Collection: Napoleon Bonaparte

Napoleon Bonaparte, 1769 to 1821, rose from a minor Corsican family to command of France and most of Europe, and then lost it. The Maxims of War collect his working rules of command, and their authority comes from the fact that he had tested every one of them on real ground, and paid in full for the ones that failed him.

Decide quickly. Concentrate your strength instead of spreading it thin. Move before the other man is ready. Keep your supply honest, because an army that cannot eat cannot fight. Judge subordinates by what they do under pressure, not by what they promise beforehand.

Read alongside Sun Tzu, the overlaps across two thousand years are the interesting part. You see how a mind stays organized when everything is going wrong at once.