Show EW L OF THE GREAT WAR AND OTHER N OTA 1 t EVENTS of THE YE 1015 european conflict develops into a struggle to the death with deadlock on eastern and western fronts serba serbia overrun by and Bulan nans trying period for the united stales states general caranza carranza recognized as president of mexico THE EUROPEAN WAR the year 1915 has been so distinctive from a history making viewpoint that in all the ages to come it will v ill stand apart from those that have preceded it and from those which are to follow during ue its entire length L the greater nations of the european continent have abandoned themselves to a policy of bloodshed which has fallen little short of delirium to the neutral onlooker it has been a revival on a huge ecale scale ot of the irrational i and murderous activity aich characterized the earlier ages of nian mankind eifrid it has been the complete overthrow of all the pacific theories which had apparently parent ly gained so strong a foothold at tho time of the tiring firing of tuo first gun in the present conflict at the beginning of the year it was evident that it was to bo be a struggle to the death it was plain that the teutonic plan to force r speedy set lement by dint of superior armed preparedness had ailed failed six months had elapsed and the teutonic allies were still faced by three great nations their strength unbroken and their determination inflexible aus tria had been driven repeatedly by her russian invaders Inva dera and twice the serbs had routed austrian armies sent against them on ether other belda also teutonic efforts bad had been futile thus tar far turkey had been of little as list anco and the holy war had tailed failed to come into being german southwest africa bad had been lost and german in flut fluence llunco ll unco nce in asia bad had ben bern smothered by the tile japanese As in offset the germans still held practically nil nit the conquered territory which had fallen into their bands hands their lines still held firmly in 1 po 10 land in rl In landers anders and Is jr france it was apparent that as yet the teutonic combination no sign of weak ening and rind a war of attrition seemed inevitable both in tho the east and in west the military op operations orations of the early part of the ear car were practically without decisive result the fighting in poland had resolved itself into a complete deadlock in january the tile french english combine made three attempts attempt a to break the teutonic hold on preach freach territory but accomplished little the german germau un successful drive at harsar and the rout of the austrians la in galicia left a slight balance in the january tight ng in favor of tho allies from a strictly military viewpoint february was a promising month for tho the teutonic allies by the middle of tho the month german troops were ad avancing all along tho the front from tho the vistula to the and thus seven months after the breaking out of the war german soil waa cally cleared of its russian invaders the deadlock on tho western front was still unbroken broken Ln scene ene shifts to Darda dardanelle nelles with the advent of march there arme a sudden and dramatic change in the war situation the scene of military activity wan wait shifted to the tho dardanelles Darda nelles by third week nt T the u a month rome athens sofia and bucharest were centers of geart political I 1 1 activity tho the surrender of I 1 march 22 was the most stirring victory for tho the allies since tho the battle of the marne tho the german assertion that the military power of russia bad had dwindled into ill cance was disproved at once and the allied cause gained instant strength la in all the leutral capitals one of tho the Ireat pdt strongholds in europe bad had boo taken by tuo the Ru rueanna Rue salans aana iho the disaster to ta the allied fleet at the tho dardanelles Darda nelles which occurred during the third week of muran put on an end to the expectation of forcing the by naval means alone german prestige advanced perceptibly and tho the difficulty of the task undertaken by tha a allied fleet was now understood der stood in this month also the JUrI tIsh won the battle of neuve beuve chapello chapelle after a bloody babl in april the french mado made a bold offensive stroke against the german cerman position between tho the idease wa nud aej Mosel lethe the famous st wedge which resulted in a tremendous lec ct inn in n n on both sides with vm pin 11 1 od S vantage tor for either nowhere bad had the allies made appreciable sain in ter tho the invader held his own stubbornly and with success about the middle of mhd month zeppelins made their u over english towns inspiring grat la interest terest and not L cuttio apprehension but doing corn botn small damage about this time also the attempted submarine bloc blockade kado of the british coast proved to be ineffective in the closing days jays 0 at the month another great teutonic Tev tonic offensive a swept ept against the allied lines tn in belgium thrusting the enemy lack 11 upon cypres with great losa of lifo on both idea sides 11 in hay may tho the germans sent their beat best to the aid of the hard pressed austrians Aust lans riAns dy by the middle 0 of the month thoy bud hild worked a blur ving change in tho the situation arze