Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1918-08-02
FIRST FOUR YEARS OF MIGHTY WORLD WAR
Comprehensive Review of Ebb and Flow of Terrible
Struggle.
TIE CENTRAL POWERS HAVE WON STEADILY
Now Things Look Bettcr-Alies at Last Coming to
Their Own and the Germans Are Beginning to See
Their Finish.


mans and Austrians made progress.
which from the first was alarming
By wise gencralship. the Italian lin
was withdrawn from the IsonZo. Il
paused al the Tagliamcnto and thcr
retired further until il rested on tho
I'iavc. almost within sight OF Tho
domcs OF Venice. Here the Italian
army reformed it's columns. conSoli'
from the I.ha"tian mountains to tho
ASiagO plateau and. assisted by the
French rcinforccmcnts brought to thai
battle front. stood nj bay.
Events in the meanwhile had beer
moving swiftly in Russia. On Novcm.
her |. while the offensive against Italy
was under way. Alexander r. kcrcns.
ky. then the Russian premier. an
nounccd that Russia was worn out b!
the war and that the Allies must
shoulder the burden thcnceforward.
Seven days later Kcrcnsky was de.
posed by the Bolshcviki. The fal
and flight Of Kcrensky was the sigma
for Germany and Austria to enter into
peace negotiations with Russia. Or
November 30 the Bolshcviki announc.
cd that Russia was out of the war and
proposed that all the Allies join In
negotiations for an armisticc.
Russian and German representatives
met at l,rcst -Litovsk on Dccembci
22. and terms of peace were cXchanE-
cd. No progress was made with tn,
negotiations. and the conference was
broken up on January IL. In the
meantime. a new republic had sprung
from the side OF Russia. II was
Ukraine. Il territory extending along
the Roumanians and Galician frontier
from the Black sea northward tC
Cholm. in ancient Poland. With this
republic. the Central empires mad,
peace late in January.
The failure OF the lsolshcviki au-
thOritics to reach any agreement will
the Germans resulted in the renewal
of hostilitics on February Is. and tn,
German armies moved forward one,
more.
Brest- -litovsk Treaty.
This brought about renewal oi
the peace negotiations. and at Rrcst-
I.i,ovsk the ISolshcviki were given tC
understand that Germany would rc.
cogniZc the kingdom of Poland. tn,
republic of Ukraine. the independence
mental status of Lithuania, EsthOnia
and Livonia. Turkey. Us an ally OF
the Central powers. was given great
area to the east Of the BLACK sea. in.
Guiding the regions of Batum, Kars
and Erivan.
With the announcement Of the iina
signing Of the treaty between tho
Bolshcviki and Germany, tho Allies
gave up hope that Russia would re-
main i'm the conflict, and at once they
began to strengthen their lines against
the coming of the great German often
sivc by which Berlin and Vienna
hoped to force the Entente nations tC
make peace.
With the greater part of her terri
tory occupied by the Germans, Aus
trians and Bulgarians. with her gov
crnmcnt driven from Bucharest tc
Jassy and with the Russian I'olshcvik
openly hostile toward her, Roumania
found herself in critical situation
Roumanian troops during Frbruar!
and March advanced into Bcssara-
hia, n part OF the new republic oi
Ukraine. but they wcrc hemmcd in
by the enemy forces and obliged t.
withdraw. At last. on May 6. Rou-
mania signed treaty OF peace with
the Central powers.
BY this treaty Roumania lost the
province of Dobrudja. on the south
ccivcd after the Balkan war. and
agreed To a rcctiflcation of her west
crn frontier. Economic concessions
also were made under pressure from
the TcutOnlc alllancc.
The period between December /
1917. and March l, 1915. may he called
the period OF peace tentativcs. II is
true that before the end OF the sum-
mcr. Pope Benedict made an appeal to
the warning nations to enter into
peace negotiations. the basis fol
pourporlcrs being the restoration OF
Belgium and Serbia and the roturn to
Germany OF her lost colonies. This
appeal. made on August l3. was an
swcrcd by President Wilson on August
%. when the president announced that
the German government rs constituted
could not he believed and that the
United States was ready to enter into
negotiations when the German people
showed they desired peace and when
they spoke through any authority
which would be representative OF
them.
The German answer to the popc's
appeal reached the Vatican on Sep
tcmbcr y. II expressed hope that
further warfare could he avertcd
through the good offices of the pope
but declined to enter into any engage
ment to meet what the Allies had de-
clared to he their minimum war aims
German Peace Offer.
German efforts to secure a peace
which would leave Germany all the
fruits of her victory gained through
Rassia's collapse. and with Belgium
and large portions of France to bt
used rs pawns at the council table
began with the address OF Count
Czernin. then Austrian foreign minis
ter, ut Brcst -Litovsk. on December &C
The keynote of the address was gen.
eral peace without anneXations and
indcmnities.
On January s. President Wilson. ad-
dressing congress, said that the Unit
cd States must know for whom tho
German rulers were speaking. The
address was a complement to an ad-
dress made on January 5 by David
Lloyd George. the British premier.
To these addresses reply was made