The second year of the war opened in the West with the enemy, although superior in man power and munitionment, pinned down to a defensive line from Belfort to the sea. The new armies of the British Empire were still being raised and trained, and neither England nor France had reached their zenith in the production of guns and munitions. The western front was to remain for a time comparatively inactive.

In the East the great Teutonic drive through Poland was still in progress, although the Russian armies had everywhere escaped envelopment, and their retreat was nearly at an end. Warsaw was occupied by the Germans early in August. It was a moment chosen by Germany to make an offer of separate peace to Russia. The enemy sought to gain by bribery what his armies had failed to accomplish in the field. The offer was rejected by Russia.

By October Germany's greatest military effort so far had failed and the Russian armies stood intact from the Bukovina to Riga.

The next great development in the history of the war was the entry of Bulgaria in October on the side of the Central Powers. Whilst great German and Austro-Hungarian forces crossed the Danube in the north the Bulgarians attacked Serbia on the flank. In a few weeks Serbia and Montenegro suffered the fate of Belgium and Luxemburg, the British and French troops not having arrived in time to render material aid to the Serbians. Greece, failing to live up to her treaty with Serbia, contributed to the defeat of that country and was for many months to form a menace to the allied troops who were making the port of Salonika their base in the Balkans.

In the meantime the western allies had taken the offensive in September, the French attacking in Champagne and the British in Flanders. The attack was not driven home and no further offensive upon a large scale was to take place until July in the following year.

January saw Gallipoli evacuated by the Allies, releasing Turkish troops for service in Mesopotamia which was doubtless to have its effect in the fall of Kut and the capture of the garrison later on.

Late in February the great German offensive began at Verdun, an offensive which was to prove the most costly defeat of the German arms during the war. The Battle of Verdun continued for months and may be said to have been definitely lost by the Germans by the 1st of July.

Meanwhile the Russian armies in the Caucasus and Armenia had beaten the Turks in many engagements, taking amongst other towns the fortress of Erzerum with great numbers of prisoners and military stores. The other Russian armies in the north, reorganized and thoroughly equipped with munitionment, began in June their magnificent advance all along their line from Riga to the Carpathians.

The last month of the second year of the war witnessed the beginning of the "big push" in the west, the Russian advance in the east, the retreat of the Austrians in the Trentino, and the beginning of the Italians' successful thrust upon the Isonzo.

It is with these major military operations of the year with which Raemaekers' cartoons on the following pages deal.

He did not neglect to record, however, many of the minor happenings. The various and devious peace moves of the enemy did not escape his comment nor did the cold blooded murders of Nurse Cavell and Captain Fryatt. He has recorded also many examples of German Zeppelin Ruthlessness and German Piracy on the sea. Notable amongst the latter is the Sussex crime and its subsequent diplomatic developments, which were to play such an important part in America's entry into the war.

J. M. A.