tria and Hungary; the
third, the southern group, included the Sclavonians, the Croatians, the
Dalmatians, Bosnians, Herzegovinians, the Slavs, generally called
Slovenes, in the western part of Austria, down to Goritzia, and also the
two independent kingdoms of Montenegro and Serbia.

Like the central group, this southern group of Slavs was divided under
four crowns, Hungary, Austria, Montenegro, and Serbia; but, in spite of
the fact that half belong to the Western and half to the Eastern Church,
they are all essentially the same people, though with considerable
infusion of non-Slavonic blood, there being a good deal of Turkish blood
in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The languages, however, are practically
identical, formed largely of pure Slavonic materials, and, curiously,
much more closely connected with the eastern Slav group--Russia and
Little Russia--than with the central group, Polish and Bohemian. A
Russian of Moscow will find it much easier to understand a Slovene from
Goritzia than a Pole from Warsaw. The Ruthenians in southern Galicia and
Bukowina, are identical in race and speech with the Little Russians of
Ukrainia.

Of the central group, the Poles have generally inclined to Austria,
which has always supported the Polish landlords of Galicia against the
Ruthenian peasantry; while the Czechs have been not so much
anti-Austrian as anti-German. Indeed, the Hapsburg rulers have again and
again played these Slavs off against their German subjects. It was the
Southern Slav question as affecting Serbia and Austria, that gave the
pretext for the present war. The central Slav question affecting the
destiny of the Poles--was a bone of contention between Austria and
Germany. It is the custom to call the Southern Slavs "Jugoslavs" from
the Slav word Yugo, "south," but as this is a concession to German
transliteration, many prefer to write the word "Yugoslav," which
represents its pronunciation. The South Slav question was created by the
incursions of three Asiatic peoples--Huns, Magyars, Turks--who broke up
the originally continuous Slav territory that ran from the White Sea to
the confines of Greece and the Adriatic.

[Illustration: Map: Austria-Hungary and surrounding nations]
THE MIXTURE OF RACES IN SOUTH CENTRAL EUROPE.

[Illustration: Photograph of three soldiers firing artillery.]
Copyright Underwood and Underwood, N. Y.
SERBS DEFENDING THE MOUNTAIN PASSES LEADING TO THEIR CAPITAL
Little Serbia, before s