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the Government. The German Catholic deputy, Herr Erzberger, was assiduous in spreading the new offers, but there were various channels of distribution. Signor Salandra has stated definitely that the concessions were made known to various politicians and journalists" before they reached the hands of himself or the Foreign Minister. Unfortunately there were Italians who were ready to lend themselves to the GermanAustrian game. Signor Giolitti had been at. his country home in Piedmont all through the parliamentary vacation, but he arrived in Rome on May 9. summoned, it is said, by Prince Bülow, but more probably by an urgent call from his party henchmen, at the instance of

GABRIELE D'ANNUNZIO

(In the car and on left of inset), the Italian Poet, in the uniform of cavalry lieutenant. Prince Bülow. On passing through Turin, the stronghold of neutralism, he was hissed On arriving in Rome he was the object of a very hostile demonstration. It was suspected by this time that Prince Bülow and Baron von Macchio had gone behind the backs of the Government and had appealed to the party of the man who had for so long been almost dictator in Italy. There were four days of rumour and tension. Some of Signor Giolitti's chief supporters said that he would do nothing to embarrass the Government, but others took a very different line. They hailed him as the coming saviour from a ruinous war. The supporters of Signor Giolitti were in a majority both in the Chamber of Deputies and in the Senate, and it was clear that if he chose he could overthrow the Government. Parliament was to meet on May 20, and it was altogether uncertain how the Salandra Ministry would fare. The excitement and anxiety were already intense when late in the evening of May 13 the announcement was made that Signor Salandra had resigned.

The news was the signal for a great burst of anger throughout the whole of Italy. Rome is not easily stirred, but Rome, already moved by the eloquence of D'Annunzio, who arrived the ven ng before Signor Salandra's resignation, became a burning protest. It was only

(

for a day that the situation seemed really uncertain. The King summoned various politicians to his residence, and it was reported that Signor Marcora, the venerable President of the Chamber, was asked to form a Cabinet. On May 14 it was announced by the Corriere della Sera that the Triple Alliance had been denounced early in May, and the report spread that about the same time Italy had entered into engagements with the Triple Entente. was clear that the die had been cast, and that Signor Salandra's foreign policy was bound to be continued, whatever the fate of himself and his Cabinet. But it was not this fact that roused the whole country to demand the recall

It

take part, either in the mile-long procession that marched from the Piazza del Popolo to the Quirinal, or in the vast crowds that lined the whole route.

Signor Giolitti had not been able to stir from his house during the three days of crisis, and on Monday, May 17, he left Rome. He could not face Parliament. It is said that he was ready to do so, but that the police authorities declined to guarantee his safety. What role Signor Giolitti had played or intended to play is not quite clear. It is maintained on the one hand that he meant to accept the Austrian offers and preserve Italian neutrality. On the other hand it is suggested that his aim,

GARIBALDIAN MARINE VOLUNTEERS Marching to their quarters.

Inset: Peppina, Ezio and Ricciotti Garibaldi about to start for the Front.

of Signor Salandra. It was the knowledge that the representatives of foreign Powers had dared to go behind the Government of Italy and treat with others, and that there were Italians who had lent themselves to such an intrigue. The demonstrations were extraordinary. Italy was aflame from north to south. By Saturday, May 15, it was evident that no Government could exist except that of Signor Salandra. When the announcement was made on the following afternoon that the King had declined to accept Signor Salandra's resignation, there was a great outburst of joy and triumph. In Rome an immense gathering which had been called to protest against the Bülow-Giolitti intrigues and demand the recall of Signor Salandra was turned into a demonstration of rejoicing. All Rome seemed to

and those of his adherents, was simply power and place; that he would have assumed the reins of government only to find, after further negotiation, that war was inevitable, and then bow to the demands of that "historical necessity" which he had invoked as a reason for the Libyan expedition. Nor is it clear how far Signor Giolitti was responsible for the intrigues that ended so disastrously for himself and his followers. There is some reason to think that

SIGNOR MARCORA,
President of the Italian Chamber.

he was only brought in as the name to conjure with, that the conspiracy against the Government was not his doing so much as that of a small group near the throne of the ex-Dictator. Signor Giolitti's remarkable position in Italian politics had been won, to a very considerable extent, by his faculty of yielding to the desires of his supporters. The so-called Dictator had preserved his dictatorship by keeping an ear ever open to suggestion from those upon whom he relied. Perhaps it is true that on this fatal occasion he was manoeuvred into

a position which his own judgment would

have refused.

