The daily banner. (Cambridge, Md.) 1897-2008, 1918-09-25
Abandoned With Hope,
Lett To Despair

In March last Germany planned to
force a final decision on the western
I front before the year was out. There
was no nonsense about her concen-
tration of forces for the one great
object. She could ignore the side
! shows" Her business was in France
and nowhere else. If she weakened
the Bulgarian front in Macedonia by
the transfer of her supporting troops
to the west, the difficulties of terrain
there would prevent any serious and
permanent break in her ally's line.
a reverse might indeed be invited;
but of what Importance would it be
to PROSTATE England and France?
Turkey could be abandoned, too. If
=, Palestine were taken, it would be on
! ly technically and temporarily. Local
sacrifices there might be. But it was
on the great throw in the west that
the Central Powers staked their all
principal and vassals alike.
For three years, it must be admit
ted, Germany had given her weak al
! lies magnificent support. Their adj
vantage to her was political and eco
nomic. She had to help them enough
to keep them going. But what did
she repay to Turkey, in military aid,
commensurate with the tremendous
and, for her, aim ost bloodless victory
I h al, 81
the Dardanelles? What did she re-
pay the Bulgaria, commensurate with
the gradual relieving of all the pres
sure on the eastern front, the ability
to set pawns to watch paWns there,
without more tax upon herself than
was needed to maintain her under
! lings in just "a bare superiority of
strength over their opponents? But
when the final test was on she could
bid them shift for themselves for the
moment, assured that whatever might
happen in Macedonia or Syria, the
fate of the Balkans and Turkey lay,
with Germany's own, before Paris
( and the channel ports-and these
were going to be taken.
The plan worked we'll the first part
of the summer Had Germany kept
going, Allenby's physical conquest of
Palestine would have been as ephem-
eral, so far as peace terms are con-
cerned, as is the Teuton hold on Rus
STA today. The spoils will go to the
victor in the main arena, not in the
| little ones. But the situation in Tur-
key and Bulgaria changes greatly
when, after withdrawing her military
support from them in their own real
behalf as we'll as her own, she is her
self so hard pressed that she cannot
return it at a time when disaster can
not be lightly borne because of hope
of the outcome elsewhere.
1t made little practical difference.
| it probably affected morale in Con-
stantinople and Sofia very slightly,
whether local campaigns were won
or lost, provided victory on the grea-
ter fields seemed assured. But with
fortunes waning, with the master
country itself fighting with its back
against the wall to stave off collapse
as long as possible, what becomes of
/ all the pooled interests that so long
/ held Bulgaria and Turkey to the
Kaiser?
! The Allied victories on the Vardar
I and in Palestine are normal results
of the campaign in the west. Ger
many left her colleagues to shift for
| themselves a little while. Now she
cannot get back to them. 1t is not
the fact of the victories, but the fact
that she cannot get back to them that
what they lose henceforth is lost for
good, with direct and particular
consequences to themselves which
makes Bulgaria and Turkey shudder.
! The German defeat in the west has
pretty nearly dissolved the pool, and
from that to sauve qui peut is but
step.
Moscow has new revolution.
They seem to be springing up over
night now in Russia like weeds after
rain.
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