We can now understand the main Russian plan a little better. In the north the army was to advance from Königsberg and endeavor to cut off Danzig and break the line of defenses between that place and Thorn, thus leaving this fortress in the rear. In the south the Austrians, already heavily punished, would be driven back on the Carpathian passes to the south, and westward also toward Cracow, which is the key to the situation. If Cracow fell Russia would have a good route into Germany, and the move would be supported by advances from Warsaw, thus threatening Breslau from two sides.
GERMAN TROOPS HURRIED EAST
Early in September, however, the danger of the Russian advance into Germany, which apparently had given the German general staff but little concern at first, was fully realized and large bodies of German troops were detached from the western theater of war and hurried to the eastern frontier. Germany had evidently reckoned on Austria being able to hold its ground better, and was badly prepared for a flanking move on Breslau so early in the campaign. But the Servian and Russian defeats of Austria left Germany to bear the full force of the terrific Russian onslaught, and her forces proved equal to the occasion. Under General von Hindenberg the German army of the east soon repelled the Russian invaders and forced them to retire from East Prussia across their own border, where they were followed by the Germans. A series of engagements on Russian soil followed, in which the advantage lay as a rule with the Germans. The losses on both sides were heavy, but the Germans captured many thousands of Russian prisoners and considerable quantities of arms and munitions of war. The immense resources of the Russian empire in men and material made the problem of Russian invasion a very serious one for Germany. This was fully realized by the Kaiser, who about October 1, at the end of the second month of the war, proceeded in person to his eastern frontier to direct the defensive operations against Russia.
CZAR NICHOLAS AT THE FRONT
About the same time the Czar, Nicholas II, also took the field in person, arriving at the front on October 5, accompanied by General Soukhomlinoff, the Russian minister of war.
"I am resolved to go to Berlin itself, even if it causes me to lose my last moujik (peasant)," the Czar is reported as saying in September. The spirit and temper of the Russian government may be judged by the fact that before the war was many days old the name of the Russian capital was officially changed from "St. Petersburg," which was considered to have a German flavor, to "Petrograd," a purely Russian or Slavic form of nomenclature.
RUSSIA PREPARES TO STRIKE AUSTRIA
By the third week of August, according to an announcement from Petrograd, Russian troops had checked an attempt by the Austrians to enter Poland from the Galician frontier and were preparing to invade Austria on a large scale. At that time Russia was said to have 2,000, men under arms for the invasion of Germany and Austria, also 500,000 on the Roumanian and Turkish borders, and 3,000,000 men in reserve. (The latter were called out by imperial ukase before Czar Nicholas started for the front.) The Poles had been promised self-government and had been called on to support Russia. The Jews throughout the Russian empire were also promised a greater measure of protection, freedom of action and civil rights. These measures inaugurated an era of better feeling in Russia and Poland and were strongly approved by the allies of Russia.
Most of the Austrian reserves were mobilized by August 15 and Germany's ally announced that she would soon have her total war strength of 2,000,000 men in the field. Austria sent some troops to join the German forces in Belgium and an army of several hundred thousand men was gathered along the Austro-Russian frontier under command of the Archduke Frederick. General Rennenkampf was in command of the Russian forces for the invasion of East Prussia, while General Russky led the Russian army operating against Galicia.