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THE 


GEOaRAPHY  OF  THE  GREAT  WAR 


BY 


FRANK   M.    McMURRY,   Ph.D. 


THE    MACMILLAN    COMPANY 
1918 

All  rights  reserved 


Walter  ainton  Jackson  Library 

The  University  of  North  Carolina  at  Greensboro 
Special  Collections  <&  Rare  Books 


World  War  I  Pamphlet  Collection 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2010  with  funding  from 

Lyrasis  IVIembers  and  Sloan  Foundation 


http://www.archive.org/details/geographyofgreatOOinmcmu 


CA^ 


THE   GEOGRAPHY   OF   THE   GREAT    WAR 

By  Frank  M.  McMurky 


Fig.  2. 


1.    German  Empire  in  1914 
(Before  the  War) 

In  order  to  understand  the  geography  of 
the  war,  it  is  necessary  to  make  some  study 
of  Germany. 

There   are   many   states   in   the   German 


Empire,  just  as  there  are  many  in  our  own 
country,    and   they   vary   in   size  and   im- 
portance even  much  more  than   states  of  the 
do    ours.       In    Fig.   2  one  can   German* 
easily    see    which     is     largest.  Empire 
How  does  Prussia  compare  with  all  the  other 
states    together    in    area    and    population? 


Copyright,  191S,  by  The  Macmillan  Ccmpant/ 
1 


THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF  THE  GREAT   WAR 


Which  is  second  in  area  and  population? 
Which  is  third  in  each  ?  Trace  the  boundary 
of  Prussia.  Locate  Bavaria  and  Saxony. 
Note  that  three  of  the  states  are  only  cities. 
Name  and  locate  each  of  these  (see  p.  39). 

Our  largest  state  is  Texas,-  which  is  more 
than  two  hundred  times  as  large  as  Rhode 
Island,  our  smallest.  Our  largest  state  in 
population  is  New  York,  which  contains 
more  than  one  hundi-ed  times  as  many 
people  as  Nevada,  our  smallest  state  in 
population.  Yet  wt  have  no  state  that  is 
nearly  equal'^to  all  the  others  either  in  area 
or  population ;  in  fact,  each  is  a  very  small 
part  of  the  whole. 

From  the  map  it  is*plain  why  people  so 
often  name  Prussia  when  speaking  of  Ger- 
many. Perhaps  the  map  suggests  to  you, 
too,  that  it  is  dangerous  for  a  nation  to 
have  one  state  so  much  larger  than  all  the 
others  together.  In  the  United  States  there  is 
no  such  danger.  But  if  Prussia's  importance 
and  power  correspond  to  its  size,  it  can  con- 
trol the  other  twenty-four  states  and  have 
its  own  way.  If  it  happened  to  be  governed 
by  selfish  men,  all  the  other  states  would 
have  to  suffer ;  and  even  if  it  were  well  gov- 
erned, the  other  states  would  have  too  little 
of  self-government.  It  is  generally  believed 
that  these  dangers  have  not  been  avoided; 
indeed,  that  Prussia's  bad  leadership  has 
been  the  principal  cause  of  the  great  war. 

Germany   has   only   a   small   number   of 

colonies,  as  is  seen  in  Fig.  1.     Notice  their 

areas.     There   are    three    that 

Germany's        ^^^    ^^^^    much    larger     than 

colonies  Germany,     and    their    popula- 

1.  Location,  tions  together  reach  well  into 
area,  and  the  millions  (see  p.  39).  All  of 
popu  a  ion  them  are  in  the  torrid  zone  or 
very  close  to  it.  Locate  each  of  those  in 
Africa.     Note  the  latitude  of  New  Guinea. 

Germany  has  been  greatly  interested  in 

2.  Their  her  colonies  and  has  spent 
importance  large  sums  of  money  for  their 
development.      Her  apparent  aim  has  been 


to  find  suitable  places  for  the  emigration  of 
Germans  from  the  Fatherland.  Although 
the  density  of  population  of  Germany  itself 
(Fig.  534,  main  text)  is  not  so  great  as 
that  of  some  other  countries,  it  has  greatly 
increased  in  recent  years  and  some  outlet 
has  seemed  necessary. 

The  fact  is,  however,  that  very  few  Ger- 
mans have  emigrated  to  these  colonies. 
One  reason  for  this  is  that  the  torrid  climate 
there  makes  life  almost  impossible  for  white 
people ;  at  any  rate,  in  such  regions  the 
white  man  soon  loses  energy  and  health. 

The  kind  of  government  that  a  country 
has  may  be  of  vital  importance  to  other 
countries,  and  that  is  true  of  the  -pj^g  objection 
German  government.  Its  form  to  their  kind 
is  a  monarchy  and  the  chief  of  government 
officer  is  the  Kaiser,  William  II.  He  ap- 
points the  leading  mmister,  called  the  Chan- 
cellor, and  the  latter  appoints  the  other 
members  of  the  cabinet,  such,  for  example, 
as  Minister  of  Interior  and  Minister  of 
Education.  The  difiiculty  is  that  these 
ministers  who  form  the  German  cabinet  and 
very  largely  control  the  state  are  respon- 
sible to  the  Kaiser,  and  not  to  the  people. 
Also,  the  Kaiser  is  not  elected  by  popular 
vote,,  as  our  President  is,  but  has  in- 
herited his  office  and  claims  that  he  holds 
it  by  divine  right,  or  by  appointment  from 
God  alone.  Neither  is  he  responsible  to  the 
people. 

Thus  the  people  have  little  authority  in 
the  government.  It  is  their  duty  to  be 
directed,  —  to  obey,  rather  than  to  lead. 
There  is  no  effective  check  on  the  Kaiser 
or  on  the  leading  statesmen  subject  to  him, 
if  they  happen  to  be  narrow  in  their  plans 
or  too  ambitious  ;  these  leaders  can  even  de- 
clare war  without  the  consent  of  the  people. 

To  this  power  our  objection  is  very  serious. 
We  do  not  believe  that  a  few  men  should 
have  such  power.  War  is  so  fearful  an 
undertaking,  the  welfare  of  the  mass  of  the 
people  is  so  mvolved  in  it,  that  they  ought 


THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF   THE  GREAT   WAR 


to  have  a  voice  in  deciding  such  an  issue ;  at 
least,  only  those  who  represent  them  and  are 
fully  responsible 
to  them  should 
have  that  power. 
Otherwise  a 
small  group 
might  at  any 
time  make  end- 
less trouble  both 
for  themselves 
and  for  other 
nations.  That 
is  what  the 
small  group  in 
Germany  has 
done,  in  starting 
this  war,  and  the 
United  States  is 
determined  to 
aid  in  making 
such  a  step  im- 
possible again.  This  is  one  of  our  great 
aims  in  the  present  war. 

2.    Examples  of  Prussian  Leadership 

We  commonly  think  of  the  United  States 
as  a  young  nation,  and  of  the  governments 
The  youth  of  o^  Europe  as  very  old,  but 
the  German  the  fact  is  that  Germany  is  the 
Empire  youngest  of  the  great  nations. 

We  are  nearly  a  century  older  than  Ger- 
many, for  that  Empire  was  founded  in  1871. 
There  were,  of  course,  German  people  living 
in  that  region  long  before,  but  until  that 
date  they  were  not  brought  together  to 
form  the  German  Empire. 

The  leadership  in  German  affairs,  both 
before  1871  and  since,  has  rested  with  Prussia. 
Several  acts  show  the  spirit  that  has  pre- 
vailed in  Prussia  and,  therefore,  in  the  Ger- 
man Empire  during  the  last  sixty  years. 

About  1860  a  very  strong  and  unscrupu- 
lous man  named  Otto  von  Bismarck  became 
the  chief  minister  in  Prussia.     His  aim  was 


to  make  Prussia  powerful  without  much  re- 
gard to  the  rights  of  other  people.     One  of 


©  Underwood  and  Underipood 
Fig.  3.  —  German  submarine  of  the  largest  type  stopping  the  Spanish  mail  steamer  off  Cadiz. 


his  early  acts  was  to  attack  the  little  country 
of  Denmark  and  take  from  it  the  south- 
ern section  called  Schleswig-  Annexation  of 
Holstein,  about  one  third  of  Schleswig- 
the  whole  country.  This  region  Holstein 
was  annexed  to  Prussia  and  has  remained 
a  part  of  it  ever  since  (Fig.  2). 

In  area  Schleswig-Holstein  is  nearly  equal 
to  Massachusetts,  and  it  has  been  important 
as  a  farming  region. 

The  Kaiser  Wilhelm  Canai  and  the  naval 
port,  Kiel,  have  >nade  ii  especially  noted 
in  recent  years  (Fig.  4).  The  canal  was 
dug  in  order  tc  secure  a  short  and  safe 
route  for  vessels  from  the  North  Sea  to  the 
Baltic.  Kiel  is  a  port  at  the  eastern  end 
of  the  canal,  with  a  harbor  so  remarkably 
good  that  it  has  become  the  chief  naval 
station  of  Germany.  German  war  vessels 
can  reach  the  North  Sea  very  quickly 
from  this  haven,  and  they  can  escape- 
just  as  quickly  by  this  route  when  there 
is  need. 

Very  soon    after  1870  Germany  found  a 


THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF   THE  GREAT   WAR 


chance  to  quarrel  with  France  and  improved 
the  opportunity.  France  was  invaded  and 
Annexation  of  ^^ris  captured  within  a  few 
Alsace-  months.     The  terms  of  peace 

Lorraine  ^j^j^^  were  finally'  agreed  upon 

required  France  to  pay  to  the  Germans  an 
indemnity   of   one   billion   dollars    and  also 


from  this  territory  as  from  all  the  rest  of 
Prussia;  and  had  they  not  had  these  rich 
iron  mines  in  their  possession  this  great 
war  would  have  ceased  long  ago. 

The  other  reason  was,  perhaps,  just  as 
important  in  their  minds.  Alsace-Lorraine 
had  been  the  principal  source  of  iron  in 
France,  and  if  France  were  de- 
prived of  it,  the  Germans 
thought  she  could  hardly  carry 
on  a  successful  war  in  the 
future.  She  might,  then,  be  re- 
duced to  a  second-class  power 
and  Germany  would  be  able 
to  overcome  her  at  will. 


Ambitions  of  Germany 
since  1871 


Fig.  4. 

to  cede  to  them  the  region  called  Alsace- 
Lorraine  (Fig.  2). 

This  is  a  region  about  as  large  as  Con- 
necticut and,  like  Schleswig-Holstein,  valuable 
for  its  farm  products,  especially  grapes,  and 
for  its  textile  industries.  But  there  were  two 
other  reasons  why  Prussia  coveted  it. 

It  is  a  land  that  is  remarkably  rich  in  iron 
ore  and  coal,  and  while  Germany  had  ores 
in  other  sections,  none  of  those  sections  was 
so  rich  in  these  two  minerals.  The  Ger- 
mans foresaw  that  their  need  of  iron  would 
be  likely  to  increase  in  the  future,  owing 
both  to  increased  manufacturing  and  also 
to*possible  war.  War  calls  for  an  enormous 
amount  of  iron  and  steel.  In  1911  they 
obtained  over  three  times  as  much  iron  ore 


The  Prussians  and  some  of 
the  small  German  states  that 
had  joined  them  Reasons  for 
had  much  reason  encourage- 
to  feel  encouraged  ^^^^ 
by  their  successes.  As  a  re- 
sult of  the  war  with  Denmark 
they  had  acquired  extensive 
territory;  as  a  result  of  their 
struggle  with  France  they  had 
obtained  still  more  valuable  territory  and  a 
billion  dollars  besides.  There  was  another 
great  benefit.  This  Franco-Prussian  war,  as 
it  M^as  called,  had  brought  the  many  small 
political  divisions  of  the  Germans  together 
and  made  it  possible  to  found,  by  their 
union,  a  new  nation  called  the  German 
Empire.  That  great  event  took  place,  as 
stated  before,  in  1871. 

Thus  the  Germans  started  out  as  a  new 
nation  feeling  highly  pleased  with  them- 
selves. They  had  been  invincible  in  fighting 
and  had  also  become  rich.  A  billion  dollars 
in  those  days  seemed  a  fabulous  amount  and 
made  the  Germans  feel  that  they  were  rolling 
in  wealth.  Another  fact  gave  reason  for 
great    pride.     Neither    of    these    wars    had 


THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF   THE  GREAT   WAR 


lasted  more  than  a  few  months  and  they 
were  therefore  not  very  costly.  That  fact 
must  have  awakened  a  very  important  ques- 
tion in  the  minds  of  the  people :  If  wars  can 
prove  so  profitable  and  yet  can  be  made  to 
cost  so  little,  may  they  not  be  very  desirable 
for  a  nation  ?  May  not  war  be  a  very  good 
thing  ? 

After  the  founding  of  the  empire  Bismarck 
remained  Chancellor  for  many  years.  He 
The  Middle-  was  ambitious  to  develop  its 
Europe  plan  power  to  the  fullest  extent,  in- 
deed to  make  it  supreme  in  Europe  just  as 
he  had  made  Prussia  supreme  in  Germany. 
To  this  end  not  only  schools  were  developed 
and  mines  and  factories,  but  great  schemes 
for  'political  power  as  well.  One  of  the 
latter  was  called  the  "  Mittel-Europa  "  or 
in  English  the  "  Middle-Europe  "  plan. 

