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JOMINI, ANTOINE HENRI, BARON (1779-1869)

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Originally appearing in Volume V15, Page 496 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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JOMINI, See also:ANTOINE See also:HENRI, See also:BARON (1779-1869) , See also:general in the See also:French and afterwards in the See also:Russian service, and one of the most celebrated writers on the See also:art of See also:war, was See also:born on the6th of See also:March 1779 at Payerne in the See also:canton of See also:Vaud, See also:Switzerland, where his See also:father was See also:syndic. His youthful preference for a military See also:life was disappointed by the See also:dissolution of the Swiss regiments of See also:France at the Revolution. For some See also:time he was a clerk in a See also:Paris banking-See also:house, until the outbreak of the Swiss revolution. At the See also:age of nineteen he was appointed to a See also:post on the Swiss headquarters See also:staff, and when scarcely twenty-one to the command of a See also:battalion. At the See also:peace of See also:Luneville in r8or he returned to business life in Paris, but devoted himself chiefly to preparing the celebrated Traite See also:des grandes operations militaires, which was published in 1804-1805. Introduced to Marahal See also:Ney, he served in the See also:campaign of See also:Austerlitz as a volunteer aide-de-See also:camp on Ney's See also:personal staff. In See also:December 1805 See also:Napoleon, being much impressed by a See also:chapter in Jomini's See also:treatise, made him a See also:colonel in the French service. Ney thereupon made him his See also:principal aide-de-camp. In 1896 Jomini published his views as to the conduct of the impending war with See also:Prussia, and this, along with his knowledge of See also:Frederick the See also:Great's See also:campaigns, which he had described in the Traite, led Napoleon to attach him to his own headquarters. He was See also:present with Napoleon at the See also:battle of See also:Jena, and at See also:Eylau won the See also:cross of the See also:Legion of See also:Honour. After the peace of See also:Tilsit he was made See also:chief of the staff to Ney, and created a baron. In the See also:Spanish campaign of 1808 his See also:advice was often of the highest value to the See also:marshal, but Jomini quarrelled with his chief, and was See also:left almost at the See also:mercy of his numerous enemies, especially See also:Berthier, the See also:emperor's chief of staff.

Overtures had been made to him, as See also:

early as 1807, to enter the Russian service, but Napoleon, See also:hearing of his intention to leave the French See also:army, compelled him to remain in the service with the See also:rank of general of See also:brigade. For some years thereafter Jomini held both a French and a Russian See also:commission, with the consent of both sovereigns. But when war between France and See also:Russia See also:broke out, he was. in a difficult position, which he ended by taking a command on the See also:line of communication. He was thus engaged when the See also:retreat from See also:Moscow and the uprising of Prussia transferred the seat of war to central See also:Germany. He promptly rejoined Ney, took See also:part in the battle of Liitzen and, as chief of the staff of Ney's See also:group of See also:corps, rendered distinguished services before and at the battle of See also:Bautzen, and was recommended for the rank of general of See also:division. Berthier, however, not only erased Jomini's name from the See also:list, but put him under See also:arrest and censured him in army orders for failing to See also:supply certain returns that had been called for. How far Jomini was held responsible for certain misunderstandings which prevented the attainment of all the results hoped for from Ney's attack (see BAUTZEN) there is no means of knowing. But the pretext for censure was trivial and baseless, and during the See also:armistice Jomini did as he had intended to do in 1809-10, and went into the Russian service. As things then were, this was tantamount to deserting to the enemy, and so it was regarded by Napoleon and by the French army, and by not a few of his new comrades. It must be observed, in Jomini's See also:defence, that he had for years held a dormant commission in the Russian army, that he had declined to take part in the invasion of Russia in 1812, and that he was a Swiss and not a Frenchman. His patriotism was indeed unquestioned, and he withdrew from the Allied Army in 1814 when he found that he could not prevent the violation of Swiss See also:neutrality. Apart from love of his own See also:country, the See also:desire to study, to See also:teach and to practise the art of war was his ruling See also:motive.

At the See also:

critical moment of the battle of Eylau he exclaimed, " If I were the Russian See also:commander for two See also:hours !" On joining the See also:allies he received the rank of See also:lieutenant-general and the See also:appointment of aide-de-camp from the See also:tsar, and rendered important assistance during the See also:German campaign, though the See also:charge that he betrayed the See also:numbers, positions and intentions of the French to the enemy was later acknowledged by Napoleon to be without See also:foundation. He declined as a Swiss patriot and as a French officer to take part in the passage of the See also:Rhine at See also:Basel and the subsequent invasion of France. In 1815 he was with the emperor See also:Alexander in Paris, and attempted in vain to See also:save the life of his old commander Ney. This almost cost him his position in the Russian service, but he succeeded in making See also:head against his enemies, and took part in the See also:congress of See also:Vienna. Resuming, after a See also:period of several years of retirement and See also:literary See also:work, his post in the Russian army, he was about 1823 made a full general, and thenceforward until his retirement in 1829 he was principally employed in the military See also:education of the tsarevich See also:Nicholas (afterwards emperor) and in the organization of the Russian staff See also:college, which was opened in 1832 and still bears its See also:original name of the Nicholas See also:academy. In 1828 he was employed in the See also:field in the Russo-See also:Turkish War, and at the See also:siege of See also:Varna he was given the See also:grand See also:cordon of the Alexander See also:order. This was his last active service. In 1829 he settled at See also:Brussels where he chiefly lived for the next See also:thirty years. In 18J3, after trying without success to bring about a See also:political understanding between France and Russia, Jomini was called to St See also:Petersburg to See also:act as a military adviser to the tsar during the See also:Crimean War. He returned to Brussels on the conclusion of peace in 1856 and some years afterwards settled at Passy near Paris. He was busily employed up to the end of his life in See also:writing See also:treatises, See also:pamphlets and open letters on subjects of military art and See also:history, and in 1859 he was asked by Napoleon III. to furnish a See also:plan of campaign in the See also:Italian War. One of his last essays dealt with the war of 1866 and the See also:influence of the See also:breech-loading See also:rifle, and he died at Passy on the 24th of March 1869 only a See also:year before the Franco-German War.

