| Show The he Second Year of the Great War F a By FRANK H. H SIMONDS f f 7 I Author of The Great War 4 Copyright 1916 The Tha Tribune Association The Association The New York Tribune The first year year of the great war was marked by three well defined campaigns The opening att attack ck upon France with its Belgian Belgian Belgian Bel Bel Bel- gian prelude which began at Liege and culminated ted in the defeat at the Marn and the engagements terminating in the battles of Flanders Flanders- by which the deadlock of trench war was made absolute from the sea to Switzerland the Russian attack upon Austria which began in the great at vi victory tory before Lemberg was continued by the subsequent subsequent subsequent quent victories in Galicia and the until the closing days of April Russia stood at the edge of the Hungarian plains plaids and but a few miles miles' east of Cracow the German attack upon Russia I which began with the overwhelming victory at the abo f May 1 and was still sUIl continuing in victory victory victory-on on the f first f anniversary of Q f the cOining coming of Armageddon w- w The history o of the second year has be been n marked by five equally well de defined lied major campaigns The continuation and culmination culmination cul cul- of the great great German German attack upon Russia the successful defensive stand of Germany in the west of August 1915 to February February Feb Feb- 1916 and her victorious resistance in the battles of Loos and aid Champagne the splendidly successful German Austro-German drive through Serbia to the frontiers of Greece and Bulgaria the second Germ German n attack upon France in a campaign for Verdun j finally as as' as the year closes the beginning of a g grand and concentric a allied attack upon Gerr Geri many and Austria which has only just opened but has already deI deprived deprived de de- de- de I Germany and 2nd n he her al ally y of the offensive on all fronts f for r the first time In in n the entire conflict Continued on page 8 S. Tb YEARS OF WAR AS REVIEWED BY I SIMONDS Continued from page pagel 1 Accepting the these divisions a at M the basis for a review ot of the year and the minor and subsidiary subsidiary sub sub- for the most part operations I mean now rapidly these four tour great German to sur survey sUreY ey campaigns and touch somewhat briefly upon the allied attack which is Just beginning and has as yet attained no decisive result In the larger sense either cither in tho the east or the west although In tho the former field its progress has been greater than any other advance on the allied side during the whole year Germany I.-Germany Germany and Russia The last days of July 1915 saw the Austro German Austro-German German drive against Russia in full swing The fate of Warsaw was in doubt when the military critics were casting the balance for the first year but hut it was not long to be In doubt In rapid succession the fortresses that barred the advance of ot Hindenburg from East Prussia fell Mackensen stormed on between the Pripet marshes the Vistula Warsaw fell Ivan- Ivan gorod Novo followed the tho fate of ot Maubeuge and Liege Warsaw was as evacuated and the whole Russian j I Iline line reeled backward to Brest and I But there was no halting here North orth and anel south the peril Of ot envelopment I continued and so the Russian army I went back behind the behind the marshes and the fortresses of Dubno and Lutsk fell to I the central powers Lemberg was lost and there was left to Russia of all the fruits of her great Galician campaign a tiny sliver sUver of Austrian territory territory ter ter- the district August saw the whole world watchIng watching watching watch- watch ing to know if it the Russian army the main army retiring from Warsaw by YUna would be enveloped and captured cap cap- A Sedan ten times magnified I seemed imminent and for a time German German German Ger Ger- GerI man cavalry were across the only line of retreat of the greatest Russian army But the Russians escaped and in a afew afew afew few more weeks the eastern campaign had come to a deadlock to a state of balance and a condition of trench conflict con con- filet like the western Well might the Germans and the Ute Austrians acclaim their stupendous achievement A hundred thousand square miles of Russian territory holding before the war over fifteen millions of people had been conquered Prisoners to the number of more than thana a million had been captured Guns Gun supplies beyond estimate had fallen I into their hands No campaign of NapoleonS Napoleon'S had been on such a scale and no success of Napoleons Napoleon's had won undisputed control of so much territory territory territory ter ter- ter- ter of one of the great powers of I his own time Not unnaturally Vienna and Berlin proclaimed that the Russian phase of bf the war was over Russia had received a blow from which it w would Suld uld take her years to recover and she had passed out nut of ot the reckoning for the term of the present war Indeed the press was I filled with reports that Russia was seeking a separate peace At At- Atno no time I since the battle of the Marne had the fortunes of ot the central powers seemed so prosperous and the German press pres promised its readers a victorious peace before snow flew Yet the truth was