“ Struck by the apparent weakness of the thin line of battle of the time, and arguing from the ἔμβολον or cuneus of ancient warfare, he desired to substitute the shock of a deep mass of troops for former methods of attack, and further considered that in defence a solid column gave an unshakable stability to the line of battle. ”

“ He soon saw active service, and, young as he was, wrote a manual on partisan warfare, the manuscript of which passed with Folard’s other papers to Marshal Belleisle on the author’s death. In 1702 he became a captain, and aide-de-camp to the duke of Vendôme, then in command of the French forces in Italy. In 1705, while serving under Vendôme’s brother, the Grand Prior, Folard won the cross of St Louis for a gallant feat of arms, and in the same year he distinguished himself at the battle of Cassano, where he was severely wounded. ”

“ An analysis of Folard’s military writings brings to light not a connected theory of war as a whole, but a great number of independent ideas, sometimes valuable and suggestive, but far more often extravagant. ”