Online Encyclopedia
Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.
STAFF (O. Eng. staef, cf. Du. staf, G...
Online EncyclopediaEncyclopedia Home :: SOU-STE
del.icio.us it!
|
See also:STAFF (O. Eng. staef, cf. Du. staf, Ger. Stab, &c.; Icel. stafr meant also a written See also:letter, and O. Eng. stafas, the letters of the See also:alphabet; " stave," one of the thin pieces of See also:wood of which a cask is made, is a doublet) , a See also:long stick or See also:pole, used either as an aid in walking, as a weapon as in the old See also:quarter-See also:staff (q.v.) or as a See also:symbol of dignity and See also:office, e.g. the See also:pastoral staff (q.v.) . Further the word is applied to the pole on which a See also:flag is hoisted and to various measuring See also:surveying See also:instruments . Probably from the See also:early use of the word for the letters of the See also:alphabet, " staff " and its doublet " stave " came to be used of a See also:line, See also:verse or See also:stanza, and in musical notation (q.v.) of the See also:horizontal lines on which notes are placed to indicate the See also:pitch . A particular use, perhaps derived from the sense of an aid or help, is that of a See also:body of assistants, particularly military . The military staff organization of to-See also:day, with its subdivision and specialization, is a See also:modern product . Although generals have always provided themselves with aides-de-See also:camp and See also:order-lies, the only See also:official corresponding to a modern staff officer in a 16th or 17th See also:century See also:army was the " sergeant-See also:major-See also:general " or " major-general," in whom was vested the responsibility of forming the army in See also:battle See also:array and also the command of the See also:foot . In those days armies, large and small, were arrayed in deep formations and, occupying but a narrow front both in camp and in battle, were easily manageable by one See also:man and his messengers . A little later, however, we find a "quartermaster-general" and his assistants charged with the duties of selecting camps, reconnoitring the See also:country and See also:collecting See also:information generally . The quartermaster-general himself was some-times used, as See also:Marlborough used See also:Cadogan (q.v.), not only as See also:chief-of-staff and as quartermaster-general in the strict sense, but also as the general's authorized representative with detachments, advanced See also:guards, &c . But there was no subdivision of functions in the modern sense . A staff was a See also:group of See also:officers attached temporarily to headquarters and available for any See also:mission which the See also:commander thought See also:fit to give them, and in the highly centralized armies of those days these See also:missions See also:literary merit . Nor, when the See also:life and See also:works are examined is the neglect without excuse . Her books are seen to be in large See also:part merely See also:clever reflections of other See also:people's views or views current at the See also:time . The sentimentality of her sentiment and the florid magniloquence of her See also:style equally disgust the reader . But to See also:state this alone would be in the highest degree unfair . Mme de See also:Stael's faults are See also:great; her style is of an See also:age, not for all time; her ideas are mostly second-See also:hand and frequently superficial . But nothing See also:save a very great See also:talent could have shown itself so receptive . Take away her assiduous frequentation of society, from the later philosophe coteries to the age of See also:Byron—take away the See also:influence of See also:Constant and See also:Schlegel and her other literary See also:friends—and probably little of her will remain . But to have caught from all sides in this manner the floating notions of society and of individuals, to reflect them with such vigour and clearness, is not anybody's task . Her two best books, Corinne and De l'Allemagne, are in all See also:probability almost wholly unoriginal, a little sentiment in the first and a little constitutionalism in the second being all that she can claim . But Corinne is still a very remarkable exposition of a certain See also:kind of aestheticism, while De l'Allemagne is still perhaps the most remarkable See also:account of one country, by a native and inhabitant of another, which exists in literature . See also:Baron Auguste de Stael (d . 1827) edited the See also:complete works of his See also:mother in seventeen volumes (See also:Paris, 1820-1821), with a See also:notice by Mme See also:Necker de See also:Saussure, and the edition was after-wards republished in a compacter See also:form, and, supplemented by some Euvres inedites, is still obtainable in three volumes, large 8vo (See also:Didot) . The Considerations and the See also:Dix annees d'exil had been published after Mme de Stael's See also:death .
Some Lettres inedites to H
.
Meister were published in 1903
.
There is no See also:recent reissue of the whole, and the See also:minor works have not been reprinted, but Corinne, Delphine and De l'Allemagne are easily accessible in cheap and See also:separate forms
.
