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Originally published in 1923 - translated from the French by F. A. Holt, O.B.E.
Main Menu - Table of Contents
Volume 1:
I. JULY 20-23, 1914 | II. JULY 24-AUGUST 2, 1914 | III.AUGUST 3-17, 1914 | IV. AUGUST 18-SEPTEMBER 11, 1914 | V. SEPTEMBER 12-OCTOBER 28, 1914 | VI. OCTOBER 29-NOVEMBER 30, 1914 | VII. DECEMBER 1-31, 1914 | VIII. JANUARY 1-FEBRUARY 13, 1915 | IX. FEBRUARY 14-MARCH 31, 1915 | X. APRIL 1-JUNE 2, 1915
Volume 2:
I. JUNE 3-AUGUST 24, 1915 | II. AUGUST 25-SEPTEMBER 20, 1915 | III.SEPTEMBER 21-NOVEMBER 8, 1915 | IV. NOVEMBER 9-DECEMBER 31, 1915 | V. JANUARY 1-26, 1916 | VI. JANUARY 27-FEBRUARY 24, 1916 | VII. FEBRUARY 25-MARCH 22, 1916 | VIII. MARCH 23-MAY 3, 1916 | IX. MAY 4-JUNE 15, 1916 | X. JUNE 16-JULY 18, 1916 | XI. JULY 19-AUGUST 18, 1916
Volume 3
I. AUGUST 19-SEPTEMBER 18, 1916 | II. SEPTEMBER 19-OCTOBER 25, 1916 | III. OCTOBER 27-NOVEMBER 22, 1916 | IV. NOVEMBER 23-DECEMBER 24, 1916 | V. DECEMBER 25, 1916-JANUARY 8, 1917 | VI. JANUARY 9-28, 1917 | VII. JANUARY 29-FEBRUARY 21, 1917 | VIII. FEBRUARY 22-MARCH 11, 1917 | IX. MARCH 12-22, 1917 | X. MARCH 23-APRIL 6, 1917 | XI. APRIL 7-21, 1917 | XII. APRIL 22-MAY 6, 1917 | XIII. MAY 7-17, 1917
Volume III
CHAPTER I
AUGUST 19-SEPTEMBER 18, 1916.
The Empress's camarilla:
the direction in which she endeavours to influence Russian diplomacy. - The
Salonica army ties down the Bulgarians on the Macedonian front
in order to cover the mobilization of the Rumanian army. - The
political education of Nicholas II: "The Emperor will always
be Pobiedonostzev's pupil !" - Victories of the Russian
army in Upper Armenia. - The Empress and Sturmer; he treats
her as the regent. - Exhaustion of the Russian forces on the
Galician front. - One of the Russian regiments sent to France
mutinies at Marseilles. - The arrest of Manuilov, director of
Sturmer's secretariat. - Ennui, the chronic disease of
Russian society. - Influence of the Jewish question on relations
between Russia and America. - The perilous situation of Rumania;
the action at Turtukai; invasion of the Dobrudja; the Russian
General Staff studies the possibility of sending an army to help
in the Danube region. - The strategic plan of Marshal Hindenburg. - Rasputin
and Sturmer; their conferences in the Fortress of SS. Peter and
Paul. - Russian notions of time and space.
Saturday, August 19, 1916.
During the last few days I have had many talks with persons
of all shades of opinion. When I sum up all they tell me - and,
even more, what they do not tell me - I arrive at the following
conclusions.
Without the Emperor's approval or knowledge, the Empress's
camarilla is endeavouring to influence Russian diplomacy
in a new direction, i.e., preparing the ground for a reconciliation
with Germany. The predominating motive is fear, the fear to which
the reactionary party is inspired on seeing Russia involved in
so close and prolonged an association with the democratic powers
of the West; I have referred to this matter several times before.
There is also the community of industrial and commercial interests
which existed before the war between Germany and Russia and which
many are anxious to re-establish.
