Antoine Henri Jomini

Antoine Henri Jomini , 1779-1869, Swiss general and military writer. He organized (1799) the militia of the Helvetic Republic and after 1804 served as staff officer in the French army. In Aug., 1813, after a clash with Marshal Berthier, he defected to the enemy, joining the Russian army, in which a commission had previously been arranged. He rose to high rank in Russia, becoming a celebrated authority on strategy. His works include a study of the campaigns of Frederick the Great, Traité des grandes opérations militaires (5 vol., 1804-10; tr. Treatise on Grand Military Operations ); Histoire critique et militaire des guerres de la Révolution (1819-24), on the French Revolutionary Wars; and the influential Précis de l'art de la guerre (1836; tr. The Art of War, 1862), which he wrote while military tutor to the future Czar Alexander II. Jomini emphasized the capture of major points and the importance of superior numbers and lines of operation, and he advocated the employment of speed and maneuver rather than battle whenever possible.

Jomini, Antoine-Henri (1779–1869) Swiss authority on the art of war who wrote histories of the campaigns of Frederick the Great and of Napoleon, in whose service he fought. In his writings he concentrated on the offensive strategy of napoleonic warfare. He has been mistakenly credited with influencing the generals of the Civil War, who were influenced by Napoleon.