The magnitude of the defeat, coupled with the rout of the army in Poland, made it impossible for Austria to make any further offensive movement in Russia, or defensive movement in Galicia for some considerable time. Her armies were scattered in confusion and fleeing at random. To arrest the flight of a routed army, to disentangle the units and to present a battle front again is the most difficult task a commander can have. And in the present case the difficulties of the Austrian generals were increased a hundredfold by the fact that their men were not only defeated but broken in spirit. Further resistance east of Przemysl was out of the question. The Russians were undisputed masters of Eastern Galicia.
The Russians, therefore, gained an immense moral advantage over the troops facing them. The material gains were on a similar gigantic scale.
Lemberg had been expected by the Austrians to hold out indefinitely. It contained a year’s supply of provisions and munitions. These vast quantities of stores fell into the hands of the Russians, thus lightening very considerably the strain upon the transport and commissariat departments. Lemberg, moreover, being the capital of Galicia and the chief Austrian military centre north of the Carpathians, contained an arsenal, railway works, and numerous other works useful to the invaders. The huge capture of rolling stock was perhaps the most valuable of all. When it was seen that it was doubtful whether the town would be able to hold out long, the Austrians had collected all the available rolling stock, in order to remove as much as possible of the stores west to Przemysl and Cracow. The rapid success of the Russians prevented the carrying out of this plan. The Austrians made desperate efforts, but the lines became hopelessly congested, and not a train escaped. Thirty locomotives and immense numbers of carriages and trucks thus fell into the hands of the Russians.
Most important of all were the strategic results. Lemberg, being the chief town in Galicia, and the administrative centre, the town is naturally the point on which all the means of communication converge. Eight railways and as many high roads connect the town with every point of civil and military importance north of the Carpathians. It is, therefore, an ideal base for the Russian operation in Galicia. It commands the approaches to Przemysl on the west and to the passes over the Carpathians leading to Vienna and Buda-Pesth on the south. It has railway connection with no less than four points on the Russian frontier, allowing direct communication with the important military centres of Kiev on the east and Warsaw on the north.
Lemberg may therefore be described as the key to Austria. Its possession opened the way for the Russian armies westwards to Silesia and Berlin, southwards to Buda-Pesth and Vienna. It was the most important town in the whole eastern theatre of war, and its capture was far more than a stage in an advance, it was an event which must have the most far-reaching effects on the whole course of the war.
In addition to these direct advantages gained by Russia, the victory had other results affecting the course of the war. It roused the entire Slav race, giving increased enthusiasm and determination to those engaged in the war and strengthening the sympathies of those who had remained neutral. Bulgaria and Roumania, neither of whom were on friendly terms with the Serbs as a result of the recent wars in the Balkans, now veered round at the prospect of the power of the Austrians being broken. More important was the effect produced on Turkey. Bound to Germany in many ways, Turkey had been seriously considering whether she should not throw in her lot with the Kaiser in the hope of regaining some of the territory of which she had been despoiled after the Balkan war. German diplomacy had been making strenuous efforts to induce the Turkish Government to tempt fate once more. And relations between Russia and Turkey had been rather strained over the Goeben incident. The purchase of Germany’s finest Dreadnought, by Turkey, was of vital interest to Russia, who could not afford to allow Turkey to become the chief naval power in the south-east of Europe. In answer to her representations, Turkey had protested her determination to remain neutral, but there was considerable cause for doubting the sincerity of these protestations. The fact that there were numerous German officers with the Turkish army and superintending the placing of the heavy Krupp guns in position along the fortification of the Dardanelles did not tend to allay the suspicions. After Lemberg, however, Turkey realised that Austria was a broken power, that Germany was in a position of some jeopardy and that neither was a suitable ally for a nation whose chief object was to rob its neighbours.
Although, however, the capture of Lemberg was a triumph of the first magnitude which rendered the downfall of Austria inevitable, it must not be assumed that Russia’s task was to all intents and purposes accomplished. It was rashly predicted at the time, as in the case of every Russian victory, that the end of the war was in sight, that there was nothing to prevent the steam roller going full speed ahead to Berlin. Subsequent events have proved how ill-founded were these prophecies, most of which were based more on hope than on fact. Lemberg fell during the first week of September, and Russia is still a very long way from Berlin.
One triumph does not smash a nation, not even a ramshackle one such as Austria. After Lemberg she was in a desperate position, faced with almost certain defeat, but she still had considerable fighting power. France struggled for over a year after Sedan. And Lemberg was not such an overwhelmingly decisive event as Sedan. The latter resulted in the surrender in an Emperor, his finest generals, and his chief army. Lemberg, after all, only routed the chief Austrian army. In spite of terrific losses, and in spite of the demoralisation of her troops, Austria still had over two million men in the field and a large number of reserves, as yet untouched. Obviously she was still a power that could not be neglected.
Large numbers of Austrians were still in south-west Poland. The fortresses of Cracow and Przemysl were untaken, and were defended by practically the whole remaining military force of the country. And reinforcements were being hurried up to help stay the Russian advance. The operations against Serbia and Montenegro had been finally abandoned, further reserves were being called to the colours, and the armies thus raised were being hurried northward. German aid was also forthcoming. The success of the operations in Prussia had set free some of the army corps for the purpose for which they were originally intended.
Germany was also forced to realise that the Russian advance was a serious menace, and it was now that she transferred troops from the west to the east. This eased the task of the Allies, but, of course, made that of the Russians all the more difficult. The German advance into Western Poland, which has now continued for nearly two months, is as determined as that into France. Unless, therefore, the Russians can win a stupendous victory, this second phase of the war will be prolonged. There can, however, be no doubt as to the final result. Russia is inexhaustible.