ABSTRACT
This chapter talks about a hypothetical battle in a composite form, compounded of an amalgam of events from various engagements, which may be considered to represent military thought of the time, the structure of the whole resting loosely on the conduct of Marston Moor. It presents the contrasting attitudes of the common soldier and the high ranking officer. Hardened by the gulf of inheritance, environment and descent they were almost two separate races. Even in the matter of spoils they had their own ideas of what was important. The chapter also outlines the seven phases of the battle. The first phase was advancing to contact. Reconnaissance and planning, order of battle, assault, crisis, and mopping up follow. Finally comes pursuit and spoils of war. Once broken, the soldiers of those times, who, after all, were civilians at heart, tended to run and keep running. The overwhelming difficulty of command under the circumstances of seventeenth-century warfare is plain.
