PERSIAN GULF

this term is, strictly speaking, restricted to the land-locked sea which extends from the mouth of the shatt al ‘arab 460 m. to the mountainous promontory of ras musandam, but for the purpose of this article it will be considered to include the gulf of oman to which it is joined by the strait of ormuz, 29 m. wide. the gulf itself has an average width of 120 miles. it is tidal, spring tides rising about g ft.; with the exception of the shatt al “arab almost all the streams that flow into it are so salt as to be undrinkable. good harbours are scarce, with the exception of al kuwait and muscat, anchor- age being mostly shallow and exposed. political history—up to 19013 the turks exercised suzerain rights in the maritime tracts of al ilasa and hofuf and claimed 87 it in qatar and al kuwait. the sultan of nejd, ‘abd el ‘aziz ibn sa‘ud, ejected them from the first-named districts; the world war put an end to their claims elsewhere in the gulf. the trucial chiefs of the arabian coast hold sway from ras musan dam to qatar. from east to west their headquarters run as follows:—ras al khaima, umm qaiwain, ‘ajman, sharja, dibai, abu dhabi, qatar. the sheikh of bahrein exercises no authority on the mainland. the friendly attitude of ibn sa‘ud towards great britain on the outbreak of the war resulted in the conclusion of a treaty with him dated dec. 28 1915, in which he was recognised as inde- pendent ruler of nejd and ai iasa, and given a limited dynastic guarantee, with a promise of support in case of foreign aggression. great britain assumed control of his foreign relations outside arabia. he on his part undertook not to alienate any territory to a foreign power, except with the consent of the british gov- ernment. british interests —the peculiar interests, strategic, political and commercial, of great britain in the persian gulf have never been denied, the considered policy of the british govt. was embodied in 1903 in lord lansdowne’s declaration in the house of lords:— we should regard the establishment of a naval base or of a fortified port in the persian gulf by any other power as a very grave menace to british interests, and we should certainly resist it by all the means at our disposal. this declaration was formally reaffirmed in 1907 by sir e. grey in a dispatch to the british ambassador at st. petersburg, which further stated that :— h.m.’s government will continue to direct all their efforts to the observance of the status que in the gulf, and the maintenance of british trade; in doing so, they have no desire to exclude the legit- imate trade of any other power. these declarations were never challenged, and the policy indi- cated has been steadfastly followed by successive governments. arms traffic.—the arms traffic was rife in 1911, in spite of a naval blockade of the makran coast by great britain in 1910-11. in 1912 the sultan of muscat issued a proclamation requiring all arms 1m- ported into muscat to be placed in a special warehouse. this killed the trade at muscat and, by 1913, it had virtually ceased to exist. slave trade.—i\n 1833 the status of slavery was abolished through- out the british empire. great britain, in defiance of her commercial interests and her popularity with the moslem populations of the gulf, set herself to suppress the trade in these waters, an arduous task involving great sacrifice of life and money. by 1920 the last remaining traces of the traffic by sea had virtually disappeared, but domestic slavery as an institution is likely to continue in muscat and in central arabia; it is important to distinguish domestic slav- ery, which is an institution recognised by koranic law, which im- poses many obligations and restrictions on the owners of slaves, from the commercialised slavery which disgraced christendom in the 18th and the early days of the roth century. trade.—the persian gulf serves as a means of communication for two land masses, viz., persia and arabia. in both, the population is small and poor, so that the commerce of the region is of compara- tively small aggregate value. the principal port is bushire on the persian side; the others, in order of importance, are mohammerah, rebeca (manama), bandar ‘abbas, al kuwait, muscat and lingeh, since the standard of living of all the peoples round the gulf is low, their requirements are few; cotton piece goods, tea, sugar and foodstuffs are the principal imports. the total value of goods 1m- orted into the persian gulf in 1924 was about {8,500,000 sterling— including piece goods to the value of £2,000,000, sugar {1,500,000, rice £750,000, tea and coffee £500,000. of imports, over 50% are from india and 25% from the united kingdom, but a large propor- tion of india’s share consists of goods in transit from europe and the united kingdom. the exports for 1924 were estimated at {12,500,000 sterling, including the anglo-persian oil company’s exports valued at £8,000,000, opium £1,250,000, pearls {500,000 (probably greatly undervalued), carpets £250,000, dates £250,000. of exports (including petroleum products) the united kingdom in 1924 took about 50%, india 18°, russia 8% (mostly opium). communications.