es, and on the same day declared war against Russia. Within a few
days the first Russian advance into East Prussia began under the
leadership of Grand Duke Nicholas, who, by a special order of the
czar, had been made commander in chief of all Russian forces on August
3, 1914. Germany, fully occupied with its advance into Belgium and
France, offered hardly any resistance, and its forces, consisting
almost exclusively of the few army corps permanently stationed along
its eastern border and reenforced only by local reserves, advanced
only in a few places, and there only for short distances, into Russian
territory.

On August 5, 1914, Austria-Hungary, too, declared war against Russia,
and the next day brought immediately engagements along the frontier of
the two countries, which, however, did not develop seriously for some
time. The Russian advance into East Prussia had reached Marggrabova by
the 15th, and from then on proceeded fairly rapidly during the
following week. Memel, Tilsit, Insterburg, Koenigsberg, and
Allenstein--to name only a few of the more important cities of East
Prussia--were either threatened with occupation by the Russian forces
or had actually been occupied by them. The entire Mazurian Lake
district in the southeast of the Prusso-Russian border region was
overrun with Russian troops. But about August 22, 1914, Germany awoke
to the danger of the Russian invasion. General von Hindenburg was put
in command in the east, and in the battle of Tannenberg, which lasted
from August 22 to 27, 1914, inflicted a disastrous defeat on the
Russian armies, capturing tens of thousands of its soldiers and
driving as many more to their deaths in the swamp lands of the
Mazurian Lakes. Not only did this end for the time the Russian
invasion of Germany, but the latter country's armies followed the
retreating enemy a considerable distance into his own territory.

But although such important points as Lodz and Radomsk were occupied
during the last days of August and the first days of September, the
German advance into South Poland quickly collapsed. In the meantime
the Russians had successfully invaded Galicia, and by September 3,
1914, the Austro-Hungarians evacuated Lemberg. In the north, too, the
Russian forces had resumed the offensive and once more were invading
East Prussia. But they were again beaten back by Von Hindenburg on
September 10-11, 1914, and, four days later, on September 15, 1914,
suffered another serious