n only be generated from two sources, and only by these
two conjointly; the first is a succession of campaigns and great
victories; the other is, an activity of the Army carried sometimes to
the highest pitch. Only by these, does the soldier learn to know his
powers. The more a General is in the habit of demanding from his troops,
the surer he will be that his demands will be answered. The soldier is
as proud of overcoming toil, as he is of surmounting danger. Therefore
it is only in the soil of incessant activity and exertion that the germ
will thrive, but also only in the sunshine of victory. Once it becomes a
STRONG TREE, it will stand against the fiercest storms of misfortune and
defeat, and even against the indolent inactivity of peace, at least
for a time. It can therefore only be created in War, and under great
Generals, but no doubt it may last at least for several generations,
even under Generals of moderate capacity, and through considerable
periods of peace.

With this generous and noble spirit of union in a line of veteran
troops, covered with scars and thoroughly inured to War, we must not
compare the self-esteem and vanity of a standing Army,(*) held together
merely by the glue of service-regulations and a drill book; a certain
plodding earnestness and strict discipline may keep up military virtue
for a long time, but can never create it; these things therefore have a
certain value, but must not be over-rated. Order, smartness, good will,
also a certain degree of pride and high feeling, are qualities of an
Army formed in time of peace which are to be prized, but cannot stand
alone. The whole retains the whole, and as with glass too quickly
cooled, a single crack breaks the whole mass. Above all, the highest
spirit in the world changes only too easily at the first check into
depression, and one might say into a kind of rhodomontade of alarm, the
French sauve que peut.--Such an Army can only achieve something through
its leader, never by itself. It must be led with double caution, until
by degrees, in victory and hardships, the strength grows into the full
armour. Beware then of confusing the SPIRIT of an Army with its temper.

(*) Clausewitz is, of course, thinking of the long-service
standing armies of his own youth. Not of the short-service
standing armies of to-day (EDITOR).

CHAPTER VI. BOLDNESS

THE place and part which boldness takes in the dynamic system of powers,
where it sta