization, and tactics during the period. Most valuable for its diagrams depicting the complex deployments, evolutions, and maneuvers of the army of the Old Regime. An effective introduction to academic-level studies for those with a background in hobbyist literature.
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Ross, Steven. From Flintlock to Rifle: Infantry Tactics, 1740–1866. Rutherford, NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1979.
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A companion piece to Nosworthy 1990, From Flintlock to Rifle examines infantry tactics from the Old Regime to the mid-19th century. Excellent introductory work to the transition from early modern to modern warfare, focusing on technologically induced change, particularly in the later period.
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Military Writings

Guibert’s military writings elevated him to prominence across Europe as a leading military theorist and reformer. In Guibert 1773 (Essai général de tactique) he enumerated his doctrine and plan of reform for the French army and state. He elaborated on his prior work, particularly in the area of war now called strategy, in Guibert 1779. The remaining two works focus on Prussia. Guibert 1803 records Guibert’s detailed observations of the Prussian military establishment, and Guibert 1787 expounds on Guibert’s views of the warrior-king Frederick II.

Guibert, Jacques-Antoine-Hippolyte, comte de. Essai général de tactique. 2 vols. Liège, Belgium: C. Plomteaux, 1773.
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Guibert’s first and most influential work in its most readily available edition. Its Discours préliminaire presents a scathing indictment of France and all contemporary European governments, finding them bloodthirsty and inefficient. The bulk of the work details Guibert’s systemic doctrine and his plan for enacting measures as part of a larger reform of the French army and state.
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Guibert, Jacques-Antoine-Hippolyte, comte de. Défense du système de guerre moderne ou réfutation complète du système de M. de M[esnil] D[urand] par l’auteur de l’Essai général de tactique. 2 vols. Neuchâtel: [s.n.], 1779.
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Guibert’s second major military writing provides an in-depth examination of his doctrine, including much in the area called strategy, a term that Guibert may have helped coin. He refutes the radical political notions espoused in the Essai général de tactique, perhaps as a result of his political difficulties in the Ministry of War.
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Guibert, Jacques-Antoine-Hippolyte, comte de. Éloge du roi de Prusse. London: [s.n.], 1787.
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Revealing elegy of Frederick II, alternatively Guibert’s idol and the target of much scorn for his rigid tactical system and perceived lack of intellectual flexibility.
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Guibert, Jacques-Antoine-Hippolyte, comte de. Journal d’un voyage en Allemagne. Paris: Chez Treuttel et Würtz, 1803.
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Notes of Guibert’s quasi-official inspection tour of various military establishments throughout Germany. He visits Austria and Prussia, offering penetrating critiques of their militaries, states, and culture. Of particular interest are his lengthy observations of the famed Prussian summer exercises and the Austro-Ottoman military border. Like most travelogues of the period, Guibert’s observations are often veiled criticisms of his own state.
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Political and Literary Writings

Guibert wrote at length on subjects other than the strictly military. These can be generally divided into two categories: political tracts and literary works. The former category consists of Guibert 1790, an influential essay written in the early years of the Revolution; and Guibert 1775 and Guibert 1777, essays submitted for contests sponsored by the French Academy. All three illustrate Guibert’s belief in a monarchy bound by constitutional principles, drawn largely from Montesquieu. Guibert 1806 records his journeys throughout the 1780s, inspecting border fortifications and their garrisons. Finally, Guibert 1822 illustrates his desire to exert himself in the literary culture of the day.