And again there is the poor result of the recent offensive
of the Russian armies on the Dvina, a result which proves that
the military resistance of Germany is far from being exhausted.
On the other hand, the successes in Galicia and Armenia have popularized
the idea that the profits of the war must be made at the expense
of Austria and Turkey rather than that of Germany.
Sunday, August 20, 1916.
The Salonica army, an army of not less than four hundred thousand
men under the command of General Sarrail, is to take the offensive
to-day between the Vardar and the Struma, north-west of Seres.
As provided by Article 3 of the Bucharest Military Convention,
it is an endeavour to hold down the Bulgarians on the Macedonian
front in order to cover the mobilization and concentration of
the Rumanian army.
Tuesday, August 22, 1916.
The ex-Minister for Agriculture, Krivoshein, who is undoubtedly
the most open-minded and intellectual of the liberal imperialists,
was telling me not long ago of the stubborn and invincible resistance
opposed by the Emperor to anyone who advises him to allow tsarism
to develop in the direction of parliamentary monarchy. He concluded
with the depressing remark:
"The Emperor will always be Pobiedonostzev's pupil!"
Who can doubt that it is to the famous procurator of the Holy
Synod, the close friend and colleague of Alexander III, that Nicholas
II owes the whole of his political and moral education. An eminent
jurist and learned theologian, the fanatical champion of orthodox
autocracy, Pobiedonostzev brought to the advocacy of his reactionary
doctrines ardent conviction, exalted patriotism, a lofty and inflexible
conscience, culture of an immense range, rare dialectical skill
and lastly - though it seems contradictory - unaffected simplicity
and great charm of manner and conversation. His whole programme
could be summed up in the words "absolutism, nationalism,
orthodoxy," and he pursued its fulfilment with an uncompromising
ruthlessness and sovereign scorn of the realities which stood
in his path. To him "the modern spirit," democratic
principles and western atheism were necessarily anathema. His
stubborn, daily influence left an indelible mark on the impressionable
mind of Nicholas II.
In 1896, just at the time when he was completing the political
education of his young sovereign, Pobiedonostzev published a volume
of Thoughts. I have just been reading it, and note
the following suggestive reflections:
"One of the most. erroneous political principles is that
of popular sovereignty, the idea - widespread, unfortunately,
since the French Revolution - that all power comes from the people
and has its source in the national will. The greatest of the evils
of the constitutional system is the formation of ministries on
the parliamentary pattern, based on the numerical standing of
parties... . The body and the spirit cannot be separated. The
body and the spirit live one, inseparable life... . The atheist
state is merely a Utopia, for atheism is the negation of the State.
Religion is the spiritual force which creates law. That is why
the worst enemies of public order never fail to proclaim that
religion is a personal, private affair... . The ease with which
men allow themselves to be deluded by the commonplaces of popular
sovereignty and individual liberty leads to general demoralization
and the decay of the political sense. France offers us to-day
a striking example. Of that demoralization and decay; the contagion
is already reaching England.
Thursday, August 24, 1916.
The general offensive which the Salonica army was preparing
to open on August 20 was anticipated on the 18th by an audacious
attack by the Bulgarians. Their main effort was made on the two
extremities of our line, in the Doiran region east of the Vardar,
and Western Macedonia south of Monastir. The Serbians were holding
the latter sector and the blow was so violent that they have had
to fall back for thirty kilometres, thus losing the towns of Florina
and Koritza which the enemy at once occupied.
The news has produced great agitation in Bucharest.
Sunday, August 27, 1916.
The Russian army is developing its operations in Upper Armenia
in the most brilliant fashion. It has just occupied Mush, west
of Lake Van. The Turks are retreating through Bitlis on Mosul.
Monday, August 28, 1916.
Italy declared war on Germany yesterday, thus consummating
the breach with Germanism; Rumania has also declared war on Austria-Hungary.
Tuesday, August 29, 1916.
A former president of the Council, Kokovtsov, is passing through
Petrograd and I called on him this afternoon.