myal aws re taken the russian cam a laign in galicia was shattered anil and tho the czars armies ero soon back where they started out buhn in tha provi provola oua ua september russia had suffered the greatest disaster in the war A new now germany military hero had b been cen revealed in the of Alac kenson du who was now hald with hindenburg in popular ir esteem in the last days of the month italy joined forces with the against Aur austria tria fl hungary fall of warsaw the campaign in the west was strangely quiescent the allies kept to their trenches a id d the outside world wondered on dered up to june 15 16 there was no claim of progress by the allies the teutonic claim that its side was stilt still engaged in fit successful warfare o on all fronts was as not disputed the splendid resistance interposed by tho the cited turks came as a surprise to the world russas was unable to rally her badly demoralized forces to make a winning defense of lemborg lemberg once that DI nt hal falen fullen warsaw berame became the main objects io 0 it was not august 6 that german troops made their triumphal entry into warsaw capital of russian poland september marked a decided change in the teutonic campaign in the east vilna tell fell on september 9 but immediately after afterward mard the russians won a series of successes over the austrians capturing cap turin 40 prisoners the escape of the russian armies from the net not planned by the german strategists was cem complete tho the great teutonic drive A ans as brought to a halt and in da de cembor the germans withdrew slight ly and In trenched for tho the winter tho the month of october marked a da do aided revival of military activity on all fronts after a long period of corn com para tive quiet in the west a desper ate offensive movement was as made by tha allies the french drive in chain was a a one of the bloodiest at tempts yet made to pierce tho the german lines after three weeks of incessant gunfire the french troops left their trenches september 25 and rushed the whole of the first german line nearly 2000 german prisoners were captured and upward of a hundred held field guns thus far the greatest single capture by the french during the war this brief period of allied success was followed by an unexpected turn of political affairs in the balkans for a second time the greek king showed bis his lack of sympathy with the allies in the spring be he had prevented veni vent bolos bla his premier an avowed supporter of the allies from sending troops to the dardanelles Darda nelles now when the allies were ere depending upon the gree ts to bold the bulgara bulgarians it ns in check constantine Coni ConAt antine declined again to act serbia Is overrun bulgaria announced her intention to cast her lot with the central powers and tho the latter opened a campaign hav ing turkish for its apparent objective jec tive on october 10 the germans crowd tho the danube and proceeded to ad advance vatice southward every stop contest ed furiously by tho the outnumbered serbs france england and italy declare nar var on bulgaria all at once tho the center of military activity was transferred to the balkans Pal kans in november both the long expected allied offensive in the west gestand We stand and the teutonic drive in tho the east camo came practically to an end the allies milos failed to break the stubborn german lines and ony oily achieved a possible moderate sut success cess in champagne and artola artois at tremendous cost by the middle of the alth operations in rusala russia were practically at a standstill the tile ge Germi labus Ais having baying failed to accomplish the object of their campaign at that time the big german drive to tho the gold on an lorn florn began to tho the at of the public the preliminary invasion inva alon of serbia b by tho the teutonic at lies li esnow now including bulgaria was uns begun with notable promptness in tact as early eary as october 27 the invading armies met in the northeastern part of the ho kingdom by november I 1 the chief serbian arsenal bad had alien fallen nod and by br november 6 the bulga iaus hans were era la in nish serbia a e povl provisional capital and rall railroad road center B november 19 10 it was announced that the invading armies held four fifths of serbia and toward the close of the month germany declared that mal tho ile campaign was over by the bratle ot of december the franco forces had been driven out of serbia they fell back to which with tho the consent ci greece they prepared to defend since mav may 1 24 14 when the italian army crossed the austrian frontier the figal i ing has been continuous especially along tho the front the strongly stion gly forti fortified fled and stubbornly town of goeltz was as the italian objective for weeks in october the austrian aero planes dropped bombs upon venice destroying art specimens and dabag ing a church the italian liner an cona bound for new now york waa was sunk by a submarine flying the austrian flag on november 9 more alore than a bun dred passengers were killed including several americans the united states made a vigorous demand on austria to disavow the act and punish the corn mander of the submarine on december 15 the british war of fice announced that gen sir douglas halg haig had superseded field