The Vancouver independent. (Vancouver, W.T. [Wash.]) 1875-1910, 1880-06-24
The Art of Destruction.

Inc curious tueOFN WIS recently dV-
vanced by the Saturday Review that af-
ter a few more improvements in tireai ms
there will be no more battles There is
suggestion that this result may have
already been reached in naval warfare,
in the fact that neither in the Franco
Prussian nor the Russo-Tul kish war
was there any naval battles of conse.
quence, although all the combatants had
Squandered immense sums of money on
their navies. The Inference is that,
knowing that in certain contingencies
their forces might be exterminated, they
forebore to run the risk of exposure to
hopeless destruction The Review ar
CUES that this will be the ultimate result
of contests between nations which equip
their armies with the weapons which
will probably be invented during the
next half century. War will become a
specie of game, and the army which,
when brought face to face with a
stronger force, realized that it will be an
initiated if it enters into an engagement
will yield without fighting. In that
very excellent and carefully edited publ
cation, The United Service, published
at Philadelphia, there is an article by L.
Henry Lacombe which, while it does
not assume to support the Reviews half
serious, half-humorous theory, does con-
tain some singular facts which seem to
show that each marked improvement in
destructive weapons is the cause of IA de-
creased loss of life in battle.
The writer has grouped into four pc
RODS the more prominent battles of the
last two hundred and fifty years, and has
stated, with all the accuracy attainable,
the average percentage of killed and
wounded to the Who'll number engaged
He has made no effort at selection of
battles favorable TO the theory, and he
has included only engagements in the
field. Some pitched battles, such as
Waterloo, have been omitted because &C
curate estimates of loss were not accessi-
Ale. The first period extends from the
time when the use of firearms became
general to the introduction of the iron
ramrod and the bayonet. The battles
included IN this period ale those OF
Lespsic, Lutzen, Nordlngen, Rocroy,
Marston Moor, Naseby and Seneh, and
the dates range from 1851 to 1914. The
ightest relative loss was at Marston
Moor, l6 per cent, ard the heaviest at
Rocroy, 50 per cent. The average per-
centage of casualties for the period WAS
,,0%,a1o h1a Sa.<,,rn sc tb,c
is the large proportion of killed to the
entire number of casualties. At Mars
ton Moor the entire losses were 1900,
but more than half the number were
killed. at Rocroy, of $4,000 Spanish in
fantry, 5000 were killed in their ranks.
The second period selected extends
from l745 to 1914, and % battles
among them Fontenoy, Marengo, Aus
terlitz, Jena, Wagram, Leipsic and
Bautzen-are included. The infantry
arm of this period was the old Brown
Bess, smooth-bore flint lock, with bay
onet The smallest relative loss in this
period was at Victoria, s Der cent, and
the largest at Zorndorf, 40 per cent.
The average percentage OF casualties for
the period was 201 per cent, or 5 per
cent. less than during the previous period.
The third period is that of rifed barrels
and percussion caps, from 1884 to 1868.
Eleven battles, among them Alma, Ma
genta Solferino, Shiloh, Chickahominy,
fredericksburg, Chancelorvilc and Get
tysburg are included; the percentages of
loss range from to % per cent, and
the average is Is per cent, or 81 per
cent. less than in the second period. The
fourth period dates from the first az
pearanc. of the breech-loader and in
cludes the battles of Koniggratz, Woerth,
Spicheren, Marsle-Tour, Gravelotte and
Sedan. The percentage Of losses ranges
from 7 to Is, and the average is only l l
or 4 per cent. less than in the third pc
riod. These are very curious facts,
which students of the science of war will
find suggestive. The writer is careful
70 give his authorities, and the figures
contained in his tabulations may doubt
less be depended upon for approximate
accuracy.