Even if the axiom of order and obedience was still adhered to, discipline shifted from “obey the word (…)” to “(…) comprehend and implement the meaning of the order”

all commanders must always be aware that omission and failure are a heavier burden than a wrong choice of means”

A favourable situation will never be exploited if commanders wait for orders. The highest commander and the youngest soldier must be conscious of the fact that omission and inactivity are worse than resorting to the wrong expedient.

“The aspiration of strategy is to achieve the highest end it can with the means available”

The Incident of Metz is regarded as the initial implementation of the basic principle of Mission Command in practise (Oetting 1993, 112). It happened on August 14 1870 in the France-Prussian War, when the major of the 26th Infantry Brigade, Major General von der Goltz decided to attack the withdrawing French army against explicit orders. He made

Strategy is a system of expedients. It is more than science; it is the application of knowledge to practical life, the evolution of an original guiding idea under constantly changing circumstances, the art of taking action under the pressure of the most difficult conditions. (Moltke in “On Strategy” (Bungay 2010, 248))

The command itself was seen as the medium to transfer the intent to the subordinate in order to channel independent action correctly