890 



REVIEW OF REVIEWS. 



Novemher 1, 1913. 



AFTER THE WAR. 



BULGARIA'S DEBACLE. 

 The ] oiirnal of the Royal United Ser- 

 vice Institution devotes careful con- 

 sideration to the later aspects of the 

 Balkan campaign, and prints the fol- 

 lowing analysis of the position of the 

 contending forces early in July, after 

 the Bulgarian repulse: — 



The causes of the Bulgarian reverses are 

 not yf't definitely known, but they appear 

 in part due to under-estimating the fighting 

 efficiency of their opponents. A writer in 

 the (Austrian) Vedette of July 12th points 

 out that the Servians had the advantages : 

 (a) of thorough acquaintance with the grouad 

 in the Ishtip — Bregalnitza region, over which 

 they had fought last autumn; (6) of the 

 possession of bases on the railway at Uskub 

 and Nish close in rear of their front; and 

 of four good roads leading from the railway 

 towards their front; and (c) in the fact that 

 the country adjoining the Uskub- — Kumanova 

 — Egri Palanka road possesses numerous 

 transport vehicles and teams of oxen. These 

 circumstances greatly facilitated the prob- 

 lems of reinforcement and supply for the 

 Servian troops. On the other hand, the 

 region in which the Bulgarian main army 

 was concentrated was deficient in resources 

 and badly supplied with roads. The only 

 good roatl, Kiistendil — Devo Bair, was not 

 available for the Bulgarians beyond the latter 

 point, a.s it was then commanded from the 

 Servian artillery positiouK. The Bulgarian 

 .supply service hatf, therefore, to be carried 

 out by pack transport over bridal paths. 



Francis McCullagh, in the British 



Review, is nothing if not downright, 



Diir Tfahre 3acoh.'\ [Stuttgart. 



Ferdinand has gone ou playing his foolish pranks 



till he has been caught in his own noose. 



and, writing of " The Decline and Fall 

 of the Bulgars," he says : " There has 

 never in modern times been a conflict in 

 which the world was treated to more 

 lies, dishonesty, breaking of promises. 

 hypocrisy, tearing up of treaties, and 

 blasphemous appeals to God." 



COUNSEL OF PERFECTION. 

 The Contemporary has several 

 articles upon the Balkan question. In 

 " The Land of the Eagle," Mr. Nevin- 

 son gives some idea of the qualities re- 

 quired by Albanians in their new Prince, 

 who should be: — ■ 



A magical creature, beautiful, charming, 

 wise, intellectual, .just, merciful temperate, 

 courageous, lighter-footed than the fox, and 

 rich beyond the dreams of fairyland. Well, 

 the Powers have promised them a real Prince 

 at the end of the next five months, and one 

 can only hope he will be something like 

 that. 



R. W. Seton-Watson, in dealing with 

 " New Phases of the Balkan Question," 

 expresses his belief that Roumania is 

 entitled to the leadership of the Balkan 

 States. 



WHAT TURKEY MUST DO. 

 M. Rene Pinon writes in the Revue 

 des Deux Mondes on the reorganisa- 

 tion of Turkey in Asia. lie says the 

 only means of salvation for Turkey lies 

 in a policy of reforms and decentralisa- 

 tion ; but this will not suffice unless the 

 Turks first help themselves and accept 

 the advice of their friends in Europe. 

 There must be reforms for all the pro- 

 vinces, but these must be adapted to the 

 needs of the different nationalities. 

 Guarantees must also be given to the 

 people by European diplomacy, and 

 for a time foreign advisers must super- 

 intend the application of the reforms. 



THE DISEASE OF PEACE. 

 Harold Steinhart indulges in some 

 straight hitting in his short paper, " The 

 Balkan Question after the Storm," in 

 the Fortnightly, and concludes with the 

 mordant saying : — 



British Liberalism lias failed to appre- 

 ciate the march of events, because its foreign 

 policy has lacked both in aim and courage ;"it 

 has accentuated one of the historic Euro- 

 pean antagonisms, and has intensified the 

 evil symptoms of the general disease whioli 

 goes by the name of European peace. 



