Leaders are generally men who are themselves carried away by the ideas they are striving to put in effect, although some have been calculating, cool, and astute. They are generally men of action, and action impresses when reason is unavailing. One quality leaders must have, and that is Will Power. A mere crowd has none, for the will of the individual becomes effaced when once he is united with his fellows, and the will of the leader must replace it, flashing out from his voice and his bearing, and felt in his words and his deeds. But the crowd will also react strongly on the leader, and may inspire him to a pitch far above his natural scope, but only on condition that the leader has among his qualities and his aims some that are germane to the “religion” of his followers, for the “Soul of the Crowd” to work on.
What has been said of crowds and mobs applies in the main to the organized and trained mob which has become an army. A mass of soldiers differs from a mob mainly in the habits acquired by discipline, the facilities for action afforded by organization, and the ideal of character which their profession, and their very uniform, suggest to them to live up to. The discipline of the soldier, if it is to be worth anything in a crisis, must be so habitual as to be not reasoned, but instinctive. Under the strain of war, whether due to danger or to privation, habits can be relied on when reason fails. Discipline is not only the instinct of obedience, but that of reliance on leaders and comrades, both factors of enormous value in battle. It is this which gives troops the advantage over a mob. Psychologically they are both “dynamic crowds,” but the mob is devoid of the higher qualities which discipline has implanted in the soldier, and which the influences of his profession have rendered largely instinctive.
It should be noticed that in crowds, where the individual varieties of character are lost in the “crowd soul,” the oldest racial characteristics come out. This is the more so in the moments when danger inhibits reason, and instinct alone reigns. History teaches us very clearly how persistent these characteristics are in the people as a whole, and they are naturally brought out in a high degree by War. Cæsar tells us that the Gauls “are very courageous and impetuous in the attack,” and two thousand years later the “Furia Francese” is still their characteristic. A French writer on the wars in Spain talks of the “Bulldog Ténacité” of the British, a quality which has been attributed to them for centuries.
The reason for this is clear if we suppose that the crowd possesses the sum of the qualities of its members, for the different individual qualities of each will bulk but little compared to the huge total of the qualities common to all, of which the older and deep-rooted race characteristics will necessarily form a large part.
Thus history shows unmistakably that the military qualities of a nation change but little with time. The conduct of its soldiers in past wars is likely, therefore, to be repeated in future fighting, although organization, training, and leading may differ, and, to some extent, modify the result.
In the case of an Army, the necessity of Will Power in the leader cannot be too much emphasized. It is of far more importance than mere intellect. Will power alone can go far, as we see in the cases of Charles XII. and Blücher, whereas resolution is apt to be “sicklied o’er with the pale cast of thought,” where the intellect is more developed than the will.
Some Military Leaders have been energetic and resolute, but wanting in continuity of effort, and little capable of thought and reflection. Of this type were Ney and Murat, amazing in the conflict, heroic in danger, but, in less inspiring moments, failures. These men need a greater man to lead them. Such a man, in whom Will Power and Intellect are both dominant and are equally balanced, constitutes the higher and rarer type of leader. In him the Will Power is more lasting, if less fiery; he can reflect, assume responsibility in cold blood, and carry out long plans in spite of opposition. The rule of such leaders over their followers is not liable to sudden collapse, but often outlives failure or ruin. Of such are those who have changed the face of the world and won undying fame—Alexander, Hannibal, Cæsar, Cromwell, Napoleon—men whose prestige is not buried in their grave, but still exercises over living men an influence hardly less real than during their life.
This prestige, unexplainable as it may be, constitutes the dominating influence of the leader over his following. Built on success and renown, it is made up of admiration, love, and sometimes fear, but is always unreasoned and idolatrous. It is by the domination of prestige that a leader is able to impress his feelings, his aims, and his will on those he leads. The exertions to which Hannibal and Napoleon could compel their men were incredible. A leader is at times obeyed by his followers as the lion-tamer by his lions, although often with as little means of coercing them, or even of saving himself from their jaws. Nor is the effect of prestige limited to the leader’s own following; it is as much felt by his opponents. Napoleon’s arrival on a battlefield was, Wellington said, worth a reinforcement of forty thousand men, and many of his successes in war were due to the fact that his enemies were frightened by his name, before they began to fight. Probably only two of his opponents escaped this influence—Blücher, in whom hatred left no place for fear; and Wellington, who said before the Peninsular War that he thought he could beat the French because he was not afraid of them.
The prestige of Hannibal, like that of Nelson, always weakened the resolution of his foes. Dundonald with one ship chased a Portuguese squadron from Brazil to Europe. Drake’s very name was an abiding terror to Spain. “Stonewall” Jackson’s reputation was a constant alarm to Lincoln and the Federals. Lee’s personality was one of the main factors in staving off defeat from the South.
When the crisis of her fate arrives, a country can only pray that a Leader may be granted her. History can teach us that England has seldom prayed in vain. Cromwell, Marlborough, Clive, Wellington, the men of the Mutiny, and, above all, the long line of Admirals which culminates in Nelson, were living answers to her prayers.