In regard to loss of life on the battle-field, it may be said
that many of the wars of ancient times surpassed the bloodiest of
those of modern days, despite the enormously more destructive
weapons and implements now employed. When men fought hand to
hand, and no idea of quarter for the defeated existed, entire
armies were at times slaughtered on the field. In our days, when
the idea of mercy for the vanquished prevails, this wholesale
slaughter of beaten hosts has ceased, and the death list of the
battle-field has been largely reduced by caution on the part of
the fighters. With the feeling that a dead soldier is utterly
useless, and a wounded one often worse than useless, as
constituting an impediment, every means of saving life is
utilized. Soldiers now fight miles apart. Prostrate, hidden,
taking advantage of every opportunity of protection, every
natural advantage or artificial device, vast quantities of
ammunition are wasted on the empty air, every ball that finds its
quarry in human flesh being mayhap but one in hundreds that go
astray. In the old-time wars actual hand-to-hand fighting took
place. Almost every stroke told, every thrusting blade was
directly parried or came back stained with blood. In modern wars
fighting of this kind has ceased. A battle has become a matter of
machinery. The strong arm and stalwart heart are replaced by the
bullet-flinging machine, and it is a rare event for a man to know
to whose hand he owes wound or death. Such, at least, was largely
the case in the war between Russia and Japan in 1905. But in
recent battles we read of hordes of soldiers charging up to the
muzzles of machine guns, and being mowed down like ripened wheat.

COSTS OF MODERN WARFARE