This  was  a  scheme  for  the  combination 
under   one   leadership   of   as   many   of   the 

1 .  What  the  countries  in  central  Europe  as 
plan  was  possible.  They  were  to  support 
one  another  in  commerce  and  also  in  de- 
fense against  enemies  in  war.  The  govern- 
ments were  to  be  independent  as  before, 
but  the  several  nations  were  to  act  together 
in  military  and  economic  matters. 

On  Fig.  416,  main  text,  you  can  see  what 
nations  might  have  been  expected  to  join  such 

2.  Who  the        ^  league.    The  two  most  promi- 
leader  was  nent  would  naturally  be  Ger- 
many    and    Austria-Hungary. 

Several,  if  not  all,  of  the  Balkan  States 
would  be  included,  and  Turkey,  for  she 
still  had  some  territory  in  Europe.  It 
was  hoped,  too,  that  Norway  and  Sweden, 
Denmark,  Holland,  and  Italy  might  be  in- 
duced to  join. 

Of  the  two  most  prominent  nations  Austria- 
Hungary  could  not,  of  course,  be  the  leader. 
Her  area  was  somewhat  greater  than  that 
of  Germany  and  her  population  not  very 
much  less.  Her  population  was  very  mixed, 
however,  with  many  opposing  interests,  and 
their  union  under  one  ruler  was  very  loose. 


It  had  long  been  expected  that  at  the  death 
of  the  Emperor  Francis  Joseph,  which  oc- 
curred only  in  1916,  the  empire  would  neces- 
sarily fall  apart,  according  to  the  many 
nationalities  that  composed  it. 

In  such  circumstances  the  leadership 
would  naturally  fall  to  Germany,  for  she 
was  by  far  the  strongest  power. 

Such  leadership  by  Germany,  since  it 
would  allow  her  to  dominate  this  group  of 
states,  both  in  military  and  economic  mat- 
ters, would  immensely  increase  her  power 
both  in  war  and  in  peace. 

There  was  another  project  which  was 
closely  related  to  this  one  and  was  really  a 
continuation  of  it.  This  became  known  as 
the  "  Berlin-to-Bagdad  Plan,"  and  as  time 
passed  the  two  were  developed  together. 

According  to  this  scheme  the  ^liddle- 
Europe  project  was  to  be  extended  so  as 
to  include  southwestern  Asia.  The  Berlin-to- 
Asia  Minor  just  south  of  the  Bagdad  plan 
Black  Sea  is  held  by  Turkey,  i.  what  the 
and  to  the  south  and  south-  project  was 
east  of  that  region  are  a  number  of  weak 
IMohammedan  states  somewhat  under  the 
control  of  Turkey.  Thi-ough  a  close  alliance 
with  Turkey,  Germany  secured  valuable 
rights  in  this  entire  area,  including  the  right 
to  plant  colonies,  develop  trade,  and  build 
railways.  An  especially  important  feature 
in  the  plan  was  the  building  of  a  railroad 
all  the  way  from  Constantinople  to  Bagdad, 
more  than  a  thousand  miles  distant,  on  the 
Tigris  River.  This  river  flows  through  the 
famous  country  of  Mesopotamia  and  to  the 
Persian  Gulf.  This  road  would,  of  course, 
be  connected  with  the  road  from  Berlin  to 
Constantinople,  so  that  Berlin,  and  even 
Hambiu-g,  would  be  directly  connected  by 
rail  with  Bagdad;  hence  the  name,  the 
"  Berlin-to-Bagdad  Plan."  The  right  for  its 
construction  was  obtained  from  Turkey  by 
Germany  in  1902-1903.  Figure  5  shows  how 
nearly  completed  this  railroad  was  in  Jan- 
uary, 1918.     Estimate  the  nmnber  of  miles 


6 


THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF   THE  GREAT   WAR 


that  remain  to  be  built.     Note  the  countries 
through  which  it  passes. 

The  Turkish  Government  has  always  been 
regarded  as  exceedingly  untrustworthy  and 
cruel ;  and  it  has  allowed  or  even  favored 
so  many  massacres  of  innocent  people  within 
its  borders  that  it  has  hardly  been  classed 
among  the  civilized  nations.  Yet  in  order 
to  carry  through  the  Berlin  to  Bagdad  pro- 
ject the  Germans  cultivated  the  friendship 


tains  valuable  mineral  deposits,  also.  It 
promised,  therefore,  to  be  a  good  substitute 
for  some  of  the  colonies  that  Germany 
thought  she  needed  so  badly. 

The  railroad  as  a  means  for  transportation 
of  goods  secured  a  very  important  advantage. 
Heretofore  the  shortest  route  by  water  for 
goods  from  India,  the  East  Indies,  and  otJier 
countries  of  eastern  Asia,  to  western  Europe 
has  been  around  Arabia,  through  the  Suez 


PROPOSED 
BERLIN  TO  BAGDAD  RAILWAY 


Fig.  5. 


of  the  Turks  diligently,  and  the  Kaiser,  in 
a  speech  at  Damascus  in  1898,  declared: 
"  The  three  hundred  million  Mohammedans 
who  live  scattered  over  the  globe  may  be 
assured  of  this,  that  the  German  Emperor 
will  be  their  friend  at  all  times." 

Much  of  the  Turkish  Empire  is  arid ;  but 
in  Bible  times  the  Tigris-Euphrates  Valley, 
2.  Its  value  in  or  Mesopotamia,  was  very  pro- 
time  of  peace  ductive,  and  by  the  aid  of  irri- 
gation it  could  be  made  so  again.     It  con- 


Canal  and  the  entire  length  of  the  Mediter- 
ranean, to  the  Atlantic  Ocean.  Trace  this 
course  in  Fig.  1.  This  was  usually  a  safer 
and  easier  route  than  any  by  land.  Even 
goods  from  many  parts  of  the  Turkish  Em- 
pire have  had  to  be  transported  long  dis- 
tances by  camels  in  order  to  reach  Europe. 
But  this  railway  would  solve  these  difficulties 
of  transportation.  It  would  furnish  a  far 
shorter  and  more  convenient  route  to  and 
from  the  Orient,  and  save  a  great  quantity 


THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF   THE  GREAT    WAR 


of  time.  It  is  no  wonder  that  Germany 
magnified  such  an  advantage. 

Preparation  for  war,  as  has  been  indicated, 
has  always  been  an  important  part  of  the 
3.  Its  value  in  German  plans.  This  proposed 
time  of  war  xosid  secured  a  very  great  ad- 
vantage in  case  of  war,  particularly  war 
with  either  Russia  or  Great  Britain,  who 
were  her  most  dangerous  opponents  among 
the  Great  Powers. 

It  gave  to  Germany  the  control  of  Con- 
stantinople and,  thereby,  of  the  passage 
from  the  Black  Sea  to  the  Mediterranean. 
This  is  the  outlet  by  water  on  which  Russia 
has  always  been  most  dependent,  for  her 
ports  in  the  Baltic  Sea  and  on  the  Arctic 
are  hard  to  reach  and  frozen  up  much  of 
the  year.  Yet  Russia  could  now  easily  be 
blocked  at  this  point  by  Germany. 

The  most  valuable  colony  in  all  the 
British  Empire  is  India,  toward  which  this 
railroad  reaches.  King  George  is  known 
as  King  of  England  and  Emperor  of  India. 
There  are  an  enormous  population  and  untold 
wealth  in  that  vast  country,  and  no  doubt 
Germany  has  often  cast  longing  eyes  in  its 
direction.  If  she  were  at  war  with  England 
this  railroad  might  make  it  easy  for  her  to 
make  a  vast  amount  of  trouble  in  India,  and 
perhaps  to  attack  it  directly  with  an  army. 

The  realization  of  the  Berlin-to-Bagdad 
plan  required  that  Germany  dominate  all 
4.  Why  this  ^^  countries  through  which  the 
plan  is  offensive  road    passed;     in    short,    they 

to  the  world  ij  x*      n       i.  j.       -C 

would  practically  have  to  be 
governed  by  Germany  or  her  allies.  In 
these  countries  are  people  of  many  different 
races  and  languages  who  have  few  interests 
in  common  and  who  are  just  as  anxious  to 
govern  themselves  as  we  are  to  govern 
ourselves.  Our  idea  is  that  they  should 
have  this  privilege;  that  it  would  be  most 
unjust  and  an  act  of  extreme  tyranny  for 
another  nation,  simply  because  it  had  the 
power,  to  subject  these  peoples  to  its  own 
will.     We  should    not    expect   them    all    to 


submit,  and  the  plan  would  therefore  mean 
a  state  of  constant  warfare  over  this  vast 
area. 

Referring  to  this  plan  of  the  Germans 
President  Wilson,  in  his  Flag  Day  Address, 
June  14,  1917,  said  : 

"  Their  plan  was  to  throw  a  broad  belt  of 
German  military  power  and  political  control 
across  the  very  center  of  Europe  and  beyond 
the  Mediterranean  into  the  heart  of  Asia ; 
and  Austria-Hungary  was  to  be  as  much 
their  tool  and  pawn  as  Serbia  or  Bulgaria 
or  Turkey  or  the  ponderous  states  of  the 
East.  Austria-Hungary,  indeed,  was  to  be- 
come part  of  the  central  German  Empire, 
absorbed  and  dominated  by  the  same  forces 
and  influences  that  had  originally  cemented 
the  German  states  themselves.  The  dream 
had  its  heart  at  Berlin.  It  could  have  had 
a  heart  nowhere  else !  It  rejected  the  idea 
of  solidarity  of  race  entirely.  The  choice 
of  peoples  played  no  part  in  it  at  all.  It 
contemplated  binding  together  racial  and 
political  units  which  could  be  kept  together 
only  by  force  —  Czechs,  jNIagyars,  Croats, 
Serbs,  Roumanians,  Turks,  Armenians  —  the 
proud  states  of  Bohemia  and  Hungary,  the 
stout  little  commonwealths  of  the  Balkans, 
the  indomitable  Turks,  the  subtile  peoples 
of  the  East.  These  people  did  not  wish  to 
be  united.  They  ardently  desired  to  direct 
their  own  affairs,  would  be  satisfied  only  by 
undisputed  independence.  They  could  be 
kept  quiet  only  by  the  presence  or  the  con- 
stant threat  of  armed  men.  They  would 
live  under  a  common  power  only  by  sheer 
compulsion  and  await  the  day  of  revolution. 
But  the  German  military  statesmen  had 
reckoned  with  all  that  and  were  ready  to 
deal  with  it  in  their  own  way." 

It    might    seem    that    German    ambition 
would   be   satisfied   with   all   the  preceding 
plans.     But  there  is  one  other  Pan- 
aim  that  shows  still  wider  am-   Germanism 
bitions  among  some  of  the  leading  Germans. 
It  is  known  bv  the  name  of  Pan-Germanism. 


8 


THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF   THE  GREAT   WAR 


There  are  many  Germans  scattered  over 
the  earth.  Millions  of  our  own  citizens  are 
of  German  birth  or  descent ;  there  is  a 
large  nmnber  in  Brazil,  in  Chile,  and  else- 
where. It  was  the  plan  to  unite  all  these 
as  far  as  possible.  For  that  pm*pose  many 
societies  were  formed  in  these  comitries,  and 
other  societies  were  organized  in  Germany  to 
keep  in  touch  with  them.  German-speaking 
people  in  foreign  lands  were  m-ged  to  pre- 
serve the  use  of  the  German  language,  and 
money  from  Germany  was  freely  spent  in 
foreign  lands  to  found  German  newspapers 
which  should  spread  German  culture. 


themselves  as  Germans  rather  than  Ameri- 
cans and  to  act  accordingly.  That  would 
tend  to  make  trouble  for  the  rest  of  the 
world;  but  it  might  strengthen  Germany, 
and  that  was  the  object.  The  part  "  pan  " 
in  the  term  "  Pan-Germanism  "  is  from  the 
Greek  meaning  "all,"  and  the  name  signifies 
the  extension  of  German  rule  wherever  Ger- 
mans live. 

All  these  plans  made  war  a  possibility  at 
any  time  and  a  certainty  some  time  in  the 
near    future.      German   states-  Preparations 
men  foresaw  this  outcome  from  ^or  war 
the  beginning  and  for  the   last  fifty  years 


ARMIES,  PEACE   FOOTING    JANUARY  1914 
250,000 500,,000 


1,000,000 


RUSSIA,. 

FRANCE. 

ITALY.... 
GREAT 
BRITAIN- 
RUMANIA 
UNITED 
STATES- 
BELGIUM 

SERBIA.. 
PORTUGAL 


GERMANY 
AUSTRIA- 
HUNGARY 
TURKEY... 

BULGARIA 


,290,000 
.763,820 
.305,038 
.250,000 
.  130,000 
.104,569 
.  47,603 
.361,747 
.30,000 

.866,026 
.424,258 
.210,000 
..  59,900 


I ! 


'^^^-"^y^^^^yyy^yyyyyyyyyyy^yyyy^^^ 


-.y^y^yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy^ 


ym^ 


yjyM< 


'yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy^ 


'>}'Ay;y>9:yyyi. 


'^y^!'^^y<y^y^f^ff^f'f^'^^^iyf^i!:^ 


Fig.  6. 


