Page:EB1922 - Volume 32.djvu/314

296 assessment as on the actual introduction of the feudal system into England. In 1899 was published his Calendar of Documents preserved in France illustrative of the history of Great Britain and Ireland, vol. i., pp. 918-1206, and also another collected series of studies under the title of The Commune of London. In the follow- ing year he published his Studies in Peerage and Family History, and at the Congress of Archaeological Studies he read a paper (subsequently published) on " the systematic study of our English place-names," in which he again pointed out the impos- sibility of accomplishing any scientific work in the department of research until the place-names of England had been classified and traced to their origins.

Round's vast and detailed knowledge of the periods which he had made his own led to his opinion being sought by successive law officers of the Crown charged with the conduct of peerage cases brought before the House of Lords. His attention was thus drawn to peerage law, and he soon discovered that there " was room for its treatment on fresh and historical lines." In 1910 he published Peerage and Pedigree, containing studies on peerage law and its problems, in which incidentally he attacked " the muddle of the law," pointing out that the lawyer, whose vision is bounded by his " books," is still in the Middle Ages, while the historian is a man of science. Although the labour involved in these peerage cases was immense, Round refused to accept any remuneration; in 1912, however, his services were publicly recognized by the creation in his favour of the new office of Honorary Adviser to the Crown in Peerage Cases. His passion for historic truth led him to wage ruthless war on the " pedigree-mongers," whom he attacked with mordant wit (see, e.g. in Peerage and Pedigree, "Some 'Saxon' Houses," "The Great Carington Imposture "), and on those who were attempt- ing to give a false value to the possession of coats-of-arms (ibid. " Heraldry and the Gent "). Occasionally he extended the range of his attacks, falling, for instance, upon those who, con- sciously or unconsciously, falsified history in the interests of particular political or religious opinions (e.g. " The Elizabethan Religion, in correction of Mr. George Russell," Nineteenth Century, vol. xli., p. 191).

History on a large scale Round never attempted. His books are all collections of particular studies, and they represent but a tithe of his published work. He edited, with prefaces, a whole series of the Pipe Rolls; he was a frequent contributor to the .English Historical Review; he helped to edit the Ancestor, for which he also wrote; and innumerable papers by him are scat- tered in various historical and archaeological journals and re- views. In 1913 he had begun to prepare a catalogue of these scattered works, but in 1921 this had not yet been published. Round's historical method reaching conclusions by induction from isolated facts whose connexion he had in turn to prove prevented his becoming a popular writer; but his style is always luminously clear, and the articles contributed by him to this Encyclopaedia (DOMESDAY, KNIGHT SERVICE, BARON, BARONET, EARL, BAYEUX TAPESTRY, SCUTAGE, the families of FITZGERALD and NEVILLE, etc.) are excellent examples of his capacity for concise statement. (W. A. P.)

ROUVIER, MAURICE (1842-1911), French statesman (see 23.781), died at Reuilly-sur-Seine June 7 1911.

ROVNO, BATTLE OF.—The Rovno operations played an important part in the Russian campaign of 1915 on the eastern front (see EASTERN EUROPEAN FRONT CAMPAIGNS).

In consideration of Austro-Hungarian troops having been set free by the rally of Mackensen's group of armies in their victorious march on Brest Litovsk, and of the connexion between the Russian N.W. and S.W. fronts having been broken by the withdrawal of the former N. of the Polyesie, the Austro-Hunga- rian army Higher Command decided, on Aug. 27 1915, to take the offensive with the army front which had been inactive on the Zlota Lipa and the Bug. The objects in view were Rovno (Rowne) and the liberation of the east portion of East Galicia.

