Speaking of the weakness of the German front in the West in the month of November, Ludendorf says that it was perfectly natural "that in this situation our eyes should again turn to the East."... Further on he adds that he had asked himself whether it were not better "once and for all to restrict operations on the Western front to a defensive and to carry out the contemplated operations against Russia with all our available forces.... This point of view seemed to me to be the right one, and I asked our High Command for reinforcements from the West...." Thus, such facts as the abandonment by the Germans of all operations in the West for more than a year, as well as Ludendorf's own words, prove with absolute clearness and conclusiveness that the Germans, partly through the firmness of the Allies, but mainly on account of the hard blows from the Russian Army, found themselves compelled for a long time to refrain from an offensive in France. There is no doubt but that the Germans never abandoned entirely the attempt to crush France, for we have seen how such a serious attempt was made by them subsequently at Verdun. But if they were compelled at the end of 1914 to defer this attempt at crushing France for more than a year, it is obvious that the decisive part in this decision of the Germans was played by Russia, in the increasing offensive of her Armies all along the front from the Baltic to the Carpathians. [Illustration: This diagram shows that the Germans had calculated, at first, to stop the Russian Army with the aid of the Austrian troops and only 14 of their own divisions--13 infantry and one cavalry divisions. Soon, in September, 1914, they were compelled to forward 6 more divisions to the East,--during the Marne period. Later, when the Austrians were defeated, the number of German relief columns increased and numbered, at the end of 1914, 43 divisions, instead of the former 14 divisions,--three times as many. Early in 1915 the number of German divisions grew to 53. During 1916 and 1917 the number of the German troops on the Russian front was also increasing incessantly, at the expense of German strength on the French front.] _Thus, if the taking of the field by unprepared Russia in the beginning of the War contributed to the defeat of the most dangerous and main plan of the Germans, in August and September, the new sacrifices brought by Russia in October and November on the plains of Galicia, Poland and East Prussia compelled the Germans to desist for more than a year from all attempts to win the War in France. August and September, 1914, were the months in which the German forces were brought to a standstill, and October and November saw them already much impaired._ At both important, critical moments Russia played her decisive part.