The Mena weekly star., 1918-02-14
RUSSIA NOW OUT
 OF THE WORLD WAR
DemobiIizati0n of Armies on All Fronts Is Ordered by BOlshevili Government-Elistory of SIav
 Part in Conflict.

an end and has ordered the demobi- 1 ization of Russian forces on all l fronts, according to a dispatch re- ceived here today dated Brest-Lit- ovsk on Sunday.
 The dispatch follows:
 The president of the Russian del- egation at today's (Sunday's) sitting, 1 stated that, while Russia was desist- ing from signing formal peace treaty, it declared the state of war 10 be ended with Germany, Austria Hungary, Turkey and Bulgaria, sim nltaneously giving orders for com piete demobilization of Russian 1 forces on all fronts"
 Another dispatch tells of the sign 1 ing of the treaty.
 Russia steps formally out of the war by act of the Bolsheviki gov ernment, which seized the reins of power in Petrograd last November | and almost immediately began peace negotiations with the central pow CTS. Authority of this government now seems virtually unquestioned in northern Russia and the Teu- tonic powers have already assured ahe cessation of even nominal hos tiities along virtually all the re- mainder of the original long line in the east by signing peace with the | Ukraine and isolating Rumania. AL though cutting little figure in the war for nearly a year past. Russia's | great indeed vital part i'll the con- flict. comes foreibly to mind as the circumstances leading up to her exit i are reviewed.
 Early Victories
 Becoming a belligerent on August 1, 1914, through Germany's declara- ti0n of war upon her, her troops i were soon sweeping through East Prussia, creating diversion which l hampered the Germans in their first dash through Belgium. Though dis astrously defeated by Hindenburg at Tannenburg. she rallied, and hv ] winter, was hammering again at the German borders and her great arm ies, oyerrunning Austria territory Hi Galicia, were at the crest of the Car pathians and threatening -an inva- sion of Hungary.
 Some Terrible Defeats
 It took the bulk of the Austrian 1 armies and large proportion of sGermanys virtually an entire years 1, campaigning in 1915 to break Rus sia's hold on Galicia, drive her out of Poland and the lower Baltic ter Hrit0ry and force her armies under 1 FGrand Duke Nicholas, back to the | 12ine of which Brest-Litovsk, scene l sof the recent peace negotiations, | sformed the keystone. Beaten back | 5 but not yet disorganized, she fought i sahrough 1916 creating great havoc | samong the Austrian armies in Vol shynia and Galieia and in Asia Minor, | .driving the Turks out of virtually | Aall Turkish Armenia.
 Then the Revolution
 The opening of the last year, how lever, found Russia under the old Bureaucratic regime, virtually atl the end of her tether. Her oppress- ed war worn people were ripe for fhe revolution, the latest flame Of (which German propagandists had skillfully famed, and i'll March, I i9i7, came the crash, the deposition of Emperor Nicholas and the foun- | Tation of the first provisional gov Frnment, The conservative element among the revolutionists first held Sway. and determination of Russia to Temain in the war was frequently | affirmed. Indeed. under kerensky,l as minister of war, her armies ln July 1917, began an offensive in Nol- hynia and Galicia which was in full- fide of success under General korn- 1lof when the fatal disease of dis affection among her troops. which Tor some time had been manifest, Droke out epidemically and stopped 44he effort.
 Only Passive Factor
 since August last, Russia has fig Nred in the great world conflict as mllItary factor only by reason that *he still held numbers of German and Austrian troops on her front Aers, awaiting the forces of disor fanizati0n within to bring about her Hnal disintegration. This process, Struggled against in vain by Keren sky as premier through summer and *arly fall of last year, was constant N accelerated by virtue of the di- Nlded authority set up at Petrograd Ihe Council of Soldiers and Work Ingmen, representing the pfoletar- aa and claiming virtually supreme | power, systematically antagonized | Ihe constituted government. elamor- mg for the opening of peace nego- nallons and finally, in November hst' formally took over the power | ~ had long, in fact, exercised.
 Peace Negotiations
 The rest is comparatively recent History. Under Lenine and Trotsky, an armistice was brought about on all Russian fronts on December 4, zHnd peace negotiations with thel fentral powers were opened att Brest-Litovsk on December g. The central empires agreed to adhere to Ihe general principal of no annexa- tions, 10 indemnities and self-deteT- mination of peoples, and there was