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The evolution of military art from ancient times to the present day

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The evolution of military art from ancient times to the present day

The evolution of military art from ancient times to the present day

The evolution of military art from ancient times to the present day. Volume II

Svechin Alexander Andreevich

The evolution of military art from ancient times to the present day

Publisher: State. publishing house

Place of publication: M.-L.

Year of publication: 1927-1928

The work of A. Svechin is presented in two volumes. The first of them covers the period from ancient times to 1815, the second is devoted to the years 1815-1920. This work represents a significant revision of the "History of the Art of War". The demands of studying strategy led to the sketching of several new campaigns emphasizing various strategic ideas. Particularly major changes in this respect take place in the second volume of the work, devoted to the latest evolution of military art. This study is not limited to the frontier of the war of 1870, but extended to 1920.

The work examines the military art of the classics and the Middle Ages, and also touches upon the history of military art in Russia.

Svechin Alexander Andreevich

Introduction

Chapter first. Greek phalanx. Alexander the Great

Chapter two. Roman police. Rome's struggle with Hannibal

Chapter three. Julius Caesar. The Rise and Decay of the Army of Imperial Rome

Chapter Four. Middle Ages

Chapter five. Revival of the infantry

Chapter six. Military Art of the East

Chapter seven. Mercenary armies

Chapter eight. Military Art of the Reformation

Chapter nine. Development of standing armies

Chapter ten. Frederick the Great

Chapter Eleven. The fate of military art in Russia

Chapter twelve. French revolution

Chapter thirteen. Napoleon

The present work is a substantial revision of our "History of the Art of War". The demands of studying strategy led to the sketching of several new campaigns emphasizing various strategic ideas. Especially major changes in this respect will take place in the second volume of our work, devoted to the latest evolution of military art. We plan not to limit our study to the boundary of the war of 1870, but to bring it to the present day, including in it at least the initial outline of the study of the world and civil wars from the point of view of the history of military art.

Our previous work did not touch on questions about the history of military art in Russia, since it proceeded from the assumption that special work would be carried out in parallel. In this work, we have tried to make up for this shortcoming and have devoted, however, a small number of pages to assess, from the point of view of world history, the evolution of Russian military art. This theme forced us to dwell a little on the Mongolian military art of Genghis Khan and Tamerlane.

Clausewitz, due to the weak development of historical science in his era, warned against excursions into the distant past and drew attention “exclusively to the wars of modern times: “the farther we go into the past, the military history will become poorer and more lean; the difficulty in using her teachings will grow. The most meager and inapplicable should be the history of the ancient peoples" (1).

This is a completely outdated view for our time, when historical knowledge has become more reliable and provides much more valuable coverage of the events of the "past". The weapon of history has improved and requires a more attentive attitude. The history of ancient peoples now gives us very valuable indications. The distant perspective, in which we study the development of the military art of classical Greece and Rome, allows us to distinguish especially clearly the main lines of evolution. We can point to the outstanding military thinker of the late nineteenth century, Verdy du Vernoy, a talented and faithful student of Clausewitz, a creator of the applied method, who in his writings on strategy often and willingly turned to the wars of the most distant past in order to analyze the most important provisions of strategy. We believe that if all the general staffs were ill-prepared for the scope of the events of the world war, this is largely due to the fact that they locked their thinking on the study of Moltke's wars of narrow national duels in a patch of central Europe. And modern wars represent a worldwide conflagration that engulfs many continents and advances military interests in distant, often overseas theaters. We believe that modern conditions require the expansion of our acquaintance with the wars of various eras, with the campaigns of Alexander the Great, Hannibal, with the skill that Caesar showed in overcoming the difficulties of the civil war, with the Asian and American wars; Europe, after the World War, decisively ceases to be the center of the universe. Subjectively, we were ready in our new work to further expand and deepen the study of military art in ancient times, to develop a chapter on Byzantine military art, from which the Russians borrowed something, to give an outline of the crusades - since the loud slogans of the latter and their inherent character interventions will also be characteristic of future wars. But, objectively, we had to give it up, since familiarity with the classical and medieval world is not the strength of the audience we are addressing. The thinking of the modern generation begins with the great industrial revolution of the 18th century in England, the great French Revolution. Further historical perspective is drawn very vaguely. The author can count on serious contact with the mass of readers only when describing the evolution of the last two centuries.

