WAR OF THE NATIONS 



01 GU 



WAR OF THE NATIONS 



Events on Land in 1916 



In the West. Before the end of the year 1915 

 the central powers made a bid for peace, based 

 "on the map of Europe." This meant that 

 they should keep what they had taken by the 

 sword. The allies in the early days of the year 

 rejected the German assumption of victory, 

 with the result that during the year the most 

 sanguinary conflicts thus far occurred. 



The outstanding event, with which probably 

 no other single occurrence in military history 

 can compare, was the battle for the possession 

 of Verdun, the central gateway to Paris. The 

 German crown prince commanded the army 

 which began the assault. From February 22 

 until near the close of September the battle 

 raged, with practically no intermission. Had 

 the Germans battered their way through the 

 victory would have added mightily to German 

 prestige, but the effort failed utterly, after cost- 

 ing more than half a million dead and countless 

 others wounded. France suffered very severely 

 in losses of men ; indeed, one of the reasons for 

 the persistent effort was to "bleed France 

 white," but at the end the courage of the re- 

 public was undaunted, and its hopes bright. 

 The Germans had been able to advance four 

 miles in six months, but they were yet three 

 miles from nearly ruined Verdun when cessa- 

 tion of their attacks acknowledged defeat. 



Particularly bitter were the assaults and coun- 

 ter-assaults around such never-to-be-forgotten 

 spots as Fort Douamont, Le Mort Homme 

 (Dead Man's Hill), Haucourt, Bethencourt, 

 Fort Vaux, Hill 304 and Hill 305. 



While the attention of the world was cen- 

 tered on Verdun the allies were preparing a 

 great offensive farther north, along the Somme. 

 It began in July, and proved to be a disaster 

 for German arms. The allies by this time 

 could meet the enemy on even terms with re- 

 spect to artillery, and with their great guns 

 they destroyed miles of trench works of steel 

 and concrete, on which months of effort had 

 been spent. The British alone fired more than 

 500,000 shells a day, along a front of twenty- 

 five miles. Day after day until December, 

 the allies pushed the Germans back; they cap- 

 tured the ruined sites of village after village, 

 penetrated second and third line trenches, and 

 took elevated positions which gave their artil- 

 lery more certain range. The Germans fought 

 as stubbornly; sometimes counter-attacks re- 

 gained ground, only to be lost again later. 

 The campaign was so disastrous to the Ger- 



mans that Von Hindenburg moved his whole 

 forces back to the famous Hindenburg line 

 but this did not occur until early in 1917. 



In this year (1916), from April 24 to May 1, 

 occurred a revolt in Ireland which threatened 

 to result seriously. Sir Roger Casement, who 

 had held important British posts of honor, was 

 captured while endeavoring to smuggle German 

 arms into Ireland. He was tried by court-mar- 

 tial, and shot; six other leaders in the insur- 

 rection also suffered the death penalty, and 

 what had at first appeared a very dangerous 

 situation ended ingloriously. Rioting in Dub- 

 lin destroyed much government property. 



In the East. Russia had taken advantage of 

 the winter months to organize more thor- 

 oughly and to acquire vast quantities of muni- 

 tions. In June the czar's armies began an 

 offensive on a large scale near the southern 

 end of their 1,100-mile battle line. The Aus- 

 trians could not resist the onslaught, and before 

 winter Russia had overrun the crownland of 

 Bukowina, and it again threatened Lemberg. 

 The Austrians were driven again into the Car- 

 pathian Mountains. 



On the Italian Front. In May Italy was 

 ready to take the field against Austria-Hun- 

 gary. For two months small engagements oc- 

 curred on many parts of the whole 320-mile 

 front; in August remarkable headway was 

 made by Italy along the Isonzo River and 

 plateau. The culmination of the year's work 

 was the capture of Goritz. Before winter 

 stopped operations plans were under way to 

 attack Trieste, the Austrian Adriatic port. 



Rumania Crushed. Rumania elected to join 

 the allies. In addressing the world on its de- 

 cision it complained that the safety of the 

 country was threatened by Austria-Hungary. 



Immediately after its declaration of war its 

 armies invaded Transylvania with success. The 

 passes in the Carpathians were seized and 

 strengthened. Austria-Hungary was not in po- 

 sition at the time to retaliate, owing to its 

 severe defeats at the hands of the Russians. 

 The punishment of Rumania was therefore 

 assigned to Germany and Bulgaria. Under 

 Von Mackensen and Von Falkenhayn, their 

 armies swept straight through to the Black 

 Sea. They captured Bucharest, and about half 

 of the country, with rich resources in food- 

 stuffs, fell into the hands of the conquerors. 



On Other Fronts. Earlier in this record it 

 was stated that on January 9, 1916, the Galli- 



