1 82 RUSSIA THEN AND NOW 



Great Britain and Italy, that he saw the German 

 menace and sought to secure permanent peace from 

 his proposal. When Edward VII. came to the throne 

 of England he concluded not to be only a figurehead 

 and, appreciating the German purpose to destroy the 

 British Empire, he sought and succeeded in establish- 

 ing the Entente between Great Britain, France and 

 Russia and so came the alliance. When Germany 

 failed because of the resistance of Belgium to overrun 

 France before Russia could mobilize, Germans knew 

 that defeat in the war was inevitable unless Russia 

 was taken out of the alliance they fought. For more 

 than a year the German entourage of the Emperor 

 Nicholas II. has been hard at work to accomplish this 

 end. Russians who believe that this German influ- 

 ence must be cast out have fought this Court intrigue 

 until the climax was reached when they demanded 

 the abdication of the Czar Nicholas II. and of other 

 Romanoffs who were heirs to the throne, and the es- 

 tablishment in Russia of rule by the Duma, the crea- 

 tion of a democratic republic, with religious and civil 

 liberty secured. 



The whole Russian people knew that this internal 

 condition could not be unless Germany and her allies 

 were conquered and Prussian militarism destroyed 

 and so they have pledged themselves to Great Britain, 

 France, Italy, Belgium and Servia that they will con- 

 tinue the war with a vigour so sustained that victory 

 for the allies will be sure. 



The democrats of Great Britain, France and their 

 allies know that victory for them in the great war is 