I found him more pessimistic than ever. The dismissal of Sazonov
and General Bielaiev has made him extremely uneasy.
"The Empress is now all-powerful," he said. "Sturmer
is incapable and vain but astute and shrewd enough when his personal
interests are at stake, and had known only too well how to make
her serve his purposes. He reports regularly to her, tells her
everything, consults her on all points, treats her as the regent
and trains her in the notion that as the Emperor has received
his power from God he has to account for it to God alone, so that
it is sacrilege for anyone to take the liberty of opposing the
imperial will. You can imagine how much an argument of that kind
appeals to the brain of a mystic! Thus it has come about that
Klivostov, Krivoshein, General Polivanov, Samarin, Sazonov, General
Bielaïev and myself are now regarded as revolutionaries,
traitors and infidels!"
"Do you think there is no remedy for this state of affairs?"
"None! It's a tragical situation."
"Tragical' is rather a strong word, isn't it?"
"Not at all! take my word for it! It's a tragical situation.
Speaking personally, I'm thankful I'm not a minister now, and
have no share of responsibility for the catastrophe which is coming.
But as a citizen I weep for my country."
Tears stood in his eyes. To recover himself he paced the full
length of his room two or three times. Then he talked about the
Emperor, without a trace of bitterness or recrimination, but in
a tone of the deepest melancholy.
"The Emperor is judicious, moderate and hard working.
As a rule his ideas are very sensible. He has a lofty idea of
his functions and the strongest sense of duty. But his education
is inadequate and the scale of the problems it is his mission
to solve only too frequently exceeds the measure of his intelligence.
He does not know men, affairs or life itself. His distrust of
himself and others means that he is always suspicious of superiority,,
and the result is that he can only tolerate nobodies around him.
He is also very religious, in a narrow and superstitious way,
and this makes him very jealous of his authority, as he receives
it from God."
We returned to the subject of the Empress.
"I protest with all my might," he said, "against
the infamous rumours that are spread abroad about her relations
with Rasputin. She's the noblest and purest of women. But she's
an invalid, neurotic and a prey to hallucinations: she'll end
up in the frenzy of mysticism and melancholy. I shall never forget
the extraordinary things she said to me in September, 1911, when
I took the place of the unfortunate Stolypin(1)
as President of the Council. I was telling her of the difficulties
of my task and quoting the example of my predecessor when she
cut me short: 'Don't mention that man's name again, Vladimir Nicolaievitch.
He died because Providence had decreed that he should disappear
that day. So he's finished with: never mention his name again.'
She also refused to pray at his coffin and the Emperor did not
condescend to appear at the funeral, all because Stolypin, devoted,
wholly and utterly devoted, to his sovereigns though he was, had
dared to tell them that some slight reforms were necessary in
the social edifice
Wednesday, August 30, 1916.
The Salonica army, by vigorous attacks in the region of the
Moglenitza and the Beles massif, has at last succeeded
in tying the Bulgarians down on the Macedonian front. By thus
depriving them of the possibilities of strategic movement towards
the north, it has entirely fulfilled its mission, a very difficult
mission, which was assigned to it by the military convention of
August 17.
Thursday, August 31, 1916.
The Russian armies are continuing their advance from the Stokhod
to the Carpathians, i.e., on a front of three hundred and fifty
kilometres.
But their progress is very slow, a fact which is explained
by the weariness of the men and the horses, the growing difficulties
of communications, the wastage of artillery and the necessity
of economizing in ammunition.
Thus Rumania enters the war at the moment when the Russian
offensive is petering out.
Friday, September 1, 1916.
There is great humiliation at General Headquarters and the
War Ministry.
The 2nd Russian brigade, which recently arrived in France and
was about to embark for Salonica, has mutinied at Marseilles;
the colonel has been murdered and several officers were wounded.
To restore order the vigorous intervention of French troops was
required. Severe measures of repression have been taken and about
twenty men shot.
I cannot help remembering what Sazonov said to me last December
when justifying his opposition to Doumer's request: "When
the Russian soldier is off his own soil he's worthless; he goes
to pieces at once."