quite different Russian armies had been terribly de defeated defeated defeated de- de but they had retained their form and escaped destruction or cap cap- ture As for Russian purpose in the tho I hour of dejection the czar himself took command of his armies sent the grand i duke cluke to the Caucasus and staked his dynasty on the continuance of ot the war warend end And the restoration of Russian military power Whether his act was spontaneous spontaneous spontaneous spon spon- of ot the result of ot the Impulse that sprang from the Russian people we cannot know but the fact Is that It I was n the first step In the wonderful renaissance of Russia the consequences conse onse- of ot which are aro now unfolded to toa toa toa a whole world and recognized by a Berlin that marvels as It confesses the mistakes of ot Its calculations of ot the previous year And In this measure the the- German drive at Russia failed as the tho German drive at France had failed France had parried the blow at the Marne l and won the previous time necessary to reorganize her own military resources and obtain the help of a Britain still for tor long months to be unready Bloody battles at the Dwina like hike those at the failed to change the eastern situation and the effort to get Riga failed as the struggle for Calais had failed Autumn saw the end of German effort in the tho east cast From the to the gulf of RI Riga a the lines were to stand unchanged until the Russ Russian an flood Hood gathering behind thIs tills dike should once more burst through and overflow Into Galicia The re real l significance of the German failure against Russia was to be ap appreciated appreciated ap- ap predated but tardily by a world Justly impressed by tIm the magnitude of ot the conquests In territory and by the splendor of ot the achievements of German German Ger Ger- man generals and soldiers on the field For many months France and Britain quite as much as all Germany were convinced con- con vinced that Russia had shot her bolt and a period of depression set In which was as to endure for many months Yet Yei riot not Impossibly the failure o of or the central cen cen- powers In the summer campaign may be reckoned hereafter as the beginning of ot the end Germany Germany in West The closing days of September saw tile the long promised allied attack upon the German lines hues in the West Vest After Alter many man months of preparation after atter a relative quiet which had lasted since the desperate and abortive French ef efforts ef- ef forts torts in Artois in May and June the in Champagne the British In Artois launched terrific attacks In ten days of bitter fighting the French advanced some three miles on ona ona a front of eighteen took above 2500 prisoners and many gu guns they two wo lines of ot German trenches and ad at one point actually broke brok through the third and last But Dut the result was nothing Th The G German Hn un wa wall restored the French Frencl attacks were beaten down the who whole offensive was really over o In three day and in a week the world knew that th the French l Had ad failed taller although the con con- number of prisoners and th the tho large laNe capture of guns misled many into Int el estimating as all a victory what a It defeat for the tho German lino ha had hd held In Artois the British fared farell even less les well Their initial success was considerable consid- consid Arable erable There Therl was a moment the rhe capture of Lens seemed Inevitable hut old faults reappeared The blunders blun blun- d ders drs of or Neuve were WE're r repeated at Leos Loos supports did not como tome up ground won had to be surrendered tor br great s sacrifices crt in life there was little littleto to show The failure at Loos Loo cost Marshal Sir John French his command and it condemned the British to Inaction the British 1 people eople to depression depression depres depres- sion slon for man many months It was the tho beginning of a a. long series of disasters and reverses Here then was one more German success The German lines had hold held although masses of German troops had been sent to the east In the great at attack attack attack at- at tack upon Russia Some of these had now to be recalled d and the failure In Inthe Inthe the east may have been Influenced d In Ina Ina ina a small measure b by the allied pressure in the west vest but only a little for Russia Russia Rus Bus sia had practically escaped when the attack began Allied failure In the west was a II plain testimony to the fact that Britain was not yet ready that France Franco alone I could not free tree her own territory It I finally denied all the hopes and ana claims I of ot the tho allies that France would be be freed Belgium liberated in 1915 The I spring drive so 80 long forecast came camo only In the closing days of September I and had terminated In failure before October began German failure In the Mst east bad had been strategic her tactical victory had been overwhelming that is she had failed to o capture or destroy the Ru Russian elan armies but she hf had beaten them In ever every battle and had gathered in great booty in men In guns In territory The allied Hied failure was both hoth tactical and strategic It was absolute not relative rela- rela tive ve and conversely German success In n the