plosion. The old disposition of the Germans to give
life to the inanimate had already in earlier times bestowed especial
names on favourite guns, and the custom remained, even after pieces of
the same calibre were cast in greater numbers; then particular guns,
for example, were called after the planets, months, and signs of the
zodiac, like a high sounding alphabet,[5] and in this case indicated by
single letters. There was always a new name given according to the
calibre, which in spite of all the simplification was still very
varied. The progress of artillery and its influence on the conduct of
war was impeded in the last half of the war by the want of experienced
master gunners, the greater portion of them were infantry commanders;
the loss of an artillery officer of capacity was difficult to replace.

The relative numbers of particular branches of the service were changed
during the war. In the beginning the proportion of the cavalry to the
infantry was as one to five, but soon they became one to three, and in
the latter period they were sometimes the strongest. This striking fact
is a proof both of the deterioration of the troops and of the art of
war. In the exhausted country, the army could only be maintained by a
strong force of cavalry, who could forage further and change their
ground with more rapidity. As all who hoped for independence or booty
pressed into the cavalry it was in better condition proportionately
than the infantry, who at last were reduced to support themselves by
reaping the scanty remains left by the horsemen. Undoubtedly the
cavalry also became worse, the want of good horses was at last more
sensibly felt than that of men, and the heavy cavalry could not be kept
up, whilst in the last year the service of the scouts and foraging
parties for the commissariat was brought to great perfection.
Nevertheless the cavalry were the most effective, for it was their task
to decide the battle by their charge. The last army with skilled
infantry and Dutch discipline was that of Bavaria under Mercy, from
1643 to 1645.

The tactics of armies had slowly altered in the course of the
century. The old Landsknecht army advanced to battle in three
great squares,--the advanced guard, the main body, and the rear
guard--disregarding roads and corn-fields; before it went pioneers, who
filled in ditches and cut down hedges to clear the way for the bulky
mass. For battle, the deep square masses of infantry placed them