mpression was, after the death of
King Carol, October 10, 1914, that if one of the two countries entered
the war, the other would follow suit. As subsequent events have shown,
however, that expectation was not realized. Rumania, too, had
aspirations in the direction of recovering lost territories, but her
grievance in this respect was equally divided between Russia and
Austria, for, while the one had despoiled her of Bessarabia, the other
had annexed Transylvania (Siebenbuergen). Hence the Russian tentative
conquest and occupation of the Bukowina paved the way for Rumania,
should she decide on intervention. The road was clear for her to step
in and occupy the Bukowina (which Russia was prepared to hand over),
and probably Transylvania as well, which latter the proximity of a
Russian force might--at the time--have enabled her to do. But the bait
failed, no doubt for weighty reasons. Even if Rumania had favored the
Triple Entente, which there is strong ground to presume she would, by
entering the war, have found herself in as perilous a position as
Serbia, with her Black Sea littoral exposed to hostile Turkey and her
whole southern boundary flanked by a neighbor--Bulgaria--whose
intentions were as yet unknown. However, on January 27, 1915, the Bank
of England arranged a $25,000,000 loan to Rumania--an event which
further heightened the probability of her entry into the arena.

We may safely take it for granted that these considerations were not
overlooked by the German staff, in addition to the patent fact that
the Russians were persistently gaining ground against the Austrians.
German officers and men were therefore rushed from the eastern and
western fronts to the south of the Carpathians to form the three
armies we have labeled A, B, and C. The points of attack for which
they were intended have already been stated; but the roundabout manner
in which they traveled to their respective sections is both
interesting and worthy of notice. At this stage a new spirit seemed to
dominate Austro-Hungarian military affairs; we suddenly encounter
greater precision, sounder strategy, and deeper plans: a master mind
appears to have taken matters in hand. It is the cool, calculating,
mathematical composite brain of the German General Staff. As the
formation and dispatching of three great armies can hardly be kept a
secret, especially where hawk-eyed spies abound, a really astute piece
of stage management was resorted to. Wild rumors w