Command over his attention was
formed into a habit which no tempest of confusion could disturb. His
power of abstraction became unrivalled. His imagination was trained
and invigorated until it became capable of grouping the most
extensive and complex considerations. The power of his mind was
drilled like the strength of an athlete, and his self-concentration
became unsurpassed."
Such training was undoubtedly the very best foundation for the
intellectual side of a general's business. War presents a constant
succession of problems to be solved by mental processes. For some
experience and resource supply a ready solution. Others, involving
the movements of large bodies, considerations of time and space, and
the thousand and one circumstances, such as food, weather, roads,
topography, and morale, which a general must always bear in mind, are
composed of so many factors, that only a brain accustomed to hard
thinking can deal with them successfully. Of this nature are the
problems of strategy--those which confront a general in command of an
army or of a detached portion of an army, and which are worked out on
the map. The problems of the battle-field are of a different order.
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