August 29, 1914 LAND AND WATEE 
If or when tlie line of tlie Vistula is passetl, we may regard the Evisslan advance as beginning 
seriously to threaten and inconmiodo the (jerman powers : not before. And avc must remember that 
it is just when the Vistula is crossed that Austrian pressure from the south may become serious 
for the Eussians. 
The total lengih of this first field of the Eussian invasion, from the nearest point upon the ^''istula 
to the corresponduig nearest point upon the eastern fi-ontier of Prussia, is no less than 130 miles : that 
is the distance the invader must cover before he begins to exercise any real pressiire, and even then 
he will not exercise it until he has masked or isolated the Vistula fortresses. 
If or when the Vistida is passed, the invaders A\ill find themselves not only in territory every 
mile of advance through '\vliich will more and more grievously incommode Prussia politically, but 
actually within 200 miles of Berlin itself. 
Fm-ther, when the line of the Vistula is crossed, the front of the Eussian advance to the north 
will be abreast of any further advance attempted from the western districts of Eussian Poland : as, for 
instance, an advance directly upon the Polish town of Posen (to give it its Grerman name) so long 
ojjpressed by Prussian domination. 
It will be seen from all this that with the best of luck the Eussians will not begin to exercise just 
yet an effective pressm-e in this field, and it caanot he too often rejieated tluit thoii(/h the elemoit of 
time is a factor in evety campaign, and is a factor ofjJeculiar importance in this campaign, that there 
are yet several loeeTcs in which the Prussians are free to operate in the west before ther/ need he 
realli/ anxious ahout the attack falliny upon them from the east. 
Ahnost as important as the probable movement of the Eussian armies and the rate of their 
advance is the distribution of the population through which that advance will take place ; for it is 
cei-tain now that the Polish population will favour the Eussian advance at the expense of Prussia. It 
is exceedingly important to seize the racial realities underlying the artificial political frontiers in this 
district. They will explain a great deal of what is to come. 
It will be seen upon the sketch map jjrinted opposite that the conquest of East Prussia is the con- 
quest of a sort of bastion of Germanism out and beyond Poland, and that, as the Eussian advance 
approaches the Vistula, it enters what is, for the purposes of its march, friendly territory. It will 
fuiiher be seen to what a gi-eat distance westward stretches this solid gi-oup of Polish population, upon 
whose moi-al suppoii the invader can rel}-. It is true that the younger men have aU been taken to serve 
unwiUingly mider the Prussian flag, but it remains equally true that m all the ambient business of 
information and in eveiy other form of succour, whatever of the populace remams in all that wide flat 
land wiU be a force adverse to the Gemianic powers, and, for the moment at least, sympathetic with the 
invader. Nor wiU that feeling anywhere be stronger than in the town of Posen itself, should the 
invader reach it, for nowhere is the subten-anean conflict between the Slav and the Genuan more bitter, 
and nowhere has the former security of Prussia aflirmed itself with gi'eater harshness. > 
A DIARY OF THE WAR. 
SYNOPSIS. British cruisers. A fierce battle still continued before Licg«>. 
ivw. 23rs. Italy declared her neutrality. 
Auatro- Hungarian ultimatum to Servia. Augcst 7th. 
July 25th. ^''® tierman cruiser Gnrhrn, with her escort the Brcslnii, left 
King Peter of Servia'a appeal to Russia. Me-ssiiia. Germans outside Liege as,ked for a twenty-four 
J 27th hours' arniirtice to collect their killed and wounded. AiTiiietice 
Sir Edward Grey proposed a London Conference between Ficrich, J 8 • 
German, Italian, and Great Britain's Ambassadors. AccrST Bth . , , ,, , , , ,,..„ 
T ■ TSWn rrench troops invaded Alsace and reached Alulhausen after a 
JCLV <*>Tn. _ .11 p. • eharp en'rafrenieiit, in which the Germans were routed with the 
Austria-Hungary declared war on Servia. bavonet. Lord Kitchener issued a circular asking for 100,000 
JcLY 29th. mt'ii. 
A partial Huesian mobilisation, confined to the Arniv Corps on \rGrsT 9th 
t^e border, of Austria-Hungary, w^s signed """ rej'^Pt of * Oiie of the cruiser squadrons of the Main Fleet was attacked by 
the news of tho bombardment «f Belgrade. English block <.,,^,,„ .ubmarinek The enemy's submarine, U15, was sunk 
Exchange closed. English Bank Kate, 8 per cent, b^. H.M.S. Birmingham. 
AccrsT 1st. ArcrsT 10th 
General Russian mobilisation ordered German niobilisation ■^France' declared war on Auelria-Hungary. Liige forts still 
ordered by tmtjeror. Germany declared war on Kua and untakeii. Germans advanced on NlmLr. The new Press 
followed up this declaration by immediat^lv invading the u^..^^^ established by the Government for the issue of official 
Grand Duchy of Luxemburg, the neutral State between trance ^^ar news on"ncd 
and Germany. King George made a final effort for peace, , . 
dispatching a direct personal telegram to the Tsar, offering ,1, ^,'' , , r, i , , , . , ^ , „ „ , 
mediation. Before it could reach St. Petersburg Gennaiiy •^'',« Oothrn and Brrslau took refuge in the Dardanelles. England 
declared war. declared war againet Austria. 
ArccsT 2nd ArcrsT 12th. 
Germany 6 ultimatum to Belgium. Ooeljen and Bredau purchased by Turkey. Bombardment of 
, ° Liege forts resumed. 
AcccsT 3rd. Auor<!T ISrir 
Sir Edward Grey stated British policy and revealed G'ennany's -T., ,?' ,, , t. i ,• . ,, ^ ■• , , . 
amazing offer, in the event of our neglecting our obligations "''J? l^?ar addressed a Proclamation to the Polish populations of 
to Ffancc. Mobilisation of the Army. Ultimatum to Germany Kuesia Germany, and Austria, promising to restore to Poland 
after Belgian appeal to England. German and French complete autonoiny and guarantees for religious liberty and 
Ambassadors left Paris and Berlin. ^'>« "«« °^ "'« I^^l'^'i language. 
Augcst 4th. August 16ih. 
Germany rejected ultimatum. English Government took over Japanese ultimatum to Germany demanding the withdrawal of 
control of raihvaye. War dedared between England and her vessels of war from the Far East. 
Germany. August 17th. 
Vice-.Xdmiral Sir John Jellicoe appointed to command of the The British Expeditionary Force safely landed in France. Death 
Home Fleets, with the acting rank of admiral. of Lieut. -General Sir James Grierson. 
August Sth. The Belgian Government transferred from Brussels to Antwerp. 
Lord Kitchener appointed .Secretary of State for War. H.M.P. August 18th. 
AmpUiim struck a mine and foundered. }llany Gciiiiau General Sir II. Smith-Dorrien appointed to command of an Army 
ships seized. Corps of the British Expeditionary Force, in euccession to the 
Arcrsr 6th. 'ato (jeiieral Grierson. 
ir.iiise of Commons, in five minutes, passed a vote of credit for '^*'"e desultory fighting took plac« in the North Sea. 
£100,000,000, and sanctioned an increase of the Army by August 20te. 
500,000 men. State control of food prices. Tlie G'erman battle The Servians gained a decisive victory over the Ausliians near 
cruiser Ooebcn and her escort driven into Messina by two tfhabatz. 
11* 
