the strategic problem seems to be more complicated. The campaigns of 1799 and 1800 are equally rich in instruction on this branch of the art. In my account of them I have endeavored to bring out their teachings by a historical exposition of the events; and I cannot do better than refer my readers to it.
When we consider the results of the imprudent invasion of Switzerland by the French Directory, and its fatal influence in doubling the extent of the theater of operations and making it reach from the Texel to Naples, we cannot too much applaud the wisdom of France and Austria in the transactions which had for three centuries guaranteed the neutrality of Switzerland. Every one will be convinced of this by carefully studying the interesting campaigns of the Archduke Charles, Suwaroff, and Massena in 1799, and those of Napoleon and Moreau in 1800. The first is a model for operations upon an entirely mountainous field; the second is a model for wars in which the fate of mountainous countries is decided on the plains.
I will here state some of the deductions which seem to follow from this study.
When a country whose whole extent is mountainous is the principal theater of operations, the strategic combinations cannot be entirely based upon maxims applicable in an open country.
Transversal maneuvers to gain the extremity of the front of operations of the enemy here become always very difficult, and often impossible. In such a country a considerable army can be maneuvered only in a small number of valleys, where the enemy will take care to post advanced guards of sufficient strength to delay the army long enough to provide means for defeating the enterprise; and, as the ridges which separate these valleys will be generally crossed only by paths impracticable for the passage of an army, transversal marches can only be made by small bodies of light troops.