Guibert, Jacques-Antoine-Hippolyte, comte de. Éloge de Maréchal de Catinat. Edinburgh: [s.n.], 1775.
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Guibert’s first attempt at winning the annual essay prize from the Académie française. Lauds Catinat’s patriotism and skill in creating and maintaining a professional and skilled army.
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Guibert, Jacques-Antoine-Hippolyte, comte de. Éloge historique de Michel de l’Hôpital, Chancelier de France. Paris: Chez Demonville, 1777.
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Essay on the titular figure, whose rational political policies and patriotism Guibert lauds as vital to the continuation of French power.
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Guibert, Jacques-Antoine-Hippolyte, comte de. De la force publique considérée dans tous ses rapports. Paris: Didot L’ainé, 1790.
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Composed shortly before the author’s death. A plea for the Revolution to remain moderate and impose a rational, enlightened government. Reveals much of Guibert’s nature as an enlightened philosophe attempting to impose his orderly bureaucratic system onto the changing political landscape of the early Revolution.
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Guibert, Jacques-Antoine-Hippolyte, comte de. Voyages de Guibert, dans divers parties de la France et en Suisse faits en 1775, 1778, 1784, et 1785. Paris: D’Hautel, 1806.
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Travel journal similar to the author’s journeys in Prussia. Illustrates Guibert’s negative views of France during his “political exile” from 1778 to 1787 and his belief in the primacy of battle over the “war of positions,” the latter embodied by the many garrisons and fortresses he visited.
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Guibert, Jacques-Antoine-Hippolyte, comte de. Œuvres dramatiques de Guibert. Paris: Persan et Cie., 1822.
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Collection of Guibert’s theatrical writings. He wrote three plays; the first, Le connêtable de Bourbon, won the patronage of Marie Antoinette and was performed twice at court in 1775. Guibert rarely concealed his political beliefs and thus all three reveal much about his thought during the periods of their composition between 1775 and 1785.
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Social Climate and Activity

Guibert was a leading figure in the Republic of Letters between 1770 and his death in 1790, as the following works demonstrate. He wrote plays, attended the leading salons, and carried on a romance with leading salonnière Julie de Lespinasse. The two concealed the relationship, which became known only after the latter’s death in May 1776. Their surviving correspondence is collected in Lespinasse 1929. Lespinasse 1887 contains letters to several philosophes and important political figures of the late Enlightenment, occasionally discussing Guibert. Ségur 1927 remains the leading biography of Lespinasse despite its advanced age. Goodman 1994 provides a summary of salon culture, and Herold 2002 offers a biography of the last great female figure of the Old Regime, Germaine de Staël. Mas 1985 examines Guibert’s role in society as both a military theorist and a philosophe. Bell 2001 and Smith 2005 explore the notions of nation and patriotism in France during the late Enlightenment.

Bell, David. The Cult of the Nation in France: Inventing Nationalism, 1680–1800. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2001.
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Conceptual work examining the development of the concept of the nation in French political thought. Guibert used the term freely and pointedly; Bell’s argument provides background and insight into the debates of the period.
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Goodman, Dena. The Republic of Letters: A Cultural History of the French Enlightenment. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1994.
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Dena Goodman’s seminal study of French women during the Enlightenment provides an excellent background to the social milieu of Guibert’s day and his own involvement in the salons of Geoffrin, Lespinasse, and Necker.
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Herold, J. Christopher. Mistress to an Age: A Life of Madame de Staël. New York: Grove, 2002.
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Originally published 1958. The most accessible biography of Germaine de Staël-Holstein, Guibert’s intimate and probable lover. Herold argues that Staël purchased the letters between the two from Guibert’s widow around 1809 and destroyed them, revealing an important clue to the paucity of correspondence from a figure as important in the Republic of Letters as Guibert.
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Lespinasse, Julie de. Lettres inédites de Mlle. de Lespinasse à Condorcet, à d’Alembert à Guibert, au comte de Crillon. Paris: E. Dentu, 1887.
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Collected correspondence between Julie and the titular subjects. The letters to Condorcet are particularly important as they discuss Guibert’s theories and activities in politics and society.
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Lespinasse, Julie de. The Love Letters of Mlle. de Lespinasse to and from the Comte de Guibert. Edited by Armand Villeneuve-Guibert, translated by E. H. F. Mills. London: Routledge, 1929.
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Collection of letters between Lespinasse and Guibert. The vast majority of letters are from the latter; both swore to burn the other’s letters, but only Lespinasse actually did so. Guibert kept hers, and they were published after his death by his widow. Provides much valuable insight into Guibert’s social activity and mind-set during the crucial years of 1774–1776.
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Mas, Raymond. “L’éssai général de tactique (1770) de Guibert ou le rationalism des Lumières face à la guerre.” In La bataille, l’armée, la gloire, 1745–1871: Actes du colloque international de Clermont-Ferrand I. Edited by Paul Viallaneix and Jean Ehrard, 119–134. Clermont-Ferrand, France: Association des Publications de la Faculté des Lettres et des Sciences Humaines, 1985.
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Explores Guibert’s participation in the Republic of Letters and Enlightenment society. Mas argues that Guibert was unique among his fellow military theorists in that he was “totally impregnated by the spirit of the philosophes” (p. 119). Illustrates Guibert’s bridging of these two disciplines, which informed his writing and theories.
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Ségur, Pierre-Marie-Maurice-Henri, marquis de. Julie de Lespinasse. Translated by the publisher. New York: E. P. Dutton, 1927.
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The superior biography of Julie de Lespinasse. Published in both English and French, both editions serve as an excellent introduction to the subject. Also valuable for Ségur’s scathing indictment of Guibert, painting him as a parvenu interested only in his own advancement.
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Smith, Jay M. Nobility Reimagined: The Patriotic Nation in Eighteenth-Century France. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2005.
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Follows from Bien’s work in defining the various arguments surrounding the regeneration of the state after 1750. These arguments, including those of Guibert, increasingly involved the notions of nation and patriotism, which Smith explores in detail.
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Contemporary Sources

