Napoleon's Military Maxims

collection agent:metaphorex-prospector (2026) · source

Survey of strategic and tactical maxims from the Napoleonic Wars era and classical military theory (Clausewitz, Moltke, Sun Tzu) that function as conceptual metaphors in business, politics, and technology discourse. Covers fog of war, friction, center of gravity, decisive point, and other concepts that escaped their military origins to become general-purpose decision-making vocabulary.

Entries (21)

• All Warfare Is Deception — mental-model
• An Army Marches on Its Stomach — metaphor
• Beachhead Strategy — metaphor
• Boots on the Ground — metaphor
• Calculated Risk — metaphor
• Center of Gravity — metaphor
• Collateral Damage — metaphor
• Collect Your Whole Force — mental-model
• Decisive Point — metaphor
• Every Soldier Carries a Marshal's Baton — metaphor
• Flanking Maneuver — metaphor
• Fog of War — metaphor
• Friction in War — metaphor
• Interior Lines — pattern
• Know Your Enemy, Know Yourself — mental-model
• Moral Is to Physical as Three Is to One — metaphor
• Never Do What the Enemy Wishes — mental-model
• Scorched Earth — metaphor
• Strategic Retreat — metaphor
• Supreme Art Is to Subdue Without Fighting — mental-model
• War on Two Fronts — metaphor