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A British army, as it was,--is,--and ought to be : $b illustrated by examples during the Peninsular War; with observations upon India; the United States of America; Canada; the boundary line; the navy; steam warfare, &c.Campbell, James

History

A British army, as it was,--is,--and ought to be : $b illustrated by examples during the Peninsular War; with observations upon India; the United States of America; Canada; the boundary line; the navy; steam warfare, &c.

Name: A British army, as it was,--is,--and ought to be : $b illustrated by examples during the Peninsular War; with observations upon India; the United States of America; Canada; the boundary line; the navy; steam warfare, &c.
Author: Campbell, James

Campbell, James

Great Britain. Army

We are not to suppose that the Emperor Napoleon could have gained such
advantages over a Prussian army, manœuvred by such able officers as
those who led it, by superiority of tactics, though he evidently wished
the world to think so; and we must attribute the results of the battle
to the gallantry and superior intelligence of the French officers and
soldiers over troops in whom such a spirit no longer existed; for had
it not, in a great measure been banished, for the time, from amongst
them, by the severity of Prussian discipline, which is most certainly
calculated to eradicate courage out of any army in the world but that
composed of English, Scotch, and Irishmen, upon whom its effects were
but too long tried; and though it did not exhaust their innate national
bravery, and love of war, yet it rendered them at all times ready and
anxious to free themselves from the restraint under which they were so
tightly kept; and when once they could contrive to get out of the sight
of their officers, and to _think_ for themselves,--to do which they
perhaps had very few opportunities in the course of their lives--they
bade farewell to subordination, and took good care, in every kind
of excess, to make up for what they had suffered, under the kind of
discipline we had in a great measure copied from the Prussians; and to
this I venture to ascribe many of our soldiers' irregularities, and
even their crimes.

Let us see the effects of such absurd discipline upon a Russian army.
In the month of June, 1807, the Russians occupied Heilsburg, where they
had collected vast quantities of provisions, and all that was necessary
for an army. Their position was excellent, and during a period of
four months every thing possible had been done to render it, by field
works, more formidable. The Russians even attempted to be the first
to commence hostilities, but they were attacked by the French, and
completely beaten with the loss of 30,000 killed and wounded, and 4,000
prisoners; while the French lost (and the results go to prove their
statements to be correct) only 700 killed, and about 2,000 wounded;
and I do not hesitate to attribute the loss of the battle of Eylau to
the same cause as I do that of Jena; that is to say, the injurious,
depressing effects of Prussian discipline; and which system seems to be
even to this day followed up in the Russian armies.

In further proof of this, I must beg the reader's attention to what I
am going to mention, and which actually occurred in a regiment that
shall be nameless.

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Opening the text

History

A British army, as it was,--is,--and ought to be : $b illustrated by examples during the Peninsular War; with observations upon India; the United States of America; Canada; the boundary line; the navy; steam warfare, &c.

Campbell, James

Great Britain. Army

We are not to suppose that the Emperor Napoleon could have gained such
advantages over a Prussian army, manœuvred by such able officers as
those who led it, by superiority of tactics, though he evidently wished
the world to think so; and we must attribute the results of the battle
to the gallantry and superior intelligence of the French officers and
soldiers over troops in whom such a spirit no longer existed; for had
it not, in a great measure been banished, for the time, from amongst
them, by the severity of Prussian discipline, which is most certainly
calculated to eradicate courage out of any army in the world but that
composed of English, Scotch, and Irishmen, upon whom its effects were
but too long tried; and though it did not exhaust their innate national
bravery, and love of war, yet it rendered them at all times ready and
anxious to free themselves from the restraint under which they were so
tightly kept; and when once they could contrive to get out of the sight
of their officers, and to _think_ for themselves,--to do which they
perhaps had very few opportunities in the course of their lives--they
bade farewell to subordination, and took good care, in every kind
of excess, to make up for what they had suffered, under the kind of
discipline we had in a great measure copied from the Prussians; and to
this I venture to ascribe many of our soldiers' irregularities, and
even their crimes.

Let us see the effects of such absurd discipline upon a Russian army.
In the month of June, 1807, the Russians occupied Heilsburg, where they
had collected vast quantities of provisions, and all that was necessary
for an army. Their position was excellent, and during a period of
four months every thing possible had been done to render it, by field
works, more formidable. The Russians even attempted to be the first
to commence hostilities, but they were attacked by the French, and
completely beaten with the loss of 30,000 killed and wounded, and 4,000
prisoners; while the French lost (and the results go to prove their
statements to be correct) only 700 killed, and about 2,000 wounded;
and I do not hesitate to attribute the loss of the battle of Eylau to
the same cause as I do that of Jena; that is to say, the injurious,
depressing effects of Prussian discipline; and which system seems to be
even to this day followed up in the Russian armies.

In further proof of this, I must beg the reader's attention to what I
am going to mention, and which actually occurred in a regiment that
shall be nameless.

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

A British army, as it was,--is,--and ought to be : $b illustrated by examples during the Peninsular War; with observations upon India; the United States of America; Canada; the boundary line; the navy; steam warfare, &c.

A British army, as it was,--is,--and ought to be : $b illustrated by examples during the Peninsular War; with observations upon India; the United States of America; Canada; the boundary line; the navy; steam warfare, &c.

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