ish frustrated the attempt to bridge the Canal and in the middle of the afternoon the Turks fled leaving 500 men killed and 600 prisoners. The main Turkish force, however, made good its retreat.

The British now began a campaign to reach Bagdad. Going by water into the Persian Gulf they deMARCH ON feated the Turks and captured Busrah. BAGDAD The British under General Townshend had only a small force, but he defeated the Turks and moved up the Tigris. He again defeated the Turks before Kut-el-Amara and occupied that city. With small forces the English had penetrated more than two hundred miles into Mesopotamia. Bagdad was only one hundred miles farther up the river, and General Townshend with his small army, was sent on to Bagdad.

On November 22, General Townshend attacked and captured the Turkish defense position eighteen miles from this city. Then the tide turned. Townshend was overwhelmed by superior numbers and defeated with a loss of nearly 5,000 of his 20,000 men. He was driven back to Kut-el-Amara, where he was surrounded. A relief expedition was sent by the British under General Aylmer, but it failed to reach Townshend's army until they were starved out and forced to surrender to the Turks.

Germany had told the world that Russia was so badly exhausted that she would not be able to "come THE AUSTRIAN DRIVE back." Therefore, she switched ON ITALY (1916) many of her troops from the Russian front to France while Austria sent her reserves from the eastern front against Italy.

The war between Austria and Italy was carried on chiefly among the valleys and mountains of the Trentino. Great bravery was shown by troops on both

sides but there were no decisive results. All the rivers here flow from Austria into Italy and Austria held the sources of the rivers among the mountains, positions that were very hard to take. Italy, on the other hand, held the flat valleys which were hard to defend.

In the latter part of May, 1916, the Austrians, reenforced by the troops from the Russian front made a general attack on the Italians. The Italians, taken by surprise, lost heavily. They were driven back along the front for about twenty miles until they came to their own frontier. Crown Prince Archduke Charles led the Austrians. It looked for a time as if he would succeed in carrying the war into Italian territory and cut off the Italian forces in the Isonzo district. But suddenly the Russians began a strong movement against Austria, forcing her to transfer her troops to defend that attack.

Now the Italians changed commanders and General Cadorna became Commander in Chief. By the ITALIANS first week in June, he had halted the RECOVER ALL Austrians and had begun to drive them back. The Italian armies gradually pushed them back until they were in the same position as before the offensive began. In August the Italians set to work to push their line farther north. They captured Goritz bridgehead and shortly after, the city, itself. Then they made an advance in the direction of Trieste by taking various positions on the Carso Plateau. This is where they stood at the end of the year 1916 and there was much rejoicing in Italy.

When Germany and Austria stripped the Russian front of their soldiers Russia saw her opportunity. BRUSSILOFF INVADES With a great army and a vast store of ammunition and heavy

GALICIA (1916)

artillery the Russian commander, Brussiloff, attacked along a front of 150 miles on the southern battle line in June. The Russian army numbered three to one against the Austrians who defended the line. Brussiloff broke through, making a wide gap, and the Austrian troops began a headlong retreat to save themselves.

They lost 300,000 men and great booty of supplies, munitions and artillery. In a few weeks of fighting the Russians pushed their enemy back for forty miles and won back 15,000 square miles of territory, more than twice what the Germans held in France. The Germans in four months at Verdun had pushed the French back less than ten miles. Germany had to take back her statement that Russia had been put out of the war.

CHAPTER XIII

ROUMANIA CONQUERED, 1916

This Russian success along with the German failure at Verdun induced Roumania to throw in her lot with the Allies. So in August, 1916, she declared war against Austro-Hungary. Roumania said there were many Roumanians in Hungary, who were suffering from oppression and that the ambition of AustroHungary to extend her power was a menace to the liberty and ambition of Roumania. The way AustroHungary had treated Serbia showed that the war was one of conquest and territorial gain and Roumania herself was in danger of being drawn in and overwhelmed by the Central Powers. She said that the war had already shown that the Central Powers would tear up treaties if it suited their interests to do so, and she was entering the war on the side of the Allies to hasten the end of the conflict.

IN AUSTRIA

Immediately after this declaration Roumanian troops entered Transylvania, a part of Austria's ROUMANIAN ARMY empire, and met with some success. But Roumania had risked everything in this invasion of Austro-Hungary and left the Danube River unprotected and open to attack by the Bulgarians. We are told that Roumania refused at this time to listen to the advice of the Allies either as to the time when she should declare war or as to what campaign she would follow. At any rate she started out under an ill star. She was too late to be helped by Brussiloff's victory, which was

then practically over, and Germany and Austria were free to concentrate their attention against her. So, with short sightedness, this little country threw her main forces at once across the Carpathian passes into Austro-Hungary.

Before the month ended Roumanian armies had occupied Kronstadt and other cities and had full conVON MACKENSEN trol of the Vulcan Pass. The counDRIVES NORTH try was rejoicing at her splendid success and so were the Allies, but a sudden change came about. The Germans had planned their campaign against Roumania with much care. They now came forward with great suddenness, General Von Mackensen with a Turk-Bulgar army pushed his way through Roumania's back door between the Danube and the Black Sea and began a drive north. All the time the Roumanian army was winning easy victories in Transylvania, Von Mackensen was advancing rapidly taking everything in his path. At last the Roumanians awoke to their danger in the rear and recalled some of their troops to send against Von Mackensen. Russian troops also came in and joined the Roumanians in the south, and for a time they held Von Mackensen.

DRIVES EAST

On Roumania's western front a German general, Von Falkenhayn, then led an attack against the VON FALKENHAYN Roumanians and defeated them at Hermanstadt. The Germans continued to win along this front, but the Roumanians stubbornly held the mountain passes. In October Von Mackensen pushed farther north and took Constanza and the Russo-Roumanian troops retreated to the north. In November Von Falkenhayn took several mountain passes and entered Roumania from the west. The Russians made a desperate at