The art of fighting; its evolution and progress, with illustrations from campaigns of great commanders

Front matter

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illiii!

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Preface

The evils of war are so heart-rending that every friend of the human race would greet with joy the coming of permanent peace, and would aid every movement tending to ensure it.

Nevertheless until it is certain that war has actually been banished from the earth, armies and navies must be maintained. In order to give their country the protection needed, each army and navy must be correctly designed, prepared, and operated.

To know whether this is being done, the people need a general knowledge of the principles of the art of fighting, especially of strategy.

To impart this knowledge in simple language is the object of this book,

Bradley A. Fiske.

Part I Fighting And War In General Chapter Page

I Fighting Between Individuals 3

II Fighting Between Tribes 15

III Gradual Development of the Art of Fighting . . 37

IV Principles of the Art of Fighting 50

PART II HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATIONS V Thutmose III and Ramses II 67

VI MiLTIADES AND ThEMISTOCLES 79

VII Philip of Macedon and Alexander His Son . . .96

VIII C^SAR 124

IX C^sAR (Continued) 141

X Charlemagne, William, and Marlborough . . . 164

XI Frederick 177

XII Washington* 191

XIII Nelson 208

XIV Napoleon 220

XV From Napoleon to Moltke 251

XVI Moltke 256

XVII From Moltke to Togo 272

XVIII Ante Bellum 289

XIX The World War .312

Part III Strategy

XX Strategy in Peace 321

XXI Strategy in War 345

XXII Strategy as Related to Statesmanship .... 365

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Besieging- a City in Ancient Times Frontispiece

PAGE

Vicinity of Kadesh 70

Plain of Marathon 80

Ancient Greece and Asia Minor 84

Artemisium and Thermopylae 86

Battle of Salamis 88

The Persian Empire . 101

The Battle of Issus 106

Tyre 109

Battle of the Hydaspes 119

The Roman Empire 127

Central Europe, 1789 179

Washington's Movements in 1776 196

Battle of Cape St. Vincent 209

Central Europe, 1810 221

Vicinity of Waterloo 248

Japan, Korea, and Part of Manchuria 291

PAET I FIGHTING AND WAR, IN GENERAL

Chapter I

MAN'S earliest method of fighting was with his fists. The use he made of his fists was to strike blows upon the body of his antagonist, with the intention of injuring him, and especially of decreasing his ability to inflict blows in return. In practically all cases, a fight was waged to accomplish some purpose; and this purpose was either offensive or defensive. This means that the intention was either to further some purpose, or to prevent an antagonist from carrying out some purpose of his own. Fighting with the fists is in vogue even at the present day, not only among savage tribes, but in the most civilized communities ; and it is the prototype of the most complicated and extensive wars ever waged, even among nations the most highly civilized and numerous.

Looked at from the standpoint of a war between two nations, a fist fight between two men seems a very simple matter. But it does not seem a simple matter if one considers all the elements involved. Superficially regarded, such a fight seems simple, for the reason that we take no account whatever of the wonderfully complicated activities going on inside the skin of each contestant. If we knew all that was going on inside of each skin, we would realize that in no army and no navy has there ever been such a perfect adaptation of means to ends, such a thorough system of coordination among all the various parts, such an ability to concentrate them all on one object.

such a speedy supply of reinforcements to threatened points, such an admirable system of reconnoitering, and such a complete power to move as a unit in the desired direction, and to the indicated spot.

If two untrained men fight each other with their fists, we do not see the same quickness of attack and parry as in the ease of two men who are highly trained ; but even in the case of two untrained men, or even of two small boys, we see such wonderful efficiency of the body for the purpose of fighting as almost to suggest the idea that the primary intention of the Almighty in designing the body of a man was that he should fight. This would be a very extreme position to assume ; but, at the same time, it may be pointed out that in no other activity in which a man engages is he called upon to exert his powers so strenuously; in nothing else that a man does is there a demand for such a wide range of effort ; by no other activity is a man's strength — physical, mental, and moral — taxed so heavily ; after no other exercise is a man so exhausted. These things need not surprise us : why should it surprise us that the utmost of a man's possible endeavor should be called upon to save his life? On the issue of many a fight has depended the life of each man who is fighting ; and, in many cases where life itself has not depended on the issue, something has depended on it of such importance that, because of it, the risking of life has been undergone.

