WAR AND THE WEATHER 607 



ning a campaign or in organizing a single engagement. This is to make 

 our knowledge of climate and of weather of immediate practical use, 

 however much we may deplore the occasion which necessitates such use. 

 Heavy rains make roads muddy and often impassable; delay the move- 

 ments of troops, and of supplies; necessitate the abandonment of heavy 

 guns and of ammunition; flood trenches and camps; cause discomfort 

 and suffering, and bring on illness. Deep snows have many similar 

 effects, but in addition are often accompanied by severe cold. Unless 

 proper clothing, protection and fires can be provided, and often in spite 

 of such precautions, severe cold almost inevitably increases the suffer- 

 ings of the men, especially of the sick and wounded, causing an in- 

 crease in the sick and mortality rates; disabling men through frost- 

 bites ; making them unfit to march or to use their hands ; freezing up 

 water supplies, etc. Hot spells necessitate shorter marches, and may 

 disable hundreds of men through sunstroke or heat prostration. 

 Droughts make it difficult to secure water and food; cause dust which 

 hampers the movements of troops, and may make their presence known 

 to the enemy, and interferes with the accuracy of cannon and rifle 

 firing. It does make a difference whether an army marches on dry, 

 hard roads, or through deep and slippery mud ; whether it suffers from 

 frozen feet or is warm and comfortable; whether snow is falling or the 

 sky is clear and the sun is shining; whether the wounded on the 

 battlefield are soaked with rain, and beaten by hail, and covered with 

 ice, or can be cared for under favorable conditions. As Sir John 

 French put it, a few years ago : " The darker the night, the more in- 

 clement the weather, the more disagreeable the surroundings, the more 

 valuable the training will be, and our young soldiers will gain some 

 glimmering of what they must expect to meet in war." 



Picked troops; discipline; a well-organized system of transport; 

 proper clothing — in short, all that goes to make up the most efficient 

 military organization, is of vastly more importance than the weather. 

 But we fail to read history aright if we do not recognize that the 

 weather element is by no means the least important of the many external 

 factors which have affected military campaigns. 



The present war gives us an immediate opportunity to study the 

 influence of weather upon military operations. Although the war has 

 lasted but three months, there are already many cases which may be 

 cited in illustration. 



During the first six weeks of the war the despatches made practically 

 no mention whatever of the weather. Only incidentally was reference 

 made to the oppressive heat. We may, therefore, conclude that there was 

 nothing in the meteorological conditions in August and early Septem- 

 ber which had any noticeable effect upon the campaign. The mild and 

 pleasant weather of the European late summer apparently ran its ac- 