—the only steamship line (1926) running regular services to the gulf ports is the british india steam navigation co., ltd. the next line of importance is run by messrs. f. c. strick and co. ltd., who maintain a direct service with the united kingdom to the persian gulf. there is of course constant communication be- tween various ports by native craft. when once merchandise has 88 arrived at any port, the further transport to the hinterland is effected by pack animals. the following table shows the amount of shipping entering the shatt al ‘arab during the three years:— gross registered no. of tonnage steamers 1922-3 2,581,855 530 1923-4 2,776,052 636 1924-5 3,197,046 6o1 of which about 75° were tank steamers proceeding to abadan for oil, of which some 4,000,000 tons were exported in 1924-5. the bar of the shatt al ‘arab is being dredged by the ‘iraq govt., and it is intended to maintain a minimum depth of 27 ft. at high water, along a dredged channel 12 m. in length. lights and buoys are maintained at certain ports and on certain islands in the persian gulf by the british govt., the cost being met (since oct. 1925) by a levy on all ships crossing the bar of the shatt al ‘arab. currency.—on the persian side the unit of currency is the kran {roughly equal to 6d.); the rupee is also current. on the arabian side the rupee is in general use; inland the maria teresa dollar (roughly equal to 2s. 6d.) is in use. brptiograrny.—d. g. hogarth, the nearer east (1902); l. fraser, india under curzon and after (1911); s. b. miles, the countries and tribes of the persian gulf, 2 vol. (1919); sir p. sykes, a history of persia, 2nd ed., 2 vol. (1921); h. st. j. b. phelby, the heart of arabia, 2 vol. (1922); see also: admiralty, notes on climate and other subjects in eastern mediterranean and adjacent countries (naval intelligence dept., 1922); geographical journal: for nov. 1923, r. e. cheesman, “‘ from oquir to the ruins of salwa,” vol. ixu., no. 5; and feb 1925, “ the deserts of jafura and jabrin”; march 1925, a. t. wilson, ‘‘ the delta of the shatt al ‘arab and proposals for dredging the bar,” vol. ixv.; sept. 1925, p. z. cox, “ some excursions in oman.” (a. wil.) pertab singh, srr (1844-1922), indian soldier and states- man (see 21.259), relinquished his position as maharaja of idar in torr in favour of his adopted son daolat singh, in order to resume the regency of jodhpur which he had previously held on the death of his brother in 1895, but this time for his grand- nephew summair singh, then 13 years of age. when the world war broke out sir pertab, in the words of lord hardinge the viceroy, ‘‘ would not be denied his right to serve the king- emperor in spite of his 7o years.”” he came to france for service in the field with his young ward, then only 16, and commanded the famous jodhpur lancers. in the later stages of the war he served with them in egypt and palestine. sir summair singh died in 1918, two years after receiving ruling powcrs, and sir pertab again became regent, assisted by a council. he died on sept. 4 1922, after nearly 60 years of close association with the administration of jodhpur. perth, australia (see 21.259), the capital of western aus- tralia, had a population of 154,873 in 1921 within a 1o-mile ra- dius, which included the port of fremantle and 129,339 in the city proper. perth is linked to brisbane by the railway opened in tor7 from port augusta to kalgoorlie. the tramways were transferred to the government in 1913 and are now worked in connection with the railways. a comprehensive scheme for supplying water to the metropolitan area was undertaken in 1922. the university of western australia was inaugurated in 1913 and a branch of the mint was established here in 1916. » perth, scotland (see 21.260), with an area of 2,653 ac., had a population of 33,208 in 1921, showing a small decrease on the figures for 1911. the city has been in the perth and kinross division for parliamentary purposes since 1918. in 1910 the west tower of the cathedral, which had been left unfinished owing to the insecure state of the foundations, was taken down. a city hall in king edward street was finished in 1911, and a replica of the old market cross, destroved in 1765, was unveiled in the open space opposite the hall in 1913, as a memorial to king ed- ward vii. new buildings for the perth royal infirmary were opened on the slope of a hill to the west of the city in 1914. the perth academy and sharp’s institute were combined in 1915. the museum of the perth literary and antiquarian socicty has been handed over to the municipality and reorganised. kin- noull hill, a landmark overlooking perth, was presented by lord dewar in 1924. the restoration of the church of st. john the baptist was undertaken as a war memorial. pertab singh—peru peru (see 21.264),a republic in south america, and a member of the league of nations. the estimated area was 532,000 sq. m. in t925. no census has been taken, but the population in 1925 was estimated at 4,750,000, consisting of indians 52%; mestizos, 30°%; asiatics, negro-indians, etc., 10%; pure negroes of african origin, 6%; and