eer soldiers of Italy, are among the most
picturesque in the world. They have scaled the almost perpendicular
faces of the Alps, climbing from crag to crag with their bodies roped
together, dragging machine guns in pieces strapped to their shoulders.
Tolmino, Trieste, Istria, Dalmatia, Avlona, the prime harbor of Albania
(seized by Italy in the fall of 1916). These are little spots in the
territory logically Italian, which Italy covets.

[Illustration: OUTLINE MAP OF THE AUSTRIA-HUNGARY EMPIRE.

Drawn and engraved especially to show the Provinces comprising the
Empire, and their locations as they were at the beginning of the war.
This is a country of many nationalities and languages.]

DIVIDED INTO SIXTEEN DEPARTMENTS.

Italy, since its consolidation into one kingdom in 1870, has been
divided into sixteen departments comprising sixty-nine provinces. The
country has a total area of 110,623 square miles, and a population of a
little more than 35,000,000. The Roman Catholic Church is irrevocably
linked to the history of Italy and Rome, its capital, marked the
farthest advance of civilization in the ancient days. It possesses four
distinct zones, ranging from the almost arctic cold of the mountain
belts to an almost tropical heat in the southern lowlands. It is one of
the picturesque countries of the world, a center of art, industry and
travel.

Servia, which is separated from Austria-Hungary by the Danube, is of
precisely the same character as the other rich, mountainous region. The
country was subjugated by the Turks, who retained possession of it until
1717. Austria then wrested control from the Turks, and held it until
1791, when Turkey again dominated it. In 1805 the Servians revolted, and
secured temporary independence, only to again come under the Ottoman
rule. Again it secured freedom in 1815, and by the Treaty of Paris,
independent existence was secured for it. Turkey became only a nominal
authority. It became a kingdom in 1882, after having become absolutely
independent with the Berlin Treaty.

The people are Slavonic, and kin to the Croats of ancient history. They
are described as having come from Poland and Galicia, moving down the
Danube, into what is the present kingdom. In the fourteenth century the
Servian empire comprised the whole Balkan peninsula, from Greece to
Poland, and from the Black Sea to the Adriatic. But Servia warred with
Turkey, and her troops were defeated in the great battle at Kossov