11. CROSS KEYS AND PORT REPUBLIC.
By the ignorant and the envious success in war is easily explained
away. The dead military lion, and, for that matter, even the living,
is a fair mark for the heels of a baser animal. The greatest captains
have not escaped the critics. The genius of Napoleon has been
belittled on the ground that each one of his opponents, except
Wellington, was only second-rate. French historians have attributed
Wellington's victories to the mutual jealousy of the French marshals;
and it has been asserted that Moltke triumphed only because his
adversaries blundered. Judged by this rule few reputations would
survive. In war, however, it is as impossible to avoid error as it is
to avoid loss of life; but it is by no means simple either to detect
or to take advantage of mistakes. Before both Napoleon and Wellington
an unsound manoeuvre was dangerous in the extreme. None were so quick
to see the slip, none more prompt to profit by it. Herein, to a very
great extent, lay the secret of their success, and herein lies the
true measure of military genius. A general is not necessarily
incapable because he makes a false move; both Napoleon and
Wellington, in the long course of their campaigns, gave many openings
to a resolute foe, and both missed opportunities.
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