The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-11-09

The cause of the present conflict be- tween Austria and Servia is briefly as follows: It is the result of the anti Austrian campaign In Servia, which re- gently eliminated in the assassination of the heir to the Austrian throne at Serajevo, in Bosnia. The annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina by Austria was greatly resented by their brotfier Slavs in Servia. who had as their ideal an extension of their boundaries to in clude all the neighboring members of their race.
 There is no doubt that the anti-Aus- trian propaganda was the direct cause lof the assassination, and Austria de- manded that the movement should be put down. But the conditions placed before Servia were so humiliating that she could not agree to the stipulations in the ultimatum
 
 T am tired and old: I need rest and want peace" Thus years ago the Emperor Francis Joseph of Austria ad- dressed his troops at the army man euvers at keszthely. If his majesty lives till August 18th he will be 84. If he lives till December next he will AAafS DcSH DO years Qn the throne. 1ue
 Emperor has another distinction He is the only living sovereign in Europe who has led his army in actual bat tie. This was at Santa Lucia, where he
 headed a cavalry charge that turned
 the fortunes of the day in favor of the Austrians.
 Count Berchtold the Austrian for
 eign minister. is an ideal representative l of the Austrian and Hungarian peo-
 pies. in whom the passionate and milder
 qualities strangely mingle. At the
 same time he should have a soft spot | in his heart for the Slav. For he has
 in his veins the uncommonly compli-
 cated mixture of Hungarian, Bohemian,
 German, Italian, southern Slav, Polish
 Ruthenian and old Austrian peasant
 blood. He is connected with the Elm 1 peror Francis Joseph in the ninth de- gree, with the CzaI and the Emperor William in the eighth, and with King Ferdinand of Bulgaria In the fifth. |
 The Archduke Frederick, who has
 recently been appointed the commander
 in chief of the Austrian army, is broth
 CT of Queen Christine of Spain King
 AIfonso's mother. He is 48 years of age. has spent his life in the army.
 and is enormously rich.
 M Pashitch, the Servian prime min-
 ister, has for years played a promi- nent part in Servian politics Modest,
 retiring, peasant-like, he has never
 theless been the virtual leader of Ser
 via for the last generation. His devotion
 to Russia is well known, and it Is said that he was the initiator of the Bal
 kan alliance.
 General Putnik, the Servian chief of
 staff. was the organizer of victory for I his country in the two recent wars. /! There are other able men ih Servia's l war staff. but none with the same pres tige and experience as this grabbed, 1 asthmatic old man who has made five tcampaigns. and practically rises from a bed of sickness in order to undertake 1 his sixth. III health, however, has never In the past hampered the chief In his undertakings. Wheezing and l coughing. General Putnik, snugly en-
 sconced in a cushioned arm oSair, con-
 ducted the war against Turkey from I his headquarters two years ago. Six months later, still wheezing and grunt- ing he was reapine fresh victories from his tent in the strife with Bulgaria. I The Triple Alliance consists of Ger many, Austria, and Italy, and was formed in 1883. It has been renewed at intervals of four years. and pledges all the three powers to give one an- other diplomatic and military support in certain contingencies.
 T The Triple Entente consists of Great II Britain, France and Russia. France and Russia are bound to one another by | the Dual Alliance concluded in 1893 This pledges either to help the other
 in the event of attack by another power. The object was to counterbai- ance the Triple Alliance. The Dual Al lief fad French agreement in 1904, and the An glo- Russian agreement in 1907, by
 which Great Britain ranged herself with France and Russia. though with out definite alliance.
 Belgrade, the Servian capital, has known many changes of masters, ant more than once has fallen into the hands of Austria. The city has sus. tained more sieges in the course ol ] its long history than even Constants , nople.
 The population of Belgrade is s0,000 : while that of Nish, the second larges city in Servia, is about 26.000. The Austrian army is organized il : 16 army corps, each of which is abou 5 10000 strong. Its peace strength hal [ recently been raised to about 600.00' -~ : gary can dispose of about 2.500,00' : trained men, with some 2500 guns. : sss
 7 Service in the army of Austria Hun
 gary, called the common army" be ) lcAuse 1t is under the control of th' f common government of the dual mon : archy. is three years for cavalry ant Q artillery and two years for the othe : lbranches, but a number of one-yea volunteers are Included. These are gen . lerally men of the we'll to do classe s who become officers of reserve. Servic
 usually begins at 21, and after serv
 ling their time with the colors the mel
 Ipass into the reserve for seven or tel
 lyears, according to whether they hay t served two or three years with the col ; ors.
 . As a result of the mobilization o f the Austrian army all men living f n this country liable to serve with tn n forces of the dual monarchy are calle s upon to present themselves at the of n fices of the Austrian consular agent n lin the United Kingdom. An interest ling feature of the appeal is that al s nho have deserted from the Aus
 trian army, including those who hay