the eighth century. It was once the capital of a large
independent principality. In the fourteenth century Casimir the Great
and other Polish princes endowed it with special civic privileges,
and the town attained a high degree of commercial prosperity. In
the seventeenth century its importance was destroyed by inroads
of Tatars, Cossacks, and Swedes. Przemysl is situated on the River
San, and was considered one of the strongest fortresses of Europe.

The original strategic idea embodied in the purpose of the fortress
was purely defensive; in the event of war with Russia only the
line of the San and Dniester was intended to be held at all costs,
while the whole northeastern portion of Galicia was to be abandoned.
With the fortress of Cracow guarding the west, Przemysl was meant
to be the first defense between the two rivers and to hold the
easiest roads to Hungary through the Dukla, Lupkow, and Uzsok passes.
Within the last ten years, however, the Austrian War Staff altered
its plans and decided upon a vigorous offensive against Russia
should occasion offer, and that Eastern Galicia was not to be
sacrificed. Hence a network of strategic railways was constructed
with a view to attacking the prospective enemy on a wide front
extending from the Vistula near Cracow on the west to the Bug on
the east, where the latter flows into Austrian territory and cuts
off a corner of eastern Galicia. The plan does not appear to have
worked successfully, for, before the war was many days old, the
Russians had taken Lemberg, swept across the Dniester at Halicz,
across the San at Jaroslav, just north of Przemysl, and had already
besieged the fortress, which at no time imposed any serious obstacle
in the path of their progress. Perhaps the only useful purpose that
Przemysl served was that it restrained the Russians from attempting
an invasion of Hungary on a big scale, by holding out for nearly seven
months. Not having sufficient siege artillery at their disposal,
the Russians made no attempt to storm the place. General Selivanoff
surrounded the forts with a wide circle of counterdefenses, which
were so strongly fortified that the garrison would have found it an
almost hopeless task to attempt a rush through the enemy's lines.
The Austrian artillery was naturally well acquainted with the range
of every point and position that lay within reach of their guns;
and Selivanoff wisely offered them little opportunity for effective
practice. Consi