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Henri Jomini Biography & Facts

Antoine-Henri Jomini (French: [ʒɔmini]; 6 March 1779 – 22 March 1869) was a Swiss military officer who served as a general in French and later in Russian service, and one of the most celebrated writers on the Napoleonic art of war. Jomini was largely self-taught in military strategy, and his ideas are a staple at military academies, the United States Military Academy at West Point being a prominent example; his theories were thought to have affected many officers who later served in the American Civil War. He may have coined the term logistics in his Summary of the Art of War (1838). Early life and business career Jomini was born on 6 March 1779 in Payerne, Vaud, Switzerland, to Benjamin Jomini and Jeanne Marcuard. The Jominis were an old Swiss family, and both his father and paternal grandfather served as mayor of Payerne. In his youth, Jomini "was fascinated by soldiers and the art of war," and hoped to join the military, but his parents pushed him towards a career in business. As a result, Jomini entered a business school in Aarau at the age of 14. In April 1795, Jomini left school and went to work at the banking house of Monsieurs Preiswerk in Basel. In 1796, he moved to Paris, where he worked first at the Mosselmann banking house and then as a stockbroker. After a short time in banking, however, "Jomini convinced himself that the tedious life of a banker was not to be compared with the life afforded in the French Army" and decided to become a military officer as soon as he found an opportunity. Swiss Army In 1798, at time of the establishment of the Helvetic Republic, Jomini was an eager revolutionary and an associate of Frédéric-César de La Harpe. He soon found a position in the new Swiss government as a secretary for the Minister of War with the rank of captain. In 1799, after being promoted to the rank of major, Jomini took responsibility for reorganizing the operations of the ministry. In that capacity, he standardized many procedures, and used his position "to experiment with organizational systems and strategies". After the Peace of Lunéville in 1801, Jomini returned to Paris, where he worked for a military equipment manufacturer. He found the job uninteresting and spent most of his time preparing his first book on military theory: Traité des grandes operations militaires (Treatise on Major Military Operations). Michel Ney, one of Napoleon's top generals, read the book in 1803 and subsidized its publication. The book appeared in several volumes from 1804 to 1810 and was "quickly translated and widely discussed" throughout Europe. Service in the Napoleonic Wars French Army Jomini served in the 1805 campaign by serving on Ney's staff. Jomini fought with Ney at the Battle of Ulm and in December of that year, he was offered a commission as a colonel in the French Army. In 1806, Jomini published his views as to the conduct of the impending war with Prussia. That, along with his knowledge of Frederick the Great's campaigns, which Jomini had described in the Traité, led Napoleon to attach him to his own headquarters. Jomini was present with Napoleon at the Battle of Jena and at the Battle of Eylau, where he won the cross of the Legion of Honour. After the Peace of Tilsit, Jomini was made chief of the staff to Ney and as well as a baron. In the Spanish campaign of 1808, his advice was often of the highest value to the marshal, but Jomini quarreled with his chief, and he was left almost at the mercy of his numerous enemies, especially Louis Alexandre Berthier, the emperor's chief of staff. Russian Army Overtures had been made to him, as early as 1807, to enter the Russian service, but Napoleon, hearing of his intention to leave the French army, compelled him to remain in the service with the rank of general of brigade. For some years thereafter, Jomini held both a French and a Russian commission, with the consent of both sovereigns. However, when war between France and Russia broke out, he was in a difficult position, which he dealt with by taking a noncombat command on the line of communication. Jomini was thus engaged when the retreat from Moscow and the uprising of Prussia transferred the seat of war to central Germany. He promptly rejoined Ney and took part in the Battle of Lützen. As chief of the staff of Ney's group of corps, he rendered distinguished services before and at the Battle of Bautzen. For this he was recommended for the rank of general of division. Berthier, however, not only erased Jomini's name from the list but also put him under arrest and censured him in army orders for failing to supply certain staff reports that had been called for. How far Jomini was responsible for certain misunderstandings that prevented the attainment of all the results hoped for from Ney's attack at Bautzen is unknown. However, the pretext for censure was in Jomini's own view trivial and baseless, and during the armistice Jomini did as he had intended to do in 1809–1810 and went into the Russian service. That move was seen as tantamount to deserting to the enemy, and was regarded as such by many in the French army and by some of his new comrades. This was despite Jomini's holding for years a dormant commission in the Russian army, and that he had declined to take part in the invasion of Russia in 1812. More importantly, a point that Napoleon commented upon, was the fact that he was a Swiss citizen, not a Frenchman. His Swiss patriotism was indeed strong, and he withdrew from the Allied Army in 1814 when he found that he could not prevent the Allies' violation of Swiss neutrality. Apart from love of his own country, the desire to study, to teach and to practice the art of war were his ruling motives. At the critical moment of the battle of Eylau, he had exclaimed, "If I were the Russian commander for two hours!" On joining the allies, he received the rank of lieutenant-general and the appointment of aide-de-camp from the tsar and rendered important assistance during the German campaign: an accusation that he had betrayed the numbers, positions and intentions of the French to the enemy was later acknowledged by Napoleon to be without foundation. As a Swiss patriot and as a French officer, he declined to take part in the passage of the Rhine at Basel and the subsequent invasion of France. In 1815, he was with Tsar Alexander in Paris and attempted to save the life of his old commander Ney. The defense of Ney almost cost Jomini his position in the Russian service. He succeeded, however, in overcoming the resistance of his enemies and took part in the Congress of Vienna. Postwar service and retirement After several years of retirement and literary work, Jomini resumed his post in the Russian army, and in about 1823, he was made a full general. Until his retirement in 1829 he was principally employed in the military education of the Tsarevich Nicholas (afterwards Emperor) and in the organization of the Russian staff college, which was established in 1832 and bore .... Discover the Henri Jomini popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Henri Jomini books.