St. Landry democrat., 1879-08-09
LOSSES IN WAR.
GOHas pairing the CasuaRties In Ancient and
Modern Warfare.


It was one OF The dreams of the friends
of peace thirty years ago that the vast
Improvements making even then in ma
chimes for the Staying of men would
soon mske war game 20 deadly that
kings and nations would cease to play at
it. The dream was q deluson. I'M
provements IN arms encourage inatead Of
Encouraging warfare, as they are fol-
lowed invariably by decrease in slaugh>
| ter. 1t is not necessary to go back to
the battles of antiquity, when the fight
| ing was hand TO hand and 10 quarter was
shown except with al eye to profit; to
the merciless and brutal days of Canra,
when 10000 thousand out of $4,000
Romans fell; Of Z4ma aud Metaurus,
when the Carthaginian armies were de-
stroyed OF Hastings, when the victorious
NOrmans lost 10000 men out Of $4,000,
or OF Cressy, when 10000 cut 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 Ma poleon,
in conjunction with smooth bored artiI
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 Z9rnd0rf OF 80 600
Russians II ,385 we're killed or wounded,
and 81 531 of $4,000 Russians, or IS and
43 per cent. At Austerlitz the loss was
135 per cent OF the force engaged at
Jena, II; at Prague, III; at Friedlsnd,
2l; at Waterloo (oi the English), nearly
the same at Marengo 233 at Borodino,
80; st Eylau and Salsmanca, nearly
943. According to the figures given
by Colonel Cook, the average
loss in these ten great battles
was as nearly as may be Is per
cent of the forces engaged. After the
Crimean war the rife came into vogue.
The Italian war OF 1859 was fought
with it, and the Austrians used it at
Korigeratz, where the Prussians emz
ployed the breech-loader. At Magenta
less than 9 per cent. OF the men en-
gagged were killed and wounded at Sol>
! terino the percentage WAS almost pre-.
, cisely the same, and yet these were pre-
eminently "soldiers' battles" decided
by hammer-and~tongs' fighting. At
Koniggrstz the combat lasted nine hours,
and the total loss, with rifles on one
side and breech.losders on the other, was
not quite 7 per cent. After this the
| breec ech~losder came into use everywhere
and the French brought out their mi
trailleuees. The breech-loader was three
times as accurate in fire as the cid
Brown Bess, eight times more rapid and
seven times longer in range, not to men.
tion the fact that 1t prevented excited
men from performing such teats as ram.
ming home cartridge ball foremost and
sending down 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 49, per cent, st Spicheren III,
at Gravelotte not quite 8, at Sedan less
than 8, and at the bloody field of Msrs.
l&>Tour something under 16, In other
words We have this table:
Killed in the days OF St ord, bow and
spears. 80
Killed in the d VS. of smootl bsres. w 25
hlIled in the days of rifles and oretth-
When We come to look into the matter
in detail the figures sre quite as ipstruc-
tive. We hear much about the friehtful
effect of modern artillery, especially
when massed, yet in the total German
loss in killed and wounded in 1901, of
Is. 24l killed only sos were slain by
SHELLS, and Of 70,636 wounded only 4 389
were hit by these missiles. The sabre is
about as grand-or as contemptib!e-a
fraud. With swords and the butt-ends
of muskets, which always plays so terri
BILE 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 the cuirassiers and dragons.
while the lance and bsyouet killed no
more than 1S9 men and wounded no
more than STD. In other words, of 100
men killed outright Or dying of wounds
received in battle one is killed by a blow,
cut or thrust, and three are slain by shell
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 a great
measure neutralized by the loose 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. It is at
least an open question whether there is
not slow but steady decadepce 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.