Full text of "The world war for liberty; a comprehensive and authentic history of the war by land, sea and air ... editors, Francis Rolt-Wheeler ... Frederick E. Drinker .."

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Book—

THE WORLD WAR

FOR

LIBERTY

A Comprehensive and Authentic History of the War
by Land, Sea and Air

THREE BOOKS IN ONE VOLUME

Book /. Military History of the War
" 2. World Issues of the War
" 3. America's Part in the War

Editors

FRANCIS ROLT-WHEELER, Ph. D. FREDERICK E. DRINKER

Author of Author of

"Wonder of War on Land," "War for Human Rights,"

"Wonder of War in the Air," etc. , "Sinking of the Lusitania," etc.

Fully Illustrated with Reproductions from Official
Photographs, including Maps and Drawings

?1 ATIONAL PUBLISHING CO.
No. 241 American Street

PHILADELPHIA, PA,

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1919, by Ifational Publishing Co.,
in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C.

FEB 15 1919

>CI.A5lJ55o

PREFACE.

In presenting ''The World War for Liberty" to the public, the
Publishers desire to state that it is an invaluable contribution to the
permanent and abiding literature of the war. It is more. It is the
Story of the War as a whole, written with an insight into the conflicting
issues which makes it as remarkable as its clear and easy style makes
it readable.

The Editors are peculiarly fitted for their task. Dr. Francis Rolt-
Wheeler has been writing books in co-operation with the American and
European governments for many years, he has lived in France, in
Russia and in the Balkans, he knows European capitals and politics at
first hand. He has contributed widely to the literature of the war and
possesses the confidence of military, naval and diplomatic authorities.
Mr. Frederick E. Drinker is an American of the purest stock, a keen
student of Americanism and a well-known writer. He has published
widely on American phases of the war — his book on the Lusitamia is a.
classic — and he possesses a wide outlook on the future of the United
States.

Many years must elapse before the conditions brought about by
the world war can subside. For many years to come the issues dealt
with in this book must necessarily be points in dispute. The world
upheaval has been too great for its settlement to have final immediacy.
New republics must be put on trial. New frontiers must beget new
passions. Liberty is a plant of slow growth among peoples unaccus-
tomed to it. ''The World War for Liberty" will do more than explain
what has been, it will help to guide Americans to an understanding of
the issues which still remain, and which, in one form or another, will
trouble the world for many years to come.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

BOOK I.

CHAPTER I.

THE END AND THE BEGINNING.

Collapse of the House of Hohenzollern — Downfall of Imperialism — Empires Totter

and Kings Are Unseated — Gathering War Clouds — Estrangement of Serbia

and Austria — Assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand — The Storm Breaks

— Declaration of War 17

CHAPTER II.
THE MAILED FIST STRIKES BELGIUM.

The First Shots of the War — The Luxemburg Frontier — Defence of Liege — Per-
manent Fortification Becomes a Useless Art — Siege Howitzers — Two Small
Forts Stay the Onrush of the Hosts of Mars — Fall of Namur — The Archers
of Mons — The Night of Charleroi 24

CHAPTER IIL
THE MARNE, DECISIVE BATTLE OF THE WAR
The Greatest Fighting Retreat in History — Rival Strategies, German Mass-Drive
and French Lozenge — British Exj^editionary Army Cut to Pieces — The Rag-
ged Legion, Mobilized in Taxi-Cabs, That Saved Paris — Joffre's Tactics —
How Foch Won the Victory in Half an Hour 38

CHAPTER IV.

THE COMPULSION OF TRENCH WARFARE.

The Germans Hurled Back in Confusion — Von Zwehl and the Siege Guns — ^The

Defeated Hosts "Dig in" to Get a Foothold — Crossing the Aisne, First and

Second Phases — The Bombardment of Rheims — Vandalism of the Cathedral —

Beginning of the Four Years' Deadlock 52

CHAPTER V.
THE RACE OF TWO ARMIES TO THE SEA.

Capture of Brussels — Siege and Fall of Antwerp — Exile — Atrocities of Aerschot
to Louvain — The Battles of the Yser — Dixmude, Holding the Line — Ypres,
the Key — Passchendaele Ridge — Poison Gas — The Chemin des Dames —
Unconquered Belgium 64

CHAPTER VI.
THE FRENCH OFFENSIVE IN ALSACE-LORRAINE.
Both Sides Essay a Ruse at Mulhausen— The Bath of Blood at Altkirch— Strate-
gical Value of the Vosges — Invading French Army Defeated at Luneville
— Guerrilla Fighting — Failure of Campaign as a Conquest, Success as a Buffer
Against Attack Toward Belfort 83

CHAPTER VII.

VERDUN! "THEY SHALL NOT PASS!"

The Franco-German Frontier — The German Crown Prince — Fearful Loss of Life
at Fort Douaumont— The French 75's — Modern Artillery Methods — Changing
Plans of Defence — Strategic Railways— St. Mihiel Salient — Nancy, Toul and
the Southern Chain of Forts 93

TABLE OF CONTENTS V

CHAPTER VIII.
THE CHANGING TIDES OF WAR.

The To-and-Fro Swing of the Battle-Line for Three Long Years — Neuve
Chapelle — The Labyrinth — Lens — No Man's Land — Barbed Wire Entangle-
ments — Battles of Great Intensity for Minor Gains — Soissons — English Tanks
Break Through the Hindenburg Line 104

CHAPTER IX.
DRIVING THE GERMANS OUT.

The Great Teuton Oflfensive of 1918 an Utter Failure — Foch Starts at Last —
American Regiments at the Front — Chateau Thierry and St. Mihiel — Tactics
of "the Pincers"' — Ludendorff Out-Maneuvered — The Kriemhilde Line —
German Retreat, Rout and Disaster 117

CHAPTER X.
SERBIA UNDER THE STEEL-SHOD HEEL.

Mutual Invasions on the Eastern Front — Austrian Defeat at the Drina — Belgrade
Changes Hands Four Times — Reorganization of Austrian Armies — Germany,
Bulgaria and Turkey at the Rear — Fall of the Iron Gate — Surrender of
Monastir — German Conquest of Serbia 129

CHAPTER XI.
FIGHTING ON THE ROOF OF EUROPE.

Italy's Entrance Into the War — Strategic Passes into Austria — The Dolomites —
The Battles of the Isonzo — Aerial Railways in the Julian Alps — The Bridge-
head of Goritzia — The Carso — Feats of the Bersaglieri — The Dead-Line to
Trieste 140

CHAPTER XII.
THE HEROIC DEFENCE OF THE PIAVE.

Sudden Smashing Descent of the Invaders Into the Italian Plains — Propaganda
and Treachery — Venice Threatened — ^A Human Barrier to the Guns — Allied
Rush to the Support — Italian Mastery of the Air — Collapse of Austria —
Heights Re-won by Sheer Gallantry 149

CHAPTER XIII.
THE HAIR-TRIGGER OF SALONIKI.
Civil War Questions in Greece — Port Desired by Germans as a Submarine Base —
King Constantine and Yenizelos — Practical Impossibility of Transport Con-
ditions — Fighting in Macedonia — Establishment of Allied Supply Bases — Final
Collapse of Bulgaria 155

CHAPTER XIV.
THE RUSSIAN STEAM-ROLLER BLOWS UP.
Cossack Success at Lemberg — East Galicia Captured— Occupation of Przemysl —
Turn of the Tide at Cracow — Debacle of Tannenberg — Battle of Lodz —
Decisive Winter Campaign of the Masurian Lakes 162

CHAPTER XV.

THE ROAR OF GUNS IN FROZEN LANDS.

The Kaleidoscope of Divided Russia and Siberia — War Supplies in Vladivostock

— String of Conflicts Along the Trans-Siberian Railroad — Czecho-Slovaks With

Their Backs to the Wall — German-Made Revolt in Finland — Allied Troops on

the Murman Coast 174

VI TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER XVI.
THE INTREPID ANZACS AT GALLIPOLI.
German Seizure of Constantinople — Turkey in the War — The Impregnable Darda-
nelles — Seven Months in a Hail of Fire — The Storming of Suvla Bay — The
Three Great Assaults — Final Failure of British and Abandonment of the
Campaign 183

CHAPTER XVII.
THE CRUSADERS IN JERUSALEM AT LAST.
The Turkish Advance Towards Egypt— British Alliance With Arab Tribes-
Failure of the Jehad — Campaign in the Holy Land— Greatest Cavalry War in
Modern History — The Holy City — Capture of Damascus — The Mesopotamian
Campaign, Capture of Bagdad 189

CHAPTER XVIIL
JAPAN'S PLACE IN THE SUN.

The Attack on Tsing-Tao — Capture of Kiao-Chau— German Prestige in the Orient
Lost at One Blow — Conquest of Solomon, Caroline and Marshall Islands —
The Surrender of German New Guinea — ^No Teuton Naval Base Left in the
Pacific 201

CHAPTER XIX.
THE HUN'S HAND LIFTED FROM AFRICA.

Campaigns in Togoland, Kamerun, German East Africa and German Southwest
Africa— Teuton Barbarities in Their Colonies— A Naval War Fought Two
Thousand Miles From the Ocean — Boer Generals and Troops Bear the Brunt
of Allied Battles in the Dark Continent 205

CHAPTER XX.
THE ARMED VIGIL OF THE NORTH SEA.
Great Britain Blockades Germany on the First Day — Submarine Mines and Mine-
Sweepers — Affair of Helgoland Bight — German Sea-Power Becomes a
Mockery — Bombarding Inoffensive Villages — The Battle of Jutland — The Plug-
ging of Zeebrugge — Shameful Surrender of Fleet 215

CHAPTER XXL

NAVAL GUNS SWEEP THE MEDITERRANEAN.

France's Position as Naval Ally Bottled Up Austria — The Goeben and the Breslau,

a Romantic Ruse of the Sea — British Bombardment of the Dardanelles — The

Italian Fleet Takes Pola, Austria's Chief Naval Base — The Central Powers

Barred From the Sea 227

CHAPTER XXII.

HUNTING DOWN THE MODERN PIRATES.

Tropical Adventures of the Konigsberg — The Emden, the "Terror of the East" —

Australians Make the Germans. Walk the Plank — The Fight Off Coronel —

Von Spec's Defeat of an English Fleet and the Terrible Revenge of the Battle

of the Falklands 231

CHAPTER XXIII.
OUTWITTING THE WILY SUBMARINE.

The Strength and Weakness of Submarine Attack — Commerce Raiders — Sinking
of Three British Cruisers by One "Fritz" — Underwater Boats and Neutral
Ships — Torpedoing the Red Cross — Trying to Starve England Out — The Three-
fold Queller of the Submarine 240

TABLE OF CONTENTS vii

CHAPTER XXIV.
DEATH-DEALING SQUADRONS OF THE SKY.

Development of Types of Air-Craft — Dirigibles and Their Uses — Summary of Mili-
tary Failure of Zeppelin Raids — The Difference in Aeroplanes Required for
Bombing, Spotting, Reconnoissance and Combat — Aerial Strategy — Aces —
Famous Feats of Daring 244

CHAPTER XXV.
MODERN WEAPONS OF LAND WARFARE.

The Rifle and Machine Gun— Light Artillery— The French "75"— Heavy Artillery
— The "Big Bertha" and the Siege Howitzers — Aerial Guns — Bomb and Shell —
Hand Grenade and Bolo — Gas and Explosives — Sapping and Mining 248

BOOK II.

CHAPTER XXVL

ALLIANCES AND ENTANGLEMENTS.

Close of the Franco-Prussian War — Congress of Berlin — League of the Three
Emperors — Triple Alliance — Dual Alliance — Fashoda Incident — Boer War
Enmities — Moroccan Trouble — Tripoli and the Concert of Europe — Triple
Entente 261

CHAPTER XXVIL
THE ALLIED NATIONS, A GENERAL REVIEW.

Military, Political and Economic Conditions of the Twenty-eight Nations Aligned
against Germany — Colonies of the Allies in Africa, Asia and Oceanica —
Gradual Change in the World Sentiment During the War — Shipping as the
Key to Victory 270

CHAPTER XXVIII.
THE BRITISH LION AND THE LION-CUBS.

The Empire as a Whole — England, Scotland and Wales — Ireland— Dominion of
Canada — Newfoundland — Commonwealth of Australia — Dominion of New
Zealand — Union of South Africa — Anglo-Egypt — India — Naval Bases — Imperial
Aims Realized 277

CHAPTER XXIX.
BELGIUM, THE BATTLEFIELD OF EUROPE.

Congress of Vienna — Flemings and Walloons — Revolt for Independence — Inter-
vention of the Powers — Perpetual Neutrality — Hunt for a King — Policy of
Bismarck — German Treachery — "A Scrap of Paper" — Failure of "Frightful-
ness" — Luxemburg 290

CHAPTER XXX.
INDOMITABLE FRANCE AND ALSACE-LORRAINE,

Napoleon and the Map of Europe — Royalists and Republicans — Siege of Paris —
War Indemnities and Alsace-Lorraine — ^Verdun and Frontier Fortification —
"They shall not pass" — World Significance of the Battle of the Marne — The
Genius of the War 298

vm TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER XXXI.
ITALY REDEEMED AND UNREDEEMED.
The Great Spiritual Drama — Garibaldi — Quirinal and Vatican — The Unholy Alliance
— Meaning of "Italia Irredenta" — Adriatic Sea as the Key to the Mediter-
ranean — The Red Week — The Perilous Decision — Forged Propaganda and the
Piave 305

CHAPTER XXXII.

SERBIA AND THE JUGO-SLAVS.
Buffer States — Divisions of the Southern Slavs — Incessant Wars With Turkey —
Bosnia the Fuse oi nie World Explosion — The Three Historic Assassinations —
Serajevo the Match to the Fuse — The Allies' Inability to Prevent Balkan
Disaster 313

CHAPTER XXXIII.

LITHUANIA, POLAND AND THE CZECHO-SLOVAKS.

Race Barriers in Eastern Europe — Tragedy of Poland, Once a Master Powder —

Polish Heroism in the War — Stubborn Lithuania — The Letts — Esthonia — High

Standard of Czech Culture — Bohemia — Moravia — The Slovaks — Czecho-Slovak

Forces in Siberia 321

CHAPTER XXXIV.
MODERN JAPAN AND THE NEW CHINA.

Shogunate and Samurai — The Restoration — Korea — Russo-Japanese War — The
"Yellow Peril" — Old China — Boxer Rebellion — Manchuria — The Chinese
Republic — Significance of Capture of Kiao-Chau by Japan — New "Spheres of
Influence" in China 332

CHAPTER XXXV.
THE CENTRAL POWERS— A GENERAL REVIEW.

Military, Political and Economic Conditions of the Three Empires and Their
Bulgarian Link — The Berlin-to-Bagdad Railway — Colonies of the Central
Powers — The Breakdown of the Kaiser-forged Chain and Appeals for a
Separate Peace ^27

CHAPTER XXXVI.
THE MILITARISTIC GERMAN EMPIRE.

Old Germany a Loose Confederation of States — Bismarck, "Old Blood and Iron" —
Dropping the Pilot — Nietzsche and Treitsche — Bernhardi and Pan-Germanism —
Kaiserdom and junkerism — War! — The Crucial Mistake — An Error in Race
Psychology 344

CHAPTER XXXVIL

AUSTRIA-HUNGARY THE UNSTABLE.

The Shadowy Holy Roman Empire — Franz Josef the Juggler — Sadowa — The Aual

Monarchy, a Harlequin State and a Nation without a Soul — The Magyars —

The Teuton Whip — International Trickery — The Treaty of Bucharest — Absolute

Collapse From Within 355

CHAPTER XXXVIII.
BULGARIA AND THE BALKAN MUDDLE.

Bulgars a Tartar Stock — Meteoric Rise — San Stefano and "Great Bulgaria" —
England's Compulsion of "Little Bulgaria" — Battle of Slivnitza — Montenegro —
Tearing Up the Treaty of Berlin — Bulgaria a Bitter Foe to World Peace Plans. . 363

TABLE OF CONTENTS h:

CHAPTER XXXIX.

ORIENTAL TURKEY AND THE NEAR EAST.

The Terrible Importance of Constantinople and the Dardanelles — Asia Minor and
the Armenians— Syria and the Holy Land — Mesopotamia, the Garden of Eden —
The Arab Tribes and the Menace of Islam — Persia, the Land of Golden
Opportunity '. 371

CHAPTER XL.
NEUTRAL AND SEE-SAW NATIONS.

Military, Economic and Political Conditions of Nations Who Either Stayed Com-
pletely Out of the War, or Who, at One Time or Another, Were Secretly or
Actively Allied to Both Sides — Their Effect on the Respective Belligerents .. 380

CHAPTER XLI.

BLIND RUSSIA, MISUNDERSTANDING AND MISUNDERSTOOD.

Czar and Zemstvo — Moujik and Merchant — Trans-Siberian Railway — Japanese

Checkmate — German Infiltration — Court Intrigue — Betrayal — Three-Headed

Revolution — Shame of Brest — Litovsk — Ukraine — Bolshevism — Sanity of Mur-

man and Siberia 386

CHAPTER XLII.

FEUDAL ROUMANIA, A COUNTRY OUT OF DATEw

An Island of Latins Entirely Surrounded by Slavs — Bessarabia as a Second
Alsace-Lorraine — Dobrudja, the Mouth of the Danube and the Port of Con-
stanza — Half-Hearted Entrance into the War — Greater Roumania a Possible
First Class Power ., 401

CHAPTER XLIIL
FALLEN GREECE, A LAND OF CIVIL STRIFE.

Levantine Weakness — Result of Balkan Wars — King Constantine and Premier
Venizelos Deadlocked — Macedonia a Bone of Contention Between Serbia,
Bulgaria and Greece — Albania Coveted by Serbia, Greece and Italy — The
Occupation of Saloniki 405

CHAPTER XLIV.
SWEDEN AND FINLAND, WRESTLERS OF THE NORTH

Gustavus Adolphus and the Baltic — Scandinavia — Separation oi Norway and Sweden
— Norway Pro-Ally and Sweden Pro-German in the War — Finland Taken
from Sweden by Russia — Her Strategic Importance — 'German Intrusion and
Local Bolshevism 410

CHAPTER XLV.
DENMARK AND HOLLAND, THE "STRICTLY NEUTRALS."

The Teuton Bullying of Little Denmark, With Schleswig-Holstein as Booty — Wide
Difference in Spirit Between Schleswig and Holstein — Holland, the Hater of
England — Feeding Germany on the Sly — The Kaiser Kindly Received 415

CHAPTER XLVL
SWITZERLAND THE EYE OF THE CYCLONE.

A Single-Souled Nation With Three Faces and Three Languages, French, German
and Italian — Geneva Convention and the Red Cross — Marvelous Organization
for Defense— The Refuge of the Hunted— The Diplomacy of Independence... 420

X TABLE OF CONTENTS

BOOK III.

CHAPTER XLVII.
AMERICA AS A NEUTRAL.
Futile Peace Efforts— Financial Depression— Aroused by German Barbarities-
Work of Helping Hun Victims Abroad— German Spies and Propaganda-
Protests Against U-Boat Attacks and the Killing of Americans— "The Strict
Accountability Note"— Re-election of President Wilson— Germany's Broken
Pledges — Armed Neutrality 425

CHAPTER XLVIII,

THE AMERICAN CALL TO ARMS.

President Wilson's War Message to Congress — The Memorable War Declaration

—The War Resolution— The Big War Program — German Ships Seized — Arrest

of German Agents and Enemy Aliens — Big Loans to Allies — Raising the War

Funds — How the Country Prepared 437

CHAPTER XLIX.
THE CREATION OF THE NATIONAL ARMY.

The Regular Army and the National Guard — National Army Conscription Plan§ —
Drafting of Citizens— Recruiting— Camps and Cantonments — Training of Sol-
diers — France's Appeal for Men 448

CHAPTER L.
THE TRANSPORTATION OF TROOPS.

General Pershing and Staff Sent to France— Secret Sailings— From Camp to Seaport
—Movement of Trains— The Use of Former German Steamships— A Record in
Troop Shipments 457

CHAPTER LL
THE AMERICAN NAVY.
The Force in Foreign Waters— The Naval Reserve— Dogging the U-Boats— The
Convoying of Troop Ships— Training Camps — Sea Planes and Chasers — A
Remarkable Record of Service 464

CHAPTER LII.
THE ARMY ORGANIZATION IN FRANCE.

What American Hustle Accomplished — Engineer Wonder- Workers and Fighters —
Supply Arrangements — Training Camps and Methods — ^The First American
Army — Final Organization >j 473

CHAPTER Lin.
THE IRRESISTIBLE MARINES.

Organization— Their Glorious Past— First Overseas— In the Trenches— "American
Shock Troops" — A Traditional Display of Heroism — On Marne and Meuse —
Heavy Losses 480

CHAPTER LIV.
THE RED CROSS, THE MOTHER OF SOLDIERS.

Organization — Financing — Behind the Lines — On the Battle Fronts — Mothers to
All— Ambulance Service — Hospitals and Night Raiders — Real Dogs of War —
The Red Star 488

TABLE OF CONTENTS xi

CHAPTER LV.
ARMY WELFARE WORK.

New Ideas in the Training of Soldiers — Protection of Health — Recreation — Educa-
tion — The Y. M. C. A. — Huts and Canteens — The Salvation Army — Knights
of Columbus 498

. CHAPTER LVI.
AMERICAN HEROISM FROM CANTIGNY TO SEDAN.

The Capture of Cantigny— Chateau Thierry— An American Wall of Strength —
Turning the Tides of War— The Heights of Ourcq— St. Mihiel— Sacrifice and
Heroism — Swimming the Meuse Under Fire — Sedan and the Last Shots —
Negro Troops Cited — Foch's Tribute to Americans — President Wilson's Christ-
mas With His Soldiers in France 506

CHAPTER LVII.
PERSHING'S OWN STORY,

Summary of Operations of the American Expeditionary Force as Cabled to

Secretary of War Baker by General John J. Pershing on November 20, 1918... 515

CHAPTER LVIII.
THE ARMISTICES AND AGREEMENTS.

What the Central Powers Gave Up on Surrender — The Stern German Agreement —

Austria's Sacrifice — Bulgaria — Turkey 530

CHAPTER LIX.
THE ARMY OF OCCUPATION.

The Start Toward the Rhine — Heroic American Troops Comprise Third Army of
Occupation — King Albert and the Queen of Belgium at Antwerp and Brussels
— Marshal Petain at Metz — General Pershing in Luxemburg — Flags and Bunt-
ing Fly — Enthusiasm Everywhere — Into Germany 538

CHAPTER LX.
THE WORLD PEACE PLANS.

President Wilson Goes to Attend Paris Conference — Enthusiasm Marks His Arrival
— Made Citizen of Paris — The Personnel of the Peace Conference — A League
of Nations — The Terms of Peace — Plans for Enforcement 543

INTRODUCTION.

There is a gripping need for such a book as "The World War for
Liberty/' written, as it is, to show Americans the dark forces that
were behind the war, the desperate gallantry of the nations who fought
therein and the great goal of democracy which lies beyond. The book
is needed because America and the Americans have entered upon an
era of their history wherein they have become a world power. As such,
world problems must be grappled with; as a self-governing people,
Americans must understand those problems.

This book is by no means a mere History of the Events of the War.
It is this, but it is far more. It is a book designed to reveal the war.
Every reader of the daily newspapers during the four years of the war
realized that there were half-told questions of diplomacy, court
intrigues, backstairs politics, racial antipathies and patriotic theories
of every sort and description underlying the actual happenings on the
field of battle. Some of these were fraught with vital importance, as
when the overturn in Russia imperiled the Allies' cause, as when
France and England compelled the abdication of King Constantino of
Greece, as when America realized that honor demanded the drawing
of the sword of justice. Such topics do not belong necessarily to a
mere narrative history, but in the larger sense of a world war for
Liberty, they are all-important.

For this reason the Editors have placed the world war before their
readers in three parts : Book I, which gives the military history of the
war, as a historian would write it ; Book II, which gives the world issues
of the war, as they bore on every country directly or indirectly involved,
and in which will be found analyzed such topics as Alsace-Lorraine,
Schleswig-Holstein, Italia Irredenta, Macedonia, Bessarabia, Dobrudja,
the Czecho-Slovak and Jugo-Slav peoples, Bolshevism, Junkerdom and
the rest ; and Book III, dealing with America's part in the war, showing
I the sublimity of self-sacrifice with which the soldiers and people of the

XII

INTRODUCTION xm

United States set their whole hearts to the task when once convinced
that the call of war was the call of Eight.

A cold, tame, impersonal record of such a war would not be an
American book. It is because of a profound conviction that the war
was inevitable, that it was forced on the world by selfish desires and
unjustifiable aggression, that it wab, necessary for civilization and for
the cause of liberty that peace-loving nations should beat the plowshare
into the sword, that this book has been written. That it may further
enlighten America and that it may enhance the pride of the people of
the United States in the rightfulness of their cause is the aim and
purpose of

The Editors.

FOREWORD

In all the straggles of man against man and nation against nation
since the beginning of time itself there has been no counterpart of * ' the
World War for Liberty" which ended on November 11, 1918, with the
collapse of the German Empire and the abdication of the autocratic
Emperor William Hohenzollern, followed by his flight into Holland,
leaving a train of desolation and ruin in his wake.

No other great empire ever came to so sharp an ending and no
emperor was more ignominiously driven from his throne. The vaunted
power which he wielded was wrested from him and the conceit of
Kaiserism and Junkerism which he personified was crushed to the

earth.

Yet these are but incidents of the most momentous achievement in
the world's history. The fall of German autocracy marked not merely
the end of an empire but a decisive victory for forces of the universe
holding to the principle that just governments derive their power from
the consent of the governed.

All down the ages the contest has been waged for acceptance be-
tween the irreconcilable conceptions of government — autocracy and
democracy. The German Kaiser — a mere creature of an intolerable
system — would deny to men the right to govern themselves and by force
of arms subject them to his will and perpetuate a decaying form of
government.

In the bygone days of ignorance and superstition it was part of
the rudimentary political game for selfish class groups to make people
believe that some arch conspirator, proclaimed a ruler, derived his
authority from a just God, and that it was part of their religious duty
to obey. Under the cloak of religion unscrupulous potentates prac-
ticed inconceivable cruelties until an enlightened world demanded the
separation of religion and State.

Just as in the barbaric ages the Kaiser sought to convince his peo-
ple and the world that a God-given power was his. He and his ilk

XIV

FOREWORD XV

dominated a peoples who had imbibed this teaching and accepted his
imperial mandates. Those who refused to recognize his '* God-given
right to rule" were proclaimed his enemies and the enemies of his
people. The swing of his rule was circumscribed by the independent
thoughts of millions outside of his domain.

His forebears and the ring of which Kaiser William was the rep-
resentative saw the circle growing smaller about them — saw nations
rent and peoples fight to the death for freedom — and they began to
create a fighting machine which would support them m their unhal-
lowed positions and provide force to break the encroaching circle and
overrun the earth.

Peace-loving nations sought to avoid an inevitable conflict between
the forces adhering to two diametrically opposed theories of govern-
ment until the Emperor, with his military machine made ready, seized
upon the unfortunate assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand,
heir apparent to the throne of Austria, at the close of June, 1914, as a
pretext for war and set out to subject peaceful nations.

Thus started the struggle which involved twenty-eight nations of
the world, having an aggregate population of nearly 1,600,000,000, or
practically eleven-twelfths of the human race, entailing a loss of life
approximating 10,000,000, with nearly three times as many wounded,
and an estimated cost of $250,000,000,000.

To those who would have a simple, understandable and compre-
hensive story of the war, reciting the sacrifices and struggles of na-
tions and the heroism of those who fought not for glory, but to defend
their ideals and make men free, this volume is offered with the hope
that it will prove a source of information and pleasure and fill a wide-
spread need.

Book I
MILITARY HISTORY

OF THE

WORLD WAR

Editor
FRANCIS ROLT-WHEELER, Ph. D.

XVI

CHAPTER I.

THE END AND THE BEGINNING.

Collapse of the House of Hohenzollern and the Downfall of Imperialism— Empires Totter and Sings
are Unseated— Gathering War Clouds— The Estrangement of Serbia and Austria— The Assassination
of the Archduke Francis Ferdinand— The Storm Breaks— Declarations of War.

"And everyone that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them
not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house
upon the sandr

"And the rain descended and the floods came, and the winds blew and
beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it."

Matt. VII-26.27.

SO fell the Imperial house of Germany on Monday, November 11,
1918. With a crash that echoed 'round the earth it collapsed,
bringing glorious peace out of the greatest struggle of men in all
history.

Builded, as was the house of that other foolish man, upon an un-
stable foundation, the imperialistic structure of which William Hohen-
zollern, Emperor of Germany, and his forebears were the architects,
swayed and rocked in the world storms which swept about it and came
tumbling to the earth a wreck.

Two shots fired in the little city of Serajevo, Bosnia, on June 28,
1914, pierced the ominous clouds which hung over central Europe threat-
ening the peace and liberty of men, and marked the beginning of the
storm, which in its gathering frenzy, rent the houses of Hapsburg in
Austria and Romanoff in Russia; sent the Emperor Francis Joseph
to his death, the unfortunate Czar Nicholas to an untimely grave;
battered from their thrones King Constantine of Greece, King Ludwig
of Bavaria, King Ferdinand and King Boris of Bulgaria, the Emperor
Charles of Austria, and left seatless the German Kaiser.

It gathered into the vortex of conflict twenty-eight nations of the
world with a total population of nearly 1,600,000,000, or all but one-
twelfth of the entire human race, cost 10,000,000 of lives and visited
injury upon 17,000,000 more, besides involving untold suffering, and
incalculable loss of property and the expenditure of more than
$200,000,000,000.

2— W. L. 1*^

18 THE END AND THE BEGINNING.

Christians and Jews, Mohammedans and Buddists fonght with and
against each other; fathers were set against sons and brothers against
brothers ; men burrowed into the ground, dived into the seas and soared
into the air to gain points of vantage in the universal struggle which
was brought about by the ambition of the Kaiser and the Junker
classes of Germany to spread the mantle of Impeiialism over nations
and create a world empire that would resist the growing forces of
democracy over aU the earth.

The ambition was one borne of generations of training and sought
but an opportunity to give it sway. Nations are not longer permitted,
however, to wage war for mere conquest, and even Germany, prepared
and waiting to strike a blow at peaceful peoples, must needs find an
excuse for stretching out her military arms and seizing coveted lands.

The pretext for war was the assassination of the Archduke Francis
Ferdinand, heir apparent to the Austrian throne, whose appearance
in the little city of Serajevo, Bosnia, drew fire from the pistol of a
Serbian fanatic.

The Pretext for War.

It was a beautiful Sunday morning in the Bosnian capital and the
city was astir with expectancy. The Archduke, who had been attend-
ing military manoeuvers in the vicinity, had announced his intention
of inspecting troops in the city. The streets of Serajevo were thronged
with picturesquely dressed men and women, for it was Serbian fete
day. The Archduke and his consort, the Duchess of Hohenberg, had
been met at the railway station by the local Governor and his staff
and were slowly motoring through the crowded thoroughfares to the
scene of the military inspection when a package fell upon the open
hood of the royal car. The Archduke seized and tossed the bundle to
the street where it exploded, injuring several lesser dignitaries and
military attendants who were in an escort oar.

The bomb thrower had been arrested, the Archduke had delivered
an address and was on his way to visit the victims of the bomb when
a second explosive missile was hurled at his car. When it failed to
explode the man who threw it — a, Serbian student — rushed forward and
began firing at the royal party. One bullet from his flashing pistol
struck the Archduke in the neck, another marked the Duchess for its

THE END AND THE BEGINNING 19

victim. Both became unconscious and died shortly after being removed
to the Government House.

How the assassination of an Austrian prince by a misguided
Serbian student could be made a pretext for war is a story of intrigue,
conspiracy and abuse of power involving the history of Austria and
the German Empire and of races, and of the Balkan states with their
wars and uprisings to throw off the yoke of autocracy and secure
independence. The complexities of the situation as developed to this
point in world history may be traced with interest in the chapters of
this work dealing with the parts played by the various nations.

Serbia, with her territory greatly increased by the war with Turkey
in 1912-13, and her national spirit aroused, had become the scene of
a '* Greater Serbia" movement, largely directed against Austria-
Hungary, which held Bosnia, Croatia and Herzegovina, land which
by Nationality and by speech were Serbian, and which in control of
Austria barred Serbia from the sea.

Serbia and Austria Alienated-

The estrangement of Serbia and Austria was primarily due to the
latter 's high-handed annexation of Bosnia in 1908 and the thwarting
of Serbia's desire to secure an outlet to the Adriatic in 1913. Serbia's
ambition was therefore not in keeping with Germany's plans for the
Berlin-Bagdad railroad, which must run through Serbia, and conceived
in the German mind the control of Serbia by Austria.

The theory that a principal is responsible for the action of his
agent was applied to Serbia, and the nation was held to be culpable in
the assassination of the Archduke Francis Ferdinand, because the
assassin was a Serbian, although an Austrian subject, and even though
the crime was committed in Bosnia, under Austrian control.

