General Henri-Pierre Castelnau drew up the project for the creation of "special military courses" and in particular fixed the conditions for the entrance examination.
Battalion commander Louis Goujat dit Maillard [fr] took charge of the applied infantry tactics course in 1884.
Working mainly on the Battle of Gravelotte, he highlighted the moral factor and deduced principles of action (surprise by concentration of resources, massive artillery action, use of cavalry for shock and pursuit) and a tactical doctrine (slow and progressive wear and tear of the enemy with economy of force to concentrate them at the breaking point).
Basing his course on the study of the Battle of Wörth and the Napoleonic Wars, he retained three principles: freedom of action, ability to impose his will on the enemy, economy of force.
Based on the study of the little-known Battle of Náchod during the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, his doctrine gave priority to two notions: that of the "mission" to be fulfilled and that of "safety" to be guaranteed.