'Russia and India in 1903' [‎3v] (6/68)

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RUSSIA AND INDIA IN 1903.
Turks fought with all their accustomed gallantry.
But want of officers and want of organisation proved
disastrous. These are elements of success which
cannot be improvised. The State which neglects
them is bound to suffer reverses.
Ever since 1877 reform has been the order of the
day in the Russian Army. The last years of Alexander
the Emancipator, as the whole reign of Alexander III.,
were devoted to it, and in the same course the Govern
ment of Nicolas II. perseveres. I will not enter upon
any detailed narrative of the manoeuvres in September,
1902, in the vast province of which the city of Kursk is
the capital. There were 163 battalions of infantry, 85
squadrons of cavalry, and 480 guns, with 90 generals,
nearly 4,000 officers, and 89,000 men. They were
divided into a Northern Army, under the Grand Duke
Serge, Governor-General of Moscow, and a Southern
Army, under General Kouropatkin, Minister of War.
But manoeuvres on a large scale are more or less the
same all the world over. They are largely influenced by
the movements of Imperial, Royal, and other illustrious
personages. They are to a great extent dependent
upon local, climatic, and provisioning conditions. The
Kursk manoeuvres were no exception to the rule.
There was an advance and a retirement, the passage and
repassage of a river, and then preparations for a great
review before the Tsar and the Shah. The march
past commenced at 11.25, and was over at 1.40. That
is proof that there was no delay. The Persian monarch,
who had lingered by inclination in London and in Paris,
was little disposed to tarry in the railway carriages
which were the resting-places of both Sovereigns,
after seeing six army corps and 480 cannon paraded
before him by His Imperial neighbour. His Majesty
left for Teheran an hour after luncheon, well under
the overpowering weight of Russian influence.
Recruiting in Russia .—The liability to military
service is, of course, general between the twenty-