Bulgaria's entrance into the war was followed by simultaneous invasions
of Serbia from Austria and from Bulgaria. Under these blows the Serbians
were crushed. Together with her neighbor and ally, brave little
Montenegro, Serbia was overrun by her enemies. The cruelties inflicted
upon the Serbian population by the invading Bulgars are said to have
been fully as horrible as those which had taken place during the
conquest of Belgium in 1914 and of Poland in 1915.

There was serious danger that the government of Greece would follow the
lead of Bulgaria and also enter the war on the side of the Central
Powers. This was prevented by two things. In the first place, a majority
of the Greek people favored the cause of the Allies and were opposed to
Bulgaria. In the second place, the Allies promptly landed an army at
Salonica. Later on, they removed Constantine, the pro-German king of
Greece, and placed his son Alexander upon the throne.

THE EAST AT THE CLOSE OF 1915.--On the eastern front 1915 had been a
year of failure. The Gallipoli campaign had been a humiliation for the
Allies. The Russians had been driven from Russian Poland and from the
Austrian province of Galicia. Bulgaria had joined the Central Powers,
linking Austria-Hungary with Turkey. Serbia, the country whose quarrel
had been the occasion of the whole world struggle, had been conquered by
the enemies of the Allies.

ITALY ENTERS THE WAR.--In May, 1915, Italy declared war upon Austria,
and more than a year later upon Germany. Her reasons for this action
were: (1) her old enmity toward Austria; (2) her desire to annex the
neighboring territory inhabited by Italians, but ruled by Austria; and
(3) her feeling that Austria was opposed to Italian interests in the
Balkans.