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Prom a tranquillity of fifty years, hardly interrupted by 

 ibe (hort contcft for the fucceflion of Poland, Europe was 

 arouzed by the war of 1740. With wonder we bctiold a 

 nation, hardly befoie reckoned in the number of her powers, 

 a nation of foldiers, ftart into energy ; and, headed by a 

 monarch who to the moll confumniHle generalfliip joined 

 the quahlications rarely found ii\ military men, of love tor 

 the fciences, aud genius for their improvement, perform the 

 mod allonifliing and romantic exploits. It would be fiipcr- 

 fluous to follow the Pniffian hero through his career of 

 ridory and glorious dillrefs, or to enumerate the various 

 means and manoeuvres by which he triumphed at Friedberg, 

 at Prague, at LilTi, at Zorndorff, and at Torgaw, over the 

 firmneis and difciplinc of Aullrian forces, tlie talents of a 

 Daun, and the cnterprize of a Laudohn. Nor have we room 

 to enter into details of his defeats at KoUn, Hochkirchcii, 

 and Cunncrsdorff ; defeats which only throw additional luf- 

 tre on his tranfcendent abilities. 



It feemcd impoffible for human genius to furpafs the 

 bounds prefcribed by the immortal Frederic to modern tac- 

 tics. His hand had modelled armies into mere machines, 

 liable to be diretted with promptitude at the pleafurc of 

 the mover. The fylK-ms pradifed in the PrufTian and 

 Aullrian fchools, feemed to defy alteration or improvement ; 

 and the art of drawing up armies i:i order of battle particu- 

 larly was reduced to certain rules, adapted to all iituations, 

 and which cnfnrcd every prefumptivc means of fucccfs. 



A revolution, the effefts of which have been fcvcrely ftlt 

 in the mod remote corners of the globe ; a revolution, which 

 has fliaken the religious and political opinions of the molt 

 powerful nations, anived to overturn monarchies, to change 

 the face of Europe, and to convert it into one vaft 

 theatre of war. The military art did not efcape the ge- 

 neral influence. When the armies of Pniffia and Auftria, 

 numerous, valiant, and bred up in the fchools of Frederic 

 ■and Laudohn, poured their united forces upon the French 

 republic, oppofed only by raw levies, undifciplined, halt 

 armed, and conduced by genera!;, many of whom knew 

 nothing of fervice by experience ; what refourccs could we 

 fuppofe a nation to polfefs, capable of counterbalancing 

 fuch dil'advantages. But with amazement we view the difci- 

 plined invaders, at the end of the full campaign, driven 

 back with (hame and defeat. We view the beft. otHcers in 

 Europe in a difgraceful retreat before mere novices in the 

 art of war. We view enthullafm fupply the place of com- 

 manders, of numbers, and of difcipline. 



One general battle had fubjugated Belgium to the dif- 

 pofal of France, when the treachery of a general not only 

 occafioned the lofs of that countr)-, but endangered the 

 frontier of the republic itfelf, then covered ordy by a difor- 

 ganizcd army. Ncverthekfs, during a long and bloody 

 campaign, the forces of almoll the whole of Europe united 

 ftrove in vain to break through the full line of the boider- 

 ing fortreiFcs. The fcene wasfoon totally changed. The col- 

 leAcd energy of a nation, overbearing all oppofition, re- 

 pelled the attack ; retaliated iuvafion ; and by feven of the 

 moll brilliant campaigns recorded in hiftory, atchieved fuch 

 important, rapid, and extcnfive conquclls as almoll exceed 

 credibility. 



We mud not place to the fole account of enthufiafm 

 thefe wonderful fuccelTes. Enthufiafm alone, though bnckcd 

 by dill greater numbers, mud ultimately have proved infuf- 

 ficicnt, when oppofed to difciplined troops and ftcilful gene- 

 rals. The art of war gradiially afliimed a new face. To the 

 maxims of the German fchool, others fucceeded dill more 

 prompt, more enei-getic, and peculiarly adapted to the na- 

 tion wliicli carried them into execution. To die excellence 



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of their artillery, their fl<ill in the art of managing the bay- 

 onet, and the incredible rapidity with which they have 

 executed the different modes of cliarging in column, as well 

 as to the extraordinary talents of their felf-taught generals, 

 the French owe chiefly their fuccenis in the late war. Un- 

 der the article Column, we fhall hazard fome obfervations 

 on th«ir mode of engaging. 



