FTA: “why implement such a potentially damaging recruitment policy? […] Second, the type of attritional, low-skilled warfare practised in the Anglo-French war,

FTA: “why implement such a potentially damaging recruitment policy? […] Second, the type of attritional, low-skilled warfare practised in the Anglo-French war, from siege to scorched earth, suited the potential military capabilities of these recruits.” How do we know which of these is cause and which is effect? For me, it seems at least as likely that the available army influenced the strategy chosen as that the strategy was picked first, and an army recruited for it.