BRITISH WARSHIP TORPEDOED.

On May 12 the British warship Goliath was sunk by a Turkish torpedo during the continued attack by the Allies on the Dardanelles.  Twenty officers and 160 men of the crew were saved and over 500 lives were lost.  The Goliath was one of the older British battleships of the pre-dreadnaught type.  She was built in 1898, was 400 feet long and feet wide, with a displacement of 12,950 tons.  Her armament consisted of four twelve-inch and twelve six-inch guns, twelve twelve-pounders, six three-pounders, and two machine guns.

In the determined attack on the Dardanelles, land forces of British and French troops co-operated with the combined fleets.  The Turks made a stubborn resistance, but were compelled to give way gradually before the terrific bombardment of the warships and the persistent attacks by land.  In the fighting on the Gallipoli peninsula the British colonial troops from New Zealand covered themselves with glory, fighting like veterans and breaking down Turkish opposition with the bayonet.  On May 19 one of the most important forts at the Narrows, guarding the entrance to the Sea of Marmora, was silenced by the warships’ fire, and this was an important step on the Allies’ way to Constantinople.

Meanwhile an immense German army, said to number 1,600,000 men, had been forcing the Russians back in Galicia to the San River and the gates of Przemysl.  A German bombardment of this fortress seemed imminent on May 20.

ITALY ENTERS THE WAR.

On Sunday, May 23, Italy finally plunged into the great conflict with a declaration of war against Austria.  The formal declaration, presented to the Austro-Hungarian foreign minister, Baron von Burian, by the Duke of Avarna, Italian ambassador at Vienna, asserted that Italy had “grave motives” for annulling her treaty of alliance with Austria and “confident in her good right,” resumed her liberty of action.  The declaration of war continued as follows: 

“The government of the King, firmly resolved to provide by all means at its disposal for safeguarding Italian rights and interests, cannot fail in its duty to take, against every existing and future menace, the measures which events impose upon it for the fulfillment of national aspirations.

“His majesty, the King, declares that he considers himself from tomorrow (May 24, 1915), in a state of war with Austria-Hungary.”

Thus the ninety-sixth anniversary of the birth of Queen Victoria, of England, found eleven of the countries of Europe at war, their rulers including three of her grandsons, two arrayed in a bitter struggle against the third.  The Triple Alliance on this date became the Quadruple Alliance, when Italy joined the Allies.  Austria was of course supported by Germany.  Italy was expected to put 3,000,000 men in the field.  WHY ITALY WANTED WAR

The reasons why Italy entered the great conflict were succinctly stated on May 19 by Signor Enrico Corradini, nationalist leader, as follows: