raised the latter nation from a comparatively subordinate position
to the front rank of military powers. The greatness of Prussia was
born in the sackcloth and ashes of national humiliation. Forbidden by
Napoleon, after her crushing defeat in 1806–7, to maintain an army of
more than 40,000 men, her great war minister, Scharnhorst, conceived
the plan of discharging the soldiers from military service as soon as
they had received the requisite instruction, and filling their places
with recruits. In this way, though the standing army never exceeded
the stipulated number, many thousands of Prussians received military
training; and when Prussia declared war against Napoleon, after his
disastrous Russian campaign, the discharged men were called back into
the ranks, and there arose as if by magic a formidable Prussian army
of trained soldiers. The principle of universal military service, thus
called into existence in Prussia in time of war, had been continued
through fifty years of peace, and enabled Prussia, with a population
scarcely more than half as numerous as that of Austria, to place
upon the decisive field of Königgrätz a larger army than that of her
opponent.
The Prussian system, which has since been copied by all the great
military nations of Europe, is, in its essential features, as follows:
Every able-bodied man in the kingdom, upon reaching the age of
twenty years, is available for military service; and each year there
are chosen by lot sufficient recruits to maintain the army at its
authorized strength. The great body of the male population is thus
brought into military service. There are a few exceptions, such as the
only sons of indigent parents, and a small number of men who are in
excess of the force required. Any man who escapes the draft for three
successive years, and all able-bodied men exempted for any cause from
service in the regular army, are incorporated in the reserve. The term
of service in the regular army is two years for the infantry and three
for the artillery and cavalry. After being discharged from the regular
army the soldier passes into the reserve, where he serves for four
years. While in the reserve, he is called out for two field exercises
of eight weeks’ duration each, and the rest of his time is available
for his civil vocation. At the end of four years in the reserve he
passes into the Landwehr, in which he is required to participate in
only two field exercises of two weeks’ duration each. After five years
in the Landwehr proper, he passes into the second levy of the Landwehr,
where he is free from all military duty in time of peace, though still
liable to be called to arms in case of war. From the second levy of
the Landwehr he passes, at the age of thirty-nine years, into the
Landsturm, where he remains until he reaches his forty-fifth year,
when he is finally discharged from military duty. The soldier in the
Landsturm is practically free from all military duty, for that body is
never called out except in case of dire national emergency. By this
system Prussia became not only a military power but “a nation in arms,”
in the blaze of whose might the military glory of Austria and of France
successively melted away in humiliating defeat.
The careful military preparation of Prussia in time of peace was by
no means limited to measures for providing an army strong in numbers.
Every year her troops were assembled in large bodies for practice
in the manœuvres of the battlefield. This mimicry of war, at first
lightly regarded by the military leaders of the other European nations,
produced such wonderful effects in promoting the efficiency of the army
that it has since been copied in all the armies of Europe, and is now
regarded as the most important of all instruction for war.
Though breech-loading rifles were, as we have seen, used in the War of
Secession, the Prussian army was the first that ever took the field
completely armed with such weapons. The Prussian rifle was not new,
for it had been invented by a Thuringian gunsmith, named Dreyse, about
the time that the Minié rifle appeared. Dreyse’s arm was known as the
“zundnadelgewehr,” or needle-gun, and its effect in the Austro-Prussian
war was so decisive and startling as to cause muzzle-loading rifles
everywhere to be relegated to the limbo of obsolete weapons. Yet
the needle-gun was but a sorry weapon in comparison to those now in
use, and was distinctly inferior to the Spencer carbine. Its breech
mechanism was clumsy, it used a paper cartridge, it was not accurate
beyond a range of three hundred yards, and its effective range was
scarcely more than twice that distance. The German infantry fought in
three ranks, and its tactics was not equal to that employed by the
American infantry in the War of Secession. The Prussian field artillery
was the most formidable that had yet appeared, and consisted mainly
of steel breech-loading rifled guns, which were classed as 6-pounders
and 4-pounders, though the larger piece fired a shell weighing fifteen
pounds, and the smaller projectile used a shell weighing nine pounds.
In the Austrian army the infantry was armed with a muzzle-loading
rifle, and the artillery consisted entirely of muzzle-loading rifled
guns.
