Now at the close of the second Balkan war, when Serbia and Greece defeated Bulgaria, they made an alliance, by which each agreed to come to the help of the other in case either was attacked by Bulgaria.  Roumania, too, was friendly to Greece and Serbia, rather than to treaty Bulgaria, for the Roumanians knew that Bulgaria was very anxious to get back the territory of which Roumania had robbed her, in the second Balkan war.  In this way, the Quadruple Entente (Russia, Italy, France, and England) hoped that the entry of Bulgaria into the war, on the side of Germany and Turkey, would bring Greece and Roumania in on the other side.

The Greek people were ready to rush to Serbia’s aid and so was the Greek prime minister.  The queen of Greece, however, is a sister of the German emperor, and through her influence with her husband she was able to defeat the plans of Venizelos (ven i zel’os), the prime minister, who was notified by the king that Greece would not enter the war.  Venizelos accordingly resigned, but not until he had given permission to the French and English to land troops at Salonika, for the purpose of rushing to the help of Serbia. (Greece also was afraid that German and Austrian armies might lay waste her territory, as they had Serbia’s, before England and France could come to the rescue.)

Meanwhile poor Serbia was in a desperate state.  The two Balkan wars had drained her of some of her best soldiers.  Twice the Austrians had invaded her kingdom in this war, and twice they had been driven out.  Then came a dreadful epidemic of typhus fever which was the result of unhealthful conditions caused by the war.  Now the little kingdom, attacked by the Germans and Austrians on two sides and by the Bulgarians on a third, was literally fighting with her back to the wall.  She had counted on Greece to stand by her promise to help in case of an attack from Bulgaria, but we have seen how the German queen of Greece had been able to prevent this.  Serbia hoped that Roumania, too, would come to her help.  However, as you have been told, the king of Roumania is a German of the Hohenzollern family, a cousin of the emperor, and in spite of the sympathy of his people for Italy, France, and Serbia, he was able to keep them from joining in the defense of the Serbs.

Now Roumania ought to include a great part of Bessarabia (bes a ra’bi a), which is the nearest county of Russia, and also the greater part of Transylvania and Bukowina (boo ko vi’na), which are the provinces of Austria-Hungary that lie nearest; for a great part of the inhabitants of these three counties are Roumanians by blood and language.  They would like to be parts of the kingdom of Roumania, and Roumania would like to possess them.  The Quadruple Entente would promise Roumania parts of Transylvania and Bukowina in case she joined the war on their side, while the Triple Alliance was ready to promise her Bessarabia.  Roumania, as was said before, was originally settled by colonists sent out from Rome, and in the eleventh century a large number of people from the north of Italy settled there.  On this account, Roumania looks upon Italy as her mother country, and it was thought that Italy’s attack upon Austria would influence her to support the Entente.