Law Is War

LAW IS WAR

12 April 2010 Copyright Paul M Fordyce 2

‘Happiness lies in conquering one’s enemies, in driving them in front of oneself, in taking their property, in savouring their despair, in outraging their wives and daughters.’- Genghis Khan (Temujin) 1162-1227


‘Once the enemy cracked, however, they were not to be surrounded, but an easy escape route left open. The reasons for this were that trapped soldiers would fight to the death and if they could get away they would …’‘The Roman Imperial Army’ by Graham Webster


‘You can never do too much reconnaissance.’

– General George S. Patton (1947)


‘It is well that war is so terrible. We should come too fond of it.’ - Robert E Lee after the Battle of Fredericksburg, December 1862


‘ … his presence on the field made the difference of 40,000 men’:- A remark by the Duke of Wellington about Napoleon


‘Attacking does not merely consist in assaulting walled cities or striking at an army in battle array; it must include the act of assaulting the enemy’s mental equilibrium.’- Sun Tzu ‘The Art of War’


‘… there is nothing more common than to hear of men losing their energy on being raised to a higher position, to which they do not feel themselves equal …’

- Clausewitz


‘Strategy is the art of making use of time and space. I am less chary of the latter than the former. Space we can recover, lost time never.’- a maxim of Napoleon


‘In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.’ – Dwight D Eisenhower


‘Why stake your fortunes on the risk of battle? Especially as a victory by strategy is as much a part of good generalship as a victory by the sword.’- Julius Caesar


‘Moderation in war is imbecility’

- Macaulay


‘War means risk, and you cannot play the game and always win; and the sooner those in authority realise this, the better.’

- Earl Kitchener


‘Don’t carry off that arm till I’ve taken off my ring.’- Baron Raglan at the Battle of Waterloo 1815 after his arm had been shot off.


‘It is fatal to enter any war without the will to win it.’

- General Douglas MacArthur


‘We have a very daring and skilful opponent against us, and, may I say across the havoc of war, a great general.’

- Winston Churchill about Rommel in a speech to

the House of Commons, 1942


‘Better 1 bad general than 2 good ones.’

- Maxim of Napoleon


‘Those who excel in war first cultivate their own humanity and justice and maintain their laws and institutions.’

- Sun Tzu


‘Haste is the mother of failure – and for failure we always pay a heavy price.’

- Artabanus’ warning to King Xerxes


‘How can the ability to lead depend on the ability to follow? You might as well say that the ability to float depends on the ability to sink’- LJ Peter and R Hull ‘The Peter Principle’.


‘The instruments of battle are valuable only if one knows how to use them.’

- Charles Ardant du Picq ‘Battle Studies’ (1870)

John Tenniel, Franco-Prussian War (Punch Magazine, 1870)


‘Force is always beside the point when subtlety will serve.’

- King Darius


‘The age of chivalry has gone and that of sophisters, economists and calculators has succeeded.’- Edmund Burke ‘Reflections on the French Revolution’ (1790)


‘Written laws are like spiders’ webs; they will catch, it is true, the weak and poor, but would be torn in pieces by the rich and powerful.’- Anacharsis (Scythian prince of 6th Century BCE)


‘The modern army commander must free himself from routine methods and show a comprehensive grip of technical matters, for he must be in a position continually to adapt his ideas of warfare to the facts and possibilities of the moment.’- Field Marshall Erwin Rommel


‘When administration and orders are inconsistent, the men’s spirits are low and the officers exceedingly angry.’

- Chang Yi


‘The most common words in the mouths of American soldiers has been a vulgar expression for sexual intercourse. This word does duty as an adjective, adverb, verb, noun and in any other form it can possibly be used, however inappropriate or ridiculous in application.’- J Glenn Gray (1970)


‘9/10ths of tactics are certain, and taught in books: but the irrational tenth is like the kingfisher flashing across the pool and that is the test of generals. It can only be ensured by instinct, sharpened by thought, practising the stroke so often that at the crisis it is as natural as reflex.’- T.E. Lawrence (1929)


‘The officers of a panzer division must learn to think and act independently within the framework of the general plan and not wait until they receive orders.’- Field Marshall Erwin Rommel


‘The courage of a soldier is heightened by his knowledge of his profession.’

- Vegetius ‘De Re Militari’

Emperor Hadrian


‘Silence is a woman’s finest ornament.’

- Medieval saying


The 6 ‘P’s’.

‘Proper Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance.’

- British Army Officer Training Slogan


‘Order, counter-order, disorder.’

- Military maxim


‘Tactics is the art of using troops in battle; strategy is the art of using battles to win the war.’

- Clausewitz


‘Who Dares Wins’

- Motto of British Special Air Services


‘A man will fight harder for his interests than for his rights’

- Maxim of Napoleon


‘The battlefield is the epitome of war. All else in war, when war is perfectly conducted, exists but to serve the forces on the battlefield and to assure final success on the battlefield.’

- SLA Marshall ‘Men Against Fire’.


‘… to win a hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the acme of skill. To subdue the enemy without fighting is the acme of skill.’- Sun Tzu


‘Peace is better than war, because in peace the sons bury their fathers, but in war the fathers bury their sons.’

- Croesus to Cambyses (son of his enemy Cyrus the Great). 6th Century BCE

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Law Is War