portant
battles. A determined effort was made in 1915 by Germany to crush Russia
and thus retire her from the war. For days at a time, on the railroads
of East Germany, double headed trains were passing every fifteen
minutes, loaded with troops and munitions withdrawn from the western
front which accounts for the comparative quiet in that section, which in
turn gave Great Britain time to prepare in earnest. And so it was that
during a large part of 1915 Russia had to withstand the shock of war.
Russian soldiers were brave; her generals able, but the whole official
life was more or less corrupt.

The poison of German propaganda was at work. Her ammunition was totally
insufficient. Immense supplies made in France according to
specifications furnished by high officials in Russia did not fit the
guns they were intended to serve. There were already signs of the
approaching utter collapse of Russia as a world power, then more than a
year distant in time. In spite of these drawbacks we read of brilliant
but futile efforts of her poorly equipped army to stem the tide of
Teutonic success that soon began.

Before the close of the year Poland was entirely overrun by German
forces. It seemed for a time as if Petrograd itself must fall. In short,
it was thought that Russia was crushed. Then it was that the Kaiser
wrote to his sister, the Queen of Greece, "having crushed Russia, the
rest of Europe will soon tremble before me." But when 1915 ended a line
of trenches from Riga on the north to Czernowitz on the south still
guarded the frontiers of Russia.

THE DARDANELLES CAMPAIGN.

This campaign began in December, 1914, and continued during 1915. It was
an effort on the part of the Allies to force the Dardanelles, capture
Constantinople, and inflict a crushing blow on Turkey. This effort was a
dismal failure for the Allies, but had all the effect of a decisive
victory for Turkey and her allies. The fact that the attack was failing
had considerable to do with inducing Bulgaria to enter the war on the
side of Germany. The immediate result of this step on the part of
Bulgaria was the complete crushing of Serbia (October 6-December 2),
and this in turn made possible full and free railroad transportation
between Germany on the north and Turkey on the south. The net result was
to greatly strengthen the Teutonic allies. The conduct of Turkey in the
war was marked by most atrocious treatment of the Armenians. Belgium on
the north, Armen