There  was  no  objection  to  all  this  provided 
it  aimed  at  nothing  more  than  a  warm  feel- 
ing toward  the  ]Mother  Country.  With  many 
Germans,  however,  it  meant  much  more. 
With  them  the  idea  had  become  established 
that  all  Germans,  no  matter  where  they 
dwelt,  should  be  regarded  as  forming  one 
great  nation.  And  again,  of  course,  that 
great  nation  was  to  be  Germany.  In  1905 
Germany  passed  a  law  providing  that  every 
German  who  became  a  citizen  of  a  foreign 
country  might  at  the  same  time  retain  his 
citizenship  in  Germany.  In  that  case,  if 
a  war  were  to  begin  between  Germany  and 
the  United  States,  the  15,000,000  Germans 
in  our  country  would  be  invited  to   count 


their  preparations  for  war  have  kept  pace 
with  their  development  of  these  projects. 
Any  American  who  visited  Germany  thirty 
years  ago  was  struck  with  the  prominence 
of  army  oflficers  and  soldiers  everj^'here. 
Even  then  every  able-bodied  man  had  to 
receive  some  training  for  war.  Since  that 
time  such  preparations  have  greatly  in- 
creased. In  the  years  1911,  1912,  and  1913 
the  German  army  in  time  of  peace  was 
raised  from  515,000  to  866,000  men.  War 
taxes  were  raised  correspondingly.  The  gov- 
ernment made  great  purchases  abroad  of 
many  kinds  of  military  supplies.  Quantities 
of  nitrate  of  soda,  for  instance,  for  the  manu- 
facture  of  explosives,   were  imported  from 


THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF   THE  GREAT   WAR 


Chile  and  stored.  German  manufacturers 
of  chemicals  used  in  munitions  were  forbidden 
to  export  them.  Railroads  leading  to  France 
and  Belgium,  as  well  as  to  Russia,  together 
with  their  equipment,  were  improved,  so  as 
to  be  ready  for  transportation  of  troops  at 
a  moment's  notice.  The  navy  was  strength- 
ened in  corresponding  fashion.  Austria- 
Hungary  and  Turkey,  already  under  the 
guidance  of  the  Germans  according  to  the 
Middle-Europe  and  Berlin-to-Bagdad  proj- 
ects,   were    making    similar    improvements. 


that  she  could  conquer  the  earth  nation  by 
nation." 


4.  The  War  in  1914 

While    Germany    was    making    all    these 
preparations  so  openly,  she  declared  that  they 
were  for  defense  only,  and  other  unprepared- 
nations    did    not    make   them-  ness  of  the 
selves  ready  for  the  attack  that  ^li^s 
Germany    was    really    planning.       Perhaps 
France  alone  fully  comprehended  the  situa- 


POPULATION 

50.000.000 100,000,000  150,000,000 


RUSSIA_. 

UNITED 
STATES- 


GREAT 
BRITAIN- 
FRANCE... 

ITALY 

RUMANIA... 
BELGIUM.. 
PORTUGAL 
SERBIA. _.. 


GERMANY, 

AUSTRIA- 
HUNGARY- 
TURKEY.__ 
BULGARIA. 


.174,099,600 
102,000,000 

.45,370,530 

.39,601,509 
.35,597,784 
...7.600,000 
...7,600,000 
...6,000,000 
...4,550,000 


^^^^^^^^^^^^.^.j^^^fe?^^^;^;^^;:^^^ 


^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 


^^^^^^^ 


^^^^^^^ 


^^^^^ 


.  67,8 1 2,000  '^yyyyy^y^yyyyyyyyyy^yyyyyyy^^ 

.  5  1,340,378  ^^^^^^^^ 

.3  1,000,000^^^^^  ; 

...5,000,000^  ; 


Fig.  7. 


In  1914  the  Germans  felt  that  their  prepa- 
ration was  complete. 

In  an  address  delivered  in  Chicago,  Sep- 
tember 14,  1917,  Elihu  Root,  former  United 
States  Senator  from  New  York,  summed  up 
the  case  as  follows  : 

"  It  now  appears  beyond  the  possibility 
of  doubt  that  this  war  was  made  by  Ger- 
many, pursuing  a  long  and  settled  purpose. 
For  many  years  she  had  been  preparing  to 
do  exactly  what  she  has  done,  with  a  thorough- 
ness, a  perfection  of  plans,  and  a  vastness  of 
provision  in  men,  munitions,  and  supplies 
never  before  equaled  or  approached  in  human 
history.  She  brought  the  war  on  when  she 
chose,    because    she    chose,    in    the    belief 


tion.  Yet  her  population  (Fig.  7)  and 
resources  were  much  inferior  to  those  of 
Germany.  Likewise  Russia's  army,  though 
large  (Fig.  6),  was  inferior  to  Germany's 
army  in  training,  equipment,  and  effective- 
ness. All  of  the  nations  now  allied  hoped 
still  that  war  might  be  avoided.  Conse- 
quently they  did  not  prepare  for  war  as 
completely  as  Germany  did. 

Among  the  Great  Powers  of  Europe  that 
entered  the  war  immediately,  England  had. 
by  far  the  smallest  army  and  it  was  scat- 
tered widely  over  the  earth.  She  had  small 
supplies  of  munitions  and  few  factories  for 
making  them.  Her  people  had  not  believed 
that  Germany  would  provoke  a  war.     But 


10 


THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF   THE  GREAT  WAR 


she  did  have  the  advantage  of  a  great  navy. 
In  Fig.  8  compare  the  warship  tonnage  of 
the  several  powers.  England's  navy  has 
been  her  salvation. 

The  event  that"  immediately  led  to  the 
war  occurred  in  Austria  near  the  Serbian 
How  the  border.     On  June  28,  1914,  the 

war  began  heir  to  the  throne  of  Austria- 
Hungary,  Archduke  Francis  Ferdinand, 
and  his  wife,  were  assassinated  by  Serbian 


"  Across  the  path  of  this  railway  to  Bagdad 
lay  Serbia  —  an  independent  country  whose 
sovereign  alone  among  those  of  southwestern 
Europe  had  no  marriage  connection  with 
Berlin,  a  Serbia  that  looked  toward  Russia. 
That  is  why  Europe  was  nearly  driven  into 
war  in  1913 ;  that  is  why  Germany  stood 
so  determinedly  behind  Austria's  demands 
in  1914  and  forced  war.  She  must  have 
her  '  corridor  '  to  the  southeast ;    she  must 


WARSHIP    TONNAGE     JANUARY    1914 

500,000  1,000,000  1,500,000 


2,000,000 


GREAT 
BRITAIN- 
UNITED 
STATES - 
FRANCE. 
RUSSIA.. 
ITALY.... 
JAPAN.. 


GERMANY.. 
AUSTRIA- 
HUNGARY- 
TURKEY.... 


2,200,000  ■^^^^^^^fii<:i^^^^^^i<^^:i^c^^:f^^^^^^ 


^^^.^^^i^^^^^^^^^^.-^^y^.;>^^i^^^ 


'^^^^^^^^^^^<:^h^.^hi^^!i^.^^i^ 


951,713 
.221,526 
..30,000 


774,353 

.270,861 
285,460 
.519,640^^^^^^^ 


^^^^^^^^^i^ 


;j^^^^^^^^#^ 


'^.^^^^^.^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ii^^^^^^:??^^ 


;^^^^#^^ 


Fig.  8. 


sympathizers.  Bad  feeling  already  existed 
between  Austria  and  Serbia,  and  this  deed 
naturally  made  it  worse. 

One  reason  for  the  bad  feeling  was  that 
Serbia  was  hostile  to  the  Middle-Europe 
plan,  and  was,  therefore,  opposed  to  the 
Berlin-to-Bagdad  railway,  which  would  have 
to  pass  through  its  territory  (Fig.  5).  That 
was  an  unpardonable  offense  against  Ger- 
many and  her  allies. 

Feeling  that  they  were  fully  ready  for 
war,  the  Central  Powers  now  saw  the  excuse 
for  beginning  it.  As  punishment  for  the 
murder  of  the  Archduke,  Austria,  with  the 
full  support  of  Germany,  made  demands  on 
Serbia  that  were  altogether  too  humiliating 
for  acceptance.  Then,  when  Serbia  rejected 
them,  war  was  declared. 

The  responsibility  of  Germany  in  the 
whole  matter  is  stated  by  President  Wilson, 
in  his  Flag  Day  Address  of  1917,  in  the 
following  words : 


have  political  domination  all  along  the  route 

of  the  great  economic  empire  she  planned." 

The  first  great  object  of  the  Central  Powers 

was  to  conquer  France,  and  they  hoped  to 

accomplish    that    feat    before  -p,^  _„,  ..„ 
^  ^  Ine  war  in 

Russia,    on    their    east,    could  the  west 
strike  an  effective  blow. 

I.   Reasons  for 
In  order  to  do  this  they  must  entering 

capture    Paris.    The    shortest  ^'"^^^  t^°"sh 

•  p  /-(  -n     •     Belgium 

distance  from  Germany  to  Paris 

is  only  170  miles,  west  from  Metz  (Fig.  11). 

But  whether  one  approaches  Paris  from  the 

east  or  northeast,  the  route  is  difficult  on 

account   of   the   rough   surface.     This  map 

shows  a  series  of  hills  running  in  a  general 

northern  and  southern  direction  between  the 

Paris  basin  and  the  German  frontier.     On 

the  side  toward  Paris  these  hills  have  long, 

gentle  slopes,  but  on  the  eastern  side  they 

have  steep  slopes  that   are  hard  to  climb. 

The  rivers  run  between  these  ranges  of  hills 

and  in  some  places  cut  their  way  through 


Dl 


^  ^  <  =      C  Z!  ■  -. 


i       i 


11 


12 


THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF   THE  GREAT  WAR 


them.  If  one  followed  their  courses,  one 
could  find  a  comparatively  easy  road.  But 
their  valleys  are  narrow,  with  steep  sides  in 
some  places,  and  these  can  be  easily  defended 
against  a  powerful  enemy. 

There  is  only  one  route  that  is  compara- 
tively level  land  all  the  way,  and  that  route 
leads  through  Belgium  and  then  down  south- 
west near  the  coast  toward  Paris.  This  is 
the   route   that   the   Teutons    chose.     It  is 


only  to  save  time,  but  also  to  enrich  them- 
selves greatly  while  taking  from  their  enemies 
the  means  of  carrying  on  the  war.  For  these 
reasons  their  choice  must  have  seemed  to 
them  a  masterly  one. 

There  were  most  vital  reasons,   however, 
against  this  selection.   Germany  ^   Reasons 
had  pledged  herself  by  solemn  against  entering 
agreement  to  respect  the  neu-    ^ 
trality  of  Belgium,  and  if  there  was  any  sense 


Fig.  10.  —  French  troops  on  the  way  to  the  front. 


©  Underwood  and  Underwood 


longer  than  any  other,  being  250  miles,  but 
it  is  the  easiest  way  on  account  of  the  level 
ground  over  which  it  passes. 

There  is  another  reason  that  no  doubt 
influenced  this  choice.  Belgium  is  a  re- 
markably fertile  country;  also,  southern 
Belgium  and  northern  France  are,  together, 
one  of  the  richest  mining  and  manufacturing 
regions  in  the  world.  France  obtains  from 
this  section  nine-tenths  of  her  iron  ore,  as 
well  as  half  of  all  her  coal.  Much  more 
than  one-half  of  all  her  iron  and  steel  fac- 
tories are  located  here.  In  choosing  this 
route,  therefore,  the  Teutons  could  hope  not 


of  honor  in  her  she  would  keep  this  pledge. 
Also  England  had  bound  herself  to  protect 
the  neutrality  of  Belgium;  so  it  was  likely 
that  she  would  declare  war  against  the  Teu- 
tons if  they  crossed  the  Belgian  frontier. 
But  honor  counted  little  with  the  Germans 
when  such  advantages  were  involved,  and 
England's  army  was  so  small  that  the  war 
might  be  finished  before  it  could  be  made  to 
count.      So  Belgium  had  to  suffer. 

This  invasion  of  Belgimn  by  Germany, 
contrary  to  her  own  pledge,  was  an  act  of 
tremendous  significance  for  all  the  nations 
of  the  earth,  particularly  for  the  small  ones 


THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF   THE  GREAT   WAR 


13 


Fig.  11.  —  The  approaches  to  Paris  from  the  east  and  northeast. 


It  was  really  a  declaration  that  the  small 
nation  must  expect  to  suffer  in  the  future. 
3.  Importance  ^ight,  not  Right,  was  to  rule; 
of  Germany's  and  any  people  that  lacked 
^^^  the    physical  force  to  protect 

itself  against  attack  might  expect  to  be 
subdued  and  governed  by  stronger  nations. 
Never  was  a  more  direct  blow  struck  against 
liberty. 

The  Germans  had  planned  to  march  a 
certain  distance  each  day,  and  allowed  them- 
selves six  days  to  get  past  Belgium.  They 
did  not  expect  the  Belgians  to  have  the  cour- 
age to  try  to  stop  them. 

At  the  start,  though,  there  was  a  delay. 
When  the  army  appeared  at  the  frontier  of 
the  little  country,  the  German  commander 


informed  its  people  that  it  was  necessary 
for  his  army  to  cross,  but  that  the  Belgians 
would  not  be  injured  if  they  did  not  resist, 
and  that  they  would  be  paid  in  gold  for  any 
damage  that  might  be  done. 

To  his  astonishment  they  refused.  This 
was  then-  reply  :  "  The  Belgian  government, 
if  they  were  to  accept  the  proposals  submitted 
to  them,  would  sacrihce  the  honor  of  the 
nation  and  betray  their  duty  toward  Europe.'' 
King  Albert  did  not  hesitate.  He  threw  his 
small  army  across  the  German  path,  even 
though  it  meant  destruction  for  both  army 
and  people,  and  he  delayed  then-  advance 
ten  full  days.  The  Germans  were  furious 
and  inflicted  on  Belgium  awful  ptmishment. 

