Army History

Comprises the greater bulk of ancient and a considerable proportion of modern history, and is a record of the development of the Military Art According to Prince Galitzen it may be considered under four heads and appropriate sub-divisions: A. Ancient War : 1. To the beginning of the Persian wars, 500 B.C. 2. To the death of Alexander, 323 В.С. 3. To the death of Cæsar, 44 B.C. 4. To the fall of the West Roman Empire, 476 A.D. B. Wars of the Middle Ages : 1. To the death of Charles the Great. 814 A.D. 2. To the introduction of fire arms, 1350. 3. To the beginning of the Thirty Years' War, 1618. C. Modern Wars : 1. The Thirty Years' War, 1618-1648. 2. To the epoch of Frederick the Great, 1740. 3. To the French Revolution. 1792. D. Recent Wars : 1. The period from 1792-1805. 2. Napoleon's Wars, 1805-1815. 3. Wars since 1815. In the early oriental wars strategy was unknown and the tactical formation for battle was almost invariably the parallel order. Devastation and cruel slaughter transformed these wars into huge destructive raids from which no valuable military le ons can be derived. Organization and discipline were the elements which enabled the small armies of the Greeks and Romans to overthrow vastly superior numbers in armies lacking these qualities. The phalanx, resistle in shock and immovable by its solidity, was peculiar to the Greeks; the legion of the Romans, po e ing greater mobility, was better adapted for maneuver on more varied ground. The campaigns of Alexander, Hannibal and Cæsar demonstrate the value of discipline and training, and the progre ive military spirit called out by their genius genius for war. The introduction of the mercenary system, the prostitution of civic virtue, and the despotism of the emperors, are the efficient causes of the subsequent decadence. The feudal period was one of retrogre ion: countries and provinces invaded and ravished, cities ruined, castles razed, wholesale butcheries of in offending peasants, are not the characteristics of progre ive civilization. The victory of the Swi Confederates at Morgasten in 1315 over the flower of Austrian chivalry established the importance of infantry and marked a new epoch. The invention of fire-arms, the substitution of the bayonet for the pike, the introduction of the cartridge, the establishment of field artillery and increased mobility were notable events, although the defects of the parallel order, the mixing of cavalry with infantry on the battle front, the deliberate maneuvers, and lack of appreciation of the resources of the battleground, still existed. The important changes of the modern war period belong mainly to the improvement in fire-arms and changes in the order of battle, as exemplified in the campaigns of the great arose in the wars of the French Revolution, and to Napoleon, the great master of the art of war, are due an appreciation of the proper relation of each arm, and of their respective powers; also an insight into the science of strategy and of tactical combinations. Although it has taken nearly twenty-five centuries to pa from the ma ive Grecian phalanx to the single open rank formation of infantry, and from the heavy Maced on i an pike to the magazine breech-loader, it seems marvelous that the conditions which exacted every able-bodied citizen to be a soldier great numbers; hence the name. strength of armies is nece arily limited by the enormous difficulties attending their subsistence, transportation, organization and discipline, and by the rare quality of leadership. Ancient armies, recruited from non-homogeneous peoples, lacked cohesion; and although their records are somewhat untrustworthy, their probably great numerical strength is marvelous. Only modern armies of the present century, highly organized and disciplined, approximate to them in this respect.