There were at the time four groups or divisions among the conti-
nental powers. Germany, Austria and Italy were bound together in
what was known as the Triple Alliance, and Great Britain, France and
Eussia stood side by side in the Triple Entente. A smaller group,
whose neutrality was guaranteed by treaties, was Belgium, Denmark,
Holland and the Duchy of Luxemburg, sandwiched between Germany
and France and Belgium, together with Switzerland. There were in
a fourth group the Balkan nations, including Bulgaria, Servia, Monte-
negro, Greece, Turkey and Roumania, more or less closely drawn to

20 THE END AND THE BEGINNING.

Russia, though Germany had secured a foothold in Turkey. With
these stood the Iberian nations Spain and Portugal.

The immediate train of events which gathered the war clouds over
Europe goes back to the interference of other powers in the adjustment
of affairs between Russia and Turkey in 1877. The nations had agreed
upon a larger Bulgaria and an enlarged and independent Serbia, but
at the Berlin conference, which Austria had taken the initiative in
calling, Austria sought to have as much of the Christian territory
of southeast Europe kept under the domination of the Turks.

Fearing the influence of Russia with her increasing strength over
Serbia, Montenegro and Bulgaria, and with the object of ultimately
acquiring the territory- from the Turks, Austria secured by agreement
at the conference a trusteeship over Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the
right to temporary occupation and management of the territories.

The Balkan War.

Later, when Russia was defeated by the Japanese and the Young
Turks reformed their government, Austria no longer fearing Russia,
but feeling that the Turks might demand the evacuation of Bosnia,
notified the powers represented at the Berlin conference that it had
been decided to make Bosnia and Herzegovina part of the Austro-
Hungarian Empire. Serbia's hope of getting an outlet to the Adriatic
was blasted, and she was greatly embittered.

Then came the war in which Serbia joined with little Montenegro
and Greece to drive the Turks out of Europe. The great powers
sought to prevent the conflict but without avail and the Balkan war
is a matter of history. Serbia for her participation in the picturesque
war was to secure as her share of conquered territory part of Albania,
but again Austria stepped in, and working with Germany secured the
operation of a plan which made Albania a separate state or principality
with a German prince to rule over it.

Serbia was further embittered and demanded of Bulgaria part
of the territory assigned to that country to compensate her for the
loss of Albania. Bulgaria stood upon her rights and the second phase
of the Balkan war was precipitated, Serbia joining forces with Greece
against Bulgaria.

When the smoke of battle cleared away Serbia had acquired

THE END AND THE BEGINNING 21

addiuional territory to the south, but she was still landlocked and cut
off from the sea by Bosnia^ Montenegro and Albania.

There was in consequence of these events a strong anti-Austrian
sentiment in Serbia and Austria stood ready to chastise her belligerent
neighbor. In fact, in August, 1913, a year before the great conflict
started, Austria had communicated to Italy the fact that she proposed
to attack Serbia. Italy refused to join with Austria in the attack and
urged Germany to dissuade Austria from her purpose. Germany,
thus made aware that she could not receive the support of Italy, de-
clined to begin the war at that time. She hastened, however, to com-
plete the Berlin-Bagdad railway and the rebuilding of the Eael canal,
necessary tp her scheme of world-wide expansion.

After the assassination of the Archduke Francis Ferdinand, how-
ever, Germany with Austria formulated a policy which when adopted
in connection with the tragedy would be sure to precipitate war. Ger-
many's immediate connection is traced to a conference held in Potsdam
on July 5, a week after the assassination, and which was attended by
the Kaiser who hurried home from a hunting trip, together with
statesmen, diplomatic, military, financial and industrial leaders of
Geimany. At this time it was announced that Germany would be
ready for war in a few weeks.

Austria's Terms to Serbia.

The demands presented to Serbia by Austria in reparation for
the slaying of Francis Ferdinand provided for the unconditional
acceptance of the terms within forty-eight hours and were regarded
by world diplomats to be the most arrogant and insulting ever pre-
sented by one nation to another. One of the provisions was that the
Serbian government should compel the dissolution of the society
Narodna Obrana (the chief society of the country for Serbian propa-
ganda), as well as all other organizations that might engage in propa-
ganda against Austria-Hungary, and to further eliminate from teach-
ing and from the schools, anything which might serve to foment propa-
ganda against Austria. It was demanded, too, that in bringing the
slayers of the Archduke to justice and that in the suppression of the
Pan-Serbian movement — the Greater Serbia idea — Serbia accept the
collaboration of Austrian officials.

Serbia accepted all of the demands on July 25, but denied to

22 THE END AND THE BEGINNING.

Austria the right to exercise judicial authority in Serbia. Diplomatic
exchanges began at once between the various powers to avert war
and Italy made it known that she was not in sympathy with the Austria-
Hungary note to Serbia.

Finally, on July 27, Austria issued a note in which she said that
Serbia's acquiescence to her demands was unsatisfactory and ''filled
with the spirit of dishonesty," and on the following day, July 28, 1914,
declared war on Serbia.

That Germany was bent upon war was made clear by ttie fact
that when Sir Edward Grey, British Secretary for Foreign Affairs,
sent peace proposals for a Council of Europe to both the Kaiser and
the Czar, the Kaiser's answer was an order for mobilization and an
ultimatum to Eussia to stop mobilizing.

France and Italy had supported England in the proposal but this
did not prevent Germany from demanding of France a statement as
to her attitude in the event of a Russo-German war. This was on
July 30, and the same day Austria invaded Serbia. On the following
night military law was proclaimed throughout Germany and Eussia
ordered a general mobilization.

The Invasion of Belgium.

Personal messages meanwhile passed between the Kaiser and the
Czar, to both of whom King George sent appeals for peace, but on
August 1, and while Austria was still negotiating with the Czar,
Emperor William declared that "the sword had been forced into his
hand" and declared war on Eussia. France, a lender of money to
Eussia, and party to the Triple agreement, ordered a mobilization of
military forces.

There was no longer doubt that Europe was to be shaken by a
great conflict nor was the possibility lessened when, on August 2, the
Kaiser sent an ultimatum to King Albert of Belgium demanding free
passage of his armies through Belgium. The same day German forces
crossed the frontiers of Luxemburg and France, and Germany declared
war on France.

On August 4 the German troops invaded Belgium, though bound
by treaty to respect and preserve the latter 's neutrality. Belgium
appealed to England to preserve her neutrality and the latter demanded
the withdrawal of German troops. Failing to obtain satisfaction Eng-

THE END AND THE BEGINNING 23

land declared war on Germany to the latter 's dismay, the German
Chancellor von Bethmann-Hollweg expressing himself as unwilling to
believe that England would go to war "just for a scrap of paper,''
an expression that gave the world one of its first glimpses of how
little honor had to do with the conduct of affairs in Germany.

The die was now cast and the train of events started which led
around the earth. Austria was already bombarding Belgrade, the
plain of Luxemburg was overrun by Uhlans and the frontier guards
of Lorraine were making their reply to the Kaiser's challenge. Europe
was aflame. The storm had broken.

CHAPTER II.

THE MAILED FIST STRIKES BELGIUH.

The First Shots of the War— The Luxemburg Frontier— Defence of L16ge— Permanent Fortifications Become
a Useless Art— Siege Howitzers— Two Small Forts Stay the Onrush of the Hosts of Mars— Fall of
Namur— The Archers of Mons— The Might of Charleroi.

THE utter disregard by Germany of the neutrality rights of in-
nocent and peaceful Belgium was the incident of action at this
critical moment which was destined to bind the whole world in bitter
struggle.

It was Germany's plan to crush France before Russia could mob-
ilize and then turn eastward to crush the forces of the Czar. Time
was an important factor in this military plan and unfortunately the
quickest and easiest path over which the Germans could pass on their
way to Paris was through Belgium. Therefore all consideration for
the country of King Albert was thrust aside. In the German Reichstag
the Imperial chancellor defended this course, and admitting the wrong
declared, ''We are now in a state of necessity, and necessity knows no
law."

Hostile Entrance Into Belgium.

Straightway one of the greatest horrors of all history began — the
invasion and devastation of Belgium. The German forces had pre-
i^iously entered the Grand Duchy of Luxemburg, which was in a state
of disarmed neutrality under the protection of its neighbors. Its sole
defence consisted of about 300 volunteers and gendarmes.

When the vanguard of the German forces — several motor cars
filled with officers and men — came into the once powerful city of Luxem-
burg and demanded the right of passage through the little country, the
Grand Duchess motored up and turned her car across the roadway to
bar the soldiers' progress. She was ordered home and her chauffeur
was compelled to turn away. A minister of State who had made protest
was laughed to scorn and the gendarmes were swept aside.

On August 4, when hostilities began, the Belgian army wag still

His record in the World War, for Democracy, is known throughout the world.
His determined efforts brought forth results which were crowned with glory.

FRENCH PREMIER, GEORGES CLEMENCEAU.

Lorri'ini'^tVBisma'^Pk^ T^'i'q^ ^^''''^^A "^-^ opposed the yielding or Alsace and
■h^^t^ lu^ -J ^?^ ,^'S- ^^ ^91S he said: "I make war, I make war The victorv
IS to the side which lasts to the last quarter o( an hour " And Alsace and Lor^
raine were returned to France. "ywi- i\M^ Aibace ana j-.or-

BRITISH PREMIER, LLOYD GEORGE.
The international brains of tlie economic side of the war, the one man who
was able to form a coalition cabinet in Great Britain, which fused every political
party into a phalanx of united effort.

From L nderwood & Underwuud, N. Y

GENERAL. JOHN J. PERSHING.
Commander of the United States forces in France and Belgium. General
Pershing was born in 1864, in Laclede, Missouri. Every inch of his six feet is
fighting material. "Lafayette, we are here." — Pershing. The greatest four-word
speech in history.

MARSHAL FERDINAND FOCH.
Generalissimo of Allied Armies. "Leave it to Focli," they said ; and leave
it to Foch they did. He outgeneraled the Germans, and the world knows the
result.

1, N. Y.

Sill DOUGLAS llAIG.
General Haig's family tree dates back many centuries, and he comes from
the very flower of Scotch stock. The virtues of the "Haigs of Bamersyde" were
extolled by the poets in the thirteenth century.

KING ALBERT OF BELGIUM.
"Belgium, re-established in all its rights, will rule its destinies according to
its aspirations and in full sovereig-nty." Prom his re-entry into Brussels address.

GICNKUAL, DIAZ, TIM ITALIAN HIOUO.
The General who led Italy's Army to glorious victory.

THE MAILED FIST STRIKES BELGIUM 25

in the process of mobilization along the river Dyle and covering the
advance upon Brussels and Antwerp and there was no infantry to
support the forts. Troops — the Third Division and a mixed Brigade,
were rushed to Liege and the civic guard of the city joined the forces.
This hastily mobilized force of probably 20,000 was set to defend the
city.

Gangs were put to work digging trenches and throwing up breast-
works, and houses and buildings in the line of fire were leveled. The
resistance of the Belgians aroused the ire of the Germans and from
thence on the doom of the country was sealed so far as the Hun army
was concerned.

Germany had said, ''Let us go through your land and we will
compensate you for damages when the war has been won. ' ' But King
Albert, with an army of less than 200,000, prepared to defend his
country and in answer to Germany *s proposal said to his people: **I
have faith in our destinies. A nation which defends itself commands
the respect of all. Such a nation cannot perish. God will be with us in
a just cause. Long live independent Belgium!"

German/s Plan for Entering Belgium.

The First German Army of von Kluck was concentrated at a point
along the Rhine above Aix-la-Chapelle ; the Second Army, in command
of von Bulow, below the first; the third army, under the Duke of
Wurtemburg, along the river Moselle; the Crown Prince's army was
that on the frontier opposite Luxemburg; the Fifth Army, under the
Crown Prince of Bavaria, outside of Metz, and the Sixth Army_at ai
point some miles from Nancy, under General von Heeringen. "i

There was no mystery about the German plan. It was the famous
mass-drive at the centre and flanking movement at both ends, in so faifl
as this might be possible with regard to the lay of the land. At th^
northern end, a very heavy German force had been gathered, for ifl
would be necessary for the First, Second and Third German Armies to
enter the battle-ground by the comparatively narrow defile between
the Holland frontier and the Ardennes and then sweep out fan-fashion
to the sea. It was the intention of the German High Command to send
the First Army by forced march and the occupation of the Belgian
railways to Brussels and Antwerp. The Second Army, to which were
attached the heavy siege howitzers, was directed against the two pow-
erful fortresses of Namur and Maubeuge. The third Army was to force

26 THE MAILED FIST STRIKES BELGIUM

the Moselle by Givet, not waiting for the reduction of Namur. This
was like a great sickle sweeping the Belgians into the sea.

It will be noted that the Third Army had the shortest distance to
travel. This was designed because it was to form a junction with the
mass-drive or ''shock" centre of the army. The Fourth Army, under
the German Crown Prince, was designed to attack the French-Luxem-
burg frontier (for this reason the violation of Luxemburg territory
was a necessary part of the German plan), centering near Sedan. The
Fifth Army, under the Bavarian Crown Prince, was to strike north of
Verdun towards Rheims. Thus the Third, Fourth and Fifth Armies,
were converging on Paris, with the whole driving force of the German
Empire behind them.

The Teuton Project Disarranged.

The southern portion of the Fifth Army and the whole of the
Sixth Army formed the southern flank. In this territory the Germans
knew the enveloping movement to be impossible. In the first place, it
was out of the question to overrun Switzerland as they planned to
invade Belgium. That would take time, and delay meant disaster. In
the second place, France had fortified the Verdun-Toul-Epinal-Belfort
chain of fortresses with such strength that the Germans did not believe
that the line could be forced without the greatly feared delay. The
German Sixth Army, then, was a defensive army, designed to prevent
a French invasion of the Rhine Valley through Alsace. This was a
highly dangerous point, and von Heeringen was sent there as one of the
keenest strategists in the German command.

To recapitulate. The First and Second Armies were to sweep
Belgium; the Third, Fourth and Fifth Armies were to drive on Paris;
the Sixth Army was to hold its ground and prevent a French attack
in Alsace. That was the plan.

Little Liege disarranged the plan. Liege, the Marne, Ypres and
the Piave are the four great names of the war. It will be well to con-
sider Liege closely, for only those who have studied the war from the
military point of view assign to it the importance that its defense
warrants.

Liege was what was known as a ''ring fortress," that is to say,
the town itself was not fortified, but it was surrounded by a ring of six
forts of the first order, Pontisse, Barchon and Fleron on the north and
east; Loncin, Flemalles and Boncelles on the west and south. Between

THE MAILED FIST STRIKES BELGIUM 27

tliese and at points of less strategic importance were six smaller forts,
or fortins, Evegiiee, Chaudfontaine, Embourg, Hollogne, Lantin and
Liers.

Tliese forts were moderately well armed, but the nine-incb gnns,
ordered from Krupps several years before, had never been received.
It afterwards became known that the German government had ordered
Krnpps not to deliver the order. In the twelve forts there were four
hundred guns, mainly six-inch and 4.7-inch guns, and eight-inch mortars

Liege Fortifications Not Invulnerable to Siege Howitzers.

Moreover, these forts had been built by Brialmont in what was
the very latest fashion at the time he built them — but that was twenty
years before the opening of the world war. Each of the six main forts
was built as a triangle, commanding a strong natural position, and
approached by a steep artificial mound. At the top of the earth slope
was a deep ditch, the counterscarp of which was a masonry wall topped
with wire entanglements. The entire earth slope, ditch and wall was
exposed to heavy guns throwing shrapnel shell, as well as to machine-
gun and rifle fire. Quick-firing guns, mounted in cupolas at each angle
of the triangle, swept the sunken ditch with an enfilading fire. No
troops could storm that ditch. On the main inner triangle was the
infantry parapet, shaped something like a heart, pierced for rifle fire
and with more machine-gun emplacements. In the hollow of that heart-
shaped space, and sunk therein, rose a solid central mass of concrete,
on and in which were the shelter and gTin cupolas for the heavier guns
and mortars. The cupolas rose from the floor of the hollow, outside
the central mass. They were invisible to the foe until raised by their
inner machinery, but once raised, the turreted guns could fire their
six-inch shells in any direction. When Brialmont built the forts they
were absolutely impregnable.

The impregnability of such fortifications as those of Liege, how-
ever, was only in relation to the guns and howitzers of the period of
1§94. They were still impregnable to direct-fire guns in 1914. Events
proved that they were not invulnerable to long-range howitzers. As
these "siege guns," or, more correctly, siege howitzers, were the domi-
nating factor of the early part of the war, it is necessary to explain
their tremendous importance, and to show how they changed the entire
character of modern warfare.

28 THE MAILED FIST STRIKES BELGIUM

The difference between a gun and a howitzer lies in the fact that
a gun depends largely for its destructiveness on its striking power or
its velocity, while the destructiveness of a howitzer depends on the
power of the exploding charge of its shell. The shell from a large gun
travels with a muzzle velocity of over half a mile a second. It must
have as flat a trajectory as possible to increase its striking power.
A howitzer shell needs only just enough velocity to carry the high;
explosive to the point desired. It flies with a high trajectory, being
lobbed up in the air to drop almost perpendicularly on the point desired.
A howitzer generally looks as though it were shooting at the moon.

Now, Brialmont had built the ring of forts of Liege in such a way
that every point which would give shelter to a howitzer of the power
of his time could be swept by a six-inch gun, for, as has been shown, a
gun has a far longer range than a howitzer. Moreover, the sunken
forts of Liege, by reason of their hidden character, could laugh even
at a naval gun. At the time of the building of these forts, the six-inch
was the biggest howitzer.

The Invasion of Belgium Begiin.

Knowing this — for Belgium was honeycombed with German spies
— the German High Command had sent 8.4-inch howitzers with the
First Army, or, to speak more exactly, with that part of the First
Army, under General von Emmich, to which was entrusted the reduc-
tion of Liege. It was a mathematical problem, purely. The German
High Command had reasoned that these large howitzers could be
located at points behind small rises of ground, sheltered from the six-
inch gunfire of the forts, and that they could reduce Liege. The famous
siege howitzers, as has been said, were crawling on their way with the
Second Army for the reduction of Namur and Maubeuge, where the
Germans expected a fiercer resistance than Belgium could improvise
tit Liege on the surprise attack, on the first day of the war.

On the evening of August 3, 1914, though war had not yet been
declared, the German forces crossed the Belgian frontier. At nine
o'clock in the morning of August 4, the second advance line of von
Emmich reached Vise, north of Liege and close to the Dutch frontier.
The first shots of the war were exchanged with a Belgian guard. The
Belgians then blew up the bridge across the Meuse at Vise and the
Germans commenced to bombard the town. Early in the afternoon

THE MAILED FIST STRIKES BELGIUM 29

they crossed on a pontoon bridge. The armed invasion of Belgium
i.ad begun. By evening, Liege was invested on three sides.

Shortly before five o^clock in the evening of that day, cavalry
patrols appeared before the little fortin of Evegnee. The fort barked
defiance. Within the hour, infantry, light and heavy artillery appeared
and, before darkness fell, the bombardment of Forts Barchon, Evegnee
and Fleron had begun. By eleven o 'clock Chaudf ontaine was engaged,
and by midnight, Fort Embourg. By three o'clock in the morning
Fort Boncelles began to speak, and just as dawn broke, Fort Pontisse,
in the far north of the ring, opened fire with its larger guns. Within
twelve hours of the time that the first German cavalry had been sighted,
every fort on the eastern side of the Meuse was engaged.

The first infantry attack was against Fourt Embourg, one of the
smaller forts. The supposedly unprepared Belgian infantry not only
defended the fort with great gallantry, sweeping down the massed
formation of the Germans by thousands, but counter-attacked with
vigor. At eight o'clock the Germans were forced to withdraw. The
first engagement of the war was won by Belgium.

Heavy Losses by the Germans Before Liege.

By noon, German troops had made nine attacks at one or other of
the forts. They were beaten back every time. At least 15,000 men
fell during the morning, without achieving any result. Briahnont's
forts were too strong and the Belgians were too brave to fall under any
mass attack, no matter how heavy and powerful.

The howitzers, however, told another story. Shortly before noon
of that day, August 5, the hoisting machinery of Fort Fleron, one of
the larger forts, was put out of commission by a howitzer shell. The
two smaller forts on either side, Chaudfontaine and Evegnee, could
not close the gap. The Belgian infantry were eager to try and hold
the gap by rifle fire, but General Leman realized that this would be
folly. On this day, the Belgians had 22,500 against 120,000 Germans,
a numerical superiority of almost six to one. What was still more
disastrous, the railway from Herve into Liege, which had been guarded
by Fort Fleron, fell into German hands.

With the guns of Fleron silenced, the German howitzers which
had been bombarding^ that fort now turned to the two little fortius,
Chaudfontaine and Evegnee. Following the German policy of con-

30 THE MAILED FIST STRIKES BELGIUM

tinuous attack, fresh troops advanced constantly against the Belgian
garrisons, which thus had no time for sleep and hardly any time for
food. The howitzer shells dropped on the fortins and ripped away
their stone, cement and earth protections as though these had been but
cardboard. By the morning of August 6, the way into Liege was open
from the east. General Leman, consulting with his officers at military
headquarters, was almost captured. He escaped over a wall. General
Leman promptly ordered the evacuation of the city by the infantry,
and the follomng day, August 7, 1914, Burgomaster Kleyer and the
Bishop of Liege negotiated for the surrender of the city.

Heroic Resistance of the Belgians.

The situation was excessively bad for the Germans. The High
Command had given von Emmich forty-eight hours to take Liege. It
had taken three days. But — as it turned out, a very large "but" —
the western forts of Liege were not silenced. General Leman withdrew
to these, announcing his intention to fight to the last gun. The
importance of this decision may be grasped when it is said that Fort
Pontisse controlled the Liege to x\ntwerp railway, Fort Loncin domi-
nated the Liege to Brussels railway and Fort Boncelles swept the
Liege to Paris railway. As long as those forts held out, the German
army could not move. The city of Liege, indeed, had been taken by
a three-day siege; the strategic fortress of Liege had not. Even the
eastern conquest was not without its annoyances. When Chaudfon-
taine could no longer fight, the commandant sent half a dozen locomo-
tives at full speed into the tunnel from opposite ends, so that they would
collide in the middle and block the tunnel. The Verviers to Liege rail-
way, therefore, was also out of business for the transport of German
troops.

The people of Liege, fearing that the Germans would wreak repri-
sals on the city if the forts resisted, begged General Leman to sur-
render. The heroic commander, knowing that each day's delay at that
time was worth a week, or maybe a month, later, answered curtly,

''The forts must hold!"

The German High Command had not anticipated this resistance.
Fort Pontisse and Fort Flemalles to north and south of Liege respec-
tively, commanded the crossings of the Meuse. There was no satis-
factory artillery position for the 8.4 howitzers. The reduction of the

THE MAILED FIST STRIKES BELGIUM 31

forts was attempted by infantry attack. At Pontisse, ten pontoon
bridges were built across the Meuse by the Germans, with desperate
courage, but, every time, the six-inch guns of the fort blew the bridges
to atoms and the troops which had crossed were cut off and killed to
a man. At Flemalles, the troops crossed, but the heavy artillery could
not get over. Fort Boncelles, unprotected by the river, became "the
stoke-hold of hell," as the Commandant was heard graphically to
describe it.

Without sleep, with little food, the Belgians fought on. The 8th,
the 9th and the 10th still saw 120,000 Germans stopped by a Belgian
army, now raised by reinforcements to 36,000 men. On the 10th, Gen-
eral Leman had both legs crushed by falling masonry. He refused to
go to a hospital, but was carried to his motor-car. He slept in it. He
fought his forts from it.

Von Emmich grew savage and desperate. He must send for help.
The great siege guns, crawling south to Namur, had to be diverted
and brought north to reduce those indomitable little forts. It took
those wide-mouthed monsters three long days to crawl up to Liege.

The Germans Steadily Advance.

Such guns had never been seen before. They were Germany's
great war secret. Their weight was seventy-one tons. Each gun was
transported in four pieces, each part being dragged by three traction
engines on caterpillar wheels, a fourth huge leader engine going ahead
to test the road and to give an added pull to the three powerful tractors
when going up hills. The calibre of the gun was 42-centimeter (16.4-inch) .
The explosive force of one shell from these guns could destroy four
city blocks.

When these arrived. General Leman knew the end had come. He
ordered the infantry to retire on the Dyle. With less than 100 men
the hero awaited the final bombardment of Fort Loncin. Three shells
were sufficient to destroy it. The great steel cupolas were uprooted
like weeds, pieces of concrete larger than a room were sent flying like
pebbles. General Leman was pinned under the wreckage, grievously
wounded, but not fatally.

It had taken Germany ten days to open the railways to the west.
The northern wing of the fan, the right flank of the German armies,
instead of sweeping out ahead of the mass-attack, was a week behind.

32 THE MAILED FIST STRIKES BELGIUM

Germany's whole initial manoeuvre was changed by the seven days'
delay created by the three small forts.

With the fall of the forts, the long-delayed tidal wave of graycoats
swept over Belgium. The cavalry tried to force the Dyle at Haelen,
at Tirlemont and at Eghezee, but were beaten off. The Belgians fought
like heroes. At last, on August 14, the cavalry, which were only acting
as a screen, were withdrawn, and the four German army corps which
had been stopped at Liege began to thunder forward. Diest, St. Trond
and Waremme fell, but the Belgians held fast again at Aerschot. Each
day, yes, every hour, the Belgians* expected to see French troops coming
up from the south or British troops landing at Ostend. Neither ap-
peared. The Belgians feared that they were being sacrificed.

The Belgian main army retreated on Antwerp, and the right wing,
becoming a rearguard, covered its retreat at Louvain. Here a bitter
battle occurred, lasting two days. Louvain fell to the Germans, but
the Belgians retreated in good order, having safely covered their main
army. On the 23rd a counter-offensive drove the Germans out of
Malines. Still, each day, the Belgians expected the landing of British
troops. None came. Notwithstanding, for three weeks the Belgians
held back the German divisions striking northwards. That they were
able to do so was because von Kluck's army was pivoting for a south-
ern blow, realizing that the time could not be afforded for the outward
sweep to the sea.

British and French Forces Combine.

Why had not the British arrived at Ostend? The real answer was
simple. They had landed at Boulogne, the first transports arriving
August 9. Rightly realizing that Germany's goal would be Paris and
that Brussels was only a side-issue, the British military leaders decided
to join with the French Army and take up such position as the French
leaders should deem best.

General Joffre, the re organizer of the French Army, was naturally
the man for the supreme command. He showed his mettle as a strate-
gist, rather than a tactician, by taking up what seemed to be a strong
position in a right-angled position, with the corner of the angle at
Namur. This was typical French strategj^, being the operative comer
of a strategic square, a manner of handling armies which will be dealt
with in detail in the next chapter, when showing the system in operation.

Namur was chosen as the corner for two reasons, one that it was

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FIGHTING IN PALESTINE EAST OF THE JORDAN.
Infantry were in the act of occupying an important hill when they were met
with a strong counter-attack. The timely arrival of machine guns and supports
restored the situation.

British Official I'liotoKiapli. fc' t'nderwood & Underwood, N. Y.

RED CROSS MEN CAi:i;ViNG WOUNOED IN FULL, VIEW OF ENEMY.

The British Red Cross stretcher bearers were only 600 yards from the enemy at the battle

of Menin Road. Note the devastated condition of the country.

;£) From Underwood & Underwood, N. Y.
BARBAROUS METHODS I'KACTICED BY THE TURKS.
Showing how the Turkish forces in Palestine pursued their atrocious warfare. Sharpened
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GENERAL HORNE. GENERAL BIRDWOOD

GENERAL BYNG.

GENERAL PLUMER. GENERAL RAWLINSON

•«oii^°'^^5 British Army Generals. They kept hammering the West Front hero-

C^sbed tenaciously, until the Hindenburg and all other enemy iTnes were

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TERRITORY OCCUPIED BY ALLIES ACCORDING TO THE ARMISTICE
Allies. v^ermany, evacuated by the Qerman army and occupied by the

THE MAILED FIST STRIKES BELGIUM 33

directly in the path of the advancing hosts, the other that, as a fortified
place and well situated at the junction of the Rivers Sambre and Meuse,
it had strong natural advantages. General Leman had held back the
Germans for nine days with two forts; it was therefore possible that
Namur, with the French army backing it, could hold out even longer.
This reasoning was unsound. Fort Loncin had only held out for an
hour or so, after the 16.4-inch howitzers had reached there. Namur
had four forts and five fortius of the Liege type, constructed by the
same engineer, defended by the same weight of guns.

The next question was the proportion of numbers. The French-
British forces on the right angle cornering on Namur were approxi-
mately 300,000 men. Joffre had reason to anticipate the attack of a
German army of 400,000 men, a serious enough disproportion in itself,
but discounted by the fact that this army would be striking against a
right angle and therefore unable to use the weight of a massed straight
line. As a matter of fact, under von Kluck, von Biilow and von Wur-
temburg combined, there were certainly 700,000 men and possibly
800,000. Even had Liege justified confidence in fortification, this over-
whelming superiority in numbers was more than a menace, it was a
prophecy of disaster.

Reduction of the Forts of Namur.

The Germans, however, had learned a lesson at Liege. They were
not going to waste time and men by infantry attack on the forts of
Namur. Two of the 42-centimeter (16.4-inch) siege guns, such as the
two which had finally reduced the Liege forts, were seen by Allied
scouts rolling over the Belgian plains a day or two before the attack
on Namur. They were probably used. But, in any case, the Germans
had thirty-two 28-centimeter guns, large enough to fire from beyond
the reach of the fortress guns. Namur was doomed before the first
shot was fired.

At sundown of August 20, the Germans were in position, and the
Second Army trained its heavy artillery on the forts. The Belgian
guns were outranged. It was merely wasting ammunition to answer.
One long-continued hail of high-explosive shell fell on the forts. Stone
was blown to powder, wooden beams to splinters, while the vacuum
produced by the explosion of a shell did not kill or wound, but prac-
tically fused flesh, bone and blood into pulp. Even under these condi-
tions the forts of Namur held out until August 23, though, as will be

3— w. L. •

34 THE MAILED FIST STRIKES BELGIUM

seen, the defense of the last two days meant nothing to the bulk of the
German Army. Namur was settled in a few hours. Already, on the
morning of the 21st, it was evident to the Germans that it could not
stop their advance. The first clash between the Germans and the
Allies was at hand, the fortified armor covering their operative corner
having been incinerated in a tornado of fire.

The battle was to join along Joffre's right angle, then, back of
Namur, Charleroi being the actual corner. Lined up from the west
was the British Expeditionary Force, a marvelous organization of
fighting men, not civilian troops, like the French and German armies,
but ''regulars." There were but 70,000 of these, and they took up the
line from Conde through Mons to Binche. There, the Fifth French
Army, with 120,000 men, under General Lanrezac, took up the line,
holding the Charleroi corner and extending southeastward to Dinant.
General Langle de Gary, with the Fourth French Army, also of 120,000
men, continued the southern line until he conjoined with the Third,
under General Ruffey, which did not enter into this particular campaign.

Numerical Superiority of the German Army.

Opposite the British Expeditionary Force of 70,000 men was von
Kluck's First German Army with 250,000 men. Their disposition is
of importance. Two army corps, or 100,000 men (a German Army
Corps, on a war footing, carries a reserve which makes it larger than
a French or English Army Corps), were to the west of the westernmost
part of the British line; two corps, or 100,000 men, were facing the
70,000 British ; and the fifth corps of 50,000 men was facing the weak!
junction point between the French and British Commands. Von Biilow,
with the Second German Army, also had five army corps, or 250,000
men, against Lanrezac 's 120,000; the Duke of Wurtemburg, with the
Third German Army, had the same proportion. Moreover, though
this was not known until long after, two cavalry divisions, under Gen-
eral von Hansen, had come through the Ardennes and were ready to
pierce through and aid the German drive at the Charleroi corner.

The disproportion in numbers, however, was not fundamentally
as great as it was tactically. The Germans were throwing most of
their force forward. The French were holding theirs back. Figures
were never given out for this period, but the conditions of fighting
show that on August 20 the Allies had about 1,100,000 men in the field

THE MAILED FIST STRIKES BELGIUM 35

(inclusive of Russia) and the Germans, 1,400,000. Germany's reserve
military man-power, however, was far greater than that of the Allies,
while the Allies' population-power, out of which trained man-power
might slowly be brought, was greater than that of the Central Powers.

A few cavalry skirmishes on Friday, August 21, marked the German
realization that Namur was no obstacle. In the afternoon artillery fire
began at Jemappes. Toward evening German artillery took up posi-
tion against Charleroi and Thuin. A few shots were fired, to get the
ranges. The stage was set for the Battle of Charleroi.

The following morning, early, von Biilow attacked Charleroi in
full strength. While it cannot be said that the French were unpre-
pared, the reports from Namur, which showed that some of the forts
were still holding, gave them little notice of the suddenness of the
blow. Nor was the air scout work of the Allies yet sufficiently advanced
to inform General Lanrezac of the forces opposing him. The Germans
fought from six o'clock in the morning until nearly noon before they
forced the bridge at Chatelet. Von Kluck swung sideways, between
the British and French, and carried the bridge at Thuin, at two o'clock

in the afternoon.

