Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1918-11-20

though the power Of the bolshevik1 u
rapidly waning.
Italy, Once Defeated, TrIumphs.
Italy. declaring that the terms Of
the Triple Alliance had been violated
by Austria, entered the war on the
side OF the allies on May q, 1916.
Turkey had gone in with Germany be-
fore the war was three months old,
and Bulgaria cast her lot with the
Teutons In October. 1915. The for
tunes Of the Italians were spectacular.
They won over the Austr1ans for 4
long time and invaded the regions Of
Italia 1rridenta along the Adriatic,
threatening Trieste. Then subtle
Teuton propaganda, coupled with de-
feattst work at home. brought disaster
on them. Helped by German divisions.
the Austrians made 4 tremendous
drive and forced the Italians back to
the Piave river line. There the con-
test stood for many months, until the
middle Of June. 1918, when under Gen.
eral Diaz, the Italians not only stop
ped another offensive. but turned It
into a great defeat and rout which
eliminated In the surrender Of Aus
tria. This was fastened by the fall
Ing to pieces Of the Austro- Hungarian
empire, the states Of which were e.
tablishing their independence. follow
ing the lead Of the Czecho- Slovaks.
Turkey, with the aid Of Germans,
administered to Great Britain two Set
backs that were rather humiliating.
The first was at the Dardanelles,
which the British tried to force. first
with navy alone, then with land and
sea forces. Both attempts were disas-
trous failures. The other defeat by
the Turks was in Mesopotamia, where
General Townshend and his army
were captured at Kut-el-Amara. Both
these reverses were more than COM
pensated for by the later conquest Of
Mesopotamia and the Holy Land and
the consequent surrender Of Turkey.
As for Bulgaria. she was beaten
largely by the regenerated Serbian
army, which had great assistance from
the French, Greeks and British. Ser
bla had been wholly overrun in the
first few months Of the war, but her
spirit never died out and In the late
summer Of 1918 she not only regained
her own, but forced Bulgaria to her
knees.
Roumania kept out Of the conflict
for some time and then Joined the al
lies, though they would have prefer
red that she remain neutral. She in
vaded Pennsylvania and at first
threatened to give Austria a great
deal Of trouble. but Germany came to
its ally's aid, Russia collapsed and
Roumania was forced to give up.
Warfare In tho Air,
The most picturesque side Of the
great conflict has been the war in the
dir. 1t was quickly seen that the air.
plane would play big part In the
war. and every belligerent nation soon
had powerful air fleets. The machines
were enlarged and improved beyond
ill imagining, and from mere obser-
walton planes became fighting and
bombing machines Of vast Importance.
Except for observation purposes, the
lighter than air craft were utilized
only by Germany, She pinned her
faith to the great dirigible Zeppelins,
but these on the whole proved dis
NAL failure. True to her savage pol
icy, Germany waged unrestricted war
from the air as on land and sea. Her
Zeppelins and planes repeatedly at
tackled London, Paris and innumerable
other unfortifled cities and towns, and
her airmen made a practice Of bomb
ing Red Cross hospitals.
Long before the war closed the
allies had established their supremacy
In the air, and equal to the best Of
their flyers were the gallant Ameri-
cans who entered that branch OF the
service.
Another novelty Of the war was the
tank. This machine, based on an
American invention and first develop
ed by the British. came as a complete
surprise to the Germans and they fed
In terror from Its bristllng guns and
it's crushing weight. They tried max
Ing tanks for themselves. but never
caught up with the improvements
brought out by the allies.
The net results of the Great War
cannot be stated yet. But they in
clude, first and foremost, the down.
fall of irresponsible autocracy and
militarism and the beginning Of
spread Of democratic rule that will
embrace the world. The fallen mon
archs include the kaiser, the car of
Russia, the kings Of Bulgaria, Bava-
ria, Wuerttemberg, Saxony and Mon
tenegro and King Constantine of
Greece, and probably the emperor OF
Austria. The: people are in the sad
die and If they keep their heads and
submit to intelligent leadership, they
will remain there indefinitely.
MAJESTIC.
"America's Answer" the second Of
the series of U. S. Official War Films
produced by the Division of Films,
Committee on Public Information.