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Show Hun Beaten as Fourth Year of War Ends; I Americas Entrance Makes Victory Certain nited States1 Intervention Overshadows All Other Developments Dur-? Dur-? mo- Last Twelve Months; Review Shows Central Powers' ; Strength and Morale Waning, While Initiative Passes to Entente. ' EVKNTS big with the fa to nations na-tions have marked the fuiirth year ot t ho war which now conies i to a close. It. lias been a twelve- 1 -joiit h of alternative hope and concern for the powers of the entente alliance, j t was on July 1'S, mil, that Austria I dared war on Serbia, beginning the j jr.it struggle. I luring the past twelve ' (iiiths there have been occurrences jit, i" o"'o aspects, have been of een . ater impart in their influence uuu f world than those in the preceding cied. Russia's collapise, the Italian tjrfd hist autumn, the stupendous yfwes of the (iermans a.sainst the allied jirmios. and the wonderful defensive .ii.'rations that have again and again TiiH-ied the enemy when success for jm seemeJ near at hand, have held c world breathless. Jiut, transcend-ii; transcend-ii; ""i significance of any event in the Vtual theaters of the war, America's participation in it must remain for .''jl time the great outstanding feature f t the fourth year of the struggle. It '( upon America that the entente is V ving for the men and resources to t'ii the tide. A year ago the number of American oops going to Europe had not begun ., 'assume thrge proportions. A few hilars and some national guardsmen Til been sent to France, but most of 1 je big military training camps were ,:. !ill being built and the men selected i the first contingent to be called to f he colors were still in citiz.ens' clothes. , ,'nlil the first day of August of 1017, :he total number of American soldiers ' 'aken overseas was 2h',0l. drive Hastens Movement. Soon after that, date the movement )f troops was accelerated. Thousands rcre dispatched across the Atlantic dur-I dur-I 11 j; the winter months, but it was not c n t i 1 the great (lerman offensive was started late in March of 1918 that the movement began to assume really noteworthy note-worthy proportions. The figures for the months from August 1, 1017, to July 1, IMS, follow: August IS. 323 ; September, 32,523; (Mober, SS.250; November, 23,010; Ilo-(Piiiber, Ilo-(Piiiber, -IS, SID; January, 46,776; Feb-ruarv, Feb-ruarv, IS, 027 ; 'March, 83,S11 ; April, 117,212; May, 244,3-13; June. 2"6,'382. On .Inly 1, 1018, there were 14.644 American marines in France, bringing the total number of American troops in that couutrv and.Italv up to 1,010,1)5. Daring the recent fighting in France the work of the American soldiers has tmnpareil favorably with that of other tiling' men in the world. They have iscctors here and there along the Tout. They are in Alsace and north-l north-l wanl in the Lorraine sector. The fa-1 fa-1 minis 8t. 'Miliiel sector is held by Amor-Ir.ins, Amor-Ir.ins, who are posted also on the line SJjiiK the heights of the Mouse. East TiTVIheinis they took part in the fighting fight-ing during' the last phase of the (jor- nan offensive, while in the Chateau Vhierry sector thev held their line in i vital region against the utmost fury of the Teutonic onslaught. North of llinteau Thierrv Americans helped to 4op the drive 'of the Germans in the rarly (lavs of .Trine; and in the Soraiiio sector, at f'antignv and Grivesnes they liavo given proof of their soldierly qualities. quali-ties. i The allies liave been called upon to lace; two great offensives (luring the Inst vear. The first of these came last 1 1. tober ill Italv and the second, in 'iinco, began on March 21. The Ger-uin Ger-uin drives in France, while separated v periods of from a few days to sev-nl sev-nl weeks, have been considered as liferent phases of the same offensive. l:e abortive Austrian attack against ' lalv in June also is looked upon as 'urclv another attack against the west-' west-' n front and not as a distinct military ''ration. ' tiiHsian Coliapse Cause. Hut these offensives perhaps never ' "iilil have been begun had it not been . , r the collapse of Russia during the winter. German and Austrian ' '"ops, released from the Kussian front, 'to taken to Franco ad Italy to 'ell the masses of men hurled against allies in the western theater of oper-'ions. oper-'ions. As long as Kussia remained iu ; light she iield a great number of ''atonic troops in the East, and her vithilr:uvnl from the War exercised a 'ilnnu-ntal influence on the course of '"elopmcnt. The year opened with the fortunes of ' iir npparen th favorintr the entente. jhe British had forced back the Ger-L:is Ger-L:is to the famous llindenburg line. ' (The French hail established themselves Jiriily along the Ghemin des Dames, h'ftli of the Aisne. The echoes of Ver dun wen; still ringing the knell of German Ger-man hopes m that sector of the battle area. The