New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-07-06
July Prospects. |.

prospects IN the greatest OF iii COHliS'9'
AT the outset of such a review it is well
and necessary TO note that June has been
the most dismal of all months for the
Allies since the German advance was
halted at the Marine, and German military
genius has never shone more brilliantly
than in recent weeks.
The causes for obvious depression in all
the Allied capitals are patent. The defeat
of the Russians and their election from
Galicia. the failure Of Kitchener's army to
develop that Spring Drive so much ad-
vertised, and by contrast the complete COM
petence displayed by greatly smaller Ger
man forces in holding back the Allies in
the west, the deadlock or worse at the Oar
danelles, the absence of any considerable
results flowing from Italian Intervention,
these may be accepted as the chief causes
for the present pessimism in Allied quar-
ters.
Now in forming any estimate Of the real
as contrasted with the apparent condition
of things it is essential first to avoid any
semblance of minimizing the extent and
the reality of the German successes in the
war to date. We are now approaching the
end of the first year, and there is every
prospect that when the anniversary comes
the Germans will have cleared the Rus
slams out of Austrian territory, while they
will retain in France, in Belgium, in Po-
land territory before the war the home Of
upwards of 100000 of people, including
the great industrial regions of Belgium,
France and Russia and the even more
valuable mineral districts in France and
Belgium.
Since the Napoleonic Wars there has
been no such achievement by any nation.
1t is true that to this end Austria has con-
tributed much, but on the other hand the
conflict opened with an Austrian collapse,
and Austria's real effective service has
come only since German officers and Ger
man organization have supplanted Aus
TRAN. The present admirable resistance
at the Dardanelles is also directly to be
ascribed to the work Of German COM
manders.
It is well then to accept the fact that so
far the success and the achievement have
been German. Assailed by three great
and two small states, to which q fourth
great power has lately been added, with
the seas closed 10 her and having as allies
two nations whose incoherency has become
proverbal, whose military history stretch
ing over recent centuries has been little
more than a monotonous record Of defeat,
Germany has not merely held her own, she
has carried the contest to alien soil ON all
frontiers, she has conquered Belgium, half
of Russian Poland and is stretching out
her mailed fist toward the other half.
Again, taking up in detail the four
causes of Allied depression mentioned a
moment ago, their reality is equally I'M
mistakable. The Russian reverse In Cali
cia has been achieved by the greatest cam
paign since the Germans made their mi
tial drive at Paris. In few weeks some
$4,000 square miles of territory have been
cleared Of Russian armies, several hun
bred thousands of Russian soldiers have
been killed or wounded or captured The
Russian menace on the frontiers of Hun
gary has been abolished. If the success
came too late to prevent Italy from enlist
ing, it has avaled to keep Rumania nou-.
trail, to give the necessary force to the Ger
man diplomacy at Sofia, at Athens, at
Bucharest 1t is not too much to say that
Germany has saved both Constantinope
and Budapest by victories on the San and
the Dniester.
But here it is essential to emphasize the
first limitation in the German success
When one man or one nation undertakes
to fight several it is absolutely necessary
that he should obtain decision over one
or two Of his enemies promptly. Napoleon
in his long series Of wars frequently de-
feated the other European nations in de-
tail. When, at last, he had to face them
combined finally furnished with armies
on his own, he succumbed. The
real limitation to the German campaign
in Gaicia so far is that it has missed a
decision, how narrowly we do not know. /
More than this the German official bulle-
tins are the best evidence that the Russian
resistance has steadily stiffened and the
huge captures Of the early days have
ceased.
In war of the present sort occupation
# territory is Of small actual value from