Excerpt from The Effect of the War in Southeastern Europe

This much should be said in the interest of historical accuracy, without in any way entering into the controversies over the actual settlements. Both author and editor may have their critical opinion as to the wisdom of registering the post-war situation in the terms set forth in the Treaties of Peace. The charter of a new Europe calls for a longer View, a juster appreciation of continuing political forces than that supplied by immediate events, even of the magni tude of those of 1918. But when ancient loyalties no longer held, and the suppressed irritations of centuries were flaring into the most un lovely forms of nationalist animosities, it was clear that whatever settlement was made would be wrong in the eyes of many. Great empires cannot break up without violating long - established rights; and war invites not even-handed justice but the rule of the strongest. The same kind of settlement would have been made if vic tory had been on the other side, as the Treaty of Bucarest showed.

This volume of the Economic and Social History of the World War deals with these political issues, but not as a part of their diplo matic formulation at the close of the War. Its analysis carries the reader farther back, to the War itself. The decisive fact in the Dan ube Valley was not the grim struggle on the rim of the Alps above Venice, or that which took place when Mackensen's legions swung round the Carpathians into the rich fields of Rumania. It was the ever-tightening blockade, which made of the whole Monarchy a be leaguered city. Slowly but surely it destroyed the government by which Vienna held sway. An economic strike against bureaucracy at home, which began with the violation of food restrictions, took on a nationalist color where the German element in the population was weak. The paralysis of government was thus a direct result of the War. But the peculiar phases of this dissolution of the old framework of administration and the economic and moral consequences of the long-drawn crisis will long furnish the thoughtful student of history and politics with much substance for thought.

About the Publisher

Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com

This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.