Thus, a battle, which in a tactical sense seemed to be inconclusive, became, when viewed in the light of strategy, the most decisive of the war.

Had Bazaine used even the forces which he had in the field ready to hand he must have overborne Alvensleben; and the arrival of 170,000 good troops at Verdun or Chalons would have changed the whole course of the war.

The campaign would probably have followed the course of the many campaigns waged in the valleys of the Meuse and Marne; and Metz, held by a garrison of suitable size, might have defied the efforts of a large besieging army for fully six months.
These conjectures are not fanciful.

The duration of the food supply of a garrison cut off from the outside world varies inversely with the size of that garrison.

The experiences of armies invading and defending the East of France also show with general accuracy what might have been expected if the rules of sound strategy had been observed.