CHAPTER XXIII
PSYCHOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF ARMIES
An Army in action is a special instance of what may be termed a dynamic crowd—that is, an assemblage of men united for common action and inspired by the same ideas and desires. Throughout history, certain characteristics have been exhibited by assemblages so united, however differently they were composed, and no matter under what conditions, or towards what ends, they were acting. Popular assemblies in epochs of change, spiritual ebullitions such as have marked the origin, or revival, of religions, political parties, and even juries, boards, and committees, all show similar phenomena. But the most striking instances of dynamic crowds are mobs collected for action. Such mobs have usually worked harm, when they must be called criminal mobs, but have often been violent with good intentions, as when the Paris mob took the Bastille. Other instances of non-criminal mobs actuated by high enthusiasm are those roused for the First Crusade by Peter the Hermit, or that incited by Mark Antony, at the funeral of Cæsar, to avenge his murder.
Of nature akin to crowds are unions of persons holding similar opinions, even when not actually in touch with each other, or physically assembled. Such unions have produced, and will yet produce, some of the greatest changes in history, like the rise of Christianity, the Renaissance, the Reformation, and the French Revolution. In all ages, systems of religious thought have created such dynamic aggregates, often world-wide and endowed with persistent vitality. The most striking examples are the unions of nations and races which form the Mohammedan world, or the Roman Catholic Church.
But a combination of armed men for the purpose of fighting has always been the commonest and strongest form of organized assemblage. Such a combination is the highest example of a dynamic crowd, and has effected the most rapid and striking changes which the world has undergone.
The essential underlying character of a “dynamic crowd” of any sort is that it possesses religion in the sense defined by a great French psychologist, as “placing all the resources of the spirit, all the submission of the will, all the ardour of fanaticism, at the service of a Cause, which then becomes the guide and end of all the ideas and actions of the assemblage.”
A crowd may be looked upon as a sort of new composite personality born of the union of a number of men whose individual qualities will not by any means represent the character of the crowd they form. The crowd may be said to have a collective soul which will cause it to act in a way in which the individuals composing it would not, and indeed could not, act. This soul is generally inferior to the average character of the persons forming the crowd, but at times rises to heights impossible to them. Thus crowds have often committed atrocities from which their component individuals would have shrunk, but other crowds have shown incredible enthusiasm and devotion, and performed acts of heroism and self-sacrifice, to which no individual in them could ever have risen singly. Examples of the crimes of crowds are patent in history, but their heroisms also may be found, most of all in the innumerable instances when troops have faced death without flinching, and thereby gained victory for their Cause.
The characteristics of crowds may be glanced at. They will be seen to be analogous to those which animate troops. Crowds act on instinct and are incapable of reasoning, so that they are essentially irresponsible, while very easily influenced by suggestion. Their impressions are extraordinarily infectious, for Man is an imitative animal, and still more so is Man in bulk. Hence, suggestions spread like fire, and impressions and tendencies to action are communicated with the greatest rapidity, for, in a crowd, reason has little influence on the action, and self-concern, so potent in the individual, is effaced in the confidence born from a sense of the power of numbers. So we may note among soldiers at one time the spread of panic, and at another the not less infectious courage due to combination. Both are capable of producing striking action for harm or for good, and action quite impossible for the individual when alone.
All crowds, even those of animals, have an overwhelming craving to be led. A leader is needed to strike the spark to kindle the mass, give shape to its idea, and instigate its action. A crowd loves to adopt a leader to be its despot, and will be obedient and even servile to him who shows he can command. The leader influences the crowd by three means—assertion, repetition, and example. All these means are necessary to implant ideas in an unreasoning mass, and initiate unanimous action towards their realization. The assertion must be concise and simple, and should epitomize the ideas which form the “religion” of the crowd. Repetition is necessary to drive these ideas home. Reasoning is out of place, and has the worst effect, for crowds cannot reflect, and are as impatient of appeals to their reason as of opposition to their desires. The example of the leader exercises a potent influence. A crowd is easily impressed by his coolness, courage, self-confidence, determination, and vigour in utterance and action, and even by his personal appearance.