Russia and the province of
Transylvania from Hungary, they must jump into the war on the side of
the Entente. It is claimed by some that they had planned to wait until
the following winter in order to get their army into the best of
condition and training, but that the treacherous prime minister of
Russia, Sturmer, when he found that they were determined to make war
on Germany and Austria, persuaded them to plunge in at once, knowing
that they were unprepared and that their inexperienced troops would be
no match for the veterans of the central powers. At any rate, about
the first of September Roumania declared war on Austria and joined the
Entente.

The French and English had wished the Roumanians to declare war first
on Bulgaria and, attacking that country from the north while General
Sarrail attacked it from the south, crush it before help could arrive
from Germany, much in the fashion in which poor Serbia had been caught
between Austria and Bulgaria a year previously. The Roumanians,
however, were eager to "liberate" their brothers in Transylvania, and
so, urged on by bad advice from Russia, they rushed across the
mountains to the northwest instead of taking the easier road which led
them south to the conquest of Bulgaria. (See maps.)

[Map: How Roumania was crushed]

Germania, Turkey, and Bulgaria at once declared war on Roumania. The
battle-field in France, owing to continued rains and wet weather, had
become one great sea of slimy mud, through which it was impossible to
drag the cannon. General Brusiloff in Galicia had pushed back the
Austrians for many miles but a lack of ammunition and the arrival of
strong German re-inforcements had prevented his re-capturing Lemberg.
The Russian generals on the north, under the influence of the
pro-German prime minister, were doing nothing. The Italians and
Austrians had come to a deadlock. The country where they were fighting
was so mountainous that neither side could advance. North from
Salonika came the slow advance of General Sarrail. His great problem
was to get sufficient shells for his guns and food for his men. All
the time, too, he had to keep a watchful eye on King Constantine, lest
the latter launch the Greek army in a treacherous attack on his rear.
For the time being, then, the central powers were free to give their
whole attention to Roumania.

Profiting by the mud along the western front and trusting to the
Russians to do nothing, they drew off several hun