‘History is lived forward but is written in retrospect. We know the end before we consider the beginning and we can never wholly recapture what it was like to know the beginning only.’
Cicely Veronica Wedgwood William the Silent: William of Nassau, Prince of Orange, 1533-1584 (London: Jonathan Cape, 1944), page 35 (Internet Archive)
‘It is probably impossible to reconstruct a battle completely. Some information will be absent, some incorrect, and some will contradict.’
Colonel Walter Davis, USMC ‘Interactive Reading and the Art of War’ The Marine Corps Gazette (July 2000) page 53
‘The history of war is to be regarded and used as the main source for tactical knowledge. One should therefore make frequent reference to historical incidents and, as much as possible, to borrow the scenarios for decision games from military history.’
Edouard von Peucker Vorschrift über die Methode, den Umfang und die Eintheilung des Unterrichts auf den Königlichen Kriegsschulen [Manual for the Methods, Extent, and Arrangement of Instruction at the Royal War Schools] (Berlin: R. Decker, 1859) page 38
‘Not everyone is able to make up, for the sake of decision games, the sort of situations that can be found in war. There is no need, however, for such inventions. Military history itself provides us with them.’
Julius von Verdy du Vernois Taktische Details aus der Schlacht von Custozza, 24. Juni 1866 [Tactical Details from the Battle of Custozza, 24 June 1866], (Berlin: E. S. Mittler, 1876), page VII
For another version of this passage, see Julius von Verdy du Vernois (G.F.R. Henderson) A Tactical Study, Based on the Battle of Custozza (Aldershot: Galde and Polden) page VII (Internet Archive)
‘Only an expert, who possesses a thorough professional knowledge, who is master of his subject, and who has the facility for presenting it skillfully, will be able to produce imaginary scenes which faithfully represent reality and which are free from objectionable features.’
William Balck (Walter Krueger, translator) Tactics: Volume 1, Introduction and Formal Tactics of Infantry (Ft. Leavenworth: US Cavalry Association, 1915) page 10 (Internet Archive)
‘To give full, detailed, and precise information would not be war-like. In actual warfare information usually is scant, indefinite, and often unreliable. It is the commander’s business to sift the probable from the improbable, the true from the false, and to shape his course of action from his own deductions.’
M.W. Meyerhardt ‘The War Game’ The Pedagogical Seminary (1915) page 507 (Hathi Trust)
