8U 



MILITARY SCIENCES MILITIA. 



for the rank of major. Of the troops of the line, 

 every regiment is allowed to send a few of its young 

 officers, who must have shown great diligence, talent, 

 and considerable acquirements, to the general mili- 

 tary school in Berlin an institution of a very high 

 character. Here the highest branches of mathema- 

 tics, geology, and mineralogy, chemistry and natural 

 philosophy, history, politics, the military sciences, 

 languages, &c., are taught in a course which occupies 

 tliree years. The officers also attend such lectures 

 in the university as they choose. It is evident how 

 much such establishments must raise the standard of 

 learning in the whole army, and, indeed, the corps 

 of officers contains some of the most accomplished 

 men in Prussia. In France, the former cadet houses 

 have been called, since the revolution, military 

 schools. 



MILITARY SCIENCES have, by some of the 

 latest writers been divided into the following heads: 



1. Tactics, i. e., the science of the drilling of an 

 army, as well as of disposing and directing it in 

 battle, requiring, of course, an acquaintance with the 

 different kinds of arms. The artillerist devotes him- 

 self particularly to the ordnance, and the various 

 branches of science requisite for its proper manage- 

 ment. The lower, or elementary tactics, treats of the 

 drilling and formation of soldiers, and accustoming 

 them to the movements of small and large divisions, 

 and varies in character with the different regulations 

 of different armies. Tactics proper treats of the 

 mode of disposing troops in the actual combat, and 

 of the peculiar use of each species of force, cavalry, 

 infantry, both heavy and light, and artillery. With 

 them is nearly connected the choice of camps, or cas- 

 trametation (q. v.), though, since the introduction of 

 the system of requisition, this branch of military 

 science has gone almost entirely out of use. The 

 knowledge of the employment of pontoons seems also 

 to fall within this department. 



2. Strategy, the science of forming the plans 

 of operation, and of directing armies accordingly. 

 It has been but lately treated as an independent 

 branch, since von Bulow wrote on the subject. 

 Many military writers will not as yet admit such a 

 division ; but little doubt can exist that it will be 

 universally adopted. See, among other works, 

 Principles of Strategy, elucidated by the Description 

 cf the Campaign of 1796, I'M Germany, by the arch- 

 duke Charles. 



3. The branch which treats of the just understand- 

 ing and proper use of the surface of the earth for 

 military purposes. The tactics of our time can over- 

 come a number of obstacles, arising from the charac- 

 ter of the ground, which were formerly considered 

 insurmountable ; still, however, this department of 

 military science, embracing, as it does, a knowledge 

 of the usual character of the ground under given 

 circumstances, the course of rivers, of mountains, 

 valleys, geological formations, &c. , remains indispen- 

 sable for a useful officer. To this branch belongs, 

 or, at least, with it is intimately connected, recon- 

 noitring, surveying, drawing of topographical maps, 

 &c. 



4. Military Architecture, or Fortification, which 

 teaches how to fortify any given point by artificial 

 means, so that a few persons may be able to defend 

 themselves against the attacks of many. It embraces 

 the construction of proper fortresses (fortification 

 permanente or royale), the attack and defence of for- 

 tified places, and the knowledge of field fortification 

 (fortification passagere), which treats of the construc- 

 tion, attack and defence of redoubts in the field, 

 raised for transitory purposes, and not so solid as in 

 standing fortifications. 



5. Military History and Biography, which em- 



braces a knowledge of all important wars, and also 

 of the various organizations of armies, the principles 

 upon which war has been carried on, the different 

 arms used, and the consequences attending their use, 

 &c. ; also the lives of the greatest generals, and the 

 resources which they found in situations where many 

 leaders would have despaired. The history of mili- 

 tary literature, to a certain extent, is indispensable for 

 a young officer, that he may be directed to the best 

 works of the different nations. Of the auxiliary 

 sciences, the most important is mathematics, which 

 is indispensable for a scientific soldier ; military geo- 

 graphy, embracing a knowledge of roads, rivers, 

 valleys, &c., the law of nations, modern languages, 

 and gymnastics. The branches of study now enu- 

 merated are more or less essential to the well educat- 

 ed soldier ; but they cannot make a general, any 

 more than the study of the thorough bass can make 

 a Mozart, or the knowledge of perspective, ana- 

 tomy and colours, a Raphael. Although it would be 

 a useless waste of time to set about proving that 

 scientific study is essential to a commander, yet the 

 greatest general must find the most important re- 

 sources in his own genius ; and this must act with 

 unfailing promptness. An artist, if unsuccessful, 

 may renew his efforts ; but in war, the fate of a bat- 

 tle may depend upon an instant decision, and a failure 

 is ruin. 



MILITIA (from the Latin militia); in the modern 

 adaptation of the word, a body of armed citizens re- 

 gularly trained, though not in constant service in time 

 of peace, and thereby contradistinguished to standing 

 armies. It includes all classes of the citizens, with 

 certain exceptions, who are drilled at particular 

 periods in peace, and liable, according to certain 

 laws, to march, in cases of emergency, against the 

 enemy, in some countries, however, not beyond the 

 frontiers. The regular organization of the militia 

 distinguishes it from the levBe-en-masse. (q. v.) The 

 militia exists in different countries under different 

 names ; thus, in France, the national guards are what 

 are elsewhere called militia (see Guards, National}; 

 in some countries, they are denominated burgher- 

 guards; in Austria and Prussia, Landwehr (defence 

 of the country), while the levie-en-masse is called, in 

 these two countries, Landsturm. 



In the articles Army, and Army, Standing, is given 

 a brief sketch of the different organization of armies 

 from the feudal militia to the standing armies of the 

 last century, and from them again to the citizen sol- 

 diers of later times. The reader will also find there 

 the titles of several works which afford interesting- 

 information on this subject. In the article Feudal 

 System, the origin of the armies in the middle ages 

 was briefly touched on. When the feudal system 

 had rendered almost every nobleman on the European 

 continent an independent monarch in miniature, he 

 kept his own warriors in his castle or territory, and 

 the difficulty of assembling a large general army, 

 even for a good purpose, was immense. In the cities 

 where a more republican spirit prevailed, all the citi- 

 zens were obliged, at least, to take part in the de- 

 fence of their city, a duty which they were not 

 seldom called upon to perform. The introduction 

 of standing armies, chiefly in consequence of the 

 endeavour of monarchs to render their governments 

 more and more independent upon the nation at large-, 

 caused the citizens to take less and less share in the 

 military service, and, in many cases, excluded them 

 from it entirely ; yet, while, in some countries, the 

 services of the citizen soldiers were becoming every- 

 day of less importance, so that burgher-militia even 

 became a term of contempt in many places, other 

 governments began to foster the national militia. 



The Swedish army was, at an early period, a kind 



