of government transferred from Bucharest to Jassy on November
28, 1916, and on December 6th Bucharest was entered by von Mackensen,
definitely putting an end to Roumania as a factor in the war.

The result of the fall of Roumania was to release immense stores of
petroleum for German use. British and Roumanian engineers had done their
utmost by the use of explosives to make useless the great Roumanian oil
wells, but German engineers soon had the precious fluid in full flow.
This furnished the fuel which Germany had long and ardently desired. The
oil-burning submarine now came into its own. It was possible to plan a
great fleet of submersibles to attempt execution of von Tirpitz's plan
for unrestricted submarine warfare. This was decided upon by the German
High Command, the day Bucharest fell. It was realized that such a policy
would bring the United States into the war, but the Kaiser and his
advisers hoped the submarine on sea and a great western front offensive
on land would force a decision in favor of Germany before America could
get ready. How that hope failed was revealed at Chateau-Thierry and in
the humiliation of Germany.

CHAPTER VII

THE CAMPAIGN IN MESOPOTAMIA

In our previous discussion of the British campaign in Mesopotamia we
left the British forces intrenched at Kurna, and also occupying Basra,
the port of Bagdad. The object of the Mesopotamia Expedition was
primarily to keep the enemy from the shores of the Gulf of Persia. If
the English had been satisfied with that, the misfortune which was to
come to them might never have occurred, but the whole expedition was
essentially political rather than military in its nature.

The British were defending India. The Germans, unable to attack the
British Empire by sea, were hoping to attack her by land. They had
already attempted to stir up a Holy War with the full expectation that
it would lead to an Indian revolution. In this they had failed, for the
millions of Mohammedans in India cared little for the Turkish Sultan or
his proclamations. Through Bagdad, however, they hoped to strike a blow
at the English influence on the Persian Gulf. The English, therefore,
felt strongly that it was not enough to sit safely astride the Tigris,
but that a blow at Bagdad would produce a tremendous political effect.
It would practically prevent German communication with Persia, and the
Indian frontier.

As a matter of fact the Persian Gulf and the oil fields were safe