The earlier part of the year was almost entirely occupied in Germany

with the Zabern incidents (A.R., 1913, pp. 318-21), and the discontent

in Alsace-Lorraine. Colonel Reuter and Lieutenant Schad were tried by

a military court at Strasburg and fully acquitted (Jan. 5-11). The

Military Court of Appeal at the same time reversed the sentence of

forty-three days' imprisonment passed upon Lieutenant Forstner for

striking a lame cobbler over the head with his sword, on the plea that

it was only an ordinary military sword and had not been specially

ground for the occasion. Colonel Reuter in his defence claimed entire

responsibility for the acts of his subordinates, as he was "a Prussian

officer and executed the orders of his King." He referred, apparently,

to a Cabinet Order cited by the King of Prussia in 1820, when Prussia

had no jurisdiction in South Germany; and the court held that this

order fully justified his action, as it was applicable in every country

where a Prussian officer happens to be. In Bavaria and Würtemberg,

however, it was officially stated that in those countries there was

not the slightest authorisation for independent military action in

such cases (Jan. 14, 28). In the Prussian Upper House Count Yorck

von Wartenburg complained that the representatives of the people had

not displayed the national sentiment to be expected in the centenary

year of the War of Liberation, as they were trying to strengthen the

Reichstag at the cost of the Emperor, the Federal Council, and the

separate States. The Reichstag was interfering in all directions,

and had presumed to censure the Prussian Premier. Imperial laws were

being passed by which "the King of Prussia lost more than the Emperor

gained," and the Army must not be exposed to democratic impulses, lest

Germany should become like England, which had "a life President at

the head of a Republic." The Chancellor stated in reply that Prussia

had never overstepped the restrictions she had placed upon herself in

founding the German Empire, and that she was always supported in the

Federal Council as the German dynasties were strong believers in unity.

As to the new power of members of the Reichstag to put short questions

to Ministers (A.R., 1913, p. 321), he promised to do everything he

could to prevent the answering of questions from causing encroachments

upon the Executive, adding that "votes of censure merely established

the fact of a difference of opinion in a particular case between

the Reichstag and the Imperial Chancellor." The Armament Inquiry

Committee had "no right of control whatever," and it had been a great

satisfaction to him during the past few weeks to see "how the heart

of the whole Prussian nation is stirred as soon as the honour of the

Army is affected. To preserve this Army, led by its King, against

all attacks, and to prevent it from becoming the Parliamentary Army

of which Count Yorck has spoken, is the passionate desire of every

Prussian who is true to the Constitution."

On January 20 the Upper Chamber of the Diet of Alsace-Lorraine,

consisting almost entirely of nominated and official members, carried

a resolution expressing the opinion that the trouble at Zabern could

have been prevented "if the military authorities had dealt promptly

and adequately with the unworthy, insulting, and provocative behaviour

of Lieutenant Forstner"; also that Colonel Reuter went far beyond his

rights, and that guarantees must be given that such things should not

occur again, and especially that the law should be respected absolutely

by the military authorities. In the Reichstag (Jan. 24) the Chancellor,

in reply to Social-Democratic and Radical interpellations, said

that in civil disturbances the military could, as a rule, intervene

only on the demand of the civil authorities, but that "the Prussian

Constitution recognised expressly and in principle that in exceptional

cases a demand from the civil authorities was not necessary," and

that it reserved the subject for special legislation which, however,

had never taken place. The Cabinet Order of 1820, which was embedded

in the Service Orders of 1899, was undoubtedly binding on Colonel

Reuter, but in view of the doubt whether it was in accordance with the

Constitution and the general principles of law, the Emperor had ordered

an inquiry, and the Service Orders would be brought into harmony with

the result. It was not true that Germany was under sabre rule, for the

Zabern case was the only one in which the provisions of the Order had

been applied. Alsace-Lorraine could not flourish except under a calm,

uniform, and just, but at the same time firm, policy. The attempts to

create differences between North and South must be nipped in the bud.

Not one of the Federal States could exist without the united Empire,

for which their fathers had shed their blood in loyal comradeship, all

with the same enthusiasm, the same devotion, and the same courage. The

debate was now mainly carried on by the Social Democrats, who indulged

in the usual invectives against monarchy and especially against the

Crown Prince, and the House finally carried by a large majority a

motion of the Centre party asking the Federal Council to see that

the conditions of military intervention in police matters should be

determined with uniformity and in a way securing the independence of

the civil authority. A National Liberal motion was also carried, asking

the Imperial Chancellor to inform the Reichstag of the result of the

promised inquiry, and referring to a Committee of twenty-one members

Bills proposed by the Socialists, the Alsatians, and the Radicals in

regard to military powers and jurisdiction. The Government answered

these motions the same day by an official _communiqué_, stating that

it was not the practice of the Federal Council to discuss motions so

introduced, and that "the Constitution excluded the Legislature from

all share in any alteration of the military Service Orders." As regards

the attacks of the Socialists on the Crown Prince, a journalist named

Leuss was sentenced on March 5, to six months' imprisonment for an

article entitled "Wilhelm der Letzte" in the _Welt am Montag_, in which

he spoke of telegrams said to have been sent by the Crown Prince to

General Deimling and Colonel Reuter as an unwarrantable interference

with the course of justice in the Zabern affair, and described a

farewell order issued by the Crown Prince to his regiment, in which he

said that the highest joy of the soldier is to ride against the foe,

as an outburst of bellicose feeling calculated to revive Republican

ideas and to raise doubts whether the hereditary principle should not

be abolished and Princes be pensioned off. The editor of the Socialist

_Vorwärts_ was also sentenced on March 6 to three months' imprisonment

for a parody of the Crown Prince's farewell to his regiment. Another

of the Prince's indiscretions was the sending of telegrams in July

to the authors of Chauvinistic pamphlets which he described as

"excellent"--one entitled "the Hour of Destiny," by Herr Frobenius,

which called upon Germany to be prepared for a war in 1915 or 1916

against France, Russia and England, "who will not miss a favourable

opportunity of attacking Germany," and the other by Professor Buchholz,

inveighing against the "weak Governments" which had directed Germany

since Bismarck and allowed democracy to make "frightful progress."

The decision of the military courts at Strasburg on the Zabern

affair and the Chancellor's speech on the subject were followed by

the resignation on January 29 of the Statthalter or Governor of

Alsace-Lorraine, Count Wedel, and all the principal members of his

Ministry. Count Wedel was succeeded on May 1 by the Prussian Minister

of the Interior, Herr von Dallwitz, whose place in the Ministry

was taken by a retired official, Herr von Löbell, formerly head of

the office of the Imperial Chancellor and Prince Bülow's political

manager. A new Army Order was also issued in April suppressing the

ancient privileges under which Colonel Reuter had acted, but the new

Statthalter refused in July to confirm in office the Burgomaster

of Zabern, who had been re-elected by a large majority of the Town

Council, and had defended the rights of civilians in the Strasburg

trial. An agitation was now started by the Conservatives in Prussia

for stronger action against all the border races. As regards the Danes

the Minister of the Interior stated in the Budget Committee of the

Prussian Diet on February 1 that the Law Officers had been instructed

to keep a sharp control over the Danish Press in Schleswig-Holstein,

and Danes from across the frontier were forbidden to go to the Danish

club-houses on Prussian territory, even when not used for political

agitation. Everything possible was being done to strengthen the German

element in Schleswig-Holstein. German proprietors were assisted by the

State, German libraries had been established, and German elementary

high schools on the Danish model were started in order to check the

emigration of young people across the border. Further, on May 26, the

Chancellor, in reply to an interpellation signed by more than sixty

members of the Upper House of the Prussian Diet accusing Denmark

of undermining Prussian authority in Schleswig-Holstein, said he

must admit that as a consequence of the excessive agitation against

Germanism the situation in the north was unsatisfactory. Prussia was

negotiating with Denmark on the question of the people who have no

definite nationality, but would cling to the determination not to

accept them as Prussian subjects (A.R., 1907, p. 294). The dreams

of an incorporation with Denmark would never be realised. Among the

Poles in Prussia, too, it was a bitter grievance that though sermons

might be preached in the Polish language, the Communion might not be

administered in Polish, and in a Roman Catholic Church in the suburb of

Moabit in Berlin about seventy Polish children entered in procession

after the Polish sermon and sang Polish hymns, upon which the police

entered and with considerable effort cleared the church. Another

Polish grievance was that the German Eastern Colonisation Society

(Ostmarkenverein) whose object was to strengthen the German element

in Posen and Silesia, had been trying to carry the war against the

Poles into Austrian territory in Galicia by inciting the Ruthenian

against the Polish workmen, and on February 25 the police raided the

two chief Polish newspapers in Posen in order to discover evidence of

the theft of documents quoted by them in proof of the charge against

the Ostmarkenverein. Heated debates took place on the subject in the

Prussian Diet, but no evidence of the alleged theft was discovered.

Important statements on Anglo-German relations were made to the Budget

Committee of the Reichstag on February 4 by Grand-Admiral von Tirpitz

and Herr von Jagow, the Foreign Secretary. The former said that from

the technical point of view he had nothing to add to or subtract from

his statement of 1913. The ratio of 16 to 10 offered by Great Britain

was still acceptable to Germany if it referred to battleships only; but

the idea of "a holiday year" could not be realised. Positive proposals

had not yet reached Germany; if they did, they would certainly be

carefully examined. The naval estimates of foreign Powers had grown

much more rapidly than those of Germany. During the last five years her

naval expenditure had increased by 2,750,000_l._, that of Great Britain

by 10,800,000_l._, apart from the expected supplementary estimate of

3,000,000_l._, that of France by 6,700,000_l._, and that of Russia

by 15,100,000_l._ Herr von Jagow next stated that the present German

relationship with England was one of thorough mutual confidence. In

both countries there had been an increasing feeling that they could

work side by side on many points and that their interests met in many

respects. The events in the Balkans and the negotiations in London

had contributed much to this result, and people in Great Britain had

been able to convince themselves that Germany was not pursuing any

aggressive policy. On February 20, however, Grand-Admiral von Tirpitz

stated during the debate on the Navy Estimates that it was "not only an

economic and political necessity for Germany to have her ships of war

abroad as well as at home, but a military necessity also." If in recent

years the German Fleet had been concentrated in home waters, this was

due "to circumstances which need not be discussed more closely," but

he trusted they would be "more active," with their Navy abroad, and

he reminded the House that the contemplated number of German ships

abroad, _i.e._ eight large cruisers, had not yet been reached. On June

25, during the British Naval visit to Kiel, the German Emperor, after

inaugurating two new locks for the Kiel Canal, which had been made two

metres deeper and doubled in breadth, and had reduced the distance

between Kiel and Wilhelmshafen from 500 nautical miles to eighty, went

for the first time on board a British Dreadnought, the _King George

V._, and hoisted his flag as a British Admiral; enthusiastic speeches

were delivered in the Town Hall by Vice-Admiral Sir George Warrender

and the President of the German Navy League, and the bluejackets of

both nations made merry together ashore.

On the second reading of the Army Estimates a remarkable statement was

made by the Prussian War Minister as to the manner in which the Army

Law (A.R., 1913, p. 307) had been carried out. Between July and October

they had to arrange for the accommodation of 60,000 more men and 21,000

more horses. There had been no difficulty whatever about the recruits.

On the contrary, there were 38,000 men perfectly fit for service whom

they could not take.... There were now only about 3,000 vacancies among

some 30,000 officers, and he thought that all the vacancies would be

filled within two years--or at the existing rate of competition much

sooner. The Army Bill had created 10,000 new posts for non-commissioned

officers. Six weeks after the Bill came into force there were only

4,000 vacancies left, and these would probably be filled within the

year. There had been no difficulty about the purchase of remounts. The

money voted for frontier fortifications had been duly spent, and there

had been very little trouble about the supply of new accommodation for

the troops. The health of the Army had been splendid during the past

year. Although orders to manufacturers, etc., could not be given until

July, everything had been ready so quickly that on October 6, 1913,

five days after the new Law had come into force, all the new units were

ready and perfectly equipped for war.

On January 13 the Reichstag discussed a petition of the German League

for Women's Suffrage demanding that women should have the equal

suffrage with men in the Reichstag elections and should be eligible for

election themselves. In former years such petitions had been ignored,

but this time the House decided to bring the petition to the cognisance

of the Government as a compromise between a Social Democratic proposal

that it should be submitted for consideration and a Conservative one

that it should be ignored as heretofore, the Centre desiring to show

sympathy with the movement without pledging themselves to radical

changes. On January 15 the Budget Committee of the Reichstag rejected

a Government proposal to grant an Imperial subsidy in aid of the

preparations for the Olympic games.

The Reichstag was closed on May 20, the Socialists remaining silent in

their seats, instead of leaving the House, as they had hitherto, while

the other parties responded to the President's call for three cheers

for the Emperor.

In February a private company composed of members of the leading

industrial concerns of the Empire was formed at the instigation of

the head of the Press Bureau of the German Foreign Office to "further

German industrial prestige abroad," _i.e._ to supply the foreign

Press with information favourable to Germany and German industrial

enterprise. The sum of 12,500_l._ a year, the whole Secret Service Fund

at the disposal of the Imperial Foreign Office for subsidising foreign

papers, was added by the Government to the funds of the company.

In March, the Emperor William visited the Emperor Francis Joseph at

Vienna, and afterwards the King of Italy at Venice. The chief feature

of these meetings was the special favour shown by the German Emperor

to Count Tisza, the Hungarian Prime Minister, with whom he had long

conversations on Eastern affairs.

