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"As you have noticed, Germany seems to despise the Austrians' help. That is very wrong; if nothing else, Austria has taken away from Germany the shock of the largest part of the Russian Army, at least for the present moment.

"The war will only come to an end for one of the three following reasons:—

"(1) The Triple Entente obtains successes in both theatres of operation and breaks the line of temporary fortification I just told you about; then France and England would have the way open to Berlin, and if the Russians were successful in the East, Germany would be forced to ask for peace.

"(2) The Germans hurry up and break the Franco-English resistance before the new English Army and the Colonial forces (which seem to be of real advantage only in hot weather) step in next spring. This will be now very difficult, as there are two large factors in the problem: the Franco-British Fleet and the Russian Army.

"(3) A neutral Power steps in and makes the scales go down at one or the other side. If this intervention should be in favour of the Entente the crushing of Austria would be almost immediate, and all the forces could be concentrated against Germany, so that the latter would be forced to ask for peace.