Chapter 8

THE NEAR EAST........................................... 152

The first talk about Salonika -- The railway and the port -- The question of operations based on Macedonia at the end of 1914 -- Failure of "easterners" to realize that the Western Front was Germany's weakest front -- Question whether it might not have been better to go to Salonika than to the Dardanelles -- Objections to this plan -- The problem of Bulgaria -- Consequences of the Russian _débâcle_ -- Difficulty of the Near Eastern problem in the early summer -- An example of how the Dardanelles Committee approached it -- Awkwardness of the problem after the failure of Sir I. Hamilton's August offensive -- The Bulgarian attitude -- Entente's objection to Serbia attacking Bulgaria -- I am ordered to Salonika, but order countermanded -- The disaster to Serbia -- Hard to say what ought to have been done -- Real mistake, the failure to abandon the Dardanelles enterprise in May -- The French attitude about Salonika -- General Sarrail -- French General Staff impressed with War Office information concerning Macedonia -- Unsatisfactory situation at the end of 1915 -- The Salonika business a blunder all through -- Eventual success does not alter this.