The city of Trent is the capital of Trentino, famous in history, and the seat of the long church council in 1545-46. It was in turn controlled by Roman, Goth, Hun, Lombard and Holy Roman Empire. It is the site of many historic buildings, notably the cathedral of Trent, which is a fine example of Lombard architecture, and the church of Santa Maria Maggorie, where the famous Council of the Roman Catholic Church was held. There are old towers, and libraries rich in manuscripts.
Trentino is famous for its mountain passes, over which the Italians have been compelled to drag their heavy artillery and implements of war. The Alpini, the mountaineer soldiers of Italy, are among the most picturesque in the world. They have scaled the almost perpendicular faces of the Alps, climbing from crag to crag with their bodies roped together, dragging machine guns in pieces strapped to their shoulders. Tolmino, Trieste, Istria, Dalmatia, Avlona, the prime harbor of Albania (seized by Italy in the fall of 1916). These are little spots in the territory logically Italian, which Italy covets.
OUTLINE MAP OF THE AUSTRIA-HUNGARY EMPIRE.
Drawn and engraved especially to show the Provinces comprising the Empire, and their locations as they were at the beginning of the war. This is a country of many nationalities and languages.
DIVIDED INTO SIXTEEN DEPARTMENTS.
Italy, since its consolidation into one kingdom in 1870, has been divided into sixteen departments comprising sixty-nine provinces. The country has a total area of 110,623 square miles, and a population of a little more than 35,000,000. The Roman Catholic Church is irrevocably linked to the history of Italy and Rome, its capital, marked the farthest advance of civilization in the ancient days. It possesses four distinct zones, ranging from the almost arctic cold of the mountain belts to an almost tropical heat in the southern lowlands. It is one of the picturesque countries of the world, a center of art, industry and travel.
Servia, which is separated from Austria-Hungary by the Danube, is of precisely the same character as the other rich, mountainous region. The country was subjugated by the Turks, who retained possession of it until 1717. Austria then wrested control from the Turks, and held it until 1791, when Turkey again dominated it. In 1805 the Servians revolted, and secured temporary independence, only to again come under the Ottoman rule. Again it secured freedom in 1815, and by the Treaty of Paris, independent existence was secured for it. Turkey became only a nominal authority. It became a kingdom in 1882, after having become absolutely independent with the Berlin Treaty.
The people are Slavonic, and kin to the Croats of ancient history. They are described as having come from Poland and Galicia, moving down the Danube, into what is the present kingdom. In the fourteenth century the Servian empire comprised the whole Balkan peninsula, from Greece to Poland, and from the Black Sea to the Adriatic. But Servia warred with Turkey, and her troops were defeated in the great battle at Kossovo, and the Ottoman power became supreme. The country has an area of about 34,000 square miles and a population of 4,600,000.
LITTLE BOSNIA'S FUTURE.
Bosnia, where was assassinated the Archduke Francis Ferdinand, of Austria, was a Turkish province, west of Servia, and under the treaty of Berlin was to be administered for an undefined period by the Austrian government. The little section contains about 16,000 square miles and has a population of about 1,750,000, largely of Slavonic origin. They are partly Mohammedans, partly Roman Catholics and Greek Catholics. In the middle ages Bosnia belonged to the Eastern Empire. Later it became a separate kingdom, dependent upon Hungary, only to be conquered by the Turks. It is the mountainous, rugged country of the Julian and Dinaric Alps, but has many fertile valleys, and is well watered by the river Save, and its numerous tributaries.