Germans Win at Charleroi.

The Fifth French Army, holding the point of the angle, was thus
flanked on both sides. A hasty retreat was the only resort. Into the
retreat, just as it began, plunged the mysterious von Hansen army,
with two strong cavalry divisions. Lanrezac was on the point of anni-
hilation. He fled, leaving behind him his wounded and many of his
guns. It was a matter of minutes. Half an hour's delay would have
caused the Fifth French Army to be surrounded and cut down. Satur-
day evening was a wild flight, and midnight saw Charleroi in flames,
although Turco and Zouave troops had charged back into the city
several times and driven the Germans out in hand-to-hand fighting.
The Germans failed before cold steel, but their artillery was irresistible.

In order to shorten the line, the Fourth French Army promptly
fell back on Philippeville, thus closing the gap almost created by von
Hansen's impetuous push. Sunday, August 23, saw the French armies
retreating rapidly, but in better order. The operative comer still held.
None the less, the Namur-Charleroi battle was a decided victory for
Germany.

It has been stated that von Kluck had swung eastward, between
the British and French lines, on Saturday afternoon, and had taken

36 THE MAILED FIST STRIKES BELGIUM

the bridge across the Sambre at Thuin. This not only flanked the
French under Lanrezac, but it also flanked the British right. On the
same day, moreover, von Kluck detached his cavalry and the western-
most of his army corps. The cavalry he sent outward in a wide sweep
beyond Tournai, the corps he put in motor transports and sent them
on a forced advance west of Conde. Of both these movements, the
British commander, Sir John French, was supremely ignorant.

The cutting off of the British from the French, at Thuin, prevented
direct communication between Lanrezac and Sir John French. The
rout, which began at six o'clock in the evening, was of so complete a
character that telegraph instruments were never set up. Two dispatch
riders sent by Lanrezac to the British failed to arrive, being either shot
or captured. German spies behind the lines cut Lanrezac 's wires to
Headquarters.

Retreat of the British From the Mons to the Mame.

On Sunday morning, August 23, therefore, the British, holding the
exposed Conde-Mons-Binche position, were uninformed as to the dis-
aster at Charleroi. They did not know that their right flank was not
3nly unprotected, but actually flanked by one of von Kluck 's arm^
corps. Von Kluck, with admirable restraint, held back from attacking.
The church bells rang. The morning services proceeded without inter-
ruption.

It was nearly one o^clock before British cavalry patrols hastened
back with the news of a German advance through the woods. A few
minutes before half-past one, the battle of Mons began. It developed
rapidly. By two o'clock, the British lines were being severely shelled,
and Sir John French, anticipating the fire of 300 guns, found more
than 600 marshaled against him. At half-past three the German
infantry attacked in mass formation. Their rifle fire was poor. The
loss of life was heavy. The Germans fell back, and artillery duels
resumed sway.

In view of later knowledge it becomes possible to understand why
von Kluck did not rush the British position on that Sunday. He had
advantage enough in men and guns to have done so. As a matter of
fact, he did not try to take the Mons position. He was employing the
whole of two army corps and the halves of two others to keep the
British engaged, while the rest of his force was engaged in flanking the
British on both sides. It was good tactics.

THE MAILED FIST STRIKES BELGIUM 37

Then, at five o'clock iu the evening, what Sir John French called
**a most unexpected message from General Joffre by telegraph" told
of the Charleroi disaster and revealed to the British commander that
he was outnumbered on the fighting line by three or four to one and
in imminent danger of being flanked on both sides.

' Almost simultaneously came a second German attack. It was then
that occurred one of the most curious of the psychic experiences of the
war. German prisoners and British soldiers agreed that there sud-
denly appeared, in the evening light, long lines of ghostly English
archers, such as those of the wars of six centuries before, which ad-
vanced across the Mons canal, shooting cloth-yard arrows at the Ger-
mans. The attack suddenly lost its fury and died down.

Dusk of that Sunday found the British Expeditionary Force in a
desperate position. That evening the men of the Irish Rifles, the
Middlesex Regiment, the Gordon Highlanders and other famous British
regiments, held the advanced lines and even made brisk counter-offen-
sives, to deceive the Germans, in their turn, to cause them to believe
that the British were still unaware of the disaster at Charleroi. Such
was the British situation, when in the cold gray of before-dawn on
Monday, August 24, Sir John French ordered the great fighting retreat
from the Mons to the Marne.

CHAPTER III.

THE MARNE— DECISIVE BATTLE OF THE WAR.

The Greatest Fighting Retreat in History— Rival Strategies, German Mass^Drive and French Lozenge-
British Expeditionary Army Cut to Pieces— The Ragged Legion, Mobilized in Taxi-Cabs, That Saved
Paris— Joffre's Tactics— How Foch Won the Victory in Half-an-Hour.

THE unliappy delay of the dispatch recounting the fall of Char-
leroi, not received until 5 P. M. of that most important Sunday,
August 23, 1914, left the British Expeditionary Force in an advanced
position, twenty-four hours to the rear of the retreating French armies.
This spelt one terrible word — Sacrifice. If the Germans were to be
prevented from breaking through, if all Joffre's strategy was to be
saved from hideous ruin, then the British Army must retreat slowly,
fighting rearguard actions aU the way. It must allow itseK to be cut
to pieces, bit by bit. The agony must be drawn out. Each day, each
hour, was priceless.

i The famous '' fighting retreat from Mons to the Mame" was a
gigantic strategic plan, requiring the boldness of a big mind for its
decision and the loyalty and courage of heroes for its carrying out.
It meant the deliberate abandonment of a large section of Northern
France and the establishment of a powerful line of defence pivoting
on Verdun, the southern arm reaching to Belfort, the western arm to
Paris. This decision of Joffre's was based upon the discovery that
the fortifications of Namur could not support the G-reat Siege Guns.
In that case, Joffre argued, the next line of defence along the lines of
La Fere-Laon-Rheims was untenable.

Sir John French had 80,000 men on the morning of the battle of
Mons, including cavalry. Against him were 150,000 men under von
Kluck, engaged in a frontal attack-, 50,000 men working forward to his
left flank; and 20,000 cavalry, which had already flanked him on that
fatal Saturday and Sunday, coming up on his left rear. In addition
to these odds 100,000 men under von Biilow had driven through the
Charleroi-Namur breach of the angle, as shown in the last chapter, and

THE MAENE— DECISIVE BATTLE OF THE WAR 39

were massed on his right. Von Hansen's cavalry, acting as a harassing
force to the flying Fifth French Army, was on his right rear.

The English force of 80,000 men was facing a German army of
300,000. Yet, despite this disproportion of numbers, the English dare
not fall back on French support, for such action would smash all
Joffre's strategy. The strategy saved France but cost England the
flower of her army. To understand this necessity, the main principle
of French strategy must be made clear.

The principle of French strategy is the strategic square, or 'dia-
mond, acting on the basis of a spring bent back to the utmost, which,
when it is released, rebounds forward with tremendous force. Under
this plan, the whole group of armies is divided into four parts, placed
like the bases on a baseball diamond. One point, like second base, is
pointed toward the enemy and is called the ''operative comer," two
armies, like the first and third bases, respectively, are the "manoeuvr-
ing masses," the last, corresponding to home base, is the "army of
reserve. " It is a form of strategy based on achieving big results with
the smallest possible number of men.

German and Allied Strategy Compared.

The principle of German strategy is that of hurling the largest
possible force of men and metal on a given point in an opposing line,
breaking the line, and as the ends of the line close in to try and piece
it together again, flanking the converging ends, rolling the army in on
itself and, in military language, "annihilating it." Given, as in the
case of the beginning of the world war, a larger force and a heavier
weight of metal on the German than on the Allied side, the German
strategy is sure of success, provided the opposing forces are also in
formation of line.

Note, however, how Joffre 's strategy vitiates this plan. A big army
must spread out over a long line. There is a definite limit to the
amount of traffic a road or a bridge can carry in a given time. "When,
therefore, the massed line strikes an opposing point, it is not necessarily
heavier at that point than the defending force. Moreover, it is in the
discretion of the defending general to swing his two armies of manoeuvre
either to right or left, together, and strike the opposing force at an
unexpected point. Therefore, the opposing force dare not weaken its
whole line to help the middle which is in contact.

40 THE MARNE— DECISIVE BATTLE OF THE WAR

Since the point of the diamond is only an advance point, it can
retreat. Indeed, it is expected to do so. That is what it is there to
do. But a retreat is not a flight. On the contrary, every mile taken
to the rear shortens the transport of supply, and brings the point of
the diamond back on the manoeuvring masses and the reserve army.
It is like pulling an arrow back to its head. If the string then be
released the arrow springs forward with tremendous energy.

That was exactly this position of the Retreat to the Marne. The
British Army was the point, at second base; Verdun was first base,
Conde was third base, and Paris was home base. The British Army,
as the operative point, therefore, dared not let the enemy flank it,
for then von Biilow would break inside the square. It must retreat
in the shape of an inverted V, fighting all the while at the apex and on
both flanks, until it made connections with the masses of manoeuvre,
who were also retreating. Being twenty-four hours behind in starting
the retreat, there was a gap. That gap was the danger.

The "Fighting Retreat" to the Mame.

At 4 o 'clock in the morning, the retreat began. It was covered by
a gallant attack on Binche, by a couple of regiments, designed to con-
vince the Germans that the British were advancing. Few men re-
turned alive from that charge. In the half-light the Germans attacked
furiously, and Sir John French, fearing a charge along the whole line
ordered the First Division forward as though to retake Binche. It was
heavily punished, but the Second Corps withdrew on the Quarouble-
Dour-Frameries line, the right, however, suffering heavy losses.

The British cavalry were then brought into play, and General
Allenby, who later was to become famous in the Palestine campaign,
charged on the German flank. The 9th Lancers and 18th Hussars ran
into a wire entanglement and were cut to pieces. The arrival of the
19th Infantry Brigade somewhat strengthened the left, at a crucial
moment, but the continued retirement of the French meant that the
British must go, also. They were a day behind, and therefore exposed
to the full fury of the foe.

The night of August 24-25 found the British on the Bavai-Maubeuge
line, and a slight slackening on the right showed that the German hoped
to entice the British commander to make a stand there. Maubeuge was a
fortress of the first rank, but, as Sir John French put the matter: **The

THE MARNE— DECISIVE BATTLE OF THE WAR 41

determined attempts of the enemy to get round my left flank assured me
that it was his intention to hem me against that place and surround me.
I felt that not a moment must be lost in retiring to another position. . . .
The operation, however, was full of danger and difficulty, not only owing
to the very superior force in my front, but also owing to the exhaustion
of my troops.**

Indeed, by the morning of August 25, matters were grave for the
British. Whereas, on Sunday morning. Sir John French had faced von
Kluck*s army of 250,000 men, on Sunday afternoon this had been raised
to 300,000 by the addition of von Hansen's cavalry and during Monday
at least one army corps from von Bulow was attacking or preparing to
attack, near Maubeuge. On the other hand, counting all branches, the
British had raised their numbers to 82,500 men, less the casualties of
Sunday and Monday, certainly not less than 7,500 men. The odds at
this point, then, were 300,000 to 75,000.

The British Army Greatly Exhausted.

It has already been shown that the British Army was twenty hours
in arrear of the retreat schedule, owing to the failure to communicate
the fall of Charleroi, but it must also be mentioned that Joffre 's strategic
plan of falling back to the Rhine inevitably forced on the British the
longest distance to travel, for the line was pivoting on Verdun. Two
things, only, were in the British favor. The first was that the Germans,
trying to envelop, were all the time on the outside of the arc and thus
had even further to go. Sometimes this makes a great difference, for
modern armies can only travel on good roads. The other was that the
railroads and the excellent highways of France were in Sir John
French's hands, ready for use, if he could but cover his retreat. The
Allied lines were shortening and strengthening with every mile south,
the German lines were lengthening and weakening with every mile of ad-
vance. The strategy of the square was in operation ; the spring was be-
ing bent back.

Tuesday, August 25, was a critical day. Sir John French gave the
army only four hours ' sleep, and a detachment sent back to intrench the
Le Gateau line did not have any sleep at all. Through the day the army
retired steadily, fighting rearguard actions all the while. General
Allenby's cavalry, though men and horses were dropping with fatigue,
fought all the long day through.

42 THE MAENE— DECISIVE BATTLE OF THE WAR

liate in the evening, amid all the confusion of trying to make camp,
the First Division of the Fir^t Army Corps, under General Haig, was
suddenly pounced upon by an advance guard of von Kluck's army, at
Maroilles. Out of the night came sudden relief. A few companies of
the Fifth French Army appeared, as though from nowhere, and helped
the British. These French troops were off their road, for the main
army was being pursued hot-foot by von Bulow.

At ten o'clock Haig reached Landrecies, his men at their last gasp.
Yet, before he made camp, Haig took the precaution of putting up barbed
wire defenses and the machine guns were placed to command the entry
to the little town. The men lay down to sleep. They had not slept ten
minutes when a full division of the German 9th Army Corps was at
them. Staggering like drunken men from weariness, the Guards Bri-
gade drove back the foe with heavy loss. They lay down on the ground
to sleep again, but, three hours later, Haig inexorably roused them to
the rearward march again. It took seasoned troops to endure such ter-
rible handling.

The Glorious Stand of Le Cateau.

That same evening, the Second Army Corps, under General Smith-
Dorrien, found itself in eqiially desperate straits. It reached Le Ca-
teau by a more westerly route, some battalions having marched thirty
miles. Many of the men dropped to sleep without waiting for food. To
wake them was almost an impossibility. Sir John French sent word to
General Sordet's Cavalry Corps, asking for support. He received reply
that the horses were too esjiausted to move. So, with constant attacks
and skirmishes, passed the night of August 25-26.

Stiff, haggard, hungry and nerve-racked the British Army stood to
arms before daybreak of August 26, dogged will-power forcing a gal-
vanic obedience to commands which had become impossible to
fatigue-dulled consciousness. At the extreme left, a single division was
compelled to resist a terrific attack from at least three Army Corps. So
fierce and heavy was this drive that Smith-Dorrien reported it to be
more dangerous to retreat than to stand. Words could not say more.
Sir John French answered that if he must fight, he must, but to break
off the action at the very first moment possible. He had not so much
as a platoon to spare to send him. Fortunately, a loose body of French
Territorials under General d'Amade was forming to the west and these
kept Smith-Dorrien from being flanked. Somehow, anyhow — they

THE MARNE— DECISIVE BATTLE OF THE WAR 43

never knew how themselves — one and a half British corps, at the break-
ing point of exhaustion, fought five German corps, including some crack
German troops, fresh for the fray. x\nd, when the whole Prussian
Guards Cavalry Division charged one infantry brigade of 1200 men,
it was thrown back "with heavy loss and in absolute disorder." If this
seem too extraordinary for belief, it is to be remembered that these
were the British ** regulars," not a militia army, and war has always
fihown the marvelous power of veterans in staving off attacks, even of
the most overpowering character.

Against such enormous odds, no offset of gallantry and training
could long endure, however, and at 3.30 in the afternoon, to escape
annihilation, retirement was attempted. ''The movement," says Sir
John French, "was covered with the most devoted intrepidity and
determination by the artillery, which had itself suffered heavily. . . .
Fortunately, the enemy had himself suffered too heavily to engage in
an energetic pursuit." This was termed, even in the cold dispatches
of Sir John French, "the glorious stand" of Le Cateau, and though
it cost the British 5,000 men at least, enemy casualties were far
heavier.

On this same day, the French forces, which had been forming to
the west, took rapid shape, and by the evening of September 26, Gen-
eral Manoury's army, which was to do so much in saving Paris, pro-
tected the British flank. When Smith-Dorrien dropped south, he was
not alone, the French were beside him. Von Kluck 's enveloping move-
ment, which had threatened the whole position for four continuous days
and nights, was checked.

Large Depletion of the British Expeditionary Force.

The First Army Corps, under Sir Douglas Haig, however, was by
no means out of danger. It had retreated on Guise, and, dangerous
though the policy might be, a halt of several hours was made for food
and rest. The army suffered from this delay next day, when the
Second Munster Fusilliers were cut off and either killed or captured
to a man. On the 28th, very heavy cavalry detachments of the enemy
harassed the British, but the rear-guard actions were annoying rather
than dangerous. On the 29th the First Corps halted near St. Quentin.
(Lest the reader be confused by the names of the British generals, it
may be said that there was but one British Army, commanded by Sir

44 THE MARNE— DECISIVE BATTLE OF THE WAR

John French, comprising the First and Second Army Corps, com-
manded respectively by Generals Haig and Smith-Dorrien.)

General Joffre was at last in a position to come to the British
relief. General Manoury, ^vith the Sixth French Army, moved up to
cover the British left; the Fifth French Army, under Lanrezac, which
had borne the brunt of the Charleroi fight, moved west to cover the
British right. The British Army, what was left of it, retired without
opposition to a point north of the Aisne between Compiegne and
Soissons. Official figures have not been given out, indeed, they have
been scrupulously withheld, yet there is reason to suppose that not
more than 30,000 reached that line. Many detachments which were lost,
or strayed, turned up later, but it is sure that over one-third of the
British Expeditionary Force was on the casualty list after the heroic
''four days' battle" which marked the first stage of the Retreat from
Mons to the Marne.

Military Wisdom of the Retreat to the Marne.

It will be clear to the reader that two French armies had advanced
to cover the British. They would therefore have to sustain the shock
of stopping the pursuing German hosts. It came at once. In the west.
General Manoury, knowing that his army was as yet loosely thrown
together, and realizing the danger of being outflanked, only felt the
German pressure and retreated slowly towards Paris, keeping von
l^luck on the move.

In the centre of the line, however, these tactics were impossible.
Between Guise and St. Quentin, the Fifth Army (which at this point
had its command transferred from General Lanrezac to General
d'Esperey) not only stood ready for the contact with the oncoming
invaders, but counter-attacked furiously, driving back the German
Guard and the Guard Reserve Corps. The next day, the Germans were
again checked at Rethel.

This is not a history of military tactics, but of the war as a whole,
so it will be better not to confuse the main issue by further tactical
details of the retreat to the Marne. But, that the superlative strategy
of Joffre in this campaign may be made clear, it is necessary to show
why it was military wisdom to retreat so far. Ferris words the matter
neatly when he says: *'Joffre was putting von Kluck on the horns of
a dilemma of which it would be difficult to say which would be the more

THE MARNE— DECISIVE BATTLE OF THE WAR 45

fatal: to assault Paris with all the Allied armies intact; or to refuse
and attack those armies on ground that they had chosen."

Just for a moment, let the first horn of the dilemma be considered.
Paris could not be taken by direct assault ; that was out of the question.
It would have to be invested all around. Now the ring of the outer
forts of Paris has a circumference of nearly a hundred miles. It
would take half a million men to invest Paris with a sufficiently strong
wall of steel. Germany could not spare so many men, at least not with
the Allied armies intact. Her line of communications would be broken
at once, and that would be the end of it.

The Allied armies, therefore, must be beaten first. But, to do so,
the Germans had to defeat them on their own chosen ground, with
reinforcements growing daily, with excellent railroad supply bases,
with an intimate knowledge of the ground, and with a heavy mass of
untired reserves behind. On the German side, the men were wearied,
bad lost heavily, and their line of communication was long.

Positions of the Opposing Forces. '

No matter which policy the German High Command adopted, Paris
was at a dangerous point. She would either be the central point of
attack, in which case the masses of manoeuvre would swing behind, or
she would be the pivot of a central attack somewhere between herself
and Rheims. On August 1, the government commenced to evacuate
Paris ; on September 2, the diplomats and ministers left ; on September
.3, the proclamation was made that the seat of the French government
had been established in Bordeaux.

The failure of the Germans to force Nancy, an engagement known
as Le Grand Cournonne of Nancy, and which ended on September 4,
Avas a determining factor in deciding the Germans to attack towards
the western end of the line. General Sarrail, with the Third French
Army, had succeeded in holding the pivotal point of Verdun, ever since
the first day of the war — thanks as much to the amazingly bad general-
ship of the German Crown Prince as to French gallantry — and the
German decision to strike between Paris and Rheims was based upon
the mistaken assumption that Joffre's reserves were behind Verdun,
at the eastern end of the line. On that same day, September 4, French
aviators reported that von Kluck was wheeling to the southeastward.
Evidently, then, the main attack was not to be made on Paris.

46 THE MARNE— DECISIVE BATTLE OF THE WAR

■ Just for clearness, it is well to review the opposed forces, naming
them from the west, as before. First came the First German Army,
under von Kluck, facing Paris; next came the Second German Army,
under von Btilow; then came von Hansen's interposing force, now
added to by two Saxon corps and the Prussian Guard; next came the
Third German Army, under the Duke of Wurtemberg; next came the
Crown Prince's Army. Facing these were, first, the now firmly organ-
ized Sixth French Army, under General Manoury, which had been
facing von Kluck in the retreat. It lay northeast of Paris. Next came
the forces under General Gallieni, which formed Paris' defending*
army, including the famous Ragged Legion of Paris. Next, to the
rear, in reserve, was the British Expeditionary Force, now raised in
force to nearly 100,000 men by continual reenf orcements from England.
Next came the Fifth French Army, formerly under General Lanrezac,
but now under General d'Esperey, facing von Biilow. Next came
Joffre's surprise, the spiral of the spring, the army of reserve, a pow-
erful, fresh, well-equipped army under France ''s greatest tactician.
General Foch; it faced von Hansen. Next came the Fourth French
Army, still under General Langle de Cary ; it faced the Duke of Wur-
temburg. General Sarrail, with the Third French Army at Verdun,
faced the Crown Prince of Germany, as he had done from the beginning.

The Battle of the Marne Begins.

The reader will do well to observe that the weight of numbers lay
with the French. The Germans had added only the Saxon Corps and
the Prussian Guard to the original line. France had added General
Manoury 's Army, General Gallieni 's Army, the absolutely new French
Seventh Army, under General Foch, and the British reinforcements.
The odds were now about five to four in favor of the French. Besides
which, they had the enormous advantage of position.

The Battle of the Marne began on Saturday afternoon, September
5, and the first offensive movement was taken by Manoury. Learning
from air scouts that von Kluck was massing his men to the south, evi-
dently driving at the gap between Paris and the Fifth Army, held by
the British, Manoury decided to flank von Kluck.

It took just one hour to give both Manoury and von Kluck an
unpleasant surprise apiece. Manoury found that von Kluck 's artillery,
especially when defending a small stream (the Ourcq), was a terrific

THE MARNE— DECISIVE BATTLE OF THE WAR 47

obstacle to encounter, even when only reserves were behind it. Von
Kluck found that Manoury's force was far more dangerous than he
had supposed it to be. Manoury's sudden flank attack made hash of
the plans of the First German Army. All that Saturday night, von
Kluck 's men had to march back, to be ready to face Manoury in the
morning.

Manoury, on his part, did not need to be told that von Kluck would
recoil. Joffre shifted reserves to Paris. Every taxi-cab, motor bus
and private automobile in Paris rushed troops to Manoury in the early
dawn. Twelve and fourteen men piled into and onto a single taxi-cab.
They hung on the outside, like insects on a leaf; they were packed, on
the inside, like sardines in a can. But it was easier and quicker than
marching. By 9 o'clock that morning Manoury's army had been rein-
forced by 70,000 troops. The army was lamentably weak in artillery,
however, for field guns cannot be loaded into taxi-cabs. All Sunday,
notwithstanding, Manoury held von Kluck at a standstill.

JofFre's Strategical Manoeuvre.

That same Sunday morning, early, the British ambushed two
bodies of cavalry, which von Kluck had posted as a precaution against
a flank attack, if the British should move north. They did move north.
They caught the cavalry by advancing through a wood. They turned
shrapnel on them, like a blast from the pit. Into the struggling mass
of men and horses the English cavalry swept and finished the rout.

The fortress of Maubeuge fell on Monday, sending reenforcements
to von Kluck, whose army was far stronger than that of Manoury. On
Monday, therefore, von Kluck commenced to flank Manoury; on Tues-
day he did flank him; on Wednesday he almost encircled him, and pre-
pared to swallow him on Thursday. It was a most successful movement
— for von Kluck. It remained to see whether it was a successful or a
wise manoeuvre for the whole strategical plan of the German High
Command.

Joffre, seeing his chance, bade the British feel out von Kluck 's left
wing, not driving him back, but, if possible, decoying him forward. It
is this manoeuvre, little understood, which gave rise to the mistake
made by some magazine writers to the effect that the British failed to
drive forward to help the French at the Mame. They didn't drive.
They decoyed. Mark what this meant! It meant that all von Kluck 's

48 THE MARNE— DECISIVE BATTLE OP THE WAR

army was being led westward, the northern wing by Manoury, the
southern wing by the British. The German main attack was south-
eastward. There was, therefore, a steadily thinning German line, and
a highly dangerous gap was appearing between von Kluck and von
Biilow.

The Fifth French Army, under d'Esperey, had been reenforced
by three reserve corps and had become a powerful army of 250,000
men. With the aid of English heavy artillery, lent for the purpose,
this army steadily pushed back von Biilow on Sunday, Monday and
Tuesday, crossing the Marne and holding the bridgeheads. Von Biilow
was eager to flank d'Esperey '^s left, but every time he did so, he came
in contact with the slowly advancing British.

More Strategy by French Generals.

Leaving the new army, Foch's Seventh Army (in some reports
miscalled the Ninth), for the moment, it may be pointed out that on
this same Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, General Langle de Gary had
held firm, and General Sarrail could not be budged from Verdun.
There was a tempting chance to drive forward and hit the Crown
Prince a blow on Tuesday, but the commanders of both these French
armies rejected it as weakening Joffre's main strategic plan. The
blow was reserved for Foch.

On Sunday, Foch, in command of one of the strongest French
armies (300,000 men, including reserves), sagged back under the
driving blows of von Hansen, though the latter had one of the weakest
German armies (probably 225,000 men). On Monday, Foch sagged
still further. On Tuesday, whether following the manoeuvre or whether
suddenly embarrassed by his own tactics, the Seventh French Army
bent back very awkwardly. General d'Esperey lent Foch an extra
army corps to help cover his left.

On Wednesday, at midday, the Germans were in full position to
break through between Foch and Langle de Cary. Foch's left had
stood firm, but his right had sagged back ten miles. Langle de Cary
had stood firm. There was thus a ten-mile-wide diagonal gap between
Foch's right and Langle de Cary's army. Von Hansen, wild with
eagerness, thinned his line of all the men he could afford to hurl them
into this gap, forgetting, as he did so, that he was thinning them at a
very dangerous point, just where- the plateau of Champagne drops
suddenly to the marshes of St. Gond.

THE MARNE— DECISIVE BATTLE OF THE WAR 49

At midday, Jb'och, with a liait'-smile, ordered the Forty-second Divi-
sion, one of the crack corps of the French Army, to fall back and rest.
All that afternoon, while the skies grew blacker and blacker with a
coming thunderstorm and the cannons rumbled louder than the thunder,
the Forty-second Division lay grumbling on the grass with piled arms,
hearing the battle only two miles away. And von Hansen, with the
piercing of the line dangling before his grasp, ever sent more and more
men to the southeast.

At exactly four o'clock in the afternoon, the Forty-second Division,
rested and eager, received its long-awaited orders. It was ordered to
advance through the pine woods, and, taking up position among the
trees, to charge forward at five o'clock to the minute. Meantime, an
order was sent along the whole French line, bidding them stiffen their
resistance at five o'clock, and be ready for a counter-attack. The
spring was now drawn tight.

Von Hausen's Wild and Panic-Stricken Flight.

Came five o'clock! Out from the pine woods, shouting with the
terrible joy of battle, leaped the Forty-second Division. For a moment
the roar of French cries drowned the tumult of the artillery, and then
unnumbered batteries of the ''Soixante-Quinze," the French 75-milli-
metre gun, came galloping to the front. That was, throughout the war,
the best field weapon, but never did the gunners work as they did that
evening.

The Prussian Guard, thinned to a mere shadow of a line by von
Hansen's impetuous attempt to force Foch's right wing, could give
no more resistance to the French than a paper hoop gives to a circus
rider. So furious was the French charge of fresh, well-rested troops,
conscious that they were Victory's own thunderbolt, that the Prussian
Guard had no time to flee. It was trodden underfoot.

The shouting lines went through!

The extra army corps which d'Esperey had lent to Foch, on the
left, followed on the heels of the Forty-second. The very horses of
the batteries seemed to know that they were galloping for France, and
the guns whirled forward, unlimbered, fired, limbered and galloped
forward again. The right flank of von Hansen's Saxon army was cut
to pieces.

German communication was excellent. In fifteen minutes voii

4— W.L.

50 THE MARNE— DECISIVE BATTLE OF THE WAR

Hausen learned that his right was broken. His whole army was thus
practically entrapped in that gap into which Foch had decoyed him.
Five minutes later, von Hausen learned that his line was pierced. The
great German drive, to which forty-five years of unceasing military
preparation had been given, halted, wavered and went to pieces.

At twenty minutes past five, Foch hurled his reserves forward.
No longer were the French retreating, no longer need they shame-
facedly pass through villages they were deserting to the foe. The
whole force of the strategic square was released. Flight, wild and
panic-stricken, was von Hansen's only resource. He turned and fled,
the vengeful furies of France close on his heels.

The Finish of the Battle of the Mame.

The thunderstorm, which had held off long enough to allow the
French to charge and break the line, now broke over the heads of the
Germans in a torrent of rain. Woe for their heavy artillery, then!
The roads, rapidly turning to sticky mud, prevented escape, while the
lighter 75 's could still pursue. The French red-trousered infantry, in
the delirious fever of success, could not, would not stop. Hour after
hour through that rainy night, the dripping trees saw a slaughter grim
and great. Tens of thousands were slain, thousands of prisoners were
captured, hundreds of guns fell into French hands and vast stores of
ammunition became part of the prize.

Midnight came. Foch was willing to halt, but, wise old soldier
that he was, he knew the driving power of a victorious army. Von
Hausen, who had allowed himself to be decoyed southwards, had a long
way to go before he could regain touch with the German armies, which,
on the same day, had been pushed northwards. Not until early morn-
ing did the French officers compel the men to halt, and brave men who
had fought all day and all night wept with rage that their hands were
stayed, even then. Foch was inexorable. He had established his head-
quarters in La Fere Champenoise, twenty-five miles in advance of his
iieadquarters of the night before. He had established his connections
>vith Langle de Gary on the right and d'Esperey on the left. Before
him yawned a gap in the German line, where once von Hansen's army
had been.

By seven o'clock of the evening of the flight, von Kluck had
received news of von Hansen's disaster. With the prize of Manoury's

THE MARNE— DECISIVE BATTLE OF THE WAR 51

army practically in his hands, he was forced to retire, and that swiftly.
Otherwise, Foch, advancing next day, could cut off the First and Second
German Armies from the Third and Fourth. It was patent that Joffre
planned such an offensive. Von Kluck, a really able general, saw his
danger. Deep-cut with rage and chagrin, he withdrew his army from
the terrible horseshoe into which Manoury had been forced, and re-
treated all night long, northeastward. Von Biilow did likewise.

When the morning of Thursday, , September 6, shed light enough
for air scouts to reconnoitre, the full measure of Foch's hammer-blow
became apparent. One German army had been annihilated, two were
retreating in haste. Manoury had escaped from the dangerous trap
by only a few hours; Paris was relieved; the British, practically
untouched in the battle, were moving forward; d'Esperey was advanc-
ing in full force; Foch, like a giant rejoicing in his strength, held an
advanced position; Langle de Gary was on the move; and Sarrail, at
Verdun, had held the pivotal key with a stubborn gallantry that resisted
alike the mass of men and weight of metal.

Paris was saved. The Allied armies were intact. The German
drive was recoiling, whipped. The great conflict on the result of which
the German Empire had placed its whole dependence was over. The
Battle of the Mame was won !

CHAPTER IV.

THE COMPUXSIOK OF TRENCH WARFARE.

The Germans Hurled Back In Confusion— Voa Zwehl and the Siege Gan»— The Defeated Hosts "Dig la"
to Get a Foothold— Crossing the Alsne, First and Second Phases— The Bombardment of Rheim»—
Vandalism of the Cathedral— Beginning of Four Years' Deadlock.

IT happens not infrequently in war that the finest generalship is
shown during a retreat, not during a victory. The British retreat
from Mons to the Marne proved Generals French, Haig and Smith-
Dorrien to be commanders of the most supreme ability. The same
period showed up Lanrezac's weakness, and, as has been mentioned,
he was superseded by General d'Esperey.

The German retreat from the Marne to the Aisne, covering the
period September 8-12, 1918, told the same lessons. General von Kluck
demonstrated himself to be an able commander. Although Manoury,
the British, and d'Esperey were all on his heels, he extricated his army
in good order. He handled his rearguard actions with firmness and
fierceness, though his troops were punished severely by the nimble and
deadly French 75 's. He began his retreat, as has been said, on the
evening of Wednesday, September 9, the day of the final victory of
the Marne.

