Volume 8, Issue 1, Summer 2022 42 What is the Utility of the Principles of War? Baptiste Alloui-Cros - King's College London, Department of War Studies About the author Baptiste Alloui-Cros is a master’s student at King’s College London Department of War Studies. He also earned a BA in Political Science and an MA in International Security from Sciences Po Paris and is a high-level chess player. His main research interests are strategy, artificial intelligence, and wargaming. In the preface of ‘Mes Rêveries’, Marshal Maurice de Saxe states the following: [i] “War is a science so obscure and imperfect that custom and prejudice confirmed by ignorance are its sole foundation and support; all other sciences are established upon fixed principles… while this alone remains destitute.” However, this belief is a stand-alone in theAge of Enlightenment, a time in which it was commonly believed that war, just like any other domain, must surely obey some laws and scientific principles. Besides, this quest for the principles of war did not spare other eras. From Sun Tzu and Xenophon to Fuller and Foch, an abundant literature in strategic thought offers various perspectives on what these principles might be and how many can we account for. To cite this article: Alloui-Cros, Baptiste, “What is the Utility of the Principles of War?”, Military Strategy Magazine, Volume 8, Issue 1, summer 2022, pages 42-46. US soldiers, Baghdad 2007, Public Domain
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