army of 1848, of which English readers may obtain a good idea from
George Meredith's _Vittoria_. It was, however, a natural result of this
that the army lost to some considerable extent the spirit of the "nation
in arms" of 1809 and 1813. It was employed in dynastic wars, and the
conscription was of course modified by substitution; thus, when the war
of 1859 resulted unfavourably to the Austrians, the army began to lose
confidence, precisely as had been the case in 1805. Once more, in 1866,
an army animated by the purely professional spirit, which was itself
weakened by distrust, met a "nation in arms," and in this case a nation
well trained in peace and armed with a breechloader. Bad staff work, and
tactics which can only be described as those of pique, precipitated the
disaster, and in seven weeks the victorious Prussians were almost at the
gates of Vienna.
The result of the war, and of the constitutional changes about this
time, was the re-adoption of the principles of 1806-1813, the abolition
of conscription and long service in favour of universal service for a
short term, and a thorough reform in the methods of command and staff
work. It has been said of the Prussian army that "discipline is--the
officers." This is more true of the "K.K." army[1] than of any other in
Europe; the great bond of union between the heterogeneous levies of
recruits of many races is the spirit of the corps of officers, which
retains the personal and professional characteristics of the old army of
Italy.
FRENCH ARMY