west was absolute because Germany Germany Ger Ocr many had there ther obtained f exactly what she ne fought for I Germany Germany In South Meantime 1 a new situation demanded German attention The allied landing at t in the spring of the year had lad imperilled Constanti Constantinople nople The Tho Turk was wa making the finest fight In his its splendid fighting history but iso- iso Isolated isolated from hi his allies by a hostile Serbia and ond nd an unfriendly Rumania lacking In munitions and In guns he s slowly giving evidences of an weakness which might brin collapse I Accordingly Germany and Austria planned and executed d the most mOlt brilliant bril- bril Ilant and successful campaign tn of the war While allied diplomatists bargained bar- bar gained with Greece and Bulgaria n m ns restrained Serbian soldiers who were ca eager er to attack Bulgaria before she mobilized Germany concentrated a a. great army on the Serbian frontier along the Danube and the gave Ia the he command to the ever victorious and prepared to open the road oad to Stamboul to Cairo and to In India In In- dia as German prophets proclaimed At the a agreed teed moment Bulgaria mob- mob and attacked Serbia Greece Greece- mobilized und and remained neutral Venizelos was ousted from power and the he Serbian all ally was left to perish un under under under un- un der the threefold blow that was now to fall tall And brave as was the Serbian Ser Str bian blan resistance the fall was wall immedi ate Austrian and German armies pushed south and cast east Bulgarian armies entered Nish and swept Mace- Mace ia An An French Anglo army army arrived I too oo late to cover the retreat of th the Serbs by the and only a broken traction fraction e escaped c. to the Albanian coast and found asylum In Corfu Serbia and Montenegro l were wre completely conquered conquered conquered con con- and occupied and tho the central powers sowers paused only In sight of Sn- Sn where the allied army stood as Wc Wellington's army had stood b be- be the lines of Torres Vedras S when Napoleon swept the Iberian peninsula The Immediate consequences of this successful campaign which was as short hort as It was decisive were enor enor- The ThEl campaign n came cameo cameto cameto to o an abrupt standstill st. and the army which had been ben according to Churchill within a milO mile of complete success was now exposed to deadly peril from which it was wall to escape with difficulty and only by I ignominious retreat a a. few months later A British arm army advancing advancing up the Tigris valley was presently to meet disaster and be compelled to surrender because a great reat Turkish arm army muni- muni and captained by bv Germans German was wan freed tred to deal with It The peril of ot in invasion Invasion In In- was waR to approach Suez ana and threaten g Egypt while 1 tribes in the desert behind were wert to be begin begin he- he gin the attack attak In the rear Hus Russian lan armies In the Caucasus were to bo ho halted and turned and Turkish activity was to extend to Persia Persia Per Per- sia sla and win brief success Berlin now proclaimed that Britain ln I was to l hA be brought to terms by the threat at Suez the heel of tho the British dt I Achilles British prestige o In the tho whole east ast was to suffer and the disaster of ot I the surrender of Kut-el- Kut Amara were to abase Britain Kut-el-I Kut In her own and the worlds world's eyes aM as she hadnot hail had not bene henl abased In n n. century Forthe moment too Germany had hat broken the ring of steel stel about her she sh had opened her road to the East she had hound bound Byzantium to Berlin and to Bagdad by the railroad she sho had been constructing In the of peace Napoleon at did not flot seem more sure uro of world power and Euro Kuro- penn supremacy than did William lam II It In the tho lays days Immediately following tho the kan Ba campaign when hen the tho prospectuses tunes of his hili statesmen and his Journalists Journal journal- dazzled tho the world and silenced or orall orall all nil but silenced the allied voices And yet tho tim actual results of the tin Balkan success were pitifully small measured b by the situation nine months later lator An ailed army forming at Pa Sa- Sa acted as ns a restraining force and defended Egypt from flom the tho A minor attack upon Suez ended bly In duo due course courso of ot time the gram grand duke stepped forward and and ond threatened Anatolia from the landward side and ana swept through h most 01 of Armenia E Egypt was not conqueror b bv bY Invasion nor did there come that revolution revolution revo revo- lution that Berlin so fore tore cast Turkey Turley was lIa saved ved temporarily tho the and Mesopotamian campaigns campaigns cam cam- of the tb British were brought t to nothing nothing to to worse woree than nothing Bulgaria Bulgaria Bul Dul- garia garla was waR enlisted and Greece kept outside the allied camp Serbia and l were transformed Into new and Austria swept down through Albania and shepherded the Italian forces into Avalona But Dut this was all Germany had proclaimed that she sho would find victorious peace In Constantinople Constantinople Constantinople Con Con- as M she had proclaimed that It was as to be won In Warsaw and amI Brest Brest- But there thele was no peace and |
