Product Description

This volume explores the essence of German military professionalism as exemplified by the 19th-century Prussian German Staff. The study focuses on the most important Prussian military reformer--Gerhard Johann David von Scharnhorst, who in 1801 founded the Militarische Gesellschaft (Military Society) in Berlin. The Gesellschaft became the focal point for the transformation of the Prussian army from a robotic war machine into a modern fighting force that was instrumental in defeating Napolean in 1813 and in 1815.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #847114 in Books
• Published on: 1988-11-17
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 259 pages

About the Author
CHARLES E. WHITE is the Historian of the United States Army Infantry School, Fort Benning, Georgia, where he teaches miliary history.

Customer Reviews

The Reformers
Scharnhorst, the Hanoverian officer who transferred to the Prussian service, bringing with him new ideas of professionalism, excellence, and the education of officers, was one of the guiding lights in Prussia after their catastrophic defeat by Napoleon and his terrible Grande Armee, that, in three weeks of marching, fighting, and pursuit, destroyed the old Prussian Army of Frederick the Great.

This excellent volume, however, is not of the reform period, nor does it chronicle the decisive campaign of 1806. What it does tell us, is of Scharnhorst's efforts to institutionalize excellence in the Prussian army, especially its officer corps, and to move it into the era of modern warfare as exemplified by Napoleon and the French experience in the Wars of the Revolution.

Scharnhorst, as a new lieutenant colonel with a new patent of nobility, launched into the old ideas of Prussia's methods of waging war, and gathered about him like-minded souls that saw the shortcomings of the Prussian system and wanted to improve the army, especially the officer corps that was dominated by Junkers, the landed Prussian aristocracy that thought it their right to provide the army with its officer corps. To that end, Scarnhorst established the Militarische Gesellschaft, or Military Society, in Berlin. While not a school, it did become a think tank, and most of its members went on to become members of the revamped and reorganized Prussian General Staff, which was attempting to come into the modern world of the nineteenth century, based on the French staff example.

Before 1806 there was only partial success, Scharnhorst meeting opposition from most of the older generals and many of his peers. Still, there was success. Many papers and studies were published, including a noteworthy one by Scharnhorst on the Marengo Campaign of 1800, which noted the reforms in organization, tactics, leadership, and staff functioning that were being employed by the French. It also noted the numerous shortcomings of the Austrian Army.

This is a valuable work for any understanding of what the Prussian Army, or rather, certain of its members, were trying to do in the rough days before 1806, and in the even rougher ones after. Based on much primary German sources, including Scharnhorst's personal papers, it is a necessary work for both the study and understanding of the period, and it places the nucleus of the responsibility for the Prussian reforms squarely on Scharnhorst's shoulder, where they evidently belong. This is a necessary work for any student of the period and is very highly recommended.

The Enlightened Soldier
Charles E. White's "The Enlightened Soldier", is an awesome military leadership book and a must read for senior military/corporate leaders. The views, principles, and fundamentals of stratigic thinking and implementation are more relavant today than when this book was first written. I had to re-read some of the passages to get the full meaning of the author's intent -- that is why I only gave it 4 stars.

If you want to find out where the future of leadership should/is heading, read this book!

JWC

An intellectual military tradition.
This book highlights the dawn of the intellectual military tradition in Prussia that created an officer corps that *thought* and focused upon the result to be obtained rather than simply following processes.

Gerhard Von Scharnhorst emerges after Prussia's disasterous loss to Napolean to spark a new way in which officers, down to the lowest rank, are to approach their profession. He began with the "military society" wherin officers thought about war as a science rather than an art. Officers were responsible for their own intellectual development. They wrote papers, debated, explored and challenged each other. Von Scharnhorst led the deveopment of a military that consistently out-thought their opponents because they didn't simply follow orders. Officers, at every level, were focused upon the result to be obtained - even if this required *disobeying* orders from above in favor of what the situation in front of them required.

This doesn't mean that everyone acted on his own, but rather fulfilled the commander's *intent* by doing what is actually needed to produce a result that will facilitate the higher commander's desired result. They saw war as a creative act which required an intellectual framework and trust both down to a subordinate and upwards to the higher commander. As a result, they were consistently able to make decisions faster that their opponents.

This not the story of battles and campaigns. Rather, it is the story of reforming a system that no longer produced the desired result. It is the story of men who think about their profession and where disagreement and strenuous debate are not only tolerated, but encouraged. Compare that with the intellectual environment in the US Army between the world wars that threatened the careers of young Dwight Eisenhower and George Patton for simply *writing* about new technologies (such as the armored vehicle) and how they might challenge existing tactics and traditional combat arms.

This book should be read by every American military professional from lowest rank to highest as well as our political leaders. I heartily recommend this book to all interested in military science.