Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1904-08-25
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Some Powerful StrOnghOlds



protection, often at much inconven
fence and with loss of life. Fortresses
are designed and built in time OF
peace and are fashioned to meet a the
DRY of what is likely to occur when
war makes its appearance. When wal
comes it is so frequently unlike what
has been anticipated that the costly de
fensive structure is found to be prac
ticalIy useless.
TouIon, for instance, was designed as
a stronghold which was to be capable
of withstanding any force that might
be brought against it from seward
The best French engineers were en-
gagged in its construction, and infinite
pains were taken to prevent any error
of construction. 1t seems never to
have occurred to the experts who had
bestowed such scrupulous care upon
its seward side that it might be at
tackled from landward. That was pre-
cisely the manner in which it was ap-
preached. The young French Repub-
licans, with whom was lieutenant of
artillery named Napoleon Bonaparte,
besieged and bombarded it from the
land side, and it was taken without diff
ficulty.
An instance of the fallibility of judg-
ment displayed by American strate-
gists during the civil war may be
found in the case of the taking of Fort
Sumter. That fortress was built orig
inally to protect the city of Charleston
from the attack of hostile fleet. The
possibility of the city falling into the
hands Of the hostiles had not been
provided for, and the Confederate
forces, with great lack OF considera-
ton for the plans of the builders,
bombarded the fort from landward
and speedily effected its capture with
slight loss to themselves.
A military man who has been en-
trusted with the conduct of a cam
paign may find himself sorely ham,
pered at the very outset by having to
look out for the safety of this or that
expensive fortress. Instead of being
entirely free to formulate his own
scheme of managing the campaign and
to make what he believes to be the
best preparations to thwart the enemy,
he is obliged to modify his course by
the necessity which arises for him to
send troops and munitions either to re-
lieve or to hold secure some distant
stronghold which at the moment is of
no possible advantage and is likely to
prove a burden. The loss of Sedan in
the Franco-Prussian war was a remark
allie example of this state of affairs.
Marshal Bazaine, having been de-
feated by the Prussians, retreated into
Metz. Since that fortress was sup
posed to be impregnable, for it had
never been taken, that action of the
marshal and his troops seemed the
only reasonable and safe course to fol-
low. AS the sequel demonstrated, it
was precisely the most disastrous
move that coulds have been made.
Once trapped. the Prussians saw to 1t
that Bazaine's army did not escape.
SO 1t happened that Marshal Mcmahon
and the Emperor with the other
French army were compelled by public
sentiment to go to the relief of be-
leaguered Metz. The leaders of the
French forces realized the hopeless
ness of the situation; but. driven by
the clamor of the national demand for
instant action, they marched to the
Mouse and the ignoble defeat of Sedan.
If they had been free to choose their
own course that disaster might have
been averted. They might have re-
treated in good order or have fought
the enemy from some advantageous
point. AS 1t was, the obsolete fortress
of Sedan added not little to the COM
pleteness of the defeat. To the dis
mayed and panic stricken Frenchmen
the portentous looking walls and ram
parts of the fortress seemed to promise
shelter from their mercless enemies.
They huddled like sheep into a de.
ceptive Enclosure and on the follow
ing day were po,meed upon by their
pursuers and taken like sheep from
pen.
Another of the ways in which
great fortress may contribute to
nations undoing is by inspiring a
disastrous oyer-confidence. Some
strongholds appear so formidable
that the nations possessing them are
likely to place over-reliance IN Them
as barriers against all coming foes
and to neglect other necessary means
of defence. Ii is also fact that
troops trained to garrison duty with.
in Notifications are not remarkably
efficient when employed in the open
field.
Sevastopol was an example of
fortress that in the emf was more in
furious to its owners than to their
enemies. Russia, having built the
great stronghold at a cost which
taxed the resources of even that
mighty despotism, was compelled to
mass her armies and fleets in the VI
entity for its protection when the
French and English landed in Crimea.
No other arrangement could have
given more satisfaction to the allies
II gave them something tangible and