If we watch two men, even unskilful men, when fighting, we see that each one keeps his eye eagerly on the other, looking first for an opportunity to strike, and second for a blow that must be parried. In some eases we see this condition reversed, and note that at least one of the men is more intent on parrying than on striking. If we see one man intent on striking and the other man intent on parrying, we realize that one man is acting offensively and the other defensively; and we realize also that, unless there is a marked disproportion in strength or skill, the man who is acting offensively will probably be the victor.

But we realize also that he may not necessarily be the victor. We realize that the one who is acting defensively may be merely waiting for an opportunity to strike effectively; and that the man who is acting offensively may be merely using strength and effort, with but little guidance from reason, and may exhaust himself in ill-directed effort. We realize that the man who is acting defensively may finally see an opportunity to break through the guard of his adversary and inflict a decisive blow. We realize all these things because from boyhood we have been accustomed to this kind of fighting, and because a knowledge of its fundamental principles is so much a part of our heredity as to be almost an instinct.

We realize also that, unless the defendant does at some time act offensively, he vdll surely be vanquished. No fighting in the history of the world, no matter how defensively conducted, has ever obtained a victory without offensive action of some sort, as by delivering a blow. In the simple case of two men in a fist fight, we cannot imagine either of the men becoming the victor without a blow, or a successful grapple, or a throwdown, or the inflicting of an injury of some kind. We shall see hereafter that these facts are the fundamental principles underlying all wars ; and that it has been by forgetting them that much misunderstanding as to the nature of war and the purposes of strategy has been created.

While the two contestants are watching each other for chances to strike, and for the necessities for parrying, there are going on inside of each man things that we cannot see. We cannot see that system of independent and yet dependent parts by which all the members of the body act independently of each other, and yet cooperatively, and in obedience to the will that directs all toward a common object. The mind is informed by its reconnoitering agency, the eye, of the rapid movements of the adversary, not only of his body as a unit, but of his arms and his legs and his eyes: that is, the mind takes note of the direction and speed of movement of the enemy main body and of its supports and reconnoitering parties. Apprehending these, the mind telegraphs orders by the nerves to the muscles, and thus immediately disposes of its own main body and its supports and reconnoitering parties — sometimes to parry, sometimes to retreat, sometimes to advance, and sometimes to launch a blow.

Each contestant by means of his reconnoitering parties (his eyes) watches for any uncovering of the enemy main body, in order that he may strike it, and also for any opportunity of reaching some weak spot. Each contestant realizes that the most effective blow would be one delivered with the full power of the arm on the front, but that such a blow entails a risk, because it uncovers one's self to attack; and therefore he delivers many comparatively ineffective blows without uncovering himself, in the hope of gradually wearing down the fighting power of his adversary to a point at which he may launch a blow with his full power, without undue risk.

This, of course, presupposes that the two contestants are fairly matched. If they are not fairly matched, one of the contestants may be able to deal a series of heavy blows without serious risk to himself and bring the fight to a speedy end. Where such a disproportion of power exists, however, the matter is not interesting to the student of the art of fighting, for the reason that it is impracticable to learn the possibilities of that art from occasions in which the disproportion of material forces is so great as to give strategy no opportunity to exert its powers.

While the case of two unskilled men in fighting with their fists reveals to the student a marvelous display of the powers of the human body, it is only in the contest between highly trained pugilists that this is shown in its perfection. And when one considers how few men have been highly trained pugilists, and when he realizes the marvelous physical strength, the quickness of perception, the rapidity of inter-action between the nerves and the muscles, and the amount of training required, he must conclude that, although he may consider such things very brutal and demoralizing, and though they may decrease the refinement of the community, yet nevertheless they do develop more highly than does anything else the powers of the human body. We see in the trained pianist a superb coordination between the eyes and the fingers. This coordination is as great as that between the eye and the fists of the pugilist; but it is no greater. The pianist produces beautiful chords and successions of chords to delight an audience, while the pugilist inflicts blows that cause physical pain and harm. Nevertheless, it can hardly be denied that, from the standpoint of the mechanics of the human body, the pianist or even the acrobat, is in a class inferior to that occupied by the pugilist. That the pugilist should devote his truly marvelous powers to a purpose that may be unworthy, or even bad, does not nuUif}^ the fact that he brings the physical activities of the human organism to a higher point than does anybody else.