Thus one of the earliest of the great military theorists lived to speculate on the See also:

tactics of the present See also:day. See also:Jonah, but how different a See also:man is he ! It is, however, the later Jonah who chiefly interests us. New problems have arisen out of the See also:book which relates to him, but here we can only See also:attempt to consider what, in a certain sense, may be called the See also:surface meaning of the See also:text. This, then is what we appear to be told. The See also:prophet Jonah is summoned to go to See also:Nineveh, a great and wicked See also:city (cf. 4 Esdras ii. 8, 9), and prophesy against it. Jonah, however, is afraid (iv. 2) that the Ninevites may repent, so, instead of going to Nineveh, he proceeds to See also:Joppa, and takes his passage in a See also:ship See also:bound for Tarshish. But soon a See also:storm arises, and, supplication to the gods failing, the sailors See also:cast lots to discover the guilty man who has brought this great trouble. The See also:lot falls on Jonah, who has been roughly awakened by the See also:captain, and when questioned frankly owns that he is a See also:Hebrew and a worshipper of the divine creator Yahweh, from whom he has sought to flee (as if He were only the See also:god of See also:Canaan).

Jonah advises the sailors to throw him into the See also:

sea. This, after praying to Yahweh, they actually do; at once the sea becomes See also:calm and they See also:sacrifice to Yahweh. Meantime God has " appointed a great See also:fish " which swallows up Jonah. Three days and three nights he is in the fish's belly, till, at a word from Yahweh, it vomits Jonah on to the dry ground. Again Jonah receives the divine See also:call. This time he obeys. After delivering his See also:message to Nineveh he makes himself a See also:booth outside the walls and See also:waits in vain for the destruction of the city (probably iv. 5 is misplaced and should stand after iii. 4). Thereupon Jonah beseeches Yahweh to take away his worthless life. As an See also:answer Yahweh " appoints " a small quickly-growing See also:tree with large leaves (the See also:castor-oil plant) to come up over the angry prophet and shelter him from the See also:sun. But the next day the beneficent tree perishes by God's " appointment " from a See also:worm-bite.

Once more God " appoints " something; it is the See also:

east See also:wind, which, together with the fierce See also:heat, brings Jonah again to desperation. The See also:close is See also:fine, and reminds us of See also:Job. God himself gives See also:short-sighted man a See also:lesson. Jonah has pitied the tree, and should not God have pity on so great a city? Two results of See also:criticism are widely accepted. One relates to the See also:psalm in ch. ii., which has been transferred from some other See also:place; it is in fact an anticipatory thanksgiving for the deliverance of See also:Israel, mostly composed of phrases from other See also:psalms. The other is that the narrative before us is not See also:historical but an imaginative See also:story (such as was called a See also:Midrash) based upon Biblical data and tending to edification. It is, however, a story of high type. The narrator considered that Israel had to be a prophet to the " nations" at large, that Israel had, like Jonah, neglected its See also:duty and for its See also:punishment was " swallowed up " in See also:foreign lands. God had watched over His See also:people and prepared its choicer members to fulfil His purpose. This See also:company of faithful but not always sufficiently charitable men represented their people, so that it might be said that Israel itself (the second See also:Isaiah's " Servant of Yahweh "—see ISAIAH) had taken up its duty, but in an ungenial spirit which grieved the All-merciful One. The book, which is post-exilic, may therefore be grouped with another Midrash, the Book of See also:Ruth, which also appears to represent a current of thought opposed to the exclusive spirit of Jewish legalism.

Some critics, however, think that the See also:

key of symbolism needs to be supplemented by that of See also:mythology. The " great fish " especially has a very mythological See also:appearance. The Babylonian See also:dragon myth (see See also:COSMOGONY) is often alluded to in the Old Testament, e.g. in Jer. IL 44, which, as the present writer See also:long since pointed out, may supply the missing See also:link between Jonah i. 17 and the original myth. For the " great fish " is ultimately Tiamat, the dragon of See also:chaos, represented historically by See also:Nebuchadrezzar, by whom for a time God permitted or " appointed " Israel to be swallowed up. For further details see T. K. See also:Cheyne, Ency. Bib., " Jonah "; and his See also:article " Jonah, a Study in Jewish See also:Folklore and See also:Religion," Theological See also:Review (1877), pp. 211–219. See also:Konig, See also:Hastings's See also:Diet.

See also:

Bible, " Jonah," is full but not lucid; C. H. H. See also:Wright, Biblical Studies (1886) argues ably for the symbolic theory. Against Cheyne, see See also:Marti's work on the See also:Minor Prophets (1894) ; the " great fish " Amongst his numerous See also:works the principal, besides the Traite, are: Histoire critique et militaire des campagnes de la Revolution (1806; new ed. 1819–1824); See also:Vie politique et militaire de Napoleon racontee See also:par lui-me"me (1827) and, perhaps the best known of all his publications, the theoretical Precis de l'art de la guerre (1836). See See also:Ferdinand Lecomte, Le General Jomini, sa vie et ses ecrits (1861; new ed. 1888) ; C. A. See also:Saint-Beuve, Le General Jomini (1869) ; A. See also:Pascal, Observations historiques sur la vie, &c., du general Jomini (1842).

End of Article: JOMINI, ANTOINE HENRI, BARON (1779-1869)

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