The Press. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 1918. The Enemy Collapse.

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 16360, 4 November 1918, Page 6

The Press. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 1918. The Enemy Collapse.

The plain citizen is likely to be a little bewildered by the mass of news to-day recording the ruin and collapse of our enemies. Turkey has accepted terms for an armistice which are equivalent to unconditional surrender, for she has handed over to the Allies complete control of her affairs, military, commercial, and territorial. Bulgaria, already helpless and practically disarmed, is said to be in a state of revolution. The King is reported' to have abdicated, and a republican movement is in full swing. Austria's position is almost impossible of definition. The Emperor has fled from Vienna, with a parting recommendation to the people to accept the new Government. T'ne Southern Slavs have proclaimed tho new Southern Slav State, the Bohemian republic has got the length of receiving recognition even from Germany, and the German portion of Bohemia has declared itself a new State. The Magyar National Council is striving to maintain a stable Government, but is apparently fighting against a desperate outbreak of Bolshevism. The Austrian Fleet, according to a report that appears reliable, has been handed over to tho new Southern Slav authorities. While the Austrian Empire has thus burst into fragments past all hope of repair the Austrian Army is fighting a losing fight on the Italian front, and the Austrian High Command has asked for an armistice. The surrender of the Army may be expected at any time, for the Allied forces have swept away the Austrian left, and there is no visible Austria for the beaten Army to fight for. Tho position in. Germany is still nob clear. Some facts are, of course, as dear as can be, and the chief of these is tho extent and vigour of tho public campaign for the abdication of the Kaiser, which involves the sweeping away of the old Prussian domination altogether. According to one correspondent the conditions in Germany are similar to those in Russia on the eve of the revolution, but it is not very probable that wo shall see developments similar to those that havo left Russia in its present deplorable condi-i tion, for reasons which we have given in earlier discussions of the subject. There is nothing left for Germany but the hope of defending German soil. The Eastern treaties must go, the dream of a Central Europe Alliance has vanished with the ruin of the Austrian Empire. Germany- is now confronted with the problem of maintaining her bare existence as a State. Her allies have deserted her, the dynasty is tottering to its fall, the people are on the verge of revolt, and Foch's armies are daily moving nearer to her frontier, so that she is not in n condition to make any stipulations whatever. In the meantime, nothing definite is reported from Versailles, although an unofficial report from Washington states that the terms of the armistice are purely military. They could not but be very comprehensive and very severe. With their presentation to the enemy the final act of the drama begins, for they must be accepted or rejected. If they are accepted, Germany will havo surrendered. If they aic rejected, the German people's turn will come. In German Government circles it is hoped, and perhaps believed, that the people will support the rejection of terms implying military defeat, but we cannot imagine the German people as capable of enduring the ordeal of a hopeless fight to a finish. There is nothing on the Western front to encourage the belief that the Allied advance can bo checked. Valenciernes has been occupied, and the advance continues towards Mons. The Scheldt has been crossed from a point south of Audenarde northwards to within half a dozen miles of Ghent. Jn the Champagne and Argonne the enemy is being steadily forced north-' wards. The advance from day to day | is not now very great, but it is con-! tinuous, and the important thing is! that the enemy is unable to maintain ; a firm resistance for long at any point from Holland to LoTraino. It will be impossible to persuade the German people that this does not signify that the Allies in the coming spring, when the weather is more favourable to operations and when tho German inferiority will bo more marked than ever, can be kept off German soiL. '