A discussion on Colonial reforms took place on February 18 in the

Budget Committee of the Reichstag. The Secretary of State for

the Colonies, Dr. Solf, said that after comparing the colonial

administrations of the world he had found the British system the best

suited to be a model for Germany, and he accordingly intended to

strengthen the powers of the Colonial Governors and correspondingly to

lighten the burden of the Colonial Office. Replying to a member who

complained of the ill-treatment of the natives and the existence of

forced labour, the Minister said that the Government was endeavouring

to protect the natives, and had instructed the Colonial governors to

abolish forced labour. The question was raised again in a full House

shortly afterwards, when the Reichstag passed a resolution desiring

the abolition of serfdom in German East Africa by January 1, 1920. The

Government, on the other hand, issued a White Paper in March, saying

that it would be a highly dangerous experiment to fix a date for

the abolition. According to the German law every native born after

December, 1905, is free, and those who are still serfs can purchase

their freedom for a small sum, usually between thirty and forty rupees,

which their masters are not allowed to prevent them from earning; more

than 2,000 purchase their freedom every year. The number of serfs now

in East Africa was estimated to be about 85,000, but it was believed

that in fifteen years' time serfdom would be extinct. To abolish it at

the date stated in the Reichstag resolution would cost 4,200,000 rupees

(about 280,000_l._) in compensation to the owners, and leave many serfs

without the means of existence. These arguments apparently satisfied

the Centre and the National Liberals, but the Social Democrats urged

that the Colonies were merely a burden, and that the sooner they could

be got rid of the better, as they were useless as homes for white men

and contained hardly 25,000 whites altogether. The increase of their

trade was only 3-1/2 per cent. of the total of that of German trade,

and was less than Germany's trade with Cape Colony and with England's

Crown Colonies; most of their needs were supplied from England, and

they were not wanted for emigration, for Germany had no surplus

population and was always importing foreign workmen. Finally, the

Colonies were administered in the interests of unscrupulous companies

which were exterminating the natives.

The usual crop of espionage cases came up in the first half of the

year. In July a German sergeant was sentenced to fifteen years' penal

servitude and expulsion from the Army for corruption and betrayal of

military secrets to the Russian military Attaché Colonel Bazaroff,

who suddenly left Berlin when the sergeant was arrested. He was

clerk in the Engineer Inspection Office, and had sold plans of the

fortifications of Königsberg and other places in East Prussia to the

Attaché.

Herr von Jagow, the Foreign Secretary, in the usual statement of

German foreign policy in the Reichstag, on May 14, referred especially

to the violent attacks made upon Germany in the Russian Press, which

had naturally led the German Press to retaliate, but for this the

German Government was not responsible. He knew of no real Russo-German

antagonisms and "had reason to suppose" that the Russian Government

was determined to maintain friendly relations. As to England the

negotiations "were being conducted on both sides in the most friendly

spirit, a spirit which in other matters also prevailed in Anglo-German

relations." "An understanding which removed possibilities of friction"

was also being arrived at with France.

When Austria-Hungary sent her ultimatum to Serbia the German Emperor

was on his usual holiday trip in Norway. He was informed of the text of

the ultimatum by the German Ambassador at Vienna, but did not think it

necessary to return at once to Berlin, as both he and his Ministers and

Ambassadors believed that Russia would not actively interfere and that

England in any case would be neutral. He shared the indignation of the

Austrians and Hungarians at the murder of their Crown Prince, and fully

approved of the text of the ultimatum;[6] it was probably intended as a

preliminary to war, but he thought the war would be localised, and if

successful would remove from Austria-Hungary the danger of a "Slavonia

Irredenta" (A.R., 1912, p. 338), which threatened her existence as

a great European Power. It was not believed at St. Petersburg that

he really wanted war,[7] and in the opinion of his Ministers at

Berlin, the declaration of Austria-Hungary that she had no intention

of seizing Serbian territory "would have a calming influence at St.

Petersburg."[8] As, however, the situation became more threatening,

the Emperor suddenly returned to Berlin on July 26, the day before

the Serbian reply to the Austro-Hungarian ultimatum was delivered. On

July 27, when Germany declined to accept the British proposal for a

Conference on the ground that it would practically amount to a Court

of Arbitration, she stated that "if Russia mobilised only in the

South, Germany would not mobilise, but if she mobilised in the North,

Germany would have to do so too."[9] As Russia would evidently have

to mobilise in the North for a war against Austria-Hungary as well as

against Germany, this showed that the Emperor William had now decided

for war, and his subsequent acceptance of the principle of mediation

between Austria and Russia by the four Powers,[10] and his assertion

that he was "doing his very best both at Vienna and St. Petersburg to

get the two Governments to discuss the situation directly with each

other and in a friendly way"[11] were merely concessions to the British

Government in the hope that it would be neutral. His bid for British

neutrality (p. 177) was made two days after, and when it was refused

Germany prepared at once to mobilise both against Russia and France,

although negotiations were still going on between the Powers for a

pacific issue, and Austria-Hungary had agreed to discuss with them

even the basis of the conflict with Serbia.[12] On July 31 the German

Chancellor informed the British Ambassador at Berlin that as the whole

Russian Army and Fleet were being mobilised, _Kriegsgefahr_ (danger of

war) would be proclaimed by Germany at once, and mobilisation follow

almost immediately.[13] When on the same day Russia issued orders for

a general mobilisation, Germany addressed an ultimatum to the Russian

Government demanding that the Russian forces should be demobilised,

and that a reply should be given within twelve hours. This, of course,

meant war, which was declared against Russia on August 1, and a last

effort to secure British neutrality was made by Germany on the same

day. The German Ambassador in London asked Sir E. Grey whether, if

Germany gave a promise not to violate Belgian neutrality, England would

engage to remain neutral, and he even suggested that the integrity

of France and her Colonies might be guaranteed, to which Sir E. Grey

replied that he "felt obliged to refuse definitely any promise on

similar terms."[14] Germany then declared war against France (Aug. 3).

The day before her armies, which had for some time been ready on the

frontier, had marched into Luxemburg, the Chancellor declaring that

this was not a hostile act, but was merely intended to insure against

a possible attack of the French Army, and promising full compensation

for any damage done.[15] Luxemburg protested against this violation of

her neutrality, but, of course, without effect. On August 2 Germany

invited Belgium to allow German troops to pass through her territory,

in which case Germany would guarantee the possessions and independence

of Belgium on the conclusion of peace, and pay an indemnity for any

damage done by German troops. Belgium rejected this proposal on August

3. And while Germany, on August 4, "repeated most positively the formal

assurance that even in the case of armed conflict with Belgium, Germany

will, under no pretence whatever, annex Belgian territory," German

troops entered Belgium and summoned Liège to surrender.[16] The German

excuse for this violation of Belgian neutrality was that Germany had to

advance into France "by the quickest and easiest way," and that "it was

a matter of life and death for them, as if they had gone by the more

southern route they could not have hoped, in view of the paucity of

roads and the strength of the fortresses, to have got, through without

formidable opposition, entailing great loss of time, which would have

meant time gained by the Russians for bringing up their troops to the

German frontier; rapidity of action was the great German asset, while

that of Russia was an inexhaustible supply of troops." The British

Ambassador having, in accordance with instructions from his Government,

then demanded his passports, the German Secretary of State expressed

"his poignant regret at the crumbling of his entire policy and that of

the Chancellor, which had been to make friends with Great Britain and

then, through Great Britain, to get closer to France." The Chancellor,

on receiving the British Ambassador's farewell visit, complained that

Great Britain was going to war "just for a word, neutrality, which in

war time had so often been disregarded, just for a scrap of paper,

on a kindred nation which desired nothing better than to be friends

with her." All his efforts, he added, had now been rendered useless,

and "the policy to which he had devoted himself since his accession to

office had tumbled down like a house of cards." What Great Britain had

done was "like striking a man from behind while he was fighting against

two assailants," and he held her responsible for all the terrible

events that might happen. When the news was circulated that England

had declared war against Germany, the Berlin mob broke the windows of

the British Embassy. On the following morning, August 5, the following

message was delivered to the British Ambassador by one of the Emperor's

_aides-de-camp_:--

The Emperor has charged me to express to your Excellency his regret

for the occurrences of last night, but to tell you at the same time

that you will gather from those occurrences an idea of the feelings

of his people respecting the action of Great Britain in joining

with other nations against her old allies of Waterloo. His Majesty

also begs that you will tell the King that he has been proud of the

titles of British Field-Marshal and British Admiral, but that in

consequence of what has occurred he must now at once divest himself

of those titles.

A second attempt was made by Germany on August 10, after the capture of

Liège, to obtain the consent of Belgium to the German armies passing

through Belgian territory on the understanding that "Germany would

evacuate Belgium as soon as the state of war will allow her to do so,"

but this proposal was also rejected by the Belgian Government (Belgian

Grey Book, Nos. 62 to 65).

A German "White Paper" was issued in August under the title "How the

Franco-German Conflict could have been Avoided," which contained the

telegrams exchanged between Prince Henry of Prussia, the King of

England, and the German Emperor before the outbreak of the war. It was

issued from the Government printing office in Berlin in English, not

in German. Prince Henry's telegram to the King, dated Berlin, July

30, stated that the Emperor his brother "is much preoccupied" and "is

trying his utmost" to fulfil the Tsar's appeal to him to "work for the

maintenance of peace," adding that Germany has "taken no measures,

but may be forced to do so any moment should our neighbours [France

and Russia] continue," and urging the King to use his influence on

France and Russia "to keep neutral." The Emperor, he concluded, "is

most sincere in his endeavours to maintain peace," but "the military

preparations of his two neighbours may at last force him to follow

their example for the safety of his own country, which would otherwise

remain defenceless." A telegram from the German Emperor to the King,

dated July 31, stated that the proposals of the British Government

(that Russia and France should suspend further military preparations

if Austria will consent to be satisfied with the occupation of

Belgrade and the neighbouring Serbian territory as a hostage for the

satisfactory settlement of her demands, other countries meanwhile

suspending their military operations) "coincide" with his ideas and the

statements he had got that night from Vienna and forwarded to London,

but that the German Chancellor had just informed him that an official

notification had arrived that the Tsar had "ordered the mobilisation

of his whole Army and Fleet, not even awaiting the results of the

mediation he" (the German Emperor) "was working at," and leaving him

without any news. He had accordingly left for Berlin to take measures

for insuring the safety of his Eastern frontiers, "where strong Russian

forces were already posted." Finally, on August 1, the German Emperor

telegraphed to the King, with reference to a suggestion by the German

Ambassador in London that Germany might refrain from attacking France

in a war between Germany and Russia if France remained neutral, that

"on technical grounds" this suggestion could not be accepted, as the

German mobilisation, which had been proclaimed that afternoon, "must

proceed against two fronts, East and West, as prepared, and cannot be

countermanded," but that if France should offer her neutrality, "which

must be guaranteed by the British Fleet and Army," he would "refrain

from attacking France and employ his troops elsewhere." He added

that the troops on his frontier were "in the act of being stopped by

telegraph and telephone from crossing into France." It was afterwards

explained that the suggestion had created a misunderstanding, as

it would probably have been incompatible with the terms of the

Franco-Russian alliance.

In another German White Paper, entitled "Memorandum and Documents

with Regard to the Outbreak of War," the "Memorandum" stated that the

Balkan League against Turkey had been organised under the patronage

of Russia, and that when the League was successful in the Turkish

Campaign and had been broken up in consequence of the dissensions of

its members, Russia desired a new Balkan League "whose activities

should be directed this time not against Turkey ... but against the

existence of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy." Serbia was under this plan

to "cede to Bulgaria the section of Macedonia that she had won in the

last Balkan War and compensate herself by the acquisition of Bosnia

and Herzegovina." Austria-Hungary, in view of this scheme, considered

that "it was not consistent with the dignity or self-preservation of

the monarchy to look on longer at the operations on the other side

of the border without taking action," and asked Germany's opinion in

the matter. Germany assured her ally "most heartily" of her agreement

with the Austro-Hungarian view, while fully aware "that warlike moves

on the part of Austria-Hungary against Serbia would bring Russia into

the question" and might draw Germany into war "in accordance with her

duties as an ally." Recognising, however, that "the vital interests

of Austria-Hungary were at stake, Germany could neither advise her

ally" to a compliance that would have been inconsistent with her

dignity "nor deny her Germany's support," especially as "her interests

were also seriously threatened," for "if Serbia with the assistance

of Russia and France, had been allowed to imperil the existence of

Austria-Hungary any longer, this would lead to the gradual downfall

of the monarchy and her submission to Slavonic sway under the Russian

sceptre, thus making the position of the Germanic race in Central

Europe untenable. A morally weakened Austria-Hungary, breaking down

under the advance of Russian Panslavism, would no longer be an ally

on whom Germany could count such as she needs in view of the attitude

of her Eastern and Western neighbours.... Austria was therefore given

a free hand in her action against Serbia, in the preparation of which

Germany took no part." This was "Austria's affair; she alone would have

to settle it with Serbia, and Germany therefore devoted her entire

efforts to localising the war," holding that "no civilised nation had

the right in this struggle against barbarism and criminal political

morality to prevent Austria from inflicting a just punishment on

Serbia." Although the Austrian Government had declared through its

Ambassador at St. Petersburg that it had no plans of conquest, the

first reports of Russian mobilisation had reached Berlin on the same

day, and in the evening the German Ambassadors in London, Paris, and

St. Petersburg were directed to call the attention of the English,

French, and Russian Governments energetically to the danger of this

measure, "for the decision as to the peace of the world lay entirely

in St. Petersburg." The Ambassador at St. Petersburg especially

was directed to inform the Russian Government that if it mobilised

Germany would also have to mobilise, "both against Russia and France."

On the following day (July 27) the "Russian Minister of War, M.

Sukhomlinoff, gave the German Military Attaché his word of honour

that no mobilisation order had yet been issued; for the present only

preparatory measures had been taken, but if Austria crossed the Serbian

boundary the military districts facing Austria would be mobilised."

