her to send
munitions to Constantinople, and insured the failure of the allied
attack at the Dardanelles. Only a few weeks later the allied armies
evacuated the Gallipoli Peninsula; thus testifying to the decisive
character of the German operation. Still later Turkish reenforcements,
doubtless drawing upon German sources for munitions, defeated another
British expedition almost under the walls of Bagdad and drove it in
retreat down the Tigris, ultimately surrounding it at Kut-el-Amara, a
hundred miles to the south.

Again, there came immediately forecasts of another Turkish thrust at
Suez, under German direction, a first attack having failed in the
previous winter. Whether Germany actually obtained any considerable
stock of provisions or foodstuffs may be doubted by her succor, but
it is clear that her campaign had enabled her to make use of many
thousands of Turkish troops, who were waiting only for arms, it had
given her control of the Bulgarian army, a small but efficient
force, and it had provided an eventual means of attacking the
British Empire by land, once the advance upon Egypt could be
organized.

This last circumstance is worth noting, for the time had now arrived
when the Germans perceived that Great Britain had so far escaped
injury, was the single one of the larger powers who had drawn profit
without terrible loss from the war and was becoming the determining
force in the allied camp, because its resources were still
unexhausted and its armies only just coming into the field, while
German numbers were approaching a positive decline. If Germany could
reach Suez, conquer Egypt, using Turkish armies and German genius
and munitions, she would deal a heavy blow to the British Empire,
and she might compel the British to listen to proposals for peace,
which were now contemptuously thrust aside by London.

In sum, the Serbian campaign saved Turkey, disposed of Serbia,
enlisted Bulgaria, opened the road to the Near East and to
subsequent attacks upon Egypt and perhaps upon India, but it did not
bring peace, and it did not inflict any immediate injury upon any
one of Germany's larger foes, only Serbia and Montenegro actually
suffered serious loss, and the destruction of their armies was but a
detail in a world war.

ITALY

For the purposes of a summary it is unnecessary to review in detail
the Italian operations. They have no distinctive challenge to the
reader. Italian statesmanship imposed upon the Ital