Evening star., 1915-12-31

complete. The great Teutonic drive
was brought to a halt.
Revival of Military Activity.
The month of October marked a de-
cided revival of military activity on all
fronts. After a long period of COM
paratiEe quiet in the west, a desperate
| offensive movement was made by the
allies. The French drive at Champag gne
was one of the bloodiest attempts yet
made to pierce the German lines. After
| three weeks of inceSsant gun fire, the
French troops left their trenches. Sep
| tember 25, and rushed the whole of the
| first German line. Nearly 10000 Ger
| man prisoners were captured, and up
ward of hundred field guns, thus far
the greatest single capture by the
! French curing the war. But the Ger
| mans were not compelled to relinquish
any great amount of territory. In Ar
| tots the allies did not succeed in break
ing through the German lines. but Sc
cured some coveted positions at an ap-
palling cost.
| This brief period Of allied success
was followed by an unexpected turn
OF political affairs in the Balkans. For
| a second time the Greek king showed
| his lack of sympathy with the allies.
| In the spring he had prevented Veni-
|
| of the allies. from sending troops to
| the Dardanelles. Now, when the allies
were depending upon the Greeks to
| hold the Bulgarians in check, Constan-
| tine declined again to act.
Bulgaria Joins the Fray.
| Bulgaria announced her intention to
cast her lot with the central powers
and the latter opened a campaign hav-
1 int T,,r ri oh iaF
jective. October 10 the Germans cross
| ed the Danube. and proceeded to ad-
vance southward, every step contested
i furiously by the outnumbered Serbs
France, England and Italy declared
war on Bulgaria. All at once the CEN
ter of military activity was transfer
red to the Balkans.
In November both the long-expected
allied offensive in the west and the
Teutonic drive in the east came prac-
tically to an end. The allies failed to
break the stubborn German lines, and
only achieved possible moderate sue
cess in Champagne and Artois at tre-
mendous cost. By the middle of the
month. military operations in Russia
were practically at a standstill, the
Germans having failed to accomplish
the object of their campaign. At that
time the big German drive to the
Golden Horn began to monopolize the
nary invasion of Serbia by the Teutonic
allies-now including Bulgaria-was
begun with notable promptness In
fact, as early as October 27 the invad-
part of the kingdom; by November l
kraguyevatz, the chief Serbian arsenal,
had fallen. and by November the
Bulgarians were in Nish. Serbia's pro-
BY November 10 1T was announced that
the invading armies held four -fifths of
Serbia. and toward the close of the
month, Germany declared semi-offi-
cially that the campaign was over.
Since May "a. when the Italian army
crossed the Austrian frontier, the fight
ing has been continuous, especially
along the Isonzo front. The strongly
fortified and stubbornly-defendedt town
of Gorilla was the Italian objective for
weeks. In October :he Austrian aero
planes dropped bombs upon Venice, de-
stroying art specimens and dana ging
a church. The Italian liner Ancona,
bound for New York, was sunk by a
submarine flying the Austrian flag No.
vember 8. More than a hundred pas
sengers were killed, including several
Americans. On November is the United
States called upon Austria Hungary
for an explanation and disavowal. On
December IA, the retreat of the allies
| over the Grecian boundary was made
| successfully.
| At the approach Of the new year The
| be as remote as ever. Nothing decisive
| has been accomplished and none of the
belligerents seems ready to yield.
There has already, among all the par
| ticipants in the struggle, been mani
tested an unshaken purpose to utilize
| the brief respite which the winter
| months may bring in exhaustive
preparation for renewed military activ-
! ity when spring opens.
| The War and the United States.
| Strictly neutral as has been the policy
elected by this country. the govern
ment has been brought face to face
with many serious problems which
have arisen from the conduct of the
J European war. One of these was the
| seizure and detention by Great Britain
of vessels carrying American goods to
neutral ports in Europe. A protest
was made by Washington. and ON Jam
uary 10 Great Britain replied by offer
ing reasonable redress for any mistake
| of that nature. In the latter part of
the month Secretary Bryan found il
| necessary officially to deny twenty
| specific charges made by German SYM
| pathizers of discrimination against the
Teutonic allies in international situa-
| tions.
| Early in February Great Britain de-
cided to seize grain and -four shipments
| to Germany, even If intended for nom
combatants. and. two days later GER
many declared the waters around Great
! Britain and Ireland to be war zone
and announced her purpose to destroy
| every enemy merchant vessel discoy-
| cred therein. Neutrals were warned
| of the danger sure to follow. On Febru-
airy the Atlantic liner Lusitania made
the passage from New York to Liver
pool flying the American nag as a pro-
lection against hostile submarines On
February 10 the United States sent
notes to Germany and Great Britain
concerning American shipping in the
war zone. Germany was warned
against committing a breach of the
rules of naval warfare. and Great
Britain was reminded that serious con-
| sequences might follow the use of the
| American flag by British vessels On
February Is Germany offered to with
draw from her crusade against British
merchant ships IL the British would
permit the sending of food to the
civilian population Of Germany. On the
same day the British government
seized the American ship Wilhelmina.
bound for German port, with wheat
Tor civilian consumption.
} The German note in reply to the
American protest against the subma :
rine blockade disclaimed all responsi-
bility. Great Britain affirmed lis in
tention to send the Wilhelmina TO a
| prize court. In replies to Inquiries
from the Washington government
neither Germany nor Great Rritsin
|