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Suvorov's art of war

Suvorov is widely considered to be the single greatest and most talented military commander in all of Russian history, the most gifted commander of the eighteenth century, and one of the greatest generals in world history. Suvorov has also been described as the best general Republican France ever fought, and the best Coalition general when he was active. Undefeated in battle, he led and won 63 battles without suffering a major defeat or setback.

Suvorov won despite being outnumbered in almost all of his battles, defeating many of the best commanders of the time period, those being André Masséna, Étienne Macdonald, and Jean Victor Marie Moreau of France, and Koca Yusuf Pasha, Cenaze Hasan Pasha, and Aydoslu Mehmed Pasha of the Ottoman Empire. Notably, Suvorov defeated the French Revolutionary Army multiple times, which was regarded as the best in the world, and Masséna, arguably the best French Revolutionary general, who had superior forces in terms of experience, morale, and numbers.

Moreau ultimately ranked Suvorov alongside Napoleon, while also describing Suvorov's victory at Trebbia as "the height of the art of war", while writer Eugen Binder von Krieglstein ranked Suvorov as one of the greatest commanders of all time, alongside Napoleon and Frederick the Great. Renowned military officer and theorist Antoine-Henri Jomini called Suvorov "the true genius of war". Naval officer John Paul Jones, referred to as the "Father of the American Navy ", labeled Suvorov the "greatest warrior" and ranked him alongside Alexander the Great, Hannibal, Caesar, Gustavus Adolphus and Frederick the Great. The British historian Simon Sebag Montefiore called Suvorov Russia's most brilliant general and ranked him as one of the modern military geniuses, along with Napoleon and Frederick the Great.

In 1799, Napoleon himself warned the Directory that that they would not be able to stop Suvorov unless they found generals with "special skill in fighting him". In 1807, Macdonald declared to the Russian ambassador at a reception with Napoleon and a crowd around that "This crew would never have seen the Tuileries if you had had a second Suvorov".

While on a campaign, he reportedly lived as a private soldier, sleeping on straw and contenting himself with the humblest fare. Suvorov saw victory as dependent on the morale, training, and initiative of the front-line soldier. In battle he emphasized speed and mobility, accuracy of gunfire and the use of the bayonet, as well as detailed planning and careful strategy. His motto: coup d'oeil (glazomer), speed (bystrota), impetus (natisk). He abandoned traditional drills, and communicated with his troops in clear and understandable ways. Suvorov also took great care of his army's supplies and living conditions, reducing cases of illness among his soldiers dramatically, and earning their loyalty and affection. A master of logistics, Suvorov ordered his officers, quartermasters and doctors to keep the welfare and fitness of the troops in the forefront of their attentions. He severely punished, often with courts-martial, any officers who senselessly or cruelly drilled their troops or who failed to maintain his high sanitary and health standards. Although a strict disciplinarian, he took extenuating circumstances into account. Once a soldier or officer had been punished or reprimanded, Suvorov would do his utmost to rehabilitate him.

Suvorov "did not know retreat", he constantly acted offensively and in accordance with the situation was looking for a fight, not evaded it, but he did not overuse the battles, the fight always turned out to be appropriate, necessary in the operation, and moreover decisive; if he got the chance to confront his enemy, he used it with all the energy. Suvorov's guiding principle was to detect the weakest point of an enemy and focus an attack upon that area. He would send forth his units in small groups as they arrived on the battlefield to sustain momentum. Suvorov used aimed fire instead of repeated barrages from line infantry and applied light infantrymen as skirmishers and sharpshooters. He used a variety of army sizes and types of formations against different foes: squares against the Turks, lines against Poles, and columns against the French.

Suvorov believed that "a military man must know the languages of the nations with whom he is fighting," so he developed a fluent command of French, German, Greek, Ottoman Turkish, Italian, Polish and Latin, as well as some knowledge of Arabic, Finnish and Persian. He also rejected a suggestion that the Russian army rid itself of its musicians, saying,

"music doubles, trebles the force of an army."

According to D. S. Mirsky, Suvorov "gave much attention to the form of his correspondence, and especially of his orders of the day. These latter are highly original, deliberately aiming at unexpected and striking effects. Their style is a succession of nervous staccato sentences, which produce the effect of blow and flashes. Suvorov's official reports often assume a memorable and striking form. His writings are as different from the common run of classical prose as his tactics were from those of Frederick or Marlborough ".

Mikhail Ivanovich Dragomirov declared that he based his teaching on Suvorov's practice, which he held as representative of the fundamental truths of war and of the military qualities of the Russian nation.

Suvorov's maneuvering of the Alps led him to be called the "Russian Hannibal ", and was also referred to as the "Russian Mars " and "God of War". The French king, Louis XVIII, compared Suvorov to Attila.