The reason that the pugilist is able to accomplish so much, or the reason that any man is able to walk or talk or do anything else, is because the body of a man is an organism : that is, an organization composed of parts that are independent of each other, and yet interdependent, and that can all be made to act together for a definite purpose. What is ordinarily called a machine is man's imitation of the organism created by the Almighty. In a machine, a printing-press for instance, we see an enonnous number of parts, each working apparentl}'- independentl}- of every other; and yet we see all working together to print a paper. When one watches a printing-press, or when he watches any other of the great machines invented by man, he is filled with wonder at the genius of the inventor and the skill of the mechanics who embodied the inventor's invention in steel and brass; but no machine that man ever invented is other than an imitation of the mechanism of the human body. So far as men know, man is the most perfect machine that even the Almighty has invented.

There are three main elements that determine the effectiveness of a pugilist, and they are the same elements that determine the effectiveness of an army or a fleet: strength, skill, and courage. These qualities are natural in a man originally, but can be developed to a surprising degree.

The strength is of two kinds, defensive and offensive, and is evidenced by ability to endure injury and to inflict injury. In a man the size of his frame is a rough indication of his strength ; and so in a fleet or an army is its size a rough indication. The indication is quite rough, however; for many a large man is not strong either defensively or offensively, and the same has always been true of an army or a fleet. The physical strength of a man depends not only on his size, but on the way in which his various elements are put together, on the strength of his individual muscles, and on the effectiveness with which they are combined. If a pugilist should have weak legs or a weak heart, even if he had exceedingly strong arms, he would not be a strong pugilist. Similarly, if an army or a fleet that is large is composed of men and weapons that are weak, or if it has weak parts, that army or fleet cannot be strong. Roughly speaking, the strength of a man, or of an army or a fleet, is the strength of its weakest part ; because in a serious flght the weak part is liable to be detected, and so vigorously assaulted as to be broken down, and the integrity of the entire structure thereby destroyed.

The skill of a pugilist is both natural and acquired ; and so is that of a fleet or an army. If a man has a quick mind, in the sense that he apprehends things quickly, every move of his adversary is quickly apprehended ; w^hereas, if a man has a sluggish mind, the adversary's moves may not be seen quickly enough to permit of taking effective counter-measures. Similarly, in a fleet or an army, if the reconnoitering parties are not efficient the fleet or army may find itself attacked before it has had time to take proper measures of defense. And even if a man's faculties of apprehension are good, it may be that the coordination between his mind and his muscles is sluggish; so that, even if he sees an adversary's threat quickly, his muscles reply too slowly. This is more apt to be the case with heavy men than with light men, because the mass to be moved is greater ; but, as a rule, a man who is quick to apprehend is quick to act. Similarly, in a fleet or army, the gathering of information concerning the enemy may be effective, but the means for getting the information to the main body and of taking effective counter-measures may not be effective, especially if the fleet or army be very large. As a general rule, however, the same foresight that provides a good means of information provides also a good means for taking action in accordance with it.

Skill is more susceptible of development in a pugilist than is his physical strength; though, of course, strength is susceptible of great development also. The skill is developed by training; and it is an important fact that this training is gained mainly by actual contests with an adversary. The development of strength alone may be gained by mere physical exercises ; but the eye cannot be trained by such means to see an enemy's moves quickly, nor can the arm be trained to make the parry or give the counter-blow. Similarly, in fleets and armies, mere strength (that is, the power to withstand blows and to deliver blows) can be developed in the laboratory and machine-shop, and in target practice and tactical drills; but it is only in contests more or less realistic that real training can be secured in apprehending the intentions of the enemy and in replying effectively.

It is not only for taking counter-measures, however, that skill is needed : it is needed even more for initiating offensive measures. The whole aim of the pugilist, or of the fleet or the army, is to inflict a crushing blow. In order to do this, the first requisite is to discern the opportunity ; and the second is to act instantly with all the force possessed. The opportunity must be apprehended instantly; but there is little use in apprehending it, unless the appropriate action follows. A simple illustration is the sharpshooter with his musket. He eagerly watches his sights as they sway up and down and to the right and left across the target ; and his skill consists, not in keeping his sio-hls invariably on the tar^ret, for no man can do that, but in seeing instantly when they are on and instantly pulling the trigger. Many a marksman has failed to hit the target because he Wius too slow in pulling the trigger.

