This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1854 edition. Excerpt: ... necessary, either that the political objective points adopted in the course of a campaign, be in accordance with the principles of strategy, or, in the contrary case, that they be adjourned until after a decisive victory. By applying this maxim to the two events above cited, it will be acknowledged that it was at Cambrai, or in the heart of France, that it was necessary to conquer Dunkirk in 1793, and to deliver Holland in 1199; that is to say, by uniting the efforts of the coalition upon a decisive point of the frontiers, and by striking there a heavy blow. For the rest, expeditions of this nature enter almost always into the class of great diversions, to which we shall devote a special article. ARTICLE XX. FRONTS OF OPERATIONS, LINES OF DEFENSE, AND STRATEGICAL POSITIONS* There are certain points in the military science which have so much affinity to each other, that we are tempted to take them for one and the same thing, although they are substantially different. Of this number are fronts of operations, lines of defense, and strategical positions. One will be assured by the following observations, of the intimate relations, and of the difference which exist between them, and will appreciate the motives which have decided us to unite them in the same article. LINES OF DEFENSE. Lines of defense are of several natures; they are strategical and tac * This article ought strictly to be placed after that on lines of operations, especially in a methodical instruction; meanwhile, as in the latter, fronts of operations are frequently in question, 1 thought I might leave things as they are tical. In the first, there are those which are permanent, and relate to the system of defense of the State, as fortified frontier lines, &c.; others which...