Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1916-01-06
TIE EUROPEAN WAR

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The wear 1915 has h,er SO iistinc-
two from q history making yiowpoin'
the In all the ages 10 come 1t will
s,t,d anurt from those that Gave pre-
ceded II and from those which are
8" follow DurinS It's entire iongth.
tn. Frcate- nations Of the Euroneap
cont!nsr. Lave abandoned Themselves
TO po.tcy Of bloodshed which has
fallen littl, short o: delirium. 10
the neutral onlooker It has been a re-
viva! or huge scale Of the lrration-
81 ond murderous activity which char
scterized tho earlier ages Of mankind
II has been the complete overthrow OF
ell the pac'fc theories which mad ep-
parent,y gained go strong foothon
al the tina OF the firing OF the first
gun in the presen: conflict
Az tho beginning Of the year, 1t was
evidsn. that 4. was TO he struggle
TO the death. II was plain that IN"
Teuton., plan to force speedy set
iemena by dirt o. superior armed
preparedness had fsile1. ST. months
had elapsed AMI the Teutoi;ic allies
we're still faced by three grea. ma
tions, theig strength unbrcken anc
their determination iufleXibic. Aus
tria had been driven repeatedly ny her
Russian invaders and twice the Serbs
had routed Austrian armies sent
against them. On other fields, also.
Teutonic efforts had been futile. Thus
far Turkey had been of little assist
ance and the holy war had failed to
come into being. German Southwest
Africa had been lost and German in
fluence In Asia had been smothered
by the Japanese.
As an offset, the Germans still held
practically all the conquered territory
which had fallen into their hands.
Their lines still held firmly in Pe-
land. in Flanders and in France. 1t
was apparent that as yet the Teutonic
combination showed no sign OF weak
ening. and a war of attrition seemed
inevitable. Both in the east and
In the west the military operations
Of the early part of the year were
practically without decisive result.
The fighting in Poland had resolved
itself into a complete deadlock. 10
January, the French-Eng!ish combine
made three attempts to break the
Teutonic hold on French territory, but
accomplished little. The German I'M
successful drive at Warsaw and the
rout OF the Austrians in Galicia left
slight balance in the January lighting
In favor OF the allies.
From a strictly military viewpoint.
February was promising month for
the Teutonic allies. by the middle OF
the month. German troops were adj
vancing all along the front from
the Vistula to the Niemen, and thus,
seven months after the breaking out
OF the war. German soil was practi-
cally cleared Of it's Russian invaders
THE deadlock on the western front
was still unbroken.
Scene Shifts to Dardanelles.
With the advent Of March. there
came a sudden and dramatic change
IN the war situation. The scene OF
military activity was shifted TO the
Dardanelles. BY the third week OF
the month, Rome Athens, Sofia anc
bucharest were centers of great po
lltical activity. The surrender o
Przemysl, March %, was the mos
stirring victory for the allies since thu
battle OF the Marine. The German
assertion that the military power o
Russia had dwindled into insignih
canoe was disproved at once and TIT
allied cause gained instant strength il
all the neutral capitals. One of thu
greatest strongholds in Europe hat
been taken by the Russians.
Tho disaster to the allied fleet a
the Dardanelles. which occurred dur
ing the third week OF March, put al
end to the expectation OF forcing tn
straits by naval means alone. Gel
man prestige advanced perceptibl,
and the difficulty of the task under
taker by the allied fleet was now III
dev,tood, Ir this month, also, tn
british won the battle OF Neuv
Chap@ts after bloody fight,
lr Aptil the French made a boil
offensive stroke against the Germa
position between the Meuse and tn
Moselle--the fampus st, Mihiel wedg
---0hiot resulted in a tremendous los
OF men on both sides. With snail az
vantage for either. Nowhere had tn
allies mace appreciable gain in tie
Yito-y The invader held his ow
stubbor,Iy and with success. Abo,
the middle of the monIl, Zeppelin
nAde their appearance over Englie
towas, inspiring great interes. and M
little apprehension, but doing cor
psratively small damage. About tn
time also, the attempted suDmarir
blockade OF the British coast prove
to DO ineffective. In the closing da,
. OF the month another great Teuton
offc,sive swept against the allied lin
IN gslgium, thrusting the enemy ba
vpon Ypres, with great loss O; life
both sides.
Ia May the Germans sen; their be
trccps to the aid of tho hal
pressed Austrians. Ely the middle
the month they had worked ST
ting change in the situation. Pr
mysl was retaken. the Russian ca
palm in Galicia was shatterfi u
the czar's armies were soon ba
where they started out in the previo
September. Russia had suffered t
greatest disaster In the war. A n