_“He who has the advantage in Numbers, if he be not a blockhead,
incessantly will distract his enemy by detachments, against all
of which it is impossible to provide a remedy.”--Frederic the
Great._
* * * * *
_“He that hath the advantage in Numbers usually should exchange
pieces freely, because the fewer that remain the more readily are
they oppressed by a superior force.”--Dal Rio._
At Thymbra, Cyrus the Great, king of the Medes and Persians, with 10,000
horse cuirassiers, 20,000 heavy infantry, 300 chariots and 166,000 light
troops, conquered Croesus, King of Assyria whose army consisted of
360,000 infantry and 60,000 cavalry. This victory made Persia dominant in
Asia.
* * * * *
At Marathon, 10,000 Athenian and 1,000 Plataean heavy infantry, routed
110,000 Medes and Persians. This victory averted the overthrow of Grecian
civilization by Asiatic barbarism.
* * * * *
At Leuctra, Epaminondas, general of the Thebans, with 6000 heavy
infantry and 400 heavy horse, routed the Lacedaemonean army, composed
of 22,000 of the bravest and most skillful soldiers of the known world,
and extinguished the military ascendency which for centuries Sparta had
exercised over the Grecian commonwealths.
At Issus, Alexander the Great with 40,000 heavy infantry and 7,000 heavy
cavalry destroyed the army of Darius Codomannus, King of Persia, which
consisted of 1,000,000 infantry, 40,000 cavalry, 200 chariots and 15
elephants. This battle, in which white men encountered elephants for the
first time, established the military supremacy of Europe over Asia.
* * * * *
Alexander the Great invaded Asia (May, 334 B.C.) whose armies aggregated
3,000,000 men trained to war; with 30,000 heavy infantry, 4000 heavy
cavalry, $225,000 dollars in money and thirty days’ provisions.
At Arbela, Alexander the Great with 45,000 heavy infantry and 8,000 heavy
horse, annihilated the last resources of Darius and reduced Persia to a
Greek province. The Persian army consisted of about 600,000 infantry and
cavalry, of whom 300,000 were killed.
* * * * *
Hannibal began his march from Spain (218 B.C.) to invade the Roman
commonwealth, with 90,000 heavy infantry and 12,000 heavy cavalry. He
arrived at Aosta in October (218 B.C.) with only 20,000 infantry and
6,000 cavalry to encounter a State that could put into the field 700,000
of the bravest and most skillful soldiers then alive.
* * * * *
At Cannae, Hannibal destroyed the finest army Rome ever put in the field.
Out of 90,000 of the flower of the commonwealth only about 3,000 escaped.
The Carthagenian army consisted of 40,000 heavy infantry and 10,000 heavy
cavalry.
* * * * *
At Alesia, (51 B.C.) Caesar completed the subjugation of Gaul, by
destroying in detail two hostile armies aggregating 470,000 men. The
Roman army consisted of 43,000 heavy infantry, 10,000 heavy cavalry and
10,000 light cavalry.
* * * * *
At Pharsaleus, (48 B.C.) Caesar with 22,000 Roman veterans routed 45,000
soldiers under Pompey and acquired the chief place in the Roman state.
* * * * *
At Angora, (1402) Tamerlane, with 1,400,000 Asiatics, destroyed the
Turkish army of 900,000 men, commanded by the Ottoman Sultan Bajazet, in
the most stupendous battle of authentic record.
After giving his final instructions to his officers, Tamerlane, it is
recorded, betook himself to his tent and played at Chess until the crisis
of the battle arrived, whereupon he proceeded to the decisive point and
in person directed those evolutions which resulted in the destruction of
the Ottoman army.
The assumption that the great Asiatic warrior was playing at Chess during
the earlier part of the battle of Angora, undoubtedly is erroneous. Most
probably he followed the progress of the conflict by posting chess-pieces
upon the Chessboard and moving these according to reports sent him
momentarily by his lieutenants.
