Roumania (1)

Roumania

You will recall that when Bulgaria attacked Serbia the Serbs hoped for
help from Roumania. For they knew that Bulgaria had a grudge against
Roumania also, because of the Bulgarian territory which she had been
compelled to give up to her neighbor on the north at the close of the
second Balkan war. They expected this fear of Bulgarian revenge to
bring the Roumanians to the rescue.

You have read how Roumania wished for certain lands in Russia as well
as in Hungary that are inhabited by her own people. For a long time
the government at Bukharest hesitated, fearing to plunge into the war
before the time was ripe, and dreading the danger of choosing the
wrong side.

The key to the situation was Russia. If Roumania were to go to war she
would have to count strongly on the help of her great neighbor to the
north.

Meanwhile, strange things were happening in Russia. You will remember
that there are two million Germans living in that part of the Russian
domain which borders the Baltic Sea. (The states of Livonia and
Courland were ruled in the olden times by the "Teutonic knights.")
These Germans are much better educated, on the whole, than the
Russians; they are descendants of old feudal warriors and as such are
men of force and influence in the Russian government. It was a common
thing to find German names, like Witte, Von Plehve, Rennenkampf, and
Stoessel among the list of high officials and generals in Russia. In
this way there were a great many people prominent in the Russian
government, who secretly hoped that Germany would win the war and were
actively plotting with this in view. "There is a secret wire from the
czar's palace to Berlin," said one of the most patriotic Russian
generals, explaining why he refused to give out his plans in advance.
Graft and bad management, as well as treachery, were all through the
nation. Train-loads of ammunition intended for the Russian army were
left piled up on the wharves at the northern ports. Guns sent by
England were lost in the Ural mountains. Food that was badly needed by
the men at the front was hoarded by government officials in order to
raise prices for their friends who were growing rich through
"cornering" food supplies.

When a group of men buy a sufficient amount of any one article so as
to keep it from being sold in great quantities and make it appear that
there is not enough to go around, they are said to "corner" the
market. Three or four men in America at various times have been able
to corner the wheat market or the corn market or the market for
cotton.

The czar of Russia truly desired his country to win the war. On the
other hand his wife was a cousin of the Kaiser, a German princess
whose brothers were fighting in the German army, and she had little
love for her adopted country. The poor little Czarevitch, eleven years
old, remarked, early in the war, "When the Russians are beaten, papa
weeps; when the Germans are beaten, mamma weeps." In spite of her
German sympathies the Czarina had great influence with her husband,
and the scheming officials who were secretly plotting the downfall of
Russia were able to use this influence in many ways.

In 1916, a new prime minister was appointed in Russia--a man named
Sturmer, of German blood and German sympathies. The Russians, after
their long retreat in 1915 had gradually gotten back their strength,
and had piled up ammunition and gathered guns for a new attack. This
began early in June, 1916, when General Brusiloff attacked the
Austro-Hungarians in Galicia and Bukowina and drove them back for
miles and miles, capturing hundreds of thousands of prisoners. You
will remember that the Bohemians, although subjects of Austria-
Hungary, are Slavs and have no love for the Austrians of German blood
who rule them. Two divisions made up of Bohemian troops helped General
Brusiloff greatly by deserting in a body and afterwards re-enlisting
in the Russian army.

In northern France, the British and French had at last gained more
guns and bigger guns than the Germans had, and by sheer weight of
metal were pushing the latter out of the trenches which they had held
for over two years. It seemed to Roumania that the turning point of
the war had come. With the Russians winning big victories over
Austria, and the French and English pushing back the Germans in the
west, it certainly looked as though the end were in sight.

Now the king of Roumania is a Hohenzollern, a
distant cousin of the Kaiser of Germany, but, just the opposite from
the case in Greece and Russia, his wife was an English princess, and
she was able to help the party that was friendly to France and Great
Britain. The man who had and worked early and late to get his
countrymen to join the Entente was Take Jonescu, the wisest of the
Roumanian statesmen, the man who predicted at the close of the second
Balkan war that the peace of Europe would again be broken within
fourteen months. As an actual fact, there was only twelve and a half months between
wars.

By the summer of 1916, the Roumanians had at last decided that if they
wanted to get a slice of Bessarabia from Russia and the province of
Transylvania from Hungary, they must jump into the war on the side of
the Entente. It is claimed by some that they had planned to wait until
the following winter in order to get their army into the best of
condition and training, but that the treacherous prime minister of
Russia, Sturmer, when he found that they were determined to make war
on Germany and Austria, persuaded them to plunge in at once, knowing
that they were unprepared and that their inexperienced troops would be
no match for the veterans of the central powers. At any rate, about
the first of September Roumania declared war on Austria and joined the
Entente.