s the War
will be conducted with comparatively great masses; on the other, as we
have seen, _the importance of the strategical element has
unquestionably grown_; hence the _value of efficient reconnaissance_
has been proportionably intensified.

In similar measure the importance of screening has also developed. In
proportion as the assailant is compelled to resort to turning
movements and surprises, the defender is obliged to have recourse to
timely changes of front and unexpected counter-attacks; hence for
both timely reconnaissance of the enemy's, as well as for trustworthy
screening of one's own operations, the extended employment of the
mounted Arms has become imperative. In other words, although
reconnaissance and screening for strategical purposes by the Cavalry
have been rendered more difficult by the conditions we must expect to
meet in the future, on the other hand, they have gained enormously in
importance. And it is not in this direction alone that the value of
the Arm has increased, but it has also had a new and important field
of activity thrown open to it owing to the increased susceptibility
the rearward communications of the enemy and his railways have
developed.

As a consequence of the increased liability to interruption of these
communications, and also of the far more serious confusion to which
any such interruption can give rise, it has become far more difficult
than in the past to execute offensive flanking operations, changes of
front, or counter-attacks, all of which are movements which the
practical strategist must bear in mind. On paper and on the map such
undertakings appear to present no more elements of friction than
formerly, but on the ground itself those who have once seen masses of
several corps all huddled together know that things are very
different. All such movements nowadays are tied to the railway-lines,
and these, again, are congested by the flow of food and ammunition,
which must at all costs be maintained. Fresh units also of troops may
be coming up to the front, whose arrival is of the last importance in
the plans of the generalissimo, and a single broken viaduct may throw
confusion into the whole design.

In a densely-populated and fruitful district the resulting failure of
supply may be endured, but it is very different when in a
poverty-stricken district the supply of a whole Army depends on
perhaps a single line of railway.

Thus the Cavalry sees itself confronted by