Obviously, in the days when the field telegraphy and telephone were
unknown, such method was entirely feasible and satisfactory to the Master
of Strategetics and far superior to any attempt to overlook such a
confused and complicated concourse.
* * * * *
At Bannockburne (June 24, 1314), Robert Bruce, King of Scotland, with
30,000 Scots annihilated the largest army that England ever put upon a
battlefield.
This army was led by Edward II and consisted of over 100,000 of
the flower of England’s nobility, gentry and yeomanry. The victory
established the independence of Scotland and cost England 30,000 troops,
which could not be replaced in that generation.
* * * * *
Gustavus Adolphus invaded Germany with an army of 27,000 men, over
one-half of whom were Scots and English. At that time the Catholic armies
in the field aggregated several hundred thousand trained and hardened
soldiers, led by brave and able generals.
At Leipsic, after 20,000 Saxon allies had fled from the battlefield,
Gustavus Adolphus with 22,000 Swedes, Scots and English routed 44,000
of the best troops of the day, commanded by Gen. Tilly. This victory
delivered the Protestant princes of Continental Europe from Catholic
domination.
* * * * *
At Zentha (Sept. 11, 1697), Prince Eugene with 60,000 Austrians routed
150,000 Turks, commanded by the Sultan Kara-Mustapha, with the loss of
38,000 killed, 4,000 prisoners and 160 cannon. This victory established
the military reputation of this celebrated French General.
* * * * *
At Turin (Sept. 7, 1706) Prince Eugene with 30,000 Austrians routed
80,000 French under the Duke of Orleans. Gen. Daun, whose brilliant
evolutions decided the battle, afterward, as Field-Marshal of the
Austrian armies, was routed by Frederic the Great at Leuthern.
* * * * *
At Peterwaradin (Aug. 5, 1716) Prince Eugene with 60,000 Austrians
destroyed 150,000 Turks. This victory delivered Europe for all time from
the menace of Mahometan dominion.
* * * * *
At Belgrade (Aug. 26, 1717) Prince Eugene with 55,000 Austrians destroyed
a Turkish army of 200,000 men.
* * * * *
At Rosbach (Nov. 5, 1757) Frederic the Great with 22,000 Prussians, in
open field, destroyed a French army of 70,000 regulars commanded by the
Prince de Soubisse.
* * * * *
At Leuthern (Dec. 5, 1757) Frederic the Great with 33,000 Prussians
destroyed in open field, an Austrian army of 93,000 regulars, commanded
by Field-Marshal Daun. The Austrians lost 54,000 men and 200 cannon.
* * * * *
At Zorndorf (Aug. 25, 1758) Frederic the Great with 45,000 Prussians
destroyed a Russian army of 60,000 men commanded by Field-Marshal Fermor.
The Russians left 18,000 men dead on the field.
* * * * *
At Leignitz (Aug. 15, 1760) Frederic the Great with 30,000 men
out-manoeuvred, defeated with the loss of 10,000 men and escaped from the
combined Austrian and Russian armies aggregating 130,000 men.
* * * * *
At Torgau (Nov. 5, 1760) Frederic the Great with 45,000 Prussians
destroyed an Austrian army of 90,000 men, commanded by Field-Marshal Daun.
* * * * *
Washington, with 7,000 Americans, while pursued by 20,000 British and
Hessians under Lord Cornwallis, captured a Hessian advance column at
Trenton (Dec. 25, 1776) and destroyed a British detachment at Princeton,
(Jan. 3, 1777).
* * * * *
Bonaparte, with 30,000 infantry, 3,000 cavalry and 40 cannon, invaded
Italy, (March 26, 1796) which was defended by 100,000 Piedmontese and
Austrian regulars under Generals Colli and Beaulieu. In fifteen days
he had captured the former, driven the latter to his own country and
compelled Piedmont to sign a treaty of peace and alliance with France.
