Nelson's history of the war. Vol. XI., The struggle for the Dvina, and the great invasion of Serbia

ET meee

|

BULGARIA ENTERS THE WAR. 33

little nation, and every Serbian counted on our aid. Even if we were too late to save her, public honour seemed to demand that we should try. That, at any rate, was the view of the ordinary man in France and Britain, and in addition there were responsible statesmen in both countries who believed that French and British prestige in the Moslem world was at stake, and that, however disadvantageous the enterprise on purely military grounds, some kind of attempt must be made to check the German sweep to the Bosphorus. The latter view was rather a sentiment than a reasoned opinion ; but the former —the point of honour—had real substance. An act of public disloyalty might be more damaging in the long run to the Allied cause than a rash adventure. A man who refrains from rushing to the help of a friend who is attacked in a street row is scarcely justified by the plea that he had followed the wiser course of going off to fetch the police. This view —to the credit of our hearts—soon obtained a great predominance among the Western Allies. In France and Britain there was much criticism—often bitter and unfair—of our diplomatic failure. The French Government became strong converts to the necessity of a Balkan expedition, and the French General Staff followed suit. The ordinary man in both nations, if we may judge from the Press, was a stout partisan of intervention.

In these circumstances it was inevitable that the correct military view must be overridden. The great Western offensive slackened, for, apart from the fact that divisions must be taken from that front, the mind of the High Command was compelled to divide its interests. In the beginning of October the Allies

XI. 3