The Importance of Allowing for Weaknesses in War

This is a general rule in war and decides all battles and all actions. I do not believe that anyone yet has attempted to find the reasons for the poor success of armies. When you have stationed your troops behind a pair put they hope by their fire to prevent the enemy from passing the ditch and mounting it. If this happens in spite of the fire, they give themselves up for lost, lose their heads and fly. They will be much better to post a single rank there armed with pikes whose business will be to push the assailant back as fast as they attempt to mount. And certainly they will execute this duty because it is what they expect and what they prepared for. That is how a