Closely associated with skill is courage; because without courage the nervous, mental, and moral systems of a man are not at the correct degree of tension. Courage does not mean merely absence of fear; for absence of fear may be due to absence of a complete understanding of the situation, owing to sluggishness of mind. Courage is that intense and yet controlled will to win which seeks the objective so intently that all the powers of the body and mind are devoted to attaining it, in spite of danger, discomfort, and fatigue. Without courage, no pugilist could ever fight effectively, and neither could an army or a fleet. That it is a useful quality when devoted to the purposes of pugilism may be doubted ; but the natural fighting of a man is seldom for the sake of mere pugilism, but for some purpose that may be very fine, such as the defense of his wife and children. I have used the example of pugilism merely because it affords the best illustration of the development of the power of fighting in a man.

But, whether we consider that the use of courage in mere fighting is laudable or not, we must admit that, for the purposes of fighting it is the highest personal quality, because without it strength vanishes and skill fails. Many a fight, especially against untrained men, has been won, not because the loser was dead or exhausted physically, but because his courage or morale had been reduced to such a point that he would not or could not fight any longer. He has said to himself, in effect : ' ' I am already beaten ; what is the use of fighting any longer? The longer I fight the worse condition I shall be in. ' ' For this reason, in the training of all fighters, both individual fighters and army and navy men, much of the training is devoted to developing the courage ; and much of the art of the trainer in the one ease, and of the high commanders in the other case, is devoted to encotiraging the men.

In fighting with unaided fists and arms, it has seldom been possible, in the case of a fight that was carried on to attain some object, or to prevent an antagonist from attaining an object, to get a decisive result with arms and fists only. As long as this means only was employed, the antagonist retained his freedom of movement, and could always retreat, or move to the right or left, in such a way as to lessen the force of a blow or to evade it altogether. For this reason, one man or the other has endeavored to grapple his opponent and reduce his freedom of movement, so that blows could be neither softened nor evaded. At some stage of the fight, one man has usually grappled his opponent and endeavored to throw him to the ground and make him helpless to deliver further blows or to evade blows. An antagonist lying helpless on the ground, the victor has been able to administer blows of the utmost violence, until his victim was subdued ; and in some cases to throttle him and kill him by choking him. We see the counterpart of this in many operations of fleets and armies, in which one side has been enabled to envelop or surround the other, or to force it into a position where its freedom of movement was so restricted that it became practically helpless.

In some cases, in a fight between two men, one seeks safety in flight, and the other pursues him. If the fugitive is fleeter than his pursuer he may escape ; but if he is not so fleet he is doomed to destruction, because he will surely be attacked from behind, from a direction in which he cannot reply, and thus forced to receive blows without the power of inflicting appreciable damage in return. Similarly, in fights between armies or fleets, one party usually retreats. If it is able to retreat with a speed greater than that at which the enemy can advance, it will get away in safety ; but if it is not able to retreat at such a speed, it is doomed to disaster, because the pursuing enemy can inflict great damage upon it with little danger to itself.

Another reason for the danger in retreating, which applies both to individual men and to fleets and armies, is that the courage, or morale, which is so essential to effective fighting, is reduced enormously by the mere fact of retreating, and by a realization of the comparative helplessness engendered. For this reason, retreat must not be undertaken except for imperative reasons; and yet, if it is undertaken, it must be undertaken so promptly after the desirability of retreating is recognized that it can be carried out in an orderly and deliberate fashion.

Weapons. — As far back as history goes, we know that men supplemented their fists and arms with sticks and clubs ; and it is inconceivable that, almost from the first, men should not have made crude clubs from branches wrenched from trees. The usefulness of the club was simply that it enabled a man to reach his antagonist from a greater distance than his arm could stretch, and also to administer a heavier blow. The reason that he could administer a heavier blow was twofold: first, the club was harder than his fist; and, second, it could be given a much greater velocity than could be given to his fist, by swinging it through a considerable arc.

Another means for supplementing the arm and the fist was the stone. The stone was either held in the hand and utilized to give a blow, the effectiveness of which was due to the hardness and sharpness of the stone, or it was used as a projectile. In the latter case, its effectiveness was due to four things : its hardness, its sharpness, the velocity that could be imparted to it, and the distance over which it could be thrown.

