BRITISH BATTLESHIPS SUNK
On January 9 the British battleship King Edward VII foundered at sea as the result of striking a mine. Owing to a heavy sea it had to be abandoned and sank shortly afterward. The entire crew of nearly 800 men were saved. The vessel was a predreadnaught of 16,350 tons and cost nearly $8,000,000. A week previously the British battleship Natal, a vessel of similar character, was sunk by an internal explosion.
The main battle fleets of both Britain and Germany remained "in statuo quo" up to March 1, 1916. British cruisers and patrol ships maintained a constant watch upon the waters of the North Sea, and visitors permitted to see the battle fleet at its secret rendezvous reported efficiency and eternal vigilance as its watchwords. The German fleet lay in safety in the Kiel Canal, still awaiting orders to put to sea and enjoy "der Tag," after nineteen months of inactivity.
RUSSIA'S WINTER CAMPAIGN
After several months of comparative inactivity Russia launched a forward movement against the Austro-German forces late in December. This winter drive was not unexpected, as the Russian armies had had time to recover from their reverses of the summer and autumn of 1915 and had received much-needed supplies of guns and ammunition.
The fact that Russia was vigorously on the offensive again was soon demonstrated. The first week of 1916 was marked by a progressive development of a forward Russian movement extending along the Stye and Strypa rivers from the Pripet marshes to Bessarabia. The main attack seemed to be directed against Bukowina and Eastern Galicia, and for some time the pressure of the Russian attacks forced back the lines of the Austro-German right along the eastern front.
During January the Russians were also actively engaged against the Turks in the Caucasus, where the battle front was over 100 miles long, and against the Turks, aided by Germans in Persia, They began a general offensive in the Caucasus on January 11 and made steady gains over the Turks, while similar successes attended their efforts in Persia, where revolutionists had entered the field against the Russians and British.
THE BALKAN CAMPAIGN
The month of December saw the end of the Austro-German and Bulgarian drives through Serbia. By the end of the year the remnants of the Serbian army had been driven across the frontiers and some 50,000 of them found refuge in January on the Greek island of Corfu, which was seized by the Allies for that purpose. King Peter found an asylum in Italy; Belgrade and Nish were occupied by Austrians and Germans, and the Bulgarians halted at the Greek border. The small British and French forces in Serbia, greatly outnumbered, retired before the enemy's advance from north and east, but saved the Serbian army from total annihilation by protecting its retreat to the southern frontier. Then the British and French retreated across the Greek border to Saloniki, where they were largely reinforced and proceeded to fortify themselves against possible German or Bulgarian attacks. King Constantine of Greece, brother-in-law of the Kaiser, feebly protested against the proceedings of the Allies on Greek soil, saying that he wished his country to remain neutral—but his protest was offset by the facts that the great majority of the people of Greece were favorable to the Allies and that their landing at Saloniki was for the purpose of aiding Serbia, Greece's friend and ally, which Greece had notably failed to do. Frequent threats of the bombardment of Saloniki by the Germans or by the Bulgars were made during January, but up to February 10 the threatened attack had failed to materialize and the Allies were strongly intrenched in a 30-mile arc around the town, while the guns of a powerful fleet of British and French warships commanded the approaches and protected transports and landings.
SINKING OF THE PERSIA