Of separate works on Mme de Stael, or rather on Coppet and its society, besides those of MM See also:Caro and Othenin d'See also:Haussonville, may be mentioned the See also:capital See also:work of A
.
See also:Sorel in the Grands ecrivains See also:francais
.
In See also:English there are See also:biographies by A
.
See also:Stevens (See also:London, 188o), and See also:Lady Blennerhasset (1889)
.
(G
.
SA.)
(as regards junior officers) were practically limited to orderly work and See also:reconnaissance, especially topographical reconnaissance
.
Subordinate generals had aides-de-camp only
.
Apart, then, from the " adjutants " or See also:personal staffs (amongst whom must be reckoned the commander-in-chief's secretary, generally a civilian), the staff in the See also: Summer the staff officers devoted to surveying and topographical reconnaissance; See also:winter to the codification of the information obtained . None of them were employed or trained with troops, although Frederick the Great sometimes made the quartermaster-general's officers at See also:Berlin do See also:duty with the guards . With the See also:French Revolution, however, the organization of the staff gradually modified itself to suit the new conditions of warfare . The See also:size of armies necessitated subdivision and separate staffs for the subordinate leaders, their mobility reduced the importance of See also:minute topographical reconnaissance, and the See also:necessity of communicating between the several See also:groups of an army produced an increased demand for orderly officers . But naturally a fully See also:developed staff See also:system did not See also:spring to life immediately . Only by degrees were generals evolved who could handle large and See also:mobile armies, and the highly gifted army leaders who in time appeared, See also:Napoleon of course above all, scarcely needed a general staff . Napoleon had a chief of staff, See also:Marshal See also:Berthier, who See also:bore the old See also:title of "major-general," but Berthier was practically a chief clerk, a man of extraordinary aptitude for business . Berthier's staff was distinctly a mobile war office, and the great See also:captain who needed not See also:advice, but obedience, was wont to despatch his orders by a :See also:crowd of subalterns . The See also:principal contribution, there-fore, made by Napoleon to the development of staff organization was the thorough See also:establishment of the principle of See also:corps and divisional See also:autonomy . Corps and divisions to be self-contained required, and they were furnished with, their own staffs . The old type of " quartermaster," whose " castrametation " and engineering See also:science had been essential in the days of rigid indivisible armies, disappeared and gave way to a type of staff officer whose duty was to translate his chief's general instructions (other than those delivered in the field by the gallopers of the personal staff) into orders for the various subordinate commanders . The general staff officer's functions as strategical assistant to his chief were non-existent . This system worked satisfactorily in the See also:main while Berthier was at the See also:head of the central office, somewhat less satisfactorily in the See also:Waterloo See also:campaign when Marshal See also:Soult occupied his See also:place, and worst of all it worked in various See also:wars of the 19th century in which the self-contained great general was not forthcoming . The general staff became a See also:mere See also:bureau, divorced from the army . Thus on the French See also:side in 1870 Marshal See also:Bazaine so far distrusted his general staff that he forbade it to appear on the battlefield, and worked the army almost wholly by means of his personal staff . Thus the latter, the mere See also:mouthpiece of the marshal, issued sketchy strategical orders for movements, and so reduced the See also:rate of marching of the army to five or six See also:miles a day; while the former, kept in the dark by the commander-in-chief, issued either no orders at all or orders that had no reference to the real See also:condition of affairs and the marshal's intentions . The army at large distrusted both staffs equally . The Prussian general staffwas as different from this staff of bureaucrats and amateurs as day from See also:night . Even before 1806 See also:Massenbach (q.v.) had added the preparation of strategical plans to the work of the quartermaster-general's staff, obtaining thus at the expense of the See also:adjutant-general's side the See also:powers of a general staff in the modern sense . That he was incapable of using these powers is shown by the mournful See also:history of See also:Jena . But another quartermaster-general in the war of 1806, ' The " general staff " was simply the See also:list of general officers . See also:Scharnhorst (q.v.), took up his work and in a very different spirit . In Scharnhorst's first instructions of 18o8 it was laid down that an accurate knowledge of troops and a general know-ledge of country were essential to a staff officer who was to be practised in exercises with troops and also in surveying . Scharnhorst, moreover, distributed general staff officers in peace to the provincial commands .
The business-like habits which'he instilled into his pupils, and their See also:close See also:touch with commanders and troops, began a tradition of efficient and accurate staff work in the field, work in which the previous Prussian staff (and indeed all contemporary staffs except Napoleon's) had failed
.
