New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1895-12-01
THE WAR RENAISSANCE
COLONEL DoDGEs NEW BOOK IN HIS
SERIES OF GREAT CAPTAINS"

Gonde' Eugene ard Marlborough. with 23I Charts.
SsIs Fl G' Tn Il nnit' Arms pna
Theodore Ayrault Dodge. Brevct Lieutenant 9tt mt
Colonel United States ATmg; Retired LAST rp'
xiii s64(c) Houghon. Miffiin q Co.
= 4, a long interval in the history Of the
world from Caesar to Gustavus Adolphus But
Colonel Dodge maintains that war as science
aud an art was practically unknown in the Mid
die Ages and that there are no names worthy
OF more than mere mention In a brief summary
o. events from the beginning OF the Roman En-
rire down to the opening Of the Thirty Years
War There warriors In those days, Saia-
fin. Godfrey. Richard l. Totila Theodore. Charlie
.nayne William Of Normandy Harold Godwins-
son. Robert Of Sicily Frederick Barbarossa and
others innumerable. But there were no great
soldiers in the sense that Alexander Hanmoal
and Caesar or Gustavus and his successors were
great soldiers. War as understood In Western
Europe was merely rough rd-;umble hgh;ing'
The Eastern Empire alone preserved the ancient
traditions. Byzantine authors continued TO write
with degree Of intelligence on the subject.
eagerly discussing the differen; methods TO be
adopted against different races. Stratagem and
frcachery had an important place with the BY
,antines Not that they failed 10 value cour-
are highly: but they were a nation too weak
In the midst Of so many enemies to carry Things
with a high hand. Colonel Dodge prefers to ex-
cuse rather than condemn the treachery Oh the
Eyzantines "A similar tendency" he says
was shown in the seventeenth century in the
preferences OF manoeuvres over battles and was
not Hannibal called perfdious because he re-
sorted to ruse in his unequal struggle against
ponderous Rome?"
In his view. 1t takes few words to tell of the
changes in the art OF war after Caesar until the
,eawakening of modern times. The old Romans
eir hat ha
fact that the uncivilized warriors Of Europe came.
In time. to have as serviceable weapons as their
conquerors put end to close fighting All
through the Middle Ages the tendency was to
the invention and Improvement Of weapons that
would Kill men or beat down armed groups in
field or fortress from a distance. The funda-
mental conception in most Of these contrivances
was either that OF the sling or the bow. Though
references to explosive substances like gun
powder. or 10 burning substances like Greek fire.
are TO be found IN works literally as old as
Moses" slow to ccntrive means by
which such forces could be used Systematically.
There are remarks In comparatively ancient
authors-Colonel Dodge cites several-which can
not be explained without reference to gunpowder
or something similar to it. But all these remarks
indicate mere sporadic attempts to NEEDLE with
the unknown.
The modern era dawned when from mere play
things explosives and firearms began to be
studied with constant purpose TO make them use
full Another feature Of warfare which marked
the medieval period throughout was the SUI
premacy of the mounted warrior. Colonel Dodge
dates the rise of cavalry from the battle of Adri-
anople when Roman legons were ridien down by
half-savage horsemen. and the beginning of its
decline in the form of knighthood from the days
when the English yeoman with his longbow and
clothyard arrow overthrow the nobility OF
France The Swiss pkemen, with a weapon
eighteen feet long. standing in a body which re-
sembled the ancient phalanx, completed what
the bowman had begun But after cavalry ceased
to affect the imagination, generals still continued
TO plant their armies in masses that were almost
Incapable of motion. Fortresses stood on every
hand and war. aside from devastating raids
consisted largely i'm transferring walled places
from one hand to another In fact the tradition
which set an exaggerated value on fortified
places 6utlased the first school Of modern COM
manders
The condition Of things was favorable to the
rise Of Gustavus AdOlphus. He was cOnsci-
entious man, and all Europe agitated in his
time about questions of conscience. No war
could take place that not in its motive large
y religious. He was also king of people who
were conscientious. and the soldiers they fur
not as mere robbery and plumber, but as high
calling They were Puritans before the name
was known Such king and such soldiers re-
quired different pretext for making war from
those familiar TO statesmen Of the time. All the
wars Of Gustavus were in moral and religious
and political though not in military sense, de-
fensive He defended his crown and his realm
against Poland and Denmark and his great war
for Professionalism was really TO his nina ana
10 that Of his subjects an effort 10 protect MS
country. II the Protestant States OF Germany
We're beaten down. then Sweden must share the
same fate. and in losing its religion must also
lose its identity as a nation. This patriotism on
the part Of Gustavus is held by Colonel Dodge
20 be ar essential part Of his character as
soldier Of the highest genius. This book begins
and ends with Sweden. with Gustavus In the
sixteenth century and with Charles MI in the
seventeenth: and the strongest contrast which
Colonel Dodge can make between these two men.
che one great he other a brilliant necrdo-well.
Is Just on this point Of patriotism. In order to
make out all great cal tains patriots. the au-
thor has to indulge IN little casuistry. NO
strategy Is sound" ne declares, (which has not
patriotism basis. The greatest soldiers nave
sought primarily the good Of the .fatherland'
Alexander made Macedon govern the earth; Han
ribal had Rome at his feet, but stupid Carthage
would not accept the gift; Caesar and Napoleon,
on the theory OF retat cest moi. were patriotic
strategists Gustavus and Frederick were truly
ouch On this test the military reputation OF
Charles XII is shattered. From mere childish
prcjudice-spite is the better word-he would not
return to his country when his country needed
him, because free return was given hm' not
conquered" Love Of his country alone led Gus
tavus to ilght her battles on foreign soil.
But his patriotism would not have suHiced
without the addition of wonderfully resource
full mind He was obliged to make small army
serve tine purposes OF far larger one. The
small size of the Swedish horses forced him to
trust most TO his infantry; and in the sturdy.
unyielding Swedish peasantry- he found material
tho efficiency of which became the marvel of