t they did come to the
Dunajec line, while to the south they began the slow ascent of the
Carpathians (Vol. III, 261-264), across which raiding forces of
Cossacks had several times passed. They also concentrated against the
fortress of Przemysl, the last Austrian stronghold along the San. This
campaign endured throughout the winter. Finally Przemysl, with a
garrison of 125,000 men, surrendered in early March (Vol. III,
249-257), and Russia was at last free to strike either at Cracow or
through the Carpathians for the Hungarian Plain.

Her decision to go south was probably influenced by the great victory
of the Serbs at Valievo. While German aid was taking pressure off the
Austrians a new Hapsburg thrust had been delivered at Serbia,
Austro-Hungarian troops had passed the Drina and penetrated deeply
into Serbia, Belgrade had fallen, and the end of Serbia seemed in
sight. But new Russian attacks having compelled Austria to recall many
of her troops, the remaining Hapsburg forces in Serbia were almost
destroyed in the bloody defeat of Valievo in December. (Vol. II,
325-357.)

To offset this the Germans soon won one more great victory in East
Prussia, at the Mazurian Lakes, where another Russian army was
well-nigh destroyed by the quick-marching, better-trained German
troops. And this victory beat down another Russian invasion of East
Prussia and, as it turned out, closed the period of immediate peril
for the German territories in the east.

In March and April the Galician campaign reached its climax in the
bloody battles of the Carpathians and Russian armies seemed slowly but
surely pushing their way over the mountains and descending into the
Hungarian Plain. (Vol. III, 235-276.) It was at this moment that Italy
had chosen to enter the war on the allied side, and there was every
reason to believe that Rumania would follow.

THE BATTLE OF THE DUNAJEC

Instead there came a sudden and tremendous German victory which was to
prove the prelude to more victories and to a summer of unparalleled
success for German arms. This victory was won at the Battle of the
Dunajec--named Gorlice by the Germans--which may well rank with the
Marne as the second great struggle of the war, since it saved Austria,
brought Russia to the edge of ruin and wholly transformed the horizons
of the conflict. (Vol. III, 264-276.)

It will be recalled that at the outset of the war the German General
Staff had to choose between two possible operatio