Thus it was that although the battle of See also:Gravelotte-See also:Saint-Privat was fought on the See also:German side by over 200,000 men and in' two or three distinct phases with little central direction, and, moreover, was not finished until after dark, See also:Moltke had in his hands at See also:dawn next See also:morning a complete account of the events of the battle, and of the losses and condition of the troops of each corps
.
This was the See also:fruit not only of methodical training in the theory of staff duties but of 'constant practice with troops in field manoeuvres
.
Another very important feature of the Scharnhorst system was the periodical return of all general staff officers to regimental duty
.
This indeed has often been considered the keynote of efficiency
.
It did not at first meet with universal approval, but, like so many other military institutions in See also:Prussia, See also:financial considerations helped to ensure its retention until its See also:intrinsic merits were proved in war
.
Just as the army was kept at a See also:low peace effective and augmented on mobilization from a numerous reserve, so the staffs were small in peace, but as many officers as possible were passed through them so as to form a staff reserve within the regimental strength of the army
.
But above all, the circulation of staff officers made it possible to educate the regimental officer in the approved doctrines of See also:strategy and See also:tactics
.
" Unity of See also:doctrine " meant that instead of the complicated instructions hitherto issued for any operation, a brief See also:note or even a hint was sufficient
.
In an army with a " doctrine " all ranks from general to subaltern speak the same See also:language' and use the same See also:term in the same sense
.
There must always be shades of See also:interpretation, varying with the individual officer, as was notably the See also:case in all that See also:Prince Frederick See also: 
A further consequence of the new conception of staff work was an enormous increase in the " discretionary " powers of all officers
.
If there is to be one and only one doctrine, that doctrine must be comprehensive and elastic, and See also:education in it must consist chiefly in applying the general principle to the specific case
.
Thence it was not a long step to the notion that an officer could disregard a. See also:superior's orders if the situation on which they were based was wrongly conceived or had changed in the meantime
.
For the test of such See also:independent action is that the " inferior should be conscientiously satisfied that the superior, in his place, would See also:act as he himself proposes to do," and this, of course, is the very purpose of unity of doctrine
.
The exercise of initiative was peculiarly useful and necessary in the case of the staff officer
.
He could not only disobey superior orders, but give orders in the name of superior authority
.
He was better able than any other See also:person to say, not only what action the Field Service Regulations laid down generally for such problems as that in hand, but also what See also:solution his own general, possessing better information than the regimental officers, would adopt if See also:present
.
The See also:latitude in this respect accorded to German staff officers as well as to German commanders, is a most striking phenomenon of the war of 1870 (e.g
.
See also:Colonel von Caprivi before See also:Vionville and Colonel von der Esch at See also:Worth)
.
' The result of unity of doctrine, then, was that a properly qualified officer could act as a substitute for his superior, and that the orders which he gave in that capacity were obeyed even by officers higher in See also:rank than the originator of the order
.
This principle, owing to the See also:peculiar circumstances of the
German army, was carried to an extreme in the case of the chiefs of staff
.
Moltke himself was a chief of staff, the See also: On several occasions the king indeed formed a different conclusion from Moltke's and gave his orders accordingly, but these were exceptions . The effect of this, however, is not to deprive or to relieve the actual commander from the responsibility for the results of his action, whether that action was suggested by his own See also:brain or by his staff officer's . Such an arrangement depends moreover on mutual confidence . The self-sufficing great commander does not need a Moltke, an See also:average general is wholly ruled by his See also:mentor; and between these two extremes the influence of the chief of staff varies according to circumstances and the See also:character of the general . In the German armies of 187o, for example, the chief staff officer was in one case the reflector of his chief's views, in another he was the real army commander, in a third the characters of the two men were opposed in an almost paralysing See also:equilibrium, while in a See also:fourth the staff officer's business was to soothe and encourage an angry and disheartened commander and at the same time to " keep him straight." This delicate See also:adjustment is a necessary result of the absorption—inevitable under modern conditions of war—of strategical and even See also:tactical functions by the general staff . The serious risks of disunion within the headquarters—and 187o proves that even " unity of doctrine " does not altogether eliminate this disunion—has to be faced, and is best insured against by the selection of officers appropriate to each other . The See also:imagination and technique of See also:Hess supplemented the vigorous See also:common-sense of See also:Radetzky; See also:Blucher, with the single supreme military quality of character, could leave all the brain-work to his See also:Gneisenau . But usually, unless other than purely military considerations determine the selection of the general-in-chief (in which case he can make the best soldier in the army—irrespective of seniority—his adviser), smooth and efficient working is best secured when the general and his chief of staff possess the same military qualities in different See also:balance, each compensating the other's weaknesses and deriving strength from the other's See also:good qualities . In the Prussian account of the war of 18J9 Moltke writes: " Great captains have no need of counsel . They study the questions which arise, and decide them, and their entourage has only to execute their decisions . But such generals are stars of the first magnitude, who scarcely appear once in a century . In the great See also:majority of cases the See also:leader of the army cannot do without advice . This advice may be the outcome of the deliberations of a small number of qualified men . But within this small number one and only one See also:opinion must prevail . The organization of the military See also:hierarchy must ensure subordination even in thought, and give the right and duty of presenting a single opinion for the examination of the general-in-chief to one man, and one only . He will be appointed, not by seniority, but by See also:reason of the confidence he inspires . The general-in-chief will always have, as compared with his adviser, the infinitely weightier merit of having assumed the responsibility of executing what he advises." Thus the chief of the general staff is defined in the See also:British Field Service Regulations as the general's " responsible adviser on all matters affecting military operations, through whom he exercises his functions of command and by whom all orders issued by him will be signed." Staff Duties in the Field.—The manifold duties essential and incidental to commanding and administering an army, which the general performs, as above defined, through his staff, are in the British service classified broadly into three headings—general staff work, adjutant-general's work and quartermaster-general's work . The immediate head of the general staff, and (if the general delegates the duty) the supervising authority over the other staffs, is the chief of the general staff . The See also:link between the army and the inspector-general or controller of its lines of communication is the quartermaster-general . All details required for insertion in general staff (i.e . " operation ") orders that come within the adjutant-general's or the quartermaster-general's See also:branch are drafted by those branches in accordance with the general lines laid down by the general staff, and inserted in the orders issued by the general staff . " Routine " orders are drafted and issued by the other staffs themselves . a . General Staf Duties (Operations).—The study of proposed operations; the framing, issue and despatch of the operation orders; plans for movements to the points of concentration and for strategic deployment; general See also:allotment of areas for quarters; See also:measures of See also:security; intercommunication; reconnaissance; acquisition, See also:collation and See also:distribution of information as to the enemy and the country ; flags of truce and See also:correspondence with the enemy; See also:censor-See also:ship; See also:provision, distribution and revision of maps; reports and despatches See also:relating to operations; furnishing of the adjutant-general's and quartermaster-general's staffs with information as to the situation and probable requirements of the troops, and receiving from these branches such information as affects the operations in prospect . b . Adjutant-General's Staff (Personnel).—Discipline; application of military See also:law, See also:martial law and See also:international law, both to the army and to the See also:civil See also:population of occupied areas; questions of promotion, appointments of officers, pay, rewards, enlistments; See also:chaplain's services; casualties and invaliding; medical and sanitary services; organization of new corps and drafts; prisoners of war; See also:police; routine and interior See also:economy; ceremonial . c . Quartermaster-General's Staff (Materiel).—Distribution of camps and quarters within allotted areas; supplies, equipment and clothing (except medical stores); transport by See also:land and See also:sea; railway See also:administration; remounts; veterinary service; postal service . The work of the See also:lower staffs—divisions and brigades—is similarly subdivided as far as necessary . There are, moreover, the small personal staffs (aides-de-camp) of the army and divisional commanders . The work of the latter is not of course as important as it was under the old system, and is partly of a social character, partly orderly work . The headquarters staff of an army of six See also:infantry and one See also:cavalry divisions consists of : Personal Staff, 5 officers; General Staff, chief and Io other officers; Adjutant-General's Staff, adjutant-general and 4 officers; Quartermaster-General's Staff, quartermaster-general and 3 officers; attached in various capacities, 28 officers . 232 non-commissioned officers and men are employed in the work of headquarters as clerks, printers, cooks, servants, &c . The staff of a See also:division consists of : Personal, 2 aides-de-camp; General, 3 or 4 officers; Adjutant-General's, i officer; Quartermaster-General's, I officer; attached, 8 officers; rank and See also:file attached, 64–8o men . A See also:brigade staff consists of one general staff officer for operations, a brigade major for administration, and one aide-de-camp: attached, I officer; rank and file, 33-45 . Staff Duties in Peace.