The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1866-07-27
Short Wars,

From the Nation.
Whether the war in Europe he at this moment
terminated or not, no one now doubts that it
cannot last many months, perhaps not even
many weeks longer; and even If II be protracted
until September, it will, il it end then, be an
almost unprecedentedly short war. Not shorter,
perhaps, than the war of 1859 in Italy, but it
must be remembered that that struggle was
brought to a close long before the full strength
OF either of the combatants had been tried, or
before either had found good military reasons
to despair of the issue, by means of hasty ne
gotiatlon between the two emperors, to which, if
report speaks truly, they were driven by a
nervous shrinking from the horrors OF the
battlefield.
Ii peace be made even now between Austria
and Prussia, however, it will be due to the over
throw OF one OF the combatants-an overthrow
so complete as TO make further resistance useless
except as means of securing somewhat better
terms, as a salve for the wounded pride OF a
great and unfortunate house; SO that 1t may Oe
SAID that we have seen the fall of one OF the
Oldest OF European monarChies, which has come
out OF the bloodlest wars of nearly thousand
years without any very serious damage either in
power or dignity, decided in a single campaign
of four weeks and that without any master
strokes OF genius on the part of the victor, ike
Jena or AusterlltZ, but by SIMPLE hard fighting
and vigorous marching.
There could hardly be more striking illustra-
tion than this war affords of the extent to
which the progress of science and the increase
OF wealth amongst modern nations have dImin-
ished the waste and destructiveness of wars by
diminishing their duration. In fact every one
of the discoveries and appliances which seem
likely TO render wars bloodler, are found, in
practice, to render them less bloody and less
injurious to property and to public morals.
century ago, struggle in Germany, such as
that which We are now witnessing, would
probably have lasted ten years, and have devas-
fafn thn hnln ,t,,tr Dn,Nn afn A,l1
have got forces together in such numbers at the
outset, or have moved with such rapdty, as to
have paralyzed the smaller States. The latter
would probably have either got off their troops
to join Austria, or have been able to march
them about the country, levying contributions,
and doing more or less lighting on their own
account, long before Prussia could have
squelched them. On the other hand, neither
Austria nor Prussia could have brought together
within few weeks of the opening of the war
on one battlefield in Bohemia, the whole power
of their respective monarchies. If they could
have met lwith one quarter of their forces, it
would, with the means OF transport. and
the kind of roads, and the cOmmissarlat then
existing, have been considered a great feat: and
one battle would have decided nothing The
vanquished would have been badly hurt, but
would have drawn off and got ready for another
trial without aDaung 1ot OF heart or hope.
Any one who reads the history OF the Seven
Years. War, and the feats which Frederick was
able to perform, will see that, in these days of
railroads and high cultivation, weliled treasu-
ries, rich Taxpayers, electric teegraphs, and
macadamized roads, he would in two years have
either destroyed his enemies, or been destroyed
by them. In the Thirty Years War, even on
such fields as Leipsic and Lutzen, neither party
was ever able to bring over 1000 men into line
Of battle. In our own Revolutionary war, Is, 900
men would have been an enormous force. We
doubt if Washington was ever able to muster in
action nearly that number. That which made
Napoleon's wars so terrific and SO short and
decisive and made him "shape of dread" to the
NATIONS, was that he first, in modern times,
devised means of raising and equipping and
marching armies which really represented the
strength of the people whom he ruled
In the Middle Ages, governments by drawing
heavily on their feudal interiors, sometimes got
tolerably large armies together, but they rarely
kept the field more than one season, inasmuch
as they were essentially q militia, and had
affairs at home to attend to. The b-eaking-up
was fastened, too by the fact that they lived off
the country, and the agriculture OF that period
was not OF a nature to make "hving off the
country very luxurious or even abundant. The
Turks, in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries,
appeared in Central Europe with the largest
armies ever witnessed in those regions in modern
times, but they never, we believe, kept the field
over two campaigns, and they were able to keep
it in such large numbers so long owing mainly
to their immense force of light cavalry, which
enabled them to Law the country for fifty mules
on each side of their line of march under con.
tributions and spread terror for double that dis
tance. The Spaniards we're the first to organize
a commissariat, and provide military chest,
and pay their way In the field, and thus secure
discipline amongst their troops; and it was un-
doubleday this which gave the Spanish
infantry the prestige which 1t preserved
| unbroken down TO the bloody and dis
astrous day OF Rocroi. But the French
| troops before and in the earlier part of Louis
| XIV's reign, and until Louvois had reformed
| the army, we're dIsorderly, ill1ed bands OF
! marauders, whose exploits every summer, great
| as they were considered at that time, we're no
measure of the military capacity OF the French
| nation. The men were the dregs of the popula-
tion, and their officers lived by cheating them,
| In the field the army spent twice as much time
| in Tobbng as in military operations. The con-
| sequence OF these defects OF organization was
| that wars dragged on year after year with pro-
| digious loss OF lite destroying industry, laying
| The country waste, familanZiug the people,
| often through a whole generation, with rapine
| and bloodshed, and breaking almost every bond
| that holds society together. There is little
| doubt that the traces of the Thirty Years War
can still be detected in the condition OF the Ger
man peasantry, and there is, perhaps, NOT a
single State IN Europe, except England, whose
| social and political progress has not been pro
foundly affected by the length and indecisive
ness of the wars in which IL has borne part
and of which its soil has been the theatre.
In our day the advance OF science, the growth
OF wealth, and the increasing efficiency of the
machinery OF government have, Hhappilv for
mankind, made II possible to bring the whole
strength of people into the field at once.
armies are raised by an exact and vigorous
| conscrlpuon, which secures at once the force OF