they do not change the fundamental
principles of strategy. These are practically immutable, and they doom
to failure the side that, at the critical points, persists in standing
on the defensive. A study of the events around Plevna shows clearly what
a brave but ill-trained army can do and what it cannot do under modern
conditions.

From the point of view of strategy--that is, the conduct of the great
operations of a campaign--Osman's defence of Plevna yields lessons of
equal interest. It affords the most brilliant example in modern warfare
of the power of a force strongly intrenched in a favourable position to
"contain," that is, to hold or hold back, a greater force of the enemy.
Other examples are the Austrian defence of Mantua in 1796-97, which
hindered the young Bonaparte's invasion of the Hapsburg States;
Bazaine's defence of Metz in 1870; and Sir George White's defence of
Ladysmith against the Boers. We have no space in which to compare these
cases, in which the conditions varied so greatly. Suffice it to say that
Mantua and Plevna were the most effective instances, largely because
those strongholds lay near the most natural and easy line of advance for
the invaders. Metz and Ladysmith possessed fewer advantages in this
respect; and, considering the strength of the fortress and the size and
quality of his army, Bazaine's conduct at Metz must rank as the weakest
on record; for his 180,000 troops "contained" scarcely more than their
own numbers of Germans.

On the other hand, Osman's force brought three times its number of
Russians to a halt for five months before hastily constructed lines. In
the opinion of many authorities the Russians did wrong in making the
whole campaign depend on Plevna. When it was clear that Osman would
cling to the defensive, they might with safety have secretly detached
part of the besieging force to help the army of the Czarewitch to drive
back the Turks on Shumla. This would have involved no great risk; for
the Russians occupied the inner lines of what was, roughly speaking, a
triangle, resting on the Shipka Pass, the River Lom, and Plevna as its
extreme points. Having the advantage of the inner position, they could
quickly have moved part of their force at Plevna, battered in the
Turkish defence on the Lom, and probably captured the Slievno passes. In
that case they would have cleared a new line of advance to
Constantinople farther to the east, and made the possession of Plevna of
lit