Meanwhile Germany "continued her mediatory efforts to the utmost and

advised Vienna to make any possible compromise consistent with the

dignity of the monarchy," but "unluckily all these mediatory acts were

soon overtaken by the military preparations of Russia and France. On

July 29 the Russian Government officially announced in Berlin that

it had mobilised four Army districts, and reports arrived of rapidly

progressing military preparations by France on land and sea." Yet on

the same day the Chief of the Russian Staff had informed the German

Military Attaché at St. Petersburg "that everything had remained the

same as had been explained by the Minister of War two days before, and

gave his word of honour in the most formal manner that mobilisation

had begun nowhere up to three o'clock that afternoon; though he

could not answer for the future." At the same time he declared most

emphatically that no mobilisation was desired by His Majesty in the

districts touching on the German boundary. As numerous and positive

reports of the levying of reservists in these districts had reached

St. Petersburg, Warsaw and Vilna, the Attaché expressed the opinion to

his Government that the statement of the Chief of the Russian General

Staff "was an attempt to mislead Germany with regard to the extent

of the measures that had already been taken." The assembling, the

Memorandum proceeds, "of troops on the East Prussian border and the

declaration of a state of war in all important places on the Russian

Western boundary no longer left any doubt that Russian mobilisation

was actively going on against Germany," notwithstanding the denials

"on his word of honour" of the Russian Minister of War. The Memorandum

further publishes the text of telegrams exchanged between the Emperor

William and the Tsar. On July 28 the former expressed "the greatest

disquietude" at the impression which he heard Austro-Hungary's action

against Serbia was making in the Russian Empire. "The unscrupulous

agitation," he said, "which has gone on for years in Serbia has led to

the revolting crime of which the Archduke Ferdinand was the victim.

The spirit which allowed the Serbians to murder their own King and

his wife still rules in that land. Undoubtedly you will agree with me

that you and I, as well as all Sovereigns, have a common interest in

insisting that all those morally responsible for this terrible murder

shall suffer deserved punishment." He knew how difficult it was for

the Tsar and his Government to resist the pressure of public opinion,

and remembering "the heartfelt friendship which had bound him and the

Tsar closely for a long time," he was exerting "all his influence to

endeavour to make Austria-Hungary come to an open and satisfactory

understanding with Russia." He "earnestly hoped, therefore, that the

Tsar would help him in his efforts to set aside all obstacles that

may yet arise." To this the Tsar replied on July 29 with an urgent

appeal that "in this serious moment" the Emperor would help him. A

disgraceful war, he said, had been declared on a weak nation; the

indignation at this, which he fully shared, was immense in Russia,

and he foresaw that soon he would not be able longer to withstand the

pressure that was being brought to bear upon him, and that he would

be "forced to adopt measures which will lead to war." In order to

prevent such a calamity he asked the Emperor, in the name of their old

friendship, to do all that is possible to prevent his ally from going

too far. The Emperor replied that he shared the Tsar's wish for the

maintenance of peace, but that he cannot consider Austria-Hungary's

action "a disgraceful war." Austria-Hungary knows by experience that

Serbia's promises, when they are only on paper, are quite unreliable,

and full guarantees must be secured that Serbia's promises shall be

turned into deeds. Russia might, he thought, remain in the _rôle_ of a

spectator towards the Austro-Serbian War without dragging Europe "into

the most terrible war that it has ever seen." He therefore suggested

a direct understanding between St. Petersburg and Vienna as "possible

and desirable"--an understanding which his Government was endeavouring

to help with all its power. He added, however, that military measures

by Russia would hasten a calamity which they both wished to avoid,

and would undermine his position as mediator. On July 30 the Emperor

repeated that if Russia mobilised against Austria-Hungary, his position

as mediator, which he had accepted at the Tsar's urgent request,

would be jeopardised, if not rendered untenable. The whole weight of

the decision now rested on the Tsar's shoulders; they must bear the

responsibility for war or peace. To this the Tsar replied that the

military measures now being taken "were decided upon five days ago for

defensive purposes against Austria's preparations," and that he hoped

"with all his heart" that these measures would not influence in any way

his (the German Emperor's) position as mediator. On July 31 the Tsar

again expressed his thanks to the Emperor for his mediation, "which

permits a gleam of hope that everything can yet be settled peaceably,"

but added that "it is a technical impossibility" for Russia to halt

her military preparations "which became necessary through Austria's

mobilisation," though "we are far from being desirous of war." So

long as the negotiations continue with Austria regarding Serbia "my

troops will not undertake any challenging action, I solemnly pledge

my word as to that. I am trusting in the grace of God with all my

might, and hope for the success of your mediation at Vienna, for the

welfare of our countries and for the peace of Europe--Your sincerely

devoted Nicholas." The Emperor replied that upon the Tsar's appeal to

his friendship and plea for his help he had undertaken a mediatory

action between the Russian and Austro-Hungarian Governments, but that

while this negotiation was under way the Tsar's troops were mobilised

against Austria-Hungary, and that his mediation was thereby rendered

almost illusory. Notwithstanding this, he had continued it; but now he

was in receipt of reliable reports of serious preparations for war on

his Eastern boundary also, and responsibility for the safety of his

Empire compelled him to take defensive measures. He had carried his

efforts for the maintenance of the world's peace to the utmost limit,

and it was not he that bore the responsibility for the calamity that

now threatened the entire civilised world. Yet at this moment it lay

in the Tsar's power to stave it off. No one threatened the honour and

might of Russia, which might have awaited the result of his mediation.

"The friendship," the Emperor concluded, "for you and your Empire which

was bequeathed to me by my grandfather on his death-bed, has always

been sacred to me, and I have been faithful to Russia when she was hard

pressed, especially in her last war. It is still possible for you to

maintain the peace of Europe if Russia will decide to put a stop to the

military measures that threaten Germany and Austria-Hungary."

The mobilisation of the entire fighting force of Russia, the Memorandum

adds, which had been ordered in the forenoon of the day when these

telegrams were despatched, was in full swing--"the Tsar's telegram was

sent at two o'clock in the afternoon"; and this "shows clearly that

Russia desired the war," and "in the afternoon of August 1 Russian

troops crossed our border and advanced on German territory. By this

move Russia began the war." To the question put to the French Cabinet

as to what steps it would take "the reply given on the afternoon of

August 1 was that France would do what her interests seemed to warrant.

A few hours later, at five in the afternoon, the complete mobilisation

of the French Army and Navy was ordered, and on the morning of the

following day France opened hostilities." A long reply to the French

Yellow Book published by the _North German Gazette_ on December 21

further states, with regard to the argument that Austria and Russia

were on the point of coming to an understanding respecting the Note

to Serbia, when Germany suddenly destroyed all chances of peace by

declaring war, that the general mobilisation ordered by Russia brought

to naught the entire mediatory work of Germany, so that nothing can get

rid of the fact "that Russia bears the responsibility for unchaining a

European war."

Germany was badly served by her diplomatists and Ministers, and also by

her generals, though she had perhaps the most efficient, and certainly

the best organised, army in the world. She believed up to the last

moment that neither Russia nor England would fight, being completely

ignorant of the relative strength of the cross-currents of influence at

the Russian Court and of the determination of all parties in England to

resist the violation of the neutrality of Belgium--a step which only

turned against her all the civilised nations of Europe, and probably

did not bring her much nearer or more quickly to Paris than if she had

invaded France from the South, which was the reason given for Germany's

action (no doubt based on the opinion of the German General Staff)

by the German Secretary of State (p. 314). Another reason, or rather

pretext alleged by the German Government was that it was necessary to

anticipate a hostile attack of France through Belgium, and that it

had received reliable information to the effect that French forces

"intended" to march on the line of the Meuse by Givet and Namur; but

as a matter of fact there were no French forces in that direction; the

attack was made from the Vosges and the subsequent alleged discovery

of documents proving that France and England had for some time been

preparing together with the Belgian Staff for an attack upon Germany

through Belgium only showed that these preparations were made in view

of the defence of that country against a possible violation by Germany

of Belgian neutrality; besides which both France and England had, in

response to an appeal from Belgium to defend her neutrality, replied

that they would do so (p. 365).

The German armies forced their way through Belgium with the precision

and pitilessness of a machine, but the victories of the Marne and the

Aisne in September arrested their progress, and from then until the end

of the year they practically remained stationary. In Russian Poland

and Galicia, too, although there they had a leader, Field-Marshal

Hindenburg, who gained some brilliant victories, they did not succeed

in freeing Prussia from the danger of a Russian invasion.[17]

The Germans and Austrians had at the end of the year occupied, besides

nearly all Belgium, one twenty-seventh of French territory and

one-third of the Kingdom of Poland, while the French and the Russians

held respectively about 200 square miles in Alsace, nearly half of

Galicia, and some frontier districts of East Prussia; but neither of

the great Austrian fortresses, Cracow and Przemysl. Of the important

towns in Poland Russia had Lemberg, the capital of Galicia, while

Germany held the equally large, though politically not so important,

town of Lodz, "the Polish Manchester." The troops engaged on both sides

amounted to about 2,000,000 with upwards of 20,000 guns; the Russian

artillery, mostly manufactured in the Creuzot works in France, were

only surpassed by the German when the latter brought into action their

42 centimetre and 30-1/2 centimetre mortars, the former manufactured

at the Krupp works and the latter at Pilsen, in Austria. The last four

months of the year were spent in a series of gigantic but inconclusive

struggles, accompanied by hideous carnage of hundreds of thousands

of men and in which often each side claimed the victory, but whose

only appreciable result was the stemming by Marshal Hindenburg of the

advance on Silesia by the Russians and by Generals Joffre and French

of the advance on Paris by the Germans. In Poland the Germans had the

advantage of internal lines and numerous railways by which they could

rapidly bring up abundant supplies of men and material, while the

Russians were hampered by a lack of railways, by bad roads, and long

distances to their base; in France, on the other hand, the Germans had

to go long distances for their reserves, and their difficulties were

greatly increased by their occupation of Belgium, the cardinal blunder

of the war. The losses of the Germans financially were enormous.

Professor Julius Wolf, Professor of Political Economy at Berlin,

estimated the damage done in East Prussia and in Alsace at about

50,000,000_l._, and computed that Germany must reckon upon a total

waste in three months of 350,000,000_l._

The German Navy[18] did not venture to leave its secure harbours in

the Baltic except in the battle off Heligoland in August, the two

cruiser raids on the East coast of England in November and December,

and some attacks on the Russian port of Libau, where the cruisers

_Magdeburg_ and _Friedrich Karl_ were destroyed. When the war broke out

the battle cruiser Goeben and the light cruiser _Breslau_ were in the

Mediterranean, and after bombarding Bona and Philippeville made their

way to Messina, whence they escaped to the Bosphorus and were renamed

as Turkish ships (p. 183). The armed merchant cruiser _Kaiser Wilhelm

der Grosse_, which endeavoured to arrest traffic between England and

the Cape, and the _Cap Trafalgar_ were sunk before they could do much

damage (Aug. 27 and Sept. 14), but the light cruiser _Emden_, which

escaped from Kiaochau, and the _Karlsruhe_ captured about thirty-three

British merchant ships, and the armoured cruisers _Gneisenau_ and

_Scharnhorst_, which had also escaped from Kiaochau, after being

engaged by the British unsuccessfully off Coronel, on the Chilian

coast, were caught on December 8 off the Falkland Islands and sunk (pp.

226, 247). By the end of the year the Atlantic, the Pacific, and the

Indian Ocean were nearly free of German cruisers. The submarines of

the Germans were equally active and enterprising, but beyond sinking

the _Cressy_, _Aboukir_, and _Hogue_ in the North Sea in September and

the cruiser _Hermes_ in the Straits of Dover in November (pp. 212,

225) they were not very effective in their attacks either upon the

Navy or on merchant ships; more were lost by striking the German mines

which were laid at the mouth of the Thames and off Ireland. The German

airships, too, did not prove very effective.

In the Pacific Ocean Germany lost all her Colonies. On August 18 Japan

demanded of Germany the delivery of the entire leased territory of

Kiaochau with a view to its restoration to China, and no reply having

been given, besieged its fortified port, Tsing-Tao, from October 31 to

November 7, when its garrison surrendered. This was by far the most

valuable of the German colonies. The Marianne, Caroline, and Marshall

Islands were also taken from Germany by the Japanese. German New

Guinea and New Britain were captured by an expedition from Australia,

and Samoa by one from New Zealand. In Africa Togoland was occupied

by the British and French on August 7. In September some raids were

made by the Germans on British East Africa, Nyasaland, and British

South Africa which were repelled after heavy fighting. On September 19

Lüderitzbucht, in German South-West Africa, was occupied by the Union

Defence Force.

On September 27 the British and French invaded the German Colony of

Cameroon, whose capital, Duala, surrendered to them, but an attack by

British and Indian troops from Bombay on Tanga, in German East Africa,

on November 4, was repelled, and the troops then embarked, as it was

considered inadvisable to attempt a second attack without adequate

reinforcements. In November the Germans made a raid on the Portuguese

Colony of Angola, which was repeated in December, although the German

Consul had presented a formal apology to the Portuguese Government for

the first raid. Finally, on December 30 an Australian force occupied

Bougainville, the largest of the Solomon Islands, and hoisted the

British flag, and on the following day the British Colony of Walfish

Bay, which had been raided by the Germans, was reoccupied by the

British.

The horrible atrocities committed by the Germans in Belgium and

Poland--the massacres, rapes, and acts of mutilation of unarmed and

inoffensive members of the civil population, the placing in front of

the troops of male and female civilians to shield them from the fire

of the Allies, the taking of hostages to be made responsible for the

conduct of the population, the burning of villages and churches and the

execution of parish priests, the killing of wounded soldiers and the

disregard of the Red Cross--which far exceeded the devastation wrought

by the Cossacks in East Prussia and by the Austrians in Serbia--aroused

the reprobation of the whole civilised world, and Germany, by way of

making some compensation to the Poles, and in contrast to the policy

of Russia in forcing her language and religion upon the Ruthenians

of Galicia, sanctioned the appointment of a Pole, Dr. Likowski, as

Archbishop of Posen, dissolved the anti-Polish _Ostmarkenverein_

(Eastern Colonisation Society) in that province, and in the districts

of Russian Poland which were occupied by the German troops, announced

that Polish and German would be recognised as the official languages

instead of Russian. The German Humanity League issued on September

20 from Rotterdam an appeal "to the civilised world" concluding as

follows:--

No matter how long the campaign and the sacrifices it may entail,

we know that the true and lasting interests of the toilers and

wage-earners in Germany can only be served by the victory of the

Allied Armies. The Kaiser, having ruined innocent and deceived

Belgium, is now despoiling and drenching France with the blood

of his victims. It must, therefore, be plain to all honest men,

without distinction of race, or creed, or party, that there can

be no settlement of the existing disruptions, no lasting peace or

security for the rights of man, no protection of democracy from

brigandage and death until the Imperial domination of Prussia

within Germany is crushed, disarmed, and swept away for ever. Then,

and then only, will Bavaria, Würtemberg, Saxony, and Hanover be

rescued, and Poland liberated from the grip of a monarch who, by

his conduct, has forfeited the allegiance of his subjects; and, by

his boasted defiance of all international treaties and conventions,

has embarked upon a career of crime unparalleled in ancient or

modern history.

