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Extent of the Means of Defence We have shown ... how the defence has a natural advantage in the employment of those things, which --
irrespective of the absolute strength and qualities of the combatant force -- influence the tactical as
well as the strategic result, namely, the advantage of ground, sudden attack, attack from several directions
(converging form of attack), the assistance of the theatre of war, support of the people, and the utilising
great moral forces. We think it useful now to cast again a glance over the extent of the means which
are at command of the defensive in particular. 1 Landwehr [militia] This force has been used in modern times to combat the enemy on foreign soil; ... there always lies in
the idea of a Landwehr the notion of a very extensive more or less voluntary co-operation of the whole
mass of the people in support of the war, with all their physical powers, as well as with their feelings,
and a ready sacrifice of all they possess. The more its organisation deviates from this, so much the
more the force thus created will become a standing army under another name, and the more it will have
the advantages of such a force; but it will also lose in proportion the advantages which belong properly
to a patriotic levy, viz. those of being a force, the limits of which are undefined, and capable of being
easily increased by appealing to the feelings and patriotism of the people. In these things lies the essence
of a militia; in its organisation, latitude must be allowed for this co-operation of the whole people; if we
seek to obtain something extraordinary from a militia, we are only following a shadow. 2 Fortresses The assistance afforded by fortresses to the offensive does not extend beyond what is given by those
close upon the frontiers, and is only feeble in influence; the assistance which the defensive can derive
from this reaches further into the heart of the country, and therefore more of them can be brought into
use. 3 The people Although the influence of a single inhabitant of the theatre of war on the course of the war in most cases
is not more perceptible than the co-operation of a drop of water in a whole river, still even in cases where
there is no such thing as a general rising of the people, the total influence of the inhabitants of a country
in war is anything but imperceptible. Everything goes on easier in our own country, provided it is not
opposed by the general feeling of the population. All contributions, great and small, are only yielded
to the enemy under the compulsion of direct force; that operation must be undertaken by the troops,
and cost the employment of many men as well as great exertions. The defensive receives all he wants,
if not always voluntarily, as in cases of enthusiastic devotion, still through the long-used channels of
submission to the state on the part of the citizens, which has become second nature, and which besides
that, is enforced by the terrors of the law, with which the army has nothing to do. But the spontaneous
co-operation of the people, proceeding from true attachment, is in all cases most important. 5 Allies Finally, we may further reckon allies as the last support of the defensive. Naturally we do not mean
ordinary allies, which the assailant may likewise have; we speak of those essentially interested in maintaining
the integrity of the country. If for instance we look at the various states composing Europe at the present
time, we find (without speaking of a systematically regulated balance of power and interests, as that
does not exist, and therefore is often with justice disputed) that the great and small states and interests
of nations are interwoven with each other in a most diversified and changeable manner, each of these
points of intersection forming a binding knot. In this manner the whole relations of all states to each other serve rather to preserve the stability of the whole than to produce changes, that is to say, this tendency to stability exists in general. |
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