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LEFT AUSTRIA-HUNGARY 354 AUSTRIA-HUNGARY his wife, by a student named Prinzip, at Sarajevo, Bosnia, while he was making a tour of the province. The assassin was at once apprehended and held for trial. The tragedy created a very bitter feel- ing in Austria, which claimed that the plot had been hatched in Belgrade, with the connivance of Serbian officials. Serbia denied this, but promised a rigor- ous inquiry into the matter. A plausible pretext for war had now been found, and Austria set to work at once to make it unavoidable. On July 23, 1914, the Austrian Minister at Belgrade presented to the Serbian Government a note from Austria so offensively couched that it startled the world. Compliance with its terms would have made Serbia simply the vassal of Austria. It was practically an ultimatum and demanded an answer in two days. At the end of that time, Serbia replied in a note of studied moderation, accepting all the terms but two. These would have prac- tically stripped her of sovereignty. Even these two Serbia offered to submit to ar- bitration. The diplomatic exchanges between the nations that accompanied and followed the Austrian note and the Serbian reply are fully treated elsewhere. (See World War.) Austria could not be dissuaded from her predetermined course and on July 28, 1914, declared war on Serbia. Military operations began at once and Belgrade was bombarded, while an inva- sion was attempted of Serbia over the Bosnian border. This was checked al- most at its inception, but by the end of October an invasion in force was made with 300,000 men. The Serbians, out- numbered, fell back to the hills, where battle was joined Dec. 6 and resulted in a crushing Austrian defeat. The in- vaders fled in utter rout, and by Dec. 15 the Austrians had been driven across the border and Belgrade had been re- gained. Against the Russians the Austrians were equally unsuccessful. On Sept. 1, the Russians began the great bat- tle which resulted in a victory for them, and the capture of the city of Lemberg, capital of Galicia, with a vast number of prisoners and material of war. The Austrians were compelled to seek refuge ' in the great fortress of Przemysl, which was later invested by the Russians, who compelled its capitulation March 22, 1915, involving the surrender of 130,000 men and 4,000 officers. Seventy thousand more were captured by the Russians in a tremendous attack upon the Carpathian passes in April, and there was every prospect that they would be able to force the passes and pour into Hungary. But at this junc- ture the tide of battle turned. The Rus- sian Government had failed to keep the army of Grand Duke Nicholas supplied with arms and ammunition, and they were powerless to check the drive di- rected against them on May 2 by Ger- man forces, who in a few weeks had driven them out of the Carpathians and far into Volhynia. This drive, however, which eventually won Warsaw, Ivango- rod, Brest-Litovsk, Kovel, Grodno, and Vilna, was purely a German one in its inception and execution, although Aus- trian forces co-operated under German officers. The operations persisted through the summer and early fall, but by OcL 1 the German advance had been com- pletely halted. The campaign of early 1916 was marked by the defeat of Serbia and the taking possession of that gallant little country by the Austrians and Germans, after the Serbians, overwhelmed by numbers, had made a most desperate re- sistance. Montenegro also was con- quered, its principal stronghold, Mt. Lovcen, falling into Austrian hands on Jan. 11. In the meantime, Italy had entered the war, and had gained some initial ad- vantages on the Carso Plateau. The Austrians concentrated heavy forces on that front, and on May 14 defeated the Italian General Cadorna on a line ex- tending from Val Giudicaria to the sea. The strategic plan of the Austrians was to capture the Italian forces on the Isonzo, with the hope of forcing Italy out of the war and permitting the Aus- trians to attack France on the Franco- Italian frontier. The plan, however, failed, although Austria made decided gains in the Tyrol and the Trentino. By June 25 the Italian army was strong enough to take the initiative, and re- gained considerable of their lost ground. A still more formidable offensive was launched by them on Aug. 6 with Gorizia as the objective. The city was captured on the 9th. By Aug. 17 the Italians had taken many guns and 15,000 prisoners. During this period, a remarkable Rus- sian offensive had been in full swing on Austria's eastern front. The supreme command of the Russian armies had been assumed nominally by the Czar, although General Alexieff, assisted by Ivanoff and Brusiloff, was really at the head of op- erations. The successes attained were among the most remarkable of the war, both in the territory gained and the num- ber of prisoners taken. Lutsk was cap- tured June 6, and Dubno on the 8th. On June 17, the Russians captured the im- portant city of Czernowitz, and by the