On August 19 the Emperor issued an Army order to his troops urging

them to use all their skill and valour "to exterminate first the

treacherous English and walk over General French's contemptible little

army," and on December 3, in reply to a deputation from the Army in

Poland, he said: "We shall continue to fight successfully as hitherto,

for Heaven is on our side. With God's help we shall win a long peace,

for our nerves are stronger than those of the enemy."

In both the Prussian and German Parliaments all parties united in

declaring that the war should be pursued to a successful end. In the

German Parliament on December 2 the Imperial Chancellor, dressed in

the grey service uniform of a general, declared that the German nation

was fighting "a defensive war for right and freedom," and that "though

the apparent responsibility for the war fell on Russia, the real

responsibility fell on the British Government," as the latter "would

have made the war impossible if it had without ambiguity declared at

Petrograd that Great Britain would not allow a Continental war to

develop from the Austro-Serbian conflict; such a declaration would

have obliged France to take energetic measures to restrain Russia

from undertaking warlike operations," and the German "action as

mediators between Petrograd and Vienna would have been successful."

"But Great Britain did not act thus. Great Britain was aware of the

bellicose machinations of the partly irresponsible but powerful group

around the Tsar. She saw how the ball was rolling, but placed no

obstacle in its path. In spite of all its assurances of peace, London

informed Petrograd that Great Britain was on the side of France, and

consequently on the side of Russia. The Cabinet of London allowed

this monstrous world-wide war to come about, hoping, with the help of

the _Entente_, to destroy the vitality of England's greatest European

competitor on the markets of the world. Therefore, England and Russia

have before God and men the responsibility for the catastrophe which

has fallen upon Europe. Belgian neutrality, which England pretended

to defend, was nothing but a disguise. On the evening of August 2 we

informed Brussels that we were obliged in the interests of self-defence

and in consequence of the war plans of France, which were known to us,

to march through Belgium, but already on the afternoon of the same day,

August 2, before anything of our _démarche_ in Brussels could have been

known in London, the British Government promised France unconditional

assistance in case the German fleet should attack the French coast.

Nothing was said about Belgian neutrality. How can England maintain

that she drew the sword because we violated Belgian neutrality? How

could the British statesman, whose past is well known, speak at all

of Belgian neutrality? When on August 4 I spoke of the wrong which we

were committing with our march into Belgium, it was not yet established

whether the Belgian Government at the last hour would not desire to

spare the country and retire under protest to Antwerp."

In September, in reply to an informal inquiry made of the Imperial

Chancellor by the American Ambassador at Berlin as to whether the

German Emperor would be willing to discuss terms of peace, the

Chancellor replied that as the Allies had formed a compact under which

none of them would cease hostilities except by common agreement,

the inquiry should be addressed to them, but that there were three

pre-requisites to Germany's consideration of peace negotiations: first,

that England should forego her demands for a war to a finish and the

complete crushing of Germany; second, that while negotiations might

be considered with regard to the German Colonies the German Empire in

Europe must remain intact; and third, that Germany should be secured

against interference by the other Powers around her in future. These

conditions were considerably enlarged in a statement made at New

York by Herr Dernburg, the Emperor's financial agent in America, in

December. He said that Germany "would not consider it wise" to take any

European territory, but would make "minor corrections of frontiers"

by occupying such frontier territory as has proved a weak spot in

the German armour. Belgium, which belonged geographically to the

German Empire, would be incorporated in the German Customs Union like

Luxemburg; but her neutrality, "having been proved an impossibility,"

would be abolished, and her harbours secured for all time against

British or French invasion. Great Britain having "bottled up" the

North Sea, a _mare liberum_ must be established, and the Channel

coasts of England, Holland, Belgium and France must be neutralised

even in time of war, and the doctrine that private property should

enjoy the same freedom of seizure on the high seas as it does on land

must be guaranteed by all nations. All cables must be neutralised,

and all Germany's Colonies returned, and in view of Germany's growing

population she must take Morocco "if it is really fit for the purpose."

There must be a recognised sphere of German influence for commercial

and industrial purposes from the Persian Gulf to the Dardanelles, and

no further development of Japanese influence in Manchuria. Finally, all

small nations, such as Finland, Poland, and the Boers of South Africa,

must have the right to frame their own destinies, while Egypt is to be

returned, if she desires it, to Turkey.

On December 10 the British Government proposed to Germany through the

American Government that arrangements should be made for the exchange

of British and German officers and men, prisoners of war, who were

physically incapacitated for further military service, and this offer

was accepted by the German Government on December 31.

The Government was authorised by the German Parliament at the beginning

of the war to borrow 200,000,000_l._, and a War Loan was accordingly

started in. September bearing interest at 5 per cent., the issue price

being 97-1/2. Extraordinary efforts were made to insure the success

of the loan, and the Government sought to raise a minimum sum of

50,000,000_l._ by offering Treasury bills to that amount. The total

subscribed amounted to 223,000,000_l._, but only 188,000,000_l._ of

this sum was paid up at the end of November. The enormous increase of

the expenditure in armaments was shown by the announcement of the firm

of Krupp that its share capital would be increased from 9,000,000_l._

to 12,000,000_l._ and that of the new amount 1,750,000_l._ would be

paid up at the end of the year. All the deposits of Russia, France,

Belgium, and England in the German financial institutions were declared

at the beginning of the year to be confiscated, and any repayment of

such deposits was to be punished as an act of high treason.

In December General von Moltke, who had not displayed any of the

military qualities which had made his uncle famous, was dismissed

from the post of Chief of the General Staff, and succeeded by

Lieutenant-General von Falkenhayn, Minister of War. His dismissal was

ascribed to a difference of opinion between the Kaiser and himself.

General Moltke desired a plan of campaign which would concentrate

the German efforts on breaking through the Allies' line at Verdun

and forcing the British Army to retire in a northerly direction. The

Kaiser, however, preferred the plan of breaking through to Calais, and

his favourite, General von Falkenhayn, worked out the plan, with the

well-known results at Dixmude and Ypres and on the Yser (pp. 222, 369).

II. AUSTRIA-HUNGARY.

The result of the second Balkan War was so far favourable to

Austria-Hungary that it broke up the Balkan League, but it left as the

predominant State in the peninsula Serbia, which aspired to be the

Piedmont of the Southern Slavs, and had long pursued a pan-Serbian

agitation in Bosnia, Herzegovina, Croatia and Dalmatia, which had

become very formidable with the prestige gained by the Serbian

victories. The danger to the very existence of the Empire, seeing that

Serbia was secretly encouraged and supported by Russia, was patent, and

there was a general feeling in Austria-Hungary that the only way to

avert it was to compel Serbia by force of arms, if necessary, to cease

her agitation in the Austrian provinces on her border. The Austrian and

German Emperors had combined in the previous year to prevent what might

have become a European war (A.R., 1913, p. 34), but the assassination

of the Austrian heir to the throne by a Serbian, with arms furnished

by a Serbian officer, precipitated a crisis which was bound to come

sooner or later. One of the outcomes of the pan-Serbian agitation was

the attempt on May 20 on the life of Baron Sterletz, Ban of Croatia, by

two Serbian students, who were sentenced on October 8 to five and eight

years' penal servitude respectively.

The trial of the persons accused of promoting an agitation among the

Ruthenians of Eastern Galicia and Hungary with the object of their

conversion to the Russian Church as a first step towards the annexation

of their country by Russia, which had been begun in the previous

year (A.R., 1913, p. 329), was concluded on March 3, and thirty-two

of the accused were sentenced to various periods of imprisonment,

combined with fines, varying from six months to four and a half years.

A similar trial began at Lemberg on March 9. The accused, who were

all Ruthenians, were a journalist, two "Orthodox" priests, and a

law student, and they were also charged with espionage in favour of

Russia. The jury before whom they were tried was composed entirely of

Poles, who acquitted them because, it was said, they wished to avoid

interference with the internal affairs of the Ruthenians.

The racial struggle in Bohemia (A.R., 1913, p. 328) continued to make

the assembling of the Diet impossible, and the Czech members of the

Reichsrath retaliated by obstruction in the Reichsrath, which was

consequently adjourned _sine die_ early in March. It was not summoned

again even after the outbreak of the war.

The Austro-Hungarian Delegations were opened by the heir to the

throne, the Archduke Francis Ferdinand, on April 29, after a meeting,

described as "very cordial," between Count Berchtold and the Marquis

of San Giuliano, accompanied by their diplomatic staffs, at Abbazia.

The estimates for the financial year from July 1, 1914, showed that

the naval expenditure for the year would amount to 7,386,083_l._,

of which 2,000,000_l._ was set down as a first instalment of a new

naval programme to be completed in five years at a total estimated

cost of 17,781,830_l._ An explanatory note attached to the Estimates

stated that the object of this programme was "to make provision

against the marked shifting of naval power in the Mediterranean which

recent changes in the Near East may be expected to bring about."

Four battleships, each of 24,500 tons displacement, were to be

substituted for the three old vessels of the _Monarch_ class and the

_Hapsburg_, and were to form the second Dreadnought division of the

Austro-Hungarian Navy, besides which three fast cruisers were to be

built of 4,800 tons each, to take the place of the three cruisers of

the _Zenta_ class built in 1897, and six torpedo gun-boats of 800 tons

each and two new gun-boats for service on the Danube. Provision was

also made for the extension of the arsenal at Pola and the naval base

at Sebenico, about half-way down the Dalmatian coast, which has a good

natural harbour, is the headquarters of a rear-admiral with a command

extending from Zara to Cattaro, and possesses a torpedo station, though

it is not, like Pola, a naval base in which the ordinary necessaries

for a modern fleet are to be found, and it was proposed to make it such

a base in order to provide for a partial decentralisation of the Fleet,

the necessity for which was alleged to have been shown by the recent

crisis in the Balkans. Baron Engel, the Assistant Finance Minister,

succeeded the late Minister, Count Zaleski, on October 21.

Among the prosecutions for espionage, which were frequent this year

in Austria-Hungary, as in other countries, were those of three former

officers of the Austrian Army on February 24 and March 6 and 10, who

were sentenced to three, nineteen, and seventeen and a half years'

penal servitude respectively for espionage in favour of Russia.

An important statement as to the foreign policy of Austria-Hungary was

made by Count Berchtold to the Delegations after the President of the

Austrian Delegation had expressed the hope that "while preserving the

non-aggressive policy of the monarchy, steps might be taken to put a

decisive check upon the anti-Austrian propaganda carried on in the

frontier districts." Count Berchtold, speaking of the mutual relations

of the Triple Alliance and the Triple Entente, noted "a certain

slackening of the tension" between them, which he attributed to the

policy of Great Britain. "In the attitude adopted by England at the

decisive moments of the Balkan crisis," he said, "and more recently,

we can perceive efforts to prevent in the future dangers to European

peace similar to those threatened in the events of the most recent

past. Such a policy is capable of removing misunderstandings which may

arise between the two groups of Powers, and thereby to compensate in

some measure for the defects which attach to the practical translation

into activity of a rigid system of equilibrium"--a hint that such a

system is only too likely to produce a European war. The Count also

spoke in friendly terms of the relations between the Dual Monarchy and

Russia, which he hoped would develop still further in the direction of

mutual confidence. Turning to the Balkan States, he referred especially

to the desire for closer commercial relations between the monarchy and

Bulgaria, the negotiations as to the section of the Orient railways

in the new Serbian territories (A. R., 1913, p. 359), the visit to

Vienna of the Greek Premier, M. Venizelos, "which showed that the

friendly feeling of Austria-Hungary towards Greece was reciprocated at

Athens," and to the political and economic interests of the monarchy

in the Ottoman Empire, which "could be best served by the continued

development of friendly relations with the Porte." As to Roumania, he

said that "no serious Roumanian politician could think of risking the

loss of the great advantages which the hitherto close and friendly

relations with the monarchy had brought to the country."

Francis Kossuth, the head of the Hungarian Independence party, died on

May 25. Brought up as an engineer, he had none of the qualities of a

great political leader, and he owed his position mainly to his name; he

did not inherit even the oratorical gifts of his celebrated father.

The murder of the heir to the Austrian throne, the Archduke Francis

Ferdinand, and his wife, which was the immediate cause of the war,

took place at Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia, on June 28. The

Archduke, who was Inspector-General of the Army, was on a tour of

inspection, and as his car was driving to the town hall a bomb was

thrown at him, but without effect. Half an hour later, as the Archduke

was returning from the town hall, another bomb was thrown which did

not explode, and the man who threw it, a Serbian student of the high

school, then fired three shots with a pistol, two of which hit the

Archduke and the third his wife. Both expired shortly after. It was

stated that this was not the act of isolated assassins, but of a

Serbian conspiracy, as widespread as that which had brought about the

murder of King Alexander of Serbia and his Queen (A.R., 1902, pp.