The  ten  days,  however,  saved  France.     It 


14 


THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF   THE  GREAT   WAR 


gave  the  French  time  to  assemble  their 
armies  and  the  English  time  to  send  a  small 
4.  Importance  ^o^ce  to  theb  aid.  Also,  this 
of  Belgium's  act  of  the  Belgians  aroused  the 
resistance  admiration    of    the    world;    it 

was  as  noble  as  the  conduct  of  the  Ger- 
mans was    ignoble,  and    it   drew   to    them 


Fig. 


British  Official  Photograph 
12.  —  British  troops  entrenched  on  the  western  front. 


fair-minded   people    e very- 
awful     years     that     have 


the  support  of 
where  for  the 
followed. 

The  Germans  soon  left  Belgium  behind 
and  came  within  sight  of  Paris.  Figure  11 
shows  the  line  that  they  held  when  nearest 
to  the  city.  Estimate  the  distance.  The 
French  government  had  left  the  cajntal,  on 
account  of  the  imminent  danger,  and  moved 
to  Bordeaux.  It  looked  as  though  the  city 
would  have  to  fall. 

. .  But    the    furious    battle    of    the    Marne 
turned  the  invaders  back,  and  the  line  that 


they  finally  had  to  take  at  the  end  of  the 
year's  fighting  is  also  shown  in  Fig.  11. 
This  was  one  of  the  great  bat-  5.  The  result 
ties  of  history.  For  the  time  of  the  campaign 
being,  at  least,  it  decided  that  France  should 
remain  French  and  not  become  Prussian. 
Germany    did    not    succeed    in    crushing 

France  before  Russia   could 

act.  On  the  The  war  in 
contrary,  Rus-  the  east 
sia  assembled  a  great  army 
and  invaded  East  Prussia. 
In  order  to  meet  this  at- 
tack Germany  was  compelled 
to  withdraw  some  of  her 
forces  from  France.  This 
helped  to  check  the  Germans 
on  the  Marne.  Russia  also 
invaded  Austria,  and  thus 
she  kept  the  Teutons  ex- 
ceedingly busy  on  the  eastern 
front.  Figure  13  shows  the 
lines  held  in  the  east  toward 
the  end  of  1914. 

The  superiority  of^  the 
British  navy  (Fig.  8)  was  im- 
mediately made  The  war  upon 
to  count.  By  the  seas 
the  end  of  the  year  the 
German  fleets,  war  and  mer- 
chant, were  driven  from  the 
seas.  When  it  is  recalled 
that  three  fourths  of  the 
earth's  surface  is  water,  the  importance  of 
this  advantage  begins  to  be  apparent.  All 
this  area  was  at  the  disposal  of  the  British 
for  transporting  supplies,  as  well  as  troops 
from  her  colonies ;  at  the  same  time  it  was 
closed  to  Germany. 


The  War  in  1915 

had   proved  en- 


The   campaign   of    1914 
couraging  to  the  Allies  on  the  Discourage- 
whole;    but  there   were  many  mentstothe 
reasons      for      discouragement  ^^^^ 
during  the  year  1915. 


THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF   THE  GREAT    WAR 


15 


Several    attempts    were    made    to    drive 
the   Germans    from    their    position    in    the 

1.  On  the  west,  but  without  much  suc- 
western  front  gess.  The  line  of  battle  re- 
mained throughout  the  year  much  the  same 
as  shown  in  Fig.  11. 

In  the  east  the  Russians  were  badly  de- 
feated.    Figure  13 

2.  On  the        shows 

eastern  front       h  O  W 

far  into  German 
and  Austrian  ter- 
ritory they  had 
advanced  in  1914. 
But  this  year  they 
were  driven  out  of 
this  conquered  ter- 
ritory and  lost  ex- 
tensive areas  of 
their  own.  k\\ 
Poland  was  taken 
from  them,  includ- 
ing the  great  cities 
of  Warsaw  and 
Lodz,  and  they  lost 
over  2,000,000  men 
in  captured,  killed, 
and  wounded. 
Figure  15  marks 
the  line  of  battle 
in  the  closing  days 
of  the  year. 

Turkey  (p.  40) 
had  joined  the 
Central  Powers  in 
1914,  but  the 
Balkan  States,  lying 

3.  Advance  of  between  Turkey  and  Austria, 
had  not,  with  the  exception  of 
Serbia,    declared    in    favor    of 

either  side.  Under  those  conditions,  and 
with  Serbia  one  of  the  Allies,  both  the  Middle- 
Europe  project  and  that  for  the  Berlin-to- 
Bagdad  railway  were  blocked. 

In  order  to  check  them  still  further,  the 
Allies    planned    an    expedition    against    the 


EASTERN  BATTLE  FROlfT 
1914 


Fig.  13 


the  Berlin-to 
Bagdad  plan. 


Dardanelles,  with  the  object  of  getting 
possession  of  this  outlet  from  the  Black 
Sea  and  capturing  Constantinople.  In  spite 
of  great  efforts  it  resulted  only  in  failure 
and  enormous  losses  of  men. 

It  had  other  bad  effects.  Bulgaria  had 
hesitated  to  ally  herself  with  either  party; 

but  now  she  felt  it 

safe  to  join  the 
Teutons.  Then  the 
A  ustro- Germans 
and  Bulgarians  to- 
gether overran 
Serbia  and  crushed 
that  nation.  These 
events  brought  the 
Middle-Europe 
plan  to  much 
nearer  realization, 
and  paved  the  way 
for  further  devel- 
opment of  the  great 
Bagdad  railway. 
The  Central  Pow- 
ers had  good  reason 
to  feel  encouraged. 
Even  in  war, 
horrible  as  it  is, 
there  are  many 
rules  Gennan 
to  be     barbarities 

followed  to  which 
all  the  leading 
governments  have 
agreed.  These 
rules  were  sup- 
posed to  have  force 
of  law  for  the  various  nations  and  to  limit 
its  evils  in  important  ways. 

While  Germany  had  fully  agreed  to  these 
laws  she  has  shown  no  more  respect  for 
them  than  she  showed  for  her  agreement 
in  regard  to  Belgiimi.  Here  are  only  a  few 
of  the  things  she  has  done  in  violation  of 
international  law :  she  has  repeatedly 
massacred  men,  women,   and  children,   ap- 


16 


THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF  THE  GREAT   WAR 


parently  with  the  mam  object  of  making 
herself  feared;  she  has  robbed  conquered 
territory  of  food,  raw  materials  for  manu- 
factures,   tools,    machinery,    and    anything 


Ai  i-^  4U 


Fig.  14. 


British  Official  PTiotograpH 
One  of  the  giant  dirigibles  guarding  the  British  coast. 


else  she  could  lay  her  hands  on,  that,  after  re- 
moval to  her  own  land,  might  be  of  value 
to  her  own  people ;  what  she  could  not  hope 
to  use  she  has  wantonly  destroyed,  simply 
in  order  to  leave  citizens  in  conquered 
territory  as  destitute  as  possible.  For  ex- 
ample, to  that  end  she  has  even  killed  or- 
chard after  orchard  of  fruit  trees  and  has  set 
fire  to  houses  and  farm  implements.  Tens 
of  thousands  of  civilians  in  Belgium,  Poland, 
and  elsewhere  have  been  transported  to 
Teuton  lands  to  work  as  slaves ;  men,  women, 
and  children  have  been  placed  in  front  of  the 
firing  line  in  order  to  protect  the  Teuton 
soldiers ;  poison  gas  and  liquid  fire  have  been 
introduced.  Probably  every  international 
law  to  which  Germany  had  agreed  has  been 
broken  by  her  repeatedly.  It  is  well  for  us 
to  know  such  facts  in  order  that  we  may 
understand  the  kind  of  enemy  we  are  fighting. 


In  1915  there  occurred  some  events  that 
brought  much  encouragement.  One  was  the 
entrance  of  Italy  on  the  side  of 

the  Allies.     In  Figs.  6,  7,  and  8  ^^^^^^^  ^^^ 
.    '^  '  encourage- 

notice  her  popula-  ment  among 
tion    as   compared  the  Allies 
with  that  of  other  i.  Entry  of 
countries ;  also  the  ^^l?J^  ^^^^  °^ 
size    of   her   army 
and  her  warship  tonnage.     The 
fact  that  she  produces  very  little 
coal    and    iron   greatly  reduces 
her    strength;     but  in  spite  of 
that-  fact  she  has  brought  very 
valuable  help. 

As  soon  as  she  lost  all  control 
of  the  seas,  Germany  had  to 
leave  her  colonies  ^^  ^oss  of 
to  their  fate.  One  colonies  by 
of  the  first  to  be  ®'™*°y 
taken  was  Kiau-Chau  (Fig.  1),  by 
Japan.  Germany  had  highly 
valued  this  colony .  Other  islands 
in  the  Pacific  were  soon  lost.  By 
the  end  of  1915  all  the  four  large 
German  colonies  in  Africa  had 
been  invaded  and  most  of  their  territory  con- 
quered. (Fig.  1.)  Germany  has  no  colonies  now. 
When  England  declared  war,  she  naturally 
expected  the  support  of  all  her  English  colo- 
nies. This  support  was  of  very  ^  Loyalty  of 
great  importance,  for  these 
colonies  constitute  a  large  part 
of  the  British  Empire.  The  "Mother 
Country,"  called  the  "  United  Kingdom  of 
Great  Britain  and  Ireland,"  includes  Eng- 
land, Wales,  Scotland,  and  Ireland.  It  has 
an  area  all  together  of  only  about  120,000 
square  miles,  which  is  less  than  one  half  that 
of  Texas;  its  population  is  more  than 
45,000,000,  which  is  over  ten  times  that  of 
Texas.  Compared  with  the  United  States 
the  United  Kingdom  is  a  small  country,  both 
in  size  and  population  (Fig.  7) .  How  does  it 
compare  with  Germany? 

When  the  colonies  are  added,  however,  the 


British  colo- 
nies 


THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF  THE  GREAT   WAR 


17 


Empire  is  enormous.  On  Fig.  1  note  how 
many  parts  of  the  earth  belong  to  the  British 
Empire.  Its  possessions  are  found  in  every 
continent  and  border  every  ocean.  In  North 
(1)  Extent  of  America  they  are  Canada  and 
the  colonies  Newfoundland.  Name  the 
most  important  parts  of  Asia  that  are  British 
possessions;  of  Africa.  What  other 
important  regions  are  British?  Note 
the  population  of  India ;  of  Canada ;  of 
Australia  (main  text,  pp.  411,  424,  425). 
All  these  possessions  together  increase 
the  area  under  English  control  more 
than  12,000,000  square  miles,  and  the 
population  450,000,000.  It  is  evident 
that  it  made  a  very  great  difference  to 
the  British  whether  these  dependencies 
supported  them  strongly  in  the  conduct 
of  the  war  or  whether  they  refused 
support. 

Germany  did  not  believe  that  Eng- 
land's   colonies  would  respond  vigor- 
ously to  the  call  from  the 
expectation  in      Mother  Country ;  and  she 

regard  to  their       J^^^J  strong  rCaSOUS  for  this 

loyalty  i     t   j? 

belier. 

Undoubtedly  the  Germans  argued 
that  if  these  possessions  belonged  to 
Germany,  many  of  them  would  break 
away  from  German  control  at  the  first 
opportunity.  Schleswig-Holstein  has 
been  a  problem  to  the  German  govern- 
ment ever  since  its  annexation;  and 
Alsace-Lorraine  has  caused  far  more 
trouble.  There  has  probably  never 
been  a  time  since  1870  when  the  great 
majority  of  the  inhabitants  of  Alsace- 
Lorraine  would  not  have  returned  to  French 
control,  if  they  had  had  a  chance  to  vote  on 
the  question.  Germany  has  shown  a  re- 
markable tendency  to  arouse  the  hatred  of 
the  foreign  peoples  whom  she  has  governed, 
and  of  course  she  would  not  admit  that 
England  possessed  any  more  skill  than  she 
herself  had  shown  in  governing  colonies. 

The  long  distance  of  many  of  the  dependen- 


cies from  England  made  it  especially  difficult 
for  them  to  keep  in  close  touch  with  the 
Mother  Country.  Difference  in  language 
and  customs  in  many  cases  would  cause  her 
influence  to  be  felt  still  less.  In  such  cir- 
cumstances it  seemed  hardly  probable  that 
a  war  that  she  declared  would  lead  them 


Fig.  15. 

to    share    fully   with    her  in   hardship   and 
danger. 

Aside  from  such  reasons  for  disloyalty,  Ger- 
many proposed  to  supply  one  herself.  She 
set  to  work,  even  before  the  war,  to  stir  up 
discontent  among  many  of  the  colonies. 
Furnished  with  large  sums  of  money,  men 
were  sent  who  gave  their  best  efforts  toward 
stirring  up  in  the  colonies  ill  feeling  toward 


18 


THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF   THE  GREAT   WAR 


the  English  and  aiding\ny  movements  that 
might  lead  to  disloyalty  and  rebellion.  This 
seems  an  easy  task,  too,  when  one  remembers 
that  in  any  country  there  are  many  persons 
who  grumble  against  the  government.  The 
fact  that  not  many  years  ago  England  had 
been  at  war  with  some  of  her  colonists, 
especially  those  in  South  Africa,  gave  hope  of 
great  success  in  this  attempt.  Germans  have 
been  employed  to  stir  up  trouble  in  this  man- 
ner in  probably  every  one  of  the  British  colo- 
nies of  importance.  The  ambition  was  not 
merely  to  prevent  aid  to  the  British  but  to 
compel  the  British  to  consume  much  of  their 
strength  in  quelling  rebellion  among  their  colo- 
nies. Indeed,  by  that  means  they  hoped  that 
England  would  be  so  fully  occupied  that  she 
would  have  little  energy  left  for  fighting  the 
Germans. 