Therefore, we faced the task of shortening as much as possible the exposition of that part of our work that illuminates the military art of the classics and the Middle Ages. We have to look at it as an introduction, which has a very modest independent significance and only prepares thinking for the study of the evolution of military art in a new and, mainly, recent era of history. We have been compelled to shorten as far as possible the outline of the history of military art in the ancient and middle ages.

The main thing - the military art of Alexander the Great, Hannibal, Caesar, the state of military art in the subsistence economy of the Middle Ages - we have preserved, further donations would already be associated with the rejection of that world-historical point of view, which makes the study of the evolution of military art so valuable.

At the same time, we tried to streamline and simplify the presentation of our work and introduce a number of amendments into it, which were the result of our further study of the history of military art.

Our work will be presented in two volumes. The second of these will cover the period 1815-1920. The radical changes we have made seem to us respectful enough not to consider this work as a second edition of the previous one, but to justify its publication under the new title "The Evolution of Military Art from Ancient Times to the Present Day" (2).

A. Svechin.

Introduction

History of military art and military history. - The emergence and development of the history of military art. - The program of the 1st volume. - Literature.

History of military art and military history. The history of military art is one of those special disciplines into which the general history of culture is decomposed. Military institutions occupy such an important place in the structure of the state, wars, which open wide scope for viable states and remove decrepit organisms from the arena of history, constitute such an essential part of history that the history of military art has no less right to special study of it as a whole over the centuries than history of religions, constitutions, economic life, law. The division and specialization of labor in the study of departments of cultural history brings rich results. Investigating for thousands of years the relationship between the evolution of military art and the economic and political development of states, we immediately land on a ground very rich in conclusions and generalizations.

Such is the position of the history of military art in relation to general science. Among the military sciences, the history of military art is the foundation on which other military disciplines are built. Without paying enough attention to military-historical study, it is possible to train only artisans of military affairs, who are not capable either of conscious creativity, or of adapting and recognizing the rapid evolution of military affairs that is currently being experienced. In order to achieve positive results, military-historical study must by no means assume the character of military-historical illustrations that clearly explain the conclusions of an abstract theory, but must itself become the soil on which the strongholds of our military thinking are born.

