New-York tribune., 1916-02-06
Italv's Failure and Self
ishne SIS Have Had
Serious Results
for Her.
Rv FRANK H. SIM0NDS,
Author Of The Great War

Tho prac,ical extinction Of Montenegrin
..s.,sr6erce. following closely upon the
'.-,,e.. Of Serbia. marks very long step
.,ss Austrian part toward that suprem-
49, 3, the Near East which is one Of the
-..~ issues Of the Great War. In the
....,o for the supremacy Of the Adriauc
s.r as IL was duel between the ital-
.... and .he Austrians. Italy scored first
+. landing her troops at Nalona in the
,,,rirr weeks Of the war, while she was
..n neutral; but now Austrian armies
~, srproachirr the last foothold Of Italy
IN ,te ess, shore Of the Adriatic, and
,.,,,s and Sa,orica are all that is left of
Allied power ia Che Balkans.
!. anv treaty Of peace that is to come
,.-sefter the question Of the Adriatic must
NAV considerable part. For Italy and
i,- Austria it will be the main problem;
.o- Austria J, Is. in fact, question Of life
or death. It is. then, a good time to take
1-ief survey Of the conditions and the
,s,,., history in this corner Of the Near
rss. Such a survey viii serve to explain
vs,. has been the object Of Austria in
Ier latest campaign.
The Southern Slsvs
The eastern shore Of the Adriatic, with
.. ..irmeiiate mnter,and-thatis.t is. the coun-
,v stretching back as far as the Drave
And the Danube-forms a solid block Of
yav territory on any chronological map
I, Serbia. Montenegro, the Hungarian
provinces Of Croatia and Slavonia. the
Austrian provinces Of Dalmatia, lstria.
Csrniols and Styria and the Aastro-Hun-
garian provinces Of Bosnia anc Here
royina live some 100000 people, more
than 100000 Of whom are Slav. They
belong to three branches Of the Southern
Slay family, the Serbs, the Croats and the
Sloyenes. Collectively they are known as
the Jugo-Slsys.
The differences between the Serb and
the Croat are exceedingly slight, save only
in religion, the Croats being Roman Cath
cics and the Serbs Greek Catholics. The
Sloyenes are separated by more consider
able difference IN language, but are still
really Of the same stock and are included
in The Southern Slav propaganda.
Of these three divisions the Serbs were
Independent and self-governing through d
very long period Of years prior to the
coming Of the Turk and for many years
since he retired. in Montenegro there
saye always been districts that did not
acknowledge the Turk. Again, the little
Ser5oLat.n republic of Ragusa for long
7eais kept alive the intellectual tradition
q the Serbs Bosnia, Montenegro, Serbia
as j; existed before the Balkan Wars,
Macedonia, Albania and much Of Bulgaria
ai' Greece have at one time and another
zen included in this Southern Slav state.
The Southern Slav problem has been
rsa'ed by the gradual growth Of an agi-
a-on communicated from the free Serbs
q Montenegro and Serbia to the Serbs
Nd Croats subject to Austria and 70
Hungary for a refrigeration Of the whole
southern Slav race and the creation on
ne eastern shore of the Adriatic Of
A'ong and united Slav state. That the So
'snes, who inhabit the country back Of
'Hs;ie, have ever had any strong Pan
'a' Sympathies seems doubtful; their
~A'ical activity has been restricted TO
'Iong anti-Italian movement, which has
Nea encouraged by the Austrian govern
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