To  the  astonishment  of  the  Germans  their 

plan  did  not  work.     The  British  Empire  did 

not  fall  apart.    Of  the  scores  and 

(3)    Their  re-  .  . 

sponse  to  the  scores  of  colonies,  big  and  little, 
call  of  the  j^gt  ouc  has  declared  its  inde- 

Mother  Country  ,  r^        .^ 

pendence.  On  the  contrary, 
their  loyalty  has  astonished  the  world.  Not 
only  have  they  remained  friendly ;  they  have 
joined  actively  in  the  prosecution  of  the  war, 
furnishing  men,  money,  and  supplies  to  the 
fullest  extent  possible.  The  war  against 
Turkey  has  been  very  greatly  aided  by  sol- 
diers from  India.  Canada  has  sent  to  the 
battle  fields  about  a  half  million  men  —  an 
undertaking  greater  than  it  would  be  for  us 
to  send  six  millions.  Australia  and  New  Zea- 
land have  done  correspondingly  well.  Even 
the  small  islands  have  been  eager  to  do  their 
bit.  Early  in  1916  Jamaica,  with  a  popula- 
tion of  less  than  one  million,  sent  her  second 
ship  load,  consisting  of  about  eleven  hundred 
men.  ^ 

No'one  had  known  before  how  firmly  the 
many  parts  of  the  British  Empire  were  put 
together.  No  one  had  known  whether,  at 
a  great  crisis,  the  Empire  would  crumble, 
each  division  of  people  to  form  an  independ- 


ent nation ;  or  whether  its  parts  would  unite 
more  closely  than  ever  to  form  one  more 
powerful  nation.  The  response  of  the  colo- 
nies has  answered  this  question. 

No  doubt  one  reason  for  this  result  was  the 
sense  of  danger  that  the  dependencies  felt 
when  Germany  declared  that  (4)  Reasons  for 
Might  rather  than  Right  should  *^^'«  ^"^""^ 
rule  the  world.  Independent  small  nations 
in  that  case  had  little  chance ;  they  must  ally 
themselves  with  others  in  order  to  be  pro- 
tected. This  danger,  then,  tended  to  unite 
them  and  to  draw  them  to  the  more  powerful 
Mother  Country. 

Yet  they  would  hardly  have  responded  so 
willingly  to  the  call,  had  they  not  in  past  years 
been  treated  with  respect  by  the  United 
Kingdom ;  had  they  not  been  given  freedom 
to  a  large  extent ;  and  had  they  not  been  well 
protected  as  British  subjects  when  protection 
was  needed.  The  occasion  was  a  test  of  the 
kind  of  government  Britain  had  established 
over  her  colonies ;  and  —  to  the  disgust  of 
Germany  —  she  stood  the  test  astonishingly 
well. 

The  greatness  of  the  cause  must  have  been 
a  third  reason  for  this  response.  The  war  at 
first  may  have  seemed  remote  to  some  of  the 
colonies,  but  they  soon  saw  that  Germany 
was  threatening  the  existence  of  democracy 
throughout  the  world.  The  only  hope  that 
men  will  ever  enjoy  the  right  to  govern  them- 
selves in  peace  lies  in  the  destruction  of  mili- 
tarism. The  war,  therefore,  concerned  them 
directly  and  they  must  share  iu  the  struggle. 

The  exhibition  of  loyalty  by  the  British 
colonies  was  one  of  the  especially  encouraging 
facts  in  the  midst  of  the  many  discourage- 
ments of  the  year  1915. 

6.    The  War  in  1916 

In  the  w^est  two  great  battles  were  fought : 
Verdun  and  the  Sorame,  each  lasting  several 
months  and  resulting  in  defeat  to  the  Ger- 
mans   with   enormous  losses  of  men.     The 


THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF   THE  GREAT    WAR 


19 


line,  however,  as  drawn  in  Fig.  11,  was 
not  greatly  changed.  The  Russians  and 
Events  on  the  Italians  were  also  successful  in 
east  and  west  opposing  the  Austrians.  The 
fronts  balance    of    the    fighting    was, 

therefore,  favorable  to  the  Allies. 

lloumania,     how- 
ever,   who 

Further  prog- 
ress of  the 
Middle- 
Europe  and 
Bagdad  Rail- 
way plans 


ter   defend.      Compare   the    line    in   Fig.  18 
with  that  in    Fig.    11.     In  this   region  the 
Allies  in  heavy  battles  won  father  On  the  west- 
victories    that    were    of    much   "n  front 
importance.     Yet  no  decisive  results    were 
reached  on  this  front  during  the  year. 


had    en- 

t  e  r  e  d 

the  war 

on    the 

side  of 

the  Al- 
lies, was  conquered. 
Her  rich  wheat  fields 
and  oil  wells  were 
taken.  She  made 
the  third  Balkan 
State  that  had  been 
added  to  Teuton 
territory  since  the 
war  began.  This 
addition  brought  the 
Middle-Europe  plan 
almost  to  full  reali- 
zation. Greece  alone 
remained  neutral. 
The  war  was  bring- 
ing its  reward. 

Events  in  Turkey 
also  advanced  the  railway  project.  A  con- 
siderable British  force  from  India  had 
marched  up  the  Tigris  River  toward  Bagdad 
(Fig.  5),  winning  some  victories  on  the  way. 
But  they  were  surrounded  by  the  Turks  and 
finally  compelled  to  surrender.  The  force 
that  was  lost  consisted  of  13,000  men.  The 
main  part  of  the  railroad  that  remained  to 
be  built  was  in  this  region,  and  this  victory 
brought  the  possibility  of  its  completion 
much  nearer. 

7.    The  War  in  1917 

The  Germans  in  France,  early  in  the  year, 
retreated  a  considerable  distance  along  a  fifty- 
mile  front  to  positions  that  they  could  bet- 


FiG.  16.  —  British  armored 


British  Offlcial  Photograph 
'tank"  passing  through  a  burning  village  on  the  way  to  the 
front  in  France. 


Russia  sprang  a  surprise  on  the  world  in 
1917,  a  surprise  whose  results  for  good  and 
evil  are  thus  far  vast  but  lui-  On  the  Rus- 
certain.  First  came  the  revolu-  sian  front 
tion  early  in  the  year,  the  Czar  abdicat- 
ing in  INIarch  and  the  government  being 
taken  over  by  a  moderately  liberal  party. 
Finally  a  very  radical  party,  called  the  Bol- 
sheviki,  obtained  control.  They  ignored  all 
obligation  to  the  Allies,  cximpletely  under- 
mined army  discipline,  and  made  a  separate 
peace  with  Germany.  Although  up  to 
1917  Russia  had  fought  hard  and  suffered 
fearfully  on  the  side  of  the  Allies,  she  now 
withdrew  from  the  war.  From  this  year 
on,  therefore,  the  line  of  battle  in  this  part 


20 


THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF   THE  GREAT   WAR 


Fig.  17. 


of  the  east,  as  indicated  in  Fig.  15,  entirely 
disappeared.  This  withdrawal  was  a  most 
severe  blow  to  the  Allies,  for  the  Germans 
began  not  only  to  overrun  Russian  territory 
at  will,  but  also  to  transport  their  troops  that 
were  not  needed  in  this  region  to  other  battle 
lines. 

This  act  of  Russia  had  a  fearful  effect  in 
On  the  Italian  northern  Italy.  On  that  line 
fro°t  enormous  Austrian  forces,  many 

of    them    brought    from    Russia,    were    as- 


sembled and  hurled  against  Italy.  That 
country  suffered  terrible  losses  and  the 
work  she  had  accomplished  during  the  pre- 
ceding two  years  was  undone. 

During   1917   the   Allies    more    than    re- 
trieved   their    recent    losses  in  Checks  to 
the  Tigris  valley.     Early  in  the  the  Middle- 

Bi     ]  J.        J    u      Europe  and 

agdad  was  captured  by  ^j^^  Bagdad 

the  British  and  most  of  Pales-  Railway 

tine   also   was  taken   from  the  projects 

Turks.      Jerusalem  was  surrendered  to  the 


THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF   THE  GREAT   WAR 


21 


British  early  in  December  of  this  year. 
It  began  to  look  now  as  though  the  Teutons 
would  never  extend  their  railroad  to  Bagdad 
and  the  Persian  Gulf,  and  without  the  ad- 
dition of  this  section  the  whole  scheme  lost 
its  value. 

At  the  same  time  a  blow  was  struck  against 
the  Middle-Europe  plan.  The  one  remaining 
neutral  power  among  the 
Balkan  States  was 
Greece.  Its  ruler,  King 
Constantine,  was  vio- 
lently pro-German,  while 
a  majority  of  the  Greeks 
favored  the  Allies.  Dur- 
ing this  year  Constantine 
was  deposed  and  Greece 
joined  the  Allies  (p.  40). 

This  was  surely  a  deep 
disappointment  to  the 
Teutons.  The  location 
of  Greece  as  an  Allied 
power,  so  close  to  the 
Serbians,  who  were  still 
hostile  to  the  Teutons 
even  though  conquered, 
and  so  near  to  the  rail- 
way, might  cause  strong 
opposition  to  both  proj- 
ects at  any  time. 

This  was  the  year  in 
which  the  submarine 
reached  its  greatest  de- 
structiveness 


The  civilized  world  gasped  at  such  frightful- 
ness;  but  it  was  believed  by  the  Germans 
to  be  a  sure  means  of  winning  the  war, 
and  that  was  what  they  sought.  Interna- 
tional law  did  not  count  with  them. 

The  German  people  were  assured  by  their 
leaders  that  such  use  of  the  submarine  would 
bring  the  English  to  their  knees  in  a  few 


Fig!   18.  —  A  convoy  of  ships  carrying 


©  Undericood  and  Underwood 
food  and  supplies  to  the  Allies. 


On  the  seas 


Up  to  the  first 
of  this  year  it  had  been  active 
and,  together  with  mines,  had  destroyed 
nearly  4,000,000  tons  of  merchant  shipping. 
This  was  only  a  small  part  of  the  entire 
British  merchant  marine. 

But  up  to  this  time  a  great  many  vessels 
had  been  spared  from  attack.  Now  on  Feb- 
ruary 1,1917,  the  plan  of  unlimited  cruelty  was 
adopted  ;  the  use  of  the  submarine  was  freed 
from  restrictions  and  any  vessels  were  attacked 
and  sunk  without  warning,  no  matter  what 
nation  they  represented  or  who  was  on  them. 


months.  The  latter  had  to  receive  much  of 
their  food,  ammunition,  and  other  supplies 
from  abroad,  and  Germany  thought  that 
the  submarine  would  cut  off  all  such  aid. 
With  England  out  of  the  war.  it  would 
soon  end. 

From  January  to  June  they  sank  3,600.000 
tons  of  shipping.  It  was  a  critical  period  for 
the  Allies.  But  means  for  protection  against 
the  submarine  were  developed  and  its  de- 
structiveness  began  to  decline.  England 
was  not  starved  out  and  the  crisis  is  past. 
The  policy   of  frightfulness,   however,   had 


22 


THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF   THE  GREAT    WAR 


23 


unfavorable  consequences  for  the  Germans, 
which  they,  no  doubt,  appreciate  now  far 
more  than  they  did  then. 

8.  Additions  to  the  Allied  Nations 

During  1917  eight  new  countries,  repre- 
senting all  parts  of  the  earth,  entered 
New  enemies  the  war  against  Germany, 
to  the  Teutons  while  not  a  single  new  power 
joined^the  Teutons.     On  page  40  there  is  a 


It  meant  that  it  took  all  this  time  for 
these  nations  to  grasp  the  situation ;  to 
comprehend  the  objects  of  the  Teutons;  and 
to  realize  the  methods  they  were  adopting 
in  pursuit  of  these  objects. 

They  had  been  astounded  at  the  absence 
of  all  sense  of  honor  on  the  part  of  Germany 
when  she  invaded  Belgium  and  declared 
her  contract  to  respect  its  neutrality  only 
a  "  scrap  of  paper."  They  had  been  horrified 
at  her  brutality  toward  the  Belgians   and 


Fig.  20.  —  British  camp  in  western  France  where  officers  are  trained  in  modern  warfare. 


list  of  these  powers  with  the  dates  on  which 
war  was  declared.  Note  these  dates.  (In 
Fig.  19  note  their  names  and  locations. 
How  many  continents  do  they  represent  ?) 

Originally  it  was  generally  expected  that 
the  war  would  last  only  a  few  months. 
Their  reasons  Now  after  two  and  one  half 
for  entering  years  of  awful  fighting,  these 
the  war  onlookers  determined  to  assist 

in  blocking  the  Teutons,  no  matter  how 
fearful  the  sacrifices  might  be.  Why  did 
they  take  such  risk,  and  all  on  one  side? 
What  did  it  mean? 


other  conquered  peoples.  They  had  been 
shocked  at  her  selfishness  and  greed  in 
robbing  conquered  territory.  TMien  the 
Limtania  was  sunk,  destroying  119S  lives, 
114  of  them  American,  they  saw  that  she 
was  inconceivably  cruel.  When,  therefore, 
her  plots  and  conspiracies  began  to  be  un- 
covered in  all  parts  of  the  world,  they  realized 
that  she  was  wholly  unworthy  of  trust. 
The  significance  of  Pan-Germanism  had 
now  been  made  clear;  and  it  menaced  the 
liberties  of  the  world.  It  was,  therefore,  the 
duty  of  all  nations  to  combine  to  put  it  down. 


