Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1891-06-19

that taking advantage of the enemy's
known inferiority, the Swedes were all
taken prisoners. -Four years ago the
Russian maneuvers were at Pultova,
where Peter the Great, defeated Charles
XII in one of the bloodiest battles
fought on Russian soil. Eight years
ago the reviews and maneuvers were
held on the ground of Borodino. One
half the Russian army represented the
invading French force, the other portion
successfully resisted the passage of the
French across the river, and did what
the Russian Generals of eighty years
ago did not do
The Germans have often used their
ancient battlefelds on which to train
their soldiers. just before the Franco
Prussian war the evolutions of the Prus-
sian army were held on the historic
field Of Leuthen, in Silesia. where, in
1857, Frederick defeated the Austrians.
For a year or two after the Leuchen
evolutions the Prussian troops needed
no instruction, having an abundance of
practice on the plains and among the
fields of Franco; but a year after the
war was over and the vctors had re-
turned to Berlin the field of Ross
bach was chosen for their evolutions,
where Frederick defeated the French
and imperial armies, and the his
toric significance of the maneuvers on
these two memorable fields can not be
exaggerated. A few years ago the South
German eyolutions were held on the
field of Blenheim, where Marlboro, with
the English and Austrians, defeated the
combined French and Bavarian armies.
The lines were drawn up in exact ac-
nr6o wit hn ut n
derful victory: the mistakes made by
beth sides were pointed out, and, in the
evolutions, rectified, and it was conclu-
vely shown that in pace of Marlboro
being victor he should, by all the rules
of regular warfare, have been defeated
with terrible slaughter The Austrians
have several times utilized Austerlitz in
Moravia, where Napoleon defeated the
combined Russian and Austrian army,
and won the battle that decided the fate
of Central Europe.
Maneuvers have not been so popular
in Italy and the south of Europe gener-
ally, probably from the fact that until
Italy was united, generation ago, there
was no national army; but, in the time
of Victor Emmanuel, evolutions on a
large scale were held at Marengo and on
other fields where Napoleon routed the
Austrians and liberated Italy from one
foreign chain only to impose upon it the
links of another. The smaller nations
of Northern Europe have initiated their
powerful nefghbors in military exercises,
and the little army of Belgium has more
than once gone through training on the
field of Waterloo, while Holland, Den
mark, and Sweden have also trained
their forces semi-annually on mimic
battle fields.
Although France is full of battle
grounds, they have not commonly been
resorted to as fields of exercise for the
troops. When the semi-annual maneu-
vers take place in France it is usually
on the theory that an enemy has invaded
the country from Brest, Cherbourg, or
by crossing the Rhine, and the troops
are marched to oppose the invaders
Since the surrender Of Paris to the Ger
mans evolutions on all extensive scale
have taken place in the immediate