For
it is the Teutons who would in the Great War, like the Crusaders
of old, pass down this highway and again conquer the East, though
in this case their object is trade, and not the Holy Sepulcher.
To secure the pathway through this strategic country it also is
necessary to have control of the territory on all sides, and this
is quite as true in a political as in a military sense. To secure
their pathway up into Europe the Turks once conquered all the peoples
in the Balkans, except those inhabiting the mountains over on the
Adriatic: the Montenegrins and a small city called Ragusa, just
above Montenegro in Dalmatia. It is not at all peculiar that just
here, in almost the same locality, the Teutons should meet with
the first and strongest resistance.
A study of the territory in which the first fighting of the war
occurred will explain the foregoing calculations. It will be observed
that Austrian territory runs down past the eastward turn in the
Danube, along the frontier of Montenegro, until it narrows gradually
into a tip at Cattaro, just below Cettinje, the Montenegrin capital.
This land is composed of the three provinces of Bosnia, Herzegovina
and Dalmatia. All this territory is inhabited by the same race
that peoples Serbia and Montenegro--the Serbs. In fact, the Slavic
population reaches up all along the coast to Trieste, and even a
little beyond. For this reason it is in this direction that we shall
see the Serbians and the Montenegrins invade Austrian territory,
after their initial success in repulsing the Austrian invasion.
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