Note 53 — Chapter IX · THE DISPOSITION OF CAVALRY IN A CAMPAIGN

Von der Goltz, The Nation in Arms, p. 168, says: “The armies of the French Republic numbered many members of the highest aristocracy in the lower ranks, and there was no lack of intelligence, but it was an undisciplined intelligence wanting in uniform training—hence also an absence of unity of action. This latter is guaranteed by certain principles being engrafted into the flesh and blood of the commanders of troops by teaching and practice. The idea of utilizing our numerical superiority and the efficiency of our troops in a vigorous and rapid offensive pervaded all our minds, this principle having been imbibed with the very air of our military school. If such discipline of the intelligence exists, the commander may, with composure, leave much to the initiative of the individual.”