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At this time the Bulgarian army suffered a defeat at Izvor, and also at Strumitza. The Allied armies were now reported to number three hundred thousand men. The Austro-Germans by this time had reached the mountainous region of Serbia, and were meeting with strong resistance. On November 13th, German despatches from the front claimed the capture of 54,000 Serbian prisoners.
As we look over the evidence the German war lords must bear the blame, almost alone. The Austrians had been eager to attack Serbia, even in 1913, thinking that this little country had grown too powerful, as a result of her victories in the two Balkan wars.
Serbia was tacitly given a free hand in her attempt to reach the sea in Northern Albania. The action of Austria-Hungary in vetoing her access to the Adriatic forced Serbia to turn her eyes from west to south and to seek her economic outlet to the sea down the valley of the Vardar to Salonica and the Aegean.
The presence of German and Austrian officers at the Ministry of War and on the staffs of the army, the concentration of troops in the zone bordering on Serbia, and the extensive financial support accepted from her enemies by the Sofia Cabinet, no longer leave any doubt as to the object of the present military preparations of Bulgaria.
He shows how Germany used Austria to attack Serbia; how mediations were refused; when Austria was about to withdraw, Germany sent an ultimatum to Russia one day and the next day declared war. This diplomat sums up the whole case when he says: "I had to support in London a policy the heresy of which I recognized. That brought down vengeance on me because it was a sin against the Holy Ghost."
First, the defeat of Russia and Serbia by Austria and Germany, the incorporation of a large part of Russia in the German Empire, German influence predominant in Russia and all the vast resources of that great Empire at the command of Germany. All the fleets in the world could uselessly blockade the German coasts if Germany possessed the limitless riches of the Empire of the Romanoffs.
Naturally the experience of Serbia was of the greatest interest to all the other armies which were also lice-infected but had had no typhus fever as yet. All the discussions were conducted in French, and curious to relate the non-French Allies understood one another more readily if possible than they did the French themselves, largely due to the fact that the latter talked so rapidly.
The first on which I will not expatiate, for everyone knows of its peculiar difficulty is Poland. The second is a little one, but one that has taken hold of my imagination. In the settlement of boundaries preceding this war the boundary between Serbia and north-eastern Albania was drawn with an extraordinary disregard of the elementary needs of the Albanians of that region.
"Sire!" he cried, his face lighting with incredulity. "You mean " "I mean," said the American, "that if Serbia will loan Lutha an army corps until the Austrians have evacuated Luthanian territory, Lutha will loan Serbia an army corps until such time as peace is declared between Serbia and Austria. Other than this neither government will incur any obligations to the other.
No consideration whatever can be shown to Serbia, as Austria's first duty is self-defence." In the German Press two widely-differing opinions found expression with regard to the equity of Austria's demands, but the Press and people were unanimous in believing that if these demands were ruthlessly pressed home they could only lead to a European conflagration.
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