That same evening, von Hansen was in flight, not in retreat. The
French pursued him all night. He was unable to re-form at all. It
was a most disgraceful rout. The German General Staff promptly
forced von Hansen to relinquish his command, a pretext of illness being
given, and the Saxon forces were divided between von Kluck and von
Billow. The latter general had not been faced with any great difficulty
in the first part of his retreat, for, during the four days ' Battle of the
Marne, he had been forced steadily to the northward, holding his line
in good order.

When, however, Foch commenced to march forward on that drench-
ing morning of Thursday, September 10, after the Victory of the
Marne, von Billow's troubles commenced. Knowing every yard of the

THE COMPULSION OF TRENCH WARFARE 53

ground, Foch drove at the two flanks of von Billow's army, bending it
in on itself. Ordinarily, this would be bad tactics, for such an arc
strengthens the opposing army, but Foch knew that between the two
horns of the enemy's forces were the Marshes of St. Gond. Now,
marshes are a very different question before and after a heavy rain.
Twenty-four hours before, von Biilow had not troubled much about the
low-lying land. But a torrential downpour all night, and still continu-
ing, made those marshes boggier every minute. Before evening, in
ypite of the difficulty of moving his men, Foch turned von Billow's
flank and almost the whole of two German army corps were flung into
Ihe slimy mud. The French General magnanimously forbade the artil-
lery to fire on the entrapped invaders. About 2,000 men perished,
60,000 were made prisoners and forty large guns were taken. This
quickened von Billow's retreat to the Aisne. Friday, September 11,
was occupied by the two German commanders in taking up position3
on the new line of defense.

Germany's Defense of the Aisne.

This line was of unexampled strength. A well-known strategist,
writing of the Battles of the Aisne, says of the position; ''From the
Ural Mountains to the Atlantic Ocean, there is no natural line so strong
as that which was then taken up by the Germans." There were sev-
eral minor shifts of line, but for clearness only that one will be men-
tioned which formed the basis for the final intrenchment. This line
ran, roughly, through Noyon, Vic-sur-Aisne, Soissons, Craonne, then
dipped down towards Rheims, Ville-sur-Tourbe, Varennes and Forges,
a small place on the Meuse, north of Verdun.

The key of this position was a triangular wooded height known
Si^ the Craonne plateau. The base of this triangle is the steep cliff or
series of cliffs commanding the River Aisne, running from Vic to
Craonne. Between Vic and Noyon the plateau slopes gently but domi-
natingly down to the valley of the Oise ; on the east, between Craonne
and Laon, it comes down sharply; while the slope to the north is grad-
ual, facilitating German transport. From Rethel to Vic run bluffs
from 400 to 700 feet high, overlooking the river, with natural spurs
jutting out from point to point to enfilade the stream and banks.

Events on the Aisne showed that the German General Staff had
not been blind to the possibility of non-success in their first drive. The

54 THE COMPULSION OF TRENCH WARFARE

engineer corps of the several armies engaged in the attack did not join
in the advance to the Marne. For more than a week, work had been
proceeding night and day on the Craonne plateau, with the intention of
creating an invulnerable fortress, strong as the Rock of Gibraltar.
Long before the war, plans had been drawn up for the defense of the
Aisne. The time had come for Germany to put them into effect. Every
spur was bristling with guns and there was not a bridge which was
not under the concentrated fire of both heavy and light artillery.

It will be recalled that Maubeuge had fallen on Monday, Septem-
ber 7, during the actual progress of the Battle of the Marne. The
defense of Maubeuge was heroic, but, viewed from the movement of the
war as a whole, its importance lay only in one fact. Its resistance kept
General von Zwehl and the siege guns employed there so long that the
heavy artillery employed in the reduction of that fortress was not
available for any part of the Battle of the Marne. Had von Hansen's
advance, for example, been protected by von Zwehl 's guns, Foch would
have never been able to break through and the Battle of the Marne
would have been a very different story.

Guns Hauled by German Military Slaves.

On Tuesday, September 8, the great guns commenced to crawl
forward. On Wednesday came the German disaster, and, in the
evening, the terrific rainstorm. Von Zwehl, who was well informed as
to the plans of the General Staff, realized that after von Hausen's
defeat, it was imperative that he should get his guns as rapidly as
possible to the defensive lines on the Aisne. But the rain poured in
torrents. The thirteen traction engines could not move the guns alone
and von Zwehl set the infantry at hauling them, with long ropes, hun-
dreds of men to a fourth part of a gun. Like the slaves of Egypt who
built the pyramids, von Zwehl 's military slaves toiled under blows,
curses and threats of death. During the last twenty-four hours of the
march, the 18,000 troops and the guns covered forty-one miles. This
seems incredible, but it v/as so. Human nature rebelled and red
mutiny showed its head for a second, but von Zwehl had a nature as
hard as the steel of his guns. Every murmurer was shot dead in his
tracks. The death-potent monsters crawled on. The guns reached
Laon at 6 A. M. of September 13, and before seven o'clock they were
In position and in action.

THE COMPULSION OF TRENCH WARFARE 55

If von Zwehl had been a day later, the Germans would have lost
the possibility of holding the Aisne, for, under that battle-scarred old
warrior, was not only the heavy siege train intended for the reduction
of Paris, but also most of the heavy artillery belonging to von Kluck's
and von Billow's armies, which they had left in his charge in order to
lighten their movements in pursuit of the supposedly fleeing French
and British. But von Zwehl got there, and the stupendous roar that
was mouthed across the Aisne Valley at seven o'clock that Sunday
morning warned the Allied Forces that the heaviest artillery the world
had ever seen was in position against them. It took four years to
dislodge von Zwehl 's guns.

The Crossing of the Aisne.

Since the famous ''Crossing of the Aisne" by the British, on Sep-
termer 13, 1914, has been pronounced "one of the greatest military
feats in modern history," it is of interest to mark what was done and
how it was done. The Aisne is a wide, unfordable, sluggish river.
Every foot, yes, every inch, of it was under big-gun, howitzer, machine-
gun and rifle fire. The guns were under the direction of von Zwehl, and
no man alive understood artillery better. That same morning, more-
over, the already enormous armies of von Kluck and von Billow had
been reenforced by the arrival of a supporting army under Field Mar-
shal von Heeringen, who was released from the Alsace-Lorraine cam-
paign by the failure of the French to achieve more than a series of local
victories at heavy cost. Von Heeringen at once took the position of
generalissimo over von Billow and von Kluck. That put a masterly
tactician in command of the operations on the Aisne. The British task
was to cross the river and storm an impregnable height, against heavy
odds, under a withering fire.

A Third Army Corps, under General Pulteney, had been added to
the army, the Second still being under Dorrien-Smith and the First
under Haig. Sir John French, of course, was commander-in-chief. At
daybreak, September 13, Pulteney 's corps advanced on Soissons. The
engineers succeeded in putting a pontoon bridge across with a loss of
half their number. Howitzer fire promptly destroyed the bridge. A
regiment of French Turcos went across in rowboats and had a fierce
struggle in the streets of Soissons, but achieved nothing. Pulteney
then tried to cross by the destroyed bridge at Venizel. Under a hail of

56 THE COMPULSION OF TRENCH WARFARE

ehrapnel the engineers repaired the bridge and four regiments — or
parts of them — crossed and gathered at Bucy-de-Long early in the
afternoon, under the direct fire of the great hill of Vregny. There was
no shelter, each minute meant deaths by scores, so Pulteney's men
worked swiftly down into a little ravine and there intrenched. The
heights frowned above them, but, at least, they were across the river.
Few they were, and unsupported.

The Second Army Corps, under Smith-Dorrien, tried to force the
bridge at Conde, soon after daybreak. That was simply inviting anni-
hilation, and had to be abandoned. The British gommander then
divided his force into two detachments, east and west of the bridge.
By pontoons, both got over. That was a case, also, of hasty intrench-
ing. Deaths averaged a hundred a minute. A few men had been
rafted over during the night near Missy, three at a time on a raft. It
was courageous, but useless. For sixteen days those men had to stay
in their dug-outs without food, their only water what they could snatch
at night, between star-shells.

Storming the Heights of the Aisne.

An Irish and Scotch brigade of the First Corps, under Haig, fought
like Paladins. The bridge at Arcy had been destroyed, but one girder
still spanned the stream. Even under the most favorable circumstances,
it would have been walking giddy enough to turn the brain. Under the
hail of shell, of machine-gun fire and of rifle fire it was a feat appar-
ently beyond the nerves of any man. The brigade went across it. Not
a man hesitated, though many a hundred fell dead into the stream
below. V,

Sunday night beheld a lurid flame of battle hitherto unseen in the
world. The whole length of the Aisne River cliffs was red as though
under a Bengal fire flare from the continuous spitting of the guns.
Searchlights played maliciously up and down, star shells and calcium
balloons burst or floated above the valley. In that evil light, of red, of
yellow and of ghastly white coruscations, amid the never-ceasing rever-
beration of the cannonade, engineer companies worked to construct
bridges, till the last man was killed, and then other companies stepped
forward to take their place. In the teeth of a sinister hissing of bullets
and shrapnel, small bodies of infantry moved forward to cross and
join their comrades in the trenches on the other side. Most fell, but
some got over. It took all the roar of the cannonade to overpower with

THE COMPULSION OF TRENCH WARFARE 57

its noise the sound of moaning that rose from the wounded in that
stricken valley.

To the east, that same Sunday, the Fifth French Army, under
d*Esperey, crossed, without great difficulty. Their task lay ahead of
them, for the Craonne plateau, at that point, sloped down to the plain
rather than to the river. .

Monday was notable for the German defense of a sugar factory,
which was held in a manner worthy of the best traditions of war. The
British attacked with two regiments, then with three, with four and
with five. The Germans hurled them back. Twice the Teutons were
driven out. Twice they forced their way in again. Not until the
Guards were added and the Germans were outnumbered more than
two to one did they give ground. Most of them died at their posts.
That sugar factory held back an entire army corps for more than half
a day. By evening, however, Haig had made good an intrenched posi-
tion on the plateau itself, which held for more than three weeks of
severe fighting. Haig never talks of himself, but he said once: "The
greatest triumph the men under my command achieved in this war,
in my opinion, was the storming of the heights of the Aisne."

Western Phase of the Battle of the Aisne.

Von Heeringen and von Zwehl were a difficult combination to out-
manoeuvre. The next day, Tuesday, September 15, they launched a
whirlwind counter-offensive against Manoury, with the Sixth French
Army, intrenched at Nampcel, at the extreme west of the line. The
French were crumpled up and thrown back like pieces of paper before
a gale. The Germans regained control of the spurs guarding the Aisne
near the Morsain ravine.

There was no chance on the east, either, to catch the Iron General
of the Guns napping. The Fifth French Army fought with great gal-
lantry on Wednesday, but the natural steepness of the Craonne pla-
teau, mounting that incredible quantity of guns, was too strong a force.

On Thursday, Manoury, on the west, revenged himself and retook
the quarries. This eased the pressure on the British line. Then von
Zwehl 's artillery drove him out again. With each new attack, the
Germans launched a fresh bombardment at the city of Soissons. At
last Manoury managed to make a strong enough intrenchment to hold
the quarries and that end of the line was deadlocked.

58 THE COMPULSION OF TRENCH WARFARE

These six days, then, September 13-18, constituted what may be
called the Western Phase of the Battle of the Aisne. It proved, beyond
a doubt, two things. Of these the first was that man-power alone, no
matter of what courage and gallantry, cannot storm heights held by
modem machine-gun fire. The other was that no direct gun fire, how-
ever powerful, can force men out of well-made trendies.

On the 18th, then, Manoury was in the quarries, the British Third
Corps had some small bodies of men intrenched on the northern bank
of the river, but could do nothing further ; the Second Corps was in a
similar position ; Haig, with the First Corps, had secured a footing on
the plateau, but could not advance, being unsupported; d'Esperey, with
the Fifth French Army, had found Craonne impregnable. If the Ger-
mans had not succeeded in their attack, they had done so in their
defense. The deadlock was absolute.

The Eastern Phase of the Battle of the Aisne centered around
Rheims, and entirely different armies were brought into play. The
defense of the Craonne plateau had been divided between the First
German Army, under von Kluck ; the Second German Army, under von
Billow, and the Seventh German Army, which had come up with von
Heeringen. It had, also, the heavy siege trains, under von Zwehl.
Opposing it, as has been shown, were the Sixth French Army, under
Manoury; the British Army, under Sir John French; and the Fifth
French Army, under d'Esperey.

Futile Attempts to Dislodge the French Armies.

On the line from Craonne to Metz were the German Third Army,
under the Duke of Wurtemburg; and the Fifth German Army, under
the German Crown Prince. Opposing them were, respectively, the
Seventh French Army, under Foch; and the Fourth French Army,
under Langle de Cary.

The attack began suddenly on Friday, September 18, when the
Duke of Wurtemburg threw his right wing forward against Foch, under
the direct leadership of the generalissimo, von Heeringen. It was a
sharp blow, well delivered, and Foch fell back. He took up a position
at Souain and was hard driven to it to keep his line intact. However,
the wizard-like handling of the French batteries of 75 's saved the day,
and by nightfall Foch had brought up his reserves and Joffre had sent
reenforcements. Foch, the master tactician, placed and intrenched his

THE COMPULSION OF TRENCH WARFARE 59

troops in such wise that they were not to be reached by the distant
heavy artillery. If the Germans were to break into Rheims, they would
only be safe if Foch were out of the way. Since artillery would not
reach, they must carry Foch's position by assault.

Against Foch's troops, lightly intrenched between Pouillon and
the Mountain of Rheims, von Heeringen threw enormous masses of
men. At irregular intervals, for four days and nights, the gray-clad
battalions flung forward. But while the French had no such heavy
artillery as the Germans, they had not acted in vain when they had
ordered the Creusot works to turn out the 75-mm. guns by hundreds.
Against German mass-drives those light field guns — much more power-
ful than their three-inch calibre indicates — cut swathes of death.

Again and again and yet again von Heeringen ordered the charge.
As many times it was hurled back. The night of September 19-20 was
the culmination. Four successive attacks were made on that one night.
And when bright sunshine burst on the scene next morning, the French
lines still stood firm, while, so far as the eye could see, lay little heaps
and long lines of gray figures, some moving feebly, but most of them
still.

Two Thousand German Hussars Annihilated.

The Battle of the Aisne, indeed, was over, but September 26 was
to see an aftermath engagement which hurt German pride sorely. At
dawn of that day all that were left of the redoubtable Prussian Guards,
about 16,000 men, made a swift sortie to try and cut the railway line
between Rheims and Verdun. A French aid scout, who was already
in the air at daybreak, saw this move and warned his commander.

Foch could think quickly. He ordered a regiment of cavalry at full
gallop to occupy the small village of Auberive, just to annoy the ad-
vancing Prussian Guards. Meanwhile, the light artillery, which were
at Jouchery, five miles away, were ordered to come up at topmost
speed, and the infantry, also, at the double.

The Prussian Guard reached Auberive and the French cavalry
rode forward prepared to the charge. The German commander was
puzzled by this, for he feared that the cavalry might be only a screen
for a large force behind. Accordingly, he halted and sent up air
scouts to find out what was before him. This caused half an hour's
delay, a vital half-hour. The scouts reported only a regiment of cav-
alry ahead, but a detachment of artillery coming up from Jouchery.

60 THE COMPULSION OF TRENCH WARFARE

The German commander fumed at having been stopped by a mere
regiment of cavalry, marched forward and captured Auberive within
an hour. Before doing so, however, he detached 2,000 of the Death *s
Head Hussars, one of the proudest cavalry corps in the German serv-
ice, to surprise those French field guns coming up on the trot. They
went, those Hussars, delighting in the certain seizure of the guns, for
by no means could the French know of their approach.

The French artillery did not know. But-, through a gap in the
trees, the Hussars were seen not more than two minutes' ride away.
Then came the value of manoeuvres. In ninety-four seconds — by the
record of one of the artillery officers — the teams were unharnessed, the
guns were in position and the gunners at their places. As the gun
numbers fell into place, the Hussars charged at less than a hundred
yards' range. The shrapnel burst. The line melted. Again the guns
spoke, and there rose above their crackle, the cries of the wounded and
the screams of horses in pain. A third time the battery fired. There
were very few left now, not more than a hundred or so, but they were
charging still. A fourth round and a fifth ! When the smoke cleared,
neither man nor horse was standing. Four minutes had passed since
the Hussars had been seen through a gap in the trees, and, of those
2,000 gallant horsemen, nor man nor beast escaped.

The Bombardment of Rheims.

Meanwhile the infantry from Jouchery had come up at the double.
Italian troops, only, can move faster than the French. The Zouaves
had outstripped their comrades and were taking the Prussian Guards
in the rear. Von Heeringen saw the failure of his plan. Foch had
acted too quickly. Either he must abandon the Guard or make a
frontal attack, to draw off Foch. It meant a loss of men with no
purpose gained than to remedy a mistake, but there was no other way.
A force of 3,000 men of the Guards Corps was hurled at the French
line. They charged five times. * ' As they came up for the fifth assault, ' '
says a writer of that action, **a wild cheer of admiration broke out
along the French line." But there was no appreciation of gallantry
in the mouths of the 75 's and after the fifth assault only 125 men were
left, most of them wounded. They surrendered honorably.

Much has been written and said on the question of the bombard-
ment of Rheims, as an open town, and of the vandalism of the Germans,

THE COMPULSION OF TRENCH WARFARE 61

who deliberately fired on its cathedral. The Germans reply that the
town was defended, which made it liable to bombardment, and that its
towers were occupied for observation purposes. The artillery lieuten-
ant who claimed to have fired at the Cathedral claimed that he did so
only as a warning, and fired only two shells. Richard Harding Davis
produced abundant evidence to show that this statement was untrue.
There is abundant evidence to prove that Rheims Cathedral was
wrecked in a deliberate desire for vengeance.

At the same time, it would be misleading to suggest that the Ger-
mans did not have the right to fire on Rheims. They did. The town
was defended. It had to be defended. As a railway junction of the
highest importance, controlling the railway which sent all the supplies
to Verdun, Foch could not possibly have abandoned it to the Germans,
simply because of the beauty of the Cathedral.

The Power and Capacity of Guns and Rifles.

Moreover, Rheims has a historic value as the shrine of France,
where her kings were crowned; and a romantic value because of its
association with the Maid, Joan of Arc. For that reason, also, it would
have been unwise to have allowed the Germans to occupy a city with
so many memories for France. Often a sentimental reason is of the
highest military importance in its relation to the morale of the army.
No, Rheims could not be left undefended. If defended, it was unavoid-
able that some shots might fall on the glorious Cathedral. But to
make a definite mark of the Cathedral, as was done, that was Vandal-
ism, ruthless and reckless barbarism, without a show of excuse.

The deadlock on the Aisne established that new mode of war,
known as trench warfare. The necessity of this merits a word. In
what has been said in the foregoing two chapters with regard to the
effect of the 42-centimeter siege guns on the forts of Liege, of Namur
and of Maubeuge, it has been made clear that permanent fortifica-
tions, even though made of steel-reenforced concrete, cannot resist the
effects of modem high-explosive shells dropped from long-range, high-
angle howitzers.

At the same time, the British feat of crossing the Aisne and the
German mass attacks on Foch*s lines near Rheims had negatived the
old von Moltke theory that any place can be taken by storm, so long as
the storming party was strong enough.

62 THE COMPULSION OF TRENCH WARFARE

Modem field artillery has changed all that. The French 75-nim.
can fire fifteen shells a minute. Each shrapnel shell holds 300 bullets.
That means that one gun can send 4,500 bullets a minute into an
advancing army, the bullets scattering fan-wise after the burst of the
shell. It only takes eight men to handle a 75-mm., including drivers.
A machine-gun, handled by two men, fires 600 shots a minute, and in
the hands of a good gunner its destructiveness is deadly. Modem rifles
have a killing range at an almost flat trajectory of a thousand yards
and a modern rifle will fire thirty shots a minute.

It would not require a very large force to pour 100,000 bullets per
minute into an advancing force. As any charge, no matter how good
the cover, would take at least three minutes, it would face 300,000
bullets. Even if only one out of every twenty bullets killed or wounded
an enemy, the casualties on that charge alone would be 15,000 men.

A trench, however, is curiously unattackable. It is not to be
reached by direct gun fire at all. Even for dropping fire it affords
only a very small target. In the first winter of the war, before new
Artillery tactics had been built up (such as barrage, etc.), the trench
was impregnable. Of course, that was true for both sides. If the
French could not push the Germans back, neither could the Germans
continue their drive onward. Open operations became impossible on
the Aisne, except at a fearful cost of life, and, even with that cost,
actions were not productive of any important result.

Oifense and Defense in War.

War, be it remembered, like all great forces in the world, is a
balancing of opposites. At one period, attack is stronger than defense ;
in the next, defense is stronger than attack. In the two months of
August and September this change took place twice.

When the war opened, the defense of the forts of Liege, Namur
and Maubeuge was thought to be stronger than any attack which could
be brought against them. The 42-centimeter howitzers destroyed that
idea. The attack took the lead.

Wars of attack mean quick and decisive engagements. Wars of
antagonistic defense mean long and indecisive engagements. Had the
Germans been able to carry all before them in a war of attack, the war
would have been short. The moment that they were compelled to
change it into a war of defense, it necessarily became long-drawn-out.

THE COMPULSION OF TRENCH WARFARE 63

It could not be otherwise. It could not become decisive until it turned
again into a war of attack. How this came about will be treated in a
later chapter, showing the shiftings of the battle-line, and the entire
change of battle tactics.

But, throughout all changes, the Aisne line never moved mate-
rially. The Craonne plateau remained a German stronghold. Rheims,
though always under fire of guns from near the Craonne plateau,
remained a French stronghold. At various times, during the next four
years, dispatches related this or that minor victory for either side.
Often, by the use of maps drawn to large scale, the capture of a thou-
sand yards would look larger than a victory which gained several score
of miles, drawn to a small scale. This was highly confusing to the
casual reader of newspapers and magazines, though, of course, it was
unavoidable as picturing the news of the day, week or month.

The essential thing to be remembered by the reader who wishes
io gain a true picture of the war as a whole is that the main defensive
line taken up by the Germans on the Aisne on September 12, 1914, was
still in their hands in the summer of 1918. Not until the actual Allied
drive which ended the war began, did the defenses of the Aisne fall.

CHAPTER V.

THE RACE OF TWO ARMIES TO THE SEA.

Capture ef Bnisselft— Siege «ad Fall of Antwerp— Exile— Atrocities of Aerthet to LonTaln— The Battles of
the Yser— Dlzmude, Holding the Line— Ypres, the Key- Passchendaele Ridge— Poison Gas— Uncon-
quered Belgium.

SO far, the story of the war has lent itself to clean-cut and straight-
forward narrative. The next phase was more complicated. It is
(necessary to show why. There are four gaps in the mountainous and
hilly country between Germany and Paris, one north of the Ardennes,
near Liege ; one by the Luxemburg frontier ; one north of the Vosges at
Nancy ; one south of the Vosges at Belf ort. Only the first two were in-
volved in the drive on Paris. Their story has been told. The Germans
drove at Paris, were stopped at the Mame, fell back and intrenched on
the Aisne. So told, the matter is simple enough.

The next group of moves was considerably more involved, but, if
the main issues be kept clear, a tolerably consistent picture may be
presented. The northward race to the sea resolved itself into two main
desires. The first was the German desire to seize and hold as much in-
vaded territory as possible. The second was the French desire to flank
the German armies on the Aisne and cut one of their main railroads of
supply. This railway ran on the western side of the Craonne plateau,
up the Oise Valley and thence northwestward through St. Quentin and
Maubeuge, dividing to Brussels and Liege.

With this aim in view, Joffre took up a new strategical plan. As
early as September 18, at the close of the Western Phase of the Battle
of the Aisne, he had seen that the war had become one of defence. It
had become static, rather than dynamic. If the Germans could not be
forced out of their holes on the Aisne by frontal attack, then an attempt
must be made to get in behind them, to cut their communication and
hinder their sources of supply. By a combination of speed and organ-
ization, there was a possibility that the main railroad might be strad-
dled by Allied troops.

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THE GUN WITH THE PUNCH.
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THE RACE OF TWO ARMIES TO THE SEA 65

From the British point of view, a shift of plans was essential. The
British Expeditionary Force had been sent over to help France at a
very desperate pinch. It had done so. It had covered itself with undy-
ing glory in the Retreat from Mons to the Mame. Now, however, that
the Aisne had become a deadlock, it would be a mistake of organization
for the British Army to be so far south, since its supplies were coming
from England. If any troops were to be shifted northwards, the British
should go. Thus they would be shortening their line of supply, saving
time, men and material.

Immediately, therefore, even while the Western Phase of the Battle
of the Aisne was continuing, French troops began to replace the British
in the trenches before the Aisne. It was not, however, until October 3,
that the main body started, though small detachments had been steadily
entraining for the north. When the Western Phase of the Battle of the
Aisne came to a definite end, after September 26, it was clear that more
men could be spared from this sector. The collapse of the Alsace-
Lorraine campaign — which was a complete affair in itself and will be
told in full in the next chapter — also released the troops which had been
employed in the Vosges.

Objectives of French and German Troops.

But, while the French were seeking to turn von Kluck's western
flank, the Germans were striving to force their way westward, not only
to cover their line of communication, but, as has been said, to occupy
and intrench themselves on as large a piece of invaded territory as pos-
sible. The Germans and the French each suffered from a disadvantage.
The French weakness lay in the fact that, being on the outside of the
curve, they had a longer distance to travel, and, moreover, the lines of
supply were not extensions of existing plans, but new ones. The Ger-
man weakness lay in the fact that they dared not shoot out great masses
of troops to the northwestward, for, if they did so, these individual
mCasses might be surrounded and cut off. They were therefore com-
pelled to build their line northwestward, block by block, not adding an
army corps until it had been solidly founded on the corps to the south of
it. The Germans, then, were driving northwestward. The French were
pushing northeastward. Being in constant contact, the net result was
that the line established was half-way between the two aims. If the
Germans did not gain Calais, neither did the French and British suc-

5— W. L.

66 THE RACE OF TWO ARMIES TO THE SEA

oeed in driving east far enough either to out the main railroad nor to
save Antwerp.

Leaving aside, for the moment, the actions which occurred in the
formation of this north-making line, it is worth while, first, to consider
the armies that made up the line itself. Beginning from the Aisne,
northward, the first army to be encountered, naturally, would be that of
Manoury, still intrenched in the quarries, but pivoting slowly so that
the quarries became its right wing. The left wing, thus, would be try-
ing to pinch in von Kluck 's flank.

Line of Opposing Armies.

Immediately north, and following the Oise Valley to Peronne, was
General Castenlau with the Second French Army, which had been
brought round from Lorraine. It was a well-equipped, seasoned army.
In reserve and partly behind him, but still to the north, was a small
group of Territorial units under General Brugere. North of this was
the main French Army of the West, a newly constituted group under
General Maud 'huy, occupying the line from Arras to La Bassee. From
La Bassee to Ypres came the British Army, the Second Army Corps to
the south, then the Third, with the First to the north. From Ypres to
Dixmude was also a newly organized army, known as the French Army
of Belgium, under General d'Urbal, which included a fine body of
French marines under Admiral Ronarc'h. From Dixmude to the sea
at Nieuport was the Belgian Army, which, after the fall of Antwerp,
was strongly reenforced and became a magnificent line of defense. The
German forces were greatly changed and altered at this time. Roughly,
von Heeringen remained in charge of the Aisne defence, von Kluck
faced Castelnau, von Bulow faced Maud 'huy, the Crown Prince of
Bavaria faced the southern part of the British Army (which included
three French divisions under General Bidon) and the Duke of Wurtem-
burg faced the north of the British line, d'Urbal and the Belgians.

One fact strikes the eye at once in this line from the Aisne to the
sea. It is the fact that all of Belgium except a tiny comer from Nieu-
port to Armentieres had come into the hands of the Germans. Yet,
when von Kluck was compelled to swing south in the great attack at
Mons-Charleroi, Tournai had been the westernmost point to which the
Uhlans had swept. This needs explanation.

On August 9, 1914, General von Emmich, in occupation in Liege,

THE RACE OF TWO ARMIES TO THE SEA 67

bui desperate because the forts would not give in, appealed for the 42-
centimeter siege guns. On October 9, 1914, two months later, Antwerp
fell after a nine-day siege. The story of those two months is a black
one. It is a record of atrocities unparalleled in the history of the
world. The acts of the Germans in Belgium were ferocious, filthy and
foul. No apologist can excuse, no reason can condone, no indemnity
can palliate the enormity of the guilt of that long-continued glut of
horror.

It began almost from the very first week of the invasion. German
arrogance had not dreamed that Belgium would dare to resist. German
vanity received a sore blow when Belgium not only resisted, but did so
with such gallantry that the great German Army was held back for
nine days by the forts of Liege. German vanity was still more seriously
wounded when the Belgians proved conclusively that, man for man, they
were far better soldiers than the Germans.

Surrender of Brussels.

When, at Fort Embourg, the Germans came up under a white flag
of truce and then treacherously attacked (this, once disputed, has been
definitely substantiated), the Belgians turned and drove them back. At
Wandre, on the 11th, the Belgians routed a German force and sent it
flying helter-skelter over the Dutch frontier. The successful charge of
one Belgian squadron of cavalry against six squadrons of Prussian
cavalry carried on Germany's shame. At Eghezee on August 13, at
Landen on the 14th, at Waremme on the 15th, and at Diest on the 16th,
all German attacks were beaten off.

The Belgian Army held the road to Brussels against odds of seven
to one. On the 17th, the Queen and the ministers evacuated the capital ;
and on the 18th, the Belgian Army fell back on Brussels, first punish-
ing the Germans at Aerschot with terrible severity, though at enormous
loss to themselves. One heroic detachment of 288 Belgians had but
seven survivors. On the 19th, the Belgian Army took up positions in
the woods, but air scouts reported the size of the German Army under
von Kluck, not far away to the south, to be in such force that it was
thought wiser to surrender the capital than to have it bombarded.

On August 20, therefore, Brussels was entered by a parade march
of 40,000 men, detached for the purpose from von Kluck 's army, an
unwearied, fresh force. No military show was ever finer. Preceded

68 THE RACE OF TWO ARMIES TO THE SEA

by a scouting party of Uhlans, this army corps filed through Brussels,
horse, foot, artillery and sappers, every unit complete. The infantry
fell into the famous stiff-kneed '* goose-step" as they passed through.
Two Belgian officers, manacled and fastened to the leather stirrups
of two Uhlans, was Germany's delicate way of suggesting conquest.
But the civil authorities had been urgent that the townsfolk should
not give the Germans the least pretext for reprisals, and no outbreak
occurred.

Brussels was unharmed. The Germans contented themselves with
fining the city $40,000,000, just as a fine of $10,000,000 had been put
on Liege. London and Paris at once telegraphed to the Belgian
Government a loan of $50,000,000, without interest.

Brutalities of the Germans.

Before passing on directly to the nature of the atrocities, a few
dates and concise facts may be given, taken entirely from reports of
official investigating commissions. At Orsmael and Neerhespen, August
10, 11 and 12, an era of cruelty was begun, on the latter date a man
being hanged head downward and burned alive. At Herrsfelt, August
36, a peasant having protested to the Germans in the name of Chris-
tianity, was carried into his house, his wife and family forced to
sit around the table, their hands being nailed to the table and their
feet to the floor by large spikes. At Aerschot, August 19, the town
was turned over to the soldiers to do as they pleased, and there fol-
lowed a three days' pillage, 150 people being massacred and brutalities
of every description being wreaked on women and girls of all ages.
The same day, Diest, Tirlemont, Schaffen, Lummen and Loenstede
were similarly treated. The atrocities and mutilations in the village
of Corbeek-Loo, August 20, cannot be cited on a printed page; their
parallel is only to be found among the Apache Indians, and the latter
spared women and children, which the Germans did not. On August
25, in Hofstade, similar atrocities occurred. In Sempst, in imitation
of Nero, the Germans poured petroleum on the clothes of innocent
villagers and set them afire. The city of Termonde and thirty-seven
villages were burned to the ground. On August 28, in Louvain, 7,000
persons, many of them women and children, were packed into a riding
school, where, like the Black Hole of Calcutta, more than 1,000 were
stifled to death during the night.

THE RACE OF TWO ARMIBS TO THE SEA 69

What was Germany's answer to the explosion of wrath which burst
over the civilized world? On August 30, the Grerman General Staff
issued an official communication, dated from Berlin, which said, in
part: ''The barbarous attitude of the Belgian population in all parts
has not only justified our severest measures, but forced them on us
for the sake of self-preservation. '*

Nor should it be thought that German atrocities stopped with
Belgium. The French official report on atrocities committed within
the French border during August and September brought to light not
hundreds but thousands of similar oases, though the savagery of muti-
lation was rarer than in Belgium. '*It can be stated," said the report,
"that never has a war carried on between civilized nations assumed
the savage and ferocious character of the one which at this moment
is being waged on our soil by an implacable adversary.

Terrible Destruction by the Huns.

