3. Theory of Force. (Continuation)¶
Core Argument¶
Chapter 3: Theory of Force (Continuation)¶
This chapter deepens the critique of Dühring’s abstract conception of force by grounding it in material reality. Engels argues that force is never a mere act of will; it requires instruments, and the more perfect instrument triumphs over the less perfect. These instruments must be produced, and their production depends on economic power. Force, therefore, is conditioned by the economic situation, not the other way around. The army and navy are expensive institutions, and their funding must come from economic production. Armament, composition, organisation, tactics, and strategy are determined by the stage of development in production and communications, not by the “free creations of the mind” of generals.
Engels traces the historical development of warfare to illustrate this thesis. The introduction of gunpowder and firearms was an economic advance, not an act of force; it was the weapon of the towns and the rising monarchy against the feudal nobility, breaking the latter’s supremacy. The American War of Independence saw skirmishing reinvented due to a change in the human material—the first bourgeois revolution on the continent. The French Revolution produced mass armies and column formation, made possible by technical prerequisites such as lighter gun carriages and the slanted rifle butt. The Franco-German War demonstrated that the soldier instinctively found the only effective fighting method under breech-loading rifle fire. This war compelled continental powers to introduce stricter conscription, making militarism an end in itself that is swallowing Europe. Yet militarism bears the seed of its own destruction: competition forces ever-greater spending and universal military service, familiarising the whole people with arms. When the mass of workers and peasants acquire a will, the armies of princes become armies of the people, and militarism collapses.
At sea, the modern warship is a product of large-scale industry; its construction and operation are branches of modern industry. The rivalry between armour-plating and guns is developing the warship to a pitch of costly perfection that makes it unusable in war, demonstrating the dialectical laws by which militarism is brought to ruin. The self-propelled torpedo, a product of modern industry, may make the smallest torpedo boat superior to the most powerful armoured warship. Engels cites a Prussian General Staff captain, Max Jahns, who stated that “the basis of warfare is primarily the economic way of life of the peoples.” The engineer is now more important on board than the captain. “Direct political force” is completely subordinate to the economic situation. The economic crisis of 1873-79 in German industry, which occurred despite Germany’s seizure of Alsace-Lorraine and receipt of five billion francs in war indemnities from France, further demonstrates that force cannot override economic laws.