Italians were holding their lines along the Isonzo. The rejuvenated rejuve-nated Kussian "regiment of Julv'lst" had carried the war far into the Austrian Aus-trian defenses in liukowina and Oalicia. Through August and September, 1017, there came rumors that Russia was exhausted ex-hausted by the war, and quiet settled down along the lines from the gates of the Carpathians to the Baltic. Stories were heard of fraternization of German and Kussian troops, but assurances came from Petrograd that Kussia would stand true to her allies. The German and Austrian high commands com-mands had no illusions as to further Russian belligerency. There came to the allies reports that, the central empires em-pires were taking the pick of their force from the Russian front and concentrating concentrat-ing them for a drive against some part of the line in the western theater. Then came intimations that the blow was aimed against Italy. Italy Halts Blow;. The storm broke at Caporetto on October Oc-tober 2l aiui almost immediately the wiioe Italian line was thrown iuto disorder. dis-order. Pouring 1 hrouh the passes, where in some instances disaffected Itaiinu troops held positions, the Germans Ger-mans and Austrians made progress, which, from the first, was alarming. By wise generalship the .Italian line was withdrawn from the Isonzo. It paused at the Taiiliameuto and then retired further until it rested on the Piave, almost within sight of the domes of Venice. Here the .Italian army-reformed its columns, consolidated its positions ky withdrawing from the Jihaetian mountains to the Asiago plateau, pla-teau, and, assisted by the French reinforcements rein-forcements brought to that battlefield, stood at bay. TCvnnLs in the meanwhile bave been moving swiftly in Russia. On November' 1, while the offensive against Italy was under way, Alexander F. Kerensky, then the Russian premier, announced that ! Russia was worn out by the war and , that the allies must shoulder the burden ; thenceforward. i Huven days later Kerensky was deposed : by the Bolshevik!. The fall and flight of, Kerensky was the signal for Germany and i A u stria, tn enter into peace negotiations . with Russia. On. November 30 the Bolshe- i viki announced that Russia was out of I the war and proposed that all the allies join in negotiations for an armistice. Russian and German representatives 1 met at Rrest-Litovsk on December 22, and terms of peace were exchanged. No progress was made with the negotiations, : and the conference was broken up o January 11. In the meantime, a new republic re-public had spruntf from the side of Rus-sfn. Rus-sfn. Jt was Ukraine, a territory extending extend-ing a Ions the Rumanian and Galician frontier from the Black sea northward to Choi m, in ancient Poland. With this republic Die central empires made peace late in January. The failure of the Bolshevik authorities to reach .an agreement with the Germans result ed in thii renewal of hostilities on February LS, and the German armies moved forward once more. Brest-Litovsk Treaty. This" brought about a renewal of the peace, nentiat ions, and at Brest-Latovsk the Bolshevik! were given to understand that Germany would recognize the kingdom king-dom of Poland, the republic of Ukraine, Ksthonia and Livonia. Turkey, as an ally of the central powers, was given a great area to the east of the Black sea, including the regions of Batum, Kara and Krivan. With the announcement of the final signing of the treaty between the Bolshevik! Bolshe-vik! and Germany the allies gave up hope that .Russia would remain in the conflict, con-flict, and at once they began to strengthen their lines against the coming of the great German offensive by which Berlin and Vienna hoped to force the entente nations to make peace. With the greater part of her territory occupied bv the Germans, Austrians and Bulgarians, with -her government driven from Buduirest to Jassy and with the Kussian Bolshcviki openly hostile toward her. Rumania found herself in a critical situation. Rumanian troops during February Feb-ruary and March advanced into Bessarabia, Bessa-rabia, a part of the new republic of Ukraine, but thoy were hemmed in by the enemv forces and obliged to withdraw. with-draw. At Inst, on May 0, Rumania signed a treaty of peace with the central powers. pow-ers. By this treat v Rumania lost the province prov-ince of Uobrudia. on the south side o&-the o&-the Paniibe, which she had received after the Balkan war. and agreed to a rectification rectifi-cation of her western frontier. Kconomic concessions also were made under pressure pres-sure from tiie Teutonic alliance. Peace Tentatives. The period between December 1. 