18th Century military quotes, what can you find?!

[Flavius Silvanus]

Frederick liked to impress officials of foreign governments with his giants, so when he reviewed the guard, he frequently asked some of them to come along. One day he invited a French minister and an English ambassador to accompany him on his review.

As the ranks of giants marched before them, Frederick William asked the French minister if he thought an equal number of French soldiers would venture to engage with his Potsdam giants. The minister, with a politeness characterized by his nation, answered that it was impossible that men of ordinary stature would even consider such an attempt.

Turning to the English ambassador, the king put the same question to him.

To which the staid ambassador gave this measured reply: "I can not affirm that an equal number of my countrymen would beat them, but I think that I may safely say that half the number would try."

Can't remember who the ambassador was (can't find it anymore) but that has to be one of the very the best, most civilised and cutting retorts ever.

Was the man perhaps Irish!

Maybe not, els whe would’ve said “Two or three of a Saturday night might try”





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:) :)


This is still a joke in the US Army, with the Marines or another Army Branch playing the part of the Prussians.

The punchline is...

There were two of them.

[Flavius Silvanus]

Frederick the Great:

“A crown is merely a hat that lets the rain in.”

“The greatest and noblest pleasure which men can have in this world is to discover new truths; and the next is to shake off old prejudices.”

“A German singer! I should as soon expect to get pleasure from the neighing of my horse.”

“He who defends everything defends nothing.”

"The most certain way of insuring victory is to march briskly and in good
order against the enemy, always endeavoring to gain ground."

"Without supplies no army is brave"

"Rascals, do you want to live forever?"
(Ihr Racker, wollt ihr ewig leben?)
- Frederick the Great, 1757.
When the guards hesitated at the battle of Kolin.

"By push of bayonets, no firing until you see the whites in their eyes!"

"Diplomacy without arms is like music without instruments."

"If my soldiers were to begin to think, not one would remain in the ranks."

"If I wished to punish a province, I would have it governed by philosophers."

[ThePianist]

I can remember no quotes on my own, but here is a very interesting collection of things called CIC on this website:

http://www.strategypage.com/cic/reader.asp?target=CIC01

Each article (CIC) has some usually funny military quotes plus some descriptions of special occurrences in battle (often 1800s).
The rest of the website writes current events as "military history of now", it may have some accurate information (second-tier or high tier) you would not find on the Web, but needs to be read with several grains of salt, because many or most of the article writers try to push the neoconservative view, which is BS and is founded on faulty BS assumptions.

[Elmar Bijlsma]

With so many quotes full of bravado and glory, I feel the following quote is appropriate. It is a WW I contribution from the British soldiers operating the Wipers Times that gives a more accurate and down to earth view on military matters.

To Subaltern: Yes, every junior officer may carry a Field Marshal's baton in his knapsack,
but we think you'll discard that to make room for an extra pair of socks before very long.

[scipiosgoblin]

The rest of the website writes current events as "military history of now", it may have some accurate information (second-tier or high tier) you would not find on the Web, but needs to be read with several grains of salt, because many or most of the article writers try to push the neoconservative view, which is BS and is founded on faulty BS assumptions.

Or the truth, depending on your point of view. Why don't we leave politics to the back room?

SG

[Nikos_Rouvelas]

"The right wing, where I stood, was exposed to and received all the enemy's fire ... I heard the bullets whistle, and, believe me, there is something charming in the sound."
George Washington

[Fisherking]

Never forget that no military leader has ever become great without audacity. If the leader is filled with high ambition and if he pursues his aims with audacity and strength of will, he will reach them in spite of all obstacles."
- Karl von Clausewitz

"The majority of people are timid by nature, and that is why they constantly exaggerate danger. All influences on the military leader, therefore, combine to give him a false impression of his opponent's strength, and from this arises a new source of indecision."
- Karl von Clausewitz

"War is the province of chance. In no other sphere of human activity must such a margin be left for this intruder. It increases the uncertainty of every circumstance and deranges the course of events."
- Karl von Clausewitz

"The best form of defense is attack."
- Karl von Clausewitz

[Nelson]

These are from George Washington. The last is prescient:

Nothing can be more hurtful to the service, than the neglect of discipline; for that discipline, more than numbers, gives one army the superiority over another.


Over grown military establishments are under any form of government inauspicious to liberty, and are to be regarded as particularly hostile to republican liberty.


Some day, following the example of the United States of America, there will be a United States of Europe.