Jaroslav on the main
line from Lemberg to Cracow, Przemysl with a line which skirts the
Carpathians, and connects with lines going south to Hungary. Jaroslav
was fortified by a strong circle of intrenchments and was looked to by
Austria for stout resistance. The Austrians were disappointed, for
Ivanov captured it in three days, on the 23d of September. Dmitrieff
found Przemysl a harder nut to crack. It held out for many months, while
operations of greater importance were being carried on by the Russian
armies. The plans of the Russian generals in some respects were not
unlike the plan previously suggested as that of the German High Command.
At the beginning of the war they had no desire to carry on a powerful
offensive against Germany. The expedition into East Prussia was
conducted more for political than for military purposes. The real
offensive at the start was to be against Austria. The Russian movements
were cautious at first, but the easy capture of Lemberg, the fall of
Jaroslav, and the demoralization of the Austrian armies, encouraged more
daring strategy. With the Germans stopped on the north, little aid to
the Austrians could come from that source. The Grand Duke Nicholas was
eager to strike a great blow before the winter struck in, so his armies
swept to the great Polish city of Cracow.
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