322-3), and an outburst of horror and indignation followed all over

the Empire. At Sarajevo the Croats, who, though of the same race as

the Serbians, are Roman Catholics while the Serbians are "Orthodox"

Greeks, and are consequently separated by deep religious as well as

political differences, marched through the streets together with a

large contingent of Moslems who are Serbian by race but Mohammedan

by religion, and broke the windows of houses belonged to "Orthodox"

Serbians; and at Agram, the capital of Croatia, large crowds of Croats

marched in procession crying, "Down with the Serbian murderers." The

general belief was that the conspiracy had its source in Belgrade,

and the chief of the police at Sarajevo was said to have arrived at

the same conclusion from the examination of the men who had taken

part in the murder. According to the evidence taken at the trial of

these men, which took place in October, they were the paid agents of

a conspiracy whose leaders were Ministers and other functionaries of

the Serbian Government, officers of the Serbian Army, and even, as was

suggested by one of the witnesses, possibly the Crown Prince of Serbia

himself, whose father was alleged to have been in correspondence with

the assassins of King Alexander and Queen Draga, and had loaded them

with honours on his accession to the throne. Five of the accused, said

to have been furnished with arms and bombs by the Serbian Government

for the express purpose of the murder, were condemned to death,

one to imprisonment for life, and ten others to various periods of

imprisonment, from three to twenty years. A dramatic incident in this

connexion was the sudden death of M. Hartwig, the Russian Minister

at Belgrade, while on a visit to Baron Giers, the Austro-Hungarian

Minister, for the purpose, it was said, of defending himself against

the charge which was freely made at the time, of his having been an

accomplice in the murder. The funeral of the late Archduke took place

on July 8, and on the same day the aged Emperor issued a patriotic

message to his people, expressing his profound affliction at a

crime which "had taken from him a dear relative and faithful helper

and robbed his children, still of tender age and still in need of

protection, of all that was dear to them on earth," and declaring that

as through sixty-five years he had shared joy and sorrow with his

people, remembering even in the hours of deepest gloom his high duties

and responsibility for their destinies, he was only strengthened by

this fresh painful trial in the resolve to follow to his last breath

the way he knew to be right for their welfare.

The new heir-presumptive, the Archduke Charles Francis Joseph, was the

late Archduke Francis Ferdinand's nephew, a young man twenty-seven

years of age, very popular, especially with the Poles and Ruthenians,

among whom he served for some years with his cavalry regiment, but more

through his pleasant manners and those of his wife, the Archduchess

Zita of Bourbon-Parma, than by any special qualities of character

or ability, while his uncle was impetuous and quick-tempered, with

very strong opinions, chiefly in an Ultramontane direction; and an

enthusiastic champion of the idea of a politico-religious conquest

of the Western Balkans by Hapsburg influence, if not by Hapsburg

arms, and by the propagation of Roman Catholicism among the Southern

Slavs--an idea which was of course abhorrent to the Pan-Serbians, and

was probably the cause of the conspiracy to which he fell a victim.

The murder of the heir-presumptive of a great European State by the

members of a conspiracy in a neighbouring country called for immediate

and vigorous action. Accordingly, on July 23, the Austrian Minister

at Belgrade presented a peremptory note to the Serbian Government,

demanding a reply before 6 o'clock on July 25. The Note began by

recalling the statement made by the Serbian Government on March 31,

1909, and drawn up by Great Britain (A.R., 1909, p. 346), to the effect

that it would alter its policy with regard to Austria-Hungary, and live

in future on good neighbourly terms with her. So far from fulfilling

the engagement thus contracted, the Note proceeded, "the history

of recent years has shown the existence in Serbia of a subversive

movement with the object of detaching a part of Austria-Hungary

from the monarchy--a movement which had its birth under the eyes of

the Serbian Government, and was carried out by a series of acts of

terrorism, outrages, and murders." The Serbian Government had "done

nothing to repress this movement"; it had permitted "the criminal

machinations of various societies and associations," had "tolerated

apologies for the perpetrators of outrages and the participation

of Serbian officers and civil officials in the movement," and had

"permitted all the manifestations which have incited the Serbian

people to hatred of the monarchy and contempt of its institutions."

Passing to the murder of the Archduke Francis Ferdinand, the Note

stated that the depositions and confessions of perpetrators of the

outrage had shown that it was "hatched in Belgrade, that the arms

and explosives with which they were provided had been given to them

by Serbian officers and civil officials belonging to the society

_Narodna Oprava_, and that their passage into Bosnia was organised

and effected by the chiefs of the Serbian frontier service." It was

therefore impossible for the Austro-Hungarian Government "to pursue any

longer the attitude of expectant forbearance which it had maintained

for years in face of the machinations started in Belgrade and thence

propagated to the territories of the monarchy"; and in order to put

an end to these machinations, "which form a perpetual menace to its

tranquillity, it demands from the Serbian Government a declaration,

to be published on the front page of the _Official Journal_ for July

26, and communicated to the Serbian Army as an Order of the Day by

the King, stating that it condemns the movement whose final aim is to

detach from the Austro-Hungarian monarchy territories belonging to it,"

that it "regrets that Serbian officers and civil functionaries have

participated in the movement and thereby compromised the neighbourly

relations to which Serbia was solemnly pledged by its declaration

of March 31, 1909," and that "henceforward it will proceed with the

utmost rigour against persons who may be guilty of such machinations,

which it will use all its efforts to anticipate and suppress." The

Note also made the following demands of the Serbian Government: 1. The

suppression of all publications inciting to hatred and contempt of the

Austro-Hungarian monarchy or whose tendency is directed against its

territorial integrity. 2. Immediate dissolution of the _Narodna Obrana_

and confiscation of all its means of propaganda, also of all other

societies with the same objects. 3. Elimination from public instruction

in Serbia of everything serving to foment the propaganda against

Austria-Hungary. 4. Removal from the service of all officers and civil

functionaries guilty of such propaganda whose names and acts shall be

communicated by the Austro-Hungarian Government to that of Serbia. 5.

Representatives of the Austro-Hungarian Government to be accepted by

Serbia for the purpose of collaborating in the suppression of the above

propaganda. 6. Judicial proceedings to be taken against accessories

to the plot of June 28 who are on Serbian territory, and delegates

of the Austro-Hungarian Government to take part in the investigation

relating thereto. 7. The immediate arrest of Major Jankasitch and

the Serbian State functionary, Ciganovitch, who were found to be

implicated in the plot at the official inquiry at Sarajevo. 8. The

prevention by effective measures of the co-operation of the Serbian

authorities in the illicit traffic in arms and explosives across the

frontier, and the dismissal and severe punishment of the officials of

the frontier service who had facilitated the passage of the frontier

for the perpetrators of the outrage of June 28. 9. Explanation of the

utterances of high Serbian officials, both in Serbia and abroad, who

notwithstanding their official position did not hesitate after the

crime of June 28 to express themselves in terms of hostility to the

Austro-Hungarian Government. 10. Notification to the Austro-Hungarian

Government without delay of the execution of the measures comprised

under the preceding heads.

The general feeling at Vienna was that notwithstanding the hard and

uncompromising tone of the above Note, Serbia would yield as she did

in 1909 and 1913. Everything depended, now as then, on Russia, and the

Tsar was known to be strongly opposed to a European war. The Serbian

reply, however, which was delivered by M. Pashitch, the Premier, to

the Austro-Hungarian Minister within the time stipulated, after a busy

exchange of telegrams between Belgrade and St. Petersburg, though

it accepted "in principle," but with reservations, nearly all the

Austrian demands, protested against the claim that Austro-Hungarian

officials shall take part in the judicial inquiry into the complicity

of persons on Serbian territory in the murder and in the suppression

of the propaganda against Austria-Hungary, and suggested that the

matter should be settled by arbitration. At Vienna the Serbian reply

was regarded as merely a device to gain time for Russian and Serbian

mobilisation, and a request on the part of Russia that the period

in which the reply was to be given might be extended was similarly

interpreted. Diplomatic relations between Austria-Hungary and Serbia

were at once broken off, orders were given for a mobilisation of the

Austro-Hungarian Army, part of the Landsturm was called up for service,

and all ordinary traffic on the railways was stopped. In reply to

Sir Edward Grey's proposal for the mediation of the four Powers, the

Austro-Hungarian Government, while expressing entire agreement with him

as to the desirability of localising the war, stated that "things had

proceeded much too far" to allow anything to be done for the suspension

of military operations; both Russia and Serbia had been mobilising

for some time, and Austria-Hungary could not risk being behindhand,

especially if the outcome should be a European war.

On July 28 war was declared against Serbia, and the Emperor Francis

Joseph addressed a manifesto to his people, stating that it had been

his fervent wish to consecrate the years still remaining to him to

the works of peace, and to protect them from the heavy sacrifices and

burdens of war. "The intrigues of a màlevolent opponent," however,

had compelled him, in the defence of the honour and dignity of the

monarchy, of its position as a Power, and of the security of its

possessions to grasp the sword after long years of peace. When, "after

three decades of fruitful work for peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina,"

the Emperor extended his sovereign rights to those lands, Serbia, whose

rights were in no wise injured, had assumed an attitude of "bitterest

hate" to the monarchy, notwithstanding which it had only required her

to reduce her Army to a peace footing and to promise that in future

"she would tread the path of peace and friendship." Again, when Serbia

was embroiled two years ago in a struggle with the Turkish Empire, it

was to Austria-Hungary, which had "restricted its action to the defence

of the vital interests of the monarchy," that Serbia "primarily owed

the attainment of the objects of the war." But "the hope that Serbia

would appreciate the patience and love of peace of the Austro-Hungarian

Government, and would keep its word," had not been fulfilled. "The

flame of its hatred" for the Emperor and his House had "blazed

always higher," and the design to tear from it by force inseparable

portions of Austria-Hungary "had been made manifest." "A criminal

propaganda extended over the frontier with the object of destroying

the foundations of State order," of making the people "waver in their

loyalty to the ruling House and the Fatherland," and of inciting their

youth "to mischievous deeds of madness and high treason." A series of

murderous attacks, an organised, carefully prepared, and well carried

out conspiracy, "whose process had wounded him and his people to the

heart," had marked with its bloody track the secret machinations which

were operated and directed in Serbia with this object. In vain did his

Government make a last attempt to preserve the honour, dignity and

interests of the monarchy from these criminal shocks, "and to induce

Serbia, by means of a serious warning, to desist." Serbia had rejected

"the just and moderate demands" of his Government; he must, therefore,

proceed by force of arms to secure "those indispensable pledges which

alone can ensure tranquillity to the monarchy at home and lasting peace

abroad." Finally, the Emperor declared that "in this solemn hour he

was fully conscious of the whole significance of his resolve and his

responsibility before the Almighty"; that he had "examined and weighed

everything," and with a serene conscience would "set out on the path to

which duty points," trusting in his people "who throughout every storm

always rallied in unity and loyalty round the throne, and were always

prepared for the severest sacrifices for the honour, the prestige, and

the might of the Fatherland," in his "brave and devoted forces," and

"in the Almighty to give the victory to his arms."

The ultimatum to Serbia was, as Sir Edward Grey described it,

unprecedented in the harshness of its demands of an independent State,

and its style was so different from that of Count Berchtold that it

was believed at Vienna to have been drafted at the Emperor Francis

Joseph's request by Baron Burian, the Hungarian Minister _a latere_ of

the Emperor, an expert in South Slavonic affairs and himself of Slovak

origin. The German Chancellor and his Secretary of State professed a

total ignorance of the text of the ultimatum, but there seems to be no

doubt that it was sent to the German Emperor in Norway and met with his

complete approval, as it was more in accordance with the policy of "the

mailed fist" than the polished and conciliatory despatches of Count

Berchtold. The latter repeatedly asked the Emperor Francis Joseph

to be relieved of his post, and only remained to carry out a policy

distasteful to him out of loyalty to his Imperial master. He strove up

to the last for a pacific issue, and he announced in London and Paris

on July 31 that he would consent to submit to mediation the points in

the Note to Serbia which seemed incompatible with the maintenance of

Serbian independence,[19] but the matter had by that time passed into

the hands of Germany and the Austro-Hungarian military leaders and

could not be pursued diplomatically any further. The policy initiated

by the late Count Aehrenthal in 1908, the disastrous consequences of

which Count Berchtold had done his best to minimise, was now again

predominant at the Hofburg, and threatened to lead Austria-Hungary to

her ruin.

War was declared against Russia, France, and England, on August 6, and

the Austrian troops marched across the Russian frontier, which had

been left unguarded, on August 7. The Austro-Hungarian Army was well

organised and equipped, and though composed of men of several different

nationalities, showed a unity of action and a rigid discipline not

surpassed by that of its German ally. The Polish legion, numbering

20,000 men, many from Russian Poland, and equipped out of a fund

raised by private subscription among the Poles of Galicia, greatly

distinguished itself by its headlong valour and the high military

qualities of its officers. Austria-Hungary was a most efficient ally

for Germany, but the task assigned to her of invading Serbia, defending

her own territories against the overwhelming forces of Russia, and at

the same time assisting the Germans in their defence of East Prussia,

was beyond her strength. This was the cause of her failures in Serbia;

she crossed the frontier at Shabatz on August 13, after having

bombarded Belgrade, but the necessity of massing her troops in Galicia

to resist the Russian invasion prevented her from sending sufficient

reinforcements to the army of 15,000 men with which she had occupied

Shabatz, and she announced on August 23 that as she was "obliged to

gather all her forces for the principal struggle in the north-east,"

her attack upon Serbia was to be regarded "as a punitive expedition

and not as a definite war." The campaign which followed (p. 360) was

disastrous to the Austro-Hungarian arms; three attempts were made to

invade Serbian territory, and in the third, further troops having been

brought up from Hungary, they succeeded in capturing Belgrade, but a

fortnight after the Serbians recaptured their capital and drove the

Austro-Hungarians in disorder from the country (p. 361). Montenegro

having joined Serbia in declaring war upon Austria her coasts

were blockaded on August 12 by the Austro-Hungarian Fleet and the

Montenegrin fortress of Lowczen, opposite Cattaro, was bombarded with

little effect. The Montenegrins and Serbians repeatedly attempted to

invade Bosnia, but did not succeed in reaching Sarajevo, the capital,

being on each occasion beaten back by the Austrians.

The capture of Lemberg by the Russians and the Austro-Hungarian

disasters in Serbia were a great blow to Austrian prestige, and much

discontent was expressed at Vienna because Germany had apparently

neglected the interests of her ally in her anxiety to protect Prussian

territory against Russia. Repeated negotiations took place on the

subject between the two Governments, and Count Tisza, the Hungarian

Premier, was sent on a mission to the German headquarters, the result

of which was that numerous German troops were sent to assist in a fresh

expedition against Serbia.

War was declared against Belgium on August 27, and a treaty of

arbitration with Switzerland was concluded on September 2.

FOOTNOTES:

[6] The French Ambassador at Berlin stated on July 24 that great weight

must be attached to the Emperor's feeling that monarchies must stand

together, and that his impressionable nature must have been affected

by the assassination of a Prince whose guest he had been a few days

previously (French White Book, No. 30).

