The border
lines between these Rumanians and the Magyars and between the
Hungaro-Slav groups (Slovaks and Ruthenians) and the Magyars lie
far down within the borders of the great central Hungarian plains.
This line at one point extends to within a few miles of the Hungarian
capital of Bupapest.
* * * * *
CHAPTER XLIV
THE BALKANS-COUNTRIES AND PEOPLES
This survey of the fighting ground in eastern Europe brings us
now to the "cockpit of the war." From a military point of view, as
well as from the political, the Balkan theatre is of equal importance
with other big fronts in Europe. It is the gateway to the Orient
for central Europe. Here the armies engaged are numbered only by
the hundred thousands, none reach a million. But from the point of
view of human interest and political intrigue it is by far the most
picturesque. Here the hatred between the combatants is most bitter;
indeed so bitter that when it burst into flame a mad whirlwind of
passion swept over half the world. For here the great conflagration
began.
A map of the Balkan Peninsula is almost, on the face of it, a full
explanation of the causes of the war. The military campaigns, studied
in connection with their physical environment, explain all the
diplomatic intrigues of the past fifty years, for they are the intrigues
themselves translated into action.
Geographically speaking, the Balkan nations are those situated in
the big peninsula of southern Europe which lies below the Danube
River and the northern border of Montenegro.
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