Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1919-11-23

In the east vast changes had taken
place. In March the Tsar was over
| thrown by the revolution, which was
favored by the entente. A govern
ment of pronounced socialist leanings
came into power.
The entente's reasons for backing
the revolution are not clear. They
may have imagined they We're con-
fronted by national movement which
they could not ignore, and with which
| they consequently threw in their lot,
or they may have thought that the
Tsar had become inclined for peace,
owing to fear of an internal collapse,
and were therefore in favor of getting
rid of him. Possibly there We're other
reasons.
AT all events, it is certain that the
| entente expected the revolution to
bring them some advantage in the
war. They wished at least to save
anything that could be saved, and
consequently did not hesitate to act.
| The Tsar who had begun the war in
order to please the entente. had to be
removed. This line of conduct reveal
ed an ineXhaustible will power, which
would stick at nothing in order to
win the war. The same thing would
have happened if Sturmer (the Rus
sian premier who betrayed Rumania)
had really favored peace in 1916,
The outbreak of the revolution
threw a strong side light on condi-
\ lions in Russia. The army and nation
were rotten to the core, or it would
never have taken place, In Russia,
as with us. the army was part of the
nation; there. too, nation and army
were one. How often had | not hoped
for a revolution in order to tighten our
military burden! But my desire had
been merely a castle in the air. Now
! it had come as a surprise. | felt as
though a weight had been removed
| from my chest. At that time meyer
contemplated the possibility that it
might later on undermine our
strength also. l.
1t was impossible to tell to what
| extent efforts in the east would be
relaxed, and for the moment attacks
had to be expected, Nevertheless the
revolution was serious blow for the
entente, as it inevitably entailed a
diminution of Russians fighting ca
| pacity and brought considerable relief
to US in the extremely difficult posi-
| ton in which We were placed For
GH.Q this consisted first of all in
the saving of troops and munitions in
the east; and the exchange of worn
| out divisions from the, west for fresh
troops from the east was undertaken
on a large scale.
Orders were given for propaganda
to be set on foot at once to encourage
strong movement for peace in the
Russian army.
The outbreak of the Russian reyo-
luton was factor in the war upon
which no general could dare. to, count
with certainty. Now at last it was no
! longer a hope. but a reality with
which I could deal as a soldier. Our
general position had considerably I'M
proved. and I could look forward with
confidence to the battles in the west.
| The results of the submarine cam
! paign were distinctly favorable, and
| far exceeded the expectations of the
navy. The loss of tonnage and mate
rial sunk was bound to tell, The
Economist of September Z. 1918, calls
the spring of 1917 the most critical
and perilous period through which
| England had passed since the out
break of war. The entente found
itself forced to employ for naval war
| fare men and material hitherto de-
stined for the conflict on land, and
| this continued in an ever-increasinG
| degree.
Another Allied Offensive.
After their great failure in April
and May 1917. and the collapse OF
i Russia in the interval, England and
! France saw themselves faced with q
new situation. They decided on g
second great offensive, with the OBJ
ject of winning the war before the
end of 1917. At the same time they
wished to secure guarantees that fina
victory might be assured at any rate
by 191S. ~
i The chief weight of the blow was
directed in the vicinity of Ypres. witt
! view to capturing the German sub
marine base in Flanders. The trans
!, port of the new American troops t.
France in 1918 had to be safeguardet
by war against our U-boats.
In spite of the seriousness of oul
' position on the western front, the alb
, sence of any Russian attacks in thu
spring Of 1917 prevented a genera
crisis in our situation. such as we hat
experienced in September, 1916. hat
/ never been one to indulge in fruitles
. speculation, but l could not help con
sidering what our position must in
evitably have been had the Russian