A more serious effort was made against Dvinsk but was equally unsuccessful and the German losses were immense. Again and again the attempt was made to cross the Dvina River, but without success; the German invasion was definitely stopped. By the end of October there was complete stagnation in the northern sector of the battle line, and though in November there were a number of battles, nothing happened of great importance.
THE GERMAN ATTACK ON THE ROAD TO PETROGRAD
Further south, however, Russia had become active. An army had been organized at her Black Sea bases, and for political reasons it was necessary that that army should move. At this time the great question was, what was Roumania about to do? To prevent her from being forced to join the Central Powers she must have encouragement. It was determined therefore that an offensive should be made in the direction of Czernowitz. This town was the railway center of a wide region, and lay close to Roumania’s northern frontier.
The Russian aggressive met with great success. It is true that it never approached the defenses of Czernowitz, but Brussilov, on the north, had been able to make great gains of ground, and the very fact that such a powerful movement could be made so soon after the Russian retreat was an encouragement to every friend of the Allied cause. This offensive continued till up to the fourth week of January when it came to an abrupt stop. A despatch from Petrograd explained the movement as follows: “The recent Russian offensive in Bessarabia and Galicia was carried out in accordance with the plan prepared by the Entente Allies’ War Council to relieve the pressure on the Entente forces while they were fortifying Saloniki and during the evacuation of the Gallipoli Peninsula.” Russia had sacrificed more than seventy thousand soldiers for her Allies.
During the year 1916 the Russian armies seemed to have had a new birth. At last they were supplied with guns and munitions. They waited until they were ready. In March a series of battles was fought in the neighborhood of Lake Narotch, and eight successive attacks were made against the German army, intrenched between Lake Narotch and Lake Vischenebski. The Germans at first were driven back and badly defeated. Later on, however, the Russian artillery was sent to another section, and the Germans were able to recover their position. During June the Russians attacked all along the southern part of their line. In three weeks they had regained a whole province. Lutsk and Dubno had been retaken; two hundred thousand men and hundreds of guns, had been captured, and the Austrian line had been pierced and shattered. Further south the German army had been compelled to retreat, and the Russian armies were in Bukovina and Galicia. On the 10th of August Stanislau fell.
By this time two Austrian armies had been shattered, over three hundred and fifty thousand prisoners taken, and nearly a million men put out of action. Germany, however, was sending reinforcements as fast as possible, and putting up a desperate defense. Nevertheless everything was encouraging for Russia and she entered upon the winter in a very different condition from her condition in the previous year. Then she had just ended her great retreat. Now she had behind her a series of successes. But a new difficulty had arisen in the loss of the political harmony at home which had marked the first years of the war. Dark days were ahead.
CHAPTER VI
How the Balkans Decided
FOR more than half a century the Balkans have presented a problem which has disturbed the minds of the statesmen of Europe. Again and again, during that period, it has seemed that in the Balkan mountains might be kindled a blaze which might set the world afire. Balkan politics is a labyrinth in which one might easily be lost. The inhabitants of the Balkans represent many races, each with its own ambition, and, for the most part, military. There were Serbs, and Bulgarians, and Turks, and Roumanians, and Greeks, and their territorial divisions did not correspond to their nationalities. The land was largely mountainous, with great gaps that make it, in a sense, the highway of the world. From 1466 to 1878 the Balkans was in the dominion of the Turks. In the early days while the Turks were warring against Hungary, their armies marched through the Balkan hills. The natives kept apart, and preserved their language, religion and customs.
In the nineteenth century, as the Turks grew weaker, their subject people began to seek independence. Greece came first, and, in 1829, aided by France, Russia and Great Britain, she became an independent kingdom. Serbia revolted in 1804, and by 1820 was an autonomous state, though still tributary to Turkey. In 1859, Roumania became autonomous. The rising of Bulgaria in 1876, however, was really the beginning of the succession of events which ultimately led to the World War of 1914-18. The Bulgarian insurrection was crushed by the Turks in such a way as to stir the indignation of the whole world. What are known as the “Bulgarian Atrocities” seem mild today, but they led to the Russo-Turkish War in 1877.