After
the reunion of Wallachia and Moldadia, I heard Roumanian officials
express the wish to gain Dacia through the addition of Transylvania,
Bukovina and the Banate of Ternesvar. This longing can easily be
understood when one remembers that each of these States maintains
royal court legations and an army the quality of which in the case of
the Allies has just been tested and shown in their splendid fighting
and sacrifices, but which is all out of proportion to their individual
sizes and resources.
I knew there were armies mobilizing in the Balkans at a high mark of
efficiency. They were equipped in a way totally beyond the means of
such little countries. Who was supplying this driving force, the
money, officers? They were but pawns, the Balkan States on an
international chessboard.
Now before I relate my mission, consider these test points: The
alliance of States usually hereditary enemies; the downfall of an
empire, a background of the world's powers pulling the strings; the
success of the Balkan Allies. Then the most amazing part of it all.
Turkey, well thrashed, lost little save a few islands in the ?†gean
Sea, some of which it has already regained. The Allies gained nothing
but debts--debts and empty honor which leaves them so exhausted that
they can be no real factor in the world's politics for decades to
come--and there lies the key.
Arriving in Berlin I made my way to my quarters in the Mittelstrasse.
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