whites (caucasian), 2%. the chief towns and their population (1925 estimate) are: lima and sub- urbs 225,000; arequipa, 55,000; callao, the principal port,60,000; cuzco, 35,000; trujillo, 25,000; iquitos and ayacucho, 20,000 each; and chiclayo, 30,000. [.. political history 5 the presidential term of don augusto b. leguia y salcedo, 1908-12, was notable for many internal reforms and improve- ments, including the planning of the ucayali railway and the settlement of old boundary disputes with bolivia and brazil. a policy of naval reform and commercial development was inter- rupted by the collapse of the rubber market, which caused a fi- nancial stringency. at the expiration of his term of office in 1912, leguia was succeeded by don guillermo billinghurst, the grandson of an english officer. the conservative party did not, however, approve sefior billinghurst’s parliamentary reform policy, and a military coup d’etat led by col. oscar benavides re- sulted in his removal from office and deportation in feb. 1914. benavides remained in the presidency until july 1915. fach of these presidential terms was revolutionary in character and there was general political uneasiness, accentuated by acute diplo- matic controversies with ecuador and bolivia. the war period. —the outbreak of the world war found peru passing through a period of economic and financial difficulty, which continued until the end of 1915, when the «(lemand for pe- ruvian cotton, sugar, copper and other products at war prices greatly relieved the situation. dr. jos¢ pardo entered upon his second presidential term in july 1915. public opinion was divided as to the attitude to be adopted by peru towards the war. a section of the conservative aristocracy was at first inclined to favour the centra] empires, partly because of a dislike of presi- dent wilson’s utterances, but mostly because of financial and sentimental ties with germany. on the other hand the majority of the intelligentsia strongly favoured france and her allies, and this element finally caused the severance of diplomatic relations with germany in 1917, soon after the declaration of war by the united states. the years 1916, 1917 and 1918 were remarkable in that, whereas trace and industry enjoyed the greatest boom known since the foundation of the republic, the national finances did not improve to a corresponding degree—largely owing to the need for a thorough overhauling of the administration, which the complexities of local politics prevented the president from effect- ing. on several occasions minor crises occurred, the most nota- ble being in 1918 when members of the military garrison of an- con revolted and caused a good deal of damage, which included the cutting of the railway, before they made their escape to the interior. post-war developments.—fearly in ig1g sefor augusto b. leguia returned from england and announced his intention of again standing for the presidency. on may 18 the election took place without disorder, but before the results could be declared a coup d'etat on july 4, unaccompanied by violence, placed leguia in the chief executive ofice. the new president issued a mani- festo declaring that an attempt to deprive him of a victory at the polls had compelled him to seize the direction of affairs and he proposed to introduce constitutional reforms which would render personal and autocratic government impossible. on july to a decree was issued authorising the formation of a constituent as- sembly for the purpose of altering the existing constitution. this body formally opened on sept. 24 and passed a law giving legal sanction to all the acts and degrees of the provisional govern- ment. sefior leguia was inaugurated as constitutional president on oct. 12 1919; and by the end of the year the constitutional reforms he had proposed were referred to a plebiscite, and accepted almost in their entirety. the chief reforms propose were :— peru | r. an increase of the presidential term from four to five years, and the re-election of an entirely new congress for the same period, instead of for two years as hitherto; 2. a council of state, consisting of six members to act in an ad- visory capacity to the president to be provided for; 3. the reorganisation and decentralisation of provincial govern- ment, and the formation of three regional legislatures; 4. income tax, hitherto unknown, to be introduced; 5. government officials debarred from drawing salary from more than one post at the same time; and 6. labour disputes to be settled by compulsory arbitration. some of these reforms did not immediately materialise; others were introduced before the end of 1919. at the beginning of dec. the assembly authorised the dissolution of all municipal bodies, and the appointment, by the executive, of new ones. on dec. 26 a law was passed empowering the government to confis- cate the property of persons attempting a revolution. the gen- eral prosperity of the country helped the opening period of le- guia’s administration, and, although the masses were fervently in his favour, his opponents were of opinion that his proposals for legislative reform and agricultural, commercial and industrial developments, were much too ambitious to be immediately suc- cessful. in 1920 the new constitution drawn up in 1919 was pub- lished, and throughout the year the president’s reformist efforts were continued with unabated zeal. the years 1920 and 1921 (up to the month of august) showed a continuance of his original policy, often interrupted by acri- monious discussions in congress and by spasmodic attempts at obstructionism here and there by the president’s political ene- mies. on aug. 5 an insurrectionary movement described to be for the purpose of “ constitutional restoration ” was initiated by a captain cervantes in the department of loreto. this move- ‘ment spread to the departments of san martin and amazonas; and although the government sent small bodies of troops, isolated risings on a small scale continued among the indian population and in the south. the rising was not finally suppressed till late in 1921. during this ineffective revolt the peruvian and brazil- ian governments exchanged notes in regard to a request by peru that navigation should be stopped between manaos in brazil and tquitos in peru, following upon the closure of this port by a de- cree of aug. 10. the years 1921, 1922 and 1923 were marked by an acute financial and economic crisis caused by a collapse of the abnor- mal prosperity induced by the world war, to be followed by a slow and gradual process of readjustment that was well on the way to completion by 1924. in that year the government, although still hampered by lack of funds, had succeeded in elfecting many improvements in administration. don augusto b. leguia was again elected to the presidency in 1924, this time unopposed by the votes of the democratic, democratic reform and constitutional parties, for the period 1924-9, during which he proposed to continue his reforms. in may 1924 preparations were made for the election of a new congress, and the cabinet was reconstituted with dr. alexandrino maguina as president of the council. from then onwards till the end of the year governmental and public attention was directed towards prep- arations for the celebration of the centenary of ayacucho in dec., to commemorate the final struggle against spain which culminated in the independence of peru and the spanish- speaking republics of south america. for this event special missions and embassies representing 39 nations were sent to lima, amongst whom were gen. pershing representing the united states and president saavedra representing bolivia. the year 1925 was free from political disturbances, and during it president leguia worked to bring to completion his far- reaching proposals for the reform of administration in peru. the difficulties in his path were great and progress was slow, for, because of his virtual dictatorship, he had alienated the sympathies of many of the ruling class, which had hitherto regarded the privilege of government as reserved to its own members. the commercial community and the mass of the people largely approved of his methods, for many solid achieve- ments stand to the credit of his regime: yellow fever has been stamped out, sanitation schemes have been initiated, construc- 89 tion and road-making have progressed, order has been, on the whole, successfully maintained, and the national finances, if not fully restored to equilibrium, have been greatly improved. | during the period 1910-25 the boundary dispute with chile regarding the provinces of tacna-arica has at times, especially during the period 1922-5, overshadowed all other questions of home and foreign policy (see tacna-arica). defence.—military service is compulsory but not universally enforced, and consists of two years in the active army, five years in the first reserve, five in the second, and 20 years in the national guard. the peace establishment is 8,000 officers and men forming 13 regiments of infantry, seven of cavalry, and four of mountain artillery, together with units of coast defence and field artillery. there is a military school, a staff school, an engineering school and a military aviation school. gendar- merie and police, including civil guards, have a personnel of 8,000. the army is modelled on that of the french army and a i’rench military mission was employed by the government for instructional purposes. the navy in 1925 consisted of two lizht cruisers, one auxiliary cruiser, one destroyer, two sub- marines, and a river flotilla on the amazon of six small units. there is a school for naval aviation. a north american naval mission has trained the personnel since 1920 and advised the minister of marine on technical subjects. the personnel of the navy was 179 officers and 1,500 ratings in 1925. educution.—primary education is compulsory, and free in the government schools; secondary education is given in high schools at a moderate charge. in 1925 there were over 2,000 primary schools with 200,000 pupils. each departmental capital has a high school supported by the government with some 5,000 pupils. there are four universities—san marcos at lima; arequipa, cuzco, and trujillo; there is also a school of mining and civil engineering. il. financial and economic history finance.