The development of the club and the stone has gone on for many centuries since men first used them ; and, as civilization has advanced, these crude appliances have been developed into weapons much more powerful. But every weapon that the most scientific fleet or army uses now owes its effectiveness to the same four qualities that made the club and the stone effective : its hardness, its sharpness, the velocity that can be given to it, and the distance over which it can be used.^ It will be noted, however, that the more highly these qualities

1 Possible exceptions are poison gas and submarine torpedoes.

have been developed, the greater the difficulties and complexities that have arisen in the endeavor to make use of them. The complexity has become so great that to study them and applj^ them in practice two separate professions have been required — ^the military profession and the naval profession.

The fighting of primeval man, done with his fists and arms, and supplemented with sticks and stones, was followed by the use of implements less crude than sticks and stones, fashioned into definite shapes and used for definite purposes. These implements were first of stone, later of copper, and later still of other metals. In what is now called the paleolithic age (old stone age) some implements were made, however, from bones and horns and tusks. All were distinguished by the feature of a sharp point or a sharp edge, evidently for the purpose of effecting penetration, and were devoted to the main object of all men ; that is, they were devoted mainly to procuring food and guarding what had been procured. We see here that, if used to guard or attack, an implement became a weapon — that a weapon is merely a tool for a warlike purpose.

In the old stone age the implements were rough and evidently made by hammering or chipping with a hard substance ; but in the neolithic or new stone age, the implements were ground or polished, an evidence of an increase in mentality that we cannot measure correctly now. The smooth instruments were, of course, capable of greater penetration than were the rough instruments of the preceding age; and they were, therefore, more efficient for the purposes of both war and peace. In fact, in those days the interv^als between war and peace were so brief that no very great distinction could have been made between them. This does not mean that there was more war in those times than now, but merely that conditions were such that war and peace succeeded each other more rapidly. It did not require ten years of strenuous preparation then to prepare for a war, or even one year to wage it.

It is noteworthy that the effect of a blow from a fist or a club was to bruise or crush the external surface of the body, or to upset. the equilibrium, or to give such a shock to the internal mechanism as to make it less capable of hostile action ; while the effect of a blow from a sharp instrument was to penetrate the protective covering of the skin. We shall see later that the effects produced on fleets and armies by the most modem weapons are essentially the same.

Weapons and Civilization. — As one of the important accompaniments of the advance of early civilization was an improvement in the effectiveness of weapons, it would be interesting to determine how much the improvement in weapons was a cause of the advance, and how much it was an effect. It is impossible to determine this absolutely ; but, inasmuch as the struggle to attain civilization has always been extremely bitter, and necessitated bloody fights against barbarians and also against wild beasts, the probability seems to be that the development of improved weapons was a cause of the advance of civilization to a greater degree than it was an effect of it, and that civilization could not have been achieved without it.

Chapter II

THE fact that weapons were gradually improved indicates that a considerable degree of cooperation developed among men, for the reason that several different kinds of skill were needed to improve the weapons ; and if several different kinds of skill were devoted to that one purpose, several men must have worked in cooperation. The cooperation must have been caused by a community of interest among bands of men ; and as the most urgent need then was to secure self-protection, it can hardly be doubted that this community of interest was in securing it. In order that a band of men should secure self-protection, the first necessary step was to form an organization.

The earliest organization was, of course, the family, at the head of which was the man, who was charged by nature with providing food and shelter for his wife and children, and with protecting the food and shelter afterward from the attacks of beasts and men. It seems probable that the first fights originated in the necessity for providing the food and shelter, and guarding them after they had been provided. A man 's only ways of getting food were to kill animals, to climb trees for fruits and nuts, to till the ground, and to fish in the waters — or to steal from other people. That stealing was sometimes resorted to, the records of history show ; and so do the doings of savages now. In fact, the doings of people in the most highly civilized Christian nations now indicate a similar tendency, if at any time, or in any place, the law can be evaded or defied.

This point is more important than it might at first sight seem to be ; because the only way in which we can study the tendencies of man per se, and therefore of tribes and nations, is to study man free from the influences of civilization and the restraints of law. Men have gradually come to realize that it is better for men to be governed by certain laws : even the most sinful man realizes that it is best for him that other men should be good ; even a thief wants other men to be honest ; and even a conscienceless debtor wants other men to pay him what they owe him. Municipal laws have resulted that restrain individuals by force; but there have never been international laws that could restrain nations and tribes by force.