Rumania is now feeling for the first time the
pressure of war and the bitterness of defeat;
but Rumania must realize that her defeats are
but incidents in the greater campaign; for
behind her stands great Russia, who will see to
it that her brave little ally, who has come
into the war for a just cause, does not
ultimately suffer for daring to espouse this
cause for which we are all fighting. I can
speak with authority when I state that, from
the Emperor down to the common soldier, there
is a united sentiment in Russia that Rumania
shall be protected, helped, and supported in
every way possible. Rumanians must feel faith
in Russia and the Russian people, and must also
know that in the efforts we are making to save
them sentiment is the dominant factor, and we
are not doing it merely as a question of
protecting our own selfish interest and our
left flank.
[Sidenote: No wanton breach of faith.]
It seems to me that the evidence I have submitted above clears the
Allies, including Russia, of any wanton breach of faith toward Rumania,
though the failure of their intention to relieve her certainly does not
diminish their responsibility toward her in the future.
[Sidenote: Germans on defensive in the north.]
In the final analysis the determining factor in the ruin of Rumania was
the failure of the Allies to foresee the number of troops the Germans
could send against them. Their reasoning up to a certain point was
accurate. In July, August, and for part of September it was, I believe,
almost impossible for the Germans to send troops to Transylvania, which
accounts for the rapidity of the Rumanian advance at the beginning of
their operations. The fallacy in the Allied reasoning seems to me to
have been that every one overlooked certain vital factors in the German
situation. First, that she would ultimately support any threat against
Hungary to the limit of her capacity, even if she had to evacuate
Belgium to get troops for this purpose. For with Hungary out of the war
it is a mate in five moves for the Central Empires. Second: the Allies
failed to analyze correctly the troop situation on the eastern front,
apparently failing to grasp one vital point. An army can defend itself
in winter, with the heavy cold and snows of Russia sweeping the barren
spaces, with perhaps sixty per cent of the number of troops required to
hold those identical lines in summer. It should have been obvious that,
when the cold weather set in in the north, the Germans would take
advantage of this situation, and by going on the defensive in the north
release the margin representing the difference in men required to hold
their lines in summer and in winter. Possibly the same condition applies
to the west, though I cannot speak with any authority on that subject.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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