A more serious effort was made against Dvinsk but was equally unsuccessful and the German losses were immense.  Again and again the attempt was made to cross the Dvina River, but without success; the German invasion was definitely stopped.  By the end of October there was complete stagnation in the northern sector of the battle line, and though in November there were a number of battles, nothing happened of great importance.

Further south, however, Russia become active.  An army had been organized at her Black Sea bases, and for political reasons it was necessary that that army should move.  At this time the great question was, what was Roumania about to do?  To prevent her from being forced to join the Central Powers she must have encouragement.  It was determined therefore that an offensive should be made in the direction of Czernowitz.  This town was the railway center of a wide region, and lay close to Roumania’s northern frontier.

[Illustration:  The German attack on the road to petrograd]

The Russian aggressive met with great success.  It is true that it never approached the defenses of Czernowitz, but Brussilov, on the north, had been able to make great gains of ground, and the very fact that such a powerful movement could be made so soon after the Russian retreat was an encouragement to every friend of the Allied cause.  This offensive continued till up to the fourth week of January when it came to an abrupt stop.  A despatch from Petrograd explained the movement as follows:  “The recent Russian offensive in Bessarabia and Galicia was carried out in accordance with the plan prepared by the Entente Allies’ War Council to relieve the pressure on the Entente forces while they were fortifying Saloniki and during the evacuation of the Gallipoli Peninsula.”  Russia had sacrificed more than seventy thousand soldiers for her Allies.

During the year 1916 the Russian armies seemed to have had a new birth.  At last they were supplied with guns and munitions.  They waited until they were ready.  In March a series of battles was fought in the neighborhood of Lake Narotch, and eight successive attacks were made against the German army, intrenched between Lake Narotch and Lake Vischenebski.  The Germans at first were driven back and badly defeated.  Later on, however, the Russian artillery was sent to another section, and the Germans were able to recover their position.  During June the Russians attacked all along the southern part of their line.  In three weeks they had regained a whole province.  Lutsk and Dubno had been retaken; two hundred thousand men and hundreds of guns, had been captured, and the Austrian line had been pierced and shattered.  Further south the German army had been compelled to retreat and the Russian armies were in Bukovina and Galicia.  On the 10th of August Stanislau fell.