These works give insight into the social and political world in which Guibert traveled and worked from 1770 until his death in 1790. Abrantès 2000 provides a chronicle of the salons of the later Enlightenment. Dumouriez 1796 offers a stinging critique of Guibert’s personality and political activity. Grimm 1877–1882 comments on Guibert’s social activity and induction into the Académie française. Staël-Holstein 1843 includes an elegy of the man who may have been her lover.

Abrantès, Laure Junot. Une soirée chez Mme. Geoffrin. Paris: Gallimard, 2000.
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Laure Junot’s portrait of late-18th-century salon life and culture. She is much concerned with the various intrigues that ran through French society but leaves a valuable primary account of the society that Guibert inhabited.
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Dumouriez, Charles-François du Périer. The Life of General Dumouriez. 3 vols. London: J. Johnson, 1796.
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Dumouriez was Guibert’s childhood companion and brother officer throughout the Corsican campaign and thus had a unique perspective on the man. Sometime in the 1770s, the two had a falling-out, and thus Dumouriez’s views are largely negative. His perspective is invaluable in illuminating Guibert’s personality quirks and how he made enemies in many influential positions at court and within the French army.
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Grimm, Friedrich Melchoir, freiherr von. Correspondance littéraire, philosophique, et critique. 16 vols. Paris: Garnier Frères, 1877–1882.
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Long-running chronicle of the literary world of 18th-century France. Grimm’s account offers commentary on Guibert’s career, in Volumes 10, 11, 14, 15, and 16. Particularly valuable for its insight into Guibert’s career on the occasion of his induction into the Académie française in 1785.
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Staël-Holstein, Anna-Louise-Germaine de. Mémoires of Madame de Staël. Paris: Charpentier, 1843.
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Guibert first encountered Germaine de Staël-Holstein, née Necker, in the salon of her mother Suzanne. The two may have carried on a romance. Staël’s moving elegy to Guibert, and her continued recommendation of his works after his death, did much to establish Guibert’s contemporary reputation as the premier military theorist of the Old Regime.
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Military Reform

The late 18th century was a period of intense debate and great change in French military theory. These works serve as an introduction to those discussions, in which Guibert was a primary figure. Bien and Rovet 1974 and Bien 1979 provide an excellent study of the structural and social debates of the period, particularly the “noble reaction” surrounding the Ségur Decree of 1781 requiring four degrees of nobility for admission to the officer corps. Bien, et al. 2010 is a translation into English of the substance of the French-language articles. Blaufarb 2002 provides a focused study of Guibert’s reform efforts within the larger picture of the modernization of the French state and military. Camon 1935, Colin 1901, and Colin 1907 explore the armies of the Old Regime, particularly the linkages between theory and tactical practice. Wilkinson 1915 provides a similar study, the first in English. Quimby 1957 follows this analysis to flesh out the origins of Napoleonic warfare in the Old Regime.

