River, there would have
been little to stop the armies of the czar from marching into
Berlin. General mobilization by one power, therefore, absolutely
compels countermobilization by another power, and unless diplomatic
agreements are speedily made and the mobilization checked, it is a
prelude to war.

The diplomatic interpretations of the discussion over mobilization
have been dealt with elsewhere, but it may be summarily said here
that Austria was the first of the great powers to begin mobilization
in the first part of July, in order to frighten Serbia into
submission in the controversy that arose from the assassination of
the Austrian Crown Prince at Sarajevo (in Bosnia, Austria) on June
28, 1914. Serbia mobilized, and it was generally believed that this
action was due to Serbia's knowledge that Russia was secretly
mobilizing. By about July 10, 1914, Germany believed herself
satisfied that Russia was actually mobilizing, and she also began
secretly to do so. France became suspicious of German military
activity, and by the end of the third week and the beginning of the
fourth week in July a general, but unadmitted, military preparation
was in progress. Actual and admitted mobilization is more or less
arbitrarily placed as of August 1, 1914, which date is now
generally regarded as the opening of the Great War.

In any consideration of Russian mobilization it will be remembered
that Russia had three armies, not one, to mobilize, i. e., the
armies of European Russia, of the Asiatic Russia, and of the
Caucasus. It is also to be remembered that, unlike the German system
in which every man has a definite place in a particular corps, the
Russian system holds its reserves as reserves solely, and organizes
them after they have been gathered together. Slow mobilization is
therefore an evil not to be avoided. For this reason one must expect
to find Russian mobilization occurring, not on the frontier, but at
a point sufficiently far therefrom to be safe from hostile attack
during the period of disorganization.

The line Bialystok-Brest-Litovsk was the main field selected,
because of its central location between the Austro-German frontiers,
and more particularly because it was well covered from attack by the
intrenched fortress and camp of Warsaw. The troops and reserves from
Little Russia, especially from the Kiev district, were readily
available on lines converging to the Austrian city of Lemberg in
Galicia, and, it was est