that the Bulgars were averse to
the idea of the Russians securing Constantinople. On the other hand,
the old pro-Russian sentiments of the people still survived: the
Russian Legation at Sofia received numerous applications to serve in
the army; large contributions were made to the Russian Red Cross, and
public prayers were offered for the success of the Russian arms. But
the Muscovite Minister at Sofia was a man unfitted for the post, and
Ferdinand's task was made easier. The Allied diplomats could argue,
later on, that they failed by a narrow margin, since Radoslavoff only
succeeded in gaining a majority by means of the help of the Turkish
deputies; but if the Sobranje had been hostile to Ferdinand and
Radoslavoff they would simply have dissolved it. As a pattern of
morals Dr. Radoslavoff is not worth quotation--the offences for which
during a previous Premiership he was convicted were rather
flagrant--but his views on international politics are quite
instructive. On November 14, 1912, he wrote to his friend Mavrodieff,
the prefect of Sofia, a letter which was afterwards reproduced in
facsimile. "It is clear," he said, "that Russian diplomacy is
disloyal. It wants Constantinople.... But it is not only Russia which
envies Bulgaria; the same thing is true for Austria-Hungary and
Germany. The Balkan Union has surprised them, and they will seek a new
basis in their future politics...." But then the second Balkan War and
the Treaty of Bucharest enabled Ferdinand to commit his country to an
alliance which various of his statesmen and generals vehemently
deprecated. "If the Germans should win," telegraphed Tocheff, the
Minister at Vienna, in August 1915, "that would be still more
dangerous for Bulgaria."

Ferdinand was sure that the Austro-Germans would succeed in conquering
the Serbs. On October 6, after a treacherous artillery preparation,
the two armies began to cross at various points the Danube, the Save
and the Drin. Their losses in the hand-to-hand engagements may have
reminded them of a phrase in the official explanation that was issued,
after the rout of the previous December, by the Viennese authorities:
"The retirement of our forces after their victorious offensive in
Serbia has given birth to divers rumours for the most part entirely
without foundation.... It was inevitable that we should have important
losses in men and material." So it was on this occasion--at Belgrade,
for example, thousands were killed as the