388 
THE 
WAR BETWEEN RUSSIA AND TURKEY 
IN ASIA MINOR, 18 11 . 
Translated from “LobelVs Jahresberichte” 
BY 
LIEUT. J. M. GRIERSON, R.A, 
The Armenian plateau—with its bare table-lands, its rocky and almost 
treeless mountains of a wild Alpine character, with an average height 
above the sea-level of from 1500 metres on the table-lands to 3400 on 
the highest peaks; with its scattered population, which is only thick in 
the valleys of the Kur, of the Kars-Tchai, of the upper Araxes, of 
the upper Eastern Euphrates (Murad-Tchai), of the upper Western 
Euphrates (Karasu), and of the upper Djorokh—strictly confines the 
lines of operation to the few roads which are fitted for the movements 
of large bodies of troops. 
These lines of operation, whose points of departure lie in the 
Caucasus province, are the following :— 
(a) From the lower Eion valley by Fort St. Nicolai (the Russian 
frontier post), on the narrow coast-plain, through the Turkish forts 
Kintrischi and Tzikhedziri, to the fortified port of Batoum; from 
this, through the lower Djorokh and Tortum valleys, by Artwin, to 
Erzeroum. This last road is not available, however, for large columns. 
(b) From Akhalkalaki, in the Kur valley, to the fortress of Ardahan ; 
thence by Pennek and Olti to Erzeroum. (A second class road.) 
(c) From Alexandropol by Kars, where the road divides into two, 
over the Soghanli Dagh, into the Araxes valley, to Ardost, where the 
two roads unite, and thence by Koprikui and Hassan Kaleh to Erzeroum. 
(A first-class road, which extends north-west to Trebizond and west to 
Erzingian.) 
(i cl ) From Erivan to the Turkish frontier fortress Bayazid, thence by 
Karakilissa to Erzeroum, the Araxes being crossed at Koprikui. (A 
road of the first class, being a part of the great commercial road 
from the Black Sea to the Persian Gulf.) 
Besides, there are the following second and third-class cross-roads- 
Between a and b, Artwin-Ardanutsch-Ardahan; between b and c, 
