t the direct attack, there is a
certain degree of extension, which favours the immediate purpose the
most, and this depends on the shape and nature of the ground; but one
has always to resist the temptation to dispersion which arises,
particularly when it is necessary to keep in mind the solution of
several possible problems. Only very occasionally will it be expedient
to divide one's troops to meet every emergency.

The General must use his judgment to decide where the chief weight of
his mission lies, the principal characteristics he must impress upon
his operations, and how the subsidiary purposes can be best served
without applying half-purposes to the primary object. It is these
considerations--the reduction of the complicated to the simple--which
create the chief difficulties which weigh upon the mind of the Leader.
The capacity of coming to a correct decision in every special case is
a mark of the intellectually capable Commander, and of itself gives a
certain guarantee of its success by rendering possible the
concentration of the force upon the decisive point; but it will not
alone suffice to insure success. Boldness and energy of character is
the final determining cause of successful results.

Above all, every Cavalry leader must be inspired by the determination
to keep the initiative under all circumstances, and never to
relinquish it to his opponent. The initiative alone guarantees
successes, often in a degree which one was hardly entitled to expect,
for it forces the enemy to accept the law from our hands, disturbs his
strategical combination, compels him to fight before his troops are
united, and often gives to the numerically weaker the opportunity of
establishing a relative local superiority. One must, therefore,
endeavour to introduce as much of the initiative and offensive element
as circumstances will permit even in the execution of defensive
missions.

A Leader must never allow himself to be hindered in an advance, or be
driven into an attitude of expectation by the passive opposition of
the enemy's Cavalry, as so often happens in peace.

In all such cases, when a direct frontal attack holds out no prospect
of success, he must immediately initiate a wide turning movement
outside the effective range of the enemy's Artillery, and sacrifice
without hesitation his own line of retreat. Victory restores at once
the original line of advance, and the outflanking movement threatens
also the enemy's retrea