—the unit of currency is the peruvian pound ({p.) equal at par to the £ sterling. exchange from ro10 to 1916 was steady, but from 1916 onwards (owing to excess of exports over imports) the £p. was at a premium over the £ sterling, rising to 283° in 1918 and to 30% in 1919. during the first half of 1920 it averaged 20%, declining to a discount of 143% in 1921 but rising again to 16}°% premium in jan. 1923, with slight variations up to dec. 1925. note issues amounted to {p.7,000,000 approximately, fully covered by gold. public debt in 1923 amounted to {p.11,401,391 of which {£p.4,371,049 was external. this was slightly increased in 1924 and 1925. the budget for 1914 was: revenue {p.3,547,836 and expenditure {p.3,109,836. for 192§ it was estimated to balance at £p.8,364,- 068. the principal sources of revenue are customs taxes on imports and exports, and taxes on miscellaneous articles. produciion.—agricultural products in order of importance are:—sugar, cotton, wool, hides and skins. other products are: castor oil, rice, hides, wheat, coffee, barley, lumber, potatoes, coca, cocaine and sisal hemp. before the cultivation of plantation rubber after 1910, wild rubber, collected in the peruvian oriente, was one of the chief exports, but by 1925 the industry had practically ceased to exist; most of the interests formerly engaged in this industry are now devoted to cotton. with the exception of the andean region, nearly the whole of peru, and especially the valleys of the coastal region, is fertile. considerable atten- tion has been paid by the government to irrigation. before 1914 peru imported wheat; in 1925 over 100,000 hectares were in cultivation, with an estimated production of about 75,c00 metrictons. the area under sugar-cane approximates 1,000 square miles. salaverry and trujillo are the chief centres of the sugar industry, the annual production of sugar approaching 350,000 tons. some 500 sq. m. are under cotton, mainly in the southern coastal areas: the annual production approximates 30,000 tons. rice is extensively grown, some 30,000 tons being produced annually. coffee is grown in the central areas: the cultivation of coca is extending. coca is grown in the cuzco, ayacucho, and huanuco districts: over 3,000 lb. of cocaine is exported go annually. stockraising is of growing importance but is hampered by lack of sufficient labour; the alpaca, the llama and the vicuiia are prized for their coats; but since 1920 a law has prohibited trade in articles made from vicufiia wool. mineral production is valued at over {10,000,900 annually, the chief minerals being petroleum, copper, silver and gold. the production of petroleum is increasing (see petroleum). the coal output exceeds 300,000 tons per annum. industyy.—cotton spinning and the manufacture of sugar with its by-products are the chief industries. apart from these two, peruvian manufacturing activities are only of local impor- tance, although there is much scope for development. the chief cotton-weaving factories are at lima, ica, arequipa and cuzco. there are altogether about 1,500 looms producing up to 25,000,- ooo yards of material annually, with an invested capital of over {p.500,000. other manufacturing industries are: fuel, panama hats, paper, woollen goods, fertilisers from guano, coca and by-products, and cotton by-products. trade.—after a decrease in trading caused by the outbreak of the world war, the european demand for peruvian products brought a period of prosperity to the country, which continued with interruptions during 1920, 1921 and 1922 to 1925. in 1921 the government organised a trade exhibition which was held in lima. the following tables give the value of the trade in fp. and the direction of trade during certain years:— imports exports {p. {p. 6,088,776 18,358,224 18,029,418 12,680,000 9,137,780 35:304,155 25,111,377 15,184,000 ! first ntne months. trade with foretgn countries great britain u.s.a. germany year exp. %/|imp. %| exp. %| imp. %|] exp. %/| imp. % 1913 37°2 26°3 33:2 29°8 6-7 17°3 igig 31-4 13°5 46°6 62-0 1924! 45°0 170 1 estimate. 33°9 communications.—in 1914 there were 1,825 m. of railways, which had increased to approximately 2,030 by 1925. one-third of the railways of peru are narrow gauge. the peruvian cor- poration, with registered offices in london and largely owned by foreign interests, controls over 80% of the railways, including the central, one of the world’s great achievements in railway engineering. this line of 248 m. runs from lima to oroya through the andes, reaches a height of 15,665 ft. above sea level and serves important agricultural and mining districts. ‘the cerro de pasco railway is a branch extension of the central, reaches a height of 14,300 ft. above sea level, and has a branch serving the coal-mining district of goyllarisquica. roads are of little importance—although some 5,000 m. exist they are mainly tracks, only about 375 m. being suitable for motor traffic in 1925, but a further 300 km. were under con- struction or being planned. in 1916 the government put for- ward an elaborate