The structuring of the logistics in the armies

We just saw that at the beginning the logistics was only the “art” to transport military necessities.
Now we will see the moment when the General saw that logistics could also “win” battles.

“Logistics is the “practical art of moving armies”
General Antoine Henri de Jomini (1779-1869) General of Napoleon the First and Marshal Ney.
But the significant change in terms of logistics was without hesitation Napoleon the First (1769-1821).

During the centuries before, some Generals won battles due to the logistics, for example Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden ( 1594-1634) who won a battle during the Thirty Years War (1618-1648) due to a smart utilization of the river system, but it was only exception and sometime just a lucky choice.
Napoleon change the data: no more short campaign, important distance (Paris-Moscow 2847km) and more soldiers (during the Russian campaign Napoleon’s army was 691000 soldier!).
He created L’Arme du Train a special corps which had (have because still exist) for mission to collect, transport and dispatch the weapons, foods. This was the first time that we could observe a process, a chain. After Napoleon, all armies of the world occidental world evaluated.

"There is nothing more common than to find considerations of supply affecting the strategic lines of a campaign and a war."
Carl von Clausewitz (1780-1831) Prussian General.