[7] British Blue Book, No. 17.

[8] _Ibid._, Nos. 18, 32.

[9] _Ibid._, No. 46.

[10] _Ibid._, No. 46.

[11] _Ibid._, No. 71.

[12] _Ibid._, No. 98.

[13] _Ibid._, Nos. 112, 113.

[14] British Blue Book, No. 123.

[15] _Ibid._, No. 129.

[16] Nos. 157, 158 Belgian Grey Book, Nos. 20 and 22 Austrian Red Book.

[17] The campaigns in Belgium, France, and Russian Poland are described

in the chapters relating to those countries.

[18] The naval operations of the war are dealt with in English History,

Chapter V.

[19] Blue Book, No. 161.

CHAPTER III.

RUSSIA, TURKEY, AND THE MINOR STATES OF SOUTH-EASTERN EUROPE.

I. RUSSIA.

Whatever may be the verdict of history as to the Power responsible

for plunging Europe into war, it would not have taken place if Russia

had not supported Serbia, for Serbia would have accepted the whole

of Austria-Hungary's demands if she had not been assured of Russian

active intervention in her behalf. Russia, with the magnanimity of a

great people, was not prepared to stand idly by and witness the wanton

attack of Austria upon a weaker state, which had already offered ample

reparation for any offence for which she could be held responsible.

The attack made on Serbia by Austria-Hungary was, however, regarded

by the party under the Grand Duke Nicholas as an imperative call to

action, even though the Army was not quite ready; but the Government

made every effort to arrive at a pacific solution, and it was not until

the equivocal attitude of Germany made the situation menacing that the

Tsar, wavering between his love of peace and internal reform on the

one hand, and the just outcry of the Nationalists and the "Orthodox"

Church on the other, was at length persuaded to take the side which

was sure to be the most popular, at least so long as success should

crown the Russian arms. It was not, strictly speaking, a war "between

Slav and Teuton," for many of the Slavs outside the Russian Empire

declared themselves against Russia, and fought on the side of her

enemies. The enemies of "the Teuton" among the Slavs, apart from

Serbia and Montenegro, were only the Russians; the Poles, the Czechs,

the Croats, and even the Slovaks and Slovenes, were on the side of

Austria-Hungary. There were some mutinies of Czech and Croat regiments,

which were due to the racial hostility of the Czechs to the Germans

and the Croats to the Hungarians (A.R., 1912, p. 337; 1913, p. 328).

The "Orthodox" clergy in Russia regarded the war as a sort of crusade

against Catholicism; but their agitation met with little success among

the Austrian Slavs except in some districts of Galicia and Hungary

inhabited by Ruthenians of the United Greek Church (p. 327), many of

whom were shot during the war for having given the Russians information

of the movements of the Austro-Hungarian Army. The Ruthenians of the

"Orthodox" Church, on the other hand, who inhabit the province of the

Ukraine in Russia, had started a separatist movement at Kieff in March

in favour of union with Austria.

The most important event of the earlier part of the year was the

retirement on February 11 from the post of Premier and Minister of

Finance of M. Kokovtsoff, under whose administration Russia had

attained to unprecedented welfare and a greater political stability

than it had enjoyed for many years. His retirement was believed to have

been brought about by the intrigues and disloyalty of his colleagues--a

frequent cause of the fall of Ministers and other high functionaries

in the Empire, and also by his having insisted, in opposition to

the Ministry of Agriculture, M. Krivoshein, on the maintenance of

the brandy monopoly as the safest and most productive source of the

Imperial revenue. The new Premier was M. Goremykin, a reactionary

bureaucrat who held the same post at the time of the first Duma (A.R.,

1906, p. 319), and M. Bark, an eminent banker and a personal friend

of M. Krivoshein, was appointed Minister of Finance. In a rescript

addressed to the new Minister the Tsar directed him to carry out a

policy of "radical reforms in the financial administration of the

State and the economic life of the country," as "it is inadmissible

to permit the favourable financial position of the State to depend

on the destruction" (owing to the national vice of drunkenness) "of

the moral and economic strength of the great multitude of Russian

citizens, and it is therefore urgent that financial policy should be

conducted on the principle of obtaining revenue, not from the sale

of spirituous liquors, but from the produce of the inexhaustible

wealth of the country and of the labour of the people." The Council

of the Empire at the same time adopted a series of extremely drastic

provisions in favour of temperance contained in a bill passed by the

Duma, at the instigation of the peasant deputies, giving powers of

local option to all communes, townships, and villages by a simple

majority, with the right either of completely prohibiting the sale of

liquor or restricting it to specified shops to be opened on certain

days or at certain hours; women being allowed to vote on these

matters. Count Witte, who with M. Kokovtsoff, had been the founder

of the brandy monopoly, now joined the opposition to it, declaring

that he had made "a mistake which was leading Russia to her ruin."

According to his estimate, the total revenue derived from the monopoly

was about 100,000,000_l._ and had been increasing every year since it

was established. The first step towards temperance reform was taken

on March 26, when an order was issued to suspend the sale of spirits

at all railway stations; it was also announced that the penalties on

illicit trading in spirits would be increased, that the people would be

taught the advantages of temperance in the churches and schools, and

that the plea of extenuating circumstances would not be admitted in the

case of crimes committed under the influence of drink. The outbreak of

the war in August gave the movement a new impetus; the Government shops

for the sale of spirits were nearly all closed, and it was announced

by the Tsar in October that they would not be opened again. The result

of this measure was not only an enormous increase of the efficiency of

the troops, but of the wealth of the peasantry, which instead of being

dissipated in drink was employed in agricultural improvements and a

great increase of their investments in savings banks. A further result

of the interest taken by the Tsar in the moral and physical welfare of

his people was the creation of a "Department of Physical Culture," for

the promotion of outdoor sports, and during the war the sale of spirits

was strictly forbidden in all the Galician towns occupied by the

Russians; the keeper of a restaurant at Lemberg was fined 2,000 crowns

(83_l._ 6_s._ 8_d._) for having sold a customer a glass of cognac.

The chief difficulty in the adoption of the proposed reforms was that

which had hampered the Tsar's intentions since the issue of the October

manifesto of 1905 (A.R., 1905, p. 319), namely the want of harmonious

co-operation between the Ministry and the Legislature on the one hand,

and the members themselves of the Ministry on the other. The new

Premier, M. Goremykin, was appointed by the Tsar without a Ministerial

portfolio, apparently with the object of placing him above departmental

rivalries, and he was directed by an Imperial Rescript on March 20 "to

work in harmony with the Legislature." Cooperation with the Duma was

attempted by conferences between the Premier and its leading members,

the intention being, if it should prove impossible to secure a majority

for the proposed reforms, to hold a general election. The first of

these conferences held in the Duma did not relate to internal reforms,

however, but to a proposal made by the Government to increase the

peace effectives of the Army by 460,000 men, bringing up the total to

1,700,000, at an extra cost of 50,000,000_l._ spread over three years.

This was the Russian answer to the increase of the German Army in 1913

(A.R., 1913, p. 307), and to an anti-Russian campaign in the German

and Austro-Hungarian Press, and all the Russian party leaders, except

the Socialists, sanctioned the proposal. It was further determined,

with the consent of the Duma, that the service of time-expired men

should be prolonged for three months after the legal limit, which

brought up the peace effective at once to almost the number fixed above.

The Russian Foreign Minister, M. Sazonoff, made a remarkable statement

on the subject to a representative of the Hungarian Journal _Az Est_.

He said that he could not understand the reason of the excitement in

Germany and Austria-Hungary with regard to Russia; tension certainly

did exist between the monarchy and Russia in the previous year, but the

relations between the two countries were now "excellent." The increase

of armaments, he continued, was initiated by Germany, whose initiative

had reacted on France, and led to an increase of the peace strength

of Austria-Hungary; it was therefore natural that Russia should have

taken steps in the same direction. With a birth rate of 2,500,000 she

could allow herself "the luxury" of an increase in the peace footing

of her Army. A "test mobilisation" of about 500,000 reservists was

begun on April 15, and in June the Duma approved of an extraordinary

credit of 10,000,000_l._ for the construction of warships for the Black

Sea Fleet, to be spent on one 27,000-ton Dreadnought, two 7,500-ton

cruisers, eight torpedo boats and six submarines, all to be built at

Nikolaieff and commissioned not later than the spring of 1917. The

Minister of Finance at the same time stated that Russia would have to

spend 752,000,000_l._ in the next five years for the Army and Navy.

On April 2 the Imperial assent was given to a bill providing that

married women, separated from their husbands, should enjoy full liberty

of movement and enjoyment of property, even if minors, and that the

courts shall have no power to order restitution of conjugal rights;

cruelty to the children, rudeness, violence, dishonesty, immorality, or

dangerous or loathsome illness to be sufficient cause for separation,

and the husband to provide alimony, the care of the children being

awarded to the injured party.

The report of the Budget Committee of the Duma on the Budget for 1914

was issued on April 6. It fixed the expenditure at 358,032,609_l._,

or nearly 33,000,000_l._ more than in 1913, and the revenue at

361,265,916_l._, or 36,200,000_l._ more than in 1913, and proposed

that the surplus of 3,233,109_l._ should be devoted to the building

of ways of communication, also that as the temperance campaign was

likely to diminish the revenue, fresh taxes should be introduced.

The Opposition groups took advantage of the debate on the Budget to

protest against the intended prosecution of one of their leaders, M.

Tcheidze, for propagating Republican ideas. Hereupon, on the proposal

of the President, the Duma voted the suspension for a fortnight of

fifteen Socialists, including M. Tcheidze, who were removed by the

Serjeant-at-Arms and the guard. Notwithstanding the efforts of M.

Gozemykin to establish more friendly relations between the Government

and the Duma, there was no alleviation of the discontent manifested by

all classes in the previous year (A.R., 1913, p. 336). On May 17, after

voting a reduction in the Home Office Estimates as a protest against

its policy, the Duma, by 186 votes against 95, censured M. Maklakoff,

the Home Minister, for his persistent disregard of the representative

institutions of the Empire, thereby "undermining the welfare and

safety of the State." In June there was a serious crisis on the Stock

Exchange at St. Petersburg, ascribed chiefly to the reactionary and

repressive policy of the Home Minister, who discouraged foreign capital

by the vexatious restrictions imposed upon joint stock companies with

regard to the participation of Jews in their management. He was also

held responsible for the enormous increase in so-called political

strikes (A.R., 1913, p. 336), the work of a clandestine organisation

which threatened to paralyse trade and industry. In the May-day strike

130,000 men took part in St. Petersburg alone, and such widespread

drunkenness had never before been observed among the working-men. The

strikes continued through the months of June and July; on July 23

there was fighting in different parts of the capital until midnight,

the strikers having raised barricades against the police, upon which

they were charged by the Cossacks, many being killed and wounded. On

the following day 110,000 workmen were still out on strike, and the

_Novoe Vremya_, the most influential of the Russian papers, declared

that the existing system of police repression had proved a failure,

and "unorganised masses had been thrown defenceless under the yoke

of revolutionary agitators," adding that both the Government and

public opinion were responsible for the abominable excesses which had

disgraced Russia. The strikes ceased, however, on July 26 without

further recourse to violence, and they were not renewed in view of the

greater issues confronting the Empire.

On July 13 Gregory Rasputin, the peasant "fakir" whose influence with

the Empress and the ladies of the Russian Court had given rise to much

scandal in the society of the capital, was stabbed in his house near

Tobolsk by a woman, a follower of his rivals the monk Heliodorus and

Bishop Hermogen, who had sought to obtain his banishment. A report

presented by the Holy Synod to the Tsar stated that defections from

the "Orthodox" faith were growing more and more numerous, and that

the Socialists and others, dreaming of a new revolution, were sapping

the foundations of the Church. The seceders were mostly Baptists,

Stundists, Old Believers, Flagellators, and Atheists.

The cordiality of the reception on June 24 of the officers of the

British First Battle Cruiser Squadron at Tsarskoe Selo was somewhat

marred by the unfavourable impression produced at St. Petersburg by

the acquisition by the British Government of a preponderant interest

in the Anglo-Persian Oil Company (p. 123), which Russian politicians

regarded as tantamount to the establishment of British preponderance

in the neutral zone in which the Anglo-Russia Convention of 1907 had

stipulated equality of opportunity. In the Duma on May 24 M. Sazonoff,

the Foreign Minister, had declared that the foreign policy of Russia

"continued to be based on the unshakeable alliance with France and

friendship with Great Britain; the establishment of a sound friendship

between France and Great Britain, and also between Great Britain and

Russia, had brought Great Britain within the sphere of political

communion previously existing between Russia and France which had

helped to maintain peace." Although there was not a formal alliance

between Russia and Great Britain, there was a "political combination

imposed by unity of aims," and therefore "friendly co-operation is

assured irrespective of the form and the scope of the written word."

The Triple _Entente_ was "responsible for the equilibrium of Europe,

and ever ready to co-operate with the Triple Alliance in the general

interests of peace." Russia "continued to seek the maintenance of the

old friendly relations with Germany," but unfortunately the endeavours

of the two Governments in this direction "did not always meet with

due support from the Press of their countries." As to Austria-Hungary

the Minister merely re-echoed the friendly sentiments of Count

Berchtold with regard to neighbourly relations, and in the Balkans, he

said, Russia's task was pacification. "She would impartially assist

all the Balkan States, asking in return only neutral sincerity and

confidence." Her relations with Turkey had improved since the Balkan

crisis, and she was disposed to assist Turkey in the internal reform of

her Asiatic possessions, as "only the peaceful development of Turkey

would assure the freedom of the navigation of the Straits"; and the

conciliatory spirit of the Turkish Government was shown by its attitude

towards Armenian reforms, in which matter "Germany had co-operated

with Russia." Finally, M. Sazonoff said that a "comparative lull" had

been noticeable of late in Persia, "thanks to the continued friendly

co-operation of Russia and Great Britain and the efforts of the Russian

legation and the Persian Cossack brigade in quelling disturbances in

the Western districts." The majority of the Russian troops at Kazvin

had consequently been recalled, but in the northern provinces order

was still dependent on the presence of the Russian troops. Russian

policy towards Persia, the Minister concluded, remained unchanged and

was devoid of aggressive intentions. "Our object is, as hitherto, to

contribute to the establishment in this bordering country, so closely

joined to us by important economic interests, of that stable order

so necessary for the further development of our mutual commercial

relations and the progress of Persia herself."