scheme of road construction which was yet uncompleted in 1925. civil aviation was still in its infancy in 1925, although a school had been established at lima and tenta- tive efforts had been made in 1920 and 1o21 for the establish- ment of air services along the coast. there are some 7,000 m. of navigable rivers, of which the chief is the amazon with the peruvian port iquitos about 2,c00 m. from the brazilian port of para, and visited by vessels of 2,000 tons. by an agreement made in rg21 the marconi wireless telegraph company took over the administration of the telegraphic and postal services. in 1925 there were 10,000 km. of telegraphs with about 350 offices, there were 664 post offices in 1911 and over 800 in 1925. the peruvian mercantile marine consisted in 1925 of 12 -petain steamers, 16 sailing ships and 80 small craft, representing 23,000 tons aggregate; the compafia peruana de vapores, of which the government owns one-half of the capital, is the only national steamship line. banking.—the principal bank is the banco del perf y lon- dres, which has its head office in lima and has branches in the chief towns. in 1922 the banco de reserva del perf, a central reserve bank, commenced operations and was granted the sole right to issue notes. a law passed in 1923 enacts that a branch of a foreign bank must have in peru a capital of £p.200,000 and must have its obligations guaranteed. deposits in banks in 1925 were estimated at over £p.12,000,000. the government claims 6°% of interest accruing on all current accounts. bipliography.—c. r. enock, peru: history, topography and commerce (1919); h. ferreccio, fl preblema del pacifico (1919); l. s. rowe, effects of the war upon the finance, commerce and in- dustry of peru (1920). see also ministerio de relaciones, boletin (1910, etc.); publications of the pan-american union (washington, d.c.); department of overseas trade, reports on the finance, industry and trade of peru, published by h.m. stationery office, london. (p. a. me.) petain, henri philippe benoni omer joseph (1856- ), french soldier, was born may 24 1856 at cauchy ja tour (pas de calais). he was commissioned from st. cyr 1878, passed in due course through the ecole de guerre, filled various staff appointments, including that of instructor at the ecole de guerre, and was promoted colonel in rgro. at the outbreak of the world war he was commanding an infantry regiment, but he was immediately given a brizade and then a division, and acquitted himself so well during the opening weeks of the struggle that he was advanced to the command of the xxnniiti. army corps in artois on oct. 25 r914. he greatly distinguished him- self on the occasion of the french offensive near arras in may 1915, where his corps completely broke through the german position, though exploitation proved to be impossible for want of reserves. on june 21 rors he was given command of the ii. army, which under his orders carried out on sept. 25 1915 the great attack in champagne. after this action gen. petain wrote a remarkable rapport sur les operations de la ile. armee en champagne et enseignements @ en tirer. this contained the principles of a new tactical doctrine, and was published in the archives de la grande guerre, no. 10, pp. 5-30. after the battle of champagne, the staff of the ii. army was withdrawn from the front, and was thus available at the moment when the germans were attacking verdun on feb. 21 1916. it was then that the task of stopping the advance of the crown prince was entrusted to petain. on feb. 24 he was summoned by telegram to general headquarters at chantilly. from thence he proceeded immediately to his new headquarters, arriving there on the evening of the 25th. his chauffeur missed his way in the snow and petain himself was seized with pneumonia. no one knew this, however, but his doctor, and ill as he was he directed the battle during the first few days. his first task was to organise the battle zone. he fixed a line of defence from bras to douaumont: this line had to be held at all costs, and under cover of it he divided up the ground to be held in sections which were duly laid out and equipped. it was largely owing to the system and energy of petain that verdun was saved. on may 1 1016 he was given the command of the centre army group, of which the iv. army, on the left, took part in the great offensive of april 16 1917. at the war council held on april 6 at compiegne, petain, while admitting that there was an opportunity for an offensive, had asked that it might be limited to definite objectives; but after the check on april 16 he was strongly opposed to its being continued. on april 28 he was appointed chief of the general staff at the ministry of war in paris; and on may 15 he replaced gen. nivelle as commander- in-chief of the armies in the field. the french army at that time was faced with a grave crisis, not excluding mutinies. petain did his utmost to remove the special causes of discontent, such as the irregularity of leave, and the inequality between units in their tours of duty in the trenches. peter. ].