the cruiser “Hampshire”; yet, as Kitchener’s departure was a dead secret, treason was suspected and it was feared that he might have been the victim of a submarine. If treason there was, we thought that it must have come from St. Petersburg, for it was on the Tsar’s invitation that Kitchener was going to Russia to work out a strategical plan against Austria. Even after his death, the Dardanelles episode continued to be hotly debated in London. The venture may have been a mistake but its boldness was encouraging. England had, however, troubles nearer home. In April the Irish rebellion broke out. Lloyd George took Kitchener’s place at the War Office in July, and became Prime Minister in December 1916. The battle of Jutland (May 81–June 1, 1916) was at first reported in London as a British defeat and the truth was not known till later. In point of fact, the German fleet never again dared take the offensive.
Then the British wiped out their defeats in Mesopotamia and took Baghdad—to my eyes, a very welcome breach in the pan-German Berlin-Baghdad line. (An entry in my diary on January 15, 1916, runs: ad Berlin-Baghdad: First Balkan train Berlin-Vienna-Budapest-Belgrade-Sofia-Constantinople.) Jerusalem, too, was taken; and, in the Balkans, General Sarrail began successful operations from Salonica which allowed the remnant of the Serbian army to come into play, a matter of considerable political importance for Serbia. In the Tyrol the Italians were hard pressed, but on the Isonzo they advanced in August 1916 and occupied Gorizia; and at the end of the same month Italy declared war on Germany. On the Russian front Brusiloff took the offensive against the Germans and Austrians between June and November 1916. He triumphed at Lutsk, and made hundreds of thousands of Austrian prisoners, among them many future Czech legionaries. Though he was checked, his advance relieved the pressure on France, several German divisions having to be transferred from the Western to the Eastern front. Likewise Brusiloff relieved the Italians by compelling the Austrians to stop the offensive they had successfully begun in the Tyrolese Alps towards the middle of May, and to withdraw troops thence for the Russian front. The Russian advance also helped to bring Roumania into the war after protracted negotiations with Russia and the Entente. Roumania declared war on August 27 and pressed rapidly forward into Transylvania—though, by the end of the year, Mackensen was master of Bucarest.