Bien, David D. “The Army in the French Enlightenment: Reform, Reaction, and Revolution.” Past & Present 85 (1979): 68–98.
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Bien draws a sharp line between the reform efforts of the late Old Regime and the Revolution, finding little commonality between the two despite the strain of Revolutionary historiography that argues that the “noble reaction” against the rising bourgeois class heralded the coming of the Revolution.
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Bien, David D., and J. Rovet. “La réaction aristocratique avant 1798: L’exemple de l’armée.” Annales: Histoire, sciences sociales 29.1 (1974): 23–48.
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Two-part article (which continues at 29.3 (1974): 505–534) that examines the social milieus of the 1780s and the long-running debate surrounding the Ségur Decree of 1781, which required all French army officers to produce proofs of nobility. He argues that this occurred as a method of creating a more professional officer corps and was not intended to exclude members of the common classes from the army, contrary to the prevailing historiography at the time.
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Bien, David D., J. M. Smith, and R. Blaufarb. Caste, Class and Profession in Old Regime France: The French Army and the Ségur Reform of 1781. St. Andrews Studies in French History and Culture 2. St. Andrews, Scotland: Centre for French History and Culture of the University of St. Andrews, 2010.
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Translation, with some updating and editing, of the major arguments presented in Bien and Rovet 1974.
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Blaufarb, Rafe. The French Army, 1750–1820: Careers, Talent, Merit. Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, 2002.
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Long-range study of the French army focusing on intellectual trends and the radical social changes from the Old Regime to the Revolutionary and Napoleonic eras.
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Camon, Hubert. Quand et comment Napoléon a conçu son système de bataille. Paris: Berger-Levrault, 1935.
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See also Hubert Camon, Quand et comment Napoléon a conçu son système de manœuvre (Paris: Berger-Levrault, 1931). Camon praises Guibert’s creation of l’ordre mixte and his emphasis on the offensive but largely dismisses the remainder of Guibert’s recommendations. Cambon argues that these two elements became key factors in the rise of Napoleonic warfare.
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Colin, Jean. L’éducation militaire de Napoléon. Paris: R. Chapelot, 1901.
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Colin’s work focuses on the theoretical antecedents to the army of Napoleon, as the title suggests. He draws elements of theory from throughout the Old Regime and Revolution, finding a distinct continuity from the royal army to the Grande Armée. One of few works that attempts to bridge all three periods.
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Colin, Jean. L’infanterie au XVIIIe siècle: La tactique. Paris: Berber-Levrault, 1907.
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First volume of an unfinished study of the titular subject. Colin provides in-depth analysis of tactical discussions and changes throughout the period. An excellent starting point for a study of the French army and its tactics, despite its now-advanced age.
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Quimby, Robert. The Background of Napoleonic Warfare: The Theory of Military Tactics in Eighteenth-Century France. New York: Columbia University Press, 1957.
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Examines the developments and trends in French military theory from the 1720s to the Revolution. Invaluable resource for the longue durée of 18th-century military theory and for Guibert’s seminal influence. Quimby translates large portions of almost every tract he discusses, which makes the work doubly important and an excellent introduction to the field for readers without French-language skills.
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Wilkinson, Spenser. The French Army before Napoleon: Lectures Delivered before the University of Oxford in Michaelmas Term, 1914. Oxford: Clarendon, 1915.
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The middle volume of Wilkinson’s three-volume study of the French army. Short chapters, drawn from his lectures, provide a primer for the more detailed material addressed in Quimby 1957, Colin 1901, and Colin 1907. Colin was a contemporary of Wilkinson.
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Guibert’s Terms in the Ministry of War

The works here address Guibert’s tenures as a member of the Council of War from 1775 to 1777 and again from 1787 to 1788. They establish Guibert’s work that resulted in the production of the 1791 Réglement. Latreille 1914, despite its name, details the measures enacted by each ministry in the Ministry of War between 1760 and 1789. Saint-Germain 1781 describes his tenure as secretary of state for war, under whom Guibert served in his first position on the Conseil de la Guerre (Council of War).

Latreille, Albert. L’oeuvre militaire de la révolution: L’armée et la nation à la fin de l’ancien régime: Les derniers ministres de la guerre de la monarchie. Paris: Librairie Chapelot, 1914.
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Invaluable resource that describes in detail the reforms and policies of each secretary of state for war from Étienne-François, duc de Choiseul in the 1760s to the breakdown of the royal army in 1789. Includes much data available only from the French archives.
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Saint-Germain, Claude Louis, comte de. Mémoires et commentaires. London: [s.n.], 1781.
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Saint-Germain and Guibert closely collaborated on sweeping reforms designed to modernize and professionalize the French army, beginning in 1775. Saint-Germain’s writings detail Guibert’s substantial contributions, including designing the program of reforms and pushing many through the often-contentious Council of War.
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Legacy

Guibert’s legacy embraces the period of military theory and practice that followed his career. This includes the wars of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars, which occurred from 1792 to 1815 and involved every major European power and military establishment. The following sections trace Guibert’s influence on the conduct of war, beginning with the theoretical debate about the use of linear and columnar formations in battle, continuing through the major wars of the period, and concluding with an examination of his lasting contributions to military theory.

