Decisive Victory and the 'Cult of the Correct Military Doctrine': The Case ofFrench Military Doctrine': The Case of French Military Doctrine Before 1914

摘要

Military doctrine of the period leading to the First World War is oftencharacterized by 'the cult of the offensive'. French officers are especially faulted for ignoring the effect of modern firepower, and for supporting inappropriate offensive doctrines to better serve the self-interest of the military as a peace-time organization. But reality was more complex. A rereading of French military-technical doctrines of the period shows that the leading military thinkers of the period were quite well aware of the difficulties created by modern firepower, and that they consciously struggled with them. These thinkers were not blind advocates of the offensive. Underlying some of their most famous doctrinal errors is 'the cult of the correct military doctrine', manifested in the uncritical acceptance of the assumption that decisive results can be guaranteed by adopting the correct military doctrine.