ngs: "(1) the dogged steadfastness of the British
and the patient heroism of the French soldiers and civilians; (2) the
brilliant strategy of General Foch, and the unity of command which made
this effective; (3) the material and moral encouragement of the American
forces, of whom nearly 1,500,000 were in France before the end of
August."

THE WAR IN ITALY, THE BALKANS, AND SYRIA.--The summer of 1918
witnessed the launching of a great offensive by the Austrians against
the Italian armies holding the Piave front. It is probable that the
chief purpose of this blow was to draw Allied troops into Italy from the
battle front in Belgium and France. The Italians, however, proved
themselves amply able to fight their own battle, and the Austrian
attempt was repulsed with tremendous losses.

The autumn of this year saw important happenings on the Balkan front
also. This theater of the war had been uneventful for a long time. The
battle line extended from the Adriatic Sea to the AEgean, and was held by
a mixed army of Serbians, Greeks, Italians, British, and French, under
the command of General D'Esperey (des-pr[=a]'), with headquarters at
Salonica. Opposed to these troops were armies of Bulgarians and
Austrians, together with a considerable number of Germans. Encouraged by
the German defeats in the west, which had forced the withdrawal of large
numbers of German troops from eastern Europe, the Allies launched a
strong offensive on the Balkan front in the middle of September. Day
after day their advance continued, resulting in the capture of many
thousands of prisoners and the reoccupation of many miles of Albanian
and Serbian territory. The campaign was one of the most successful of
the whole war. Within two weeks the Bulgarians asked for an armistice,
accepted the terms that were demanded, and on September 30 definitely
withdrew from the war. Their surrender broke the lines of communication
between the Central Powers and Turkey and at one blow destroyed Teutonic
supremacy in the Balkans. An even more important consequence was the
moral effect on the general public in Germany, Austria, and Turkey,
where it was taken by many as a sign that surrender of the Central
Powers could only be a question of time.

Meanwhile, events of almost equal importance were taking place in
Palestine and Syria. General Allenby had taken Jerusalem in December,
1917. In the fall of 1918 new and important advances were made in this
region, Arab forces