The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1879-07-03
LOSSES IN WAR.
Comparing the Casualties I'm Ancient and
E9Odern Warfare.


of peace Thirty years ago that the vast
improvements making even then in ma
chimes for the Staying of men would
soon make war a game go deadly that
kings and nstions would cease to play at
it. he dream was 3 delusion. I'm.
provements in arms encourage instead OF
discouraging warfare, as they are fol>
lowed invariably by decrease in slaugh>
ter. 1t is not necessary to 60 back to
the battles of antiquity, when the fight
ing was hand to hand and no quarter was
shown except with an eye to profit; to
the uuerciless and brutal days of Canne,
when 10000 thousand out of $4,000
Romans fell; OF Zama and Metaurus,
when the Csrthsginian armies were de-
stroyed of Hastings, when the victorious
Normans lost 10, 900 men out of $4,000,
or of Greasy, when $4,000 out of 100000
French soldiers were slain. Consider
the work of the old smooth>bore, muzzle-
loading musket, used in the great wars
OF Marlborough, Frederick and Napoleon,
IN conjunction with smooth-bOred artil-
lery. If we leave out of account such
battles as Wit ria, Rossbach or Leuthe,
which was speedily decided by tactical
skill or obvious and overwhelming supe-
riority in numbers, at Zorndorf of $4,000
Russians 1886 were killed or wounded,
and 81 ,5S1 of $4,000 Russians, or IS and
43 per cent. At Austerlitz the loss was
49, per cent of the force engaged at
Jena, II; at Prague, 174; at Friedland,
81 at Wsterloo (of the English), nearly
the same at Marengo, 233 ;at Borodino,
80; at Eylau and Salamanca, nearly
349. According to the figures given
! by Colonel Cook, the average
loss in these ten great battles
was as nearly as may be rs per
cent of the forces engaged. After the
Crimean war the rifle came into vogue.
The italian war of 1859 was fought
with it, and the Austrians used it at
Koniggratz, where the Prussisns en-
ploved the breech-loader. At Magenta
less than per cent. of the men en-
gagged were killed and wounded ; at Sol
ferino the percentage was almost pre-
cisely the same, and yet these were pre-
eminently "soldiers' battles" decided
by hsmmer-andstongs" fighting. At
Koniggratz the combat lasted nine hours,
and the total loss, with rifles on one
side and breech. leaders on the other, was
not quite z per cent. After this the
breechsloader came into use everywhere
and the French brought out their mi
trailleuses. The breech-loader was three
times as accurate in fire as the old
Brown Bess, eight times more rapid and
seven times longer in range, not to men.
tion the fact that it prevented excited
men from performing such feats IS ram.
ming home cartridge bsll-foremost and
sending down a dozen more on top OF
that under the belief that all thirteen
had been fred at the enemy-yet what
was the result in the war of 1870 TAX
ing the battles fought while France had
any army, we find that at Woerth the
loss was 134 per cent, at Spicheren III
at Gravelotte not quite 9, at Sedan less
than 8, and at the bloody field of Mars
ls>Tour something under 16. In other
words we have this table:
Killed in the DAYS Of sword, bow and
30
Killed in the daVs OF smooth beres............. Is
| KILLED in the days of rifles and Oreet h.
TO II
When we come to look into the matter
in detail the figures are quite as instruc-
| tive. We hear much about the frightful
effect Of modern artillery, especially
when massed, yet in the total German
loss in killed and wounded in 1901, of
1924 killed only sos were slain by
shells, and of 1886 wounded only 4 3S9
were hit by these missiles. The sabre is
about as grsnd-Or as contemptibie-a
fraud. With swords and the butt-ends
of muskets, which always plays so terri
BILE q part in romantic histories, they
were only six Germans killed and 2l2
wounded in the whole war, though
it was war full of brilliant cavalry
charges by thu cuirassiers and dragons,
while the lance and bayonet killed 10
more than 1S9 men and wounded no
more than 574. In other words, of 100
men killed outright or dying of wounds
received in battle one is killed by blow,
cut or thrust, and three are slain by she'll
or cannon ball. The effect OF bayonet
and cavalry charges and artillery fire,
therefore, may be set down as chiefly
moral.
OF course there is an explanation of
all this. The increased power OF modern
weapons has been met and in q great
measure neutralized by the loosa order
OF fighting; the modern soldier, too, is
taught no. 10 stand up boldly and face
his foe but to crouch down and avail
himself of all possible shelter. 1t is at
least an open question whether there is
not slow but steady decadeDce going on
in the warlike qualities of all modern
civilized nations, and whether, now that
individuality is allowed to assert itself
in the extended order of fighting, the
military machine of civilization has not
been weakened. Already. q German