The Method of Instruction
William Balck
In 1911, the US Cavalry Association published a translation, made by Walter Krueger of the 3rd Infantry, of the first volume of Taktik. Written by William Balck, then commanding an infantry regiment of the Prussian Army, this little tome introduced the six-volume series of that name by, among other things, discussing methods of teaching tactics.
This reprint of the section of Lieutenant Krueger’s translation includes notes that record my attempts to locate copies of the many works quoted by Colonel Balck.
While Archduke Charles considers mathematical axioms the basis of the higher art of war, military history is for us the principal source from which to gather knowledge. (A1)(E1)
In military history we have a guide by which, if we lack personal experience in war, we can test the results of our reflections and of our experience on the drill ground. Military history, moreover, enables us to appreciate those controlling factors which, in map problems, do not appear at all, and which, in exercises on the terrain, appear only in a restricted measure. One must learn the conduct of war from the experience of others; one’s own experience is costly and is almost invariably gained too late.
That experience in war, of itself, is not sufficient (aside from the fact that it is gained too late in a given case) is illustrated by the defeat of the Austrians in 1866, of the French in 1870–71, and of the British in South Africa [in 1899, at the start of the Second Anglo-Boer War].