GAULLE Charles de. Autograph manuscript, [circa 1930?]; 8 folios fol. Draft for an article, unpublished; extensively crossed out and corrected, it is paginated from 1 to 8. It is related to the ideas developed in 1932 in Le Fil de l'épée on the action of the leader, and on the politician and the soldier. "The rider is undoubtedly flattered to show up at the horse show riding a robust animal with harmonious forms, but when he enters the arena what seems essential to him is the height of the obstacles and the horse's ability to overcome them. The leader who leads the army in war resembles this rider. He is well aware of the need to adapt the military force completely to the institutions and customs of the country and the times, and is the first to rejoice - and frankly so - if the politician has been able to solve this problem. But when given the task of taking action, he is no less concerned about the value of the instrument he is given in relation to what needs to be achieved. The proportion between the means at his disposal and the result he has to achieve is his main concern, and he compares the soldier's abilities with the stakes of the war and the power of the enemy..."... And de Gaulle ended with a reference to Annibal in Italy: "The merchant aristocracy did not resign itself to taking up arms, and, faced with this abstention, the plebeian craftsmen and sailors did not agree to be incorporated. In Rome, the weight of this national error paralysed Annibal's genius. Later, when Scipio returned to Carthage to destroy it, the unfortunate city, desperate because of the betrayal and galvanised by terror, decided to defend its walls itself. But it was too late. The Romans' rapid assault did not give them the time they needed to strip this improvised mass movement of its confusion [...]. And Carthage perished, like Capua and Taranto, for failing to turn its citizens into soldiers when its independence was at stake. You have Greece at the time of the Roman conquest, and the Empire at the time of the barbarian invasions".