240 
minutes of Proceedings oE 
THE 
REFORM OF PRUSSIAN TACTICS. 
A LECTURE DELIVERED AT THE R.A. INSTITUTION, WOOLWICH, DEC. 13, 1870. 
BY 
LT.-COL. C. C. CTIESNEY, K.E. 
Major-General E. M. Eardley-Wilmot presided, and expressed Lis 
regret at Laving to do so wlien there were present so many well known 
officers distinguished in active service. He was glad, Lowever, to see so 
large a meeting to do lionour to Colonel Chesney, who was personally 
known to many present, and wlio Lad been long and Lonourably esteemed 
through Lis writings and lectures. He was at present in tlie garrison, filling 
the post of an officer of artillery who was charged with an important duty 
among the sick and wounded abroad, and Lad consented to favour tliem 
with a lecture on a subject which would at any time be valuable and 
interesting, but was under present circumstances peculiarly so. Tlie lecturer 
was most anxious that tliere should be some discussion on this paper, and 
that those who took an interest in the subject should make such remarks 
and enquiries as the occasion prompted, and thereby assist in the examination 
of the principles enunciated. One other observation lie wished to make, 
and that was to remind the audiencn that, in speaking of the Erencli and 
the Prussians in connection with this subject, they must be understood to 
refer to them simply as pawns upon the chess-board to illustrate the moving 
incidents in the great drama of war, without being supposed to entertain 
prejudice or predilection towards one side or the other. With this under* 
standing to prepare the ground, he would introduce the lecturer, Colonel 
Chesney. (Applause). 
Colonel Chesney commenced his lecture by saying that the Prussian 
nation had acquired a reputation in military matters before all others, chiefly 
because of the attention which its people had devoted to military science in 
preference to any other study. Nearly a hundred years ago (in 1772), 
Harris, first Lord Malmesbury, was impressed with the great devotion of 
Prussian officers of the day to their profession, using words which, though 
not accurately representing the circumstances of the present time, were still 
essentially true, in that the Prussians did now, as even then, keep up a closer 
acquaintance than others with all the higher details, and among the rest, with 
military tactics, the immediate subject of this evening. He would first say, 
speaking of tactics as a special subject divided from that of strategy, that 
the Prussians were fully aware of the impossibility of teaching tactics by rule. 
The well known Prussian writer. Yon Verdy, had declared that tactics could 
not be reduced to any absolute and definite rule, but must vary in a great 
measure, according to the circumstances of the moment, the object sought 
to be attained, and the means at hand for the purpose. To demonstrate 