Line versus Column

Prior to the era of modern military historiography, tactical studies focused almost exclusively on the question of “line versus column.” The argument pitted those who argued for deployment in thin lines with wide frontages, which maximized firepower, against those who called for narrow, deep formations using shock: l’ordre mince (thin order) and l’ordre profond (deep order), respectively. These debates proceeded from the French army of Guibert’s day, which rancorously debated the issue between 1760 and 1789. They illustrate the climate in which Guibert worked and argued for his reforms and also a line of debate that continued in historiography after his death. The modern debate in France originates with Folard 1726. Mesnil-Durand 1755 presents the most coherent contemporary case for the column school, which dominated French theory until the outbreak of the Revolutionary Wars. Guibert himself argued for the linear school, as detailed in his works cited under Military Writings. Modern authors took up the debate, particularly British officers lauding Wellington’s “thin red line” that often stymied the French in the Peninsular War. Fortescue 1899–1930 and Oman 1910 typify this analysis. Arnold 2004 offers a sharp revision of this line of historiography. Arnold’s critique largely signals the end of the line-versus-column debate in academic historiography, relegating it to the ranks of hobbyist historians.

Arnold, James R. “A Reappraisal of Column versus Line in the Peninsular War.” In Journal of Military History 68.2 (April 2004): 535–552.
DOI: 10.1353/jmh.2004.0006Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Sharp reproof of Oman and his fellow British officers. He argues that the Peninsular War involved a wide variety of tactics and formations that contributed to the French defeat, not the simple tactical determinism of the other authors.
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Folard, Jean-Charles, Chevalier. Nouvelles découvertes sur la guerre, dans une dissertation sur Polybe, où l’on donne une idée plus étenduë du commentaire entrepris sur cet auteur, et deux dissertations importantes détachées du corps de l’ouvrage. Paris: Jean-François Josse & Claude Labottière, 1726.
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Folard was the strongest proponent of l’ordre profond in mid-18th-century France. His work provided the foundation for Mesnil-Durand 1755 and all works that followed. See also Jean-Charles Folard, “Traité de la colonne, la manière de la former et de combattre dans cet ordre,” in Histoire de Polybe: Tome premier (Paris: Gandouin, Giffart, Armand Lamesle, 1727).
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Fortescue, John W. A History of the British Army. 13 vols. New York: Macmillan, 1899–1930.
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Official history of the British army. Adopts an exceptionalist argument that British linear tactics defeated French élan and shock columns, proving instrumental in the fall of Napoleon.
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Mesnil-Durand, François Jean de Graindorge d’Orgeville, baron de. Projet d’un ordre français en tactique, ou la phalange coupée et doublée soutenue par le mélange des armes. Paris: Antoine Boudet, 1755.
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Mesnil-Durand was an influential officer and military theorist, contemporary with Guibert. He created a tactical system that emphasized shock attacks in columnar formation, as recorded in this most significant of his publications. He proved to be Guibert’s most vociferous opponent, and the two exchanged barbs in person and in writing throughout the 1770s and 1780s.
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Oman, Charles. Column and Line in the Peninsular War. London: Oxford University Press, 1910.
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Similar to Fortescue 1899–1930, Oman expands the British exceptionalist linear tactics with numerous examples from his own research on the Peninsular War.
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The Wars of the French Revolution

Guibert’s reforms provided the theoretical foundation for the success of the French armies during the wars of the French Revolution of 1792–1799. They were enshrined in Ministère de la Guerre 1792, which are translated into English in Lacroix 1810. The other works illustrate the use of that system in practice during the period. Brown 1995 investigates the Revolutionary Ministry of War, heir to the institution Guibert served. Bertaud 1988 closely examines the French army of the period, particularly of 1793–1794 and details the practice of Guibert’s theory. Scott 1978 traces the near dissolution of the royal army in the early years of the Revolution to its becoming the core of the new army built by popular conscription. Ferrero 1961 includes a chapter detailing Guibert’s influence on Napoleon Bonaparte’s first Italian campaign. Griffith 1998 provides the best single-volume assessment of the titular subject. Lynn 1984 traces the campaigns of the Armée du Nord and its innovative tactical system. Ney 1833 provides a detailed survey of Revolutionary warfare and an essay on the tactics of the period.

