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Frederick The Great On The Art Of War

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It is rare for a monarch, whose power originates from the happenstance of family lineage, to also become a great military leader. Three of the most noteworthy are Alexander the Great of Macedon, Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden and Frederick the Great of Prussia. Only one of these, Frederick, lived to see his fortieth birthday, and to transmit to posterity his wisdom and experiences concerning the art of war. Author Jay Luvaas has done a masterful job of translating and editing Fredrick's various writings on myriad military topics and placing them in an accessible format for the military history enthusiast. Luvaas' own comments and observations are inserted only to clarify, never detracting from the feeling that it is still "Old Fritz" doing the talking.

In the introductory chapter, Luvaas places Frederick in his proper historical place: He is a monarch firmly set in the early modern period, concerned always with preservation of the balance of power among European kingdoms. If he wages a war of conquest, it is only for the province of Silesia. Frederick the general is subordinate to the policies of Frederick the king, and does not go about seeking glory for glory's sake.

Frederick's writings are intended for the successors to his throne as well as his generals in the field. For this reason they are practical in the extreme, dealing with the specifics of the geographical features found in the most likely theaters of war, and the characteristics of Prussia's most likely foes. We get a close look at the most important logistical issues of eighteenth century warfare such as the establishment and maintenance of magazines, foraging, and something known as "castrametation," which sounds painful, but is actually the art of laying out a camp.

Much of his writings deals with operational and tactical issues: How an army should march depending on the proximity of the enemy. When a town should or should not be occupied. The conditions under which to detach forces from your main army, something Frederick allowed only as a necessary evil when the occasion demanded. The importance of using a river not just to anchor a flank, but to make sure the river is unfordable. How to best take advantage of different types of terrain. The proper use of defiles. How to conduct operations depending on the relative numbers of the combatants. And of course, the use of his pet offensive tactic: the oblique order. These are only a few examples of what Frederick discusses.

How effectively did Fredrick meet his goal of transmitting his wisdom and experience to his successor monarchs and generals? He died in 1786. Twenty years later, Napoleon completely routed the Prussian army at Jena. The Prussians of 1806 had Frederick's writings but not Frederick. Not until the formation of the Prussian general staff, and its institutionalization of many of the things that were second nature to Frederick, would they again become a formidable military force.

From the perspective of military history, however, we are grateful that Frederick wrote as prolifically as he did. We are able to get a detailed, no-nonsense look at eighteenth century warfare from its foremost practitioner, who, though beset by enemies from all points of the compass, somehow persevered. Yes, he did get lucky on occasion, most notably when the Russian empress died, and her brother then made peace with Frederick. But Frederick writes himself, that luck does indeed play a part, but the best general is the one who leaves as little to chance as possible.

This book does offer a lot of insight into the mind of one of history's best generals, Frederick the Great. Frederick gives some background into the Prussian army of his father but not much beyond that. His writings on some of the major battles of the Seven Years War are quite interesting, as are some of the details of the formation of the army and how battles and campaigns are to be fought.
However, Frederick sometimes gets dragged down in the details and is too repetitive for modern readers. Also, although it is almost needless to say, Frederick shows a fair amount of bias towards his own accomplishments and often doesn't give his opponents or even his father sufficient praise.
Overall, though, Jay Luvaas does an excellent job blending Frederick's disorganized writings into one flowing work. He also adds some of his own thoughts and clarifications that aid in the understanding of the book. This is a great buy for anyone interested in warfare from the 17th to 19th centuries as it shows the transition period. Although, if you don't know much about Frederick or his wars, it may be a bit too confusing in the details to start with.