Thus the liberation of "Italia Irredenta" was practically completed. CHAPTER XIV THE SURRENDER OF TURKEY After the overwhelming defeats which the Turkish armies had suffered--as described in other chapters of this volume--in Mesopotamia and Palestine in the fall of 1918, it became clear that the hour for surrender had struck for Turkey. As soon as the Turkish authorities had decided that their cause was lost, they sent General Townshend, the hero of Kut-el-Amara, who since the British debacle on the Tigris in 1916 had been their prisoner, to inform the British Admiral in command in the Ægean Sea that they desired to open immediately negotiations for an armistice. Vice Admiral Calthorp, the British commander, replied that, if Turkey sent fully accredited plenipotentiaries, they would be informed of the conditions which the Allies had decided to impose upon Turkey before hostilities could cease. The Turkish plenipotentiaries arrived at Mudros, on the island of Lemnos, in the Ægean Sea, on October 27, 1918. Three days were consumed in parleys, at the end of which the armistice was signed in the evening of October 30, 1918. It was to take effect at noon of the next day, and involved, among others, the following terms: The opening of the Dardanelles and the Bosporus, with Allied occupation of the Dardanelles and the Bosporus forts; immediate demobilization of the Turkish army; surrender of war vessels in Turkish waters; right of the Allies to occupy strategic points; withdrawal of Turkish troops from Persia; surrender of garrisons in Hedjaz, Syria, Mesopotamia, etc., to the nearest Allied commander; Turkey to cease all relations with the Central Powers. Hard on the heels of the surrender of Germany's second ally came the total collapse of its principal supporter, Austria-Hungary. CHAPTER XV AUSTRIA-HUNGARY AND GERMANY SURRENDER--"THE WAR THUS COMES TO AN END," PRESIDENT WILSON TO CONGRESS--PRESIDENT SAILS FOR FRANCE The sustained success of the Allied armies in France and Belgium in August and September of 1918 strengthened the determination of the Allies not to relax any efforts to prosecute the war to a victorious conclusion. The Central Powers were no less impressed with the trend of events, and throughout September and October repeated efforts were made by Austria-Hungary and by Germany to induce President Wilson to take the first steps toward an armistice and peace. The President made it clear that the United States would urge no course upon the Allies that might in any way sacrifice the military advantage their armies had gained. It became more and more evident that the terms of armistice and peace would be dictated by the Allies.