Saturday, September 2, 1916.
Manuilov, the policeman convict whom Sturmer made the director
of his secretariat, has just been arrested: he is said to be guilty
of blackmailing a bank, a fact which is proved a priori, as
swindling is his normal method of money-making and the most ordinary
and venial of his crimes.
The incident would not have been worth mentioning if the arrest
had not been decided upon by the Minister of the Interior, Alexander
Khvostov, and carried out without Sturmer's knowledge. So evidently
there is something behind it, something more or less scandalous,
which we shall hear about before long.
Sunday, September 3, 1916.
In Galicia the Russians are advancing on Kalicz.
North of the Transylvanian Alps the Rumanians have captured
Brasso. In the region of the Upper (Moldavian) Sereth they are
operating side by side with the Russians and crossing the Carpathians.
On the Salonica side the army of General Sarrail is continuing
to harass the Bulgarians.
On the Somme the Anglo-French offensive has been resumed with
great vigour.
Monday, September 4, 1916.
At tea time at Madame S - -'s house to-day, we were talking
about ennui, which is the chronic disease of Russian society.
Tall and lithe, the pretty Princess D - - , standing with
her hands behind her back - her usual posture - was listening
to us in silence. In the depths of her brown eyes there was a
glow of scepticism and reverie: suddenly and quite casually she
let fall the following remarks:
"It's a funny thing. When you men are afflicted with ennui
it knocks you flat, makes you helpless. You're simply good
for nothing and it's an exhausting business to get you going again.
But in the case of women, ennui rouses us, whips our senses,
makes us want to commit every imaginable futility and folly. And
it's even more difficult to hold us back than to revive you."
The observation is perfectly accurate. Generally speaking the
men get bored through exhaustion or satiety, overindulgence in
pleasure, drink or high play, whereas with ,the women ennui
is usually brought on by the monotony of their existence,
their insatiable craving for emotional excitement. the secret
yearnings of their hearts and their passions. Hence the depression
of the former and the feverishness of the latter.
Tuesday, September 5, 1916.
I have been talking about America with Neratov. We both regret
that so large a fraction of the American people still refuses
to realize the universal significance of the conflict which is
devastating Europe, and cannot see which side is in the right.
It is more. than a year since a German submarine sank the Lusitania,
more than a year since the great New York paper, The Nation,
wrote: "The torpedoing of the Lusitania is
an act which would have made Attila blush, an act of which
a Turk would be ashamed and for which a Barbary corsair would
have apologized. All human and divine laws have been violated
by these bandits ... "
And still the conscience of America hesitates to declare itself!
I said to Neratov:
"Russia could do a lot to remove the last misgivings of
the American public and bring them to our side once and for all."
"What could we do? I can't imagine."
"All that is necessary is for you to make some slight
improvement in your laws dealing with the Jews; the effect in
America would be considerable."
Neratov protested:
"What! Reopen the Jewish question in the middle of a war!
It's impossible. We'd have the whole country against us. That
would be an enormous injury to the Alliance; you may be quite
sure that our parties of the extreme Right would immediately accuse
France and England of having secretly supported the claims of
the Jews."
We returned to current topics.
The Jewish question is a heavy cloud over relations between
Russia and the United States; I have often discussed it with my
American colleague, Marye, Francis's predecessor.
There are hundreds of thousands of Russian. Jews in New York,
Chicago, Philadelphia and Boston.(2) With their
energy and intelligence, wealth and influence, they keep hatred
of tsarism alive in the United States. The system of persecution
which was introduced by Catherine II in 1791, and confirmed and
intensified in 1882 by the famous "Ignatiev Laws," is
regarded by the Americans as one of the most revolting iniquities
which the history of human societies records. I can easily imagine
what a free "Yankee." brought up on the superstition
of the democratic ideal and the craze and reverence for individual
initiative, must think of the idea of five million human beings
being confined, on the sole ground of their religious beliefs,
to a small area where their very numbers doom them to misery.
