POLAND PROCLAIMED A KINGDOM BY GERMANY.

By a joint manifesto, issued on November 4 by the Emperors of Germany and Austria, the ancient kingdom of Poland was revived and Polish autonomy ostensibly re-established.  The kingdom was proclaimed with due ceremony in Lublin and Warsaw.  The definite territorial limits of the new nation were not set, according to the proclamation, and would not be until the close of the war.  Constitutional rule and a national army, however, were to be established at once.  The joint opinion of other nations, neutrals and Allies of the Entente, was that Poland as captured territory could not be recognized as a new kingdom.

THE FALL OF BUCHAREST.

By December 2 the battle for Bucharest had reached the outskirts of the Roumanian capital and the guns of Von Mackensen’s forces began a bombardment of the outer forts, and on December 6 the armies of the Central Powers took Bucharest, cutting off a large part of the defending army.  Ploesci, the great oil center of Roumania, and Sinaia, the summer capital, also fell.  Many thousands of Roumanian troops were taken prisoners in the operations near Bucharest, the number being estimated at 38,500 for the first week of the month, and the Roumanians retired to new positions to the north and east of their fallen capital.  General von Heinrich, governor of Lille during the deportation of Belgians from that city, was appointed military governor of Bucharest, on which the Germans imposed a levy amounting practically to $400 a person, or a total of $140,000,000.

Von Mackensen continued to press his advances in the Dobrudja and eastern Wallachia during the month, though retarded by sturdy Russian and Roumanian resistance.  As Christmas approached the forces of the Central Powers were pressing the Russo-Roumanians close to the Danube where it runs east and west, forming the boundary between Roumania and Bessarabia.

CHANGE IN BRITISH GOVERNMENT.

On December 7 Mr. Henry Lloyd-George accepted the British premiership and formed a new Cabinet, which included an important representation of labor and other elements of strength pointing to a systematic and determined prosecution of the war from all angles.  The Cabinet as announced December 12 included Sir Edward Carson, the Irish Unionist leader, as First Lord of the Admiralty, and Baron Devonport as food controller, a new position.  The size of the war council was reduced to five, including the premier.  Admiral Sir John Jellicoe was appointed First Sea Lord of the Admiralty, being succeeded in command of the grand fleet of Britain by Admiral Sir David Beatty, who commanded the British battle-cruiser fleet in the battle of Jutland.

France followed suit in reorganizing her war council under Premier Briand, also restricting the number of members to five, and General Joffre was succeeded in command of the armies of the north and the northeast by General Nivelle, commander of the French troops at Verdun, where notable victories were gained by the French in December, regaining almost all the ground lost during the previous operations of the year.  General Joffre was promoted to the high honor of Marshal of France, the ancient rank being revived for him.