Afghanistan and the Anglo-Russian DisputeRodenbough, Theophilus F. (Theophilus Francis)
History
Afghanistan and the Anglo-Russian Dispute
Rodenbough, Theophilus F. (Theophilus Francis)
Afghanistan; Eastern question (Central Asia); India -- Defenses; Russians -- Asia, Central
Like the United States, the great latent power of England is
indisputable, and so long as superiority at sea is maintained, time
is given to render that latent power active. For the first year of
the coming struggle England must lean heavily upon her navy. Nearly
all the regiments of infantry are below the average peace limit, and
if filled up simultaneously to a maximum war strength will include
more than fifty per cent, of imperfectly trained men, and as the
practice has been to fill up those corps ordered abroad with men
transferred from other small regiments, it may come to pass that
so-called "regular" regiments will consist largely of raw material.
Colonel Trench of the British Army says "the organization of the
regular cavalry is very defective," and especially complains of the
maladministration we have just noted. Demands for cavalry for the
Soudan were met by a heavy drain on the already depleted strength of
regiments in England. The Fifth Dragoon Guards, which stood next on
the roster for foreign service, gave away nearly two hundred horses
and one hundred men. Colonel Trench says that the reserve cavalry
have no training, and that there is no reserve of horses. It is
doubtful if more than seventy per cent. of the enlisted strength and
fifty per cent. of the horses, on paper, could be put in the field
now.
Allusion has already been made to the notorious weakness of the
British transport system. [Footnote: Captain Gaisford, who commanded
the Khaiber Levies in the Afghan campaign, recommended reforms in
the system of transport and supply. He advocated certain American
methods, as wind and water-mills to crush and cleanse the petrified
and gravelled barley, often issued, and to cut up the inferior hay;
the selection of transport employes who understand animals; and more
care in transporting horses by sea.] If this has been the case in
the numerous small wars in which her forces have been engaged for
the last twenty-five years, what may be expected from the strain of
a great international campaign.
On the other hand, Great Britain can boast of an inexhaustible
capital, not alone of the revenues which have been accumulating
during the last quarter of a century, but of patriotism, physical
strength, courage, and endurance, peculiar to a race of conquerors.
IV.
THE RUSSIAN FORCES AND APPROACHES.
A mere glance at the ponderous military machine with which Russia
enforces law and order within her vast domain, and by which she
preserves and extends her power, is all that we can give here.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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