Norwich bulletin., 1917-09-03
THE WAR PRIMER By National Geographic Society.


 | armies hammering at the gates of it's defence on the north. and with Central Power forces attacking on the south, Moldavia, the northern wing of Ru- 1 mania, which lies between the Car oathians on> the west and the Pruth River on the east. promises to become a theatre of unusual war interest in the week Immediately ahead. The following bulletin. issued here by the National Geographic Society, gives to those following the course of the war from a geographic standpoint a pie ture that will enable them the better to interpret forthcoming movements in that part of the great chessbCard of the world war:
 'Moldavia, the north wing of the Butterfly shaped kingdom ot Rouma : n1a. has approximately one-fourth of the population and one-fourth of the area of that country. the population being little less than two and a quarter million and the area a little less than 15.0SQ square miles. To the west of it lies Pennsylvania. and the Austrian crown land of Bukowina, To the east lies BessarabiaJ with the river Pruth marking the boundary the en- tire distance. On the south is Wal lach1a, the other wing of the Rounan- ian kingdom.
 ''The Sereth river divided Moidavia sections, flowing the entire length of the prin- cipality along the foothills of the Car 2athian mountains. Eastern MoIdavia composed mainly of the high plateau wing between the Pruth and the Se- reth. is approximately PTS miles long fifty miles. Western Moldavia is en- tirely mountainous. the crest of the Carpathians forming the boundary be- tween it and Austria Hungary. Gen. he battle line on the south stretches from the intersection of the Pruth and the Sereth rivers with the Danube, through F'ocshani and to the noun tains.
 There are more railroads in Mol david than are usually found in south eastern Europe. One line enters along with the Sereth from Bukowina, and parallels that river>ail the way 10 Foe shani. Another line enters throueh the Carpathians from Pennsylvania by way of the GyimeS Pass. and forms a junction with the Sereth river line some thirty miles above Fecshani. A third line follows in a general way northern end of Mo'davia to it's con- f1uence with the Danube Ir addition to these there are several branch lines running at right angles to the main for the movement of troops in any de- sired direction.
 '"The history of the principality of Moldavia is of striking interest. It was founded about the middle of the 14th century by the Wallach Voivode Bogden. It Soon grew to be a large state, embracing the present Moldavia. Bukowina, and Bessarabia. Poland and Hungary were both rivals for ia. vor at the MoIdavian court, with nei- ther able permanently to assert its over1ordship. Stephen the Great ruled Moldavia from 1457 to 1504. and defied the Turks. winning a signal victory ever them at Rakova in 1475. Grad uallv growing stronger. however, the Moslems succeeded again. under Ste phen the Greats successor, in estab- fishing their mastery.
 Although the Turks never settled the country, they proceeded to build fortresses. and thus managed to hold their ground.
 Up to 1921 the country was gov erned by hospodars appointed by the Sultan from the families of Greek aris- tocrats. Tn that year native princes were once~more made to head the gov ernment but in 1929. Russia having gained a victory over Turkey was accorded a protectorate over Molda- via under the tre1-y of Adrfanople. This treaty was terminated by the Crinean war and tho treaty of Paris. Thereafter. the powers agreed to st up the two municipalities of Moldavia and Wallachia. which in their turn decided, in 1s59-61. that they would