To secure the pathway through this strategic country it also is necessary to have control of the territory on all sides, and this is quite as true in a political as in a military sense.  To secure their pathway up into Europe the Turks once conquered all the peoples in the Balkans, except those inhabiting the mountains over on the Adriatic:  the Montenegrins and a small city called Ragusa, just above Montenegro in Dalmatia.  It is not at all peculiar that just here, in almost the same locality, the Teutons should meet with the first and strongest resistance.

A study of the territory in which the first fighting of the war occurred will explain the foregoing calculations.  It will be observed that Austrian territory runs down past the eastward turn in the Danube, along the frontier of Montenegro, until it narrows gradually into a tip at Cattaro, just below Cettinje, the Montenegrin capital.  This land is composed of the three provinces of Bosnia, Herzegovina and Dalmatia.  All this territory is inhabited by the same race that peoples Serbia and Montenegro—­the Serbs.  In fact, the Slavic population reaches up all along the coast to Trieste, and even a little beyond.  For this reason it is in this direction that we shall see the Serbians and the Montenegrins invade Austrian territory, after their initial success in repulsing the Austrian invasion.

The objectives of the brief campaign soon to be considered were Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia, and Ragusa, the famous little seaport on the Adriatic.  Ragusa is of especial interest on account of its remarkable history.  In the Middle Ages it was the most important seaport in that part of the world.  Its ships sailed over all the Mediterranean and from them is derived the word “argosy,” signifying a ship laden with wealth.  Again and again the Turks attempted to conquer this little state, which was at that time a republic, but always the Ragusans beat off the enemy.  For the country about is so rocky, so rough, that the city was easily defended, especially in that time when nearly all fighting was hand to hand.

The first and foremost word in the Great War—­the key word—­is Sarajevo.  Here is the scene of the assassination of the Crown Prince of Austria, which was at least the final cause of the war.  As we enter it we find a population of about forty thousand, half of which are Mohammedans.  It is a large, straggling town, situated in a narrowing valley overtopped by steep hills on either side, which close in a narrow gorge in the east and broaden into a plain on the west.  It was to the eastward, however, that we shall find the heavy fighting along the Austro-Serbian frontier.