Antoine-Henri Jomini - Early Life and Business Career

Early Life and Business Career

Jomini was born in Payerne in the canton of Vaud, Switzerland, on 6 March 1779, where his father served as mayor. The Jominis "were an old Swiss family" of distant Italian descent with a decidedly pro-French outlook. As a young boy, Jomini "was fascinated by soldiers and the art of war," and hoped to join the military, but his parents pushed him towards a career in business. As a result, Jomini entered a business school in Aarau at the age of 14.

In April 1795, Jomini left school and went to work at the banking house of Monsieurs Preiswerk in Basle. In 1796, he moved to Paris where he worked first at another banking house and then as a stockbroker. After a short time in banking, however, "Jomini convinced himself that the tedious life of a banker was not to be compared with the life afforded in French Army," and decided to become a military officer as soon as he found an opportunity.

Read more about this topic:  Antoine-Henri Jomini

Famous quotes containing the words early, life, business and/or career:

    We can slide it
    Rapidly backwards and forwards: we call this
    Easing the spring. And rapidly backwards and forwards
    The early bees are assaulting and fumbling the flowers:
    They call it easing the Spring.
    Henry Reed (1914–1986)

    When I was in high school I thought a vocation was a particular calling. Here’s a voice: “Come, follow me.” My idea of a calling now is not: “Come.” It’s like what I’m doing right now, not what I’m going to be. Life is a calling.
    Rebecca Sweeney (b. 1938)

    It is hard to say which is the greatest fool: he who tells the whole truth, or he who tells no truth at all. Character is as necessary in business as in trade. No man can deceive often in either.
    Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl Chesterfield (1694–1773)

    Clearly, society has a tremendous stake in insisting on a woman’s natural fitness for the career of mother: the alternatives are all too expensive.
    Ann Oakley (b. 1944)