The S. wing of the II. Army under Bohm-Ermolli, and the N. wing of the Southern Army under Bothmer, made a successful attempt to break through Shtcherbachev's XI. Army in the

battle at Gologory and on the Zlota Lipa. Bothmer's S. wing and the N. wing of the VII. Army engaged Lechitski's IX. Army; Puhallo advanced with the main body of the I. Army towards the bent back N. wing of Brussilov's VIII. Army to throw it back on Dubno; and Field-Marshal Roth-Limanowa pushed for- ward on the Kovel (Kowel)-Luck road in order to capture from the Russians the command of the northern flank. Puhallo's advance decided Ivanov to break off the battles and -to withdraw Brus- silov during the night, and Shtcherbachev and Lechitski's N. wing on the 28th and 2gth to a position behind the Sierna, on the watershed between the Bug and the Styr, on the Zloczow heights and behind the Strypa. The S. wing and centre of the Austro-Hungarian front followed immediately in pursuit, and in consequence two battles developed, after the occupation of the Russian position: one, on the 3oth on the Strypa, from whose bridgeheads Shtcherbachev and Lechitski delivered mighty blows against Bothmer's S. wing and Pflanzer-Baltin's N. wing; the other, on the 2gth at Zlocz6w, where Bohm-Ermolli at- tempted to break through.

Puhallo only arrived before Brussilov's front on the 29th and had to put off attacking until the 3ist. Roth, having encoun- tered opposition at Rozyszcze on the 29th, had advanced with the main body across the Styr at Sokul, and that day began a forced march towards Luck. The XXXIX. Corps, brought up by train, flung itself upon him but was defeated on the 3oth.

Ivanov made Brussilov withdraw in the night behind the Putilowka and go into position at Olyka, Mlynow, Kozin and the source of the Ikwa. Luck was surrendered. Shtcherbachev held the Zlocz6w heights until the morning of Sept. i, although he was surrounded on the N. and his front was broken through in places. He then retired to the position Radziwillow-Pod- kamien-Zalozce.

Lechitski was still holding out on the ist, in spite of the fail- ure of his counter-assaults, and Pflanzer-Baltin therefore deliv- ered an assault with his group, established N. of the Dniester close to the mouth of the Sereth. During the night the Russians fell back on to the strongly fortified Sereth position, which was provided with several bridgeheads.

Ivanov hoped that his N. wing, which had been bent back a long way and was difficult to envelop owing to the adjacent marsh area, and had, further, been reinforced by fortress artillery from Rovno, would be able with the aid of flank attacks from the region of dense forests and impassable swamps known as Polyesie (" the Woods ") to hold out until the S. wing, opposed by far weaker forces, should have lifted the whole front off its hinges by a victorious assault.

The Austro-Hungarian army Higher Command arranged for the N. wing, now divided into two armies under Archduke Joseph Ferdinand, to deliver a decisive blow by means of assaults on Rovno and Dubno; for Bohm-Ermolli to break through in the centre of the Russian front; and for Bothmer and Pflanzer- Baltin to contain the Russian forces by an attack on the Sereth position. Lechitski wanted to employ the time until his N. and Shtcherbachev's S. wing should be ready, by removing the threat to his flank offered by Pflanzer-Baltin's troops, who had advanced on both sides of the Lower Sereth. These battles on the 4th and 5th, combined with a simultaneous attack on the Bukovina, failed in their object.

While Bothmer was grouping his army for a break-through S. of Tarnopol, and Pflanzer-Baltin's N. wing was waiting to attack simultaneously with him on the 7th, the Russians, on the afternoon of the 6th, opened the battle of the Sereth (the battle of Tarnopol) with a great mass assault from the Trem- bowla area. On the same day Bohm-Ermolli finished the battle at Podkamien, begun on the 2nd, with a victory that resulted in Shtcherbachev's N. wing retiring as far as Butyn on the Goryn, while Brussilov's S. wing, abandoning Dubno, fell back behind the Middle Ikwa.

Archduke Joseph Ferdinand's I. and IV. Armies, which had come up in front of the Russian positions on the 2nd, defended themselves against numerous counter-assaults, by which Brussilov was trying to prevent the diversion of troops to the N.