New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-11-07
IT, Ceoaraphica Military and Political Aspects of
L. Ralkan Conflict Which Threatens to Reduce
the Slav State to the Vassalage of Austria
Problems Confronting the Armies.
Bv FRANK H. SIMONDS.
Author of The Great War.

:, zoo striking not 10 provoke com
t IN = military way the resemblance
L., complete: on the political side
rau,;lisr Belgian problem seems soon
-on-odueed. To get at France. to
- herself Of the easiest road to Paris
...n.,v struck through Belgium to
,bs road TO Byzantium and thence TO
Uni and India, Germany is fighting IN
.,.r.rov Of the Norava as she fought in
- he Sanbre and the Meuse.
p.+n,een Serbia and Germany's allies
..-,-;. and Bulgaria. there is an old
-, crudce. No such grudge enbit-
- .be relations between Belgium and
r..,..,, lut. a. the Germans looked for
..-5 10 the possession of Antwerp the
,rtrians have planned to acquire Sa-
,,.;.. and the road which runs down
,trouvb Serbia to the Greek port. What
l,,,rer, was to the Hohenzollerns Sa-
l,oios has been for the Hapsburgs. Ger
,,ny Is now aiding Austria in Serbia as
Austrian artillery helped Germany before
rscs ana Antwerp year ago.
o-amining the Serbian phase of the
c,,,t War there are three distinct aspects
4. h. cmsidered-the historical, the geo
,.nbiral and the military. In these Is to
forrd the explanation of the past, the
rresort and the future meaning Of the
ID, Of Germanys three great offensive
operations
Serbia in History.
century and half before Columbus
discovered America Serbia was a great
nation. Under her famous Emperor,
Sepban Dushan. she ruled from the
danube 10 the Egean and from the Adrl-
asr 10 the Black Sea; Bulgaria was a
,asal. and at the moment he died Dushan
rss gathering his hosts to attack the
sgzsntnc Empire and make Constant
ionic his capital. In that day Serbia had
impressed far ON the road toward mod
r fife: her laws compared favorably
pilh British and French codes of the time.
less than half a century after Dushan
vas in his grave Serbia had lost her lib
,r While he was yet alive the Osmanll
'r-l was Gathering, and it was against
d, Serb empire that it broke. On the
Gid OF Kossovo not the Serb army but
n, Serb state was annhilated, and fol-
i,rr centuries anu more the night OF
Turkish rule fell upon the Slav state. II
he Republic Of Ragusa, in the mountains
Of Montenegro. on the fringes Of the Aus
irsn Empire. Serbs preserved their Ian
eusge: unlike the Bulgars, they never
quite lost race consciousness; unlike the
Greeks. they never surrendered; but as
free people they disappeared.
But with the opening of the nineteenth
century. at the very beginning Of the
Napoleonc era. Serbia began TO stir
There were rebellions and risings long be
fore the more spectacular Greek Revolu-
ton enlisted the sympathy and challenged
he imagination of Europe. In conse-
ouence Of these Serbia by the middle OF
The last century had gained measure OF
Independence.
In the meantime the Eastern Question
had come TO plague Europe and doom the
little Balkan races. Russia and Austria
were patent and frank rivals for the es-
late Of the Turk. In the situation Bull
gsria became the soldier of the Romanoffs,
Serbia OF the Hapsburgs. This situation
endured for many years. 1t caused a war
between Bulgaria and Serbia in 1883,
which ended in Serbian disaster at Sliv-
niza. Bulgaria and Serbia were, hence
icrth, rivals for the possession of Mace
conla, and a third rival was found in
Greece, whose ambitions found sympathy
y Paris and in London.
The Regicide.
L was not until 1903 that the Serbian
Position in the Balkans underwent any
SUBSTANTIAL change But in this year, mem
~aole in Balkan history as the first long
s<g toward the great tragedy, the King
&c queen Of Serbia were assassinated
ne palace at Belgrade by officers of the
'0a army. The tragedy was sordid, and
= Us details brutal beyond words. The
@1g and Queen had been killed because
w were tools and mere hired servants
austria, and the killing was the first
y IN freeing Serbia from Austrian
asaiHation.
hereafter incidents followed thick and
- Serbia was and is wholly agricult-
|s -s' It's prosperity depended upon its
ls IN Austria a market for its swine
nuts. In an effort to bring the little
* 70 heel Austria again and again
80 It's frontiers 10 Serbian exports,
pfecipitating the notorious pig
~. But despite this pressure the new
re Peter, Russian in sympathy and
IN -'a by training, stuck to the task OF
amy. anu giving "'i "