Jacques Antoine Hippolyte, Comte de Guibert
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Jacques Antoine Hippolyte Comte de Guibert |
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| Born |
12 November 1743 Montauban |
| Died | 6 May 1790 (aged 46) |
| Language | French |
| Nationality | French |
Jacques-Antoine-Hippolyte, Comte de Guibert (12 November 1743 – 6 May 1790) was a French general and military writer. Born at Montauban, he accompanied his father in wars before he became a general himself. In 1770, he published an essay on tactics which was very influential in his time.
He was born at Montauban, and at the age of thirteen accompanied his father, Charles-Benoît, comte de Guibert (1715–1786), chief of staff to Maréchal de Broglie, throughout the Seven Years' War in Germany, and was awarded the cross of St Louis and then promoted to the rank of colonel in the expedition to Corsica (1767).
In 1773 he visited Germany and was present at the Prussian regimental drills and army manœuvres; Frederick the Great, recognizing Guibert's ability, showed great favour to the young comte and freely discussed military questions with him. Guibert's Journal d'un voyage en Allemagne was published, with a memoir, by Toulongeon (Paris, 1803). His Défense du système de guerre moderne, a reply to his many critics (Neuchâtel, 1779) is a reasoned and scientific defence of the Prussian method of tactics, which formed the basis of his work when in 1775 he began to co-operate with the count de Saint-Germain in a series of much-needed and successful reforms in the French army. During those years, he also won the love of Julie de Lespinasse, whose love letters to him, later published, are still read today.
In 1777, however, Saint-Germain fell into disgrace, and his fall involved that of Guibert who was promoted to the rank of maréchal de camp and relegated to a provincial staff appointment. In his semi-retirement he vigorously defended his old chief Saint-Germain against his detractors. On the eve of the Revolution he was recalled to the War Office, but in his turn he became the object of attack and he died, practically of disappointment, on 6 May 1790.
In 1770 he published his Essai général de tactique in London, and this celebrated work appeared in numerous subsequent editions and in English, German and even Persian translations (extracts also in Liskenne and Sauvan, Bibl. historique et militaire, Paris, 1845). Of this work (for a detailed critique of which see Max Jahns, Gesch. d. Kriegswissenschaften, vol. iii. pp. 2058–2070 and references therein) it may be said that it was the best essay on war produced by a soldier during a period in which tactics were discussed even in the salon and military literature was more abundant than at any time up to 1871.
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