—petrograd he also saw to it that soldiers on leave were not exposed to dangerous influences or neglect, and he renewed the confidence between the combatants and their leaders. he visited personally every division and questioned the officers. by means of reforms rather than measures of repression, he succeeded from the month of june onwards in having the army completely in hand. he saw clearly that, in view of the wastage in man-power caused by three years of devastating war, an offensive project on a great scale, such as his predecessor had adventured, was impossible for the time being. he therefore decided to exercise patience. in directive no. 1 he informed the army group and army com- manders that they must limit themselves provisionally to pre- paring attacks with only limited objectives with the object of wearing out the enemy reserves. in directive no. 2, which was issued in the second fortnizht of june, he reconstructed the training of the troops. in directive no. 3, at the beginning of july, he laid down the method of distribution in depth. the keynote of the linited operations outlined by his directive no. 1 was to be thoroughness of orzanisation and the high pro- portion of fire-power, so as to give the maximum result with the minimum risk. such were the characteristics of the action of the i. army in flanders, july 15-31; the ii. army before verdun, aug. 13-25; and of the vi. arny at malmaison, oct. 17-26. late in 1917 it became apparent that owing to the defection of russia a formidable german o‘fensive would be launched in the spring of 1918 on the western front. with this in view, petain studied the possibilities of surprise by placing reserves within reach of the threatened points. on feb. 22 1918 he and sir douglas haiz azreed to give each other mutual assistance. each commander-in-chief undertook in the event of the other being attacked to relieve a sector of his front in order to free a certain number of his divisions. this agreement was drawn up in document no. 5.376. on march 21 when the germans had just attacked gen. gough’s arny with great violeac2, petain hurried forward the v. corps which was in reserve behind his left wing. on the 22nd haig having requested the intervention of the french army, petain pushed forward the extreme left or 125th div. of the vi. army towards the field of battle, where it arrived during the night march 22-3. other french units were speedily added ia order to assist the british, and these formed successively the iii. army and then the i. meanwhile, on march 26 at doullens, gen. foch had been entrusted with the mission of co-ordinating the efforts of the allied armies. petain therefore hid only to carry out on th2 lines of the directives issued by foch those operations which hal been assigned to the french arnies. he withstood the german attacks of may 27, june g and july 15, and as a tactical counter to the enemy’s offensives, he planned in a note of june 24 new tactics of elastic defence under which the second line trench system became the main position of resistance. it was now the moment to pass to the counter-offensive. on june 27 foch had asked petain to draw up a directive for an offensive. this was the directive no. 5, july 1. the operation itself as originally planned was to consist of a move hy gen. mangin’s army on soissons. on june 14 foch had ordered preparations to be made for an offensive against this town. on june 16 petain issued the same order to gen. fayolle, the com- mander of the army group. on june 20 mangin, who was en- trusted with its execution, drew up the plan of action, which consisted of preliminary operations which were to be followed by the occupation of the heights in front of the town. this plan was approved on june 27 and the first phase was carried out between june 28 and july 3. the preliminary successes led mangin to think that the action could be further developed. on july 7 petain and foch discussed this point; and next day petain sent fayolle a letter in which he expressed approval of mangin’s plans. but on july 9 foch conceived the idea of an action on a larger scale in which two other armies should take part. with this end in view petain on july 12 issued to the army group com- manders instructions which were approved by foch on july 13. on july 14 foch went to see petain, and an agreement was oi reached between them as to the time when the offensive should be launched. this was planned for the r8th. from these details it will be realised how close was the collaboration between the different sections of the command. petain, under similar conditions, prepared the great offensives of aug. 8 and sept. 25 1918 and he was also responsible for push- ing the germans back to the ardennes. on nov. 21 petain received at the hands of the president of the republic at metz the baton of afarechal de france; he was also the recipient of many high honours from the allied governments. he subse- quently held the position of vice-president of the conseil supe- rieur de la guerre; and it was in this capacity that he went to morocco in the summer of 1925 to supervise the arrival and employment of the reinforcements which were sent out to carry