It is a foible of most peoples in all generations fondly to picture
themselves as braver and hardier than those of other races and times.
So, in the present war, it is commonly assumed that greater demands
upon the soldier’s fortitude and courage are made than in times gone
by. In fact, however, bravery has been throughout the ages probably
the commonest attribute of mankind. Soldiers are as brave today as in
former times, but no more so. To contemplate a modern bayonet charge
or a fight at close grips with gun-butt and knife is far from
pleasant. But whereas such fighting is the occasional or exceptional
thing today, of old it was the normal mode of fighting. The idea that
combat should be waged at a distance was born only with the
development of smokeless powder and high-power rifles. As late as
Cromwell’s time the pike was the main reliance of infantry in battle.
The favorite tactics of Napoleon were based on the idea of
overwhelming the opposing army by the shock of mass formations. At
Waterloo, for hours his splendid cavalry broke against the British
squares, riding round and round at bayonet’s length, seeking to break
their outer line. From fighting in the open in mass formation, armies
have now largely taken to cover, even as the American Indian did;
partly because of this, partly for the other reasons noted, the
dangers and the horrors of war today have greatly diminished as
compared with former times. Our people should be made acquainted with
this fact, and both those who go to war and those who send them forth
are entitled to such comfort as may legitimately be derived from it.