THE ARMED CAMP, 174S-56 79Generals von der Infanterie, and the corresponding Instruction fur die
Major-Generals von der Cavallerie. Frederick's secretary Eichel
tidied up the final drafts for printing (a very needful process, because
Frederick's spelling was so bad), and the two books were distributed
among the generals under the usual conditions for safekeeping. In the
preliminary remarks, Frederick reproached himself for having left the
major-generals for so long without a guide to their responsibilities as
managers of their brigades. As we might have expected, he went on to
give a prime place to a list of precautions to be taken against
desertion. In battle, the two arms were to seize and maintain the
initiative in their different ways - the infantry by advancing with
shouldered muskets, and the cavalry by attacking without hesita-
tion. These two sets of instructions were revealed to the Austrians
when Fouque's corps was overthrown on 23 June 1760.
The same confidence in the effectiveness of offensive action was
just as marked in Frederick's Art de la Guerre of 1751:
Attaquez done toujours! Bellone vous annonce
Des destins fortunes, des exploits 6clatants,
Tandis que vos guerriers seront les assaillants!Inspired by the Reveries of Marshal de Saxe, this lengthy poem was
intended for publication from the start, and indeed Frederick sent a
draft to the garrulous Voltaire. L'Art de la Guerre comprised six
'songs', relating to the essential foundation of training and discipline,
the positioning and moving of the army, the desirable qualities in a
commander, the science of fortress warfare, the business of quarters
and supply, and the weighty and fearsome experience of battle. This
work was to hold a strong appeal to the warriors of the time, for it
seem^l to them to convey the truths of their profession in a poetic and
compelling way.
In 1752 Frederick committed the most weighty matters of state to
his first Testament Politique, a paper so sacrosanct that for more than
a century after Frederick's death it was safeguarded as one of the
innermost secrets of the monarchy. We shall refer on many occasions
to this work, and to the companion Testament of 1768.
In outline, the Tiestament of 1752 laid bare the foundations of the
Prussian state - its financial system, the nature of the component
peoples, the social structure, and the directions of desirable terri-
torial expansion. Frederick treated the administration of the army in
great detail, with particular reference to the cantonal system of
recruiting, and he returned yet again to the prime importance of good
order: 'A well-disciplined regiment will be as well behaved as a
community of monks' (Frederick, 1920, 87).
The last in this most revealing series of works was represented by