partially,  whereas  the  presence  of  the  Russian  army  on  the  Roumanian  territory, ­
  became  not  only  a  charge,  but  even  an  additional  danger 1 ).
Abandoned  by  her  Eastern  ally,  isolated  from  her  Western  allies,  surrounded ­
  on  all  pirts  by  mortal  enemies,  Roumania  resisted  heroically,  she  went
through  all  the  hardships  and  disasters  of  war,  and  for  nearly  two  years,  not
cared  for  by  any  body,  she  lives  the  most  tragical  page  in  her  history  which
bad  ever  been  tragical  enough.
Only  those  who  were  then  in  Roumania,  reduced  to  a  corner  of  her  territory, ­
  can  have  an  idea  of  the  sacrifices  made  by  her  for  the  common  cause,
resisting,  and  by  her  resistance  forcing  the  Russian  army  on  her  territory  to
prolong  the  maintaining  of  the  Eastern  front,  which  otherwise  it  would  have
abandoned  much  sooner.
Later  events  have  proved  how  the  aid  given  by  Roumania  s  Eastern  ally
was  carried  out,  and  how  this  aid  ended  by  the  Russian  betrayal.  Roumania
found  herself  at  that  moment  in  the  difficult  and  unprecedented  position  o
a  belligerent  whose  ally  not  only  forsakts  him,  but  what  is  more,  turns  against
him,  without  having  the  possibility,  on  account  of  her  geographical  position,
of  receiving  any  help  from  her  other  allies.
Roumania,  who  from  the  beginning  had  suffered  the  hardships  of  war,
when  the  aid  of  her  Western  Allies  in  arms  and  ammunition,  did  arrive,  though
after  long  delays,  when  the  Russian  aid  on  the  Roumainian  front,  did  arrive,
though  insufficient  and  late,  now  by  the  falling  off  of  the  Russians,  found
herself  completely  cut  off  from  the  allies,  and  encircled  by  the  enemy.
After  the  first  disasters,  the  Allies,  fearing  lest  the  petroleum  reserves
and  oil  industry  should  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy,  strengthening  by  this
means  its  power  of  attack  on  the  Western  front,  (for  we  all  know  what  a  decisive ­
  part  petroleum  plays  in  modern  warfare),  demanded  at  the  hands  of
Roumania  the  material  sacrifice,  of  destroying  this  industry  herself,  by  setting
fire  to  the  reservoirs,  factories,  wells,  in  fact  all  that  constituted  up  to  that  moment, ­
  one  of  the  most  important  riches  of  our  country.
The  sacrifice  on  the  part  of  Roumania  of  her  only  source  of  combustible ­
  was  such  a  tremendous  loss,  that  the  allies  acknowledged  Roumania’s
title  of  creditor  for  the  material  losses  she  had  suffered  from  this  destruction ­
  in  the  interest  of  the  common  cause,  and  they  undertook  to  pay  these  damages ­
  directly  to  her.
The  advantages  brought  to  the  common  cause,  by  this  destruction,  are
evidenced  by  the  weakening  it  produced  for  the  enemy  who  counted  on  supplies ­
  of  oil  products,  so  necessary  in  modern  warfare,  from  Roumania  2 ).
')  The  effective  Russian  forces  on  the  Roumanian  territory,  were  :  43  divisions  of  infantry  and  11  of  ca
valry,  that  is  1.000.000  men,  of  which  aboul  530.000  were  fighting  troops,  and  the  rest  commissariat,  and
ditfdrent  hospit  al  services,  etc.
s )  Ludendorf  in  his  hook  >!Ki"iegserienerungen«  writing  about  the  Roumanian  oil  products,  says:  »The
stocks  of  petroleum  which  we  found  in  Roumania,  were  not  very  considerable,  The  drilling  plant  had  moreover
been  completely  destroyed,  and  the  wells  skillully  filled  op.  The  English  Colonel,  Thompson,  had  fulfilled  his
task,  which  consisted  in  preventing  us  from  working  the  oilfields.  Hir  work  however  did  not  render  great  ser-