24 


THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF   THE  GREAT   WAR 


9.  The  United  States  in  the  War 

The  declaration  of  war  by  the  United  States 

meant  a  great  addition  to  the  forces  of  the 

f\  ,  ,«»o«.,,^»o  AlUes.     Our  population  is  over 
Our  resources  ^  \ 

compared  with  100,000,000,  while  that  of  Ger- 

thoseofGer-    many  is  less  than  70,000,000. 

many  j^^  ^^^^  ^^  ^^^  ^^^  superior  to 

Germany,  since  we  have  over  3,000,000  square 
miles,  while  she  has  only  210,000,  which  is 


Fig.  21. 


Underwood  and  Uiidiru 
Distributing  equipment  at  the  OflScers'  Training  Camp,  Plattsburg,  N.  Y. 


much  less  than  that  of  Texas  alone.  In  raw 
materials,  manufactures,  and  wealth  our  su- 
periority over  Germany  is  also  striking.  We 
produce  nearly  twice  as  much  coal  and  iron  as 
Germany,  we  manufacture  more  than  twice 
as  many  goods  and  our  total  wealth  is  about 
three  times  hers. 

In  spite  of  these  facts  Germany  showed  con- 
Why  Ger-         tempt  for  us  as  a  possible  en- 
many  did  not     emy.      Why  ? 
fear  us  First  of    all,   because  as     a 

people    we     are    remarkably     devoted     to 


peace.  At  the  time  we  declared  war  our 
standing  army  was  composed  of  only  about 
100,000  men  (see  Fig.  6),  a  very  small 
number  when  compared  with  the  866,000  in 
the  German  standing  army.  Beyond  this 
number,  we  had  very  few  trained  soldiers, 
while  every  able-bodied  man  in  Germany  had 
received  extensive  training.  On  the  other 
hand,  peace  societies  were  numerous  and  ac- 
tive throughout  the  land,  urging  the  avoid- 
ance of  all  war, 
and  some  influ- 
ential persons  had 
reached  the  point 
where  they  op- 
posed allowing 
children  even  to 
play  with  tin  sol- 
diers because  it 
directed  their 
thoughts  too 
much  to  fighting. 
As  a  nation  we 
knew  that  we 
would  provoke  no 
war;  and  up  to 
that  time  we  were 
convinced  that  no 
one  was  likely  to 
attack  us.  In 
short,  we  cher- 
ished the  hope 
and  expectation 
that  all  war  would 
be  avoided  by  us  in  the  future. 

This  condition  made  us  harmless  in  the 
eyes  of  the  Germans.  Also,  they  saw  that 
even  if  we  were  awakened  from  our  dreams 
about  peace,  it  would  be  a  long  time  before 
we  could  be  ready  to  fight.  We  lacked  not 
only  soldiers,  but  ofiicers  as  well;  also  an 
adequate  supply  of  munitions ;  indeed,  we 
were  without  the  thousand  and  one  things 
that  Germany  had  been  carefully  provid- 
ing during  the  last  fifty  years.  No  one 
understood  better  than  she  what  a  mighty 


THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF   THE  GREAT   WAR 


25 


task  it  would  be 
for  us  to  get 
ready  to  fight. 

Even  if  we 
ever  finally  pre- 
pared ourselves, 
the  field  for  fight- 
ing was  at  least 
3000  miles  away, 
and  we  lacked 
the  ships  for 
transporting  our 
men  and  their 
supplies.  More 
than  that,  if  by 
some  miracle 
these  were  pro- 
vided, the  subma- 
rine would  pre- 
vent their  arriving  on  the  other  side.  When  all 
these  points  are  considered,  certainly  the  Ger- 
mans had  much  reason  for  feeling  safe  from  us. 


©  Utidertcood  and  Under  trood 
Fig.  23.  —  One  view  of  the  steel  works  at  Ensley,  just  outside  of  Birmingham, 
Alabaana,  where  now  munitions  of  war  are  made. 


Fig.  22.  —  Building  "Liberty  Ships"  on  Puget  Sound. 


Geography  constantly  deals  'v\-ith  the  seven 
great  occupations  of  men;  namely,  agricul- 
ture, fishing,  lumbermg,  mining,  qut  new 
manufac-  occupation 
t  u  r  i  n  2  ^^^  ^^^  extent 
transportation,  and 
trade.  Our  declaration 
of  war  on  April  6,  1917, 
added  another,  that  of 
carrying  on  war.  This 
has  gradually  become 
the  greatest  of  the  eight, 
and  one  that  to  a  large 
degree  controls  all  the 
others.  That  is  a  very 
remarkable  fact,  when  it 
is  remembered  that  only 
a  few  years  ago  we  com- 
monly believed  that  we 
could  avoid  war.  It 
shows  how  quickly  and 
completely  a  great  na- 
tion can  change.     '  - 

The  great  extent  of 
this  occupation  is  sug- 
gested by  a  very  few 
facts.     In  the  latter  part 


26 


THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF   THE  GREAT   WAR 


Fig.  24.  —  Military  map 


of  the  summer  of  1918  we  had  over  3,000,000 
men  in  France  or  in  training  at  home.  It  has 
been  often  stated  that  it  takes  seven  or  eight 


workers  at  home  to  keep  one  soldier  in  the- 
field  —  so  many  kinds  of  work  are  necessary ; 
such,  for  example,  as  farming,  mining,  manu- 


THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF  THE  GREAT   WAR 


27 


of  the  United  States. 


facture  of  clothing,  munitions,  ships,  etc.,  to 
meet  all  military  needs.  If  that  statement  is 
correct,  it  would  mean  that  these  3,000,000 


are  keeping  not  less  than  20,000,000  others 
fully  employed.  The  center  for  this  great 
business  is  our  capital,  Washington,  and  prob- 


28 


THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF   THE  GREAT   WAR 


ably  many  more  than  100,000  clerks  and  other 
government  employees  have  been  called  there 
since  the  war  began.  The  city  has  accord- 
ingly increased  tremendously  in  population. 


possible  upon  different  communities.  It  was 
a  question  whether  such  a  plan  would  be 
acceptable  to  the  people,  and  during  the  de- 
bate in  Congress  signs  were  not  lacking  that 


I  Underwood  and  Underwood 
Fig.  25.  —  Training  soldiers  at  Camp  Upton,  Yaphank,  Long  Island,  N.  Y. 


Other  government  work  connected  with  the 
war  is  carried  on  in  hundreds  of  places 
throughout  the  country. 

The  conduct  of  war  calls  for  undertakings 
of  many  kinds,  each  of  which  may  be  a  great 
business  in  itself.     One  of  these 
was    the    preparation    of    an 
army.     Our  first  step  was  to  call 
soldiers,    and   within    a   few 


Our  prepara 
tion  of  an 
army 

for    volunteer 


months  these  troops,  together  with  those  that 
we  already  had,  made  an  army  of  a  million 
men.  Many  of  these  were  already  well 
trained  for  war. 

Meanwhile  it  was  clear,  however,  that  sev- 
eral millions  would  be  needed  if  we  took  the 
part  in  the  war  that  belonged  to  us  ;  also  that 
it  would  not  do  to  wait  for  voluntary  enlist- 
ments. The  President  proposed  to  raise  the 
necessary  men  by  "  selective  draft  "  or  con- 
scription. By  that  means  the  burden  of  the 
fighting  would  be  distributed  as  equally  as 


German  influence  was  at  work  to  defeat  the 
plan. 

Yet  the  bill  became  a  law,  and  all  men 
between  the  ages  of  twenty-one  and  thirty- 
one  were  required  to  enroll  for  service  on  a 
given  date.  Ten  million  young  men  re- 
sponded. Since  all  these  were  not  needed  at 
once,  it  was  decided  to  determine  by  lot  the 
order  in  which  the  men  should  be  called. 
The  men  were  also  divided  into  classes  ac- 
cording to  conditions  that  deserved  con- 
sideration in  accepting  or  exempting  them. 
Thus  a  vast  army  has  been  drafted. 

The  training  of  so  many  soldiers  was  a 
great  problem.  Nearly  all  of  them  were 
without  military  experience,  having  come 
directly  from  farm,  factory,  and  oflBce.  They 
were  assigned  to  camps  or  cantonments  in 
many  parts  of  the  country,  as  shown  in 
Fig.  24. 

Each  cantonment  is  reallv  a  new  city  de- 


THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF   THE  GREAT   WAR 


29 


signed  to  be  the  tem- 
porary home  of 
about  40,000  men  in 
training.  It  is 
equipped  with  most 
of  the  conveniences 
of  any  city,  having, 
for  example,  a  water 
system,  sewage  sys- 
tem, electric  lights, 
telephone,  fire  de- 
partment, and  even 
paved  streets.  As 
shown  on  the  map, 
sixteen  of  these  can- 
tonments were  established  during  the  sum- 
mer of  1917  for  the  drafted  men.  ]\Iany 
other  cantonments  were  built  for  the  men 
who  belonged  to  the  National  Guard,  which 
had  been  taken  into  the  service  before  the 
conscription  act  was  passed.  Thousands 
upon  thousands  of  engineers,  carpenters, 
plumbers,  and  other  workers,  besides  vast 
quantities   of  lumber  and    other  materials. 


>. 


©  Vndericood  and  Underwood 

Fig.  26.  —  View  of  an  army  cantonment  on  the  historic  field  of  Gettysburg,  Pennsylvania. 


were  necessary  for  all  this  construction  in  so 
short  a  time. 

Our  navy  was  in  far  better  condition  for  a 
great  war  than  our  army.     In  I-'ig.  8  note 
how  it  ranked  among  the  navies  Development 
of  the  Great  Powers.  of  our  navy 

At  the  time  of  our  entrance  into  the  war 
the  Allied  navies  of  Great  Britain,  France, 
Italy,  and  Japan  were  masters  on  the  ocean. 
German  warships,  mer- 
chant vessels,  and  raiders 
had  been  driven  from  it. 
But  the  German  sub- 
marine, which  had  done 
much  damage  since  the 
beginning  of  the  war, 
had  been  declared  by 
the  German  government 
on  January  31,  1917,  to 
be  free  from  all  restric- 
tions, and  it  was  ■pro\Tng 
fearfully  destructive  to 
Allied  vessels.  At  that 
time  the  Germans  gen- 
erally relied  upon  it  to 
bring  victory. 

It  was  otir  task,  there- 
fore, to  construct  more 
war  vessels,  as  many  as 
we  possibly  could;  and 
to  increase  verv  greatlv 


Fig.  27.  —  A  United  States  Warship  using  a  smoke  screen  in  the  "danger  zone." 


30 


THE   GEOGRAPHY  OF   THE  GREAT   WAR 


Underwood  and  Underwood 
Fig.  28.  —  A  sham  battle  at  Pelham  Bay  Naval  Training  camp,  Pelham  Bay,  N.  Y. 


Building  of 
army  trans- 
ports and  a 
merchant 


these  piu-poses; 
and,  since  many 
ships  were  being 
sunk  e^'el•y  week 
by  submarines, 
a  still  greater 
number  would 
have  to  be  built 
in  order  to  meet 
this  loss. 

Such      vessels 
as    these,    used 
for    transporta- 
tion of  goods  in 
time    of    peace, 
are  called  "  mer- 
chant   marine." 
At  the  time  war 
was  declared  by 
us  our  merchant  marine  on  the  ocean  was 
small.     While  we  had  had  a  great  foreign 
trade,  nine  tenths  of  our  imports  and  ex- 
ports had  been  carried  in  ships  owned  by 
foreign  countries.     That  was   not  all.     We 
lacked  the  equipment,  such  as  the  shipyards, 
machinery,  and  trained  workmen,  necessary 
for  building  a  great  number  of  ships.     Also, 


the  number  of  naval  officers  and  men.  This 
task,  like  that  of  preparing  a  vast  army,  has 
been  accomplished  with  remarkable  success. 
The  purpose  of  the  navy  is  to  destroy  the 
enemy  submarines  and  to  afford  protection 

in  other  ways.     In  addition  to 

war  vessels  it  was  seen  that  we 

would  need  a  vast  number  of 

other  ships 

marine  p 

tor  trans- 
portation of  all  sorts  of 
things  to  Europe.  Sev- 
eral million  soldiers 
would  need  to  be  taken 
over;  food  for  them 
would  have  to  be  sup- 
plied by  us,  too;  also 
clothing,  ammunition, 
horses,  engines,  and  hun- 
dreds of  other  articles. 
In  addition  great  quan- 
tities of  food  would  need 
to  be  sent  to  our  Allies, 
since  they  could  not 
meet  all  their  own  wants. 
Thousands     of     vessels 

would     be    required     for      Fig.  29.  —  Launching  a  steel"  Liberty  Ship,"  shipbuilding  yards,  Mobile,  Alabama. 


THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF   THE  GREAT   WAR 


31 


ships  like  great  buildings  can  be  built  only 
very  slowly. 

There  were  many  difficulties  to  be  over- 
come here;  and  our  progress  at  first  was 
very  slow.  We  could  not  hope  to  accomplish 
much  during  1917;  it  took  time  to  get  the 
work  started.  In  the  spring  of  1918,  how- 
ever, results  began  to  appear;  dozens  of 
vessels  per  month  began  to  be  launched,  and 
then  as  many  per  week.  In  one  day,  July  4, 
almost  one  hundred  were  launched.  The 
number  continues  to  increase  at  an  astonish- 


numbers.  Millions  of  shoes,  blankets,  uni- 
forms, and  hats  have  had  to  be  made.  To 
meet  all  such  requirements  hundreds  of  fac- 
tories have  abandoned  their  regular  work 
and  have  undertaken  some  of  these  things. 
Thus  one  sees  how  great  a  business  war  ma\- 
be ;  it  can  demand  a  large  share  of  the  efforts 
of  the  nation. 

