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Show At the y anelles In tho wholo progress of tho Great War no month snw such n suddon nnd dramatic chnngo ns March. Week after week of weary winter campaigning had hold tho gnzo of tho world fixed upon tho plains of Flanders nnd Champagne, upon the mnrBhcs of East Prussia, whoro bat ties without moro than local Importance Impor-tance gavo temporary advantngo llrst to tho Allies and then to tho Oermnns. In tho monotonous slmlll tudo of tho official bulletins oven n world war lost appeal nnd challenge to nn nudlenco become surfeited with tho reports of Indoclslvo engagements. engage-ments. But with tho opening of March n now horizon was suddenly lifted. From tho StrnltB of Dover and tho banks of tho Vistula tho center of bnttlo 'shifted to tho Seagate of Constantinople. Con-stantinople. At tho Dardanelles tho guns of tho greatest armada In tho history of tho world nwakenod tho echoes of tho hills behind tho Troad nnd tho Anglo French fleet was followed fol-lowed by tho transports, como to Innd troops on tho Onlllpoll peninsula whoro In 1355 tho Osmnnll Turks uu dor Sulolman had entered Europo on tho triumphal march thnt was to lead to tho walls of Vlennn over tho ruins ot tho Emplro ot tho East nnd tho nascent Slav states ot tho Balkans. In October tho 42 centimeter guns of Germany had lovoled tho walls of Antwerp, crushed tho gallant but Impotent Im-potent Belgian state, nnd carried tho legend of Teutonic might to the shores of tho North Sen, to tlio very gates of Calais and Boulogne. Now It was tho 15 Inch guns of tho Queen Elizabeth which took up tho response along tho shoros which hnd scon tho hosts nnd fleets of Xerxes pass for ward on their great adventure, that had witnesses the crossing of Alexander Alex-ander tho Great as ho, cairylng back tho conquorlng messngo of tho West, had sot forth on his tremendous ox pedltlon. In n Blnglo day, too, tho world turned from tho contemplation of campaigns of tho Twentloth Century Cen-tury to ono moro combat In tho lands I nnd waters forever momorablo In Homor's song. Nor wns tho now phaso less np penllng In lmmodlnto political significance signi-ficance than In hlstorlcnl challenge. IlusBln, heavily beaten about tho Ma surlnn Lakes, thrown back upon tho dofciiBlvo from tho Baltic to tho Uu-mnnlnn Uu-mnnlnn frontlor, was proclaimed by Gorman reports to bo on tho point of giving up tho conflict. ,Sho hnd no fnr homo tho burden of tho world conflict In n mcasuro beyond tho expectations ex-pectations of tho civilized world. At Tnnnonborg, nt Lodz, ot tho Mnsml-an Mnsml-an Lakes, sho had sacrificed her hundreds hun-dreds of thousands, whllo Fronih and British troops remained Idly in their tronches or failed In thoir local lo-cal offenslvos. But oven as tho Gorman Jorccnst was proclaimed, tho guns of Admlr.il Cnrden's fleet nt tho Dnrdnnollos sounded tho coming of a now day for Russian hopo. Tho dream ot I'oter tho Grcnt, tho enduring purposo of the llomnnorfs, tho deep and potent emotion of every Orthodox Greek Catholic, all theso wero roused to now life", not merely by n fresh nt tnclc upon Stnmboul, hut by tho ex-chnngo ex-chnngo of assurances hotwecn Hits sin and Britain across tho lntorven lug dlstdJicoIOf a continent nt war. In l'otrograiT'Sorglns" "Snzonolf nn nounced tho npproach ot tho day when Ilussla would realize lior great ambition ot an nvcnuo to tho open sea. From London Sir Edward Grey responded with tho solemn nssuranco that England and Russia wero at one on tho question of a warm water gato tor tho Slav. Thus, in a single hour tho Eastern Quostlon changed Its wholo nppenr- nnco. Thus Euglnnd at last nnd uu mlstnkahly, however, guarded tho diplomatic phrase, renounced tho policy of Benconstlold, tho po'Icy which hnd provoked tho Crimean War. and bunt tho British fleet to tho Sen of Marmora to destroy tho Treaty of San Stefnno. In nn hour ot Bus stan.dojoctlon Gormnny hnd sought to draw tho groat Slav stato nway from hernlllcs and thoeo nlllos, thru England, had 'answered with tho promlso of tho prlzo for which threo centuries of Russian history had been filled with war and effort. Onco moro sea power had domon-strntod domon-strntod its tremendous ndvautngo, Its supremo power. At tho first crisis in tho relations ot the Grand Alllanco tho battleships ot Britain and Franco keeping tho seas, whllo Germany's fleet lay Idly in homo wntors, had restored tho thtoatened solidarity of tho Kaisor's cnomlos. From "From Dovor Straits to tho Golden Horn," by Frank H. Slmonds,.ln tho Amorl can Rovlew of Reviews for April. |