Bertaud, Jean-Paul. The Army of the French Revolution: From Citizen-Soldiers to Instrument of Power. Translated by R. R. Palmer. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1988.
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Seminal study of the French army between 1792 and 1794. Bertaud focuses on the social aspects of the army, particularly its origins and training. Useful to illustrate the early struggles of the Revolutionary army to use professional tactics and doctrine.
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Brown, Howard. War, Revolution, and the Bureaucratic State: Politics and Army Administration in France, 1791–1799. New York: Oxford University Press, 1995.
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Brown examines the evolution of the Ministry of War under Lazare Carnot as it controlled the war effort during the French Revolution. The most immediate aspect of Guibert’s legacy, as Carnot implemented much of Guibert’s doctrinal system in his role as the “organizer of victory.”
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Ferrero, Guglielmo. The Gamble: Bonaparte in Italy, 1796–1797. Translated by Bertha Pritchard and Lily C. Freeman. London: G. Bell, 1961.
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Impressionistic and emotional discussion of Bonaparte’s first Italian campaign. Ferrero offers a chapter (“Guibert’s New Warfare,” pp. 84–95) analyzing Guibert’s influence on the campaign, noting the omnipresence of Guibert’s spirit of the offensive.
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Griffith, Paddy. The Art of War of Revolutionary France, 1789–1802. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole, 1998.
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In-depth discussion of the tactics of the French Revolutionary army. Includes a diagram entitled “l’ordre mixte,” demonstrating the deployment of a regiment of three companies, two in column and one in line (p. 220). This has become historiographically significant as it is often mistaken for the default formation of the French army, when, in fact, it did not exist in practice.
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Lacroix, Irenée Amelot de, trans. Rules and Regulations for the Field Exercise and Maneuvers of the French Infantry Issued August 1, 1791: And the Maneuvers Added Which Have Been Since Adopted by the Emperor Napoleon: Also, the Maneuvers of the Field Artillery with the Infantry. Boston: T. B. Wait, 1810.
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The best English-language translation of the 1791 Réglement, presented by Napoleon to James Madison. Contains minor revisions to the regulations, including tactical variations on the use of artillery.
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Lynn, John. The Bayonets of the Republic: Motivation and Tactics in the Army of Revolutionary France, 1791–94. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1984.
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Study of the Armée du Nord during the wars of the French Revolution. Lynn closely examines the practice of Revolutionary warfare, and he includes an invaluable table detailing the use of specific tactics in the battles of the period.
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Ministère de la Guerre. Réglement concernant l’exercice et les manœuvres de l’infanterie, du premier août 1791. Paris: Laillet, 1792.
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Official regulations that established the tactics and doctrine of the French army. This version remained in force until the 1830s, making it the longest lived in French history. It contains Guibert’s doctrinal system and was largely adapted from his work on the provisional regulations of 1788 and 1789.
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Ney, Michel duc d’Elchingen. Memoirs of Marshal Ney. 2 vols. London: Bull & Churton, 1833.
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Perhaps surprisingly given his impetuous nature, Ney proved the most analytical of Napoleon’s marshals in writing. His Memoirs contain an extensive discussion of the tactics of the French army during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars as well as detailed descriptions of nearly every battle in which Ney fought.
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Scott, Samuel. The Response of the Royal Army to the French Revolution: The Role and Development of the Line Army, 1787–93. Oxford: Clarendon, 1978.
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Samuel Scott examines the continuities between the Old Regime and the Revolution via the royal army. He demonstrates how elements of this army, trained in Guibert’s system, formed the professional core of the Revolutionary army. See also Samuel Scott, From Yorktown to Valmy: The Transformation of the French Army in the Age of Revolution (Niwot: University Press of Colorado, 1998).
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The Napoleonic Wars

These works illustrate the use of Guibert’s system throughout the Napoleonic Wars. Chandler 1966 represents the best in-depth, single-volume survey of the wars and contemporary theory. Nosworthy 1996, Muir 1998, and Rothenberg 1978 provide surveys of the warfare of the period, illustrating the evolution of warfare from the often disorderly days of the Revolution. Epstein 1994 examines the 1809 campaign in light of Guibert’s reforms and the advent of modern warfare.