—In modern conditions peace is normal and war exceptional; moreover, as between See also:European nations, the need of a See also:swift decision of a See also:quarrel is so urgent that immediately after mobilization and concentration, if not indeed during these preliminaries, the decisive action of the war may be begun . Success in such a war is the consequence of See also:national spirit in the first place and of the peace training of all ranks in the second . The direction and supervision of the latter is the principal duty of a staff in time of peace, and therefore the specialization of staff functions, referred to above, in the three branches of operations, personnel and materiel, is as well marked in peace as in war . The two latter branches, which are concerned with the See also:maintenance rather than the use of an army, are necessarily quite as fully occupied in peace as in war, for the life of the army is uninterrupted . But the " general staff " branch would not have enough work to justify a separate existence, were it not for the fact that on the battlefield nothing can be reaped that has not been sown . Nowadays, as the decisive battle immediately follows the concentration of the armies, the See also:crop that is expected to be reaped must be sown in peace time . To this end the modern general staff in peace not only has an existence apart from the routine and See also:supply staffs, but, as in war, occupies the first place in importance . In Great See also:Britain, perhaps more than in any other state, the functions of training and administration are very sharply differentiated . Each commander-in-chief of a large group of garrisons has under him not only a brigadier-general at the head of the general staff, but a major-general " in See also:charge of administration," who in all questions of administration is the alter ego of the commander-in-chief . The latter is thus See also:free to devote himself to the training of his troops, which he carries out through the See also:medium of his general staff officers . Only those administrative questions that involve important decisions come before him, the whole of the routine work being carried out by the general in charge of administration in ,his own office and on his own responsibility . In the War Office, the general staff work, under the Chief of the Imperial General Staff, is classified into three main heads, for each of which there is a general officer as " director." These are: (a) Military Operations, in which all strategical matters connected with imperial See also:defence and operations overseas are studied . (b) Staff Duties, which organizes and co-ordinates the whole of the general staff work, and also deals with questions of war organization . (c) Military Training, which supervises the Staff See also:College and other educational institutions and also the Officers' Training Corps, an( controls and in some cases conducts the professional See also:examinations of officers and candidates for commissions . Under this branch is placed the See also:section which arranges questions of See also:home defence . The administrative work is divided between the three departments of the Adjutant-General (peace organization, mobilization arrangements, See also:record offices and routine orders, medals, regimental distinctions, titles, &c.; certain See also:artillery and engineer services; and the large and exceedingly important service of personnel, discipline, recruiting, casualties, drafts and reliefs); the Quartermaster-General (movements and quartering, See also:barracks, railway administration, mobilization arrangements for See also:rail and sea transportation; remounts and See also:registration of horses for service in war; Army Service Corps work, including See also:horse and See also:mechanical transport, vehicles, &c.; training of administrative personnel; veterinary duties; provision and maintenance of supplies, clothing and stores) ; the See also:Master-General of the See also:Ordnance (armaments and weapons of all kinds, See also:ammunition and explosive stores, military engineering and fortifications, barrack and See also:building construction) . Besides these three departments there are the civil departments of the Civil Member of the Army See also:Council, under whom, on account of its See also:citizen character, has been placed the administration of the Territorial Force, and who has further all duties connected with war See also:department lands, roads, &c.; and of the See also:Finance See also:Minister, which works out the See also:annual estimates, examines financial proposals such as contracts, administers the Army Pay Department, and deals with accounts and audits . Directly under the Army Council is the department of the Inspector-General of the Forces, whose duties are to See also:review and See also:report upon the training and efficiency of all troops under the home See also:government, the state of stores, remounts, &c., with regard to war requirements, and the condition of fortifications . See Bronsart von Schellendorf, Duties of the General Staff (Eng. trans., 1904) ; See also:Spenser See also:Wilkinson, The Brain of an Army; British official Field Service Regulations (1909)', pt. ii.; King's Regulations, and Field Service See also:Pocket See also:Book; v . Janson, Generalstabsdienst See also:im Frieden (1901) ; French official Aide-Memoirede l'officier d'etat-major . |
|
|
[back] MADAME DE STAEL |
[next] STAFFA (Norse for staff, column, or pillar island) |
Additional information and Comments
There are no comments yet for this article.
Highlight the code below, right click and select "copy." Paste it into a website, email, or other HTML document.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.
Links to articles and home page are encouraged.
