Word from the eastern theater of war brought the news that Russia had a
new big army advancing upon the Germans in Poland from the east,
threatening to outflank the army that had penetrated to within fifty
miles of Warsaw, the capital and chief city of Poland. This, it was
taken, would mean that Germany would either have to retreat within her
own borders into East Prussia, or else that troops would have to be
dispatched from the west to reënforce those in the east.

In this event there was little doubt that General French and General
Joffre would immediately order another allied advance along the
entire front.

News of the utter annihilation of three Turkish army corps in the
Caucasus by the Russians also cheered the British, French and Belgian
troops, as did news that the Russians had cleared the way for their
long-deferred invasion of Hungary, and, ultimately, of Austria.

So far, from the Allies' point of view, the one big disappointment of the
war had been the inaction of the British and French fleets. True, several
engagements of minor importance had been fought, chief of which was the
sinking of a German fleet of five ships by a British squadron in the
waters of the Pacific Ocean, off the coast of Argentina.

But the fact that the German fleet, although blockaded, after five months
of the war had not been destroyed, was causing considerable adverse
criticism in England and France. Several German sea raids--by cruisers
and submarines which had successfully run the blockade--had caused
condemnation of Great Britain's naval policy.