The exalted military prestige gained by Prussia rendered it certain
that she must soon enter the lists in a contest with France, whose
commanding position in Europe was so seriously menaced by the rise
of the new power. Foreseeing the inevitable conflict, Napoleon III.
endeavored to prepare for a serious struggle. The French infantry
was armed with the Chassepôt rifle, which had an effective range
nearly double that of the needle-gun. A machine gun, known as the
_mitrailleuse_, was also introduced into the French army. Much was
expected of these new arms; but so superior was the organization,
readiness, generalship, and tactical skill of the Prussians that the
war was a practically unbroken series of victories for Prussia and the
allied German States. Profiting by their experience in the course of
the conflict, the Prussians formed their infantry for attack in three
lines; the first consisting of skirmishers, the second of supports,
either deployed or in small columns, and the third of a reserve,
generally held in column until it came under such fire as to render
deployment necessary. The skirmishers were constantly reinforced from
the supports, and finally from the reserve as the attack progressed,
the whole force being united in a heavy line, and opening the hottest
possible fire when close enough to the enemy for the final charge.
In its essential principles this attack formation is in use at the
present day in the armies of all civilized nations. The Prussian
artillery was handled with terrible effect both in battle and siege. A
new demonstration of the increased power of artillery was given in the
siege of Paris, in which shells were thrown from the heights of Clamart
to the Panthéon, a distance of five miles.
The next European war was the contest between Russia and Turkey, in
1877. In this conflict the American system of hasty intrenchments was
used with success by the Turks, who were also armed with an American
rifle, the Peabody, which enabled them to inflict serious losses upon
the Russians at a range of a mile and a quarter. Owing to the Turkish
intrenchments and the inferiority of their own arms, the Russians won
their victories over much smaller armies only with a gruesome loss of
life. A further impetus was given to the development of the infantry
rifle, and the German tactical experience was confirmed by the Russian
General Skobeleff in the declaration that infantry can successfully
assault only in a succession of skirmish lines.
The war in Turkey was the last great European conflict. Subsequent
campaigns of the Russians in Central Asia, of the English in Egypt, the
Soudan, and India, of the Japanese in China, of the Turks in Greece,
and the Americans in Cuba, have emphasized the lessons already taught,
and demonstrated the increased power of new weapons.
Having taken a retrospective view of the military forces and weapons
employed in the wars of the nineteenth century, let us now turn
to a consideration of the armies and arms of the present day. The
adoption of the system of universal military service has increased
the size of the standing armies of the nations of Europe far beyond
the proportionate increase of their respective populations. In round
numbers, the strength of the armies of the great powers is as follows:
Russia, 869,000; Germany, 585,000; France, 618,000; Austria, 306,000;
Italy, 231,000; Great Britain, 222,000.[3] Not only are the standing
armies greater than in the early days of the century, but, owing to
the improved methods of transportation and supply, the forces now
brought upon the field of battle are vastly larger than in the days of
Napoleon. The French army at Marengo was less than 30,000 strong. At
Austerlitz it was only 70,000, which was its strength also at Waterloo.
In only two battles, Wagram and Leipsic, was Napoleon able to place
150,000 men on the field; and in the latter battle the armies of all
Europe opposed to him numbered only 280,000. In more recent times
Prussia alone placed upon the field of Königgrätz 223,000 men with
which to oppose the Austrian army of 206,000; and at Gravelotte the
great French army of 180,000 men was outnumbered by the German host
of 270,000. It is probable that in the next great European war more
than a million men will be found contending on a single battlefield.
A detailed description of the armies of all the great powers would
prove wearisome to the reader, for their points of resemblance are many
and their general characteristics are the same. The German army may
be taken as the most perfect specimen of a highly organized military
force, and a description of its organization would answer with slight
modification for the other armies of Continental Europe.
[3] These numbers give the _peace_ strength of the armies. In
time of war they can easily be quadrupled.
The infantry of the German army is organized in companies of 250 men
each. Four companies constitute a battalion, and three battalions
compose a regiment. The brigade consists of two regiments, and the
division is composed of two brigades of infantry, four batteries of
artillery, and a regiment of cavalry. The army corps consists of two
divisions, a body of corps artillery composed of twelve batteries,
a battalion of engineers, and a supply train. In round numbers, the
fighting strength of the army corps consists of 30,000 men and 120
guns. The cavalry is organized in squadrons of 150 sabres each, five
squadrons forming a regiment, only four of which are employed in
the field, the fifth remaining at the regimental depot. The cavalry
brigade consists of three regiments; and the cavalry division, which is
composed of two brigades, aggregates 3600 sabres. Thus a small part of
the cavalry force is attached to the infantry divisions, while the bulk
of it is organized into divisions composed of mounted troops alone, two
batteries of horse artillery being attached to each cavalry division.
The entire military force is divided into “armies,” each consisting of
from three to six army corps and two or more cavalry divisions. The
cavalry has about one sixth and the artillery about one seventh of the
numerical strength of the infantry. The German cavalry is armed with
sabre, carbine, and lance. The officers carry the sabre and revolver.
