te her victories, bravely and skillfully won,
she was still a nation in siege, with no communication with the
outside world, except through neutral countries.

In the second winter with uninterrupted energy she again turned
toward the southeast for another military adventure. Rumania still
held fast to her neutrality. In Bulgaria the Central Powers were to
succeed in gaining a fourth ally, which in sheer military advantage
was probably worth more than the accession of Italy to her enemies.
Though Russia had won her freedom for Bulgaria in '76, no sentiment
drew her to Russia's assistance when Russia was losing. No
statesmanship is more matter of fact than that of the Balkans.
Bulgaria had an old score to settle with Serbia, which had joined
Rumania and Greece against her in making the Second Balkan War,
after she had borne the brunt of the first against Turkey. Then,
besides, the military temptation offered the Bulgarian staff was
irresistible. Serbia had been through two wars before the heavy
drain of this one. A country of swineherds and miserable villages,
dependent for munitions upon England and the Allies--she was caught
in a wedge, with Bulgaria on the one side and the Austro-Hungarian
advance on the other. At the most the Central Powers had probably no
more than 300,000 troops--about the same number that the Bulgars
had. Against such a combination, Serbia, caught between the blades
of a pair of scissors, could make no successful resistance unless
assistance came from England and France, which the British and
French public demanded should be sent. There was no hope of
sufficient allied forces reaching Serbia in time to rescue her, but
the Allies, particularly the British, could not afford to see
Saloniki occupied by the Austro-Germans or by their friends, the
Bulgarians. Up to the Balkan War Saloniki was Turkish; then it
became Greek. This excellent port had long been the goal of Austrian
ambition, which sought an outlet to the Mediterranean, no less than
the traditional policy of Russia was aimed at the occupation of
Constantinople.

In the Crimean War France and England fought to thwart Russia's
designs on Turkey and now France and England were prepared to oppose
Austria's designs on Saloniki.

In order to defend Saloniki British and French troops must land on
the soil of Greece and march across the Greco-Serbian frontier,
which was no doubt one of the reasons that had kept the Allies from
sending forces be