foothold on the eastern bank of the river, but Gorizia itself was still uncaptured.

On August 1 Cadorna launched a heavy bombardment along the entire front. Three days later he delivered a strong attack against Montfalcone, on his right, near the sea-coast. But the Montfalcone attack was only a ruse, in order to draw to the south some of the Austrian reserves. On August 6, the bombardment was resumed and finally razed the Austrian first-line positions. In the afternoon, the Italian infantry then advanced directly upon Gorizia. The immediate Italian objectives were the heights of Sabotino and San Michele, to the north and south, respectively, of Gorizia, and the key to the fortress. Storming the heights of Sabotino, the Italians carried all before them, and before night fall the crest of the hill was in Italian hands. The Austrians fought bravely and fiercely, and while it lasted the battle for Gorizia was one of the most stirring of the entire war. San Michele was a more difficuit nut to crack, as its steep sides and strong fortifications made it all but impregnable; but the Italians stormed it directly, and after severe losses had it completely in their hands by August 8. On the next day bridges were thrown across the stream, thanks to the capture of Sabotino and San Michele, and the main Italian army crossed the Isonzo. The main defences of Gorizia were gone and the city was occupied on August 10. It was a notable victory.

On the next several days, the Italians extended their lines beyond the Gorizia position, although the effort expended in the offensive had been so great that by August 15 the Italian advance upon Trieste halted and there was no further activity of importance on the Italian front during the remainder of the year.

THE ENTRANCE OF ROUMANIA INTO THE WAR

Since gaining her independence in 1878, Roumania had been a nominal ally of Germany and Austria-Hungary. The latter rulers of Roumania were Hohenzollerns and the court was definitely under German influences. Roumania was indebted to Germany for valuable loans. The logical markets for Roumanian production and trade were in Germany and Austria-Hungary, so that the commercial interests in Roumania were also wrapped up in the welfare of the members of what had been the Triple Alliance.

On the other hand, several millions of the Roumanian race dwelt in Bukowina and Transylvania, under the rule of Austria-Hungary, and they were heartlessly oppressed under that rule. Many Roumans were "unredeemed" also in the Russian province of Bessarabia adjoining Roumania along the Black Sea; but to the mass of the people of Roumania the problem of the Roumans in Bukowina and Transylvania was far more pressing than the problems of the Roumans in Bessarabia.

So that Roumania in the early years of the twentieth century was a land in which the upper classes were pro-German in their sympathies and the lower classes were anti-German, or, more exactly, antiAustrian. But Roumania was a sad autocracy, both politically and economically, and the lower classes had little or no influence upon their government; so that up to the Balkan Wars Roumania could be counted upon to support the cause of the Central Powers.

But the complications of Balkan politics changed the diplomatic status of Roumania after the Balkan Wars, disassociated her from Austria-Hungary and Germany, and threw her into the arms of the Entente. Bulgaria was promising to become the leading nation of the Balkans, and there was hence bitter rivalry between the two countries. Bulgaria was being opposed also by Russia (see page 99), so that a "rapprochement" between Russia and Roumania became in

evitable. And by 1914 the plight of the Roumans in Bukowina and Transylvania was beginning to stir even the Roumanian court and the Roumanian government.

So with the outbreak of the Great War Roumania proclaimed her neutrality, and anxiously awaited developments before determining on which side to throw the weight of her influence in the Balkans. The German advance almost to the gates of Paris inclined Roumania to the Alliance; the German defeat at the Marne inclined her to the Entente. The Russian defeat in East Prussia counterbalanced the Russian victories in Galicia. In 1915 the Russian advance into Bukowina itself stirred the government of Roumania to action, negotiations were entered into with the Entente and a loan was obtained from England; but the great Russian disaster at the Dunajec and in Russian Poland threw Roumania back into a policy of neutrality. The conquest of Servia and Montenegro was not unnoticed, and the failure of the Allies at the Dardanelles and Gallipoli and at the Vardar also lowered the value of allegiance to the Allies in 1915.

