UNT Press

Under the Shadow of Napoleon: The US Army’s Doctrine, Education, and Theory of Victory from 1814 to 1941. Second Edition

— Vol. 9: of American Military Studies

Published: February, 2026  Pages: 448  Features: 25 b&w illus. 13 maps. Notes. Bib. Index.

The way an army understands warfare and how to achieve victory on the battlefield has a tremendous impact on its organization, equipment, training, and doctrine. The central ideas of that understanding form an army’s Theory of Victory, which informs how that army fights. From the disasters of the War of 1812, Winfield Scott ensured that America adopted a series of ideas formed in the crucible of the French Revolution and perfected by Napoleon Bonaparte as the United States Army’s Theory of Victory. These French ideas dominated American warfare on the battlefields of the Mexican-American War, the American Civil War, the Spanish-American War, and World War I. more... about Under the Shadow of Napoleon: The US Army’s Doctrine, Education, and Theory of Victory from 1814 to 1941. Second Edition