inally
checked outside the gates of Vienna. Nothing is more significant of the
terror that these marching hosts inspired than the fact that, with the
exception of a few larger towns, the villages hid themselves away from
this highway in the hills.

Bear clearly in mind that in the existence of this narrow way to the
Orient lies the key not only to the causes of the war, but to the
military campaigns that we shall follow in this region. For it is the
Teutons who would in the Great War, like the Crusaders of old, pass down
this highway and again conquer the East, though in this case their
object is trade, and not the Holy Sepulcher.

To secure the pathway through this strategic country it also is
necessary to have control of the territory on all sides, and this is
quite as true in a political as in a military sense. To secure their
pathway up into Europe the Turks once conquered all the peoples in the
Balkans, except those inhabiting the mountains over on the Adriatic: the
Montenegrins and a small city called Ragusa, just above Montenegro in
Dalmatia. It is not at all peculiar that just here, in almost the same
locality, the Teutons should meet with the first and strongest
resistance.

A study of the territory in which the first fighting of the war occurred
will explain the foregoing calculations. It will be observed that
Austrian territory runs down past the eastward turn in the Danube, along
the frontier of Montenegro, until it narrows gradually into a tip at
Cattaro, just below Cettinje, the Montenegrin capital. This land is
composed of the three provinces of Bosnia, Herzegovina and Dalmatia. All
this territory is inhabited by the same race that peoples Serbia and
Montenegro--the Serbs. In fact, the Slavic population reaches up all
along the coast to Trieste, and even a little beyond. For this reason it
is in this direction that we shall see the Serbians and the Montenegrins
invade Austrian territory, after their initial success in repulsing the
Austrian invasion.

The objectives of the brief campaign soon to be considered were
Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia, and Ragusa, the famous little seaport
on the Adriatic. Ragusa is of especial interest on account of its
remarkable history. In the Middle Ages it was the most important seaport
in that part of the world. Its ships sailed over all the Mediterranean
and from them is derived the word "argosy," signifying a ship laden with
wealth. Again and again the Turks attem