Most important of all were the strategic results. Lemberg, being the chief town in Galicia, and the administrative centre, the town is naturally the point on which all the means of communication converge. Eight railways and as many high roads connect the town with every point of civil and military importance north of the Carpathians. It is, therefore, an ideal base for the Russian operation in Galicia. It commands the approaches to Przemysl on the west and to the passes over the Carpathians leading to Vienna and Buda-Pesth on the south. It has railway connection with no less than four points on the Russian frontier, allowing direct communication with the important military centres of Kiev on the east and Warsaw on the north. Lemberg may therefore be described as the key to Austria. Its possession opened the way for the Russian armies westwards to Silesia and Berlin, southwards to Buda-Pesth and Vienna. It was the most important town in the whole eastern theatre of war, and its capture was far more than a stage in an advance, it was an event which must have the most far-reaching effects on the whole course of the war. In addition to these direct advantages gained by Russia, the victory had other results affecting the course of the war. It roused the entire Slav race, giving increased enthusiasm and determination to those engaged in the war and strengthening the sympathies of those who had remained neutral. Bulgaria and Roumania, neither of whom were on friendly terms with the Serbs as a result of the recent wars in the Balkans, now veered round at the prospect of the power of the Austrians being broken. More important was the effect produced on Turkey. Bound to Germany in many ways, Turkey had been seriously considering whether she should not throw in her lot with the Kaiser in the hope of regaining some of the territory of which she had been despoiled after the Balkan war. German diplomacy had been making strenuous efforts to induce the Turkish Government to tempt fate once more. And relations between Russia and Turkey had been rather strained over the _Goeben_ incident. The purchase of Germany’s finest Dreadnought, by Turkey, was of vital interest to Russia, who could not afford to allow Turkey to become the chief naval power in the south-east of Europe. In answer to her representations, Turkey had protested her determination to remain neutral, but there was considerable cause for doubting the sincerity of these protestations. The fact that there were numerous German officers with the Turkish army and superintending the placing of the heavy Krupp guns in position along the fortification of the Dardanelles did not tend to allay the suspicions. After Lemberg, however, Turkey realised that Austria was a broken power, that Germany was in a position of some jeopardy and that neither was a suitable ally for a nation whose chief object was to rob its neighbours.