THE WORLD'S ARMIES 37 



amount of more or less general compulsory training for youths and adults between cer- 

 tain ages. It will be some years before these forces can reach their full strength. 



Italy. Establishment: Peace 250,000; War 1,215,000. The period of service in 

 the army has been altered from three to two years without affecting its numbers. 

 There has been no important development in organisation or armaments apart from air- 

 craft. The campaign in Tripoli has not appreciably weakened the army through losses 

 of men or war material. 



Japan. Establishment: Peace, 226,000; War 1,001,000. No important develop- 

 ment in organisation or armament, apart from aircraft, is recorded. 



Russia. Establishment: Peace 1,200,000; War 5,530,000. The army is at present 

 in the process of reorganisation. When completed this work will simplify military 

 organisation and render it more homogeneous without, however, increasing the army in 

 numbers. The former active army organisation of field and reserve troops has been 

 modified by abolishing reserve units and substituting a number of new field units which 

 add 6 new Army Corps and a Cavalry Division to the peace establishment. The troops 

 have also been redistributed, 7 Army Corps and 2 Cavalry Divisions being centrally 

 massed about Moscow and Kazan ensuring greater security for mobilisation. The 

 most important development of armaments, apart from aircraft, has been a large in- 

 crease of artillery. 



Other Countries. No important change in numbers, organisation and armament, 

 apart in some cases from the provision of aircraft, is recorded in the case of other armies 

 throughout the world with the following exceptions. The reorganisation of the United 

 States and Belgian armies has been decided. In the latter case an increase in numbers 

 and efficiency will result in the course of time. The Turkish army sustained severe 

 losses in men and war material as the result of the campaigns in Tripoli and the Balkans. 

 The Greek, Servian and Bulgarian armies sustained losses which are to some extent 

 counterbalanced by the capture of Turkish war material, including artillery. 



///. The Influence of Aircraft. 



The influence of aircraft on military operations, despite peace tests, must to a large 

 extent remain a theoretical and speculative question until decided by actual experience 

 in war. Consequently the subject can only be dealt with tentatively and very general- 

 ly. Both dirigible airships and aeroplanes of different types, the latter carrying ob- 

 servers as well as pilots, will be employed. Their activities will be affected according 

 to the season of the year and by conditions of weather, wind, cloud, mist and darkness. 

 Airships will have the advantage of longer flight, greater stability and larger radius of 

 action, while aeroplanes will be swifter, present less vulnerable targets and be less costly 

 to provide. At present the main tendencies in the employment of aircraft are: (i) in 

 the case of dirigible airships, their development for (a) strategical reconnaissance over 

 a large area, (b) night reconnaissance; (2) in the case of aeroplanes, their development 

 for (a) tactical reconnaissance by day, (b) observation of artillery fire. Both types of 

 aircraft will be used for aerial wireless telegraph signals and intercommunication serv- 

 ices generally, especially over a wide front when other communications are blocked or 

 difficult. Both will further be employed for aerial photography, making aviation 

 maps and in varying degrees for offensive action with light guns and explosives. 



Thus the principal use of aircraft will be to obtain and transmit information. Their 

 radius of action in strategical or tactical reconnaissance will be far greater and swifter 

 than that of cavalry. Within a few hours the results of an aeroplane reconnaissance 

 along seventy miles of country should be in the hands of a commander a task which 

 cavalry would probably require some days to perform. The information obtained by 

 aircraft reconnaissance will probably be more accurate and complete than that which 

 would usually be supplied by cavalry. For example, mountains, rivers and covering 

 troops cannot screen the movements of an army from aircraft, and though small num- 

 bers of troops may be hidden from them in broken or wooded country, it will be ex- 

 tremely difficult for large numbers or marching columns to escape observation. 



