Show WA WAR R lossee LOSSE 6 OLD AND NEW perfection of modern weapons has haa had no marked ma rae result e G u I 1 t t mr maurice low lows S highly interest ting analysis of the cost of the boer marnna war ond 0 ther kotlier wars recently hinted in the tribune review mid arid an all particle in the london chronicle elaborating other oilier phases of the same saine topic sug to some the alie conclusion thail modern Nye weapons apons and methods of battlo have greatly lessened fess ened the number of casualties that Is a welcome con clu lusion slon and it may be in a measure justified batitis but it is probably not net ns as fully justified as some suppose ono one writer says that the perfection of modern weapons leads to an extraordinary reduction of casualties but his own statistics in the london chronicle scarcely bear buthis out his enthusiastic sla belief beginning with marengo lieo he gives statistics odthe of the number of combatants and the number of casualties in awen ty two important battles in eleven wars down to the present time at marengo the casualties were per par cent of the whole n amberos combatants at Austerlitz athena at Jena 17 at eylau that bloodiest picture L m the book of time at B borodine borodino Bo 0 32 at that thai vi worlds earthquake waterloo at inkerman at gettysburg tys burg at 6 at grave lotte 9 at tho third battle of plevna where tile the turks moved vie the russians down like grain at santiago 32 12 at colenso 55 bat Paar deberg 3 and at spion scion kop in the last tareo only the british combatants and casualties inre reckoned the number of the ahe boors boers not being known now these figures do show a small er percentage of casualties in the later than in the earlier wars vars but the change is not uniform arad and is not always marked Gettys gettysburg bur was more destructive than waterloo and nearly twice as costly as austerlitz inkerman was than jena plevna surpassed in destructiveness most af 6 the napoleonic battles our fight at santiago fell little short of austerlitz Aua in the boer war the british losses at colenso and Paar deburg were light but at kop they were heavier than those at Au austerlitz at jena at inkerman at and at grave lotte and fell just short of equaling those mt at plevna hlavna moreover as the writer quoted himself says the boer los losses jn these battles were probably audi heavier than the british arid and so if they were taken into account the proportion of casualties in iii this latest war would fall little short of that chatin an the wars of old much iotch has doubtless been gained for humanity but not yet is war ivar waged wit hrose vatar |