on the campaign against abdel krim. (eis bt1*) peter i. (1844-1921), first king of the serbs, croats and slovenes, was the eldest son of alexander karagjorgjevie, who had been elected as prince of serbia on the expulsion of the obrenovi¢e dynasty in 1842, and was therefore grandson of kara george, the first leader of serbian independence. his father lost his throne in 1858 and withdrew to austria, where peter grew to manhood. accused of complicity in the plot against prince michael obrenovie (1868), prince alexander transferred himself with his family to switzerland, and peter made geneva his headquarters for many years. in 1870 he joined the french army as a volunteer and served with distinction in the campaign against germany. in 1876 he joined the bosnian insurgents against turkey and fought under the assumed name of peter mrkonji¢e, leaving behind him a leg- end which had its influence on the young revolutionaries of a later generation. in 1882 he, the exiled pretender, and not the newly proclaimed king of serbia, was invited to attend the coronation of tsar alexander iii., who resented milan’s depend- ence upon vienna: and it was very largely due to the tsar’s personal influence that in 1883 peter married zorka, daughter of prince nicholas of montenegro. for a time he lived at cetinje and his children were born there, but after his wife’s death in 1890 he again lived in geneva. in 1903 shortly after the murder of king alexander and queen draga by a military gang, peter was unanimously elected king of serbia and though he was gravely embarrassed at home by the political interference of the regicides, and abroad by the odious circumstances to which he owed his accession, he set himself steadily to work for constitutional government, his tact, self-eflacement and liberal outlook forming a marked con- trast to the attitude of serbia’s previous rulers and contributing to the rapid political consolidation which followed the upheaval of 1903. in june iogr4 ill-health forced him to entrust crown prince alexander with the regency, and condemned him to a passive rele during the world war. but the simplicity of his life, his stirring proclamations to his soldiers and the visits which he paid to the trenches in a half crippled condition, did much to encourage serbian resistance; and he shared the privations of the great retreat across albania, lying in a litter which was some- times carried by soldiers, sometimes propped in a bullock cart. after the war and his election as ‘‘ king of the serbs, croats and slovenes,” he lived mainly in retirement at topola and died on aug. 16 1921. (r. w. s.-w.) peters, karl (1856-1918), german traveller (see 21.300), in feb. 1918 published an autobiography, and died at woltorf, hanover, on sept. 1o of the same year. petrograd or leningrad, russia (see 24.38), the former capital of the russian empire is now the capital of the province of leningrad. the govt. was removed to moscow on march g 1918. the name was changed from st. petersburg to petro- grad on sept. 1 1914 and 1c leningrad on april 22 1920. the city is in a far worse condition even than moscow since the removal of the official bodies, and is only a shadow of its former self. the people are in a state of extreme poverty. the population, 1,429,000 in 1905, was officially given as 926,732 in 1921 and 1,067,328 in 1923, but another authority. in 1925, gave it as barely 500,000. the streets are grass grown, q2 owing to the small amount of traffic and full of holes; many of the houses are in ruins, and few shops or factories are open. in sept. 1924 there were disastrous floods, said to be the worst in the past century, when many bridges and quays were broken. the university, the custom house, the zoological gardens, one of the electrical stations and the central aqueduct were damaged. a number of books were destroyed in the brary of the former imperial academy of sciences, but many pictures and antiquities had been removed to museums in other cities, particularly from the hermitage and yusupov palaces. the palace of the grand duchess xenia, which had been made into a naval museum, library and private dwellings, was destroyed by fire in 1924. in 1925 the roof collapsed over two halls of the winter palace. institutes for the study of a number of branches of science have been established since the revolution, and in 1925 it was decided to erect an observatory on the dome of st. isaacs cathedral. it was stated early in 1926 that 364 churches, having been national- ised, were closed and dismantled of bells and other fittings; the procedure of the authorities being to fix a rental for the buildings beyond the means of the congregations. petrograd is the only baltic harbour left to russia, and is its chief port for imports, but much of the trade comes through reval, riga and libau, which are strong competitors. the port is said by the sovict authorities to have been re-equipped, and to have been up to pre-war standard in 1925, with a total length of quays of 21,000 feet. it is stated to possess the largest ice- breakers in the world for keeping a channel open when the port is closed by ice.