On May 18 Herr von Bethmann-Hollweg disclosed to the Reichstag the offers which

Austria-Hungary had finally made. These differed materially from the list of concessions circulated by Herr Erzberger and others, but they attracted little notice in Italy, which thought no more of concessions. The Giolittian party had crumpled. When Parliament met on May 20 Signor Salandra secured overwhelming majorities (367 to 54 and 407 to 74) on a Bill conferring extraordinary powers upon the Government in the event of war. General mobilization was ordered on May 22. On May 23 the Duke d'Avarna delivered the formal declaration of war against AustriaHungary.

No one who lived through the days of crisis, when for a moment at least it seemed as though the intrigues of the foreigner might succeed, will ever forget the marvellous uprising of the Italian people. Never in history has a nation so strikingly proclaimed its will. Gabriele D'Annunzio spoke for the soul of Italy in the burning words with which he addressed a great crowd on the night of his arrival in Rome. "Could he, Garibaldi the Liberator, descend from the Faniculum, would he not brand as cowards and traitors, would he not set the seal of infamy, on all those who to-day in secret or openly work to disarm our Italy, to debauch the country, to thrust her again into servitude? . . . Can we allow aliens, those in our midst and those without, enemies of our own race or intruders, to impose this kind of death on the nation?" The spirit of the Garibaldian hymn awoke again throughout all Italy. "Va fuori d'Italia, va fuori stranier."

NE glance at a map shows the great inferiority of Italy's strategical position in relation to AustriaHungary. The Trentino runs down

like a wedge into Italian territory, a wedge that holds a wide gate open to attack. From the Lombardo-Venetian plain Italy looks up to Italian mountains that are held by another Power. An Austrian fortress frowns upon her richest provinces, and its outermost bastion, Monte Baldo, is plainly visible from Verona itself. Along the whole frontier, except for the short stretch in Friuli between Cividale and the sea, Italy has to fight uphill.

The eastern border from Pontebba to the Adriatic is the only sector of the front where an Italian offensive on a large scale is in any way feasible, but such an offensive is impossible unless the open gates on the north are closed. The detachment of large forces is necessary to secure the base of operations and the left of the attacking army. The Trentino presents the most serious problem, but the mountain valleys that converge from the Carnic Alps upon the valley of the Tagliamento give good opportunity for a flank attack, and this route is supposed to have been a main feature of the offensive planned against Italy some years before the war by General Conrad von Hötzendorf. In Cadore, between the Trentino and Carnia, the masses of the Dolomites are a protection to Italy as well as to Austria, and

no important offensive is possible for either side. Except for this limited tract, Austria holds the advantage all along the line, for even if the Italian base and flank be secured, the country to the east is very unfavourable to an Italian offensive. The plain of the Veneto continues eastwards through Frinti nearly as far as the lower Isonzo. But the upper and middle reaches of the Isonzo flow through mountainous and difficult country, and all along the left bank of the river the advantage is with the defending armies. North of Tolmino there are few gaps in the barrier of the Italian Alps, and nearer the sea the rough and broken plateau of the Carso presents great difficulties to an attacking force. In a general order issued to the Austro-Hungarian troops on the Isonzo line they were told that they were in the position of men in a six-story building whom the enemy had to attack from the level. Securely posted on their heights, they were to "decimate and destroy" destroy" the advancing Italians.

