RUSSIA FROM WITHIN 



9' 



Russians. Ten days later the French 

 and English checked the Germans on the 

 Marne. The Germans sent to East Prus- 

 sia inflicted a defeat on Russia which cost 

 the latter 165,000 men. But Paris was 

 saved. Later in the year, when the Ger- 

 mans were driving on Calais and Eng- 

 land, another Russian sortie through Po- 

 land was launched. Between November 

 1 and December 15 nearly sixteen Ger- 

 man army corps were detached from 

 other operations and sent against Russia. 

 Again there were retirements in the East, 

 but again the Allies profited in the West, 

 for the Germans did not take Calais and 

 England was not threatened from that 

 quarter. 



Operations against Russia occupied 

 the Germans from December, 1914, to 

 April, 191 5. The troops forming these 

 contingents represented forces which 

 might otherwise have been attacking in 

 the West. In the spring of 191 5 Russian 

 advances in Bukovina and Galicia so 

 threatened the stability of Austria and 

 Hungary that the Germans were obliged 

 to devote their entire summer's campaign 

 to reestablishing the Austrian morale and 

 driving the Russians back. To do this 

 required between 35 and 40 German 

 army corps, not to speak of depot troops 

 to the extent of perhaps half a million 

 sent to replace losses. 



The world looked upon 19 15 as a year 

 of Russian disasters; but too many 

 superficial observers forget that during 

 all that summer the surplus which repre- 

 sents the difference between the capacity 

 to resist and the capacity to attack was 

 operating all that time against the Rus- 

 sian army. The result was that England 

 and France had almost one whole year 

 in which to beat their plows into swords 

 and their untrained manhood into sol- 

 diers. The British and French armies 

 and various offensives of 1916 and 1917 

 are the direct outcome of Russia's con- 

 tributions of the preceding year. It is 

 clear, then, that the Russian sacrifices of 

 191 5 have been almost as potent in their 

 effects on the world situation as was the 

 battle of the Marne significant in the 

 campaign of 1914. 



The Russian offensive of 191 6, in 

 which Brusilloff captured nearly half a 



million enemy prisoners and 500 guns, 

 again destroyed the initiative of the 

 enemy and relieved pressure on the Ital- 

 ian front. The contribution of Rou- 

 mania, disastrous as it has proved to that 

 unfortunate little country, diverted to the 

 south, at a time when the Germans would 

 otherwise have had them available for 

 attacking England or France, no less and 

 perhaps more than 30 German divisions. 



RUSSIA HAS EARNED WESTERN ALLIES* 

 UNDYING GRATITUDE 



Let the fair-minded student carefully 

 weigh all these facts and ask himself 

 whether or not Russia has in the first 

 three years earned the undying gratitude 

 of her partners in the West. Before he 

 presumes to sit in judgment on Russia 

 of today let him consider what this con- 

 tribution has cost the East during the 

 last three years. It is difficult to estimate 

 exactly, but it is perhaps not far from 

 the facts to say that there have been 

 called up in the past three years in Rus- 

 sia between 12,000,000 and 14,000,000 

 men. Probably 7,000,000 can be charged 

 off as permanently ineffective through 

 death, wounds, disease, and lost as pris- 

 oners to the enemy. If we allow three 

 members in the family of each, directly 

 affected, we have 21,000,000 civilians 

 upon whom the burden of war has fallen 

 with crushing effect. Add to this num- 

 ber the 15,000,000 refugees who have 

 been driven into the heart of Russia by 

 German invasions, and include the per- 

 sons who have sustained serious losses 

 consequent to the war. The total comes 

 to the stupendous aggregate of 43,000,- 

 000, a number almost equal to the popu- 

 lation of the Lmited Kingdom or, to bring 

 it nearer home, more than one-third the 

 population of the LInited States. Such 

 is the price that Russia has so bravely 

 paid to date in her effort to cooperate 

 with the Allies ! 



OUR MENTAL YARDSTICK 



America has not yet begun to shed her 

 blood in the cause. Perhaps it would be 

 fair for Americans to review in their 

 minds what Russia has done and suffered 

 before they in any way judge the Rus- 

 sian situation of today. Russia has made 