• From author 8
• Introduction. History of military art and military history. The emergence and development of the history of military art. The program of the 1st volume. Literature 12
• Chapter first. Greek phalanx. Alexander the Great 24
  • Feudalism excludes the possibility of close systems. Phalanx. Victory of an ordinary fighter in the ranks over a qualified irregular fighter. Flanks and their cover by cavalry and lightly armed. Transition from militia to mercenary troops. Military art of professionals: training, maneuvering, tactics of Epaminondas, siege art. Xenophon and Socrates. Greek discipline. Macedonia. Macedonian phalanx. Cavalry. Hellenistic imperialism. Providing a common base. The number of armies. Persians and Parthians. Strategy of Alexander the Great. His tactics. Combat control. Diadochi and Peripatetics. Literature 24
• Chapter two. Roman police. Rome's struggle with Hannibal 51
  • Rome. Legion. Division by age. Maniples. Armament. Command composition. Roman army. Hannibal's plan. Fabius Cunktator's strategy. Cannes. Linear tactics of Scipio Africanus. Battle of Zama. Literature 51
• Chapter three. Julius Caesar. The Rise and Decay of the Army of Imperial Rome 72
  • Capitalist Rome. Army size. Acquisition. internal order. Technique and supply of the army. Reasons for the incompleteness of the conquest of Germany. Vegetius. The beginning of the civil war. Battle of Pharsal. State coups. Transition to subsistence farming. Germanization of troops 72
• Chapter Four. Middle Ages 88
  • Tribal life of the Germans. Armament and tactics. Disappearance of line infantry. Military organization of the Franks. Vassalage and fief system. The disappearance of the call of the masses. Camping equipment. Social and tactical background of chivalry. Spear Medieval discipline. Knightly orders. Tactics. Strategy. Cities. Obstacles to the growth of the strength of city militias. The military power of feudalism. Battle of Buvin 88
• Chapter five. Revival of the infantry 116
  • The growth of money circulation. Mercenary in England. Conquest of Wales. Archers. Battle of Cressy. The dismounting of the knights. Rise of the Flemish cities. Battles of Courtrai and Rosebec. Hussian wars. Tactics of Jan Zizka. Swiss. Mortargen. Swiss cities. The nature of the army. Tactics. Burgundian war. Literature 116
• Chapter six. Military Art of the East 142
  • East and West. Islam. Mohammedan knighthood. Tactics. Mongols. Technique, organization, strategy, tactics of the Mongols. Tamerlane's campaign against the Golden Horde. Turks. Janissaries 142
• Chapter seven. Mercenary armies 156
  • The impotence of the feudal militias. Condottieri. Demobilization. Root war. Ordinance companies. Broken spears. Free arrows. Landsknechts. Spanish infantry. Karakol. Battle of Ravenna. Strategy of limited goals. Literature 156
• Chapter eight. Military Art of the Reformation 178
  • The era of geographical discoveries. Spanish school. Reformation and armies of the new system. Reiters. Moritz of Orange; discipline, command staff, tactics. Gustav Adolf; tactical reform, strategy, battle of Breitenfeotd. Civil War in England. Oliver Cromwell, new army; battle of nussby 178
• Chapter nine. Development of standing armies 203
  • Mercantilism and standing armies. Fight against private enterprise. Luvois. Quartermasters. Police. Construction training. Rear. Shop five-transition system. Barracks. Artillery. Fortification. Hand firearms. Outfit. Repair. Officer Corps. Turenne. Defense of Alsace in 1674 Eugene of Savoy. Battle of Hochstadt. Campaign of 1706 in Italy. Literature 203
• Chapter ten. Frederick the Great 245
  • Prussia. The growth of the standing army. Acquisition. Canton regulation. Desertion. Stick discipline. General base. Infantry tactics. Cavalry. Hussars. Artillery. Strategy. Rosbach. Leithen. Kunersdorf. Berenhorst. Literature 245
• Chapter Eleven. The fate of military art in Russia 272
  • Kievan Rus. Tatar lessons. local system. Clashes with mercenary troops of the West. Composition. The need for reform. Standing army of Peter the Great. borrowings from the West. Strategic cavalry. Poltava campaign. The command staff of the Russian army of the XVIII century. Potemkin. Battle on the Trebbia River. Literature 272
• Chapter twelve. French revolution 302
  • Military construction of the revolution. Economic development of France. French army of the old regime. Class struggle in the officer corps. Discipline. Police. Linear order and columnar. The transition of the army to the side of the revolution. Valmy. Military service. Committee of Public Salvation and the highest command staff. Amalgam. military industry. New officer and soldier. Loose system and column. Artillery. The intensity of the battle. divisions. Supply. Bülow. Literature 302
• Chapter thirteen. Napoleon 331
  • Acquisition. Desertion. Discipline. Management conditions. The nature of Napoleon's strategy. Tactics. Politics and strategy. Jomini. Campaign of 1796 in Italy. Campaign 1800 Ulm operation. Battle of Austerlitz. Jena operation. Five-day operation near Regensburg. Battle of Wagram. Campaign of 1812. Fight for the masses. Berezinsky operation. Literature 331
• Systematic table of the organization of armies in ancient, middle and new ages 386
• Typos 387