WARFARE OF MODERN TIMES. 45 



helmet, were no defence against the fire-arm, unless made very thick, when 

 they became so weighty that they were no longer available for infantry ; 

 whereupon these also were laid aside. By the invention of gunpowder, 

 victory was snatched from the hands of brute force and given to superior 

 intelligence. The art of war, which until now had found its advan- 

 tage only in superior numbers, or in the great personal strength and 

 fiery courage of the warrior, became a science ; and the most skilful usually 

 carried away the victory from the merely brave. With this advance in 

 the art of war, however, an unremitting practice of the same became requi- 

 site, and warfare could be waged only by experienced people, who were 

 familiar with the use of fire-arms, and with the complicated manoeuvres 

 necessary to their employment in the field ; even in peace, therefore, it 

 became indispensable to maintain a standing army. To this cause is owing 

 the great number of wars which were waged, either in the cause of religion, 

 as the war of the Reformation, or on political grounds, as the wars of the 

 Revolution and Succession. 



That the organization, the armament, and even the support of such armies, 

 were not placed at first on that stage of perfection where they now stand, is 

 natural. The science continually advanced ; each age brought new inven- 

 tions ; and even fashion asserted here, likewise, when uniformity of clothing 

 was soon introduced, her irresistible powder. Hence, we find a constant 

 change in the tactic, continually new and more effective weapons, and 

 even the uniform ever advancing in improvement. The first impulse to 

 the thorough reformations which, in the present century, created as it were 

 a new warfare, was given by Napoleon, whose wars were waged in a 

 manner unheard of until then. In his marches and countermarches, which 

 were rapid as the storm, he needed light troops, and such he knew how to 

 call into existence. As he effected a complete revolution in tactics, so 

 did he also in the clothing and in the armament ; and only our persistence 

 in building upon the foundation laid by this mighty spirit, have we to thank 

 for our present possession of an art and system of warfare approaching very 

 closely to perfection, and capable often of producing the greatest effects 

 with very slight means. 



We will now examine more closely the system of war and military 

 organization in some of the more prominent European States, and with 

 respect to the different arms employed, whether infantry, cavalry, artillery, 

 or engineers. 



The Prussian Military System. The Prussian army was first estab- 

 lished as a standing army under the Elector Erederick I., who formed, from 

 among the feudal nobles, a body-guard of two hundred men, and placed in 

 the fortresses some companies of landsknechts. Two hundred years later, 

 the Elector John William had three companies of guards, of 100 men 

 each, and five companies of infantry, 200 strong, all uniformly clad, at that 

 time unusual. His successor, the great Elector, carried recruiting into 

 foreign states, and his army went up to 30,000 men : among them, 300 

 artillery. Elector Frederick III., the first king of Prussia, had 36,000 men 

 of disciplined troops, under the command of Prince Leopold I., of Dessau, 



521 