In a war fo produftivc of bloody and general engage- 

 ments as the lad, it would be fuperfluous to dwell on parti- 

 cular indances. Never in one campaign did fo many bat- 

 tles take place as in 1 794, when from the beginning of 

 April forwards hardly a day paffed without fome defperate 

 conflift. In point of confequences, we mud affign the iird 

 rank to Jemappe, Tirlemont, Haguenau, Fleurus, Millcli- 

 mo, Areole, Marengo, and Hohenlinden ; but if we only 

 confider the flaughter on both fides, Lodi, Verona, Stock- 

 ach, Novi, and Zurich dand pre-eminent. A few remarks 

 upon tliefe, with fome other affairs of principal confequcnce, 

 will be found under their proper heads. 



When we confider the immcnfe refources required to 

 maintain a large army, and the inconvenience with whicii 

 the movements of more unwieldy bodies .are dill attended, 

 we fhall lind room to commend the lefs extenfive fcale on 

 which we carry on our wars, compared to that of more an- 

 cient times. Indeed the armies, which we are alFured have 

 been brought forth to battle in the earlier ages, almod dag- 

 ger our belief. Sefodris is faid (Diod. Sic. i.) to have led 

 6oo,oco foot, 24,000 horfe, and 27,000 armed chariots, on 

 his famous expedition into Upper Afia. The fame hiilorian 

 fwclls the armies of Ninus and Semiramis to two and three 

 millions of men. We are told in fcripture that Zerali, a 

 barbarous potentate, invaded the kingdom of Judah with a 

 million of his fubjeifls, who were totally exterminated by 

 the Jcwidi monarch Afa ; nor are the accounts of the num- 

 bers engaged at mount Zemaraim on both fides, and the 

 carnage of t!;c Ifraelites on that occafion lefs marvellous. 

 (II. Chron".) Darius, in his Scythian expedition marched 

 at tlie head of i'even hundred lluuifiiid of his fubjcdls (He- 

 rod, lib. iii.) Xerxes invaded Greece with a fleet of more 

 than 1 300 triremes, and a land army of 2,100,000 men. 

 According to Herodotus (lib. vii.), the whole of his fea 

 and land forces numbered above five millions. Thefe num- 

 bers, immenfe as they are, will hardly appear exaggerated, 

 when we rcfleft on the hods afterwards brought into lIiE 

 fuld by the Goths and Huns, and the formidable fwarnis 

 of Croifcs in the middle ages. The lad Darius, when he 

 engaged Alexander at ld"us, mudered in his army fix hun- 

 dred thoufand men ; and fome hiilorians make his forces at 

 the battle of Arbela amount to a million. 



The eafe with which ihele immcnfe hods were defeated by 

 comparatively trifling numbers of Greeks, gives us the mod. 

 mean idea of their bravery and military d:ill. We mud ex- 

 cept the indance of Platxa, where the victory was obdi- 

 nately difputcd, and the carnage confcquently dreadful. 

 There are few indances upon record of a battle fo completely 

 decifive. Of 300,000 men, of whom the Perlian army con- 

 fided at the commencement of the adlion, not four thoufand 

 efcaped the dellrnftion of that fatal day. (Herod, ix.) 



The Romans, although they fometimes kept very nume- 

 rous forces on foot in different parts of their dominions, 

 feldom employed above forty thoufand men in the fame ar- 

 my. In their war with the Cifalpine Gauls, fubfequent to 

 the fird Punic, they levied between fcven and eight hundred 

 thoufand troops ; but thefe all a£led in feparate corps. One 

 of the largeft armies they ever brought into the field, was 

 that defeated, or rather deftroyed, at Cannse by Hannibal. 

 It confiiled of 76,000 foot and 7,200 horfe, of all whom 



only 