What must he think of the facts that they cannot own or cultivate
land, are deprived of all public rights, their slightest acts
exposed to the arbitrary control of the police and are always
living in fear of periodical massacre?
My American colleague, Marye, said to me one day:
"What shocks us most about the position of the Jews in
Russia is that they are persecuted solely on the ground of their
faith. The reproaches of race and economic grievances are only
pretexts. This must be so because a Jew has only to abjure Judaism
and become converted to orthodoxy to be immediately treated like
any other Russian."
In 1904 the pogroms at Kishinev aroused such indignation in
the United States that President Roosevelt thought it his duty
to make a solemn protest, an act which Russian society hotly resents
even now: "Crimes are sometimes committed," he declared,
"so monstrous that we wonder if it is not our bounden duty
to express our detestation of the oppressors and our pity for
the victims. Of course we cannot intervene save in very grave
cases. But in extreme cases our intervention is legitimate. The
American nation owes it to itself to confess its horror when it
hears of massacres as terrible as those of Kishinev."
Thursday, September 7, 1916.
Bratiano's mistake in repudiating the Rudeanu agreement, a
mistake shared by his allies when they accepted that repudiation,
is beginning to bear fruit.
While the Rumanian troops are advancing beyond the Carpathians
and occupying Brasso, Hermannstadt and Orsova, the Austro-Bulgarians
are invading the Dobrudja and approaching Silistria. A Rumanian
division which was in an exposed position on the right bank of
the Danube in the neighbourhood of Turtukai, has just suffered
a serious reverse. Surrounded by four Germano-Bulgarian divisions,
it has lost twelve thousand men and two hundred guns.
The shock of this news has filled Bucharest with consternation
and the agitation is all the greater because the city has been
assiduously bombed by hostile aviators for the last three days.
General Joffre, who is very naturally uneasy about the peril
to Rumania, is asking that two hundred thousand Russians shall
be sent to the Dobrudja at once.
In conversation with Sturmer I have vigorously seconded his
request, pointing out that the whole policy of the Alliance and
the very issue of the war are at stake. He replied:
"During my recent visit to Mohilev I considered with General
Alexeiev whether it would not be possible to intensify our
operations against Bulgaria. The General certainly does not fail
to realize what an enormous advantage it would be to us to restore
communication with Salonica at the earliest possible moment. But
he says that he is without the necessary resources. Of course
the, problem is not merely how to send two hundred thousand men
to the Dobrudja; it's a question of forming those two hundred
thousand men into army corps, with officers, horses, artillery
and all the accessory services; we have no such reserves so they
have to be taken from the front. No doubt you know that at the
present moment there is no part of our line where fighting is
not in progress. General Alexeiev is continuing his operations
with the greatest intensity, particularly as the bad weather is
coming. So I doubt whether he will agree to suggest to His Majesty
the despatch of an army south of the Danube. And don't forget
the time it would take to organize and transport that army. Six
weeks at least! Wouldn't it be a grave error to neutralize two
hundred thousand men in that way for so long?"
"What about the Emperor? Have you mentioned it to him?"
"The Emperor quite agrees with General Alexeiev."
"The matter is serious enough to deserve further consideration.
So please be good enough to refer to His Majesty again and acquaint
him with my arguments."
"I'll report our conversation to His Majesty to-day."
Saturday, September 9, 1916.
A Russian financier, of Danish origin, who is in constant business
touch with Sweden and, through that channel, always well informed
about public opinion in Germany, said to me to-day:
"In the last few weeks Germany has been suffering generally
from an attack of war-weariness and apprehension. No one now believes
in the sudden overwhelming victory which will bring a victorious
peace. Only the uncompromising Pan-Germans still affect to believe
in it. The invincible resistance of the French at Verdun and the
Russian advance in Galicia have produced a deep sense of disappointment
which is not diminishing. People are also beginning to say that
the submarine war is a stupid mistake, that it in no way prevents
France and England from obtaining supplies, that the Teutonic
Powers are faced with the danger of seeing the United States declare
war on them before long, etc. Lastly economic discomforts are
on the increase and there are frequent strikes, particularly in
northern Germany, due to food restrictions. With a view to combating
this wave of pessimism the Kaiser has just made Marshal von Hindenburg
Chief of the General Staff in General von Falkenhayn's place.