In the army of the United States the organization differs in many
respects from that of the German army. The infantry companies each
consist of 106 men, including officers. Twelve companies form a
regiment, and three regiments constitute a brigade. A division is
composed of three brigades, and the army corps is made up of three
divisions. The number of batteries assigned to the divisions varies,
as also the amount of corps artillery. In the army operating in Cuba,
the artillery was all in a separate organization, and was distributed
to the divisions only on the eve of battle. Experience and theory
alike suggest four batteries for each division and eight batteries for
the corps artillery. No cavalry is assigned to the divisions, but a
regiment is supposed to be assigned to each army corps. The main force
of the cavalry is grouped together into cavalry divisions. The cavalry
is organized into troops of 100 sabres, four troops forming a squadron,
and three squadrons constituting a regiment. Three regiments form a
brigade, and three brigades a division. The American cavalry brigade is
thus of the same size as a Prussian cavalry division. The cavalry is
armed with the sabre, carbine, and revolver. The lance is unknown in
the American army.
Having viewed the composition of modern armies, let us now see how they
are armed. A consideration of the powder now in use is a necessary
preface to a description of the weapons employed in the warfare of the
present day. The old fine-grained black powder familiar to every boy
who has ever handled a shotgun has passed completely out of military
use. The powders now employed usually have guncotton or nitroglycerine
and guncotton for a base. They are practically smokeless, the product
of their combustion is almost entirely gaseous, they leave no solid
residuum, and are of the quality known as “slow-burning,” giving a
constantly increasing pressure on the projectile from the moment of
ignition to the time when it leaves the muzzle of the piece. These
powders are manufactured in thin sheets or small tubes or cords, which,
for small arms, are broken up into grains. They vary in color from
light yellow to black.
[Illustration: PRISMATIC POWDER.]
Before the adoption of smokeless powder, the cake powder invented by
General Rodman had been highly developed and improved in the form of
“cocoa powder.” This was made in hexagonal prisms, each perforated
longitudinally, so as to have a hollow core. These grains were
carefully arranged in the cartridges so as to have this core continuous
from one grain to another, in order that upon ignition the combustion
would begin in the interior and produce a constantly increasing volume
of gas as the exterior surface of the grain was reached. Though the
time of combustion was too rapid to be appreciated by the ordinary
senses, it was, nevertheless, quite different from the practically
instantaneous combustion of the old small-grain powder, and was
susceptible of accurate measurement. Much difficulty was experienced in
overcoming the detonating tendencies of the smokeless powders, but at
last the requisite slow-burning properties were obtained. The smokeless
powder for large guns is made in cartridges composed of bundles of
strips or cords, or in the same prismatic form as the cocoa powder, and
the process of combustion is the same.
[Illustration: MORTAR ON REVOLVING HOIST.]
The form of the gun is dependent entirely upon the nature of the powder
used. As the pressure of the gas constantly increases with the burning
of the powder, the maximum force will be reached at the moment the
combustion is complete. The length of the bore should, therefore, be
just sufficient to enable the powder to be entirely consumed at the
exact instant the projectile leaves the muzzle of the piece. A shorter
bore would cause much of the powder to be thrown out unconsumed, while
a much greater length would retard the projectile by subjecting it
to the friction of the bore after the maximum force of the powder
had been reached. This accounts for the greatly increased length of
the modern cannon. A change in the method of gun construction has
accordingly become necessary. Guns are no longer made of cast iron, but
are “built up” of steel. The explosion of the powder is, of course,
exerted in every direction, against the bore and sides of the piece as
well as against the base of the projectile. This produces two strains;
a longitudinal strain which is exerted in the direction of the axis
of the piece, and a transverse strain which tends to burst the gun.
It is necessary, therefore, to have the piece so strong, especially
at the points of first explosion, as to counteract these strains,
and thus cause the entire force to be exerted upon the projectile in
the direction of the “least resistance.” This strength, or “initial
tension,” is obtained by shrinking cylinders of steel over the
original cylinder of the piece, each outer cylinder or jacket being a
few thousandths of an inch smaller in its interior diameter than the
outer diameter of the cylinder which it incloses, and being expanded
by heating to a sufficient degree to enable it to be slipped over the
latter. Upon cooling, the jacket exerts a constant and powerful force
of compression, which counteracts the outward pressure of the force of
explosion. The longitudinal strain is less dangerous than the other,
and is usually counteracted by an interlocking of some of the cylinders
or hoops, to which the strain is transmitted from the breech-plug. The
art of building up guns has been of slow growth, the first efforts in
this direction having been made by Sir W. G. Armstrong nearly half a
century ago. The weight of the projectile of the present 16-inch gun in
the United States service is 2370 pounds; the charge of powder weighs
1060 pounds, and the extreme range is more than 14 miles. The cost of
each shot is $450, and when we consider that this does not include the
wear and tear of the gun, it is evident that money has become more than
ever before “the sinews of war.”
