was in command of the St.
Petersburg military district. Under him was a Corps of Guards, and the
First and Eighteenth Army Corps from 120,000 to 150,000 men. He was a
soldier of the first rank and an able strategist. He had familiarized
himself with the armies of other European nations. He long had planned
for the emergency that now confronted him.

In the rapid movement of the Russian forces, he was aided chiefly by
General Vladimir Sukhomlinoff. The latter saw that one of the chief
defects in the Russian army, as disclosed by the Japanese War, was the
slowness of her railroad operations, and some time before war was
declared he had set himself to improving conditions. He established a
school of railroading for officers where the rapid loading of troops on
cars and the general speeding up of transportation were studied
scientifically. The good results of such work were apparent at the very
outset of hostilities.

As we have seen, France was saved in the first campaign in the west by
the sturdy resistance of little Belgium to the advance of the Germans
through her territory, so Russia now helped to save France a second time
by the rapidity of her campaign. While German troops still were
investing Liege in Belgium, the Russian troops were registering their
first triumph at Eydtkuhnen, and upon the very day that Ghent fell into
the hands of the Germans, Russia began her strong offensive in East
Prussia. By such means were a large part of the German forces, intent on
taking Paris, diverted from attack on the western war arena to protect
the eastern frontier from Russian menace. The relief which Russia thus
gave her Allies was invaluable. The battle of Mons was over in Belgium
and the retreat to the Marne in France had begun, and the Germans were
almost in sight of the French capital, when, save for Russia's timely
blow on the Polish frontier, the Germans, many war critics believe,
would have reached Paris.

When the Germans in the west were striving toward Calais on the English
Channel as their goal, it was the Russian offensive in Galicia that
forced Germany to transfer more army corps to the eastern front in order
to stop the tide that threatened to overflow Austria. Thus the French
and British were able to stop the advance that threatened to engulf them
on the western front and given time to organize themselves for a
strenuous contest.

The strategic problem which confronted Russia was much more complicated
than t