Unity of Doctrine

And presumptive freedom of opinion

Carl Röchling Learning to March in Lockstep (1890)

The following passage is taken from a much longer article that I intend to translate for The Tactical Notebook at some point in the near future. However, I found it so interesting that I decided to publish it right away.

The unité de doctrine [unity of doctrine] of the German Army, which the French used to find so wonderful, is certainly a powerful advantage.  In those days, under a liberal regime, it was the product of considerable freedom of opinion.  An authoritarian regime finds it easier to preserve such unité [unity] and yet, at the same time, allow presumptive freedom of opinion.  It does this because it knows that forcing opinion to march in lockstep leads directly to the death of thought and, in the long run, will invariably inhibit the courage needed for decisive, responsible, and independent action.

Notes: The author, Lieutenant General Hermann Geyer, wrote unité de doctrine and unité in French.

Source: Hermann Geyer ‘Further Thoughts on “The Duration of Offensive Engagements”’ [‘Ergänzende Gedanken zu “Zeitdauer von Angriffsgefechten”’] Militärwissenschaftliche Rundschau (December 1939) (The link will take you to the page on the website of the German-Russian Project for the Digitization of German Documents in Russian Archives)

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