The visit of President Poincaré to Russia (July 20) elicited an

enthusiastic welcome on the part of the people, and on July 23 the

Tsar, in proposing the toast of the President and France, said that

France and Russia had for nearly a quarter of a century been bound by

close ties in order the better to pursue the same end, "which consists

in safeguarding their interests by collaborating in the equilibrium

and the peace of Europe," adding that he was convinced that "the two

countries will continue to enjoy the benefit of peace," remarkable

words, considering that they were spoken only a few days before Europe

was plunged into war.

On July 26 the Tsar left St. Petersburg on a trip to the Finnish

Skerries, after having authorised, in consequence of the Austrian

ultimatum to Serbia (p. 330), the issue of orders for a mobilisation of

fourteen Army Corps on the Austrian frontier, and of the rest of the

Russian Army immediately upon mobilisation in Germany.

Russia and Germany had never since the partition of Poland been

in antagonism until now. Austria had given the Poles liberty and

self-government, and they were naturally ready and willing to fight

for her. But Russia had alienated them by her incessant persecution

of their language and national institutions, and by her fruitless

attempts to crush their national existence and turn them into Russians,

while Germany, acting by more subtle means with a similar object,

was feared as well as detested. Both, now that Poland was to be the

battlefield, appealed to the Poles for their support, making golden

promises to them of which the motives were only too evident, and which

a tragic experience had taught them were not to be depended upon. By

the side of Germany, as Russia's most formidable enemy, they were

ready though reluctant to fight. But of the many thousands in the

Russian Army who surrendered to the Austrians many were Poles, and

thousands more escaped from Russian Poland to join the Polish legions

which were formed under Austrian auspices. The feeling of the other

Slavs in Austria-Hungary and elsewhere with regard to Russia was

equally hostile. The Czech _Glas Naroda_, commenting on one of the

appeals of the Grand Duke Nicholas to the Poles, saying the war "is

a war of liberation for the Slavs," and promising "to unite all the

parts of Poland now under the rule of Austria-Hungary and Germany,

give them self-government, and restore Poland under his sceptre,"

asked: "From what are the Slavs to be liberated? From the freedom and

self-government which they enjoy under Austria-Hungary? They will

hardly be tempted to exchange these benefits for the despotic rule

of a corrupt bureaucracy. As for the Czechs, they often oppose the

Government, but are always warmly attached to the State with whose

existence their own is inseparately bound. Austria-Hungary gives

equal rights to all the nationalities in the Empire and enables them

freely to develop themselves. Russia does not tolerate any other

nationality in her dominions, not even a Slavonic one." Shortly after

the bombardment by the Turkish fleet of the Russian towns on the Black

Sea a deputation of Ruthenians from the Ukraine came to Constantinople

and issued an address to the Ottoman nation, saying that Russia had

always been the enemy of Turkey, that the treatment of the Mohammedans

in Russia was a crime against humanity, and that thirty millions of

people in the Ukraine hoped to be rescued from such sufferings by

Turkey, the old ally of the Cossacks of the Ukraine. In Bulgaria,

too, the _Rabotniczewski_, an organ of the Labour party, described

Russia's claim to pose as the liberator of the smaller European States

as a "shameless piece of cynicism," as 180,000,000 people, Russians,

Poles, and Finns, were suffering under her despotic rule. While in

France, Belgium, Germany, and Austria-Hungary the Socialists joined

with the other parties in supporting the Government, in Russia they

declared in a letter to M. Vandervelde, the eminent Belgian Socialist

and ex-Minister, who had urged them to join in the war against Germany,

that they would continue their struggle against Tsardom with more

energy than ever, and take every opportunity of reversing it: "The

Russian as well as the German Government is the enemy of democracy;

even now that it is at war it persecutes the working-men and the

non-Russian nationalities, and should it be victorious it would be the

propagator of political reaction in all Europe."

At the beginning of the war the Russian troops were removed from the

frontier districts to the great fortresses of Ivangorod and Brzesc

Litewski, where they were formed into three Armies, one to advance

through East Prussia and Silesia towards Berlin, another to break

through the Carpathians into Hungary, and the third and strongest to

march upon Galicia. The advance into Prussia was to be a powerful

diversion with the object of weakening Germany's invasion of France by

forcing her to send troops from there to the East to defend her own

territory, while the object of the advance to Hungary was to help the

Serbians against the Austrian invasion. To strengthen these Armies

the whole of Finland, nearly the whole of Russian Poland and large

districts in Central and Northern Russia, as far as Siberia, were left

without troops. The Grand Duke Nicholas, the nephew of Alexander II.

and husband of the Princess Anastasia of Montenegro, was appointed

Commander-in-Chief, and General Sukhomlinoff, Minister of War, Chief

of the General Staff. As not only the troops, but the gendarmes and

the Customs officials, were removed from the frontier districts, and

the Custom houses were closed in anticipation of an Austrian advance

before the Russian mobilisation was completed, people could pass

into Austria without examination at the frontier, and many Poles

took the opportunity of thus escaping enlistment into the Russian

Army and joining the Polish legions which were being formed at their

own expense by the Poles in Galicia for service with the Austrian

Army. On marching with his troops into Russian Poland the Grand Duke

Nicholas issued the following address to the Poles: "Poles, the hour

has struck when the sacred dreams of your fathers and ancestors can be

realised. A century and a half ago the living body of Poland was torn

to pieces, but its soul did not die. She lived in the hope that the

hour of resurrection would come for the Polish nation and its fraternal

reconciliation with Great Russia. The Russian troops bring you the

solemn news of that reconciliation. May the Poles of Russia unite under

the sceptre of the Russian Tsar, under that sceptre Poland will be born

again, free in her religion, her language, and her autonomy. Russia

only asks that you should respect the rights of the nationalities to

which history has allied you" (_i.e._ the Ruthenians). "With open

heart and hands fraternally held out, Great Russia comes to meet you.

The sword which struck down the enemy at Grünwald (an allusion to the

battle in which the Polish King, Ladislaus Yagiello, defeated the

German crusaders and made them his vassals) has not yet rusted. The

Russian Armies march from the shores of the Pacific to the North Sea.

The dawn of a new life begins for you. May the sign of the Cross, the

symbol of the suffering and the resurrection of the nations, glitter in

that dawn." A reply to this address, signed by some Poles in Warsaw,

expressed their loyalty to the Tsar and their wish for the success of

the Russian arms, but among many of the Poles the Grand Duke's promises

were regarded as merely a device for keeping them quiet. The address

produced more impression among the Russians than among the Poles; at

Moscow and Kieff large sums were subscribed for the relief of the Poles

who were suffering from the total devastation of their country caused

by the war, and there was a revulsion of feeling in favour of the

Polish nation.

While the Russians were massing their armies in the "Trilateral"

(Ivangorod, Novo Georgievsk and Brzesc Litewski), Austrian troops

crossed the frontier and occupied Kielce and other towns in Russian

Poland, and were at first well received by the people, but when

subsequently their place was taken by German troops, who imposed

contributions, took hostages, and bombarded churches and villages, the

feeling for their new rulers naturally changed. There were 1,300,000

Polish soldiers in the Russian, German and Austrian Armies, military

service in all three States being obligatory, and their country, seven

times as large as Belgium, was even more devastated by the constant

marchings to and fro of millions of troops, which destroyed everything

that could be of advantage to their enemies; and often, notably the

Cossacks, the Honveds and some of the Germans--as in Belgium--burnt

villages and plundered country houses.

Directly after the declaration of war, on August 2, a strong Russian

column, with guns, crossed the Prussian frontier near Biala, and

marched to Johannisburg. The Germans, on the other hand, occupied

Bendzin, Kalisch, and Czenstochowa in the Kingdom of Poland. On

August 1 the Russians occupied Stallupönen, east of Insterburg, and

Lyck, after five days' skirmishing with the Germans at Eydtkuhnen and

Wirballen. These, however, were merely reconnaissances in force; the

general advance of the Russian Armies did not begin until August 18,

when they sent two Armies into East Prussia and invaded Galicia from

the north and east, converging upon Lemberg. On crossing the frontier

the Grand Duke Nicholas published an appeal to the Ruthenians in

Galicia, addressing them as brothers "who had languished for centuries

under a foreign yoke" and calling upon them "to raise the banner of

united Russia."

The first great battle of the war between the Russians and Germans took

place on August 20 between Pilkallen and Stallupönen, on the road to

Tilsit; it lasted fourteen hours, and the four German Army corps which

took part in it were driven by the Russians towards Gumbinnen with a

loss of 3,000 men and thirty guns, and followed to Insterburg, which

the Russians captured on August 23 without resistance. Then came a

Russian attack on Kielce and Tomaszow, in the Kingdom of Poland, which

had been occupied by the Austrians; the Russians were driven back with

great loss, and the Austrians then occupied Sandomierz. Meanwhile the

Germans brought up three Army corps of 160,000 men near Gumbinnen,

and endeavoured to turn the Russian left, but without success, and

the Russians then occupied Soldau, which commands the railway to

Dantzig, and took possession of nearly one-half of the territory of

East Prussia. Their attempts to enter Galicia were less fortunate. They

were beaten at Sokal on the road to Lemberg with the loss of a whole

brigade and two generals, one of whom was killed and the other taken

prisoner. At Pavosielica, on the frontier of Bukovina and Bessarabia,

20,000 of the Russian cavalry were driven back by the Austrians; on

August 24 an Austrian Army under General Dankl, engaged the Russians

in a three days' battle on a line of fifty miles at Krasnik, on the

road to Lublin, and on September 2 another Austrian Army, under

General Auffenberg, attacked 280,000 Russians in eight days' fighting

on a front of 200 miles at Zamosc and Komarow. A fresh Russian Army,

however, under General Russky, coming up from the south-east between

the two Austrian Armies, which had lost 20,000 killed and wounded, with

76,000 prisoners and 300 guns in the previous battles, inflicting on

the Russians a loss of 19,000 prisoners and 200 guns, forced them to

retire, and occupied on September 3 Lemberg (which they renamed by the

Polish name Lwow), the capital of Galicia, which remained in the hands

of Russia till the end of the year, with a Russian administration,

Russian clergy (the Ruthenian Archbishop having been banished to

Russia) and obligatory teaching of Russian, instead of Ruthenian, in

the schools. Meanwhile the Russians, who had completed the mobilisation

of 8,000,000 men, divided into four Armies, to be sent into the field

one after the other, marched two of them into East Prussia, and were

so confident of victory that they expected to reach Berlin within

three weeks. One, under General Rennenkampf, occupied Tilsit and

marched on Königsberg; the other, under General Samsonoff, started

for Thorn and Posen, but on reaching Tannenberg, near Ortelsburg, it

was confronted on August 28 by the Germans under General Hindenburg,

who, using a similar manoeuvre to that of Hannibal at Cannæ, drew on

the Russians with apparently inferior forces into the swampy region

of the Mazurian lakes, and then, attacking them on both flanks and in

the rear, compelled them to surrender with a loss of 50,000 killed

and wounded, including three of their best generals and several staff

officers, 90,000 prisoners and 516 guns. The second Army under General

Rennenkampf, which had come too late to prevent the disaster, was also

routed by General Hindenburg on September 10, and for the time being

the Russian offensive in East Prussia was abandoned. The remnants of

the Russian Army were again defeated on September 15 at Elk, and were

pursued by the Germans into Russian territory as far as Augustowo, near

the fortress of Ossowiec, which they invested on September 30.

Although the capture of Lemberg was a great blow to Austrian prestige,

the Austrian armies, together with some German corps which had been

brought up to their assistance after the Russian defeat at Tannenberg,

pursued their attacks upon the Russians at Rawa Russka, after a battle

which lasted from September 7 to September 11, with terrible loss on

both sides. The Russians had still 2,000,000 men in the field on the

Austrian and Prussian frontiers, and their attempt to break through the

Germans in the direction of Königsberg and Thorn having failed, they

now made the fortresses of Przemysl and Cracow their objective, as if

these were taken the road would be clear to Berlin and to Vienna. After

seventeen days' fighting they advanced towards Przemysl, and attacked

the Austrian Army while it was crossing the river San, capturing the

whole of its rearguard, amounting to 30,000 men. The Austrians fought

well, but the Russians, as regards fighting efficiency were more

than equal to their opponents. Nearly the whole of Eastern Galicia

and Czernowitz, the capital of Bukovina, were now in their hands; on

September 18 they occupied Sandomierz, on the 22nd Jaroslaw, on the

railway between Lemberg and Cracow, and on the 28th they began the

siege of Przemysl, while other Russian forces advanced to the passes of

Uszok and Dukla, in the Carpathians, for a raid into Hungary, which,

however, was beaten back by the Hungarians and the Polish legionaries

on September 30. When the Russians arrived at Medyka, near Przemysl,

they were also attacked by the Austrians, who inflicted on them a loss

of 5,000 killed, 40,000 wounded, and 10,000 prisoners. This, combined

with their losses in attempting to take Przemysl by storm, when whole

regiments perished under the deadly fire of the Austrian artillery,

and the menace of the Germans in Northern Poland, led to a retreat of

the Russians from Western and South-Eastern Galicia, though not from

Lemberg and the adjoining territory. The Austro-German Allies were

at the beginning of October again strongly posted along the Vistula

and the San, and in possession of the whole of Western Galicia, the

Bukovina, and the passes of the Carpathians, besides one-half of

the Kingdom of Poland. The Russian attempt to invade Prussia and to

destroy the Austro-Hungarian Army had, therefore, so far failed. But

new Russian forces were brought up from Warsaw and the adjoining

fortresses which caused the Germans to retreat towards the frontier,

while the Austro-Hungarians took the offensive in Galicia on the line

from Sambor to Stanislawow. The main Armies of Austria-Hungary and

Germany and Russia were now in close touch over a front of 270 miles,

and on October 14 the whole of Poland west of the Vistula, including

the important town of Lodz, "the Polish Manchester," which was captured

after severe fighting on October 8, was in the possession of the

Austrians and Germans, who, with the Polish legions, penetrated to

within half-a-day's march of Warsaw, and caused much indignation among

the people by their aviators throwing bombs on the town and killing or

wounding many civilians, but they were attacked both on the front and

on the flanks by four Russian Armies of 200,000 men each, who after

seven days' fighting forced them to retire on October 20. The Polish

legions, furious at the order to retreat being given when they were

within sight of Warsaw, made a rush forward and had to be surrounded

by the Germans to prevent their being annihilated. The German line

was then pushed back to Skierniewice, fifty miles west of Warsaw, and

on October 27 the Russians reoccupied Lodz, but the battle continued

to rage on both fronts with unprecedented tenacity, the Russians

fighting with intense energy and spirit. On November 3 they took

Kielce, having captured Radom on the previous day, and on November 4

they entered Sandomierz, on the Vistula. On November 8 they resumed

the invasion of East Prussia, advancing to Stallupönen, Soldau, and

Pleschen, in the German province of Posen. In Galicia, however, the

Austrians still held to the left bank of the San, notwithstanding the

vigorous attacks of the Russians, who inflicted upon them a loss of

100,000 men besides those who suffered on the other lines of retreat.