High  officials  in  Germany  had  promised 
their  people    that  even  if  the  Transporta- 
United    States  raised   a   great  tion  of  troops 
army  and  secured  vessels  for  its  transporta- 


FiG.  30.  —  A  giant  American  built  airplane,  used  for  bombing  purposes. 


ing  rate,  and  now  the  new  vessels  built  by  our 
Allies  and  ourselves  each  month  far  exceed 
those  destroyed.  By  our  astonishing  energy 
the  point  of  safety  has  been  reached  in  ship- 
building. 

Upon  the  declaration  of  war  our  govern- 
ment at  once  began  preparations  for  the  ex- 
M    uf    t  tensive  manufacture  of  muni- 

of  munitions  tions  and  other  articles  neces- 
and  equip-  sary  in  war.  Rifles,  machine 
"^^^  guns,  cannon,  and  powder  had  to 

be  provided  in  enormous  quantities.  For  this 
purpose  manufacturing  centers  have  been 
developed  that  are  cities  in  themselves,  given 
up  wholly  to  this  one  kind  of  work.  Air- 
planes, motor-trucks,  armored  cars,  and  trans- 
port wagons  have  had  to  be  produced  in  vast 


tion,  it  would  never  be  allowed  to  reach 
France.  There  was  much  doubt  among  us, 
too,  about  the  success  we  should  attain  in 
transporting  large  numbers  of  men.  The  first 
troops  were  sent  over  in  May,  1917.  The 
number  that  followed  from  month  to  month 
was  watched  by  us  and  oiu-  Allies  - —  and 
probably  by  the  Germans  also  —  '^"ith  great 
anxiety.     There  were  transported  in 


May,  1917 

1,71S 

January, 

191S 

46,776 

June 

12,261 

Februar\ 

48,027 

July 

12,9SS 

March 

S3.S11 

August 

1S,323 

April 

117,212 

September 

32,523 

Mav 

244,345 

October 

3S,259 

June 

276,372 

November 

23,016 

July 

over 

300,000 

December 

4S,S40 

August 

about 

250,000 

32 


THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF   THE  GREAT   WAR 


Many  of  the  Germans  have  found  it  diffi- 
cult to  believe  these  figures ;  and  even  to  us 
they  are  wonderful.  Transportation  of  people 
on  any  such  scale  upon  the  ocean  has  never 
before  been  accomplished. 

jit  should  be  remembered,  too,  that  danger 
in  the  form  of  submarines  lurked  about  the 


)  Kadel  and,  Herbert 
Fig.  31.  —  American  troops  disembarking  at  a  port  in  France. 


transporting  vessels  at  every  moment.  Yet 
practically  not  a  man  has  been  lost  on  the 
way  to  Europe.  By  the  aid  of  our  allied 
navies  and  our  own  the  vessels  have  been 
protected  on  all  sides.  The  courage  and  en- 
durance of  the  men  in  these  navies  will  be 
admired  in  all  time  to  come. 

In  order  to  provide  space  on  shipboard  for 
so  many  soldiers,  especially  in  the  recent 
months,  the  partitions  of  some  of  the  vessels 
were  removed  and  all  possible  space  suited 
for  bunks  was  utilized.  The  soldiers  slept 
in  shifts,  each  of  three  shifts  occupying  the 


bunks  eight  hours.    It  is  plain  that  the  beds 
were  kept  very  busy. 

Upon  declaration  of  war  German  vessels 
m  American  ports  were  seized  and  have 
been  used  in  transport  service.  The  larg- 
est transport  of  all  is  the  Leviathan,  formerly 
called  the  Vaterland,  which  sailed  between 
Hamburg  and  New 
York. 

Provision  of  food 
for  our  Allies,  par- 
ticularly the  English 
and  French,  is 
another  undertaking 
that  has  called  for 
much  planning  and 

1  a  D  O  r    Q^y  provision 
on  our   of  food  for 
part,   our  Allies 

The  British  are  a 
manufacturing  na- 
tion, relying  upon 
imports  from  other 
countries  for  much 
of  their  food.  Be- 
fore the  war  the 
want  of  such  imports 
for  even  a  few  weeks 
would  have  caused 
much  suffering. 

Since  the  war  be- 
gan, large  areas  that 
were  formerly 
wooded  and  were  parts  of  large  estates  and 
parks  have  been  brought  under  cultivation. 
With  this  improvement  it  is  said  that  the 
British  can  supply  enough  food  to  last  them 
at  least  eight  months  in  the  year.  To  supply 
the  other  third  from  abroad,  however,  is  no 
small  task. 

Before  the  war  France  was  less  dependent 
on  imports  for  food,  although  she  required  a 
good  deal.  The  war,  however,  has  devas- 
tated a  part  of  the  land ;  and,  partly  because 
so  many  of  the  men  were  engaged  in  fighting 
and  partly  because  the  soil  has  lacked  fertili- 


THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF   THE  GREAT-WAR 


33 


zation,  her  crops  have  been  unusually  small. 
In  November,  1917,  the  United  States  Food 
Administration  stated  that  the  1917  wheat 
crop  of  France,  as  compared  with  that  of  1913, 
was  short  over  one  half  or  176,000,000 
bushels ;  that  the  potato  crop  was  short 
about  one  third  or  165,000,000  bushels ;  that 
the  sugar-beet  crop  was  short  over  two 
thirds  or  148,000,000  bushels;  that  the  num- 
ber of  cattle  had  decreased  about  one  sixth  or 
2,435,000  head; 
that  the  number 
of  sheep  had  de- 
creased over  one 
third  or  5,535,- 
000  head;  and 
that  the  number 
of  hogs  had  de- 
creased two 
fifths  or  2,825,- 
000  head.  Both 
the  British  and 
the  French  had 
to  receive  great 
quantities  of 
food  from  abroad 
or  give  up  fight- 
ing. 

[Heretofore 
these       imports 

came  largely  from  Canada,  Australia,  Argen- 
tina, and  other  agricultural  countries.  But 
ships  were  lacking  for  transportation  of 
wheat  all  the  way  from  Australia,  and  for 
several  reasons  many  of  these  other  countries 
have  not  been  able  to  supply  as  much  as 
usual.  Thus  it  was  that  the  United  States 
was  left  to  furnish  it. 

Our  country  as  well  as  England  ranks  high  in 
manufacturing ;  in  fact  the  United  States  is  the 
greatest  manufacturing  nation.  Yet  we  pro- 
duce most  of  our  food  and  have  always  exported 
some.  Now  it  became  necessary  for  us  to  ex- 
port far  more.  Wheat  and  meat  were  the  things 
most  needed ;  and  under  Mr.  Hoover's  lead  we 
set  to  work  to  secure  enough  to  save  our  Allies. 


This  need  furnished  an  opportunity  for 
every  one  to  be  patriotic  by  doing  his  bit, 
particularly  by  helping  to  produce  more  of 
various  kinds  of  food  and  to  consume  less  of 
those  that  were  needed  abroad. 

The  success  of  our  efforts  is  as  gratifying 
in  this  case  as  in  the  others  already  men- 
tioned. Our  average  monthly  export  of  beef 
before  the  war  was  1,066,000  pounds;  and 
of  pork  41,531,000  pounds.     In  June,  1918,  we 


■i^-^.3i^/-C,??t:r  V^-T*^-f^  c  •' 


Fig.  32.  —  Women  at  Washington,  D.C.,  learning  to  run  a  tractor  in  order  to  do  farm  work. 


sent  abroad  92,173,000  pounds  of  beef  and 
169,331,000  pounds  of  pork.  Our  export  of 
wheat  has  likewise  been  tremendously  in- 
creased. These  are  facts  that  have  con- 
vinced our  Allies  —  and  the  Germans,  too  — 
that  we  can  be  depended  upon. 

Care  of  the  wounded  is  another  phase  of 
war  that  has  called  for  much  planning  and  a 
great  number  of  workers.  In  Care  of  the 
ancient  wars  little  provision  was  wounded 
made  for  those  who  were  injured.  They  died 
from  lack  of  care  if  their  wounds  were  serious. 
Now,  unless  a  wound  is  very  serious,  the  man 
is  expected  to  recover  and  to  return  to  the 
ranks.  It  is  a  matter  of  economy  as  well  as 
humanity  to  attend  to  him. 


34 


THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF   THE  GREAT   WAR 


The  soldier  is  not  only  cared  for  when  he 
is  wounded,  but  is  kept  in  health  if  pos- 
sible. It  is  the  business  of  doctors  to  be 
on  the  lookout  for  contagious  diseases,  to 
inspect  drinking  water,  to  watch  over  food, 


Provision  for 
the  comfort 
and  entertain- 
ment of  sol- 
diers 


(£)  UndeTwood  and  Underwood 
Fig.  33.  —  Filing  pledges  to  save  food  at  the  office  of  the  Food  Conservation  Com- 
mission, New  York. 


and  to  see  that  camps  are  in  a  sanitary  con- 
dition. 

The  Red  Cross  Society  is  organized  under 
supervision  of  the  government  to  do  much  of 
this  work.  It  has  many  doctors  and  trained 
niu-ses.  Under  them  are  assistants  who  bring 
the  wounded  to  hospitals  for  treatment. 
They  help  the  men  with  their  mail  and  aid 
them  in  communicating  with  parents  and 
friends.  In  the  regions  ruined  by  war  the 
Society  helps  to  look  after  homeless  people. 
It  finds  temporary  shelter  for  widows  and 


orphans  and  feeds  refugees  until  they  can 

care  for  themselves. 

Wars  are  now  fought  by  citizen  soldiers. 

If  possible,  they  should  come 

back  home  at  the  end  of  the 
war  better 
than  when 
they     left. 

Their  leisure  time,  there- 
fore, should  be  properly 
spent,  and  they  should 
have  such  comforts  and 
entertainments  as  will 
keep  them  healthy 
minded  and  happy.  A 
great  force  of  workers  is 
employed  to  assist  the 
soldier  in  these  respects. 
They  lead  in  many  kinds 
of  games,  they  organize 
schools,  exhibit  motion 
pictures,  furnish  music 
and  reading  matter,  and 
establish  stores  where 
needed  articles  can  be 
bought  at  reasonable 
prices.  The  fighting 
power  of  men  is  much 
affected  by  such  care,  as 
well  as  their  health  and 
morals.  Such  organi- 
zations as  the  Young 
Men's  Christian  Associ- 
ation, the  Knights  of 
Columbus,  the  Salvation  Army,  and  Jewish 
societies  have  assumed  responsibility  for  this 

work. 

10.   The  War  in  1918 

In  the  west  the  Germans  aimed  at  the 
Channel  ports,  especially  Calais,  and  at  Paris. 
Their  plan  was  to  break  through  On  the  west- 
the  line  of  defense  at  once,  or  by  em  front 
one  drive  after  another  to  bend  it  until  it 
would  have  to  give  way.  The  drives  began 
in  March,  and  one  after  another  was  made 


THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF   THE  GREAT    WAR 


35 


with  tremendous  force. 
The  Allies  had  to  yield 
extensive  areas,  until,  on 
July  15,  the  line  stood  as 
shown  in  Fig.  34. 

On  July  15  another 
terrific  drive  began 
which  allowed  the  Ger- 
mans to  cross  the  Marne. 
The  French  suffered 
heavy  losses ;  but  the 
American  Army  was  in 
the  line  and  helped  to 
meet  the  shock.  Our 
men  fought  like  veter- 
ans and  helped  drive  the 
invaders  back  across  the 
Marne.  Then  the  Allies 
undertook  an  offensive 
of  their  own  and  forced 
the  Teutons  to  retreat 
further  until  Paris  was 
made  safe  from  attack.  This  second  battle 
of  the  Marne  seems  likely  to  be  remembered 
as  the  turning  point  in  the  war.  Though 
the  French  forces  were  of  course  far  larger  than 


Fig. 


Britisn  Official  Photograph 
35.  —  American  troops  on  their  way  to  the  trenches  on  the  British  front. 


Fig.  34. 

ours,  General  Pershing  had  possibly  300,000 
men  in  this  battle,  and  1,000,000  more  in 
other  parts  of  the  line  or  in  reserve.  The 
great    energy    and    skill  ^that    our   country 

had  shown  dur- 
ing more  than 
one  year  in  cre- 
ating an  army, 
building  ships, 
and  transport- 
ing men  had  now 
begun  to  count. 
Other  attacks 
made  by  the 
Allies  soon  after 
brought  fiu-ther 
disaster  to  the 
Teutons. 

On  the  Italian 
front,    also,   the 

tide  On  the 
^-ag   Italian  front 

tiu-ned  in  favor 
of     the     Allies. 