1017, and March I, 1!M s. may be called the period of peace tenlatives. U is true that before the end of the summer Pope Benedict Bene-dict made an appeal to the warring nations na-tions to enter into peace negotiations, the basis for pourparlers being the restoration res-toration of Belgium ami Serbia and the return to Germnnv of her lost colonies. This appeal, made on August U, was an- 1 swered by President Wilson on August 29, when the president announced that the German government, as constituted, could not be believed and that the United States was ready to enter into negotiations when the German people showed they desired peace and when they spoke 'through any authority which would be representative of them. , The' German answer, to the pope's appeal ap-peal reached the Vatican on September 21. It expressed hope tiiat further warfare could be. averted through the good offices of the pope, but declined to enter into any engagement to meet what the allies had declared to be their minimum war aims, German efforts to secure a peace which would leave to Germany all the fruits of her victory gained through Russia's collapse, and with Belgium and large portions of France to be used as pawns at the council tabje, began with the address ad-dress of Count Czernin. then Austrian foreign minister, at Brest-Litovsk on December 26. The keynote of the address wfts general peace without annexations and indemnities. On January S, President Wilson, addressing ad-dressing congress, said" that the United States must know for whom the German rulers were speaking. The address was a complement to an address made on January Janu-ary 5 by .David Lloyd George, the British premier. To these addresses reply was made by Imperial Chancellor von Hertling of Germany Ger-many and Count Czernin. The latter was pacific and conciliatory in tone, while the former, . alluding to "the good German sword," showed he was speaking for the militarists of the Germanic powers. "Four Principles" Enunciated. To these replies there was rejoinder by President Wilson, who, on February 11, again addressing congress, laid down what have come to be known as the '"Four Principles" upon which peace can be based. Briefly, these principles were: Final settlement must be based on essential justice. Peoples and provinces are not to be bartered about like chattels. Every territorial settlement must be for the benefit and in the interest inter-est of the populations concerned. All well-defined nat ional aspirations aspira-tions shall be met with the utmost satisfaction consistent with the future fu-ture peace. ' v Pope Benedict, in a pastoral letter issued is-sued at Faster, made another appeal for concord among the peoples of the world, but It brought forth no tangible results. At the pope's behest, prayers for peace were offered in Catholic churches throughout the world on St. Peter's day, June 28. In April there came revelations from Paris that Emperor Charles of Austria had written letters to Prince Sixtus of Bourbon, a relative. In these communications communi-cations the Austrian monarch conceded the claim of France to Alsace, and Lorraine, Lor-raine, and hinted that peace overtures would be welcomed. As the result of this. Count Czernin, the Austrian foreign minister, was removed from office. The most recent addresses on the subject sub-ject of peace have been delivered in the German reichstag. one by Dr. Richard von Kuehlmann, the foreign minister, and the other by Imperial Chancellor von Hertling-. The former's sensational admission ad-mission that the sword by itself could not bring peace resulted in his resignation, resigna-tion, and Von Hertling's address voiced the sentiment that as long as the allies were intent upon "destroying Germany" the war must go on. The Enemy Offensives. . Last -winjter it became known that the Germans -were massing forces on the western front. Reports came that large units were training behind the lines and that new and more terrible engines of war than had been known before were to be used in the German effort to break the allied lines, crush their armies and force them to make peace. The drive was well advertised and even the place where it was to be launched was known wrth comparative certainty. On the morning of March 21 the Germans Ger-mans began their attack from the vicinity vi-cinity of Arras on the north, to La Fere on the south, and centering their heaviest heav-iest columns against the British forces, under General Gough, at St. Quentin. Staggering before the impact of the blow, the British army fell back rapidly. rap-idly. For eight days the Germans poured through the old allied line, in an effort to crush the British and drive a wedge between them and the French, who were holding the lines to the south. Then came a period of reaction and the Ger-nians Ger-nians came to a stop. They bad driven ahead for thirty-five miles, along a front extending' more than fifty miles, before they were halted. Hardly had their legions been held before be-fore Amiens than a new offensive was begun in Flanders, on April 2. It swept the British back through Armentieres, but did not break their lines. The