Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-07-29


NJ for that attack which in a few
Y the world began to suspect that
ring the great war. Men began to
he fall of Trieste and of Lemberg
les.
of Moldavia and wallachia-fell to the
new be1ligerent
Mackensen Hats Rumanians.
But then came the heavy change. Sud
denly great Turco- Bulgar-German army
from the south Of the Danube, command
ed by the redoubtable Mackensen, who
had won the Dunajec the year before. be-
gan to push forward into the Dobrudta,
driving before it the weak Rumanian
guards. until it passed the railroad line
going from Constanza to Bucharest, and
occupied the province of Dobrud5a,
which had long been the object Of Bal
garian ambition.
Worse was now to follow. Under Fall
kenhayn. who had been succeeded by
Hindenburg as chief of staff. great
German army pushed southwark, de-
feated the Rumanian army in Transyl-
vania heavily, and then suddenly, al
most without warning, burst into the
plains Of Rumania through the Tran
sylvania passes. Almost before the
armies from the south and the north
were encircling Bucharest and routed
Rumanian armies were fleeing east
ward toward Russia, while Ferdinand.
road to exile followed by SO many kings
in this struggle.
There never was any more swift,
sure, decisive victory in military his
tory than that of the Germans over
Rumania. 1t came at a point when
German prospects seemed desperate.
1t was won by heavy artillery against
small guns. 1t was won by veteran
troops against ill-trained recruits. 1t
was won by great nation which had
small nation which had had no war
'training. But nothing could rob it Of
its moral effect. All over the world
the fall of Bucharest was taken as an
tory. at least of the fact that Germany
could not be conquered.
Sarrafl's Effort Feeble.
This Balkan episode was terminated by
a minor effort on the part Of Sarrairs
army from Saloniki, which did, in fact
reach and pass Monastir, but there it
stood and still stands. All hope and posi-
bility that the Balkans had held out for
the allies in 1914 and 1915. and finally
in 1916. when Rnmania came in. had
now vanished. Rumania and Serbia,
mics OF Germany, were in ruins, Serbia
totally in the hands Of the enemy. Ru-
mania for the greater part, and little Mon
tenssro shared the Serbian ruin. Bull
and her armies now occupied provinces
torn from her at Bucharest, and. in addi-
ton. lands long coveted. In Greece all
that the king could do was done for Ger
Greek cities and Greek provinces to the
Bulgar. and King Constantine contem-
plated blow in the rear against SarraIl 4
army at Monastir.
1t was at this time that Germany. choos-
ing her moment with supreme skill. p.o-
posed that there should be peace opening
the way to an end of the conflict which
should not be Improbable for her. But
this German offer was rejected The allies
returned to the war, having clearly fore
| Swallowed determinations fight on until
the Mitteleuropa that Germany had ere.
ated from Berlin to Bagdad and from
| the Mouse to the Dvina was destroyed.
Began U-Boat Warfare.
Failing thus to achieve her end by ne.
| collation. Germany had recourse to her
last remaining weapon. the submarine
| She was now outnumbered in Europa nr
| every front. She was outgunned in the
west. Her material resources were shrink.
| ing at home. Her future economic pros.
| perity was being doomed as one nation
after another entered the coalition agains,
. ]
| arrangements that would last after The
| war. On February 1 Germany announced
| that she purposed to sink all ships with
exceptions that were only illusory. ard
| Tor the United States. humliating The
| German decision meant one thing. /,
meant that the Germans believed that ,nl,
by one method could they win the war
They could no longer win it by military
decisions. although they might be able tc
| hold their lines for long months perhaps
| for years 1t meant that the power o,
the offensive on land having passed away
from them. they would have recourse. tc
| an offensive on the seas
| Hardly had the German decision beer
made when Russia was temporarily
eliminated from the war by an interna,
| revolution which shook to the very hot
tom all her social and military oreani.
cations, and the entrance of the United
States into the war April could moi
seem to the Germans to be a counter.
poIse Tor the retirement Of Russia.
In April OF this year Germany coulf
again expect. II not the triumph looked
tor at the. beginning Of the war, II
not the decision expected at Verdun
still a substantial victory following 3
separate peace with Russia and proceed
ing the time when the United State.
, could arrive with new arms on the field
of battle. And there was throuvhou,
Germany a profound optimism. in tn,
miost OF misery. passed upon the hop,
held out by the submarine program and
by the prospect of a separate neac,
with Russia
Change in Western Front.
What has happened since we al
know. AS the campaigning season an
preached and the German army wa
forced to retire from Arras to scissors
giving over the ground Threatened h,
the British and the French offensive a
the Somme - threatened primarily b,
the expansion of the British lines an,
by the never-ending intensity of Brit
ish artillery pounding--we saw at las
an actual and considerable change o,
the western front. Nearly a thousan,
square miles of French territory wer
evacuated. and there was forwar,
move OF the allies unequaled since tn
Marine.
Yet the limits of this gain were clear
ly indicated. By leaving a distric
} FROM ten TO fifteen miles deep the Ger