would be in the roads, which in the Alps, though few in number, are excellent, while in Hungary there are none of much value. In its northern part, this chain, though not so high, becomes broader, and would seem to belong to that class of fields of operations which are wholly mountainous; but, as its evacuation may be compelled by decisive operations in the valleys of the Waag or the Theiss, it must be regarded as a temporary barrier. The attack and defense of this country, however, would be a strategic study of the most interesting character.
When an extremely mountainous country, such as the Tyrol or Switzerland, is but a zone of operations, the importance of these mountains is secondary, and they must be observed like a fortress, the armies deciding the great contests in the valleys. It will, of course, be otherwise if this be the whole field.
It has long been a question whether possession of the mountains gave control of the valleys, or whether possession of the valleys gave control of the mountains. The Archduke Charles, a very intelligent and competent judge, has declared for the latter, and has demonstrated that the valley of the Danube is the key of Southern Germany. However, in this kind of questions much depends upon the relative forces and their arrangement in the country. If sixty thousand French were advancing on Bavaria in presence of an equal force of Austrians, and the latter should throw thirty thousand men into the Tyrol, intending to replace them by reinforcements on its arrival on the Inn, it would be difficult for the French to push on as far as this line, leaving so large a force on its flanks masters of the outlets of Scharnitz, Fussen, Kufstein, and Lofers. But if the French force were one hundred and twenty thousand men, and had gained such successes as to establish its superiority over the army in its front, then it might leave a sufficient detachment to mask the passes of the Tyrol and extend its progress as far as Linz,—as Moreau did in 1800.
Thus far we have considered these mountainous districts as only accessory zones. If we regard them as the principal fields of operations,