ese activities slightly increased in extent and severity. But
both sides, as long as frost continued, were satisfied with this state
of conditions and with never-ceasing preparations for new offensive
operations to begin as soon as nature would permit.

PART VI--THE BALKANS

CHAPTER XXX

BATTLE CLOUDS GATHER AGAIN

Though Serbia had been the first to be attacked by the Central Powers
when the world war began, the end of the first year's fighting was to
find her still unconquered, though she had passed through ordeals
quite as severe as those suffered by Belgium.

Let us review, briefly, the events of the first year:

Hardly had hostilities been declared by Austria-Hungary, on July 28,
1914, when the armies of the Dual Empire began gathering along the
Serbian frontiers; then, within a few days, they hurled themselves
into Serbia, hoping to overwhelm her by the sheer weight of their
numbers. Not only did the soldiers of the little Balkan nation
withstand the onslaught of the imperial troops, but within the week
they had swept them back, driving them across the frontiers.

So astounded was the Austrian General Staff, so dumfounded was it by
this unexpected disaster, that it required some weeks to realize what
had happened, and to prepare for a second and mightier attempt to
overcome the resistance of the Serbians.

On came the Austrians again, only to suffer a second defeat. Then they
made their third and mightiest effort, and this time every available
resource of the empire was strained to the utmost; every soldier not
absolutely needed elsewhere was utilized. And this time, indeed, the
Austrian forces did penetrate some distance within Serbian territory,
and for over a fortnight the Serbian capital was theirs. But their
initial success only made their final defeat the more complete. For
the third time the Serbian soldiers beat them back, and from that
date, December 14, 1914, Serbia remained undisturbed by foreign
invasion for almost a year.

Shortly after the beginning of the New Year, came an enemy for whom
the Serbians were not so well prepared: a typhus epidemic, which took
almost as many victims as had the fighting. Realizing their
helplessness, the Serbians uttered an appeal for help, and almost
every nation, not an enemy, including the United States, responded
generously with money, and by sending Red Cross corps to nurse the
plague victims. By the summer of 1915, the epidemic had spent it