#44 19/03/14

      The eighteenth century battlefield was, compared with that of the twentieth century, an intimate theatre, especially intimate in the attachment of the Revolution, which was usually small even by the standards of the day. Soldiers had to come to close quarters to kill; this fact reduced the mystery of the battle, though perhaps not its terrors. But at least the battle field lost some of its impersonality. In fact, in contrast to the twentieth century combat, in which the enemy usually remains, unseen and the source of incoming fire unknown, in the eighteenth century battles the enemy could be seen and sometimes even touched. Seeing one's enemy may have arose a singular intensity of feeling uncommon in modern battles. Before the assault occurred tension and anxiety built up as the troops marched from their column into a line of attack. The purpose of their movement was well understood by themselves and their enemies, who must have watched with the feeling of dread and fascination. When the order came sending them forward rage, even madness replaced the attacker's  anxiety, while terror and desperation filled those who received the charge.