New-York tribune., 1916-07-18
Allies Hour Is at Hand,
All England Believes
p.o;nnins of End Seen in Linking of Fronts-Britan
Greater in This War than in Any
Former Struggle.

CS'ermlned, come what may. to fight TO
'he uttcrmost end. They know that
hothlng they can ask will be lacking
from the British side Their reserves
gre oy no means exhausted, and. as |
nave pointed out before. can he both
VNonOm'1ed and supplemented. The
TrStW rrench guns are coming 10 hand
The Russian successes have coma like
a cordial after the long strain. Tn,
Germen idea Of knocking ont France
'hlS year viii prove as futile as last
years dream of knocking out Russio
Italy Now Awake.
=. Italy will not be caught manning
again, and tho awakening of the last
lew weeks Will make her part in the
war even more effective than if the
,h"arted invasion Of Venetia had never
oeen attempted. Upon one point thpre
is. | think. no difference even between
lnterventioniSts and Giolittians. With
OUT the recovery of the Trentno italy
cannot possess the keys Of her own
gates nor be mistress IN her own house.
II Is not possible for her now TO think
/ OF any settlement which does not mean
a complete rcctlication of her present
Aiplne frontier on the Austrian side.
II Is agreed that the surprise of tho
attack from Rovereto and the Val
Sugana ought to have been impossiblo.
ne sleeps and precipices had come TO
De ill guarded just because they seemed
/ 10 be impregnable The default was.
OF course, local and not due TO the Ital-
ian higher command.
inc has been gained. The Russians
nave struck harder than the best our
Southern allies expected, when. in the
! emergency of five weeks ago. they were
hoping. above all. for a Russian diver
sion. The whole Austrian enterprise
mas not only failed. but, by the diver
sion OF men and guns to the wrong
quarter AT critical hour. il has proved
10 he disastrous blunder on the part
OF the Archdukes and General Konrad
Won Hoetzendorf Their hatred of Italy
amounted TO mOnomania and their un-
dereStlmate of that country was eyre
glous. Serious as the menace looked
at hrst. / doubt whether anything since
'he klSorglmento has been quite so
gooG for the spirit of Italy as the test
Whlcn mas been met and withstood in
the Venetian Alps.
The Recovery Of Russia.
3. Brussilof's move and its conse-
| quences were so complete a surprise
and were so evidently FASTENED to help
Italy that we could not at first Judge
/ whether the offensive was as solid and
massive As 1t was generous and brill
liant. Everything we have since
learned. however, impresses us more
definitely with the conviction that
RuSsia's recovery has been even more
Iapid and thorough than had been i'm
aglned by her best friends in the West
The lessons taught by pro- German
. espionage IN the CzardOm in the early
part of the war were bitter, but they
have been learned by heart Until the
hour struck secrecy about Rnssia's
strategical plans and other arrange
ments was marvelouslv we'll kept.
No one expects the Cars armies 10
/ work miracles. Just as was foreseen,
/ they have to meet very heavy thrust
/ indeed in the shape Of an oblaue at
tack from Brest-Litovsk into the Kovel
region. But General Brussiloff is
building up a strong defensive flank on
this side, while strengthening his press
ure against the Austro-German armies
further south. North of the marshes
the Cars other armies are stirring and
Hindenburg is likely to have his own
> hands full.
Meanwhile Brussiloff's guns are com
ing up, and every man in the Russian
! ranks, heartened by the first victories
is bent on surprising the record. The
r Central Empires may develop some
| very formidable movements. but il
they are TO make sure of holding firm
on their Eastern front through the
+ next phase they will have to return to
the defensive in the West But thereby
NAV hang another tale.
In any case. if such things as Cen
eral Brusslof has accomplished are
done in the green wood, what shall be
done In the dry? The Russians will
become stronger for offensive purposes
Even if they were held up now they
would resume, and we think that in
the end, if the war goes on. helped by
the cooperation Of the other Allies,
they will smash both Austria and Tur-
key.
The Armenian Situation.
4. For various reasons we have now
an excellent opinion of the Arme-
nian situation. "Ezerum is the gift
of God" said the Grand Duke to an
English visitor when the great fortress
unexpectedly fell. Ii was a gift to
skill, not to numbers. The Grand Duke
and all who knew the region and the
other military circumstances were
under no illusions. II seemed quite
possible that the Turks within a few
months would be taking the offensive
again with Il strength of two TO one
The Russian front has indeed been
heavily tested, but with few tactical
readjustments il has remained i'm
pregnable.
may be wrong, but rather think
the Turks have already lost their best
chance. If so, every single factor will
turn against them, and sooner or later,
if they stay where they are, they will
get one of the military surprises that
finish not chapter but a volume. The
Arabic revolution and the loss Of
Mecca will have far-reachng conse-
quences throughout the whole Moslem
world.
Rumania and the Balkans.
;. About the Balkans il is better
TO say little at present, but there, too,
the issue seems to be only question
of time. General Sarrail is in the
South. The Russians north of the
Danube have recovered the Bukowina
again and seem likely to keep 1t. The
effect on Bucharest has been, of course,
immediate. The Rumanian government
has seemed likely TO keep out OF the
war altogether. But what If the next
few weeks should prove once for all
that Russia cannot be broken again
and is bound to get stronger and
stronger. Then Rumanla would take
certain decision.
That NAV not come just yet, nor for
months. but think il will come. Cen
eral Sarrail's local task is, OF course,
awkward, but il may prove manageable
now that over one hundred thousand
born Balkan fighters like the Serbs are
added to his army. In any case, theIe
are various lines of approach, ard II
one trenchant stroke does not succeed