Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1918-10-06

fact. The Balkans were lost to the
allies, save for Saloniki, and there
was grave danger that the Saloniki
army might be assailed in the rear
by the Greek forces under King Con-
stantine, the brother-in-law and
faithful friend of the kaiser. Mean
time, the war had overf1owed into
Asia; in the spring of 1916 British
army striking at Bagdad was cap
tured at Kut-el-Amara, and little
earlier Turkish forces had attempted
to pass the SueZ canal and invade
Egypt.
Such. briefly. is the story of the
Balkan episode up to the close OF
1916. In three campaigns the Ger
mans had realized all that they had.
hoped and planned to realize; they
dominated Austria-Hungary by ALI.
ance: they had destroyed Serbia and
Rumania; they had harnessed Bull
garia to their car, and rewarded the
Bulgars by giving them vast Ru-
manian and Serb territories which
could only be held with German aid;
they had even permitted the Bulgars
10 invade Greece and occupy the ka-
vala district, while they had per-
suaded the Turks to cede to Ferdi-
nand the strip of territory facing
munication on Bulgar soil from Sofia
to Dedeagatch on the Aegean.
Hun Dream Near Realization.
In this situation it at last became
plain to the whole world that if Ger
many could retain what she had ac-
CURED by conquest and alliance in the
near east, If she could continue to hold
Serbia and dominate Rumania and
Bulgaria, as well as Turkey, after
peace was restored. she would in no
in the world and her armies would
reach India and Egypt. The British
empire was threatened, the French
and Italian colonies in North Africa
were endangered, the Black sea had
become German lake, like the Baltic.
the elimination of the Slav as great
power removed all curb to German
ambitions on the eastern flank and
added to the German conquestS in the
Balkans vast regions of Russia.
Yet, despite this peril, visible in 1915,
when Serbia fell. unmistakable year
later, when Rumania was conquered.
accentuated by the collapse of Russia,
there was no immediate remedy for the
allies, who in the present spring were
confronted with life and death Strug-
gle in France and were actually obliged
to recall men and guns from the Bal
kans to save Paris. Save for British
colonial troops operating from the Per-
sian gulf and from Egypt and slowly
advancing about Jerusalem and Bagdad.
no allied operations were possible, and
these were relatively minor. for. if Ger
many could continue to hold the road
from Berlin to the Golden Horn she
might subsequently send troops south
and, employing the Turk armies re-
made and stiffened by German contin-
gents. sweep Allenby and Maude's
armies out of Mesopotamia and Pal
estine.
Solution of Problem Obvious.
The solution of the problem, SO far
as it had solution, was obvious.
There were both in Turkey and Bull
garia strong elements opposed to Ger
many. AS the war dragged on both
nations were becoming affected by
war WEAKNESS. Turkey had fought
Italy, the Balkan states and was now
fighting the western powers, and the
burden of the three wars, two OF
them utterly unsuccessful and the
third becoming unfavorable, was
heavy. Bulgaria had similarly fought
Turkey, Serbia and was now at grips
with four great nations. The sacrifices
of both nations had been enormous,
and if German fortunes in the west
began to wane and the link between
Berlin and Vienna on the one hand
and Sofia and Constantinople on the
other were broken, both the Turk and
the Bulgar might quit.
But there was only one way to
break this link, and that was by
an operation upward from Saloniki
toward and to the Danube, by sue
cessful push from Saloniki to Bel
grade. And this, in turn. was only
possible If the Bulgar army could be
defeated, decisively defeated, and the
war carried into Bulgarian territory;
AS long as the Bulgar army stood and
Bulgaria. continued to hold Serb and
Rumanian territory, as well as Greek,
no Bulgar government would consent
to make peace with the allies, since
the first condition Of such peace would
necessarily be the surrender of all
conquered territory, Rumanian as
we'll as Serb and Greek.
Bulgars' Peace Offer.
On the other hand, if there were
first a. defeat and then a loss of most
of the territory, accompanied by the
threat of an invasion of Bulgaria it
self, then Bulgaria might be expected
to make a peace gesture. and if this
gesture were sincere and carried with
it the promise of evacuation of con-
quered territory. the rehabilitation
of Bulgar armies and the abandon
ment of the German alliance, then
Bulgaria might be certain of escap-
ing from the conflict without loss of
territory and with possible compen-
sation in Thrace and at the expense
of Turkey. In abandoning Uskub
and Nish she might hope to gain
Adrianople and Midia- And she would
end the terrible drain of the war.
which was no longer profitable, and
might, given German defeat, prove
fatal.
Such, briefly, is the Bulgarian situa-
ton as it has developed in nearly four
years Of war. Bulgaria was and still
remains the single bridge between
Germany and Austria on the north
and Turkey and the near east on the
south. Break that bridge by eliminat-
ing Bulgaria and Turkey is isolated,
bound to fall prey to allied armies,
if not to internal revolutions which
will hasten her surrender. Turkey
once at the mercy of the allies there
is final end to German dreams of
expansion in the near east, for the
allied purposes as to Turkey contem-
plate the liberation of enslaved races
ard the naturalization of the straits
under international control.
The elimination of Bulgaria would
insure the eventual liberation of
Serbia, mainly held by Bulgar armies
and the equally certain escape from
German control of Rumania, plundered
and resentful. 1t would open a new
Austrian front and threaten the in
vasion of Hungary and Bosnia. Allied
armies would be able to join hands
with the dis1oyal Austrian subjects
among the Jugo-Slavs. AS to the
moral and political effect of such a
change upon the people of Austria and
Hungary, it would be enormous, while
re-enlistment of Rumania on the
allied side would be almost certain.
Germany Sure to Fight.
Now, recognizing that if Bulgaria