Chapter 9
“–and as proven later in the battle of Orbach, hammer-and-anvil remains a highly reliable and, dare I say, highly effective tactic. The higher the quality of the commander’s strategy, the higher the degree of success. A trivial matter, really, given the excellence of our commanders compared to foreign… forces.”
Arne suppressed a sigh. This was exactly why he wasn’t looking forward to lectures on military tactics.
The subject itself was not the problem – hammer-and-anvil was indubitably effective in large engagements between near-peer opponents and probably would forever remain a staple of warfare. No, the issue lied in the small detail that most people present would never lead an army of that size outside of wargames.
Even Hohenfels, wealthiest margraviate by a significant margin, had to rely on small, highly mobile, and mostly self-sustaining elite units of nobles, as well as a standing professional army of around seven hundred well-trained soldiers, most of which were relegated to territorial defense. Peasant levies and mercenaries burned through the treasury in a flash, and every life lost to flintlock volleys was a considerable setback for the dead man’s village.
The duchies – except for Schwarzwald and Eisengrund, both comparatively poor – had no such issues. Losing two thousand levies in one battle was simply a reality of warfare for them.
Imparting that reality onto the next generation of barons, counts and landgraves was not just irresponsible, but also destructive. Just eight years ago, the Count of Trisin had wasted most of his considerable wealth as well as a significant percentage of his young male population on a harebrained invasion of Danholm, emulating tactics he had undoubtedly learned here.
Trisin was still stuck in an economic downward spiral, with no signs of improvement.
He sincerely hoped that a similar lecture held by some Landgrave’s field marshal later this week would be more applicable to military engagements below ducal levels.
He also hoped that the young lady sitting behind him had something else planned for that time slot.