WHAT RUMANIA'S ENTRY MEANS.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 5, Issue 223, 3 November 1916, Page 5 (Supplement)

WHAT RUMANIA'S ENTRY MEANS.

HER DECISIVE PART IN THE

WOULD WAR

By ALFRED STEAD

(Mr. Alfred Stead, the (lis. tinguished son of a distinguished father, the late Mr. \V. T. Stead, is an authoritative writer upon international affairs, and particularly those of Rumania, of which country ho was Consul-Gen oral in London for four years.)

The opening month of the third year of t!io great war has provided the most dramatic of sensations with the cufcr;, into action of Rumania.

More significant than anything else in the war, tho Rumanian entry into tho world conflict is the determining factor of victory. There '.-: danger, there, are risks still to be run; hut tho Rumanian King—that only great Hohenzollorn whoso Kingship is greater than hi.s personal ties —lias shown to the world that only on the side of the Allies c-an his country realise its national aspirations. Tho reasoned, sino entry of this State, small in area hut great in courage, is the death knell of the Central Powers. There are 700,000 men of the Rumanian Army, fully equipped, aimed an.l officered —good material always, as the new levies proved at Plevn i•; letter far now, when four years of Balkan wars and European conflict have completed the military training «.f the lowest ranker. At a time when ran pow-r is the deciding factor, when all the nations arc scraping up their last reserves, what a magnificent gain it is to the Allies to he able to throw into the conflict against the sadlv-battcred Im'es of the Central Power-. 700,000 trained men, an unused an 1 undamaged military machine. And behind the.se. 700,000 men thero are trained reserves of 500,000 waiting to fill the gaps and follow on the path of the active troops. For two long years Rumania has been standing by, playing the enormously important, but unspectacular, rclo'of strategic reserve. Every officer and non-commissioned officer killed m the ranks of the fighting nations increased automatically th'o value of the Rumanian military machine. The Allied strategic reserve was becoming more and more formidable. German r gained Bulgaria and Turkev, but at once their forces began to be utilised, to bo lost. To-day there is no new fac. lor upon which Germany can count. For Berlin there is no strategic re serve.

I Tins attitude of Rumania, in the inI t crests of the Allies though it was, ; has caused much niisiudgment and : much unjust criticism. I do rot spoaK ' only of those supposedly well-inforrm>u : persons who, during the period of mic!1 summer madness of confidence in Bulgaria, came from Sofia to Bucharest tr. i sny that they wished "we could he s : sure of Rumania as wo were of Bulgaria." But generally the impression | was held that Rumania was a self ' seeking, huckstering, chaffering .le ; State bargaining for a few mora square miles here or tlie.e and refusing , to move until receiving ifrr price. ; Even to-day there .are many who think that Rumania now moves he- : cans-, she is sure ot receiving what sh '. i wants It is perhaps idle to say that, !'<»• the part she will plav. no price is t ~-, hi<rh, and that the matador who with his sword thrust kills the halted hell in the hull-ring receives fay more vewi-1 for a short minut"'s worn tin 1 i ( ' l() the picadors and hnnderilieros who have brought the maddened hull to oxh mist: en. m , • t>« truth i- that while ilnmnnia nitMril ll vn n,l reasonahly desired to incorporate within ler frontiers, free (roe, [alien voke. the Rumanians l.vmrc bcvond the confines ot the kingdom, the g.rding motif of Kumr.mai

policy has been to preserve the existence of Rumania, always keeping in view the taking of an active port- in tho world's conflict. All credit must be given to M. Bratwnu, tho ltumanian Prime, Minister, who allowed himself -rj be led neither in one direction nor tho other to the imperilling of his country's existence, but astutely, persistently starred a course of safety until the psychological moment shou'd arrive. He will rank later, when history i«. written, as a great statesman—and* we must remember that it is far mare difficult to be a great statesman m a small state than in a largeer one. No small State should lightly enter into a world war. Two liavo done so innd I have assisted at their destruction. And yet, with the dving refugees ofSerbia on their soil, with full knowledge of the inferno of the crushing of borbia before their eyes, the Rumanian peopla ar c joining ;n the war, to d.> .-heir part in the conflict for freedom and justice. They deserve praise, not unjust criticism.

The chances should have been against Kumania coming in with tho Allies It must I* remembered that the devclopH ? f ll fche I co ™ ti y» «x)nomicaJry and financially, had been the work of GarmanywEngland and France playinfa vory small part, although they had gnu, and oil reasons f w ested. Iho sympathies of the peopfe have always been French, M w M ffiK in the tranco-lWian war; but tho hole structure of the national life vas German. e

Also there existed a semi-definite arrangement with the Triple Alliance f£ action. The loss of Bessarabia undoubtedly disinclined Rumania towards Rus-

THE BATTLEFIKU) OF DECISION

\rt what happened ? For two years th« Rumanian Government maintained rb nMlt towards the Allies "and did much to rtop sunlurkey, while allowing Russian and dSX ** IWSS froe,y on the

By masterly manoeuvring, by bargaining about pseudo contracts lor sale of gram, M. Bratianu kept the baJance, and prevented the Oentral owers irom sending an ultimatum until Rumania was ready for active intervention.

Now at fart Rumania has l>een able to Jet loose her armies, and ia close touch with our Russian Allies and coordinated with a Salonika advance, as we! as the general Allied strategy, sh„ is destined to play a culminating role in the war.

In tho East is the battlefield of decision which will sweep a rap.dlv-vield-ing Bulgaria and a ruined Turkey out or the way. allowing Russia (o breath* freely in the south .exporting her products and importing her munitions. Ihe entry of Rumania, with that mass of ono million trained men, mean* tho beginning of the end of the war For in the Balkans and the East ture are no continuous lines ot trenchPi waiting s,wpent-Jike to swallow up oirr best manhood as a snake doos a rabbit in the Zoo.