ward the Austrian positions on the heights, tactics resembling those of the Japanese at Port Arthur, the cbjectives were gradually approached. Finally in August of 1916, more than a year after crossing the Isonzo, the Italians were ready for the second offensive against the Austrian positions. Success crowned their efforts, and at the time of Professor Johnson's writing they had by "more than two years of almost superhuman efforts" succeeded in forcing the approaches to Trieste. Then came the counter blow that had all along threatened the eastward advance of the Italian armies. A powerful flank attack launched from the highlands of the Alps along the north, forced a general retreat. A glance at the map on page 10 will make plain the topographical elements in the success of the enemy's counter offensive in the late fall of 1917.

The text is illustrated by numerous photographs and a series of excellent topographical plans and maps. The work is done so thoroughly and the relationship of inanimate nature to the military development of the war presented in so appreciative and interesting a manner, that it is safe to predict a lasting and permanent place for the little volume in the vast bulk of the literature of this great war. In view of this, it is unfortunate that the author did not add several chapters on the geography of the influence of sea power. Since the sea power promises to become the determining factor in this war, as in the Napoleonic wars, there are more than the usual reasons for a study of the geographical factors underlying England's control of ocean commerce. We need a semi-popular study of the geography of the long distance blockade; of the peculiar geography of the coast of Germany with its "Watten or shallows, making it wellnigh impregnable against attack by sea; of the great strategic importance of Heligoland and the Kiel Canal, and of the land-locked Baltic. For the same reasons we hope the author will some time give us a study of the topography of the Black Sea and the Straits, and of the Asia Minor and Mesopotamian theatres of the war.

To some this close articulation of geography and history will appear as an overemphasis of the geo

graphic factor in human affairs. For there are still those who, like Langlois and Seignobos, think it difficult to find that a professor of history or historian is much the better for a knowledge of geology, oceanography and climatology and the whole group of geographical sciences. The unfairness as well as the unscientific nature of this attitude must appear patent to every one who reads Professor Johnson's book. Military history cannot be treated without constant reference to topography; nor can political and international relations in these days without an understanding of the raw materials and resources of the earth.

On the other hand there is an equal danger in going too far in the other direction. Specialists are apt to overemphasize their own particular subject, and so there are men who pompously explain the whole course of human history by general references to geographical conditions. Human progress is too complex to be explained by any single set of factors. Buckle's brilliant effort to account for the civilization of England on purely economic grounds is familiar to all students of history. To apply it in the present world crisis would be to omit, for example, from among the causes of the war the very pernicious educational propaganda toward the creation of a war psychology among the German people.

"An equal mind" is a first essential of the historian; he must take his facts in whatever domain of the activities of man or of nature he finds them. Among these facts the geographical will always continue of great importance. Not that they are immutable, for in their relation to history they are constantly changing. A topographical or climatic fact remains the same, but its influence in this war may be very different from its influence in the Civil War. Man in his conquest of nature is constantly forcing changes in the operation of geographic conditions, causing the appearance of new factors or the operation of the old in a new and different manner. In its outward appearance the stage of the great human drama remains the same but in reality it differs radically with each new advance in the application of science to man's natural needs.

p. 4.

Diagrammatic view of the western theater of war, showing the principal plateaus and plains, mountains and lowlands, cliff scarps and river trenches which have influenced military operations. The underground rock structure is shown in the front edge of the block.

Diagrammatic view of the eastern theater of war, showing the Carpathian Mountains and their chief passes, the plain of Poland, the hill and lake country of East Prussia, the river trenches and marshes, and other features of the terrain which have influenced military operations in the east.

Map showing barriers and trenches of the Balkan Peninsula.

Abbreviations. (1) In northern Serbia, etc.: Lo, for Losnitza; Ma, for Malyen Ridge; Mi, for Mitrovitza (on the Save); O, for Orsova; Ob, for Obrenovatz; S, for Shabatz; Se, for Semendria; U, for Uzhitze; Va, for Valyevo; Vi, for Vishegrad; Z, for Zaietchar. (2) Along the Morava-Vardar trench; D, for Demir Kapu gorge; Ku, for Kumanovo; L, for Leskovatz; Ve, for Veles; Vr, for Vranye. (3) Elsewhere: Du, for Durazzo (on the Adriatic); I, for Ipek (422° N. and 20° E.); K, for Katchanik (424° N. and 21° E.). From Johnson's Topography and Strategy in the War, p. 144.

The

Italian theater of war. showing the principal mountain and plateau barriers, river trenches and marshes, affecting the Italian campaigns.