''Pillage, rape, arson and murder are the common practices of
our enemies, crimes against women and children have been of appalling
frequency, and the facts which have been revealed to us day by day
at once constitute definite crimes against common rights punished by
the codes of every country with the most severe and the most dis-
honoring penalties, and which prove an astonishing degeneration in
German habits of thought since 1870."

Through many generations Belgium has been noted as a hive of
industry, and one of the richest countries in the world. The fields
were tilled like gardens, and everywhere was a civilization rich, warm,
compadt and continuous. Everywhere were relics of the Flemish
Renaissance, and in towns throughout the country was some of the
finest brick and stone work of that period. Ancient church spires rose
in all parts of this land of plenty, and in town and hamlet alike were
masterpieces of Flemish tapestry and painting — ^the handiwork of
Rubens, Vandyck, Bouts and Matsys.

Old and beautiful cities were looted by the Germans, and many
masterpieces of the middle ages were destroyed, never to be replaced.
Louvain was the chief university town of Belgium, one of the intellec-
tual centres of Catholic Europe. Its university was one of the oldest
in Europe, and contained in its library many famous manuscripts.
On the evening of August 26, while the Belgians occupied Malines, there

70 THE RACE OF TWO ARMIES TO THE SEA

*was a sudden outburst of rifle fire, and several Germans were hit.
The Germans announced that it was a plot among the civilian populace,
instigated by the Belgian government; the Belgians declared that a
detachment of Germans, driven back from Malines, was fired upon in
mistake by the German troops of occupation.

An order was at once given by a Major von Manteuffel, who was
in command, for the destruction of the city. The soldiers followed
instructions as systematically as they could. Small incendiary tablets
and fagots soaked in paraffin were thrown through windows broken
by the destroyers. Houses were looted, and what the demons of de-
stmction could not carry away they destroyed and threw into the
streets. Presently the city was a blazing inferno.

The university disappeared and with it the great library, the
Halles with their noble arches became charred ruins, and only the
walls of the great cathedral of St. Peter remained. Some of the noblest
houses in the land became charred ruins, the town hall alone being
saved. The salvation of this building is one of the mysteries of the
destruction of the city. It, apparently, was to be destroyed along
with the other historic buildings; when suddenly the German troops
turned in and used almost superhuman efforts to save the historic
building.

Louvain Sacked and Destroyed.

The destruction of Louvain was an act of vandalism surpassing
anything which has come down to us from the history of the great
fighting nations. Nothing the German people can ever do will make
amends for the burning and sacking of this treasure city which neither
time nor money can restore.

The German soldiers went about their task of dynamiting the
fair city deliberately and with malice aforethought. Nothing was
spared, and the destruction of human beings was consummated with
as little thought for the crime committed as would have prevailed if
the whole thing had been but the make-believe destruction of a moving
picture city and its make-believe inhabitants. The destroyers moved
steadily from house to house and from institution to institution, with
the fire brand ever active and efficient. After houses had been sacked
the things that remained were put in stacks and burned.

The sacking of Louvain marked the beginning of a period of de-

THE RACE OF TWO ARMIES TO THE SEA 71

struction of the peaceful cities of Belgium. Nothing but blood and
lust was apparent in the thirst of the Germans for revenge. They
killed everywhere, and thievery and destruction were as the bread of
life to them.

Learning that it would be impossible to hold the ancient city of
Malines the Belgian troops had quietly left it, a few days after having
captured it from the Germans. On the day following the destruction
of Louvain the Huns, still drunk with wine and blood lust, suddenly
began bombarding Malines. The roof and walls of the ancient cathedral
of St. Rombaut, which dated from the thirteenth century, were riddled
with shells, and the civilian populace fled in a panic.

The firing ceased, but a few days later it was taken up with re-
newed energy, the cathedral being completely destroyed, the bells
which had rung out their sweet music for five centuries going down to
destruction with the tower. Near the end of September when the scared
inhabitants began to creep back to the city, there was a third bombard-
ment, which resulted in a fire which raged furiously for days, com-
pletely ravaging the city.

Outrages by the Germans.

The city of Termonde, another historic place with treasures in
stone and lime, was also deliberately destroyed because the fines levied
by the Germans were not instantly forthcoming. Hundreds of little
towns were laid waste, the Germans managing the work of destruction
in a most thorough and scientific manner. Soldiers wheeled tanks of
paraffin up and down the streets, and the houses and places of historic
value were sprayed with the liquid. Then the torch was applied, and
the treasures of ages were wantonly destroyed.

The work was ruthless and unnecessary. It was not for the ad-
vancement of military strategy that Belgium was laid waste. If the
treasure buildings of a nation be in the way of a military movement,
then those treasure buildings must go. But in the case of Belgium
but little destruction was the result of necessity. Louvain was laid
waste at the leisure of the invaders, the destruction being carried on
while the German army was the army of occupation. Malines and
Termonde were bombarded merely as an outlet of blood lust, and
because the Germans wished to teach the inhabitants that Germany
must be obeyed. There was no defence by the inhabitants.

72 THE RACE OF TWO ARMIES TO THE SEA

Robbery, scientific and malignant, was one of the main objects
in the destruction of the cities of Belgium. Louvain was plundered
down to the last piece and farthing. An American writing of the
destruction of Aerschot said: ''Quite two-thirds of the houses had
been burned and showed unmistakable signs of having been sacked
by the maddened soldiery previously. Everywhere was the ghastly
evidence. Doors had been smashed ; windows had been broken ; furni-
ture and pictures were wantonly destroyed ; mattresses had been ripped
open with bayonets in a hunt for treasure; outer walls of houses
were spattered with blood and pock-marked with bullets ; the sidewalks
were slippery with broken wine bottles; the streets were strewn with
women's clothing."

Modern warfare does not permit of looting, much less does it
permit of the making of warfare on civilians. The fact remains that
civilian non-combatants were outraged by the invaders, and many
were the cold-blooded murders done in the name of warfare which
could no more be classed in that category than could the assassination
of a ruler be called self-defence.

Unmentionable Crimes by Drunken Soldiers.

There were numerous alleged cases of murders of old people,
and unarmed citizens were bayoneted and slain, sometimes on the
charge of having firearms in their possession, sometimes purely as an
exemplary measure. There were many crimes against women and
girls, and the drink-maddened soldiers even went so far as to use the
women and girls as shields as they invaded the cities. Many stories
of horrible scenes and of mutilation cannot be recoimted.

It has been definitely established that there were many sexual
outrages, although a protest was lodged against this charge by the
Germans. But the indictment of Germany and of Prussianism was
complete. The findings of the Hague Convention as to the conduct of
war and the rights of civilians were simply ignored.

However Germany might deny, these things were definitely proved
by the testimony secured by a special conunission appointed by Eling
Albert, the findings of which were laid before President Wilson by a
Commission consisting of Henry Carton de Wiart, Minister of Justice ;
Messrs. de Sadeleer, Hymans and Vandervelde, Ministers of State,
together with Count Louis de Lichtervelde, serving as secretary of

THE RACE OF TWO ARMIES TO THE SEA 73

the mission. Merely by way of illustration this incident of the report
is given:

''Near the village of Corbeck-Loo, on Thursday, August 20, German
soldiers were searching a house where a young girl of 16 lived with
her parents. They carried her into an abandoned house and, while
some of them kept the father and mother off, others went into the house,
the cellar of which was open, and forced the young woman to drink.
Afterwards they carried her out on the lawn in front of the house
and violated her successively. She continued to resist and they pierced
her breast with bayonets. Having been abandoned by the soldiers
after their abominable attacks, the girl was carried off by her parents,
and the following day, owing to the gravity of her condition, she was
administered the last rites of the church by the priest of the parish
and carried to the hospital at Louvain."

The German Time-Table Disarranged.

Drink was undoubtedly one of the leading causes for the devasta-
tion of the land through which the Germans tramped. The soldiery
swilled heavy red wine with the same freedom that they drank light
beer and light Rhine wines, and the results were disastrous. There
was a reign of sheer murder, and the vandalisms of the seventeenth
century were equalled, if not exceeded, by the sacking of Belgium.

It will be remembered that the German general plan had been, at
the first, to sweep through Liege unopposed, clear out Brussels and
Antwerp in a few days, reach the sea and then strike south. The
forces under General von Emmich were scheduled to move forward
with the mathematical precision of a time-table.

This time-table idea was at once the strength and the weakness
of the German plan. As long as it operates, its scientific exactitude
is the most perfect military ideal conceivable. But, on the other hand,
the more exact and rigid is it, the more does it cause confusion when
disarranged. Therein lies one of the great difference between the
French and German handling of armies. The French is much less per-
fectly ordered and therefore essentially weaker in actual operation, but
it is vastly more flexible and therefore essentially stronger when
the changing conditions of war bring about a reorganization. It is
the difference between an iron bar and a piece of wire. The bar cannot

74 THE RACE OF TWO ARMIES TO THE SEA

be bent to a new shape until it is heated and hammered into that
shape. The wire can easily be made to conform to any shape.

Liege disarranged the German time-table. Von Emmich could
not sweep to the westward, and much of von Kluck's armies could
not pass over the railways held by the unbeaten Liege forts. The
whole plan for the invasion of Belgium, therefore, had to go by the
board, so that von Kluck might hurry down to Mons and get there
in time to meet von Biilow. It was for this reason that only a small
force was detached to make the parade march through Brussels.

The moment that the defeat of the Marne was known in Germany,
however, the General Staff realized that the main troops engaged in
the drive would have all they could do to hold themselves on the Aisne.
It was, therefore, in the highest degree dangerous to leave an unde-
feated Belgian Army at Antwerp, the more so as there was a strong
possibility that England would soon get reenforcements from overseas,
first, volunteers, or Territorials, next the regulars and the native regi-
ments from India, and, later, the Colonies. The rally for the Empire
showTi in India and the British colonies had killed the German hope
that England would find herself alone. A counter-attack by a Belgian-
British force at Liege would cut the German railroad of supply. Ac-
tion was imperative.

The German Advance on Antwerp.

Marshal von der Goltz was at once appointed Governor-General
of Belgium and reserve corps were sent forward, under General von
Besseler, who had been in command of the parade troops at Brussels.
Definite figures as to the number of army corps actually in Belgium
at this time are unobtainable, nor would they be of much service,
for large numbers of men were employed in transport, in garrison
duty, in reorganizing the Belgian towns and cities under German
rule and in the general multifarious duties incident on the occupation
of an enemy's country. Von Besseler, however, does not seem to
have had a very large army at the first, probably not more than 125,-
000 troops of the line. He had, however, the siege train which had
been deflected from the advance to Namur, including two of the 42-
centimeter siege guns.

The German advance on Antwerp was' slow and measured, singu-
larly unlike the German drive on Paris. There were two reasons for

THE RACE OF TWO ARMIES TO THE SEA 75

this. The first was that it was not a drive, but an onward march of
occupation. The second was, that there was no need for haste. Ant-
werp was first approached from the southwest, Audeghem fell on
September 26, the same day as the German defeat near Rheims. Thus
the end of the western phase of the Aisne and the beginning of the
advance on Antwerp came on the same day.

It is a mistake to present the Germans as idling through Belgium
during September. They were not. They were devoting their whole
force to sustain the armies driving on Paris. The moment that aim
was deadlocked, they turned their attention to Belgium.

On September 27 the little village of Lebbekke was attacked by
a small force of Germans, which was repulsed. Instead of attacking
with a heavier force a second time, the Germans withdrew and the
western roads out of Antwerp were left free. There is no doubt that
von Besseler could have invested Antwerp if he had wished. That
he did not do so seems to have been a part of Marshal von der Goltz'
plan. The Field Marshal did not want to destroy Antwerp, he wanted
to occupy it, and to increase its importance as a strategic point. De-
struction of the city, therefore, would vitiate his plans. He wanted
to drive the Belgians out, not to slaughter them in the streets. For
this reason the northern outlet by river and the western roads were
left clear. Malines was bombarded that day.

Forts of Antwerp Attacked.

On September 28 Malines was again bombarded and the first
general attack on the forts of Antwerp began. Antwerp was regarded
as the most strongly fortified city in the world, with the possible
exception of Paris, and, besides, it is peculiarly situated for defense.
Two rivers, the Rupel and Nethe, swing round the city to the south.
A circle of nineteen forts protected this line. A circle of eight inner
forts supported them. On September 28, 29, 30 and October 1 von
Besseler was held back by the River Nethe, partly owing to the diffi-
culty of using his heavy guns owing to the low and muddy nature of
the land, which made the building of concrete foundations difficult, and
partly because von der Goltz was anxious not to inaugurate a reign
of destruction. It would have injured his further plan.

On October 3, the first detachment of British troops, numbering
about 8,000 marines, arrived in Antwerp. They brought two large

76 THE RACE OF TWO ARMIES TO THE SEA

naval gxins, which were mounted on armored trains. The fighting
became desperate, but it was marked that though the 42-centimeter
guns were directed once or twice against outlying forts, their use was
sparing and was not turned against the city itself. This rendered
the fighting hand-to-hand and more furious. All that day, all night
and until noon of October 4 the Germans fought to put a pontoon bridge
across the Nethe River at Waelhem. They succeeded at last, and the
fight passed on to Lierre, where it continued savagely. This was
mainly a light artillery and infantry battle.

]VIeantime, German aviators had been flying above Antwerp, drop-
ping circulars which advised the Belgians to evacuate the city. Other
proclamations were warnings to the British marines to retire and
leave the city to ** peaceful occupation." On October 6 the Germans
crossed in force and on October 7 the evacuation of the city began.
It was a terrible exodus, a fearful flight. The condition of the refu-
gees was pitiable in the extreme. Many fled to Holland, which could
not organize relief for the tens of thousands which streamed over the
border, lacking food and many of the essentials of life. The suburbs of
Antwerp were destroyed, but this was done mainly by the Belgians
themselves in clearing away ranges for their defensive guns.

Surrender of Antwerp.

On October 8 and October 9 the inner forts took up the cannonade,
over the ruins of the suburbs. Some of them, notably Forts Three,
Four and Five, were wrecked by the return fire. The people continued
to flee, a few on railroads, more on tugs plying up the river to Holland,
but by far the greater number on foot. About 200,000 people left
Antwerp in these two days.

By the morning of October 10 Antwerp was on fire. The oil tanks
had been struck with shells and were blazing fiercely. The water
supply had been cut off by the destruction of the main reservoir. At
noon, on October 10, Antwerp surrendered. Without loss of time, the
Germans were set at work putting out the fire and restoring order in
the streets. On October 11 Marshal von der Goltz arrived from Brus-
sels and found that his orders had been carried out. Antwerp had
been taken after a fourteen-day siege and not more damage had been
done than could be helped. As in Brussels, so in Antwerp, von der

THE RACE OF TWO ARMIES TO THE SEA 77

Goltz established an eflBcient well-ordered German rule at onoe. Within
a week, the shops were open, the street cars were running, the bridges
were temporarily repaired and life was in safety though under the iron
heel of a severe martial supervision.

A considerable part of the Belgian forces together with a brigade
of British marines was cut off by the Germans and compelled to
retreat across the Holland frontier, where they were promptly dis-
armed and interned. The larger part, however, struck out westward.
With Antwerp occupied, the Germans rushed up from the south. Some
of the Belgian troops were cut off at Ghent, which the Germans entered
on October 13. Others were compelled to flee along the coast when the
Germans approached Ostend later on the same day. By October 14
von Besseler 's army was divided into at least three parts, if not four,
for Bruges, Thielt, Daume and Esschen were all seized on that day.
When the Belgian and British troops were taken away from Ostend
on October 15, that seaport, also, fell into German hands. The cavalry
swarmed everywhere, and, as has been shown, the policy of "fright-
fulness" was established to keep the Belgians in terror of any action
against these small bodies of cavalry. By October 20 the Belgian-
British line had been solidified from Nieuport to Ypres, and the rest
of the line continued south as has been shown earlier in this chapter.

Series of Vicious Engagements.

This line, however, had not been attained without a number of
very sharp actions, some of them large enough to be dignified with
the name of battles. It would give them a disproportionate importance
to relate them in detail, but a brief summary will show what was hap-
pening between the Aisne and the sea during the time that Belgium
was being overrun and Antwerp was being captured.

On September 23, Manoury^s force tried to break in behind von
Kluck to seize the railway junction at Tergnier. The blow failed,
though it gave rise to a violent action at Tracy-le-Mont. On Septem-
ber 26 the Germans retreated from Amiens and the first train from
Paris arrived. Amiens was again in French hands. Then followed
a series of most vicious engagements wherein the towns of Peronne
and Albert were repeatedly taken and lost. This continued on until
the first days of October.

78 THE RACE OF TWO ARMIES TO THE SEA

In turn, Arras became the center of warfare, and when war burst
on that city, it was in its most dreadful form. On October 1 the
French were driven out of Douai. On October 6 Arras was subjected
to a heavy bombardment, many fine old buildings being destroyed. That
same day, attacks having been begun on Lille, the engagement centered
at La Bassee. On the 9th a party of Uhlans entered Lille, fighting
began in the streets and bombardment began. But October 12 Lille,
the capital of French Flanders, was in ruins, and the town surrendered
on the 13th. Its resistance, which had lasted a week, however, enabled
the Allies to consolidate their line just behind it. The British had
thrown forward a force on the Lys to protect Ypres, but the main line
was at the latter point.

On October 15, 1914, therefore, the line, Nieuport-Dixmude-Ypres-
Armentieres-La Bassee-Lens-Arras-Albert-Roye-*Lassigny-Noyon and
thence along the Aisne, was firmly established. From Ypres to the
Craonne Plateau, or rather to Verdun, was the huge smnging iron
chain, which was to swing to and fro for the next four years. The
granite wall of Verdun-Rheims has been spoken of, there remains to
show the solidity of the Nieuport to Ypres support.

Foch in Command of Armies North of the Aisne.

When the Western Phase of the Battle of the Aisne had come to a
close, that is, when the Aisne situation had definitely settled into a
deadlock, at the end of September, Joffre made Foch the generalissimo
of the French armies running north from the Aisne. It was his task
to co-ordinate the activities of the armies of Castelnau, Brugere,
Maud'huy, the division under Bidon, and the northern army under
d'Urbal. He took up his headquarters at Doulens on October 3, and on
October 8 Sir John French arrived there to prepare a joint plan. That
plan revealed itself as a defensive, not an offensive, movement, and
its salient points developed in the four battles of the Yser, of Lys-
Ypres, of La Bassee and of Arras. A short notice of each of these
will close the record of the establishment of the ''western front."

The lands about the Yser Canal, especially those running north-
ward from Dixmude to the sea, resemble Holland. They are below
sea level and protected by dykes. Dixmude was the angle of this
battle. On October 16 the 6,000 French marines under Admiral Ro-

THE KACE OF TWO AEMIES TO THE SEA 79

narc'h and 5,000 Belgians under General Meyser were ordered to hold
the trenches for four days. The gallant sailors and soldiers held it
for a fortnight, most of the time in trenches flooded with water, all the
time in mist and pouring rain.

On October 17 five Belgian batteries arrived north of Dixmude.
Acting in co-operation with regiments of mounted Morocco troops and
some of General d'Urbal's cavalry, a forward movement was made. On
the 18th the Ostend road was taken, but it could not be held. On
midnight of the 19th, the Allies were back in the trenches on the west
side of the canal. All was readiness, on the German side, for a tre-
mendous drive in the morning.

That day, however, in response to an urgent message sent on the
16th, there appeared off Nieuport several shallow-draught monitors,
carrying long-range naval guns. (The story of these ''tanks" of the
sea will be told in later chapters dealing with naval operations.) The
villages in which the Germans had taken up quarters for the night
were suddenly shelled with a terrific fire, the shots seeming to come
by infernal magic from out of the fog-covered sea.

The Germans Harassed.

When morning broke, the Germans were in an excessively awk-
ward position. If they intrenched to face the sea, they could be enfi-
laded by fire from the Allied trenches on the canal, which ran at right
angles to the ocean; if they intrenched against the army, the naval
guns enfiladed or shot lengthwise along them. Naval balloons and
hydroplanes directed the fire from the monitors. Moreover, the ships
themselves were free from attack, for the Germans had no such artil-
lery as could meet the range of a naval gun. The fire was exceedingly
heavy. One monitor, alone, fired a thousand high-explosive and shrap-
nel shells in a day, absolutely blotting out all possibe German infantry
action for a space of three miles inland from the shore.

That confined the German attack — and accordingly strengthened
the Allied defence — to a four-mile front, between Eamscapelle and Dix-
mude. On October 24 the invaders forced their way across the canal
at heavy loss. Then the lock gates were opened, the waters entered
and (frowned the invading Germans in hundreds. The fighting still
went on, the trenches now obliterated, a wierd sort of a combat in a
shallow lake, sometimes knee-deep, sometimes waist-deep in water.

80 THE RACE OF TWO ARMIES TO THE SEA

This was a fight of cold ateel, wheref or the Germnns showed little taste.
By October 30 Ramscapelle was recovered; on November 3 the old
trenches were retaken. The lock gates were closed and the country
slowly drained clear. Then came the winter, with the Yser canal
holding firm.

The second of the battles which was coincident with the formation
of the western front was that of Lys-Ypres. It began with an ambi-
tious program, nothing less than the recapture of Bruges and Grhent.
Sir John French believed that only a small force of Germans lay in
the direction of Roulers, northeast of Ypres. On October 16 the British
Army, which had consisted of two corps during the retreat from Mons,
and of three corps on the Aisne, was increased by the addition of a
fourth corps under command of General Byng. On October 17, four
French cavalry divisions were added to Byng's somewhat incomplete
corps and on the 18th the army advanced, almost to the Passchendaele
Ridge, five miles west of Ypres. On the 19th the First Army Corps
moved to Ypres. On the 20th air scouts brought back news of huge
German armies moving upon Byng.

General Byng's Desperate Position.

The lightning-like concentration of these armies under von Deim-
ling and von Fabeck was masterly work on the part of the German
staff. They struck on the 21st and struck hard. The cavalry was
forced back at once. Byng, very stubbornly, got into trenches on a
line running roughly from Langemarck to Zillebekke and thence to
Hollebekke. The whole plans of the British Army at this point had
miscarried.

Yet there was reason for Sir John Frenches supposition that the
Germans would be few in numbers towards the northeast. He had
already sent Smith-Dorrien to the southeast and on the 17th — the day
that the Byng forward movement was ordered — Haig reported further
advance toward Lys impossible. He intrenched solidly in order to
hold Armentieres and one of the most intense periods of fighting oc-
curred at Croix Marechale and Neuve Eglise. For sixteen days the
attacks never slackened. They dug in for the winter under a most
terrific fire.

Byng, however, was in a most desperate position. An order, taken
from a German officer prisoner, stated mat General von Deimling, with

THE RACE OF TWO ARMIES TO THE SEA 81

three full army corps and reserves, was entrusted with the task of
breaking through the line north of Ypres, and that 'Hhe Emperor
himself considered the success of this attack to be one of vital im-
portance to the issue of the war.'* The Germans did their best to
make it so.

This decisive action, sometimes called the First Battle of Ypres,
came to a head on October 31. There were three British divi-
sions against three Teuton army corps, and at the point of attack, the
Germans c-ame on at odds of about six to one. By noon, the British
First Division was broken, and the Royal Scots Fusiliers were sur-
rounded and taken. Early in the afternoon, the British divisional
headquarters was struck by a shell and six of the staff officers were
killed outright. Two brigades were crumpled up, one on the right and
the other on the left of the Seventh Division and for ten minutes
there seemed no hope of recovery. Then, most amazingly, the capture
of the small village of Gheluvelt by the Second Warwickshires, at the
point of the bayonet, formed a tiny point of rallying. The line held
for another hour and liberated a cavalry brigade which sacrified itself
to make good the trenches for half an hour longer. As evening drew
on, a powerful force of French cavalry came up. Though almost ex-
hausted, they helped hold the line, dismounted, until dark. Four of the
regiments which received their first baptism of fire on this terrible day
were volunteers.

Gallantry of British Soldiers.

"No more arduous task," said Sir John French in his report, "has
ever been assigned to British soldiers, and in all their splendid history
there is no instance of their having answered so magnificently to the
desperate calls which of necessity were made upon them. Words fail
me to express the admiration I feel for their conduct, or my sense of
the incalculable services they rendered."

Their services that day, indeed, were incalculable. They had saved
Belgium from becoming a German province and they had kept Ger-
many from Calais, the sea, and a possible invasion of England. In
revenge, the Germans bombarded Ypres at long range, destroying the
famous architectural marvel, the Cloth Hall, a confession of failure
of much the same character as their bombardment of Rheims Cathedral
when thev were thrown back at that point by Foch.

6— W. L.

82 THE RACE OF TWO ARMIES TO THE SEA

The third of these battles was that of La Bassee. Though im-
portant in itself, it had far less tensity as a matter of strategy than
the two northern battles of the Yser and Ypres. For, even if the Ger-
mans pierced the line at La Bassee, it would gain them little. They
would not dare make too deep a salient with powerful armies to the
north and south. It was far more a trench battle.

The main attack at La Bassee began on October 22, the day after
the beginning of the First Battle of Ypres. The point was held by the
British, with a heavy addition of Indian troops. These latter fought
absolutely like demons, in spite of the new and unnatural method of
warfare. The British were driven back. On October 24, the Gordon
Highlanders, a famous fighting regiment, were driven out of their
trenches. The Germans succeeded in seizing Neuve Chappelle on Octo-
ber 27. The whole line was greatly confused at this time, some units
of either side being intrenched in the lines of their opponents. There
was little plan to this battle, it was fought out by regiments, even
by companies. By October 29 the Allied troops were forced back to
the La Bassee gate. For three days and nights the Germans attacked
and attacked again. They could not budge the lines another inch.
There Smith-Dorrien dug in for the winter.

The Arras battle was similar. The main attack began on October
20 and lasted for six days. Von Biilow, with heavy forces and a power-
ful concentration of artillery, pushed Maud'huy back, fighting for
every inch of ground, until he was within gun-fire of Arras. In this
desperate need, Joffre hurried forward some reserves which had been
held at Albert and relieved Maud'huy just in time to save the northern
gate of Arras. Maud'huy dug in for the winter, likewise.

Thus was formed the line -of the western front. The actions and
engagements of the next five months were not the clash of armies,
but the sorties of small groups of men. There were no great gains,
no great losses. Shiftings of the front were measured in yards, not
in miles. The capture or loss of a trench— which had absolutely no
effect on the front as a whole— assumed the importance of a battle.
Rifle and bayonet were laid aside for pickaxe and spade.

CHAPTER VI.

THE FRENCH OrFENSIVE IIT ALSACE-LORRAIirE.

Both Sides Essay a Ruse at Mulhaasen— The Bath of Blood at Altklrch — Strategical Value of the Vosges
—Invading French Army Defeated at Metz— Guerrilla Fighting— Failure of Campaign as Conquest,
Success as Buffer Against Attack Toward Belfort.

NOW that the somewhat breathless recital has been made of the
German invasion of Belgium, the smashing of the first line at
Mons-Charleroi, the Battle of the Marne, the intrenchment of the
Ai&ne and the establishment of the western front, it is possible to
turn to another part of that first great moment of the opening of the
world war. All that has been recounted heretofore is part and parcel
of the same plan — the German drive on Paris. But, though the Kaiser
went so far as to reserve a certain date and a certain hotel for his tri-
umphal banquet, he never got there.

Beginning also from the first day of the war there was a French
drive. It was directed at the Rhine Valley and had for its chief pur-
pose the occupation of Alsace-Lorraine, two provinces which had been
taken from France by Germany as an indemnity after the war of 1871.
It was a double drive, a northern attack into Lorraine, and southern
attack into Alsace.

In a preceding chapter it was stated that there are four gaps in
the mountainous and hilly country of the Belgium-Luxemburg-France
frontier. Those at Liege and Longwy were used by the Germans in
their drive on Paris. The two lower gaps, respectively at the north
and south ends of the Vosges mountains, were used by the French
in their drive into Alsace-Lorraine. It must be remembered that the
chain of the Vosges mountains, while itself a strong defensive line for
France in the event of German attack, was likewise a strong defensive
line for Germany in the event of French attack. And, while the French
frontier was protected by the fortresses of Verdun, Toul, Epinal and
Belfort, the German frontier was protected by the fortresses of Dieden-

84 THE FRENCH OFFENSIVE IN ALSACE-LORRAINE

hofen, Metz, Strassburg and Neu Breisaoh. To these must be added
groups of forts at Molsheim, Banzenheim and Basel. Behind these,
and guarding the Rhine, were Germersheim, Mainz, Coblentz and Co-
logne. (All of these were occupied by the Allies after the close of the
war, as part of the conditions of armistice.)

In order that the reader may understand the campaign more
clearly, the movements of the armies will be traced in two parts, as
they operated through each of these gaps. The southern or Alsace
campaign will be taken first, the Lorraine campaign, second. But,
before actually dealing with operations, it may be well to give the
armies aligned on the two frontiers, as they developed in the course of
the first three weeks.

The OppoiinK Forces on the Alsace-Lorraine Frontier.

The southernmost was the First French Army, under General
Dubail, who was relieved of his conunand a few days after the war
began and replaced by General Pan; it held the line from Belfort
to Epinal. Then came the Second French Army, under General de
Castelnau, holding the line as far north as Nancy; this was the army
which, after the Battle of the Aisne, took up its place above Manoury
and fought the Lassigny-Roye battles on the western front. North,
again, from Toul to Longwy, came the Third French Army under Gen-
eral Ruffey (later under General Sarrail) ; this moved north later and
helped cover Verdun. North of Longwy came the Fourth French Army,
under Langle de Cary, who held the eastern side of the operative comer
on the Mons-Charleroi battle, and who, at the Battle of the Marne, held
firm the line between Verdun and Foch's army.

Opposing the forces were first the German Eighth Army, under
General von Deimling, who, after the Alsace-Lorraine campaign was
over, entrained and made the entire circuit of the western front, ar-
riving to attack at Ypres a month later; this army faced the Gap of
Belfort, resting on the forts at Basel on the Swiss frontier with its
other end on the fortress of Neu Breisach. From Colmar to Saarburg,
with Strassburg at its back, came the Seventh German Army, which
army, as the reader will remember, after the Battle of the Marne was
hurried round to the Aisne to support the diminished armies of von
Kluck and von Biilow; this was under the command of General von
Heeringen. From Saarburg to Metz came the Sixth German Army,

THE FRENCH OFFENSIVE IN ALSACE-LORRAINE 85

under the Crown Prince of Bavaria; and, facing the Longwy gap,
was the Fourth Army under the German Crown Prince.

In spite of the attack on Liege, France could not believe that Ger-
many intended to throw the main force of her armies through the
neutral territories of Belgium and Luxemburg. Therefore, as an
offensive defense — as well as an offense itself — she struck forward into
Alsace-Lorraine. It is probable, also, that Joffre felt it to be a neces-
sary response to French public sentiment. On Wednesday, August
5, the day after the declaration of war, French troops crossed the
German frontier. On August 7 a French brigade with cavalry and
artillery occupied Altkirch, and on August 8, after a sharp but short
fight with retiring German troops, entered Miilhausen in the even-
ing. It was a patriotic and political success of the first water, but it
was entirely unsound from a military point of view.

Advance and Retreat of the French.

In the first place, it was too easy. That, in itself, is often a sus-
picious circumstances in warfare. In the second place, strategically,
Miilhausen meant nothing. Neu Breisaoh lay fifteen miles to the north,
with guns which completely controlled the valley of the River 111 (a
tributary of the Rhine) over to Colmar and the slope of the Vosges;
Basel lay to the southeast ten miles with a strong garrison, and there
was a fortified point at Banzenheim, six miles to the east. The capture
of Neu Breisach would have been a cause for rejoicing, Miilhausen,
much less so. Moreover, in the excitement of the greeting which the
Alsatians gave the French troops, the latter forgot that they were in
an enemy's country.

The Germans did not forget. They had only retired sufficiently
to ''feel" the enemy, and air scouts had reported that the force of the
advancing army was but small. All night von Deimling brought up
and manoeuvred his forces. By the morning of August 9 he was ready.
He attacked with a whole army corps from Neu Breisach; he sent
two divisions simultaneously from the Forest of Hard, to which point
they had been marched during the night; and he started, also at
daybreak, a flank attack on the French from Sennheim. There was
nothing to do but to retreat and to do it quickly. The French fell back
after the first sharp encounter and intrenched lightly at Altkirch, only
a few miles beyond the border.

86 THE FRENCH OFFENSIVE IN ALSACE-LORRAINE

It is to this day an unexplained mystery why Dubail sent forward
into Miilhausen a mere 20,000 men. He had a large army, 200,000
men, if garrison troops be included, for France, in mobilizing, had
concentrated her forces on the German frontier. The other part of
his advance, the seizure of the Vosges heights, was better managed
and by the 14th all the passes had been secured. The advance in the
plain, however, was sternly disapproved by the French High Command,
and General Pau, who had been a second choice for the Supreme Com-
mand, took charge of the First Army.

The Failure of General Pau.