36 


THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF   THE  GREAT   WAR 


37 


A  great  Austrian  drive  had  been  planned  to 
crush  Italy,  while  the  British  and  French  were 
kept  too  busy  to  give  aid.  This  took  place  in 
May.  At  first  success  appeared  to  be  with 
the  Teutons.  Then  the  Italians  rallied,  de- 
feated them,  and  drove  them  back.  The 
Austrian  leaders  had  promised  their  army 
food  and  supplies  in  abundance  in  the  con- 
quered territory  of  fertile  northern  Italy. 
Money  was  even  issued  to  them  in  advance 
to  be  spent  in  Venice.  But  there  was  no  op- 
portunity to  use  it. 
Instead  the  army 
marched  in  great 
haste  in  the  opposite 
direction,  leaving  be- 
hind them  thousands 
of  dead  and  of  prison- 
ers and  vast  quanti- 
ties of  war  material. 
The  state  of  affairs 
in  Russia  continued 
to  worry  the  Allied 
nations,  for  the  Ger- 
Events  in  mans 

Russia  were 

obtaining  a  firmer 
and  firmer  hold  upon 
the  country.  Many 
persons  urged  armed 
intervention  by  the 


seem  a  plan  for  the  conquest  of  their  country 
by  the  Allies,  and  thus  drive  them  into  open 
sympathy  with  Germany.  At  the  present 
time  it  appears  that  this  objection  has  been 
overcome  and  that  both  military  and  civil  aid, 
as  just  indicated,  will  be  sent  to  Russia  in 
increasing  quantity  in  the  near  future. 

In  August  Allied  forces  were  landed  on  the 
Murman  coast  and  occupied  Archangel  on  the 
White  Sea  (Fig.  358,  main  text),  others  were 
landed    in   Vladivostok.     These    forces    co- 


FiG.  37. 


I  Committee  on  Public  Informaiion 
-  French  children  greeting  American  soldiers  on  their  way  to  the  front  in  France. 


Allies.  They  be- 
lieved that  a  large  part  of  the  population, 
especially  in  Siberia,  was  hostile  to  Germany 
and  would  welcome  an  Allied  army  sent  for 
their  protection.  It  could  best  be  sent,  they 
thought,  by  way  of  Vladivostok  (Fig.  455, 
main  text)  and  might  well  be  accompanied 
by  experts  who  should  help  in  reorganizing 
the  government,  industry,  and  education. 
Such  a  plan  might  finally,  also,  restore  the 
battle  line  in  Russia  and  thus  compel  Ger- 
many to  withdraw  soldiers  from  the  west  in 
order  to  oppose  it. 

There  was  one  important  objection  to  such 
a  move.     To  many  of  the  Russians  it  might 


operated  with  forces  of  friendly  Russians  and 
former  subjects  of  Austria-Hungary  who  had 
been  prisoners  in  Russia  but  now  asserted 
their  independence.  The  most  important  of 
these  forces  were  the  Czecho-Slovaks  who 
had  come  from  Bohemia  and  otlier  subject 
states  of  Austria-Hungary. 

American  participation  in  the  war  on  a 
still  vaster  scale  was  assured  when  in  August 
the  limits  of  the  draft  age  were  lowered  from 
twenty-one  to  eighteen  and  raised  from 
thirty-one  to  forty-five,  thus  making  avail- 
able several  million  more  soldiers  for  the 
next  year's  campaign. 


38 


THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF   THE  GREAT  WAR 


11.   Cost  of  the  War 

There  is  no  accurate  way  of  estimating  a 
great  many  of  the  costs  of  war.  For  example 
Values  that  ^^  ^^  difficult  to  assign  a  definite 
cannot  be  cost  to   the  loss  of  a  life,  to 

estimated  g^  wound  that  partly  or  wholly 

disables  a  man  for  work;  to  loss  of  health 
owing  to  exposure ;  to  the  pain  endured  by  a 
wounded  man  even  though  the  wound  finally 
heals;  to  the  life-long  sorrow  and  loneliness 
due  to  death  of  loved  ones ;  to  the  neglect  in 
education  and  other  care  that  children  suffer 
when  they  have  been  made  orphans ;  to  the 
anguish  caused  by  the  separation  and  partial 
destruction  of  families  living  in  the  region  of 
fighting.  All  such  things  are  to  be  counted 
among  the  costs  of  war ;  indeed,  they  are  the 
main  costs  because  they  show  what  a  fearful 
thing  war  is,  and  should  always  be  kept  in 
mind  when  the  glories  of  war  are  mentioned. 
Yet  there  is  no  way  of  estimating  their  worth. 

A  few  of  the  very  many  kinds  of  work  re- 
Expenses  01  quired  for  the  conduct  of  war 
the  war  have    been    briefly    described. 

Each    of    these     calls    for    vast    sums    of 


money.  For  example,  the  pay  of  a  private 
soldier  is  thirty  dollars  per  month,  with  an 
extra  allowance  of  three  dollars  per  month 
for  foreign  service.  Three  million  soldiers 
therefore  would  cost  the  nation  close  to  one 
hundred  million  dollars  per  month.  Cloth- 
ing is  an  additional  item,  costing  much  more 
during  war  than  in  time  of  peace.  It  is 
estimated  that  during  peace  times  each 
soldier,  fully  equipped,  costs  our  government 
fifteen  hundred  dollars  a  year.  A  single  great 
cannon  costs  many  thousands  of  dollars,  and 
a  single  shot  from  it  at  least  several  hundreds. 
The  numbers  of  men  engaged  in  this  war  far 
exceed  those  in  any  previous  war,  and  the 
expenses  reach  fabulous  sums. 

In  order  to  raise  the  money  the  govern- 
ments have  not  only  levied  unusually  high 
taxes  but  have  also  borrowed  extensively. 

Each  nation  had  debts  before  the  war  be- 
gan; but  they  have  all  been  tremendously 
increased  since  that  date.  The  indebtedness 
total  debt  of  each  country  ac-  of  the  leading 
cording  to  the  latest  estimates  of  nations  at  war 
the  Department  of  Commerce  of  the  United 
States  was  as  follows  : 


PERCENTAGE   OF   DEBT 
\0%                                 2Q%                                30% 

4054 

UNITED 

5.97/ 

'    '         '    '              '                                                 '.                                             ', 

:iimimmi^i            ■                                                          -. 

GREAT 

44.3% 

^^^^gigg«r«=5585igsgssJ!g?pr              •,          .  •:       V      ..,-       ^         > 

'/'^  mmaiUM 

FRANCE 

40.7% 

i 

immimmimiimiii^^.-   ;  .■..■:■;;:::::::    ._         : 

ITALY 

GERMANY 

25.    % 

35.3% 

mm-/-':-}--'    -.  ■■■..■.■;;i, ',     | 

s^^'-                 ■;"-                            ■            '                                          ■■              --'o-^ 

AUSTRIA  - 

36.3  % 

^i=g?&A«ss^^sj;w-i?j;^«^ii!iss^!5s^^ 

UNITED 
STATES" 


GREAT 
BRITAIN" 


FRANCE- 
ITALY--- 


COMPARISON  OF  NATIONAL  WEALTH  AND   DEBT 

950.000,000,000  flOO.000.000.000 tl5O,OOO.000.000 


AUSTRIA - 
HUNGARY    " 


8220,000,000,000 
"  413,000,000,000 


8  86,000,000.000 
«  39,000,000,000 


859,000,000,000 
■624,000,000,000 


8  20,000,000,000 
'"*5, 000, 000, 000 


^^^^^^12 


t  200.000,000,000 


i^<m^ 


Fig.  38. 


THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF   THE  GREAT   WAR 


39 


It  is  possible  to  estimate  the  worth  of  all 
the  property  owned  by  each  nation  and  thus 
find  its  total  wealth.  Then  by  comparing 
the  debt  of  each  with  this  total  wealth  its 
percent  of  indebtedness  can  be  shown. 
Note  this  per  cent  in  the  table.     Observe 

that  the  wealth  of  the  United 
The  security  States  far  exceeds  that  of  any 
States  loans       ^^^  ^^  ^^^  other  countries.     In 

fact,  it  is  as  great  as  that  of  sev- 
eral of  them  added  together.     Observe,  also, 


that  our  per  cent  of  indebtedness  is  smaller 
than  that  of  any  one  of  the  other  Powers. 
This  means  that  the  loans  we  make  to  our 
Government  are  far  safer  than  those  made  to 
any  one  of  these  other  Powers.  In  other 
words,  our  investments  in  United  States 
bonds  and  war  savings  stamps  are  the  safest 
investments  in  the  wide  world.  That  is 
something  to  make  us  proud,  and  also  to 
make  us  eager  to  make  more  loans  to 
Uncle  Sam. 


States  of  Germany 


Name 


Kingdoms  — 

Prussia 

Bavaria      .... 

Saxony  

Wiirttemberg  . 
Grand-Duchies  — 

Baden 

Hesse 

Mecklenburg-Schwerin 

Saxe-Weimar    . 

Mecklenburg-Strelitz 

Oldenburg  .... 
Duchies  — 

Brunswick  .... 

Saxe-Meiningen     . 

Saxe-Altenburg     . 

Saxe-Coburg-Gotha   . 

Anhalt 


Aeea  sq.  mi, 


134,616 

29,292 

5,789 

7,534 

5,823 
2,966 
5,068 
1,397 
1,131 
2,482 

1,418 
953 
511 
764 


Population 
1910 


40,165,219 
6,887,291 
4,806,661 
2,437,574 

2,142,833 
1,282,051 
639,958 
417,149 
106,442 
483,042 

494,339 
278,762 
216,128 
257,177 
331,128 


Name 


Principalities  — 

Sch  warzbu  rg-Sonder  s- 
hausen 

Schwarzbiu"g-Rudolstadt 

Waldeck    .      .      . 

Reuss-Greiz    . 

Heuss-Schleiz 

Schaumburg-Lippe 

Lippe  .... 
Free  Towns  — ■ 

Liibeck 

Bremen 

Hamburg  . 
Imperial  Territory  — 

Alsace-Lorraine    . 
German  Empire 


Abea  sq.  mi. 


333 
363 
433 

122 
319 
131 
469 

115 

99 

160 

5,604 


Population 
1910 


89,917 

100,702 
61,707 
72,769 

152,752 
46,652 

150,937 

116,559 

299,526 

1,014,664 

1,874,014 


208,780       64,925,993 


Colonies  formerly  in  possession  of  Germany 


Name 

Abea  sq.  mi. 
(Estimated) 

Population 
(Estimated) 

Name 

Area  sq.  mi. 
(Estimated) 

POPULATIOX 

(Estimated) 

In  Africa 

Togoland 

Kamerun 

S.  W.  Africa    .... 

East  Africa      .... 
In  the  Pacific 

German  New  Guinea 

33,700 
190,000 
322,450 
364,000 

70,000 
20,000 

1,000,000 

3,500,000 

200,000 

7,000,000 

110,000 
188,000 

Caroline,  Pelew,  and 
Marianne  Islands 

Solomon  Islands . 

Marshall  Islands 

Samoan  Islands  .  .  . 
In  Asia  — 

Kiauchau  .... 
Total  dependencies    . 

SOO 

4,200 

160 

985 

117 

41,600 
45,000 
15,000 
33,000 

60.000 

Bismarck  Archipelago     . 

1,600,412 

12,192,600 

40 


THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF   THE  GREAT  WAR 


N.^.T10N 


DECLARATIONS  OF  WAR 

ALLIED   POWERS 
Declaration  op  War  Aoainst  1914  1 


France Germany 

Austria 

Tiu-key 

Bulgaria 

Great  Britain Germany 

Austria 

Turkey 

Bulgaria 

Serbia Germany 

Turkey 

Bulgaria 

Montenegro Austria 

Germany 

Japan Germany 

Russia Turkey 

Bvilgaria 

Portugal Germany 

Italy Austria 

Turkey 

Bulgaria 

Germany 

San  Marino Austria 

Roumania Austria 

Greece Germany 

Bulgaria 

United  States Germany 

Austria 

Cuba Germany 

Panama Germany 

Austria 

China Germany 

Austria 

BrazQ Germany 

Siam Germany 

Austria 

Liberia Germany 

CENTRAL   POWERS 

Declaration  op  War  Against 


Nation 

Germany Russia     .  . 

France 

Belgium  .  . 

Portugal  .  . 

Roumania  . 

Austria Serbia      .     . 

Russia     .     . 
Montenegro 
Japan 
Belgium  .     . 


Turkey Allies  .     . 

Roumania 

Bulgaria Serbia 


1914 
Aug.     1 
Aug.     3 
Aug.    4 


July  28 
Aug.  6 
Aug.  9 
Aug.  27 
Aug.  28 

Nov.  23 


Mar.    9 
Sept.  14 


Aug.  29 


Oct.   14 


1917 


Aug. 
Aug. 
Nov. 

3 

13 

5 

Oct.   16 

Aug. 
Aug. 
Nov. 

4 

13 

5 

Oct.    15 

Aug. 
Dec. 

9 
2 

Oct.    16 

Aug. 
Aug. 

8 
9 

Aug. 

23 

Nov. 

3 

Oct.    19 

Nov. 

23 

May  24 
Aug.  21 
Oct.   19 

May  24 

Aug. 
Aug. 

28 
27 

Nov. 

28 » 

July     2 
July     2 

Apr.     6 
Dec.    7 

Apr.    7 

Apr.     7 
Dec.  10 

Aug.  14 
Aug.  14 

Oct.  26 

July  22 
July  22 

Aug.    4 


1917 


NATIONS   THAT   HAVE   SEVERED    RELATIONS   WITH   GERMANY 


Bolivia April  14,  1917 

Guatemala April  27.  1917 

Honduras May  17,  1917 

Nicaragua May  18.  1917 

I  Declaration  of  war  by  the  provisional  government  of  Greece. 


Haiti     .     . 
Costa  Rica 
Peru 
Uruguay    . 


June  17,  1917 
Sept.  21,  1917 
Oct.  6,  1917 
Oct.      7,  1917