The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1899-05-06
TIE NEXr WAR.

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The book has created sensation
among the military men of Europe,
because the author of it is Jean de
Bloch, the celebrated military critic OF
Russia He reviews the advances made
in military science, and the works OF
Bualmont and other noted writer's on
military affairs, and his conclusions are
startling. They are such as might be
made in composing a sensational MILL
tary romance, and yet they are drawn
from the existing facts which are faml-
liar to students of military matters.
They are the conclusions of learned
man, who has no superior as critic,
and, who has tested them by the facts
accomplished since 1870, the date Of the
F'ranco-Prussian war.
He declares that the modern guns
and powder are so efficient that the
losses In battle would now be four
times as many as in the war of 1870.
The new rifles are forty times more
efficient than the rifles used in 1870
and the value of artillery is from
twelve to fifteen times greater than it
was at that date. Shells that eX-
ploded at that time into nineteen or
twenty pieces are now broken into an
average of two hundred and forty
pieces. Canister (bombe de font)
that scattered forty-seven pieces or
shots, in 1870, now distributes 1904
pieces, with the aid of pyroxline, and
spreads six hundred and fifty-six feet
at distance of three thousand three
hundred yards from the firing point.
The author says that the Prussian
General RhOne has stated that if 10, 900
men were to attack fort we'll armed,
they would be met at a distance of
1000 yards from it with, for instance,
1850 discharges of artillery, which
would carry 275,00O shot and she'll
The attacking force, unless under
cover, would be annihilated before it
reached point distant mile from
the fort
Rifles and smokeless powder make
the use of cavalry of little value. Nor
can skirmishers advance. The artillery
now in use is so deadly, series of
earth works on battlefield are abso-
lutely necessary.
Bloch cites the description of Cap
tain M. Nigote of the French army as
to the method of battle, if it were
fought today in Europe. At distance
OF 5000 yards it would begin with ar
tiliery on both sides. Men and horses |
would be swept down by the explod- |
ing shells and bullets. The great can
non OF one army would disable the can |
non of the other army. The advantage |
would be with the army that used the |
most artillery. After artillery fire, the |
infantry would advance. At 1000 yards |
the rifle bullets would take effect. |
There would be a hail storm of rifle |
balls over the field. The artillery not |
destroyed would cut up the attack |
ing regiments. The field would be |
covered with the wounded and slain |
When the reserves came up there |
would be maintained a space of 1000 |
steps across which neither line of at |
tack could cross, because of the terri |
bic discharge of bullets. Shells loaded |
with melinite would crush and utterly |
demolish houses and villages in the |
way of the marching forces. The dead |
ON each side would be piled up into |
ramparts about 1000 steps apart be- |
hind which men would protect them
selves. The battle would continue I'M
i
armies were used up.
The author says that if the French |
and Germans were to engage in an
other war similar to that of 1870, it |
might last year, and in the end both |
sides would be exhausted, and nothing |
would be gained. The cost of such a |
war would be on each side ten thous-
and millions of francs, and the cost to
Europe would be forty thousand mil
lions of francs.
If the conclusion of the great writer
on military affairs is correct, and the |
destructive power of modern weapons |
is so vast it indicates a sufficient rea
son for general disarmament in Eu
rope. So long as there is uncertainty
as to the result of battle, nations will |
not disarm on any moral grounds. But
if it is accepted as fact that an army
in a great battle cannot obtain the
victory over another great army, and
the result will be destruction without
results, there will be a tendency to dis
arm. For even a comparatively small
army will be able to destroy any at
lacking force.
In the order of the evolution of
'fGOd-like men," the power to utterly
exterminate each other seems to pre-
cetle the desire to enter into a general