RUSSIAN DISASTERS Then the tide turned. The Russian army had exhausted its supplies of ammunition, and further supplies were not forthcoming. There is reason to believe that plenty of munitions were at hand, but were purposely withheld from the troops through the machinations of German intriguers in Russia. At any rate, the Russians were left without ammunition, to meet the onset of a furious German offensive. The German army under Von Mackensen set out from Cracow on April 29, 1915, with an amplitude and completeness of equipment as notable as was the Russian lack thereof. The advance was bewilderingly rapid. On May 6th Tarnow and Gorlice were taken, on June 3d the great fortress of Przemysl was reoccupied, and Lemberg was entered on June 22d. For fifty-two days the Germans advanced at the average rate of four miles a day. The reason was that they were moving against practically unarmed men. The Russian cannons were chiefly silent, and the men, with no cartridges, were fighting with clubbed rifles, knives and even with stones and bludgeons. THE CONQUEST OF POLAND Having swept the unarmed Russians out of Galicia, the Germans turned northward for the conquest of Russian Poland. Three powerful armies, from north, west and south, simultaneously converged upon Warsaw. Still destitute of proper supplies, the Russians could do nothing but retire, and it was a wonderful achievement that there, as in Galicia, they were able to retire without being thrown into confusion and rout and without losing such equipment as they had. Never did a defeated army retire in better order. But it did retire. Kovno was abandoned on August 17th, Brest-Litovsk on August 26th, and Grodno on September 3d. The German conquest of Poland was then practically complete. Meantime German armies at the extreme left were driving the Russian right before them, through Courland, until they were close to Riga and were planning to menace Petrograd itself. But from the fall of 1915 to the early summer of 1916 the lines remained practically unchanged. The Germans were being kept busy on the western front, and the Russians were preparing themselves for a renewal of their campaign under happier auspices. ANOTHER RUSSIAN DRIVE Early in June, 1916, the Russian armies were ready for action. Under the command of General Brussiloff they struck, with their left, against the German and Austrian right, in Galicia and Buk owina, with tremendous effect. The movement began on June 5th. Four days later Czernowitz was taken, and by the end of the month Kolomea was also captured. Stanislau fell on August 9th, and a few days later Lemberg was threatened. Then, unfortunately, a diversion was caused by the German invasion of Roumania, and it was necessary to stop the Galician advance in order to send troops thither. During the rest of the fall and the winter of 1916-17, therefore, little change occurred on that part of the battle front. The tremendous drives of the allies at the west made it necessary for all German troops that could be spared from the east to be sent thither, while the domestic revolution in Russia caused a suspension for the time of Russian activities. THE WAR AT THE STRAITS Turkey entered the war at the end of October, 1914, but it was not until four months afterward that it became involved in serious operations. It was in the latter part of February, 1915, that the allies undertook the formidable task of capturing Constantinople. This movement had two major objects. One was, to gain control of the Dardanelles and the Bosporus, so that supplies could be sent to Russia by that short and direct route instead of by way of the White Sea, which was obstructed with ice for much of the year and which landed supplies at a remote point from that at which they were needed, or by the still longer route across the Pacific Ocean. The other object was to cut the line of communication between Germany and |