At Castiglione, Arcole, Bassano and Rivoli, with an army not exceeding
40,000 men Bonaparte destroyed four Austrian armies, each aggregating
about 100,000 men.
* * * * *
At Wagram, Napoleon, with less than 100,000 men, overthrew the main
Austrian army of 150,000 men, foiled the attempts at succor of the
secondary Austrian army of 40,000 men, and compelled Austria to accept
peace with France.
In the campaign of 1814, Napoleon, with never more than 70,000 men, twice
repulsed from the walls of Paris and drove backward nearly to the Rhine
River an allied army of nearly 300,000 Austrians, Prussians and Russians.
* * * * *
In the year 480 B.C., Xerxes, King of Persia, invaded Greece with an
army, which by Herodotus, Plutarch and Isocrates, is estimated at
2,641,610 men at arms and exclusive of servants, butlers, women and camp
followers.
Arriving at the Pass of Thermopolae, the march of the invaders was
arrested by Leonidas, King of Sparta, with an army made up of 300
Spartans, 400 Thebans, 700 Thespians, 1,000 Phocians and 3,000 from
various Grecian States, posted behind a barricade built across the
entrance.
This celebrated defile is about a mile in length. It runs between Mount
Oeta and an impassible morass, which forms the edge of the Gulf of Malia
and at each end is so narrow that a wagon can barely pass.
Xerxes at once sent a herald who demanded of the Grecians the surrender
of their arms, to which Leonidas replied:
“_Come and take them._”
On the fifth day the Persian army attacked, but was unable to force an
entrance into the pass. On the sixth day the Persian Immortals likewise
were repulsed, and on the seventh day these troops again failed.
That night Ephialtes, a Malian, informed Xerxes of a foot path around
the mountains to the westward, and a Persian detachment was sent by a
night march en surprise against the Grecian rear. On the approach of this
hostile body, the Phocians, who had been detailed by Leonidas to guard
this path, abandoned their post without fighting and fled to the summit
of the mountains, leaving the way open to the enemy, who, wasting no time
in pursuit, at once marched against the rear of the Grecian position.
At the command of Leonidas, all his allies, with the exception of the 700
Thespians, who refused to leave him, abandoned Thermopolae in haste and
returned safely to their own countries.
Xerxes waited until day was well advanced and his detachment had
taken post upon the Grecian rear. Then both Persian columns attacked
simultaneously. The first part of this final conflict was fought outside
and to the north of the barricade. Leonidas being slain and their
numbers reduced over half, the remaining Greeks retired behind the
barricade and took post upon a slight elevation, where one after another
they were killed by arrows and javelins. The four days of fighting cost
the Persians over 20,000 of their best troops.
Upon the summit of the hill where the Spartans perished a marble lion was
erected, bearing the inscription:
“Go tell the Lacedymonians, O, Stranger,
That we died here in obedience to the law.”
A second inscription engraved upon a stone column erected upon the scene
of conflict read:
“Upon this spot four thousand Pelleponesians contended against
three hundred myriads.”
* * * * *
The largest army commanded by Epaminondas was about 70,000 men. Alexander
the Great, after Arbela, had 135,000 trained troops. Hannibal never led
more than 60,000 men in action, nor Caesar more than 80,000. Gustavus
Adolphus, just before Lutzen, marshalled 75,000 of the best soldiers in
the world under the banners of Protestantism. Turenne never fought with
more than 40,000 troops; Prince Eugene often had 150,000 in hand, and
Frederic the Great several times commanded 200,000 men. At Yorktown,
Washington had 16,000 Continentals, 6,000 French regulars and 18,000
Provincial volunteers: Napoleon’s largest army, that of the Austerlitz
campaign, consisted of 180,000 men, while von Moltke personally directed
at Sadowa, 250,000 men; at Gravelotte, 211,000 men and at Sedan, 200,000
men.
* * * * *
_Perfection in Numbers is attained whenever the kindred army has the most
troops in the theatre of decisive action._