mind. She gave notice that after March 1,
1916, a new submarine campaign would be launched. Certain concessions
were granted to the demands of the United States, but it was proposed
to consider many vessels as warcraft that other nations regarded as
merchant ships. It was agreed that warning should be given passenger
vessels unless they made an offensive move. This broad ruling gave
Germany a free hand, at least from her own standpoint.
The new campaign was widely advertised, a succession of brusque
threats and veiled insinuations leading up to a fine climax of
publicity. The tactics were those of diplomacy and the drama, with the
world for an audience.
But the campaign failed to accomplish what had been claimed for it.
The number of vessels lost did not materially increase, nor did allied
shipping halt. No matter what efforts Germany has made the ports of
her enemies never have closed--have in reality been far busier than
before the war. And the British navy's nets and traps, and her
thousands of patrol boats made the submarine commanders' task ever
more difficult. Within a few weeks after the latest German policy was
in effect the Allies could again breathe easy. Casualties at sea
continued, but there was no general destruction as had been promised.
The principal achievement of Italy's navy in the war has been the
protection of her coast line. Indisputably she has dominated the
Adriatic, bottling up the Austrian fleet at Pola. Not a single
engagement, worthy the name, has been fought in that narrow strip of
water, only forty-five miles wide at its southern extremity, ninety at
the northern end and 110 at the widest point. Across this limited
space Italy has transported about 200,000 troops, with the loss of but
two transports, the _Mari Chiaro_ and the _Umberto_, both of which
were small. A good part of the Serbian and Montenegrin armies were
carried to places where they might recuperate, and a considerable
force of her own troops landed on the coast of Albania. This was
accomplished in defiance of Austria's numerous submarines, which never
have achieved anything like the success of the German undersea craft.
After Italy's entrance into the war Austrian squadrons of light
cruisers and destroyers shelled several coast cities. But these
attacks soon ceased and all of the 500 miles of Italy's Adriatic
shore, dented as it is with small harbors and flanked by many islands,
has been strangely immune from enemy depre
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