ABSTRACT
Soult's success in helping Belgium achieve independence proved ultimately very expensive for French interests. French boldness had stirred potentially powerful enemies; the crisis had nearly resurrected the Quadruple Alliance. The French corps was almost twice as large as the next biggest contingent of staff officers, the English, and more than twice as large as the total number of staff officers in the Prussian and Austrian armies combined. The French reassessment of the Belgian crisis illustrates clearly the difficulties armies faced in attempting to develop strategic plans while lacking the rapid communications and more sophisticated intelligence collection techniques that would emerge only with the development of wireless communications. A numerically preponderant enemy could outflank and brush aside the French defenders, pinning them in the French frontier fortresses or even against neutral Belgium or Switzerland. French dispositions were provided, and the young lieutenant was expected to reconnoiter and map the area, then produce a list of likely defensive positions.