marshal sir john french as british commander in france and flanders WAR AND THE UNITED STATES strictly neutral as has been the pol icy tey elected by thia this country the gov erni eminent nent has been brought face to face with many serious problems which have arisen from the conduct of the european war one of these was the seizure and detention by great britain of vessels carrying american goods to neutral ports la in kurono A protest was made by washington and on jan uary 10 great britain replied by of fering reasonable redress for any mis tahe take of 0 that lature carly early in february great britain decided to seize grain and flour shipments to germany even if it intended for and two das later germany jermany declared tho the waters around great britain and ireland to bo be a war zone and announced hor her purpose to destroy avei enemy merchant chant vessel discovered therein neutrals wert warned arned of tho danger sure to follow on february 6 the atlantic liner lust tania tanta mado made the passage from new now york to liverpool flying tho american flag as a protection against hostile submarines on rebr february uary 10 tho the united states bent sent notes to germany and great britain concerning ameri amerl can shipping in the war zono ger many was vas warned against committing a breach of tho rules of naval warfare and great britain was reminded that serious consequences might follow tile use of the american flag by british vessels on nn february 16 germany offered to withdraw from her crusade against british merchant ships if the british would permit the sending of food to the civilian population of germany on the same mame day tho the british government seized the american ship Willi elmIna bound for a german port with wheat for civilian consumption the german note in reply to the american protest against the rino blockade blo cRade disclaimed all res ability great britain affirmed its 11 in to bend send the Wilholm ina to a prize court in replies to inquiries from the washington government neither germany nor great britain showed any disposition to recede from the positions already announced on april 11 the german ambassador pro tested to the state department against the attitude of tho tha united states toward the shipment of tf war materials and british treatment of american trade with germany on may atay 1 the american oil carrier caier was sunk off the scilly islands by a ger man submarine Odst destruction ruction of the lusitania on may 7 the big transatlantic liner Lusi lusitani tants was vas sunk by a german submarine off tho the coast of ireland with a loss of nearly 1200 lives including upwards of a hundred Aad cans on may stay 13 the united states protested against the german submarine policy and declared its intention of maintaining tho the righta rights of american aitt zens on may 25 the american steam er nebraskan waa was seriously damaged by a torpedo off the south coast of ireland on may 28 the german reply to the united states note of protest in regard to tho the submarine policy in the so called war zone waa was received on july 8 germany replied to the second Washing washington tor solo note regarding the sub submarine marne war against merchant ahtes eb aps promising safety to unified states swea ships la in the war zone if specifically mard on july 21 tho the united states sent a third note to germany with tho the state ment that the german reply to a for mer noto note bad had been very unsatisfactory and that a repetition of the acts complained ot of would bo be tugar ded aa as deliberately ut friendly on un aug 3 several from great belt brit aln ain concerning luter interference brenco with american trade in it the e war zone were made mada public in which it was claimed that great britain waa was doing nothing in violation of international law in the caso case of tho the william P frye an american ship an sunk by the prinz eitel friedrich january 28 germany agreed to furnish indemnity and the united states accepted tho the offer and proposed that the matter jo je referred to tho blague court on august 19 1 the british liner araold was torpedoed by a herman german submarine and several americana americans were drowned A lively diplomatic controversy contro veray follo followed Ned and the tension in tho the united states mas as at the breaking point on september 7 the ger man nian government no titled the united states that tho the captain of tho the rino hilo had torpedoed the arabic in self defense believing that eho sho was about to ram him on september 0 9 the united stated states asked abaria hungary to recall doctor its dor der charged with being active in a movement to cripple american manu facture of munitions on october 6 5 tho the german government disavowed tho the act of the submarine captain who sank the arabic at this time it was announced that the pending french british loan of 5 bad had been oversubscribed the united states secret service october 24 arrested a young man who called himself robert fay and declared that be he was a lieutenant Itou in the german army and came to america to destroy merchant vessels of the allies and Ame american plants early in december tho the washington govern ment demanded tho the recall of the ae german attaches boyed boy ed and von papon on oil tho |