British, with the French who were rushed up to the front, stopped the Germ;is after they had reached the hills southwest of Ypres. There, on April 9, the Germans suffered a terrible defeat, that halted their offensive in that quarter. Foch in Supreme Command. Tn the midst of the drive in the sector toward Amiens, the allied nations took a vitally important step. They nameH General Ferdinand Foch, hero of the first battle of the Marne, generalissimo of the allied forces on the western front, which subsequent reports intimating he had been murdered. Assistance for Russia. Since the collapse 'of Russia, the allied nations have sought to find a way to assist as-sist the people who are being exploited by the Germans. French, British and American Amer-ican forces have been landed on the Mur-man Mur-man or Kola peninsula, on the north coast. . They have not actively intervened, however, being there only to protect allied al-lied property which had been landed at the port of Kola before Russia withdrew from the entente alliance. In Siberia there is a well-deiined anti-Bolshevik anti-Bolshevik movement, which lias been built up around Czecho-Slovak prisoners of war who armed themselves and inflicted in-flicted defeats on the Bolsheviki. A new government has been set up there under General Horvath, president of the Chinese Chi-nese Eastern railroad. Japanese, British and American marines have been in the city of Vladivostok for months. Countries which are not engaged in the war have suffered during the twelve months, Switzerland and Holland, being adjacent to Germany, have been threatened threat-ened by the central powers numbers of times in matters relative to economic concessions. con-cessions. Holland, especially, has bcon bese't with difncullies, and at present the allies are protesting against her exporting supplies to Germany. Norway has signed an agreement with the United States by which commercial relations may be carried on. Sweden has been dealing openly with Germany and has been threatened with a virtual boycott boy-cott by Great Britain. Both nations have lost severely through te depredations of German submarines. Denmark is in a serious plight also, and it has been reported that there is great suffering among the people of that country. coun-try. Three new countries have declared war on Germ any d u r i n g the y e a r. They .m e Costa Rica, Guatemala and 1 layti. The Argentine, although near a break because of the machinations of Von Luxburg, the German ambassador at Buenos Aires, has taken no sLep in that direction. Mexico has remained neutral. includes all the line in Italy as well as in France. Even the M unnan coast, in northern Russia, has been held to he under un-der his command, j After a period of quiet, the Germans at-! at-! tacked once more, this time on the Aisne 1 river, and in seven days they reached the Marne at Chateau Thierry, making a penetration of about twenty-eight miles, j At the Marne they were checked and the impetus of the blow was broken. With hardly a day's pause f-r reorganization reor-ganization of their fore's, the Germans again attacked, choosing the sector between be-tween Montdidier and Xoynn, on the southern side of the salient driven into the allied line during the March offensive, offen-sive, as the stage of their onslaught. 1 This offensive ran for five days, and was stopped north of Compiegne after losses which were described as unprecedented had been inflicted upon the Germans. From June 14 until July IS the Germans Ger-mans were, engaged in shifting their forces, and then they again struck. This time the line of attack was from Chateau Cha-teau Thierry eastward, around to the north of Rheims and then down the Vesle river to Prunay and from that village fast ward to Massiges. This at tack at the close of the year developed into one of the most ambitious of the German strokes. Counter Blow Struck. German forces crossed the Marne over a wide front, hut were unable to make ground acainst American troops near Chateau Thierry, and could not advance ! rapidly further east. They did, however, forge ahead on the north side of the Mf.rne and between that stream and the mountain of Rheims. It appej ted for a time that they might reach Epcrnay. Then General Foch struck a counterblow, counter-blow, which is stiil in progress. American Ameri-can and French troops attacked, the Ger- mans between Fontenoy, on the Aisne west of Soissons, and Ktlleau on the Clignon, northwest of Chateau Thierry. So sudden sud-den and powerful was the blow that the Germans fell back rapidly, until their reserves re-serves could be hurried up. The rapid advance of the allies, however, how-ever, so menaced the German forces further fur-ther south that on July 19 the enemy began be-gan a retreat across the Marne. On Sunday, Sun-day, July 21,. French and Americans entered en-tered Chateau Thierry and pressed on after the retiring Germans. Since