ct with the Turkish Infantry, and so run risk
of suffering loss.

History is full of similar instances of how _not_ to train Cavalry,
and I hold most strongly that the Arm must be educated up to a
readiness _to act_, to come to close quarters in co-operation with the
other Arms, and to risk casualties, as Infantry has often done before
without losing its 'battle' value.

To sum up, training with a view to self-sacrifice during peace
exercises is essential for the success of all Arms in War, but
especially so for Cavalry.

With remarkable perspicuity and telling conviction, General von
Bernhardi has dealt in an exhaustive manner with every subject
demanding a Cavalry soldier's study and thought. I am convinced that
he who thoroughly masters the contents of his book will feel no doubt
and will entertain no misapprehension as to the vast role his Arm is
called upon to fulfil in War, and he will realize how, in mastering
the great essentials of which it treats, he will himself be assisting
in the best possible manner to maintain the prestige and glory of the
great Service to which he belongs.

I

EMPLOYMENT OF CAVALRY AND ESSENTIALS OF LEADERSHIP

CHAPTER I

THE MODERN CONDITIONS OF WAR, AND THEIR INFLUENCE ON THE EMPLOYMENT
AND USEFULNESS OF CAVALRY

The Art of War has undergone a momentous change; indeed, it has been
revolutionized since the Franco-German War. Every condition that
affects the conduct of warlike operations seems changed in almost
every particular. Arms of precision have reached a degree of
perfection which compels us to take into account possibilities which
did not exist a few years ago, and for which the experience of the
past can offer no scale of comparison. The all but universal
introduction of Compulsory Service, and the consequent reduction in
length of time spent by the soldier with the colours, have changed the
character of almost all European Armies.

All the most typical factors in the standing Armies of former days
disappear more or less on the issue of the order to mobilize. New
groupings of units are formed from the first outbreak of hostilities,
and the fact that these bodies are put together only on mobilization,
together with the reduction in the period of service which has been
very generally accepted, tend to depreciate the average value of the
troops, whilst at the same time the 'masses' have risen to
unimaginable dimensions. This '_folie des nombres_,' against