The appointment has restored the spirits of the public somewhat.
All the hopes of the German people are now centred in the saviour
of East Prussia, the victor of Tannenberg. The official press
is lavish with dithyrambs exalting the nobility of his character,
the grandeur of his ideas and the genius of his strategy; it does
not fear to call him the equal of Moltke, and to compare him to
the great Frederick. It is assumed that he will want to justify
this enthusiastic confidence at the earliest possible moment.
As, for the time being, no victory is possible on the Russian
or western fronts, it is presumed that he will seek his triumph
in Rumania.
Tuesday, September 17, 1916.
Princess Paley invited me to dinner this evening with the Grand
Duchess Marie Pavlovna.
It was a very private party, and I was particularly glad to
have a talk with the Grand Duchess as I had not seen her since
Sazonov's dismissal.
We continued our conversation from the point at which we left
off and took stock of all the changes. Our information was identical:
the Empress is taking an ever growing part in politics and the
Emperor is offering an ever diminishing resistance to her.
"For example," said the Grand Duchess, "the
Emperor loathes Sturmer; he knows he's incapable and dishonest;
he sees through all his advances to the Empress and is uneasy
about it, as he's as jealous of his authority with the Empress
as with anyone else. But he had not the courage to uphold Sazonov
and he let Sturmer be thrust upon him."
"Isn't there anyone in his household who can open his
eyes?"
"No one. You know the crowd around him. Old Fredericks
is still the only person who can talk really frankly to him. But
he hasn't any influence. In any case, you must not think that
the Emperor's eyes need opening all that much. He knows quite
well what he's doing; he fully realizes his mistakes and faults.
His judgment is almost always sound. I'm sure that at the present
moment he's extremely sorry he ever got rid of Sazonov."
"Then why does he go on making all these mistakes? After
all, the consequences fall directly on his own head."
"Because he's weak. He hasn't the energy to face the Empress's
brow-beating, much less the scenes she makes! And there's another
reason which is far more serious: he's a fatalist. When things
are going badly he tells himself it is God's will and he must
bow to it! I've seen him in this state of mind before, after the
disasters in Manchuria and during the 1905 troubles."
"But is he in that frame of mind at the present moment?"
"I'm afraid he's not far from it; I know he's dejected,
and worried to find the war going on so long without any result."
"Do you think he's capable of abandoning the struggle
and making peace?"
"No, never; at any rate, not so long as there's an enemy
soldier on Russian soil. He took that oath in the sight of God
and he knows that if he broke it his eternal salvation would be
jeopardized. And then he has a lofty conception of honour and
will not betray his allies; he will be unshakable on that point.
I believe I told you before that he would go to his death rather
than sign a shameful or treacherous peace."
Wednesday, September 13, 1916.
General Janin has reported to me a conversation he had with
the Emperor yesterday at Mohilev, a conversation which unfortunately
confirms what Sturmer said to me five days ago.
The Emperor has told him that he is not in a position to send
two hundred thousand men to the Dobrudja, on the ground that the
armies in Galicia and Asia have suffered very heavy losses during
the last few weeks and he is obliged to send them all the available
reinforcements. As he ended he asked General Janin to telegraph
to General Joffre and say that he urgently begs him to order General
Sarrail to act with greater energy. The Emperor repeated:
"It's a personal request from me to General Joffre."
Thursday, September 14, 1916.
For some time there has been a rumour that Rasputin and Sturmer
have fallen out: they are never met together, they never call
on each other. And yet they see and consult each other daily.
Their meetings take place in the evening in the Fortress of SS.
Peter and Paul, the most secret place in Petrograd.