Meanwhile the Germans, who had brought up fresh troops from the West,

resumed the offensive in Russian Poland on November 18, and broke

through the Russian lines at Kutno, between the Vistula and the Wartha,

compelling the Russians to retire several miles in the direction of

Lowicz. In this battle the Russians were stated to have lost 45,000

men, including the Governor of Warsaw, who drove inadvertently into

the German lines. After their victory at Kutno the Germans again

advanced towards Warsaw, driving the Russians before them, and on

the 22nd they were within forty miles of the Polish capital. In East

Prussia, too, they drove the Russians from their fortified positions

and captured 23,000 prisoners at Wloclawek, on the road to Thorn. The

Russian Armies, on their western frontier, now numbered 3,500,000 men,

while the Austro-Hungarian and German Armies combined did not exceed

2,000,000. Another great battle took place before Lodz, which, after

a fortnight's desperate fighting, with immense loss on both sides,

was recaptured by the Germans on December 8, who after being almost

enveloped by the Russians broke the ring which was being drawn round

them and put back the Russian front before Warsaw. This check was

attributed to dissensions among the Russian generals, and General

Rennenkampf, who arrived too late to relieve the Russian centre, was,

with seven other generals, arrested and brought before a court martial.

General Hindenburg, on the other hand, was made a Field-Marshal for

what was described by the German General Staff as "one of the finest

deeds of arms in the whole campaign," having captured 60,000 unwounded

prisoners and 100 guns. The Germans were not able, however, to pursue

their advantage; the powerful attacks of the Russians prevented their

getting any nearer to Warsaw than Sochaczew, about thirty miles to the

west of that city. They strove hard up to the end of the year to push

through to Warsaw, but were unable to get any farther than the Rivers

Bzura and Rawka, where they entrenched themselves and made a series of

fruitless attacks on the Russian positions on the other side of those

rivers, Farther north, however, Mlawa, near the Prussian frontier, was

retaken by the Germans on December 26. The German main line at the end

of the Ysar ran from Mlawa to Ilow Lowicz, and Tomaszow, all of which

towns were in their hands, but the Russians remained in occupation of

about 8,000 square kilometres of Prussian soil.

Meanwhile in Galicia, the Russians occupied Tarnow on November 13,

resuming the siege of Przemysl on the following day, and on December

2 they entered Wieliczka, the centre of the salt mines in Western

Galicia, three and a half miles from the outer fortifications of

Cracow, which were now invested by them. There was much fighting north,

west, and south of Cracow (especially at Limanowa, where the Russians

lost 40,000 prisoners), but the city itself escaped damage, none of

the shots of the Russian artillery having reached it, and at the end

of the year, both Przemysl and Cracow still remained free from the

invaders, who temporarily abandoned the advance on them on December 12

after a series of battles in which they suffered heavy losses and were

driven eastward for a distance of forty miles. Although Russia had yet

made little progress towards Berlin, she had conquered a great part of

Galicia, and she had given valuable help to her Allies by compelling

Germany to detach large forces from France in order to protect her

frontier in Poland.

In November Russia was involved in another war, owing to the attack

of the Turkish fleet on the Russian ports in the Black Sea (p. 352).

On November 4, Russian troops entered Asia Minor and advanced for

seventeen miles along the road to Erzeroum, and on November 8, they

successfully resisted an attack by the Turks armed with German heavy

artillery, at Kuprikeui in Armenia, from which there are mountain

paths in the direction of Erzeroum. Further attacks were made by the

Turks during the rest of the month, and, also in December, in the

Euphrates Valley without any notable result, until they reached Ardahan

and Sarakamysch in an attempt to regain Kars, when in a three days'

battle with the Russians at the end of the year they were driven back

with enormous losses, the whole of one of their Army corps having

surrendered.

Apart from the two wars, there is little to record in the Russian

history of the second half of the year. On September 1, an Imperial

order was issued directing that the city of St. Petersburg should in

future be designated as "Petrograd" (Peter's City). This was an outcome

of the hostility in Russia to everything German, as was a decree issued

in November, depriving German and Austro-Hungarian subjects of Russia

of their rights to immovable property either leasehold or freehold

situated in rural districts near the Russian land frontier, the Baltic,

the Black Sea, and the Sea of Azoff. In November an income tax was

imposed on all incomes exceeding 1,000 roubles (100_l._), at the rate

of from 16 roubles (1_l._ 15_s._) up to 15,600 roubles (1,700_l._) for

incomes exceeding 190,000 roubles (19,700_l._), together with a tax

on men exempt from military service. As regards Finland and Poland

there was no alleviation of the methods of Russification previously

practised, although the devastation caused in Poland by the war

produced a current of more friendly feeling towards the Poles among

some sections of the Russian people. At Petrograd a society was formed

for a reconciliation between the Russians and the Poles, which struck

medals representing a Russian and a Pole shaking hands; but these were

promptly confiscated by the Government, and in the Duma but little

was said on behalf of the Poles. The Socialists were pursued with the

utmost rigour, their members in the Duma were arrested, and when M.

Burtzeff, known by the part he took in the exposure of Azeff and other

Russian _agents provocateurs_, left Russia in 1907 with a regular

passport, not having been prosecuted for any offence, returned to that

country in order, as he stated in a letter to _The Times_, to promote

"a unity of all nationalities and all parties" in pursuing the war, he

was arrested on his arrival in November on a charge of having insulted

the Tsar in a Paris newspaper while he was living in France, and

sentenced to deportation to Siberia.

As regards foreign affairs, on September 5, Russia joined in the

declaration that none of the Governments of the Triple _Entente_

would conclude peace separately; and on October 24 Russia declared to

Italy that she would order the liberation of all Austrian prisoners

of Italian nationality, provided that the Italian Government would

undertake to keep them in Italy during the war, but Italy replied that

she could not give such an undertaking, as "every Italian or foreigner

arriving on Italian territory, not having been guilty of any crime, was

free, and his liberty could not be restrained in any way," upon which

Russia withdrew the condition attached to the offer.

II. TURKEY AND THE MINOR STATES OF EASTERN EUROPE.

While war was raging in Central and Western Europe, all the States of

the Near East except Serbia and Montenegro, and afterwards Turkey,

remained neutral, though they mobilised their forces so as to be ready

in case of need.

The most important event in Turkey at the beginning of the year was the

appointment as War Minister of Enver Bey, the hero of the Young Turkish

Revolution of 1908 (A.R., 1908, pp. 323-7). As a former military

_attaché_ at Berlin, he had long been in intimate relations with German

military circles, and his influence in strengthening the ties between

the German and Turkish Governments soon made itself felt. On January

8 an Imperial Iradeh was issued confirming the appointment of the

Inspectors-General of the four Armies and the Commander of the thirteen

Army Corps into which the Ottoman Army was to be divided, and among the

former was the German General, Liman von Sanders (Liman Pasha), who was

also appointed Commander of the First Army Corps. Over 160 superior

Army officers were at the same time placed on the retired list. Enver

Pasha (he obtained this title on his appointment in the place of that

of Bey) was also appointed chief of the General Staff, with a German

officer as one of his assistants.

The matters dealt with by the Powers in connexion with the Balkan Wars

which had remained unsettled at the end of the previous year (A.R.,

1913, pp. 356-7) were the proposed Armenian reforms, the question of

the Ægean Islands, and the formation of the new State of Albania.

As regards the first of these, the Russian _charge d'affaires_ at

Constantinople arrived at a complete agreement in February with the

Grand Vizier on the subject. The Armenian community in Turkey was to

be represented in the Ottoman Parliament by seventy deputies to be

designated by the Armenian Patriarch, and the general inspection and

supervision of the judicial and administrative officials in the two

sections into which the six Eastern Anatolian vilayets were to be

divided was to be confided to two foreign Inspectors-General, to be

appointed by the Powers from the subjects of minor European States.

Christians and Mohammedans were to be equally represented in the

provincial councils of Bitlis and Van, and in proportion to the numbers

of each religion in the other councils, but as regards appointments to

the public service there were to be as many Christians, if possible,

as Mohammedans. The Ægean question, on the other hand, nearly led to

a war between Turkey and Greece. In reply to a collective European

Note on the subject presented to the Grand Vizier on February 14, the

Porte, knowing that the Powers had failed to obtain unanimity for the

enforcement of their decisions, stated that it was indispensable for

Turkey to possess not only the islands in the neighbourhood of the

Dardanelles, but also those which, like Chios and Mytilene, "form

an integral part of the Asiatic possessions of the Empire." While

accepting, it added, the restitution by Greece of Imbros, Tenedos, and

Castellorizzo, the Ottoman Government "will endeavour to secure its

just and legitimate demands." Greece, on the other hand, agreed to

comply with the decision of the Powers, but demanded a rectification

of the proposed Albanian frontier near Argyrokastro (A.R., 1913, p.

357) on ethnological grounds, and offered in exchange a strip of coast

line and a grant to Albania of 100,000_l._ Further, as the islands to

be retained by Greece were not to be fortified, the Greek Government

proposed that guarantees should be required by the Powers of Turkey

against her attacking them, expressing its readiness to give similar

guarantees on its part, and also to prevent contraband trade between

the islands and the Continent, adding that it would protect the

Mohammedans in the islands to be ceded to Greece if the Porte would

give a similar undertaking as to the Christians in the islands left

to Turkey. The Powers of the Triple Alliance then guaranteed equality

of religion and speech in the whole of Albania and the proposed

rectification of the frontier, except as regards Koritza, which was

to remain Albanian, as soon as the Greek troops should evacuate the

portion of Epirus which had been assigned to Albania. The period,

however, fixed for the evacuation (A.R., 1913, p. 357) was allowed

to pass, and a Greek Note to the Powers of the Triple Alliance, who

had insisted on such evacuation, suggested in April that it should be

postponed pending the acceptance by Turkey of the proposals of the

Powers as to the Ægean Islands. To this the Powers replied on April

24, insisting on an immediate evacuation, and on May 14 the Sultan, in

opening the Turkish Parliament, referred to the efforts the Porte was

making for a pacific solution of the Ægean question "in conformity

with the essential interests of the Ottoman Empire."

Meanwhile great indignation was expressed at Athens on learning that

the Turks were subjecting the Greeks in Thrace and at Smyrna to

systematic persecution in order to bring about their emigration. In

reply to a Greek Note on the subject the Porte stated on June 18 that

the troubles in Asia Minor and elsewhere had been caused by the arrival

of 250,000 emigrants from Macedonia, and that the Government was taking

steps to restore tranquillity in the disturbed districts, implying

that the condition of the Greek subjects of the Sultan is a question

of internal politics in which Greece has no right to interfere. Prompt

steps were, however, taken to punish excesses committed against the

Greek populations; sentences of from three to five years' imprisonment

were passed on forty-seven Mohammedans found guilty of pillaging Greek

houses, and the whole of the Smyrna district was placed under martial

law. The disorders were to a great extent caused by the policy adopted

by the Turkish Government of quartering Mohammedan immigrants in Greek

villages, apparently with the object of interposing a barrier between

the islands and the adjoining districts on the Continent in the shape

of a solid mass of Mohammedan inhabitants all along the coast, thereby

effectively checking the Pan-Hellenic propaganda which had been going

on for many years among the Greeks in Turkey (A.R., 1913, p. 354).

Although Turkey had declared at the beginning of the war that she would

be neutral, when Enver Pasha became Minister for War preparations were

at once made for her taking military and naval action against the

Allies. Liman Pasha was appointed commander-in-chief of the Turkish

Army on August 27, the German cruisers _Goeben_ and _Breslau_ (p. 183)

were added to the Turkish Navy and entered the Black Sea on October

20, with their German officers and crews, though the Russian and

British ambassadors had stated to the Porte that they did not regard

the sale of these two vessels as valid, and that the Allies would

attack them the next time they came out. Meanwhile, on September 9,

the Porte announced to the Powers that the judicial and financial

Capitulations, under which each Christian nation was allowed to govern

its own subjects within the Ottoman dominions, would be abolished

from October 1. The Ambassadors of all the Powers, including Germany,

protested against this step, which became practically nugatory when

Turkey entered into the war. As regards the measures taken for common

action with Germany, the Grand Vizier and most of the other Ministers,

though resenting the retention by the British Government of the Ottoman

warships building in England,[20] were opposed to them, but had to

yield to Enver Pasha, who had the whole Turkish Army at his back, and

had adopted the view promulgated by German agents that the only way to

save Constantinople and the Turkish Empire from being seized by Russia

and her allies would be to enter into an alliance with Germany. Large

numbers of German officers, soldiers, and sailors were imported from

Germany to serve in the Turkish Fleet, the forts of the Dardanelles,

and the Turkish Army, and German merchant vessels served as bases of

communication and auxiliaries to the Turkish ships of war. The officers

of the German military mission organised military preparations in

Syria for an attack on Egypt, and the Syrian towns were full of German

officers provided with large sums of money for suborning the local

chiefs.