The strategy of the central position (French: stratégie de la position centrale)[1] was a key tactical doctrine followed by Napoleon in the Napoleonic Wars.[2] It involved attacking two cooperating armies at their hinge, swinging around to fight one until it fled, then turning to face the other. The strategy allowed the use of a smaller force to defeat a larger one. However, these tactics, while successful at the battles of Ligny and Quatre Bras, failed at the Battle of Waterloo, and Napoleon was defeated because he was not able to prevent the joining of the British and Dutch forces by the Prussian forces.[3]
At the battle of Blenheim (1704), the Duke of Marlborough and his ally Prince Eugene of Savoy realising the French were weak in the centre initially concentrated their attacks on the wings. When Marshal Tallard, the French Commander, further weakened his central position to reinforce the fortified villages on the wings of his position, Marlborough launched a battle winning attack through the centre.[4]
Central position also describes the overall strategic situation of Frederick the Great[5] during the War of the Austrian Succession and the Seven Years' War in the Eighteenth Century where, although Prussia was surrounded by enemies, Frederick was able to use his central position to maneuver and attack each enemy separately despite being vastly outnumbered overall.
In World War II, Rommel maintained a central position on the Mareth Line between allied forces in Tunisia and Libya.[6]
The tactic loses at least some of its advantage when employed against successive wings or flanks of a single force with a unified command structure, as a single defending force's better communication and coordination enable it to better execute a pincer movement against the attacker.
^"La désastreuse invasion décentrée de Napoléon de la Russie". 29 January 2018.
^Halleck, Henry Wager (2008) [1862]. Elements of Military Art and Science. BiblioBazaar. p. 51.
^Holtman, Robert B. (1967). The Napoleonic Revolution. J.B. Lippincott Company.
^Staff (26 January 2016). "The Duke of Marlborough: Masterstroke at Blenheim". Warfare History Network. Sovereign Media. Retrieved 2 October 2016.
^"...but he occupied a central position from which ... take his assailants in detail ..."(Longman, Frederick William (1898). Frederick the Great and the Seven Years' War. Longmans Green & Co. pp. 106–107.).
^"Rommel could execute a classic example of the central position. From the Mareth Line, Rommel could strike first at the Americans and British in Tunisia, then turn back on Montgomery coming up from Libya".(Bevin, Alexander (2002). How Wars Are Won: The 13 Rules of War—From Ancient Greece to the War on Terror. New York. pp. 144–43. ISBN 1-4000-4948-2.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) )
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