The Governor of the Romanov Bastille is General Nitikin, whose
daughter is one of the most fervent adorers of the staretz.
It is through her that messages pass between Sturmer
and Grishka; she it is who goes to find Rasputin in the town and
brings him in her carriage to the fortress; it is in the Governor's
house, in fact Mlle. Nitikin's own room, that the two accomplices
hold conclave.
Why do they wrap themselves up in so much mystery? Why have
they selected this secret hiding-place? Why do they only meet
at night? May it be that they know that everyone loathes them
and they wish to conceal the closeness of their association from
the public? Perhaps, too, they fear that the bomb of some anarchist
may disturb their meetings.
Of all the tragic spectacles which have left memories in this
fearsome state prison, are there any more sinister than the nocturnal
gatherings of these two criminals who are ruining Russia?
Friday, September 15, 1916.
In this diary I have frequently had occasion to remark that
the Russians have no precise ideas of space and usually
content themselves with vague estimates and approximate figures.
Their notion of time is just as vague. I was struck by
this fact once more to-day at an administrative conference in
Sturmer's house in which methods of assisting Rumania were under
examination. In the transport programme presented to us most of
the dates were uncertain, the intervals too short or too long,
the timings problematical. Of course this inability to realize
the temporal relations of facts is still more obvious in the case
of the illiterate, who are the mass. The whole economic life of
the Russian nation is kept back by it.
The phenomenon is explained easily enough if it be admitted
that the accurate visualization of time is simply an order of
succession introduced into our memories and plans, an organization
of our mental ideas with reference to a focussing-point which
is our present state. With the Russians that focussing-point is
usually shifting or misty, because their perception of reality
is never very distinct, they do not clearly define their sensations
and notions, their power of attention is low and their reasoning
and calculations are almost always blended with the imaginary.
Saturday, September 16, 1916.
Under the increasing pressure of the Bulgarians the Rumanians
are progressively evacuating the Dobrudja, and every day and night
Austrian airmen bomb Bucharest from their base at Rustchuk.
From the moment the Rudeanu agreement was thrown over these
misfortunes were easy to foresee. The Rumanian Government is paying
dearly for the mistake it made in directing its whole military
effort towards Transylvania, allowing itself to be taken in by
vague rumours from Sofia and particularly in imagining that the
Bulgarians had abandoned the idea of a military revenge for the
disaster and humiliation of 1913.
Sunday, September 17, 1916.
Sylvia and The Water-Lily were given at the Marie
Theatre this evening. In both works the lead is in the hands of
Karsavina.
The sumptuous hall, with its blue and gold hangings, was quite
full; the evening marked the opening of the winter season and
the resumption of those ballets in which the Russian imagination
loves to follow the interplay of flying forms and rhythmic movements
through the music. From the stalls to the back row of the highest
circle I could see nothing but a sea of cheery, smiling faces.
In the intervals the boxes came to life with the irresponsible
chatter which made the bright eyes of the women sparkle with merriment.
Irksome thoughts of the present, sinister visions of war and the
melancholy prospects of the future vanished as if by magic the
moment the orchestra struck up. An air of pleasant unreality was
in every face.
Thomas de Quincy, the author of the Confessions of an Opium
Eater, tells us that the drug often gave him the illusions
of music. Conversely, the Russians go to music for the effects
of opium.
Monday, September 18, 1916.
The Salonica army has resumed the offensive on the whole of
the Macedonian front. The Bulgarians have been driven back in
the neighbourhood of Florina and are now withdrawing towards Monastir.
Chapter Footnotes
1. Assassinated at Kiev on September 14,
1911. He was the brother-in-law of M. Sazonov.
2. The total number of Jews scattered over
the globe is computed to be 12,500,000; 5,300,000 in Russia and
2,200,000 in the United States. Outside these two countries the
largest Jewish populations are to be found in Austria-Hungary
(2,250,000), Germany (615,000), Turkey (485,000). England (445,000),
France (345,000), Rumania (260,000), and Holland (115,000).