Chandler, David. The Campaigns of Napoleon. New York: Macmillan, 1966.
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Lengthy survey of the titular subject. Particularly valuable is Part 3, “Napoleon’s Art of War,” which evaluates Napoleon’s actions through the theory of the Old Regime and Revolution (pp. 133–204).
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Epstein, Robert M. Napoleon’s Last Victory and the Emergence of Modern War. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1994.
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Epstein uses the 1809 War of the Fifth Coalition, pitting Austria against France, to argue for the advent of modern operational-level warfare. He credits much of its rise to the system devised by Guibert and used by the French armies throughout the period.
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Muir, Rory. Tactics and the Experience of Battle in the Age of Napoleon. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1998.
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Valuable study of the titular subject, focusing in large part on the Peninsular War. Muir examines the psychology of Napoleonic-era soldiers as well as their tactics.
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Nosworthy, Brent. With Musket, Cannon, and Sword. New York: Sarpedon, 1996.
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Extremely detailed examination of the tactics of the period, including many useful maps and diagrams of formations, deployments, and battles. As with the previous work by Nosworthy (Nosworthy 1990, cited under the Conduct of War), an excellent bridge between hobbyist manuals and academic studies.
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Rothenberg, Gunther E. The Art of Warfare in the Age of Napoleon. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1978.
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The most comprehensive of the included studies. Rothenberg provides a survey of the subject, illustrating the tactics, operations, strategy, and organization of the armies of the period.
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Military Theory

In addition to his influence on the practice of war, Guibert greatly influenced its theory. These works investigate that legacy, with a particularly eye toward the political and social ramifications of Guibert’s theory and its practice during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. Clausewitz 1984 provides the seminal investigation of the links among war, society, and the state. Jomini 1971 introduces a counterpoint to Clausewitz, arguing for an ordered and detached military establishment. Heuser 2010 contains a recent study on Guibert and the question of total war. Telp 2005 examines Guibert’s role in the rise of operational-level warfare. Caillois 1994 portrays Guibert as the prophet of mass warfare, and Poirier 1985 notes his role in the development of modern doctrine and military systems.

Caillois, Roger. Bellone ou la pente de la guerre. Saint-Clèment-la-Rivière, France: Fata Morgana, 1994.
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Impressionistic work that argues that Guibert prefigured the connections between warfare and democratic society, noting the upheaval and chaos that would result from a true nation in arms, as evidenced by the wars of the early 20th century.
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Clausewitz, Carl von. On War. Edited by Michael Howard and Peter Paret. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1984.
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Originally published 1832. Classic work in the study of military theory. Clausewitz presents his famous triad of the people, the army, and the state, noting the important links among the three. Guibert addressed many of the same questions in his own work, marking an important continuity between the two. Clausewitz rejected most efforts to impose a systematic framework on the conduct of war, as Guibert had attempted to do throughout his career.
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Delbrück, Hans. History of the Art of War within the Framework of Political History. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1975–1985.
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Delbruck served in many ways as the curator of Clausewitz’s work for an audience outside of the Prussian-German military establishment. He also largely defined the modern concepts of “limited war” and “total war,” providing the basis for discussions of Guibert’s impact on military theory.
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Heuser, Beatrice. “Guibert: Prophet of Total War?” In War in an Age of Revolution, 1775–1815. Edited by Roger Chickering and Stig Forster, 49–68. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010.
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Revealing essay on Guibert’s position in the Enlightenment Project. Heuser argues that Guibert was more radical in his military theory than most contemporaries, particularly the Encyclopedists who frequented Lespinasse’s salon. However, she finds him more politically conservative than these writers, placing him in an awkward position vis-à-vis the literary community surrounding both the Encyclopedia and the salons.
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Jomini, Antoine Henri, baron de. The Art of War. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1971.
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Jomini’s work often serves as a counterpoint to Clausewitz. He argued that certain principles governed the conduct of war and designed a theoretical system to encompass those maxims. His writing shows heavy influence from Guibert and remains a cornerstone of modern military theory, including in the military academies of the United States.
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Poirier, Lucien. Les voix de la stratégie. Paris: Fayard, 1985.
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General Poirier’s analysis examines Guibert’s role in the creation of modern military systems. He places Guibert in a prominent position as the genesis of what is now known as doctrine. Poirier also credits Guibert with being one of the first theorists to glimpse the links between war and the state, prefiguring Clausewitz.
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Telp, Claus. The Evolution of Operational Art, 1740–1813: From Frederick the Great to Napoleon. New York: Frank Cass, 2005.
DOI: 10.4324/9780203339954Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Study of the evolution of operational warfare from Frederick the Great to Napoleon. Telp argues, against Palmer, that Guibert’s theories led to the creation of modern operational warfare under Napoleon.