Alexander : a history of the origin and growth of the art of war from ...

PREFACE.XIers have brushed away the cobwebs from thesecret and laidit bare. The technical details relating to war are intricateand difficult, nor are they of interest to the general reader.They take many years to learn. No officer, who drops foran instant his studies, can save himself from falling behindhis fellows. Especially is this true to-day. This, however,relates chiefly to the minutiie of the pi'ofession. The higherthe art of the soldier goes, the simpler it is, because it becomespart of his own individuality ; but the captain mustfirst have mastered every detail of the profession by the hardestof work. He must be familiar with the capacities andlimitations of every arm of the service, and be able to judgeaccurately what ground each needs for its march, its manoeuvres,and its fire. He must be so apt a business man as neverto fail in providing for his troops, however fast he moves orhowever far from his base. He must be an engineer of thefirst class.Almost all great generals have been able to drilla company, or serve a gun, or throw up a breastwork, or conducta reconnoissance better than most of their subordinates.Intimate knowledge of detail is of the essence. Ad astra peraspera.Having reached the top, the captain's work is less intricatein one sense. Nothing is more beautifully simple than theleading features of the best campaign of Napoleon. Wemay all understand them. But to few, indeed, has the powerever been given to conceiveand execute such a masterpiece.A bare half-dozen men in the world's history stand in thehighest group of captains. The larger operations of war arein themselves plain, but they are founded on complicateddetail. War on the map, or strategy, appears to us, in theevent, easy enough ; but to conceive and develop, and thenmove an army in pursuance of, a strategic plan requires thedeepest knowledge of all arts and sciences applicable to war,