New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-08-29
Rumania Enlists.

war moment conceivably as slgnlncaht as
that in which Austria cast her lot with the
other Allies fighting still victorious Ma
poleon in 1918. Then the whole world knew
that Austrian statesmen had concluded
that Napoleon would be beaten; now the
whole world will conclude that Rumaman
statesmen. under no compulsion to enter
the war. having long held back at other
moments that seemed propitiOus, have con-
cluded that the defeat of the Central Pow
ers is inevitable.
It is impossible, then, to eXaggerate the
moral effect Of Rumania's decision. 1t is
not that it will have an influence in Athens
that may be decisive; Greece now becomes
minor detail, and aside from Greece
there are no more nations that can con-
ceivab!v be involved in the war. Rather It
is the meaning that the incident will have
in Berlin. in Vienna, in Budapest, IN Soma
and in Constantinople.
Nor can one fail to feel the immense lift
that the Rumanian action, following the
Italian declaration of war upon Germany,
will have in Allied capitals and among the
nations which for nearly year have fought
on with only in recent weeks the first sign
of Frightening horizons. Go back year
and the contrast is obvious. In August,
1915. Warsaw fell; beaten Russian armies
were falling back from the Rumanian from
tier to the Gulf of Riga, leaving hundreds
of thousands of prisoners behind them;
Bulgaria was preparing to enter the camp
Of the Central Powers. The Dardanelles
expedition was failing dismally the West
crn deadlock was neither broken nor was
there any promise Of break.
But now after a full year how great is
the change! 1t is not Bulgaria entering
the German camp and Greece repudlating
her Serbian pledge; it is not long series
Of German Victories still without period; it
is not disaster and disorganization IN
Allied councils that meet the eye. In
stead we have Rumania at last inside the
Allied camp and Greece on the point Of
entering to save her own territory. We
have Italy at last a full partner IN the
anti-German alliance, and we have nearly
three months of steady Allied success in
which Austria has again been brought to
the edge of ruin.
So much for the moral effect; now for
the military consequences Of Rumania
entrance. We perceive now an explana-
ton for the sudden cessation Of Russian
activity on the Dniester and the Zlota Lipa.
Two weeks ago the Russian armies were in
full cry for Lemberg; then almost without
notice the whole Galician field passed out
Of the Russian statements and we began to
hear of Russian pressure in the Carpa-
thans.
Obviously it was at this time that Ru-
manian decision was made, and the drive at
Lemberg ceased 10 have any more value,
because it was primarily designed to move
Bucharest. Then began the suggestion
that Russia was collecting an army for
use in the Balkans, and new Bulgarian
activity about Salonica suggested final
effort to convince Rumania that the Allied
army here was powerless. We know now
that this failed.
Unquestionably Bulgaria now has to
from the Dobrudja, where she has an open
frontier. The Turkish troops that have
been stat oned here for many months are
to-day fighting before Lemberg. The mass
of the Bulgarian troops are in the south of
Macedonia and the bulk Of Austrian and
German troops in the Balkan Peninsula
have been recalled to Galicia and lstria.
Thus upon Bulgaria falls the main burden
of making head against 100000 Allied
troops in Salonica and not less than 25O,-
600 on the north.
This was the situation that Bulgaria
faced in the Second Balkan War. 1t
brought ruin and the loss of most of all
she had won in the First Balkan War.
viii she risk second fight against such
odds or will she now change sides? If she
risks the fight and is beaten. as seems in
evitable. her territory will be occupied and
the railroad line between Berlin and Con-
stantinople will be cut. If she changes
sides. the result will be the same. And the
cutting of this line will isolate Turkey.
The German success in the Balkans was
the one great disaster to Allied fortunes
and the one shining Teutonic success 1t
gave Germany something that she could
claim as a prize in war that had else
where reached situation where the status
quo ante seemed the best basis for peace
attainable. 1t fulfilled all the colossal Ger
man dream of an empire extending from
Berlin to Bagdad and place in the sun
beyond the reach of jealous sea power.
An invasion Of Hungary by Rumania
may be delayed; the frontier Of Hungary
is quite comparable to the Trentine front,
and it may be possible for few Hungar-
ians TO hold the passes of the Transylvan-
ian Alps; but Rumsnia's decision opens a
new front. it demands new armies, and 1t