Pau handled his advance with entirely different tactics. Instead
of advancing with a small force on a wide front, he attacked slowly
and simultaneously from the Vosges and from Belfort, storming Thann,
St. Blaise (where von Deimling was wounded) and Dannemarie, tak-
ing Miilhausen on August 20. Here General Pau adopted a strong
position on the Miilhausen-Sennheim-Thann-Col de Busang line and
awaited attack. That night he received news of the disaster in Lor-
raine, and realizing that he could do nothing unsupported and only
stood the risk of losing a large part of his army by an overpowering
force, he retreated to Altkirch, solidifying the tiny Col de Busang-
Thann corner so solidly, however, that it remained in French hands
until the end of the war.

There was a terrific outcry in France concerning the abandonment
of the Alsace campaign, and, had the military leaders in command been
of less fame than Generals Joffre and Pau, it is more than probable
that popular sentiment would have demanded some beheading in offi-
cial ranks. But, by this time, the menace in the north was beginning
to shape. Air scouts had reported the great concentration of the
German armies on Namur, and the withdrawal of Pau's army from
the Alsace campaign released more men for the north.

The failure of Pau to gain a permanent footing in the Rhine
Valley, it has been shown, was the news of a defeat in Lorraine, which
would leave him unsupported. It was, of course, absolutely essential
to any campaign in the south that the First and Second French Armies
should unite on the further side of the Vosges. Why did this prove
impossible? What had happened in Lorraine?

The Second French Army, under General Castelnau, had proceeded

THE FRENCH OFFENSIVE IN ALSACE-LORRAINE 87

with far more caution than the unhappy leader of the first campaign
into Alsace. The Germans had been advancing on Longwy and Verdun,
but not in great force. General Castelnau had thrown back several
enemy attacks on Nancy. All these actions were of that type of mili-
tary operation which is known as "feeling out the enemy." In other
words, they were not battles, but only feints to draw out information
as to the strength of the foe. How little this was understood in Paris
was shown by an official announcement on August 15 that the Germans
had been thrown back at Nancy, that the invasion of Belgium had
been foiled and so forth.

This simply demonstrated that the Germans were so cleverly en-
veloping their advance in secrecy that, as late as August 15, France
did not yet know where the chief danger lay. Lest this should seem
strange, in view of all that has been said about the Belgian invasion,
it is to be remembered that cavalry patrols, acting as a screen in ad-
vance of the main armies, invariably cut telegraph and telephone
communication. The world knew absolutely nothing as to the size,
movement and plans of the German armies until several weeks later.

French Successes in Lorraine.

When, therefore, on August 15, General Castelnau advanced into
Lorraine with the Second French Army, he had no reason to doubt
the essential correctness of Joffre's strategy, for the Alsace-Lorraine
invasion was an important part of the whole French plan. On Sunday,
August 16, the French were in force at Avricourt, just across the Ger-
man frontier on the main line from Luneville to Strassburg, which
runs through Saarburg. On the same day the left wing of the First
French Army, coming down from the Vosges passes, reached Schir-
meck, on the Saales-Strassburg line (a German strategic railway) and
captured 20 guns and 1,500 prisoners. The left wing of the Second
Army had seized Fenetrange, a marshy region, but important as the
railway junction from which diverged the Strassburg railway to Metz
and Nancy respectively.

It is worthy of notice that these tactics were excellently handled
by Castelnau, for on Monday, August 17, Saarburg was menaced from
north, west and south simultaneously. Near Lorquin, directly south
of the important supply point of Saarburg, on the River Saar, a
strong artillerj^ position had been taken up. That is, the position

88 THE FRENCH OFFENSIVE IN ALSACE-LORRAINE

was strong, though, as afterwards proved, the French heavy artillery
was as weak compared to the German as its light artillery was strong.
On Tuesday, August 18, Saarburg was taken, with a sharp but
not a heavy battle, and the main railway between Strassburg and Metz
was broken. From a military point of view this was highly important,
for Strassburg was the main supply of the advanced fortress of Metz.
News was now beginning to filter through of the heavy German con-
centration in the north, and this news justified Castelnau in the sup-
position that a swift blow at the Rhine would cause a diversion of the
German drive on Paris. It would, at least, he supposed, force the Ger-
mans to weaken their main push by the necessity of sending reenforce-
ments to the Rhine. On August 19, therefore, he pushed forward
through Dieuze and Morhange.

The Germans Retaliate.

It stands to reason that, had the Germans wished to do so, they
could have thrown strong forces across the line between Metz and
Strassburg and held back the French advance on the very first day.
That they did not do so, was evidently due to one of two causes,
either that the armies available were not strong enough for the pur-
pose; or that the French were being decoyed into a salient on which
an attack would fall with greater force. The latter proved to be
true.

On Thursday, August 20, with absolute co-ordination, three Ger-
man armies launched themselves on this horseshoe-shaped French ad-
vance. The first struck south of Saarburg, the second at Dieuze, the
third, the heaviest, at Pont-a-Mousson. Von Heeringen led the southern
attack, the Crown Prince of Bavaria the central, and the Metz garri-
son the northern. The latter, also, had a powerful quota of heavy
artillery, as would be natural in garrison forces. Besides this, the
Germans had the advantage of position.

The Battle of Metz, as it was called, was appallingly short. Von
Heeiingen's strategy, the artillery of Metz, and the overpowering
forces that poured down from every direction like a gray tidal wave,
formed an irresistible tempest of battle. The Seventh German Army
swung in toward the slopes of the Vosges and formed an anvil on which
the hammer of the Metz garrison fell and fell again. Compared with
the immensely lengthy actions of the latter part of the war, Metz

THE FRENCH OFFENSIVE IN ALSACE-LORRAINE 89

could not be compared for size. It was, indeed, a battle of the old
sort, when armies fought for themselves on their own ground.

But, though it was short and local, it was none the less decisive.
The Pont-a-Mousson line was pounded to pieces in two hours. Less
than an hour later the Bavarians tore through the French line at
Chateau Salins. The Fifteenth French Division gave way ; the Germans
claimed that it fled. Ten batteries and 9,000 men were taken prisoners.

Castelnau was utterly taken aback at the strength of the troops
opposing him, but he covered the hole made by the Fifteenth Division
(which gallantly recovered itself next day) and drew to the rear. On
the 21st the whole French left retreated to the frontier. On the 22nd
it had been driven back to the strong position on the ring of hills
near Nancy, known as the Grand Couronne, which figured a few days
later in the Battle of the Mame. On the 22nd also the centre of the
Alsace-Lorraine campaign, that is to say, the troops which had stormed
the plain from over the passes of the Vosges, was compelled to with-
draw, and Miilhausen was abandoned two days later. On the 23rd
Luneville, well over the French border, was taken by the Germans,
and Nancy itself was only saved by the French taking up the main
defense line between the fortresses of Verdun, Toul and Epinal.

General Joffre's Evacuation Order.

Undoubtedly there would have been a counter-thrust, but for the
woeful news which came from the north. That same Saturday, August
22, when the two French Armies were driven back across the frontier,
and the Alsace-Lorraine offensive was defeated, came the staggering
news that the great fortress of Namur, intended to hold out for a week
or two, had fallen in an hour. That evening, as Castelnau was taking
up his position on Le Grand Couronne of Nancy, came the news of
the French defeat at Charleroi and the collapse of the main operative
corner. On Sunday, August 23, on the day that Luneville fell, came
the news of the isolation of the British and the heroic defence at Mons,
followed by the beginning of the retreat.

There was but one thing for Joffre to do. He did it. In his com-
munique of August 26, the bald facts were thus stated: ''The Com-
mander-in-Chief, having to summon all the troops of the Mouse front,
ordered the evacuation of the occupied territory. The great battle
is engaged between Maubeuge and the Donon (the effort to hold there

90 THE FRENCH OFFENSIVE IN ALSACE-LORRAINE

failed, as the reader will remember) ; on it depends the fate of France,
and, with it, of Alsace. It is in the north that the Commander-in-Chief
calls all the forces of the nation to the decisive attack. Military action
in the Rhine Valley would distract from it troops on which victory
might depend. It is necessary, therefore, to leave Alsace for the
present. It is si cruel necessity which the army of Alsace and its chief
have submitted to with pain, and only at the last extremity."

Many histories of the war, especially those written in England
and America, have given but little space and attention to this Alsace-
Lorraine campaign, and, even in voluminous military accounts, the
Battle of Metz is given a minor place. German histories of the war,
however, regard the matter with very different eyes, and Hilaire Belloo,
an English critic of tactics, envisions the effect of Metz so clearly that
one cannot do better than quote his words.

Views of an English Critic.

''Here we have a nation," he writes of Germany, ''which has re-
ceived within the first month of a war which it had proudly imposed
upon its enemies, the news of two victories (Metz and Tannenberg)
more startlingly triumphant than its most extreme expectation of suc-
cess had yet imagined possible.

*'Let the reader," he continues, "put himself into the position
of a German subject in his own station of life, informed by a daily
press which has come to be his sole source of opinion (like the Ameri-
can). . . . Let him remember that this man has been specially tutored
and coached into a complete faith in the superiority of himself and his
kind over the rest of the human race. . . .

"Let the reader further remember that in this, the Germans'
rooted faith, their army was for them at once its cause and its expres-
sion ; then only can he conceive what attitude the mind of such a man
would assume upon the news from the West and the East in those days,
the news of the avalanche in France and the news of Tannenberg. It
would seem to the crowd in Berlin that they were indeed a part of
something not only necessarily invincible, but of a different kind of
military superiority from other men.

"These, from what would seem every quarter of the globe, had
been gathered to oppose him, merely because the German had chal-
lenged his two principal enemies. Though yet far from being imper-

THE FRENCH OFFENSIVE IN ALSACE-LORRAINE 91

illed by so universal a movement, he crushes it utterly, and in a less
time than it is under arms he is overwhelmed by the news, not of his
enemy's defeat, but rather of his annihilation. (It was thus that the
German newspapers interpreted it.)

"Miles of captured guns and hour upon hour of marching columns
of prisoners are the visible effect of his triumph and the confirmation
of it; and he hears, after the awful noise of his victories, a sort of
silence throughout the world — a silence of awe and dread, which pro-
claims him master. It is the anniversary of Sedan.

''Only in an appreciation of this psj^chological phenomenon,"
writes Belloc, "can one understand the after development of the war.
After the Battle of Metz, after the sweep down upon Paris from the
SambrC; after the immense achievement of Tannenberg (which will be
told in Chapter X of this volume), the millioned opinion of a now
united North Germany was fixed. It was so fixed that even a dramatic-
ally complete disaster might still leave the North German unshaken in
his confidence. Defeats would still seem to him but episodes upon a
general background, whose texture was the necessary predominance of
his race above the lesser races of the world.

' ' This is the mood we shall discover in all that Germany did from
that moment forward. It is of the first importance to realize it, because
that mood is, so to speak, the chemical basis of all the reactions that
follow. That mood, disappointed, breeds fury and confusion; in the
event of further slight successes, it breeds a vast exaggeration ; in the
presence of any real thought by local advance, it breeds the illusion of
a final victory. It is impossibe to set down adequately this intoxica-
tion of the first German victories.

"The line had swung down irresistible. . . . Not only had there
fallen back before its charge all the arrayed armies of the French and
their new ally, but also all that counted in the hopes of the defenders
had failed. All that the last few years had promised in the new work
of the air, all that a generation had built up of permanent fortified
work, had been proved impotent before the new siege train. The bar-
rier fortresses of the Meuse, Liege and Namur had gone up like paper
in a fire. Maubeuge was at its last days.

"The sweep has no parallel in the monstrous things of history.
Ten days had sufiiced for the march upon the capital. Nor had there
been in that ten days a moment's hope or an hour of relaxation. No

92 THE FRENCH OFFENSIVE IN ALSACE-LORRAINE

such strain has yet been endured, so concentrated, so exact an image
of doom.

"All along the belt of that march, the things that were the sacra-
ment of civilization had gone. Rheims was invested, the village
churches of French Flanders and of Artois were ruins or desolations.
The peasantry . . . had been massacred in droves, with no purpose
save that of terror ; they had been netted in droves, the little children
and women with the men, into captivity ....

''But there was to come — it was already in the agony of birth —
the moment, a day and a night, in which one effort rolled the wave
right back (the Battle of the Marne). Thereafter, with the passage
of many days, with the gradual broadening of vision and, in time, the
aspect though distant, of slow victory, the creeping domination ac-
quired over the mass of spiritually sodden things that had all but
drowned the race, the pressure of the hand tightening upon the throat
of the murderer, was released a certain high potential which those who
did not know it could no more comprehend than a savage can compre-
hend the lightning which civilized man regulates and holds in the
electric wire. And this potential made, and is making, for an intense
revenge. ' *

It is in the light of this incredible spiritual arrogance that the
atrocities in Belgium and Northern France can be understood. It
was comparable to the use of the torture chamber by the Holy Inquisi-
tion as a means of bringing heretics to God. It was this mental atti-
tude which made Prussia dangerous and will keep her dangerous for
manj^ years to come. Many things contributed to heighten and ag-
grandize that arrogance, at the beginning of the war, but none more
than the proud boast — true to the very last day of the war — that the
tide of battle did not rage on German territory. This boast was only
made possible by the impotent outcome of the French campaign in
Alsace and Lorraine.

CHAPTER VII.

▼BKDUHI "THEY SHALL HOT PAMI"

The rraac*-G«nuui Fromtler— Tba Oemuia Crown Prince— Fearful L«h of LU« at Fort Douaumoat— Tb«
Fr*ncli "TS'a"— Modem Artillery Method*— Changing Plana of Defeaf»-Strateflc Rallwara— St.
Mlhlel Salient— Nanc7, Tool and the Sonthem Chain of Fortt.

JUST as Ypres to Ostend was the solid embankment of Belgium
against which the German generals, reckless of human life, hurled
their tens of thousands of men; so Verdun was the French wall. It
will give a true picture to represent Nieuport to Ypres, in the north,
and Belfort to Verdun, in the south, as two granite walls, between which
a heavy iron chain was swinging. The Germans could not knock down
the walls. They did, from time to time, swing the chain.

A word or two will explain the importance of Verdun. The Franco-
German frontier, between Luxemburg and Switzerland, as it then was
mapped, was almost a right angle, with the point of the angle directed
toward Strassburg. The south to north side of this angle ran along
the line of the Vosges Mountains and was impassable to heavy military
transport. There was a narrow gap to the south, near the Swiss fron-
tier. The east to west side of the angle is fairly flat land, being com-
posed of the valleys of the Saar and Moselle Rivers. Since the forested
hills of the Argonne protect the Luxemburg frontier, it is this valley
which is the opening to the plains of Champagne and the road to Cen-
tral France.

Owing to the violation of Belgian and Luxemburg territory, the
Germans had invaded and captured much territory in Northern France.
Germany could have reached the plains of Champagne by a slightly
different route, viz, by coming down the western side of Verdun, on
the other side of the Meuse, and entering back of St. Mihiel, near Bar-
le-Duc. Verdun, however, was again the corner to that move. As long
as that fort was unreduced, it would be of no avail to pass it.

Belfort-Epinal-Toul- Verdun was the stone wall, and the great
swinging chain was moored at Verdun. Everything hinged on that one
fort. When the Germans willingly lost 500,000 men at that one point,

94 VERDUN! ''THEY SHALL NOT PASS!"

it was because they knew that one point to be the crux of the western
front. France knew it also. Between 1870 and 1914 she had spent
$1,500,000,000 in the Longwy-Verdun-Toul-Epinal-Belfort fortification
line. Half of this money was wasted on works which the thitherto un-
known siege guns rendered useless, the other half saved Verdun, which
saved France.

The Battle of the Grande Couronne of Nancy, on September 8 and
9, 1914, has been told in its place as a part of the Battle of the Mame.
It has also been shown that General Langle de Gary stood firm, thereby
imperilling Foch. It is also to be noted that de Gary, with the Fourth
French Army, did not join the pursuit of the fleeing Germans. It was
his job to hold Verdun. He held it.

Verdun's Wonderful Stand.

On September 10, the battle-line ran due south from Verdun, turn-
ing by Bar-le-duc and Vitry toward Paris. On the 11th the fleeing
Germans were on a line running through Chalons and Epernay. On
the 14th, the Verdun pressure was slackening, with the line running
through St. Menehould. On the 18th, the Germans had been driven
back to the Aisne, with Verdun relieved from fear of attack from the
southwest.

In all that has been said heretofore, the character of the Verdun
defense has not been described, for it seems wiser to deal with that
pivotal fortress as a separate entity. For the same reason, while the
movements of the armies on either side of Verdun have been described,
the Verdun Army has been left until now. The Third Army, at first
under General Ruffey and later under General Sarrail, was at Verdun.

From this it is clear that the beginning of the Verdun story lies
with the movements of the Third French Army. Verdun being a right
angle, it was open to attack either from the north, at the northeast
angle, or on the east. It was confronted, therefore, by three German
armies, when the Marne battle-line commenced to form. The northern
side was confronted by the Fourth German Army, under the Duke of
Wurtemburg, the angle by the Fifth German Army, under the Crown
Prince of Germany, the eastern side by the Sixth German Army, under
the Crown Prince of Bavaria. Verdun, therefore, had to sustain attack
from three directions. This task continued without cessation during
the four years of the war.

VERDUN! ''THEY SHALL NOT PASS!" 95

It may have escaped observation that, up to this point, all such
points as Liege, Namur, Maubeuge, and the German group, Metz,
Strassburg, etc., have been spoken of as "fortresses," but that in this
chapter the writer has called Verdun and Belfort ''forts." This
change of phrase is intentional. It was around the beginning of
September that all these fortresses became forts.

The matter demands a little explanation, for it will explain why-
Liege fell in nine days, Namur in an hour, and Verdun not in four
years.

The Construction of a Fortress.

A fortress, in the sense of the word as used before the world
war, was a fortified place, the fortifications of which consisted of a
number of large and small forts erected on hills or strategic points
arrounding a central point. The fire of these forts was so arranged
that, if one of them should be stormed by the enemy, the attacking
party would be under the fire of the forts on either side. No fort,
therefore, could be attacked mthout the invaders being subjected to
the concentrated fire of three forts. In addition to the fact that each
fort was as impregnable as possible in itself, this system absolutely
prevented any individual fort being surrounded and cut off from the
others. All forts were connected with each other and with the central
point by good roads, frequently by light railways for handling muni-
tions and other supply.

Liege and Namur were smashed to dust and splinters because the
forts surrounding them were fixed. Once the huge howitzers got the
exact range they could fire from tremendous distances and reduce
the works at pleasure. The forts could not reply by direct gun fire,
for the howitzers were always placed in trenches or behind low hills.
As long as there were fixed forts which could be destroyed by high-
explosive shells, so long were those forts but death-traps. Namur
proved that conclusively. The attacking power directed against a
fort was stronger than the defensive force. Old style fortresses were
doomed.

Verdun had ceased to be a fortress. In place of masses of ma-
sonry, of earthworks, of disappearing cupolas, and the like, all the
heights became a network of trenches, roads were multiplied, especial
development being given to those which ran through woods and forests
and were invisible from aeroplanes flying overhead. The great guns

96 VERDUN! ''THEY SHALL NOT PASS!'*

nestled in greenwood glades. Narrow-gauge gun railways ran in every
direction like the web of an eccentric spider and no amount of aerial
reconnaissance served to tell the Germans exactly what was hap-
pening on that group of heights crowned by the citadel of Verdun.
All the defenses thus were merged into one, and Verdun became one
huge interlocked, intertwining fort, running up and down a dozen hills
rather than a fortress composed of little forts. The same change,
modified by the character of the ground, took place at Toul, Epinal
and Belfort. In a minor sense, the same process was hastily carried
out, at the beginning of the war, on the circle of hills near Nancy,
known as Le Grand Couronne.

Verdun lies distant from Paris 140 miles and from Toul 40 miles.
The city of Verdun was never attacked, though bombarded, and
throughout the four years of the siege, farm life continued peace-
fully on the slopes and crops were garnered under the continuous roar
of the guns.

The Defense of Le Grand Couronne.

The attack on Verdun took four phases, the first at Le Grand
Couronne of Nancy, which was an attempt to circle both Toul and
Verdun; the second at St. Mihiel, which was an attempt to circle
Verdun from the east; the third at Ste. Menehould, which was an
attack to encircle Verdun from the north; and the great frontal
attack, designed to take the whole chain of hills by storm, at what-
ever cost.

The defense of Le Grand Couronne, as has been said, was one of
the principal factors which decided the Germans to concentrate their
forces on the western end of the Marne line, for they argued that Le
Grand Couronne could never have been held by the French unless the
defenders had the vast proportion of their forces at that eastern point.
But this engagement — it was hardly a battle — is of the highest im-
portance in its relation to Verdun and to the famous St. Mihiel salient
which is inseparably associated with Verdun.

The lay of the land rendered it imperative for Castelnau's army
to be defeated first. If this semi-circle or crown of hills — more like
a diadem than a crown — could be stormed, then Nancy would lie at the
invaders' mercy. If the Nancy heights were taken, then the Germans
would possess ideal gun positions for their heavy artillery, with

Photo from Underwood & Underwood. N. Y.
GERMAN WOMEN WHO OPERATED MACHINE GUNS.
Tliis photograph was taken from the body of the German In the gray sweater at the

left, on July 28, 1918. The three women operated
about fifteen miles from Chateau Thierry.

runs against the United States forces

If''

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i.^ V. >:'r . )-. ^

H*'.^

|k ^^^^fUjjf^i^if^m^ ^

'*-\.

KV^H^M^BH"^

Phcto by American Press Association.
WOMEN WHO FOUGHT FOR RUSSIA — "BATTALION OF DEATH."
Members of a Russian Regiment of Amazons, who fought fiercely and with great tenacity
in m,any battles on tha Riga front.

imm

M'-^'
^%-^

T ... .^i,^

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^>.

^ t •'

I'hoto from Underwood & Underwood.
INSIDE OP A COMMUNICATION TRENCH.
This photograph shows two French soldiers carrying a wounded soldier back to a
dressing station through one of the trenches in the Somme.

BIG MEN WHO DID BIG THINGS.

Secretary McAdoo. Treasury. Secretary Daniels, Navy.

Secretary Baker, War. Secretary Lansing, Stale.

Tlieir deed.s will stand in history for all time.

,c) Western JNewspaper Union Photo Service.

TRAINING DOGS FOR WAR SERVICE.
A despatch dog clearing a barbed wire. These message bearers were sometinies invaluable

in lighting zones.

TRAINING DOGS FOR WAR SERVICE.

Many different types were u.sed in "No Man's Land" with good results. The photograph
shows them starting out for a morning's training.

<ii

■s

VERDUN! ^'THEY SHALIi NOT PASS!" 97

which to reduce the fort of Toul. The key to this situation, therefore,
was Le Grand Couronne, this diadem of hills.

The attack began in force on September 4. The actual forces
engaged gave the Germans a preponderance of about three to one, and
their heavy artillery was in the proportion of five to one, for it had
been strongly reenforced with guns from the fortresses of Strassburg
and Metz. Three to one, however, is not heavy odds when defensive
positions are to be stormed, and in the ten days between Castelnau's
occupation of the position and the beginning of the frontal attack, he
had intrenched very solidly.

The Kaiser Directing the Battle.

Pont-a-Mousson, which had been retaken by the French two days
before, was captured by the enemy on the 5th. On the 6th occurred one
of the most dramatic pictures of the war.

Suddenly, on the top of one of the hills overlooking the battle,
there appeared a group of figures, seeming small in the distance, but
all in glittering uniforms. After a pause one detached himself from
the rest, and rode slowly forward. He was dressed in white, the
gorgeous uniform of a Colonel of the White Cuirassiera. It was the
kaiser. He was there in person, directing the battle and giving elab-
orate instructions with regard to the Arch of Triumph which was to be
erected in the streets of Nancy, through which he planned to ride a
day or two later.

If von Heeringen doubted the wisdom of this attack, as he well
might have done, his only method of showing it was to hurl even
larger masses of men from the south on the hills above Luneville.
But Le Grand Couronne of Nancy was to teach a new lesson of warfare.
It was to reveal anew what the Germans found at Rheims, namely,
that the French 75 's, when intrenched, poured a mass of fire out of
their slender throats against which mass drives were impossible. Von
Heeringen and the Crown Prince of Bavaria first hurled hundreds, then
thousands, then tens of thousands of men up the various steeps of Le
Grand Couronne. Not once did those gray-clad masses effect a lodg-
ment, at least none that were living did so. So terrible was the slaugh-
ter on the day that the Kaiser watched and made his plans for a

triumphal arch, that the next day, Sunday, in spite of the pitiful con-

7— W. L.

98 VERDUN! ''THEY SHALL NOT PASS!"

fession of weakness that it implied, von Heeringen asked for a trace
to bury the German dead.

The Bavarian forces fought with incessant savage onslaught, like
interminable packs of wolves. If they could not carry the heights by
sheer strength, they would carry it by the terrible policy of exhaustion.
They might strew the hills with dead, but if the charges were con-
tinuous, sooner or later French endurance could last no longer. There
was a breaking point to the human frame. All day and night of the
10th and of the 11th this hurricane attack beat and beat against the
human-held cliifs of Le Grand Couronne.

Crushing Defeat of the Germans.

It is ever necessary to bear in mind the outstanding fact that vic-
tories are won largely by the morale of the contending armies. These
days, from September 6 to September 11, were days of great portent.
That Sunday, September 6, when the Kaiser had stood on the hills
above Nancy in his gay white uniform, was the Sunday when the fa-
mous taxicab army poured through Paris and went to the aid of
Manoury, entering into hand-grips with von Gluck. The four days
that the Germans strove with desperation to force Le Grand Couronne
were also the four days of the Battle of the Mame. The day of the
last final despairing effort at Nancy was the day of von Hansen 's flight
before the avenging hosts of France. Hour by hour this news was
commg to General Castelnau, heartening his soldiers who staggered at
their guns from exhaustion, hunger and strain; hour after hour the
news reached the German officers — though it was not told to the men —
that the drive on Paris was lost.

The morning of the 12th came. It came richly to Castelnau 's
army, with the glorious tidings of the victory of the Marne, it came
agonizingly lest they, and they alone, should fail France at this crucial
moment ; it came darkly over the loss of Champenoux and the sight of
German heavy artillery toiling up to a slope whence they might expect
a withering fire.

"And, then,*' writes a French officer, "0 Prodigy! Calm fell.
Over the whole of the stricken field brooded peace. The enemy gave
up, retreated for good, abandoned ever;ji;hing, even Champenoux, so
bitterly contested, and the entire front he had occupied. He fell back
in dense columns, without even a pretense of further resistance."

VERDUN! "THEY SHALL NOT PASS!" 99

It was time. The French found 40,000 German dead on those
slopes of destruction. All of Germany's force had to be turned to de-
fensive tactics, if the line of the Aisne was to be held. One by one,
St. Die, Luneville, Baccarat and Raon-1'Etampe were reoccupied by
the French. Toward the south the Germans resisted stoutly, but could
do nothing against the French, rested and flushed with victory;
Remereville, Courbessaux, Drouvllle and the bloody "Wood of Crevic
were retaken, and when, on September 22, the Western Phase of the
Battle of the Aisne had ended, the French tricolor waved over the
place where the Kaiser had stood, just a fortnight before, to plan
his triumphal entry. So ended the German invasion of France at
Nancy, or, as it may be easier to remember, the attack between the
fortresses of Toul and Epinal.

The Germans' Expensive Position at St. Mihiel.

So much has been written of St. Mihiel, and the American public
was so sadly misinformed concerning the ' ' wonderful feat ' ' of driving
the Germans out of St. Mihiel in 1918, that it is of interest and im-
portance to see how the St. Mihiel position appealed to Richard Hard-
ing Davis, a most excellent American war correspondent, after the
Germans had established themselves there.

*'One expected to see at St. Mihiel," he wrote, '^an isolated hill,
a promontory, some position of such strategic value as would explain
why, for St. Mihiel, the lives of thousands of Germans had been
thrown like dice upon the board. . . . Why the German wants to hold
St. Mihiel, why he ever tried to hold it, why, if it so pleases him, he
should not continue to hold it until his whole line is driven across the
border, is difficult to understand. For him it is certainly an expensive
position. It lengthens his lines of communication and increases his
need of transport. It eats up men, eats up rations, eats up priceless
ammunition, and it leads to nowhere, enfilades no position, threatens
no one. It is like an ill-mannered boy sticking out his tongue. And
as ineffective ! "

The Germans stuck in the St. Mihiel salient for four years, not
because of any military value in the position, but because of a. certain
obstinate pride. The writer is convinced that French troops could
have taken the salient any time during the four years that they wished
to do so. There was no need to do so until the close of the war, when

100 VERDUN! ''THEY SHALL NOT PASS!"

it became strategically wise to straighten the line for the resumption
of a great offensive. When a newspaper correspondent in 1918 stated
that ' ' the Americans had taken the St. Mihiel Salient, which had defied
the armies of the world for four years" he was writing dispatches
which would please the readers of his paper, but he was talking non-
sense, just the same.

From what has been said, it is obvious, therefore, that since the
Nancy and St. Mihiel offensives had been without decisive result, the
next German attack would be on the western side of Verdun. The
main object, in this case, was to cut the main line to Paris. This, sooner
or later, would compel the fall of Verdun, for, owing to the configura-
tion of the land, it would be difficult to construct another railway over
the hills to the southeast.

Crown Prince's Tactics of "Nibbling the Line."

When the storm of the Second Phase of the Aisne had passed by
and Foch had convinced the Germans that the taking of the French
trenches around Rheims was a task beyond their powers, the German
Crown Prince, who had intrenched north of the Rheims-Verdun line in
the Forest of Argonne, devoted himself to an attack on the eastern
side of Verdun, driving towards Ste. Menehould. Rheims and Le
Grand Couronne of Nancy had convinced the German leaders that mass
drive tactics were useless against the fearful accuracy and speed of the
French 75 's. Therefore — largely under the direction of General de
Mudra, the former Commandant of Metz and an expert in fortress and
mine tactics — the Crown Prince initiated that type of fighting which
later became known as ''nibbling the line."

The essential principles of this are simple. It consisted in driving
"saps" (underground tunnels, or, sometimes, deep trenches) to within
a few feet of the enemy's line. If underground, mines were exploded;
if trenches, they formed the basis for a sudden grenade attack. Rarely
more than four battalions were employed. Only a small sector was
attacked. It was enough to seize a few hundred yards of the French
first and second line trenches, consolidate them, fortify them, and work
up the lines of supply. Then, ten days later, would come a bite at
another point. There were forty of these attacks between October,
1914, and May, 1915.

In June and July, 1915, there were three really serious attempts

VERDUN 1 ''THEY SHALL NOT PASS!»' 101

to break through the French Imes. The first was stopped almost at
once. The second — which lasted ten days — was more dangerous and
the main railroad came under the fire of German heavy artillery. The
third, also, had moderate success. During August and September,
however, Sarrail cut out from under the famous Le Mort Homme Hill
and compelled the Germans to give back.

What may be called ''The World's Greatest Battle" began in
February, 1916, and lasted for eighteen months. It was brought about
by three things. The first was that the "nibbling at the line" tactics
ceased to be of any value, because the French had learned how to do
it better than the Germans and, in such tactics, the disproportion of
numbers was of little account. The second reason was that the reor-
ganization of munition conditions in France had enabled the French
trenches to be as well supplied as the German. The third was the
evidence that the St. Mihiel salient was a loss rather than a gain.
Preparation of the Germans for a Great Attack.
During the entire winter of 1915-1916, the German General Staff
decided to concentrate on an actual storming of Verdun. It had
become known that the Allies were planning a great offensive in the
spring. The Germans felt that it was necessary to prevent this, or
to offset this by a victory at the end of the winter. Moreover, there
was a dynastic side to the affair. The Crown Prince of Germany had
become a military joke. As the next Kaiser, it was intolerable that
the war should leave his personality in such disrenown. For the sake
of Hohenzollernism, it was imperative that the troops nominally under
his charge should achieve a spectacular success. Moreover, if Verdun
fell, an advance was possible into the plains of Champagne, with the
seizure of Chalons. All winter, therefore, the Germans brought up
guns and troops, ready for the great attack.

In December, 1915, the Germans received strong reenforcements
from troops no longer needed in the Serbian campaign. Sectors which
had been held by one or two corps, now were held by six or seven.
By the middle of February 440,000 men were facing Verdun, of whom
320,000 were infantry. During the winter the Germans had built
fourteen strategic railroad lines. The guns were numbered, not in
scores, or hundreds, but by thousands. It was by far a bigger con-
centration than Germany *s ijiitial drive to Paris. How the Germans

102 VERDUN! "THEY SHALL NOT PASS!"

regarded its importance may be seen from the words addressed by
General von Daimling to liis troops just before the first attack was
delivered: "Li this LAST offensive against France, I hope that the
Fifteenth Corps will distinguish itself by its courage and its fortitude,
as it has always done."

