War Is...a Trinity Of Violence, Chance, And

War Is Nothing But A Duel On A Larger Scale.

Lastly, The Great Uncertainty Of All Data In War Is A Peculiar Difficulty, Because All Action Must, To A Certain Extent, Be Planned In A Mere Twilight, Which In Addition Not Unfrequently — Like The Effect Of A Fog Or Moonshine — Gives To Things Exaggerated Dimensions And An Unnatural Appearance.

A General In Time Of War Is Constantly Bombarded By Reports Both True And False; By Errors Arising From Fear Or Negligence Or Hastiness; By Disobedience Born Of Right Or Wrong Interpretations, Of Ill Will; Of A Proper Or Mistaken Sense Of Duty; Of Laziness; Or Of Exhaustion; And By Accident That Nobody Could Have Foreseen. In Short, He Is Exposed To Countless Impressions, Most Of Them Disturbing, Few Of Them Encouraging. ... If A Man Were To Yield To These Pressures, He Would Never Complete An Operation.

We Shall Not Enter Into Any Of The Abstruse Definitions Of War Used By Publicists. We Shall Keep To The Element Of The Thing Itself, To A Duel. War Is Nothing But A Duel On An Extensive Scale.

In War, The Young Soldier Is Very Apt To Regard Unusual Fatigues As The Consquence Of Faults, Mistakes, And Embarrassment In The Conduct Of The Whole, And To Become Distressed And Depondent As A Consequence. This Would Not Happen If He Had Been Prepared For This Beforehand By Exercises In Peace.