"However, when necessity demands the creation of new organizations—whether militia, volunteers, or gardes mobiles,—it is a great mistake to expect everything from moral factors; even though hatred of the enemy, enthusiasm for the fatherland, the republic or for glory, rise to the highest pitch. 'Victory or death' is the watchword when marching out—but neither is quickly attainable; weeks and months of the severest hardships, exhausting marches, wet and hungry bivouacs must first be endured. Very soon the intoxication of enthusiasm is gone and reality weighs heavily on the sobered men. Finally the enemy is confronted. But he is not to be annihilated at once by a rapid assault—not at all; the advance is made very slowly and the highest enthusiasm is given ample time to evaporate during the many hours in which death is constantly faced." Layman.
For enthusiasm, we would substitute faithful, unselfish
performance of duty, and unquestioning subordination of the
will of the individual to that of the leader. To be sure, on
days of success enthusiasm will suffice, but not when everything
around us begins to waver and to yield. The importance
of drill, which cannot be replaced by anything else, does
not become apparent until all enthusiasm disappears, until
the leader becomes conscious of the specter of panic which
stalks by the side of enthusiasm.
"Discipline," says Archduke John in his well-known work Drill or Training, "must not be confounded with the snappy drill of troops, and can, moreover, not be attained by means of it. The straightjacket has never yet cured one insane person; the soul cannot be disciplined through the body. One must work from the inside and not from the outside. It is of little value if the outer annular rings of a tree are beautiful and regular; it will rot and die in spite of its deceptive appearance; if its heart is not healthy, the first storm may bring it down. The inner man must look beautiful; firmness and steadiness are needed within; the marching tread of feet on the drill ground plain are of no moment; the beat of the heart filled with the spirit of self-*sacrifice is the important factor."
It is well known that Emperor William I. changed the title of the brochure Drill or Training, written by Archduke
