The Military Experience

in the Age of Reason (Book)

Reviewed by Greg Nichols

By Christopher Duffy. Rutledge and Kegan Paul, London/New York, 326 pages, Ll 9.95.

Christopher Duffy is the premier historian on the military life in the Eighteenth Century. This book is an excellent addition to his works on warfare during this period. This volume has tremendous potential for wargamers, especially aspiring (or current) rules writers. Mr. Duffy's thoughts and conclusions give much food for thought to anyone interested in the combined arms (infantry, cavalry, artillery) periods, meaning the l8th as well as the 19th Century. The errors of misconception derived from generalized conclusions about what took place on the battlefield, become glaring in the light of this treatise. I will attempt to give some examples.

The book is broken down into three segments. Part I is on the Armies, the Officer Class, National Differences, the Individual and Combined Training, Aspects of the Combined Arms Team, and Generalship. For example, regarding generalship: Amoung his skills, the one by which the Eighteenth Century set the greatest store was that of 'Coup d'oiel', a facility which enabled a commander to grasp the essentials in a situation and make a speedy and appropriate decision". Also, "Luck was another attribute of successful military command which was much debated in the Eighteenth Century In his (Frederick's) experience the best thought out schemes were at the mercy of god, a poor harvest, sickness in the army, misunderstood orders, the illness or death of a general, the loss of military intelligence, or the negligence of subordinates."

Part II addresses warfare, that being what is taking place on the battlefield from campaigning to the battle itself. Regarding campaigning, "The §kills and experience of the commander were tested to the utmost when sought to bring together his knowledge of the ground with what he could see of the enemy. Dust itself had certain qualities a generalized cloud usually signified foragers were about. The same kind of dust with sighting of foragers suggested that baggage was being sent to the rear and that the enerny was about to move. Dense and isolated towers of dust showed that columns were already on the march."

As to the battle itself, Duffy is very explicit in breaking down and defining the reasons why certain activities were likely to take place. For example, "The act of moving forward was considered to be cheering to soldiers, and when the men began to fall the corpses and the wounded were left behind, whereas the defenders found that the casualties were piling up around them in a most distressing fashion." Duffy further delineates the importance of fire fore xample, by stating: "It is clear that the first round must have been a precious resource when a volley of such rounds is fired at short range, it was capable of causing a massacre like that of Fontenoy.

On morale Duffy concludes that "... courage was not an unchanging commodity which could be transported from one battle to the next..". Further, "they have also drawn attention to a curve of combat efficiency', which denotes the individual's response to the stress of combat over a longterm. After his first experiences of action, the soldier attains a 'plateau of maximum effort'. All the time, however, his resources are being depleted by the effort required to survive stressful acceleration degeneration.

Finally in Part III, Duffy draws his conclusions following a discussion of the relationship of the civilian population to what was goingon around them. Duffy concludes that"... in the course of awarthe run-of-the-mill regiment had only one 'good' battle in it and this was more likely to be its first than its last."

I highly recommend this book for anyone gaming in any period from 1700 to 1860 when linear warfare was still in vogue. By the application of even some of his more obvious points, any rules systems will be greatly enhanced.

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