1
XV GEOMETRICAL ELEMENT 222
XVI ON THE SUSPENSION OF THE ACT IN WAR page 224
XVII ON THE CHARACTER OF MODERN WAR 230
XVIII TENSION AND REST 231

BOOK IV THE COMBAT
I INTRODUCTORY 235
II CHARACTER OF THE MODERN BATTLE 236
III THE COMBAT IN GENERAL 238
IV THE COMBAT IN GENERAL (continuation) 243
V ON THE SIGNIFICATION OF THE COMBAT 253
VI DURATION OF THE COMBAT 256
VII DECISION OF THE COMBAT 257
VIII MUTUAL UNDERSTANDING AS TO A BATTLE 266
IX THE BATTLE 270
X EFFECTS OF VICTORY 277
XI THE USE OF THE BATTLE 284
XII STRATEGIC MEANS OF UTILISING VICTORY 292
XIII RETREAT AFTER A LOST BATTLE 305
XIV NIGHT FIGHTING 308

PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION

IT will naturally excite surprise that a preface by a female hand should
accompany a work on such a subject as the present. For my friends no
explanation of the circumstance is required; but I hope by a simple
relation of the cause to clear myself of the appearance of presumption
in the eyes also of those to whom I am not known.

The work to which these lines serve as a preface occupied almost
entirely the last twelve years of the life of my inexpressibly beloved
husband, who has unfortunately been torn too soon from myself and his
country. To complete it was his most earnest desire; but it was not his
intention that it should be published during his life; and if I tried to
persuade him to alter that intention, he often answered, half in jest,
but also, perhaps, half in a foreboding of early death: "Thou shalt
publish it." These words (which in those happy days often drew tears
from me, little as I was inclined to attach a serious meaning to them)
make it now, in the opinion of my friends, a duty incumbent on me
to introduce the posthumous works of my beloved husband, with a few
prefatory lines from myself; and although here may be a difference of
opinion on this point, still I am sure there will be no mistake as to
the feeling which has prompted me to overcome the timidity which makes
any such appearance, even in a subordinate part, so difficult for a
woman.

It will be understood, as a matter of course, that I cannot have the
most remote intention of considering myself as the real editress of a
work which is far above the scope of my capacity: I only stand at its
side as an affectionate companion on its entrance