Reduced to its simplest terms Italy's strate. gical plan, imposed upon her by geographical conditions, must be to hold on the north, and push towards the east. This does not in any sense imply a passive defensive on the Trentino, Cadore and Carnia fronts. In each case a tempting objective presented itself for a limited offensive, though in the Trentino and Cadore the aim of such movement would primarily

be to strengthen the defensive position. In the Trentino particularly a quick though limited offensive would make all the difference to the Italian position. Although the Trentino threatens Italy, it is itself threatened from Italian soil. It has the weaknesses of a salient as well as its advantages. The Italians could do more than merely close the gates. They could make it dangerous for an enemy to come too near the gateway. It seemed unlikely that any offensive on a large scale would be undertaken against the Trentino, though the temptation to occupy the "unredeemed " lands must be very strong. The conquest of the Trentino would lead no further, for Northern Tyrol must be regarded as inexpugnable. But the Austrian position in the Trentino might quite well be rendered untenable by steady pressure on both sides of the salient, in the valleys that branch out from the Adige-the valleys that were to have been the routes for an Austrian offensive. The whole situation was changed by the fact that Austria-Hungary could not dispose of enough troops to receive full benefit from the overwhelming natural advantages of the ground. The forts that were to cover an Austrian advance could only be used to check the Italians. From Cadore also the Italians could threaten, indirectly, the Austrians in the Trentino. The Trentino depends upon the two railway lines that meet at Franzensfeste. The northern line from Innsbruck is safe from direct interference, but the Pusterthal line passes close to the Italian frontier, and a successful Italian offensive here would not only close one entrance, or exit, of the Trentino, but would threaten the other line from the east. From Carnia, again, or rather from the passes which cross the Carnic Alps to the Gailthal, though the main object of the troops must be to defend the valleys that run down to the Tagliamento, the Italians looked towards Hermagor and the strategic railway which connects it with Villach. The railway was built for an Austrian offensive. Now it could hardly serve this purpose, but the Gailthal was all-important to the defence of the Malborghetto - Tarvis - Villach line. Movement in the Alpine regions is difficult in the extreme, and operations on a large scale could not be expected. Communications were difficult for the Italians and easy for the Austrians, who could bring troops readily from the neighbouring valley of the Upper Drave, as well as by the Hermagor line, but the region was so important, and the

number of Austrian troops available was relatively so small, that the Carnia front must give grave cause for anxiety to the Austrian General Staff.

It was clear that the Italian armies had a difficult task before them. The advantages that naturally lay with the Austrians were to a great extent nullified by the fact that Austria was short of troops. The position was changed to this extent that the Austrian General Staff was in no position to take the offensive. But the defensive lines upon which they must rely were very strong. The enormous difficulties that face the attack in modern warfare had been amply proved in Flanders and elsewhere, and these difficulties were of necessity greatly increased when the natural lie of the ground favoured the defending forces. The Austrians had had many months to prepare the lines they had chosen, and they had made good use of their time. Their trenches were constructed of metal and concrete. Their elaborate systems of wire entanglements were connected with electric power stations, and there was the further complication of mines. All along the eastern front there were rails on which to move their heavy guns, and the nature of the ground made it easy to conceal their artillery positions.

Italy had a hard task before her, but Italy had had time to prepare, and opportunity to learn from the lessons of the war. During the nine months that elapsed between the outbreak of war and the denunciation of the alliance with Austria, General Cadorna had practically re-made the Italian Army. It was necessary. In August, 1914, Italy had men and rifles and good field-guns, but she did not possess a modern army. There was a shortage in every kind of munitions, stores and equipment. The late Government had neglected to make good the expenditure in matériel caused by the Libyan War, and a great quantity of equipment had gone rotten in store. General Porro, at the outbreak of war sub-chief of the General Staff, had been offered the portfolio of War Minister in the spring, but he made his acceptance conditional upon the adoption of a programme of re-equipment which demanded large sums of money. This was refused, and the European War found Italy unprepared to an alarming degree. The situation was complicated by the fact that the field artillery was being re-armed with the Deport gun, a process which had little more than begun in August. There were a certain number of good medium-calibre guns, but there was no modern heavy artillery ready