Forage for the horses occasions still less difficulty, as it neither
requires grinding nor baking, and as there must be forage forthcoming
in sufficient quantity to last the horses in the country until next
harvest, therefore even where there is little stall-feeding, still
there should be no want, only the deliveries of forage should certainly
be demanded from the community at large, not from the inhabitants
individually. Besides, it is supposed that some attention is, of
course, paid to the nature of the country in making arrangements for a
march, so as not to send cavalry mostly into places of commerce and
manufactures, and into districts where there is no forage.
The conclusion to be drawn from this hasty glance is, therefore, that
in a moderately populated country, that is, a country of from 2,000 to
3,000 souls per square mile, an army of 150,000 combatants may be
subsisted by the inhabitants and community for one or two days within
such a narrow space as will not interfere with its concentration for
battle, that is, therefore, that such an army can be subsisted on a
continuous march without magazines or other preparation.
On this result were based the enterprises of the French army in the
revolutionary war, and under Buonaparte. They marched from the Adige to
the Lower Danube, and from the Rhine to the Vistula, with little means
of subsistence except upon the inhabitants, and without ever suffering
want. As their undertakings depended on moral and physical superiority,
as they were attended with certain results, and were never delayed by
indecision or caution, therefore their progress in the career of
victory was generally that of an uninterrupted march.
If circumstances are less favourable, if the population is not so
great, or if it consists more of artisans than agriculturists, if the
soil is bad, the country already several times overrun—then of course
the results will fall short of what we have supposed. Still, we must
remember that if the breadth of the front of a column is extended from
two miles to three, we get a superficial extent of country more than
double in size, that is, instead of four we command nine square miles,
and that this is still an extent which in ordinary cases will always
admit of concentration for action; we see therefore that even under
unfavourable circumstances this method of subsistence will still be
always compatible with a continuous march.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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