The Story of the Great War, Volume 1: Introductions; Special Articles; Causes of War; Diplomatic and State Papers — John Shaqi
The Story of the Great War, Volume 1: Introductions; Special Articles; Causes of War; Diplomatic and State Papers
History
The Story of the Great War, Volume 1: Introductions; Special Articles; Causes of War; Diplomatic and State Papers
World War, 1914-1918
For a number of years we have been confronted by conditions which
may involve the use of a considerable force of troops, a force
exceeding the regular army and perhaps even the regular army in
conjunction with the militia. This means that a thousand or more men
would have to be added to each regular and National Guard infantry
regiment to bring it to full strength. In the National Guard only a
small proportion of the men have had long service and thorough
training, and if brought to full strength through the injection of a
thousand practically untrained men it would mean these regiments
would go to the front with not over 30 per cent of well-trained men.
In other words, they would be military assemblages of well-meaning,
but undisciplined and untrained individuals, and unless we are to
repeat the experiences of '98 it will be necessary to hold them for
several months in camp and put them through a course of the most
intensive training. It is probable that if they are called it will
be under an emergency which will not permit such training, and we
shall see again the scenes of '98, untrained, willing boys,
imperfectly equipped under inexperienced officers, rushed to the
front, willing but a more or less useless sacrifice.
Another great lesson should be to heed no longer those false
prophets who have been proclaiming that the day of strife has
passed, and that everything is to be settled by arbitration;
prophets of the class who obstructed preparation in England, who
decried universal military training, and all but delivered her into
the hands of her enemies.
"Our culture must, therefore, not omit the arming of the man. Let
him hear in season that he is born into a state of war, and that
the commonwealth and his own well-being require that he should
not go dancing in the weeds of peace; but warned, self-collected,
and neither defying nor dreading the thunder; let him take both
reputation and life in his hands, and with perfect urbanity dare
the gibbet and the mob by the absolute truth of his speech and
rectitude of his behavior."--EMERSON.
NAVAL LESSONS OF THE WAR
By REAR ADMIRAL AUSTIN M. KNIGHT, U. S. N.
Although the greatest war in history is not yet at an end, and none
of us can even guess when the end will come, it is possible to draw
certain very important conclusions from the developments to date,
especially in so far as these developments are concerned with war
upon the sea. The great sea fight for which the world has looked
since its two greatest naval powers went to war against each other
has not taken place. It may never take place, although both sides
profess that they are eager for it. And until it does take place,
the final word will not be spoken as to the relations between guns
and armor, between battleships and battle cruisers, or between
either of these types of "capital" ships on the one hand, and the
destroyer and submarine on the other.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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