WORLD WAR 447 WORLD WAR tions remained a frequent theme for discussion both in France and in the countries which were aware of the strength of the French sentiment in re- gard to it. An influential body of opinion in Germany declared for a pleb- iscite such as would let the world know what was the feeling of the inhabitants of Alsace-Lorraine themselves in re- spect to attachment either to France or Germany. But the concession found little favor in France, where it was re- alized that German occupation for over forty years and the infiltration of Ger- man blood and influences would be likely to lead to results unfavorable to French claims. Meanwhile the pouring out of blood and treasure and the withdrawal of the workers from productive occupa- tions had brought on serious conditions in the countries of all the belligerents. Famine threatened the eastern coun- tries, and had already caused terrible ravages in India. The remarkable sys- tem of organization in the preservation and distribution of food in Germany had staved off starvation, but in Austria- Hungary things were more serious. In France, Great Britain, and Portugal, which could all more directly rely on the United States, conditions were less grave. Meanwhile reports of gathering pes- simism and dissension among the Cen- tral Powers and their allies began to find credence. Germany was held to be dis- satisfied with the part played by Austria-Hungary. The latter was said to resent the domineering methods of her more northerly neighbor, the old hostility between Bulgaria and Turkey was said to be reviving, and the tend- ency for each of them to take their own part more independently seemed to be showing itself. These signs were taken as evidence of growing demoral- ization, and of a general sense among the Powers concerned that defeat loomed not far ahead of them. The accessory causes that lay at the bottom of the mutual dissatisfaction were also in some cases clear. The treaty of Bucharest had presented to Bulgaria the northern part of the Dobrudja. Bulgarian am- bitions had, howevei', aimed at getting the whole of that territory, and in the negotiations to that end had met with opposition from Turkey, Added to this the Turkish Government put forward de- mands to the effect that Bulgaria should return the station of Adrianople on the right bank of the river Maritza, which they had ceded to Bulgaria in 1915. This was objected to by Bulgaria. The German Government left the question in abeyance to which both as a result took offense. On the other hand questions as to extension of German or Austrian authority over Poland aroused antag- onistic feelings both in Germany and in Austria. The Government of Austria- Hungary held that Poland should be made a province of the empire, while the German view was that German interests had a primary claim and that the vital concerns of Germany were inconsistent with the establishment of a new state so near her borders. The solidarity be- tween the German-speaking populations of Austria and those of Germany, and the mutual antagonisms among the va- rious other nationalities held together in the Austro-Hungarian empire added complications that made rather for dis- trust and disintegration than for a strengthening unity of aim. In the meantime events in Russia had attracted the attention of the whole world. The empire of the Czar had gone, the mere pretense of carrying on a war with the Central Powers had been surrendered by those into whose hands the government of Russia had fallen, provisional governments had succeeded each other with power continually strengthening in the hands of the Bol- sheviki who represented the strong pop- ular view, the contest between the old order and the new had grown contin- ually in bitterness and in the area over which it was waged with the continued weakening of the old authorities and the continued recruitment of new men into places of authority, and an im- mense Communist republic, putting into action principles that had hitherto been only preached in other countries, had begun to arouse the curiosity of the whole world. Many of the governments, however, angered at Russia's desertion of the Allied Powers, took a more hos- tile view of Russian events. In August Japan and the United States made an agreement with respect to joint interven- tion in Russia and, in course of time, a force of Americans was sent to Siberia, along with some regiments of Japanese, As events progressed, a still more de- cided stand was taken by the United States Government in respect to the new Government of Russia. In the course of September a number of documents were made public the purport of which was to show that the Bolshevist leaders in Russia had been in the pay of Germany, On September 21 President Wilson gave out a statement in which he called on the neutral nations to take a stand against the Bolshevist regime of terror- ism. In September the question of peace began to move into the region of actu- ality and the initiative in each case was
