This, then, was the result of the battle of Verdun six months after it
had begun. There had been no decisive victory. Each side retained its
positions, but each was ready to strike whenever the opportune moment
presented itself.
Even while the fighting at Verdun was at its height there came the
whisper of a grand offensive to be launched by the Allies. The whisper
became louder as the days passed. There was more talk of Roumania and
Greece throwing their armies to the support of the Allies, thus forming a
steel cordon around the Central powers and their smaller allies, Bulgaria
and Turkey, and forcing the Germans to shorten their lines. In the
eastern war theater the Russians again were on the advance and were
pushing the Germans and Austrians hard, threatening for a second time to
invade Galicia and the plains of Hungary. It began to appear that the end
was in sight.
Italy, too, had launched a new offensive with Trieste as the objective
and the driving power of the Italian troops was beginning to tell. It
began to appear that the Central powers must before long be placed upon
the defensive in all war zones.
The world waited impatiently for the opening of the grand allied
offensive that, it was expected, would be delivered simultaneously on all
fronts.
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