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On War
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General European HistoryMilitary StrategyOther Wars
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Publisher: Jalin Library
Pages: 88
Weight: 0.28
Height: 0.18 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
AVING in the foregoing book examined the subjects which may be re-
garded as the efficient elements of War, we shall now turn our atten-
tion to the combat as the real activity in Warfare, which, by its physical and
moral effects, embraces sometimes more simply, sometimes in a more com-
plex manner, the object of the whole campaign. In this activity and in its
effects these elements must therefore, reappear.
The formation of the combat is tactical in its nature; we only glance at it here
in a general way in order to get acquainted with it in its aspect as a whole.
In practice the minor or more immediate objects give every combat a char-
acteristic form; these minor objects we shall not discuss until hereafter. But
these peculiarities are in comparison to the general characteristics of a com-
bat mostly only insignificant, so that most combats are very like one another,
and, therefore, in order to avoid repeating thatwhich is general at every stage,
we are compelled to look into it here, before taking up the subject of its more
special application.
3 CARL VON CLAUSEWITZ
In the first place, therefore, we shall give in the next chapter, in a few words,
the characteristics of the modern battle in its tactical course, because that lies
at the foundation of our conceptions of what the battle really is.
CHAPTER II.
CHARACTER OF THE
MODERN BATTLE
A
CCORDING to the notion we have formed of tactics and strategy, it fol-
lows, as a matter of course, that if the nature of the former is changed,
that change must have an influence on the latter. If tactical facts in one case
are entirely different from those in another, then the strategic, must be so
also, if they are to continue consistent and reasonable. It is therefore impor-
tant to characterise a general action in its modern form before we advance
with the study of its employment in strategy.
What do we do now usually in a great battle? We place ourselves quietly in
great masses arranged contiguous to and behind one another. We deploy
relatively only a small portion of the whole, and let it wring itself out in a
fire-combat which lasts for several hours, only interrupted now and again,
and removed hither and thither by separate small shocks from charges with
the bayonet and cavalry attacks. When this line has gradually exhausted part
5 CARL VON CLAUSEWITZ
of its warlike ardour in this manner and there remains nothing more than
the cinders, it is withdrawn(*) and replaced by another.
(*) The relief of the fighting line played a great part in the battles of the
Smooth-Bore era; it was necessitated by the fouling of the muskets, physical
fatigue of the men and consumption of ammunition, and was recognised as
both necessary and advisable by Napoleon himself.-EDITOR.
In this manner the battle on a modified principle burns slowly away like wet
powder, and if the veil of night commands it to stop, because neither party
can any longer see, and neither chooses to run the risk of blind chance, then
an account is taken by each side respectively of the masses remaining, which
can be called still effective, that is, which have not yet quite collapsed like
extinct volcanoes; account is taken of the ground gained or lost, and of how
stands the security of the rear; these results with the special impressions as
to bravery and cowardice, ability and stupidity, which are thought to have
been observed in ourselves and in the enemy are collected into one single
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