that time I lie allies have gained , slowly, but steadily, not only south of Soissons, but also north of the Marne and between that river and Rheims. There are indications that a German retreat ifrom the salient is now under way. Italians Stand Firm. On June 15 the Austrians began a drive against Italy. It was a failure. The Austrians crossed the Piave, but on the west bank met with such stubborn resistance re-sistance that progress was impossible. Slowly the Austrians were driven back toward the river, and then the Piave, swollen by rains in i he mountains, completed com-pleted the overthrow of Austria's hopes. After suffering terrible losses, the Austrians Aus-trians retreated to the eastern bank of the Piave from the Montello plateau to the Adriatic. Among the year's opera t ions of comparatively com-paratively lesser importance were the British drives in Palestine and Mesopotamia; Mesopo-tamia; the Turkish advance In the Caucasus; Cau-casus; the French and Italian offensive in Albania, and the fighting in the German African colonies. ' Jerusalem was capture by the British on December 10, and shortly afterward the fall of Jericho was announced. Since the taking of Jericho the British forces in Palestine have not been active on the offensive. General Maude led the British troops into Bagdad on March 11, and shortly afterward died from cholera. His forces pushed further up the Tigris until Die intense heat of summer terminated operations. oper-ations. The Turks, after the collapse of Russia, look advantage of the demoralized condition condi-tion of the Russian forces to advance through the Caucasus and obtain possession posses-sion of the regions subsequently ceded them " by the treaty of Brest-LLtovsk. The French and Italian drive in Albania began on July G and is still in progress. During the year British forces in Africa Af-rica drove German forces before them in German East . A frica. and in German Southwest Africa, and finally compelled them to disperse or surrender. This took from Germany the last of the vast colonial co-lonial possessions held by her when the war began. Submarine Warfare. The hast year has been marked by a gradual decline of submarine sinkings as compared with the number of ships Vicing Vic-ing built by the entente allies. The operations op-erations of the British and American destroyers de-stroyers have spread t error among the "wasps of the sea," while a great mine field completed in May by the British navy converted virtually the whole North sea into an area closed against U-boat activities. The harbors of Zeebrugge and Ostend, from which German submarines had been operated against entente shipping, were either sealed entirely or made virtually valueless as suhmarine bases by daring naval and air raids by the British in May. German submarines visited American waters in June and sa nk at least t en ships, the field of the U-boat operations ( being from the north New .lersey coast' south to the Virginia capes and easterly half way to the Bermudas. The only United SWi tes transport lost while carrying troops to Europe was the Tuscan ia, winch was torpedoed off the north coast of Ireland on February 5 with a loss of 212 men. Hospital Ships Sunk. During the year eleven hospital ships have been sunk by submarines, the latest and most flagrant case of this violation of the Geneva convention hein the deduction deduc-tion of the Brit ish steamer Llandovery Castle, carrying Canadian nurses and due-tors. due-tors. This took place on .June 27, only twenty -four of the l'."'S persons on board beinq rescued. The total shopping reported sunk since August 1, l!i 1 7. is more than !,25'',ii0() tons. Against this destruction of shipping the allies have combined their shipbuilding capacity. The actual number of tons of shipping launched and put into service has not been published. Official announcements an-nouncements have been made in the recent re-cent past, however, to the effect that more ships are being buhl than are being be-ing sunk. Cm July -1. ninety vessels were launched a t A me ricn n shipyards. The year's lighting has emailed, great losses for most of ihc belligerents. I Miring Mir-ing the drive into Paly last October and November the Teutonic avmi" claimed the capture o'" move than lvi.on.i 1 1 : 1 1 i f 1 1 1 .s . In the German orY-aisi cs in l-'r;uice this yenr about r.'i." Fren- h. Rriii-h, Anirr- ica ns ar.d Port ug' K-se were report ed to have bet n taken prisoner. Added to these lo-s.-s are the casu.il-ties casu.il-ties in kfed and wo-m,;.--.-. No d.--:ii::?e tiguivs haw be. n issue 1 bv rWm.ny and Austria, but it Y.i been re; rifle : on what ii;vw,rs to be o.'mI anti.OMtv ib.it in the hgh'h-.g fr.cn Mai- h 21 rid J :i:e 14 ;'' G --vm ; 1 r.s lost more t '.,in '.cmi men. Trie ; Financial Aspects. j T!-e 1 h ft-- i-'d rhrr -T- at J.-',.-v .-,-. The pr m; ,f ir- ... . K:;. h Vr.TeJ of f :' "' i". S-". : . A'- . . |