Not less remarkable than the improvement in cannon is the improvement
in mortars. These mortars are very unlike the clumsy weapons of that
name manipulated by hand-spikes, which were known in our great war.
They are now mounted on a platform which turns on rollers. They are
elevated or depressed by a mechanical appliance, are loaded at the
breech, are accurately rifled, and can drop their projectiles on the
decks of hostile vessels at a range of six miles. They are placed in
groups of four, each in a separate pit, some batteries containing as
many as four groups, or sixteen mortars. In all important sea-coast
batteries both guns and mortars are so arranged as to be fired by
electricity, either singly or in volleys.
A dynamite gun has been devised by Captain Zalinsky for the purpose,
as the name implies, of throwing a projectile containing dynamite.
Attempts to fire dynamite projectiles by means of powder have thus far
failed. In the Zalinsky gun the propelling power is compressed air. The
projectile contains from fifty to sixty pounds of gelatine dynamite,
the explosion of which is terrific. Excellent results have been
obtained with Zalinsky’s gun up to a range of 2000 yards, but as this
is insignificant in comparison with the enormous range of high-power
cannon using powder as a charge, the dynamite gun is still a weapon of
limited usefulness. Although the dynamite gun has not as yet fulfilled
the desired requirements as to range, promising experiments have been
made in firing shells charged with high explosives from mortars using
charges of powder, and it is probably a question of only a short time
before means will be found for successfully firing dynamite in a
similar manner.
The great improvements in field artillery make the cannon of the early
battlefields of the century seem, in comparison, almost like harmless
toys. The modern field gun is made of steel, is rifled, loads at the
breech, and has great rapidity and accuracy of fire. The extreme range
of the 3.2-inch field gun in the United States service is about four
miles. This, in fact, is beyond the ordinary range of human vision,
and it is but rarely that the ground for so great a distance is free
from features that obstruct the view. For these reasons the fire
of field guns can seldom be utilized beyond a range of two miles.
The projectile of the 3.2-inch field gun weighs 13½ pounds, and the
charge of powder 3½ pounds. The 3.6-inch gun is a still more powerful
weapon, the weight of the projectile and charge being 20 and 4½
pounds respectively. Shells are used against inanimate objects, such
as earthworks or buildings; but the great artillery projectile for
the battlefield is shrapnel. It is now very different from the crude
projectile known by the same name in the early years of the century.
The bullets are assembled in circular layers and held in position by
“separators,” which are short cast-iron cylinders with hemispherical
cavities into which the bullets fit. The bottom separator fits by
means of lugs into recesses at the base of the shrapnel, and prevents
independent rotation of the charge of bullets. The top separator is
smooth on its upper side, and is kept firmly in place by the head
of the projectile, which screws against it. The separators prevent
movement or deformation of the bullets under shock of discharge, and
being weakened by radial cuts, increase the effect by furnishing
additional fragments of effective weight. The shrapnel for the 3.2-inch
gun contains 162 bullets one half inch in diameter and weighing 41 to
the pound. The total number of bullets and individual pieces in the
shrapnel is 201.
[Illustration: MODERN SHRAPNEL.]
The heavy sea-coast guns are now mounted either in armored turrets,
_en barbette_, or on disappearing gun-carriages. The first system is
very costly and is not generally used in the United States. The second
system, in which the guns are fired over a parapet and are constantly
exposed, is used only in rare cases. The third has been perfected in
the United States in the Buffington-Crozier and the Gordon disappearing
gun-carriages. These carriages enable the gun to be loaded in safety
under cover of the carriage pit, and then to be raised by means of
counterweights or compressed air to a position from which it can fire
over the parapet. With trained cannoneers, the gun can be raised and
fired in twenty seconds, and this brief period of exposure, especially
when smokeless powder is used, renders it almost impossible for the
enemy to locate the gun with any degree of accuracy. The shock of the
recoil, taken up by pneumatic or hydraulic cylinders, brings the piece
back, quickly but gently, to the loading position, whence it is again
raised for firing.
The siege artillery of the United States army consists of the 5-inch
gun, the 7-inch howitzer, and the 7-inch mortar. They all use shell,
and their effective range is from three to four miles.
When the enemy is sheltered behind entrenchments it is difficult to
reach him with shrapnel fired from field guns. Field mortars have
accordingly been devised for this purpose and have given excellent
results. The United States 3.6-inch field mortar is rifled, and carries
a shrapnel weighing twenty pounds. The weight of the field mortar is
only 500 pounds, and it can be easily carried in a cart drawn by a
single mule.
[Illustration: KRAG-JORGENSEN RIFLE.]