The French line around Verdun may be said to have begun, west
of the Meuse, at Malancourt, just below that hill significantly entitled
Le Mort Homme (Dead Man's Hill). On the eastern bank of the
Meuse it ran from Consenvoye to Brabant, then along the line of hills
to Haumont and Caures Forest. There it turned round the angle
slightly, holding the heights above Beaumont, the spur of the Cote
du Poivre (The Steep of Pepper) and so eastwards, holding the low
banks of the Ornes River by Fromezey and Gussainville and Fresnes
round to St. Mihiel. Back of this line was a second line of defense,
running through Forges, Haumont, Bezonvaux, and Hermeville. Back
of this was the third line of defense, marked especially by Champneu-
ville, Fort Douaumont, Fort Vaux and Haudigmont.

Bombardment of Unbelievable Fury,

It was a few minutes before four o'clock in the morning of Feb-
ruary 21, 1916, that the great attack began. High-explosive shells
fell like hailstones. Trenches w^ere buried, dugouts were ruined, trench
shelters were blown to fragments. There was no question of holding
the front lines. Within three hours there were no lines to hold. There
was no question of remaining hidden in cover of the forest, by noon,
trees had been stripped bare of their boughs and only twisted and
scarred trunks remained. The very face of nature was distorted. One
French correspondent described the scene after eight hours of bom-
bardment as "storm-tossed ground rent into hills and hummocks like
a frozen jumble of waves, with shattered tree stumps rising here and
there like jagged teeth."

On February 26 this driving of victims into the maw of Moloch, god
of Destruction, seemed justified. The Brandenburg Regiment stormed
the slopes of Douaumont with magnificent gallantry and seized the
ruins. German General Headquarters announced "the capture of the
fort of Douaumont, the northeastern corner-stone of the principal
line of the permanent fortifications of Verdun." It was retaken by
the French an hour later, lost again in the afternoon, regained in the
evening, and night fell with Douaumont claimed by both sides. As a

VERDUN! ''THEY SHALL NOT PASS!" 103

matter of fact, the dust-heap which once was Douaumont was held
by none but corpses. The Brandenburgers held the trenches which
they had made, although almost surrounded. No Canadian forces at
Yprcs, Australians at Gallipoli, or French at Lens, fought more gal-
lantly than did the Prussians that day.

Just a few dates will show the continuance of this long-drawn-
out agony. On February 26, 1916, the Germans captured Fort Douau-
mont. On March 7 they reached as far as Fresnes. From March
10 to April 12, without a moment's cessation, the Germans attacked
Le Mort Homme. It cost 40,000 men, and then was not taken. On
May 8, the Germans secured a footing on Hill 304 — which is the eastern
end of Le Mort Homme. On May 22 the French, counter-attacking,
recaptured Douaumont, but they held it only two days. Bavarian
troops stormed the heights again. On June 6 the Germans occupied
Fort Vaux, a notable advance, but one which subjected them to artillery
fire. This was a case where victory was more costly than defeat.
During June, July and August, the field defences of Thiaumont changed
hands nineteen times.

A very powerful offensive was started by the French in October,
resulting in the recapture of Fort Douaumont on October 24, of the
Haudromont Quarries on October 25 and of Fort Vaux on October
28. For these gains the French paid heavily. Many thousands of chil-
dren in France were made fatherless in those four days. In December
the French drove forward steadily and a counter-attack by the Ger-
mans on La Mort Homme failed, ending with their loss of Hill 304.

The spring of 1917 saw a repetition of these tactics and August,
1917, saw a French response. Douaumont and Le Mort Homme were
still in French hands. By December, 1917, France had regained 100
of the 120 square miles which had been taken by the terrific German
drive of 1916, and practically all the strategic points were in their
possession. The spring of 1918 saw the positions but little changed.
During 1918 the whole face of the war changed, the story of which
belongs in later chapters of this book.

"They Shall Not Pass !" This motto of Verdun became the motto
of France. It has become the motto of liberty. If France may be
regarded as the Blessed Garden to which impious men desired to
enter, then Verdun was the angel with a flaming sword that barred
the way.

CHAPTER VIII.

THE CHANGING TIDES OF WAR,

Th« To-and-Fro Swing of th» Battle-Lino for Four Long Years— Neuve Chapelle— The Labyrinth— Li

No Man's Land— Barbed Wire Entanglements— Battles of Great Intensity for Minor Gains— Soissons
—English Tanks Break Through the Hindenburg Line.

IN a previous chapter, the simile was given of the battle line as a
huge iron chain swinging between Ypres and Verdun, for these two
points did not change from the time of the first establishment of the
line until the last great Allied offensive which ended the war. The
farthest Allied advance, or the first defense line, was Antwerp-Namur-
Givet-Montmedy-Metz-Saarburg-Colmar-Mulhausen. This broke at the
first impact. The farthest German advance at the height of the first
drive on Paris was Ostend-St. Omer-Arras-Amiens-Beauvais-Meaux-
Coulommiers-Sezanne-Bar le Duc-St. Mihiel-Nancy-LuneviUe-St. Die-
Altkirch. (The line did not run exactly through these points, but close
to them. The names chosen are those of towns which will be found
on any ordinary map.)

All the fighting on the western front was within this zone. Drives
and offensives were made by both sides at differing times. In this
battle line, shaped like an unfinished letter " S, " there were three chief
points of attack. There was first the German effort to pierce through
to Calais, to cut off British communications and to essay an invasion
of England, if possible. At the first curve there was the goal of pierc-
ing through to Paris, leading from the Aisne by the route of Chateau-
Thierry. At the second curve, there was the goal of piercing through
to the Champagne plains by hammer-blows on either side of Verdun.
None of these goals was far from realization. The line at Ypres was
pierced once, by the use of poison gas; at their nearest the Germans
were within forty miles of Paris and, even in the last year of the war,
were bombarding the city with a long-range gun; in the third case,
Verdun was once so nearly isolated that it was pocketed into a narrow
salient only twelve miles across, with powerful German armies on
three sides of it.

104

THE CHANGING TIDES OF WAR 105

The first winter of the war, that of 1914-1915, immediately after
the deadlock of the Aisne, resulted in incredible hardships to both
sides. Trench warfare was in its experimental stages. The trenches
were full of icy mud and water. A typical action of that time was
the German drive at La Bassee and Givenchy in December, 1914. The
British were driven back, with heavy losses, the Germans suffering
even more heavily. Yet, after two weeks' fighting, the old positions
were regained.

The first serious engagement after the establishment of the battle-
front was what Sir John French called "the costly victory of Neuve
ChapeUe.'' The British casualties in three days were 12,811. The
net result of that action was to teach both sides the necessity of heavy
artillery preparation before making an infantry attack on trenches
sown thick with machine guns.

The British had advanced a mile on a three-mile front, but they
had failed to win the ridges which were the key to Lille. In this famous
Battle of Neuve Chapelle it is important to realize how bitter was
the fighting, and how small the advance. A pouch of one mile on
a three-mile front, which does not secure strategic points, amounts
to nothing. Yet this action cost both sides over 12,000 men.

The Fiendish Huns Use Poison Gas.

Once and once only in all the war did the Germans actually pierce
the western front ; actually break the line, not bend it. They had one
great chance, although this was achieved at the price of dishonor.
"They sold their souls as soldiers," said Sir Conan Doyle, writing of
this day, "but the DeviPs price was a poor one." The day of which
he spoke was that one when the Germans pierced the line near Ypres
by the use of poison gas, contrary to all the usages of war.

About five o'clock in the evening of April 22, 1915, from the base
of the German trenches and over a considerable stretch of the line,
there appeared vague jets of white mist. Like the vapors from a witch 's
caldron these jets gathered and swirled until they settled into a low-
hanging cloud-bank, greenish-brown below and yellow above. This
ominous bank of vapor, driven by the slight northeastern breeze, drifted
slowly across No Man's Land just at the point where the British and
French commands joined.

The African troops, in the trenches, peering over the top of the

106 THE CHANGING TIDES OF WAR

parapet at this curious cloud, which, for the moment, gave them a
temporary relief from the continuous bombardment, suddenly were
seen to throw up their hands, to clutch at their throats and to fall to
the ground in the agonies of asphyxiation. Many lay where they fell.
Others, absolutely helpless against this diabolical agency, rushed madly
out of the mephitic mist and fled in terror. The southerly drift of the
wind caused the heavy vapor, heavier than air, to run along the French
trenches like a slow-moving liquid. There was no withstanding it.

The German artillery and infantry were ready. They followed
the gas cloud, possessing masks for their own protection and took
possession of the three successive lines of trenches (first, double and
support) without a shot. They seized those long-held lines without a
shot because those trenches were tenanted only by dead men, whose
blackened faces, contorted figures and lips fringed with blood and
foam from their bursting lungs showed in what agonies they had
died.

Then the hidebound German strategy of the textbook lost them
all their advantage. Had the Huns dared, had they plunged forward
boldly, had they thrown vast masses of cavalry into the opening caused
by their poison gas, they might have reached Calais.

Gallantry of Scotch and Canadian Regiments.

For once in its career the British Army was in confusion. The
green cloud of death was impervious to shot and shell. But, with the
chance of a dash in front of them, the Germans stuck to their old
tactics of turning round and flanking a cut-off army. They found
themselves in the position of the man who, with bare hands, has
clutched a thistle. The force they flanked was a mixed Scotch and
Canadian force.

The wind changed next day. Gas could not be used. Canadians,
Scotch, Irish, English, Indians, fell on the enemy from the north;
French, Moroccans, Senegalese sped at the German lines from the
south. The Germans counter-attacked. The death-roll of that April
26 was terrible. Of one of the Indian regiments, only seventy answered
to their names that night, in another, only eleven. Another regiment,
the Duke's, was caught on a hill. The cloud of gas settled around the
elevation as the rising tide surrounds a rock. Finally two men stag-
gered out, an officer and an orderly. Eveiy man save they two was

THE CHANGING TIDES OF WAR 107

dead. The officer died that night. Of all that regiment only one man,
the orderly, survived.

The sole thing which prevented a terrible defeat, one which might
have changed the result of the war, was that on this, the first use of
poison gas, it was not employed in cylinders carried by soldiers, but
was emitted from large reservoirs by pipe-lines running from the
trenches. It could not, therefore, follow an advancing army. Had
the asphyxiating gas been perfected as it was toward the end of the
war when it was used on that first day, the war might have been over.
The Germans could have advanced without a shot and strolled over all
the trench defenses, forts and everything else. Without masks, no
soldiers could have fought back, no horses would have remained to
handle the light guns.

The Germans Advance Only a Short Distance.

On May 5, when a heavy attack was made, the Germans found them-
selves able to advance but a short distance. On Maj 8 the Germans
advanced again. Their artillery work was of the first order, but the
moment it came to infantry contact they failed. On May 10 a desperate
charge was made towards Ypres, with gas and artillery concentration.
It was blocked. The push continued daily without result, a last final
effort being made on May 24. But, by this time, the British troops
were all equipped with gas masks of one sort or another, and the lines
held firm.

The Germans had enjoyed the immeasurable advantage of more
men, heavier artillery, the element of surprise and the fiend's brew of
poison gas for a month. They had broken the Allied lines. They had
every conceivable advantage of modern war, and some that civilized
warfare had never even conceived. Yet, at the close of that month,
though they had driven the British and Canadians back, they had only
gained a maximum of three-mile penetration on a narrow salient ; they
had failed utterly to take Ypres, and even some of the strategic points
that they had gained they lost soon afterwards.

Later, much later, the Allies decided that it would be Quixotic
to continue the chivalrous attitude of declining to use poison gas, that
since Germany had commenced such nefarious warfare, she must be
met with the same. Asphyxiating gas, tear gas, mustard gas and a
score of other types were exploded in shells. Gas became a part of

108 THE CHANGING TIDES OF WAR

the ordinary horrors of warfare, and respirators were developed and
improved to keep pace with every new deadly and agonizing mixture
devised by chemists.

On May 1, 1915, began one of the most desperate hand-to-hand
battles of the western front, being the French capture of an extraordi-
nary system of trenches known as "The Labyrinth." It was a maze
of trenches, dug-outs, mine galleries, bomb-proof shelters, machine
gun nests and every device known to trench warfare at that time. The
orders of the French were "to take it, inch by inch." They fought
without stopping for 400 hours, one company stepping in as those
who had gone before them fell out from exhaustion. The crack of
the hand grenade, the crackle of machine guns and the roar of artillery
never ceased for a second. The slaughter was fearful, for the trenches
were so winding and confused that the capture of one was often a trap,
since it could be swept by enfilading fire from another trench. Aside
from wounded and missing, 2,000 French soldiers were killed outright
in "The Labyrinth," but, at the end of 400 hours, the whole maze of
trenches was in French hands. It was a gallant feat — but it had no
appreciable effect on the line.

Heavy Losses by the Germans.

What was known as "The Great Champagne Off ensive "—though
it was actually a three-fold offensive in Champagne, Artois and Flan-
(jerg, — was another typical example of the terrible sacrifice of life
required by trench warfare for moderate territorial gain. It began
on September 25 as the greatest Allied effort since the beginning of
the war. There was a distinct but moderate gain all along the line.

The offensive in Artois produced but little more result. At a
cost of 50,000 casualties, the British made a two-mile penetration on
a five-mile front, in one of the most brilliant offensives of the early
part of the war. The loss of the Germans was estimated at 150,000,
inclusive of prisoners, and in Germany was regarded as a very serious
blow. But the fact remains that the German line stood, and could not
be pierced. The same drive captured the city of Loos, but the ob-
jective of encircling Lens was not attained. The winter of 1915-1916
settled down to that peculiar type of formal trench warfare which a
year and a half of modern war had developed.

It may aid the reader to visualize the world war if a brief ex-

THE CHANGING TIDES OF WAR 109

planation of the character of trench warfare be given. The world
war, as was well said by Colonel Azan was a ''war of positions" rather
than a war of movement. As positions, or field defenses, can only be
beaten down by field artillery, when any change in position occurred
it was the ability of the artillery to manoeuvre quickly which was the
determining factor. Napoleon trusted to the legs of his soldiers, be-
cause his battles were mainly infantry battles; a modern army must
depend on the legs of the guns, which is to say, tractors and horses,
and, still more importantly, railroads or highways with solid bridges.
Mobility of heavy artillery became a chief urgency during the world
war.

Trenches, Positions and Fronts.

It was because heavy artillery was the only agency that could
destroy entrenched positions that it became so important, but like-
wise, it was the positions themselves which constituted the powerful
defense and which therefore were equally important.

A trench is not a position. A trench is one of the defenses of a
position. Hills, rivers, marshes and woods are strategic features which
become positions, and these are of value in the double ratio that
they are difficult to take by the enemy and easy of supply by the de-
fense. A first-rate strategical position which is isolated by bad roads
is the poorest sort of position, while a narrow canal with level banks
on both sides, with good roads feeding it, may become a position
of incredible strength. To illustrate, the lofty mountain chain of the
Carpathians did not save Serbia, the narrow canal of the Yser did
save the corner of Belgium. Some of the lofty crests around Verdun
were taken, the low hill of Le Mort Homme resisted.

Trench fighting begins with air reconnoissance. It is of no use
attacking the enemy if one does not know where he is. To waste
ammunition blindly is folly. Heavy artillery does not begin until exact
maps have been prepared showing the enemy's gun positions, his sup-
ply depots, the location of his highways and light railroads, the lines
of his trench and dug-out systems and the supporting points of his
reserves. Since heavy artillery is only of smashing value, it must know
what to smash. Hence months may pass in preparing for an offensive.
If the mapping is good, if the artillery is heavy enough and if there
is plenty of ammunition, every enemy position should be destroyed, all

110 THE CHANGING TIDES OF WAR

the trenches leveled, and the forces of the enemy demoralized by the
terrible concentration of fire.

Infantry plays the principal role in the actual fighting. In trench
offensive warfare there is little need for rifle fire, that is for defense ;
there is little need for the bayonet, the shape of a trench does not
permit of it. In the world war, the hand grenade, the revolver and the
trench knife were much more widely used.

The Conduct of Trench Warfare.

Field and light artillery move forward with the infantry, as do
also trench mortars and machine gun squads. Field artillery uses
shrapnel, mainly, and is not designed to attack defenses, but to fire
on troops. Cavalry, operating with the light artillery, is of little
use in a war of positions. It is invaluable, however, in a war of
movement, and when an enemy is driven from his positions by com-
bined artillery and infantry attack, a bold cavalry dash may easily
cut oif the enemy from making new positions and turn a mere retreat
into a decisive victory. It is of infinite value in delaying reserves,
cutting railways, breaking telephone and telegraph connections in the
enemy 's lines, surprising and cutting off transports and convoys.

The engineering corps, during the world war, attained an im-
portance hitherto unknown. When on the offensive, the engineers have
to advance with the infantry, to repair, relocate trenches, build up
new defenses to run with new positions, in pursuit they have to repair
bridges, make roads and recreate the conditions which enable the con-
solidation of the new advanced line.

Trench warfare, being a war of positions, its defensive character
is of vast importance.

A first line trench is an irregular line, the shape of which is
determined by the character of the ground and the position of the
enemy. It is almost never in a straight line, it is rarely in the
waved line of the textbooks, though an effort may be made to conform
to the same. Generally, in a hasty trench, a man is sheltered when
seated, but can fire when erect. All trenches are cut into short pieces
by traverses about sixteen feet apart. This prevents the enfilading
of a line of trench if a small part is taken by the enemy, it also pro-
tects each compartment of a trench from projectiles exploding in
neighboring compartments. Special emplacements for machine guns
are built, generally for oblique fire in the event of a hostile offensive.

THE CHANGING TIDES OF WAR 111

Behind the first-line trenches are the second-Une trenches, or dou-
bling trenches, for the shelter and rest of men not on duty. Here are
the dug-outs and in these second-line trenches the officers stay except
during an offensive.

In the world war no two sectors on the battlefront were alike.
In most cases mine craters and shell holes created new opportunities
of protective device, a hillock would change a whole face of the trenches,
the possession by the enemy of a small rise of ground would necessi-
tate a dozen different forms of transversal trenches.

Behind this whole defense system comes the support trenches, in
some cases reached by boyaux, generally sufficiently far behind the
first line to make a very stiff defense in the case of the first line being
taken by a hostile offensive. They average from a quarter to three-
quarters of a mile behind the first line.

New Type of War in 1916.

At various points between these first line and support, zones are
the shelters, observing stations, telephone posts and depots of all sorts,
frequently only reached by boyaux or sunken roads. It is an important
part of trench warfare to teach the troops to know thoroughly all the
intricacies of this invisible maze of sunken streets when it is impossible
to see where one is going. Signs and sentries must be posted every-
where. Trench life, well organized, is by no means a time of waiting.
It is highly active. There is a great deal to learn and more to do.
Sapping and mining operations are constant.

In the world war, co-ordination became the chief essential and,
more than ever before in war, the great commander needed to be pri-
marily a commander of organization. It is true that Foch was not
Napoleon, but it is equally sure that Napoleon could not have been
Foch. Haig proved himself a marvellously brilliant general, Pershing
a first-class soldier, but the ability to co-ordinate a vast battlefront,
to grasp movements of men by millions and of transports by tens of
thousands of tons, in other words, to be the Supreme Commander, was
characteristically and ideally in the hands of Foch.

The beginning of 1916 saw a new type of war. A French captain,
writing at this time, put the matter in a nutshell when he said: *'So
long as the armies which face each other, with normal effectives on a
depth that daily increases, continue to occupy the trenches which they

112 THE CHANGING TIDES OF WAR

hold at present, we do not believe in the possibility of carrying by
assault a fortress whose centre can constantly change its position."

The principal military feature of 1916 was the German attack on
Verdun, which has been told in full in the chapter of that all-important
point. The end of the second year of the war saw the Allies more
confident, Germany more worried. England's greatest need was offi-
cers, for most of her best blood had been killed in the first year of
the war. France's greatest need was transport. Italy's greatest need
was munitions. These were all built up to a high degree of efficiency.

Beginning the Third Year of the War.

The opening of the third year of the war witnessed a great Anglo-
French offensive on the Somme. This was not a drive with intention
to pierce the German lines, but a very large effort to seize Perrone,
an important strategic and railroad point. Since the objective failed,
the drive failed; since it secured twenty-seven important strategic
points it was a victory. The casualties on both sides were very
large, reaching 100,000 men on each side during the three and a half
months that the steady pounding of the British and French continued.

It was during this offensive that the "tank" first sprawled its
reptilian way through and over the bloody slime of battlefields, spitting
fire from its ungainly and toad-like sides. The first heavy tanks were
incredibly ludicrous in appearance, advancing with a crawling waddle
and, by their mere weight lunging over trenches, crushing walls to
powder, smashing chevaux-de-frise to splinters and driving barbed
wire into the mud. *■ ' Sliding along the ground on caterpillar wheels, ' '
says one writer, "they suggested the giant slugs of a prehistoric age.
They had armored cheeks on each side of the head, above which guns
stuck out like the stalked eyes of land crabs."

"For six months the trenches on either side had remained un-
broken. In sixty minutes two tanks, backed up by the French infantry,
had driven the Germans back, captured a thousand prisoners, taken
seveial score machine guns and frightened an entire German Army
Corps into wild-eyed and headlong panic."

Their construction had been kept a profound secret. The tanks
made their first appearance in the engagement of Martinpuich, and the
first one seen by the Germans crawled up on the village of Flers in
the dawn of September 15, 1916. The successful advance on the Somme,

THE CHANGING TIDES OF WAR 113

during the next two months, was largely due to the use of tanks. From
that time until the end of the war numberless new forms of tank were
devised, a few larger, but some smaller. The French tank was more
like an armored automobile, the Italian like a swiftly moving fort. The
small ''whippet" tanks of the British, able to move as swiftly as
infantry at the double, were of incalculable value. It will be remem-
bered by the reader that French tanks preceded the infantry advance
at Chateau Thierry, that Italian tanks held the bridgeheads at the
Isonzo during the great retreat and saved the Italian armies from being
cut off, and that the British whippets turned the scale in Belgium dur-
ing the last drive of the war.

Objects Achieved by the Battle of the Somme.

The Battle of the Somme, lasting from May 19 to November 15,
1916, was declared by many ''The Greatest Battle in History," in
regard to the number of men engaged, the fierceness of the fighting,
and the duration of the conflict. It was a victory for neither side,
but Haig declared himself fully satisfied that it had achieved its
three principal objects: (a) to relieve the pressure on Verdun; (b) to
prevent any transfer of troops from the western front and thus aid
the Allies on all other fronts ; (c) to wear down the enemy. But Haig,
a conservative and modest soldier, admitted that "the enemy's power
has not yet been broken," although he also declared that "a full half
of the German Army, despite all the advantages of the defensive, sup-
ported by the strongest fortifications, suffered defeat on the Somme
this year." This is incorrect. It did not suffer defeat, but it sus-
tained a disastrous repulse.

The third year of the war resulted in little change on the western
front. There were a great many different reasons for this. In the
first place, the autumn of 1916 saw the entrance of Roumania into the
war, and the resulting disaster. It marked the end of the Somme of-
fensive. It saw the beginning of the Russian revolution. The spring
of 1917 saw the break-down of Russia, and warned the Allies not to
attempt too much on the western front. The early summer of 1917
saw the entrance of the United States into the war, with the assurance
to the Allies that the longer they stayed quiet, the stronger they would
grow and the weaker Germany would become.

In the autumn of 1917 the battle raged with unprecedented in-

8— W. L.

114 THE CHANGING TIDES OP WAR

tensity in Flanders. Ypres was nearly taken by the Germans. August,
September and October saw ceaseless fighting. Passchendaele Ridge
was taken, lost again and retaken. Most of the front was a shambles.
German and British fought with equal gallantry. But, in the long run,
the Germans were beaten back.

Lens, no longer a city, but a fort, with all its outskirts defended
by an elaborate system of German pill boxes, known as "elastic de-
fense," was fought for by the French and British for two months.
The outskirts were reached, but the German occupation could not be
broken. A new German offensive was launched at Verdun, without
result. The chain vibrated all the time, it swung a little here and
quivered a little there, but it could not be forced through. And, mean-
time, day by day, American soldiers were reaching France, and great
armies were being gathered into camps in the United States.

The tanks broke the Hindenburg line at Cambrai, in the battle that
raged there between November 20 and December 12, 1917. But, even
with their aid, the British did not take Cambrai. Even with their aid,
the chain did not break. On the contrary, it swung forward with the
British and was pushed back again.

The German Offensive in Spring of 1918.

When 1917 closed, the Allies were stronger at every point, and the
Germans growing weaker. It was an open secret that the coming
spring must see a German offensive, it was obvious that this would
be, if not the last, one of the last, for the Americans were coming over
ever^^ day. The whole swing and balance of numbers had passed from
the Central Powers.

This spring offensive, which, there seems reason to believe, the
Germans really believed would land them in Paris, was the result of
two solid years ' preparation. It burst on March 21, 1918. All previous
records of artillery bombardment were broken. For the first time in
two years the Germans reverted to their old tactics of heavy massed
drives. The results were sweeping. Within five days they had taken
back all that the British had gained by the five months' Battle of the
Somme, and they had even driven beyond their own positions before
that great Allied offensive.

On the French part of the line the smash was equally decisive.
The defense held in the Oise Valley, but only by falling back. The

THE CHANGING TIDES OF WAR 115

Chaulnes-Lassigny-Noyon line bent, but, instead of falling away to the
southward, the French stiffened along the Aillette and fell back to the
east. By March 26 Roye had fallen and Lassigny was in German hands.
Montdidier fell in the fighting of the first few days in April and the
thrust toward Amiens became even more savage.

In Flanders the German success also was great. The British and
Portuguese were forced back on the Lys. On April 11 the British
gave ground near La Bassee. On April 12 Merville was lost. A three-
day fight at Neuve Eglise gained it for the Germans on April 15. The
three points, known as ''the desperate three," Poelcappelle, Lange-
marok and Passchendaele, were all taken on April 17. The fighting
around Mont Kemmel, south of Ypres, rose to a fury not surpassed
by any fighting of the war, and with its capture on April 26, Ypres
seemed no longer to be tenable. By May 14, Hill 44, north of Kemmel,
had changed hands eleven times, but the German offensive in Flanders
was broken. The British-Belgian line was in terrible danger, Ypres
was flanked, but with bulldog stubbornness the British refused to give
way, and inch by inch they won the ground back. It was, perhaps, as
the Germans declared, only desperation which kept the British firm.
None the less, the line remained intact.

The Offensive Halted.

On May 28, this offensive broke forth at a third point, in Cham-
pagne, and commenced with the same spectacular success. The Chemin
des Dames was carried and the watershed of the Oise-Aisne fell into
Ludendorff's hands. By June 2 the eastern half of Chateau Thierry
was in their hands and the great salient had been developed. There,
again, it was compelled to stop.

The fourth phase in this offensive was productive of much smaller
gain. It was an attempt, beginning on June 9, 1918, to draw to
the south and to the west the battle lines that had been established by
the first thrust toward Amiens and the third thrust towards Chateau
Thierry. In some ways, it was, perhaps, the heaviest, though not the
fiercest blow of all. Compiegne was the goal sought. If this objective
could have been attained — and the Germans were very near it — the
Picardy front would have given them a strategic front by which they
might have pounded their way nearer to Paris. They gained seven
miles, indeed, but French counter-attacks (in which the American Ma-

116 THE CHANGING TIDES OF WAR

rines participated) took back most of this ground and revealed, as
nothing else could so well do, that the punch had reached its uttermost.
Like all offensives, it had spent its force.

It is perhaps difficult to realize the intensity of the German offen-
sive of 1918, nor to grasp the importance of its stoppage. It had been
of tremendous swiftness and great force. The line was far advanced.
It ran near Ypres-Hazebrouck-Bethune-Arras-Albert-Amiens-Mont-
didier-Compiegne-Soissons-Chateau Thierry-Rheims. But it was over.
It had not taken Ypres. It had not moved the Belgian-British line
toward Calais. It had not taken Arras. Most important of all, it
had failed to reach Amiens. It had come to a most inglorious stoppage
in front of Compiegne, it had found itself in a nasty pocket at Chateau
Thierry, which it was not able to widen, and Rheims, of old, stood
defiant, though a terrible gash had been made to the west of its
defenses.

If Amiens could not be reached, if the valley of the Oise was so
stoutly held, since it was dangerous to follow further down Chateau
Thierry on a long, narrow salient, there remained only the strategy
of using the principal advance for a blow at Rheims. In the next
chapter will be told this last German offensive and what happened
to it.

In leaving, then, this picture of the backward and forward swing
of the battle line, one main fact stands out clearly. The Allies had
held, and held successfully, the whole battlefront at all points. It
had only been broken once — and that for forty-eight hours — by the first
blast of poison gas at Ypres. The Germans had never been able to
reach as far as the line of their first drive. Even before the arrival
of the Americans, it had become evident that Germany could not win.
It was a deadlock. Germany had lost the war, but the Allies had not
won it.

America's part lay largely, not in defeating Germany, but in
enabling the Allies to gain a final victory. The part they played in
driving the Hun from the fields of fair France and the devastated
villages of Belgium belongs in the following chapter.

CHAPTER IX.

DRIVING THE GERMANS OUT.

The Great Teuton Offensive of 1918 an Utte' Fayure— Foci- Starts at Last— American Regiments at the
Front— Chateau Thierry and St. Mihiel— Tactics of "the Pincers"— Ludeadorff Outmanoeuvred— The
Kriemhilde Line— German Retreat, Rout and Disaster.

ERMANY'S last offensive, her forlorn hope, her final desperate
effort was launched on July 15, 1918. It was a stupendous drive
in men and metal. From every rule of war, especially in remembrance
of the previous drives of the four years previously, she should have had
a first overwhelming success, followed by a slowing up. Contrary to
every expectation, Allied as well as German, the drive was stopped at
the start. It never got going at all.

The explanation of this amazing result lies in five words — the
mastery of the air. Von Moltke's military dictum had been the three
words "power, speed and surprise.^' German power had been waning,
the deterioration of morale had resulted in a diminution of potential
speed and the element of surprise was gone. No longer could Germany
launch an unseen army at any given point, as she had done with von
Hausen's forces at the beginning of the war. Italian, French, English
and American aeroplanes flew over her lines day and night. Scarcely
a regiment could move, certainly not a division, and most assuredly
not an army without every detail being wirelessed back from the sky to
Allied headquarters.

This offensive was designed to isolate Rheims, to create of that
important outpost a narrow salient which could be swept with cross-
fire. It was almost successful. On July 15, 16, 17 and 18, the Germans
pushed south and east. By July 18, Rheims was a semi-circle ringed
with steel, and the enemy was battering this semi-circle with a terrific
weight of men and shell. Rheims had become a second Verdun, de-
manding the same heroism to defend it.

At this point Foch repeated the tactics he had used at the Battle
of the Marne. Withdrawing in the direction of Epernay, he caused the
Germans to believe that they were attaining their goal, namely, the

117

118 DRIVING THE GERMANS OUT

isolation of Rheims. This bulge, however, lengthened the German
line, which is only another way of saying that it thinned it. Instead of
increasing the troops necessary to hold Rheims, which looked like the
point of greatest danger, Foch detached armies from the defence of
Rheims and sent them to Chateau Thierry, although the French and
Americans had shown no sign of yielding. Then, on July 18, at the
very time that the Germans were surest of success in pinching in behind
Rheims, he delivered at Chateau Thierry an irresistible counterblow,
with the whole force of the Americans, the French, and the newly ar-
rived French reinforcements.

Foch's Surprise Attacks.

In order to get a clear idea of the Battle of Chateau Thierry and
its co-ordinated attack on Rheims, it is necessarj^ to understand the
position of the two armies, and the events of the preceding few days
which had brought them into these positions.

At terrible cost, during June, the Germans had gradually punched
in a dent on both sides of Rheims. On June 18 they launched an infan-
try attack, were allowed to come close to the defences and then three
divisions were torn to pieces by a French barrage from guns whose loca-
tion had not been guessed. A "surprise fire attack," as it was called
by the Germans, on the morning of June 19, was equally disastrous.
On June 23, having learned that the French troops were being moved
from the sector near Bligny, the Crown Prince attacked there, only to
find that the sector had been taken over by the Italians, who promptly
proceeded to make mincemeat of the German First Army under General
Fritz von Biilow.

Three days later Foch inaugurated the series of minor shock of-
fensives which an American war correspondent described as "giving
the Hun the jumps." On June 26, the British bit into the line at Lys,
east of Hazebrouck. On June 28, from an equally unexpected quarter,
the British plunged in a mile deep on a four-mile front east of Nieppe
Forest, taking four villages. The same day the Australians secured
a minor victory near Merris, and the local gains near St. Pierre Aigle
gave 1,000 prisoners to the French. On July 1 came the taking of
Vaux and the Bois de la Roche by American troops.

It would be unfortunate to give to the engagement at Vaux an
importance disproportionate to the rest of the war, merely because the

DRIVING THE GERMANS OUT 119

action was couductud by American troops, yet Americans rightly felt
that this first ail-American encounter, so successfully carried out, had
an interest of its own.

The actual fighting took less than twenty minutes, but when it
was over, hill, village and wood were all in American hands.

