Epilogue
General Sir Rupert Smith
DISTANT PASTFor as long as men have fought against one another in organized bands, we can
see tactics and strategy in play. Ug in his cave was the leader because he was the
best hunter, provider, and the best fighter and defender in the clan. He in his own
interest was intent on advancing the interests of his clan. He realized that his
tactical skill would only get him so far, so he needed a strategy. He made common
cause with other nearby clans so as to increase his forces; marrying off his spare
women to cement the links between the clans and sharing the better hunting
grounds to ensure a degree of equality between the clans. He ensured there were
reserve stocks of food not just for the hard winter but so that when the men were
called upon to fight, rather than hunt, the people in the caves did not go hungry.
He collected all the information he could about the hunting grounds and clans
around him. He was careful to choose his targets and method to match his overall
objective. If he needed more women and slaves he would seek to attack a weak
clan, taking them by surprise so as to overwhelm them with the least amount of
killing. For we must not kill what we want to work for us, he explained to his
men. If, on the other hand, he wanted exclusive use of some hunting ground,
perhaps to fish when the salmon were running, or of some defile through which
the herds migrated, he could not afford to have his men fighting when they
should be hunting. So he had now to decide whether to conduct a pre-emptive
attack on the competitors, or to ambush them on their approach, but these
methods, decisive as they appeared to some, risked the manpower necessary to
gain the advantage he was after. So he considered a treaty with the nearest weaker
clan in which it would receive a share of the hunting in return for helping guard
the area.
In the early days of his leadership, Ug led the warriors of the clan in battle, and
his tactical skill borne of and honed in the hunting field was better than or
matched his opponent’s. And by having a strategy, he usually arranged matters to
his advantage before the battle, so that even when faced by a tactician of equal
competence he won. As his clan grew in size, subordinate leaders sometimes led
raids. He found that having a strategy was important to provide the context for
the raid: to allow the subordinate to understand how he was to do what he was