Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1916-11-12

large. but unmistakab BILE, still being
| made on wide front.
| Bucharest Joins the War.
! The successes of the Russians. the
Franco British forces and the Italians
had it's effect in Rumania. and Bucha-
rest joins the war. The result is this:
| A great army, with which the Germans
had been preparing to strike Russia
and regain the lost ground and pres
| tige of the summer campaign. is drawn
| off against Rumania. 1t wins material
victories, it clears Pennsylvania, par
TALLY occupied for moment by Ru-
mania. while a Turko-Bulgar army
| under Mackensen sweeps into the Do
| brudja and takes ConstanZa.
| Here Is the only considerable Ger
man success. 1t wards off deadly
blow in shining fashion. But II Ru-
mania suffers Russia profits and the
/ to be abandoned; the Russian successes
| in the summer stand. More than this,
for the moment, at least, the German
Transylvanian army under Falkennayn
| is stopped; II it remains checked the
net effect will be that Germany and
| Austria have seen 400 miles added to
| the front they must guard with In
| ferior numbers and resources against
/
material.
Americans can find a good parallel
for the Rumanian incident in the fol-
lowing: Suppose that in the second
year of the civil war the north had per-
suaded Mexico to attack the Confed-
eracy Suppose that Lee had sent
Long.treet to meet the new thrust and
he had won shining victory and
driven the Mexicans back over the
Rio Grande out Of Texas. which they
r.
tion of the Mexican coasts. including
Vera Cruz Such a success would have
abolished a new danger; 1t would have
ENCOURAGED the south and depressed
the north but 1t would have weaken
ed the south by just the number of
men and the amount of material ex-
pended in the successful campaign. 1t
would have still further weakened the
south If it remained necessary to leave
Longstreet with his troops along the
Rio Grande.
Mistakes That Remain Incredible.
The measure of the victory over Ru-
mania is the measure of the danger
warded off 80 far as the central
powers are concerned. The measure of
the allied defeat is the extent to which
a great opportunity to win a sweeping
victory had been lost through mistakes
foolish thing to reckon that the Ru-
manian defeat has deprived the allies
of all the profit Of Rumanian interven-
ton. 1t has done nothing Of the sort.
On the contrary, If Rumania is not en-
tirely conquered the ultimate profit
will be to the allies, because a new
demand will thus be made upon Ger
man resources by the opening of new
front which must be permanently man
ned In the same way, Russia will have
escaped a new blow and will have had
time to prepare for thrust. II one
comes later.
Finally. to round out the score, Treb-
izond and ErZerum in Asia Minor have
been captured by the Russians. together
with most of Turkish Armenia. and this
much more than counterbalances the
British disaster at Kut-el-Amara, which
led to the surrender Of 10000 troops
mainly native.
II one is 80 measure the results upon
! the map one will say that Russia has
taken all of Bukowina, with much
of eastern Galicia; she has taken Ger
nowith. stanislau, Kolomea: she has re-
taken in her own territories the fort
resses of Lutsk and Dubno: she has lost
nothing anywhere. and in Asia she has
taken Erzerum and Trebizond.
France Regains Few Square Miles.
France has reeained a few square
miles Of territory only. substracting the
losses before Nerdun from the gains in
the Somme. but she has beaten off the
second great attack. which threatened
her with destruction. Italy has taken
Gorilla and drawn near to Trieste,
while repulsing the Trentine drive. Brit
ain has continued her systematic con-
| quest of German East Africa, the last
| and best of German colonies, now al
most completely conquered.
! To balance this what has Germany
| achieved? With Bulgaria and Austria
she has overrun the Dohrudja, she has
occupied perhaps 5000 square miles of
| Rumanian territory and the city of
| Constanza. With her allies she has
! repulsed the allied armies aiming north
| from Saloniki and the Rumanian ar
much of Trans lvania Certainly on
| this statement there is no mistaking
| the fact that the campaign of 1916 be-
longs to the allies on points. to use the
| prize-ring parlance. always conceding
| that there has been no knockout and
| that no knockout is in sight
I Yet the really important thing In not
| the territory occupied. but the ques-
| ton OF human resources. Neither the
! Russian advance in Galicia nor the
Mackensen drive in the Dobrudja can
| be compared with the effect of other
circumstances upon the progress and
| prospects Of the war The most sig
| nificant thing about the year 1915 is
that it has seen the arrival of Britain.
| speaking in the military sense
! In the campaign of 1914 the British
tnever had 10000 in line at one time
and their losses must have been close
| to $4,000. In the campaign of 1915 the
| British may have had 100000. but the
troops had very small tactical value.
| as was proved first at Neuve Chapelle
and then at Loos. All through the
| French operations in Artois the British
| were unable to render effective aid.
and they lacked both guns and mu-
nitions all through this time.
EngIand's Vast Army.
| But in the campaign of 1916 the Brit
ish have had upward of 100000 in
line and they have approximately
100000 trained reserves behind them.
They have heavy artillery that sur
passes both the French and the German
and their supply of munitions Is rap
idly mounting to the point which in
| sures them permanent superiority over
the Germans in their front. Moreover.
the army which now faces the Ger
mans is not at its highest point of
efficiency. despite the fact that German
generals have testified to its progress
Not before tn campaign Of 1917 shall
| we see the British army at Its best.
Beside this development the entrance
of Rumania il of small momAnt for