But in 1916 the situation presented a different aspect to Roumania. Germany's great attempt at Verdun had signally failed. In the summer, the Allied advance on the Somme at first promised great results. The Austrian advance into Italy had been checked and in return the Italians had won a signal victory at Gorizia. In October, 1914, King Ferdinand had succeeded to the throne of Roumania; and although he was a Hohenzollern, he was far cooler to Germany than had been his predecessor, and his wife was an English princess. And to cap the climax, in the summer of 1916 Russia began her great offensive against Austria-Hungary which for a time threatened the complete overthrow of the Dual Monarchy. By August, Russia herself was getting into Bukowina and Transylvania; and Russia informed Roumania that if Roumania did not throw in her lot with Russia at this time, Russia herself would keep Bukowina and Transylvania as she was keeping Bessarabia. It looked as though the fortunes of the war were favoring the Allies, it was probable that unless this opportunity were seized, Roumanian aspirations in the direction of Bukowina and Transylvania would never be realized; the Allied army at Saloniki

was strong and the Allies' promises were tempting; and on August 27, 1916, Roumania declared war upon Austria-Hungary.

THE ENTRANCE OF PORTUGAL INTO THE WAR

She had long

In 1916 Portugal also officially joined the Allies. been under the protection of Great Britain and had signed a treaty to furnish to the British Crown at demand 10,000 Portuguese soldiers. At the very outbreak of the war, Portugal had been ready to become an active participant, but England made no direct demands upon her small ally until 1916. In 1916, Portugal obeyed England's order to seize German ships interned in Portuguese waters, and on March 9, 1916, Germany declared that that action, and also Portugal's action in permitting British troops in Africa to pass through Portuguese territory, constituted an act of war between the two countries. Portuguese troops were dispatched to the trenches in France and Belgium, but the chief value of the adherence of Portugal to the Entente consisted in the German shipping seized when she entered the war.

THE CONQUEST OF ROUMANIA

Roumania was shaped like a scissors cutting into Austria-Hungary. The upper blade was Moldavia; the lower blade was Wallachia; and the handle was the Dobruja, the stretch of land along the Black Sea taken from Bulgaria at the end of the Second Balkan War in 1913. The capital, Bucharest, one of the most strongly fortified cities in the world, was in the south centre of the country, forming the junction between the blades of the scissors. Roumania was strongly situated strategically. On her east lay the Black Sea, under the control of Russia. To the south lay the enemy country, Bulgaria; but the border was the wide Danube, forming an excellent line of defence. On the north and west were the Transylvanian Alps and the Carpathians, another natural defence of strength. And the Austrian province of Transylvania, the territory desired for incorporation within a Greater Roumania, lay between the two blades of the scissors. (See Map, page 615.)

The Roumanian army had been mobilized months before Roumania declared war on the Central Powers, and Roumania had waited until the end of the harvest before taking the final plunge; so that she was ready to open hostilities on a large scale so soon as war was declared. The Roumanian army numbered in the neighborhood of half a million and the country was rich in agricultural and oil lands, so that it seemed as though the Entente had gained in Roumania a valuable addition to its ranks.

Counting on little danger from Bulgaria, Roumania left but one army to defend the Bulgarian frontier, and with the bulk of her forces. invaded Transylvania along the entire length of the Austro-Hungarian frontier on August 28, the day after the declaration of war. There were a number of passes into Transylvania, and Roumania rushed her forces through all of them. Roumania's plan was one of cooperation with the Russian forces invading Transylvania at the same time from the north. The invading Roumanian troops were in three great bodies, one headed west into Transylvania from Moldavia, one headed north from Wallachia and the third headed northwest between the first two. For the first two weeks, the Roumanians carried all before them. The Austrian forces in Transylvania which had not gone. north to stop the Russians were few and poorly equipped, and whatever engagements were fought in the mountains resulted in favor of the Roumanian army. By September 12, more than one-fourth of all Transylvania was in Roumanian hands. The advance had been especially successful in the centre, at some points penetrating as deeply as fifty miles into Austrian territory, so that the Roumanian line was becoming almost straight. A number of important towns and positions were included with the captured territory and there was jubilation in Bucharest.

But the Roumanians were reckoning without their host. Germany had no intention of permitting Austria to be endangered. Germany also saw in the Roumanian situation an excellent opportunity to regain whatever prestige the Central Powers had lost in the Balkans. An object lesson would not be lost on Greece, and there was both material and immaterial profit in rewarding Bulgaria for joining its fortunes with those of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Turkey. The defeat of