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    The Command And Control Of The Grand Armée: Napoleon As Organizational Designer
    The Command And Control Of The Grand Armée: Napoleon As Organizational Designer
    The Command And Control Of The Grand Armée: Napoleon As Organizational Designer
    Ebook75 pages53 minutes

    The Command And Control Of The Grand Armée: Napoleon As Organizational Designer

    By Lieut. Norman L. Durham

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    About this ebook

    The purpose of this thesis is to investigate Napoleon Bonaparte’s command and control of the Grand Armée through the lens of organizational design. Napoleon’s methodology behind the design of the Grand Armée is analyzed using modern principles of organizational design. The structure that Napoleon created within his organizational design was a vast information network that served as the framework for a highly effective command and control system. This command and control network allowed Napoleon to dominate a war with his enemies within the information domain.

    The Grand Armée transited the European countryside with lightning speed as Napoleon out maneuvered his enemies. Napoleon’s dominance was a direct result of his organizational masterpiece that was the Grand Armée. From an organizational design perspective, Napoleon’s methodology applied the ideas of others and exploited existing technology to affect his design.

    The reorganization of the military corps became one of the most important transformations made by Napoleon. The army corps was considered a key component in Napoleon’s strategic deployments. The command and control system he engineered for his corps was essential in the Napoleonic philosophy to march divided and fight united.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherWagram Press
    Release dateNov 6, 2015
    ISBN9781786256324
    The Command And Control Of The Grand Armée: Napoleon As Organizational Designer

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      Book preview

      The Command And Control Of The Grand Armée - Lieut. Norman L. Durham

      This edition is published by PICKLE PARTNERS PUBLISHING—www.picklepartnerspublishing.com

      To join our mailing list for new titles or for issues with our books – picklepublishing@gmail.com

      Or on Facebook

      Text originally published in 2009 under the same title.

      © Pickle Partners Publishing 2015, all rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted by any means, electrical, mechanical or otherwise without the written permission of the copyright holder.

      Publisher’s Note

      Although in most cases we have retained the Author’s original spelling and grammar to authentically reproduce the work of the Author and the original intent of such material, some additional notes and clarifications have been added for the modern reader’s benefit.

      We have also made every effort to include all maps and illustrations of the original edition the limitations of formatting do not allow of including larger maps, we will upload as many of these maps as possible.

      THE COMMAND AND CONTROL OF THE GRAND ARMÉE: NAPOLEON AS ORGANIZATIONAL DESIGNER

      BY

      NORMAN L. DURHAM

      LIEUTENANT, UNITED STATES NAVY

      TABLE OF CONTENTS

      Contents

      TABLE OF CONTENTS 4

      ABSTRACT 5

      LIST OF FIGURES 6

      ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 7

      I. INTRODUCTION 8

      A. HISTORY 8

      B. OBJECTIVES 9

      C. THESIS OUTLINE 9

      II. BACKGROUND 11

      A. KEY MILITARY CONCEPTS 11

      1. Command and Control (C2) 11

      2. Infrastructure 11

      3. Army Organization 12

      B. INFORMATION SYSTEMS ENGINEERING 13

      1. Systems Engineering 13

      2. Information Systems 14

      C. ORGANIZATIONAL DESIGN 15

      1. Organizational Design 15

      2. Principles of Organizational Design 16

      III. STRUCTURAL MODEL OF NAPOLEON’S ORGANIZATIONAL DESIGN 19

      A. EVOLUTION OF THE CORPS FORMATION 19

      1. Design Process 19

      2. Corps Design 20

      3. Corps Command and Control Element 21

      B. IMPERIAL HEADQUARTERS ORGANIZATION 22

      1. Maison 22

      2. General Staff 23

      IV. ANALYSIS OF NAPOLEON’S ORGANIZATIONAL DESIGN IN KEY BATTLES 25

      A. THE MANEUVER ON ULM: 20 OCTOBER 1805 25

      B. BATTLE OF AUSTERLITZ: 2 DECEMBER 1805 26

      C. THE BATTLE OF WAGRAM: 5-6 JULY 1809 29

      V. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 32

      A. CONCLUSIONS 32

      B. FUTURE WORK 34

      LIST OF REFERENCES 36

      REQUEST FROM THE PUBLISHER 38

      ABSTRACT

      The purpose of this thesis is to investigate Napoleon Bonaparte’s command and control of the Grand Armée through the lens of organizational design. Napoleon’s methodology behind the design of the Grand Armée is analyzed using modern principles of organizational design. The structure that Napoleon created within his organizational design was a vast information network that served as the framework for a highly effective command and control system. This command and control network allowed Napoleon to dominate a war with his enemies within the information domain.

      The Grand Armée transited the European countryside with lightning speed as Napoleon out maneuvered his enemies. Napoleon’s dominance was a direct result of his organizational masterpiece that was the Grand Armée. From an organizational design perspective, Napoleon’s methodology applied the ideas of others and exploited existing technology to affect his design.

      The reorganization of the military corps became one of the most important transformations made by Napoleon. The army corps was considered a key component in Napoleon’s strategic deployments. The command and control system he engineered for his corps was essential in the Napoleonic philosophy to march divided and fight united.

      LIST OF FIGURES

      Figure 1. Battle of Austerlitz (Battle of Austerlitz, 2009)

      Figure 2. Battle of Wagram (Battle of Wagram, 2009)

      ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

      I would like to express my sincere thanks to Lt.-Col. Karl Pfeiffer and Mr. Steven Iatrou for their support, guidance, advice, and humor during the research and completion of this thesis.

      Also, I would like to thank my beloved wife, Andrea, my daughter, Brooke, and my dog, Caesar, for their understanding and invaluable support

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