All these minor actions were a part of Foch's pinccr tactics, which,
as has been said, consisted of continuous small offensives, creating
narrow salients, which were pinched out later. On Independence Day,
July 4, 1918, the Americans fighting as platoons among the Australian
troops, the combined forces took the village of Hamel and the trench
system. The Australians, rough fighters themselves, had nothing
but praise for their American comrades. There was nothing big,
but what was done was well done. Again there was a small push
southeast of Soissons on the 8th, another near Montdidier on the 9th,
and the historic village of Corey in the Forest of Villers-Cotterets
was taken by the French on July 11. Six other similar bites into the
line occurred between that day and July 15.

Then came the last German offensive !

The Final Attacks of the Hxms.

The next three days were to mark the beginning of the end of the
war. The part of the battlefront involved has become familiar to the
reader and ran as follows : From Albert across the Somme to Moreuil
on the River Aure, thence to Montdidier, which was in German hands ;
thence in a southeasterly direction north of Compiegne, which was in
Allied hands ; thence through Ribecourt to Soissons, in German hands ;
thence in a wide pocket shaped something like a heart, with Chateau
Thierry at the point and Rheims at the top of the opposite curve;
and thence along the old line through the Argonne to Verdun.

The German attack had three main objectives, two of them de-
signed against Rheims, the third, a drive against Paris. The latter,
however, was dependent on the success of the two former. The points
of attack were southwesterly from the eastern side of Rheims and
easterly from the deep pocket west of Rheims. This was a repetition
of the tactics of the German Crown Prince around Verdun when trying
to cut off that fortress by the establishment of the St. Mihiel salient
and the drive at Ste. Menehould. The general strategy of this last
offensive, then, was first, to isolate Rheims, and then to throw the

120 DRIVING THE GERMANS OUT

whole of the line in the Chateau Thierry direction with the intention
of crossing the Marne and driving westwards towards Paris. As ever,
Paris was still the flame around which the German moth fluttered to
its own destruction.

For this oifensive of July 15, 1918, the German Crown Prince
actually threw into the battle line, during the three days, a force of
900,000 me;n. He kept 400,000 men in reserve. There were thus 1,300,000
men available in the German line. This number had only become
possible by thinning other parts of the front. Although Foch's whole
battlefront was stronger in men than that of the Germans, on these
sectors his forces were weaker. He had 600,000 French, 175,000 Amer-
icans, 100,000 Italians and 75,000 British troops, inclusive of reserves.

The "First Coup de Foch."

The Allied troops were in four armies, all under French com-
manders. Holding the important section east of Rheims was General
Gouraud; his was an all-French army save for the addition of one
division of American troops (27,500 men) held in reserve and one
American negro regiment in the fighting line; his left wing rested on
Prunay, part of the Rheims defenses. From Prunay, holding Rheims
itself, and thence southwest down the line of the pocket as far west
as Dormans (a few miles east of Chateau-Thierry) was the large army
under General Berthelot; to which were attached an entire Italian
Army Corps, two American divisions and a division and a half of
British troops. From opposite Dormans, through Chateau Thierry
and northwards round the pocket to a little beyond the Ourcq, came the
army of General de Goutte, also with two American divisions acting
with his troops. From thence north and west, past Soissons and the
Aisne, came the army of General Mangin, two American divisions
being attached to his army also.

It was officially announced that seven American divisions and one
negro regiment participated in this ''First Coup de Foch," in all
cases attached to French commands and acting under French com-
manders. This is not to be taken as meaning that the American troops
were not led throughout by American officers, but that these officers
operated under French direction and that the battle plans and tactics
were all a part of the general French plan. The Battle of Chateau-
Thierry and the beginning of the great Allied offensive happened be-

DRIVING THE GERMANS OUT 121

fore the Americans were organized into a separate field army ''on
their owai." The Chateau-Thierry offensive occurred on July 18, and
by August 5 the Germans were in full flight. The American First
Field Army was organized under General Pershing on August 11, 1918.
It acted independently in the war as an army for three months to
a day.

The Germans commenced with initiatory successes. On the west
they pierced the lines held by the Italians at Bligny, on the first day,
but Berthelot closed the gap with reserves at once. They bent back
the line to the east of Rheims, at Prunay, and then struck a rigid
defense against which they could not move an inch. Gouraud 's defense
of the line east of Prunay was extraordinary. It resembled in its char-
acter the holding of the lines around Rheims by Foch during the
eastern phase of the Battle of the Aisne.

First and Second Days of the German Offensive.

That same first day of the offensive there was a feint at Vaux,
which seems to have been an error and not part of the original plan,
followed by a heavier attack near Chateau Thierry on the sector held
by the Americans. The Americans were forced back to Conde-en-Brie
by a small force, 25,000 men, but they counter-attacked, driving the
enemy back across the Marne and taking 1,500 prisoners. This was a
neat piece of work, well done.

The second day of the offensive was fiercest at Prunay. The
attacks there were launched with an intensity and fury which resem-
bled the earlier days of the war, but another quarter of a mile advance
was all that the Germans could gain. Gouraud was the pivot of the
whole offensive. If he wavered, Rheims was in danger. Like Sarrail
at Verdun, he would not let them pass. On the western side the dent
made at Bligny was made wider, Marfaux being taken. Berthelot,
realizing the importance of holding his position and not wishing to
sacrifice too many men, held the advanced trenches with artillery,
withdrawing a mile and a half to^ strong positions on the edge of the
Forest of Montague.

The American positions near Chateau Thierry were again being
attacked this second day, and with considerable force, but no impres-
sion was made. A reenforcing French Army of reserve, under General
de Mitry, came up and supported the junction between the armies of

122 DRIVING THE GERMANS OUT

General Berthelot and General de Goutte, at which junction the Amer-
icans were fighting. Efforts by the Germans to cross the Marne
at Gland and Mareuil were thrown back with heavy losses. In the
hands of American gunners, the French 75 's poured in a terrible fire.
The third day of the offensive, July 17, 1918, the Germans regis-
tered some small successes on their main battlefields near Rheims.
To the east they forced Gouraud back to Beaumont, a mile to the rear
of Prunay. To the w^est they reached the borders of the Montague
Forest. This double advance, secured at terrible cost of life, was
gradually drawing the net closer around Rheims, which had never
been in such danger during the whole w^ar. From east to west, seven
miles south of the city, the German lines were only twelves miles
apart, a highly dangerous salient. If the Germans could pinch this
out it would affect the whole battle line and release a vast force of
men for the intended second push in the direction of Chateau Thierry.

Foch's Brilliant Coup.

In that direction, that is to say, in the sector where the Americans
had found most of the fighting, the Germans again tried to reach Fes-
tigny, the heaviest part of this day's attack being on the French
end of the sector. The Crown Prince w^as not only thrown back, but
one division of American and two divisions of French troops, acting
together, took St. Agnan and Monhodon, the former being an all-
American gain.

On July 18, 1918, Foch struck. The movement had been kept a
complete secret. There was not the least preparatory artillery fire.
At 4:45 A. M., with no more artillery support than rolling barrages
ahead of them, the whole line from Ambleng, six miles west of Soissons,
to Bouresches, five miles northwest of Chateau-Thierry, went over the
top. The Americans were concentrated at the pivotal ends of the
line, near Soissons and Chateau-Thierry. The American troops in the
southern sector fought with great spirit. In less than an hour they
had advanced on and captured Torcy. The Americans acting from
Ambleng, behind a support of French tanks, drove ahead with a vigor
which surprised even the French. So swift, so irresistible was the
attack that the French commander felt himself justified in ordering
another advance at 9 o'clock, and yet another at noon.

It was open warfare all along the line. The French cavalry, and

DRIVING THE GERMANS OUT 123

especially some of the mounted African troops, enjoyed it tiiorougiiiy.
Batteries handled by the Americans advanced with a dexterity equal
to that of the French.

General Mangin's army, in that one day, advanced six miles into
the pocket, reaching as far as the River Crise, and took 9,000 prisoners.
Compared with the effects of the huge three-days' offensive by the
Germans, which reached a penetration of only five miles, this was
enonnous. But, in the case of Foch's coup, the strategy" was more
important than the territorial gain. This advance of six miles, on the
northwest of the pocket, outflanked the German troops operating to-
wards Chateau-Thierry in the southeast. If, then, the Germans con-
tinued their effort toward the Marne, each mile of advance only put
them in a tighter box. Instead of being in a position to pinch out the
Rheims salient, thej^ found themselves tightly clipped in Foch's pin-
cers on the two sides of the Chateau-Thierry salient.

Results of Foch's Pincer Tactics.

This prospect of defeat compelled the withdrawal of a part of the
First German iVrmy under General Fritz von Below to support the
armies under von Hutier and von Eben facing General Mangin. This
relieved the pressure against the French on the eastern defenses of
Eheims. The very next day, therefore, July 19, Berthelot sent forward
the Italians and, with a gallant dash, they recovered Bouilly. That
day Mangin contented himself with consolidating the positions he had
secured, while General de Goutte advanced cautiously two miles along
the Ourcq to strengthen his junction ^vith General Mangin. His right
wing, at Chateau-Thierry, he left unchanged, holding its strong pivotal
position. These two days' fighting, which netted 17,500 prisoners and
several hundred guns, were typical of "pincer" tactics. There was
no costly frontal attack. Foch was doing to the Germans in the
Chateau-Thierry pocket, exactly what the Crown Prince had been
trying to do to the French in the Rheims pocket.

The last day of the month gave rise to some desperate fighting
in which American and British detachments had their full share, re-
sulting from a determined German endeavor to hold the Forest of
Nesles, northeast of Fere. The Meuniere Woods also saw some gallant
work by the Americans. They charged six times against German posi-
tions, but were beaten back every time.

124 DRIVING THE GERMANS OUT

The capture of Soissons on August 2, 1918, after one of the most
desperate resistances of the entire offensive, was the determining factor
of Mangin's whole advance, and when the French under Berthelot
reached the River Vesle, near Fismes, on the evening of August 3,
the whole battle line of the salient was won. The amount of stores
and munitions captured during the advance of the first three days of
August was incredible. At one point, alone, 300,000 heavy shells were
taken, without counting rifle, machine gun and light artillery ammu-
nition.

On August 4, the fifth anniversary of the beginning of the world
war, American gunners held Fismes under their fire and American
and Italian infantry, supporting French troops, occupied the outskirts
of that important point on the Vesle River. The capture of Fismes,
which occurred next day, was declared by the French commander to
liave been due largely to the excellence of the work of the American
engineering corps which threw bridges across the Vesle, though under
heavy fire. American infantry entered and took the town on the
evening of August 5.

Operation of the Picardy Pocket.

The line having thus been straightened between Soissons and
Rheims, through Fismes, Foch's next coup was against a much deeper
and larger pocket, which was known as the Picardy Pocket, since the
old province of Picardy lay in that region.

The actual operation of the Picardy pocket may be told briefly.
Haig opened the ball. On August 8 he drove forward suddenly nine
miles on a plateau south of the Somme and north of Moreuil. To the
south, however, the French, under General Debeny, had found the
Avre Valley held by heavy fire and had been compelled to proceed
more slowly. Rawlinson with the British halted and turned slightly
south. This pinched the Germans on the Avre, and relieved Debeny,
who promptly flanked Montdidier. On August 10 the British and
French pincers of Rawlinson and Debeny closed on Montdidier, which
fell at once with a capture of 25,000 prisoners. British losses were
slight, French losses heavy.

On the southern flank of the retiring Germans the French advanced
again, compelling a retirment to the fam.ous massif of Lassigny, pur-
suit being so vigorous that the Germans failed to make a stand there.

DRIVING THE GERMANS OUT 125

Meanwhile, to the north, Haig was driving fast and furiously, and, by-
August 18, the Germans had been forced back to the line Albert-
Chaulnes-Roye-Lassigny.

Satisfied so far, Foch continued his tactics of suddenly seizing
small strategic points, one of the most important being the capture
of Merville on August 19. It became clear during the last two weeks
of August, however, that the German defense was weakened at all
points. It became still further obvious that Foch had a preponderance
of numbers. Like a star to all the armies shone the spirit of victory-
leading them. The Germans were on the run. The old von Hinden-
burg line was threatened. Back, back and ever back the Germans
fell, losing prisoners every day, abandoning vast stores of materials.

On September 18, just two months after the opening of Foch's
great offensive, the British had stormed, seized and passed the Hin-
denburg line north from Marcoing to Lens, the British and French
were within five miles of it at all points and a-straddle of it at the
impoitant point of La Fere. Meantime, the famous Lys salient was
wiped out by the British, the Passchendaele Ridge was retaken, Ypres
relieved and the whole line advanced beyond Armentieres.

Working the Pincers at St. Mihiel.

In SO general an advance, reaching from Ypres to Rheims, it was
not to be expected that other parts of the battlefront would be idle.
Foch knew well that there is no time so good for a blow as when an
enemy is retreating. He would have liked to have followed up the
Crown Prince's retreat, after the wiping out of the Chateau Thierry
pocket, but, in order to do so, it was necessary to straighten out the
line east of Verdun. The St. Mihiel salient, harmless hitherto, was an
impediment to united effort.

''The operation at St. Mihiel," wrote an Associated Press cor-
respondent, ''was of the pincers type always used to nip off a salient.
One claw of the pincers, some twelve miles thick, rested on the Moselle
at about Pont-a-Mousson. (The reader will remember the importance
of this point at the end of the Alsace-Lorraine campaign.) The other,
about eight miles thick, rested on the heights of the Meuse at Haudio-
jmont, a little to the east of the river. (This is a lower part of the
defenses of Verdun.) The distance to be filled up between the claws
of the pincers was about thirty miles, and the ground to be nipped off
by them would be about 200 square miles. . . .

12G DKIVJXU THE GERMANS OUT

"The iirst day's fighting saw the southeastern claw of the pincers
advatice up to the lull limit assigned to it, but the western had to face
more difficult ground and strenuous opposition. It too, however,
reached its assigned position later in the day.

The operation was conducted by General Pershing, with the first
American Field Army (the first operation of an American army as
such), and a French army under General Petain. French tanks were
used in large mmibers. After the armies operating from the w^est and
the southeast joined at Heudicourt, south of Vigneuilles, there was
nothing for the Germans to do but surrender. In spite of their en-
trapped position, however, several of the dug-outs resisted strongly.
There was some savage though unimportant fighting on September
14. Meanwhile, the rest of the line was pushing northwards and on
September 18 Pont-a-Mousson was three miles within the French-
Ameiican lines and the new battle front ran from Fresnes through
Doncourt, Charey and Morville to Nomeny. The German frontier was
only a mile away.

The first phase of Foch's great offensive, therefore, had been the
wiping out of four salients, in their respective order the Chateau-
Thierry, Picardy, Lys and St. Mihiel salients. The second phase was
also of the pincer variety but a huge pincers, one whose jaws went from
the south of tlie whole battle line to the north. One jaw was at Laon,
the other at Cambrai.

The Germans Steadily Forced Back,

Laon may be regarded as the apex of an equilateral triangle of
which Soissons-Rheims forms the base. Petain had failed the year
before to force Laon by frontal attack over the Chemin des Dames and
the Ailette River. Foch took it, as usual, by the pincers method of
working on both flanks, from the St. Gobain forest to the west, and
from the Berry line from the southeast. On October 7 Berthelot had
taken Berry-au-Bac, the supply point between Laon and Retliel, and
Mangin had taken the greater part of the Chemin des Dames. This
compelled the retirement of the Germans from the Aisne and the
famous Craonne plateau which figured so largely at the opening of
the war in the crossing of the Aisne. On October 13 Mangin took the
St. Gobain massif after a severe fight, and the strongholds of La Fere
and Laon fell immediately without any contest.

DRIVING THE GERMANS OUT 127

After the wiping out of the Lys salient by the British, the Germans
counter-attacked and were repulsed. On September 25, the 30th Amer-
ican division was attached to the Third British Army under General
Byng and on the 27th they advanced on a fourteen-mile front. This
flanked the German hold on the coal fields of Lens which they evacu-
ated on October 3, and on October 9 Cambrai was occupied by British
and American troops. Thenceforward the St. Quentin and Cambrai
lines operated together.

This, it will be noted, created two nicks, into which the jaws of
the pincers fitted. The southern nick was enlarged by Pershing's
army, and on October 4 the Americans went over the Kriemhilde line,
the rearmost German defense line south of the Belgian frontier. On
October 7 the Americans — this was a bitter fight — drove the Germans
from the heights holding the River Aire, and enabled a junction with
Berthelot 's army which had taken Berry-au-Bac on the same day. Thus, '
for the first time since its investment in 1914, the cathedral city of
Rheims was out of the range of German gunfire. It had been the recip-
ient of shells almost daily for four years.

The Allied Drive Gained Strength as it Advanced.

Bitter was this fighting, although the Germans were in flight, but
it was less spectacular than the amazing drive of the Allied lines
through Belgium, when French, British and Belgian troops smote the
Germans with a never-ceasing sweep of their sickle of steel and shell,
all under the command of King Albert of Belgium. To give the events
of this movement, day by day, would be only to give a series of names.
Let a few great days suffice.

On September 30 Roulers was taken by the Belgians and the
British left the last end of the Passchendaele Ridge behind them for-
ever. On October 2 General de Goutte's army joined this sector and
the pincers began to close on Lille. The great Flanders offensive
began on October 14 with a force that the Germans could not with-
stand. They tried, for two days, but the advance on Courtrai and on
Bruges jvas of a power invincible.

Lille was retaken on the 17th and Douai on the same day. The
port of Ostend was evacuated also on the 17th and the Belgian patrols
entered Bruges, likewise. Next Zeebrugge fell. On October 19 the
Allies reached the Dutch frontier. On October 20 the Germans began

128 DRIVING THE GERMANS OUT

to leave Binissels. Holding the line— not from bravery, but to try
and get as good terms as possible in an armistice— the Germans cried,
"Enough! Enough!" By November 11 the Allies were at Ghent,
with Antwerp and Brussels within reach.

This flight went on through the whole battle line. With Cambrai,
St. Quentin, La Fere, Laon and Bethel all gone, the Allied line pushed
on beyond Maubeuge. On November 6 the First American Army took
Sedan and the forts of Metz fell under range of the American naval
guns. To the last week, yes, to the last day the Huns continued to pil-
lage and slaughter, and left, wherever they could, incendiary bombs
and infernal machines.

Just as Mons and Charleroi had seen almost the beginning of
the war in its larger sense, so the war ended there, for Mons was on
the final battle line, held by the British as it had been held four years
before.

The world has seen some dramatic moments, but never since the
finger of Fate peopled this spinning globe did it see a more dramatic
moment than 11 o'clock in the morning of November 11, 1918. The
oificers, all along the battle line, knew that the armistice had been
signed. The soldiers did not. On the American front an artillery fire
had been laid down at 9:30 o'clock and at 10:30 the boys went over the
top. Every officer, every platoon leader had his watch in hand. At
eleven o'clock to the second, from the North Sea to the frontier of
Switzerland came the word from tens of thousands of officers ' throats :

"Cease firing!"

A silence, a dreadful silence fell. For several minutes the ears
of all men were numbed. For the first time in four years the guns
had ceased to roar. The air fell still. The power which regulates all
words— whatever that Power may be or by what Great Name it may
be caUcd, had said, "Let there be Peace!" And there was peace.

Not that peace had been signed. It was but an armistice, though
an armistice with drastic conditions. Yet it was peace, none the less,
a peace that could not but come finally; a peace which justified the
prayers of women and the life-blood shed by men; a peace which
extinguished the flames of a four years' hell; a peace which blazoned
on he world's sky the great cry of Browning: -God's in His Heaven;
All's right with the world!"

CHAPTER X.

SERBIA UNDER THE STEEL-SHOD HEEL.

Mutual Invasions on the Eastern Front— Austrian Defeat at the Drina— Belgrade Changes Hands Four
Times— Reorganization of Austrian Annies— Germany, Bulgaria and Turkey at the Rear— Fall of the
Iron Gate— Surrender of Monastir— Conquest of Serbia.

THUS far the story of the war has been told in definite continuity,
so far as the Western Front is concerned, and the chief antag-
onists have been Germany and France, with Belgium and Great Britain
playing smaller, but all-important parts. It is necessary, now, to
turn to the eastern front, and to treat as a single and complete whole
the story of the Austrian-Serbian campaign as such. The diplomatic
questions entering into this phase, the tangle of treaty relationships
and the racial issues involved will be found in the Second Part of this
book, treated in some considerable detail. Here, the war will be con-
sidered as war, only.

To gain a clear idea of the Balkan territory, draw a line from
Venice to the mouth of the Danube, or, if the reader prefers, take
the line of 45 N. parallel of latitude. Only the province of Moldavia,
belonging to Roumania, will lie north of this. Draw another line
from Naples to Constantinople, and, on the Balkan peninsula, only
a very small piece of the Turkish Empire projects northward and this
is distinctively Balkan; part of Albania, which is entirely Albanian,
lies south of this, but Albania is classed with Greece.

The Balkans may thus be regarded as a rough oblong, with the
Adriatic Sea and the Black Sea respectively on the west and east,
or shorter sides of the oblong; Turkey occupying the greater part of
the southern side; Austria-Hungary and Russia facing the northern
side. Now divide this oblong into three equal parts by drawing a
perpendicular line one third of the way from the western end, and
dividing the larger eastern end in two by a horizontal line. The square
western end will be Serb, the northern eastern end will be Roumanian,
the southern eastern end will be Bulgarian. In later chapters of this

9— W. L. 129

130 SERBIA UNDER THE STEEL-SHOD HEEL

book the race questions mil be dealt with fully, but, for a rough mili-
tary idea, let it be supposed that these three groups of peoples are
approximately the same in number. It is one of the chief causes of
trouble in the Balkans that the boundaries of territories do not agree
with the boundaries of the lands occupied by those peoples. Much of
northern Turkey is Bulgarian, much of southern Hungary is Serbian,
much of eastern Hungary is Roumanian, and the Russian province of
Bessarabia is Roumanian also.

The Serbian campaign, then, in a word, consisted of the conquest
of this western square of the Balkans by the Austro-Germans and the
Bulgarians. Since Roumania did not enter the war on the side of
the Allies until later, it follows that Serbia, at the opening of the war,
was almost entirely surrounded by enemies. Her defeat was certain
from the beginning unless Russia and Roumania came to her assistance
from the east and north and Greece from the south. Since Russia was
too much occupied to do so, since Roumania could not make up her
mind whether to join the Allies or the Central Powers and since Greece
played battledore and shuttlecock with her promises and her alle-
giances, Serbia was deserted and left to her ruin.

Difficulties Confronting Serbia.

The operations in this theater of the world war were of a three-
fold character. There was the Serbian-Austrian campaign on the
west side of the square; the Serbian-German campaign on the north
side of the square; and the Serbian-Bulgarian campaign on the
southeast side of the square.

The topography of Serbia, moreover, was not conducive to mili-
taiy movements upon the scale needed in the world war. Her moun-
tains, though well adapted to guerrilla warfare, were not disposed in
such a fashion as to make a single chain, defensible at a few passes,
in such a way, for example, as the Carpathian Range protects Hun-
gavj. Moreover, the rugged nature of her country had an added
disadvantage, that of transport. Roads were few and poor. Conse-
quently, cross-country operations were extremely difficult

nw^/T^^"™!""^;.^"^ *^^' ^^^ ^ ^"'^^^^ P^^^* i^ a" tte campaigns,

through a neutral country and by one single railroad line, that run-
nmg from Belgrade, through Nish, to Saloniki. Nish is one of the

SERBIA UNDER THE STEEL-SHOD HEEL 131

most important railway junctions in the whole Balkan peninsula.
There the line from Saloniki, running north through Uskub, joins
the groat transcontinental Paris-Vienna-Budapest-Belgrade-Nish-Sofia-
Constantinople Railroad. All supplies for northern Serbia must pass
through Nish, yet that junction was only thirty-five miles from the
Bulgarian border. Moreover, the line from Nish south to Saloniki
was in even greater danger at Vrania, midway between Nish and
Uskub, for there it was within ten miles of the Bulgarian frontier.
So far as military resources were concerned, comparisons are
misleading. At the most, including reserve, the Serbs and the Monte-
negrins together could not muster more than 300,000 men. Austria
could summon 1,000,000 men and could call on Germany for aid. Aus-
tria, as the invader, had the advantage of determining the point of
attack ; Serbia, defending, had but the choice of determining the general
line along which the attack must be met.

War Begun Between Austria and Serbia.

The military story of the Serbian campaign in the world war
begins with July 25, 1914, on which day, with inexcusable arrogance,
Austria refused to accept Serbia's answer to her ultimatum, and her
minister left Belgrade. On July 26 the mobihzation orders were issued
by Serbia and her army began to gather. On July 27 — war not yet
having been declared — the Austrians crossed the Serbian border at
Mitro\dtza, on the Save (just at the northwest corner of the square).
Realizing what was coming, the Serbians blew up the bridge across the
Danube and shots were exchanged. Though guns had been fired at
Mitrovitza, this exchange of shots at the time of the blowing up of the
great bridge over the Danube at Belgrade was regarded as the opening
battle of the war. On July 28 Austria declared war, and there were
skirmishes between Austrian and Serbian outposts on the Drina River.

I On July 29 the bombardment of Belgrade began and the eastern phase

' of the world war was in full swing.

Finally, on August 12, 1914, behind the shelter of some small
islands in the Drina River, opposite Loznitsa, the Austrians opened
attack, with a concentration of heavy artillery. The small Serbian
detachment replied gallantly, but the river bank on the Serbian side
was not tenable, and with a tenth of their men killed in the first ex-
change of fire the defenders retreated up the slopes and intrenched

132 SERBIA UNDER THE STEEL-SHOD HEEL

lightly on better natural positions. The Austrians threw up breast-
works, dug trenches, threw across a pontoon bridge and crossed in
force, in far gi-eater numbers than the Serbians had anticipated.
An army corps and a half, about 70,000 men, entered Serbia at this
point. On the same day a whole army corps crossed at Shabatz, on the
Save, taking up position on a level plain. Four other crossings were
made by smaller forces.

On that (lay, first day of invasion, therefore, the Austrians had
thrown across both sides of the right angle which formed the boun-
daries of Serbia a force of about 160,000 men, well equipped and pro-
vided with plenty of artillery. It may be remarked that, throughout
the world war, Austrian artillery proved better than German, and that
the best guns used on the western front came from the Skoda works,
far surpassing those of Krupps'.

Failure of the First Austrian Invasion.

The advance began on August 14. The most important points for
the Austrians to gain were the heights of the Tser Mountains, which
separated their two largest armies. The Austrians stormed the
heights. But, while the Serbians were inferior in numbers, they were
far superior in fighting quality. Every soldier was a veteran of the
two Balkan wars. They knew war, and modem war at that. The
Austrian soldiers had never smelt powder. They broke at the first
fire and ran.

The Austrian artillery tried to cover the retreat, but, without the
support of infantry, the guns could not advance. The artillery did its
best, men and oxen tried to haul the guns over mountain paths and
rocky trails, but the Serbians, at home in such fighting, rushed over the
rocks yelling, and charged among the batteries with bayonets and hand
grenades.

In spite of this desperate resistance, the Austrian artillery gained
command of parts of the Tser ridge. But there was neither time
for profound intrenchment nor did the ground allow of it. Serbian
control of the heights above the valleys absolutely precluded the forma-
tion of a continuous battle line. Superiority of artillery was of little
use to the Austrians, the battles were too much broken up by the saw-
toothed character of the country.

SERBIA UNDER THE STEEL-SHOD HEEL 133

Fighting on the 17th and the 18th was much of the same character.
At one point the Austrians advanced, at another they fell back. The
important point, however, was that the Serbians absolutely prevented
the union of the Austrian armies, which would have enabled the in-
vaders to establish a solid, intrenched line on the Valievo plain.

On the 19th the Austrian batteries were dislodged from the heights
they had won on the Tser ridge. This put all the controlling points in
Serbian hands again. On August 20, the Austrians in the valleys were
in a hopeless case. The Serbians swarmed down on them. The Aus-
trians fled, leaving arms, ammunition, guns, provision, prisoners,
wounded and everything else, fleeing panic-stricken for the Drina River
which they had proudly crossed in force ten days before.

By the 21st only the Austrian army remained which had crossed
to the north at Shabatz, over the Save. Three days ' sharp fighting dis-
heartened this army also, and on August 24 the last Austrian trench
was evacuated and the last unwounded Austrian soldiers retreated
to their own country. The first Austrian invasion of Serbia had been
an utter and a ghastly failure. Over 6,000 men had been killed, 4,000
prisoners had been taken, together with 40 guns, scores of machine
guns and huge stores of ammunition. The Serbian losses had been
heavy also, 3,000 dead and 15,000 wounded. It had been a costly,
though a glorious victory.

Austria's Second Invasion Stopped.

The Second Austrian invasion closely resembled the first. It
began at the same points and resulted in the same tactics. Warned
by the first defeat, however, the Austrian commanders contented them-
selves with making and holding small gains. The fighting was fierce
and personal. Old wartimes seemed to have come again. Huge stones
were rolled down the hills on advancing troops, soldiers hid behind
trees to stab or shoot individually, men grappled and fought with
knives and teeth. Again the invasion was stopped. All attempts to
gain the Valievo Plain were fruitless, but Austria had effected a
lodgement on the Serbian side of the Drina. It had cost her 150,000
men. Trench warfare at once commenced, as on the Aisne, with the
resultant deadlock.

For six weeks Austria prepared a third, and, as she supposed, a
final blow. She realized to the full now, the difficulties that she would

134 SERBIA UNDER THE STEEL-SHOD HEEL

have to face. Day after day there poured across PImigary all the
mountain artillery,*^ mules and Tyrolean troops that could be mustered.
The regiments formed of peasants, which could be used in mass drives
on the western front, were sent thither, and crack regiments were
brought down from the Russian front. The first two invasions were
to be but skirmishes, compared with this third campaign.

The Third Invasion a Disaster to Austria.

The great Austrian attack was launched on November 15, 1914, and,
after several days of careful ''feeling out" the Serbian positions,
overpowering masses of men, backed by a heavy concentration of ar-
tillery, were hurled at this long defense line from three different points.
On November 20 and 21 the center of the Serbian line resisted, being
beaten back from mountain point to mountain point, but on the second
day it collapsed. Elsewhere the line held and repulsed the Austrian
advance. On the 24th the southern end of the line was broken. The
army near Ushitze was compelled to retire as far as the Gionjagora
Mountains, at the head of the Western Morava Valley. Only in the
north, along the Kolubara River, had the Austrians not been able
to advance.

Under a new commander the Serbian Army changed its tactics.
General Mishitch, believing that Balkan troops were better fitted for
the Balkan form of fighting than for this defensive holding of line
after line, with the suddenness of a thunderbolt shot the supposed
discredited central araiies right at the very strongest point of the
Austrian lines. It took a bloody three days to win Suvobor, but the
Austrians were no match for the Serbians the moment the conflict came
to close quarters. The first invasion had ended in a flight, the second
in a rout, the third became a disaster.

The news acted like strong ^vine. All along the Serbian lines
the success intoxicated the men. They leaped from their trenches and
fell on the Austrians, helter-skelter, every^vhere. Batteries lolloped
forward and took up new positions on their own initiative, the cavalry
galloped shouting over paths used only by goats and sabred the
enemy at unexpected corners. Ravines suddenly became machine
gun nests whence poured an enfilading fire on the fleeing Austrians.

ihe colonel of a Serbian regiment begged his men to halt and rest.
They shouted, -Fighting is meat and sleep!" and rushed on. There

SERBIA UNDER THE STEEL-SHOD HEEL 135

was no resisting such a storm of fighting. Even Valievo, though
strongly intrenched, fell after six hours, broken remnants of once
proud regiments ran like flurried hares to their old crossing places at
Loznitsa and Shabatz. The mountain roads were a litter of dead and
wounded, of rifles and knapsacks thrown away, of deserted guns, of
ammunition, of stores, of transport wagons.

Still set on victory, the Serbians swung north. The Austrians'
made a firm stand around Belgrade. But now, not one, but all the
Serbian armies were concentrating at this point. Here the Austrians
fought bravely, but were forced back, foot by foot, mile by mile.

P'or two days the Austrians held their lines. It was in vain, the
Serbians felt themselves invincible. Old King Peter went to the front
with his men. They charged and charged again, into the teeth of the
wonderfully well-served Austrian artillery. At last only 10,000 Mag-
yars were left to defend the hill of Torlak, above Belgrade. This was
a battle to the death. In the swamps below and in the heights above,
man strove with man. The shooting died away. The fight went on
in the dark and silence. Men strangled and stabbed and clubbed each
other there. As many Serbians fell as Magyars, but when dawn came
there was not a Magyar left unwounded on that hill.

Diplomatic Strife in the Balkans.

The third invasion of Serbia was ended, but 100,000 Austrians
never recrossed the Drina and Save Rivers. They lay buried — or
unburied on Serbian soil or interned in Serbian prison camps. Many
died of the virulent epidemic of typhus that swept over Serbia the
following summer. It was the worst of the plagues that came during
the world war, and in parts of Serbia the death rate was as high
as half the entire population. America, among other countries, sent
hundreds of thousands of dollars and threw a vast Red Cross force
into the work, but they were all too few. The conquest that Austria
could not make was done by the hand of disease.

The summer of 1915 in the Balkans was one of diplomatic rather
than military strife. Both sides tried to bribe Roumania, both sides
tried to bribe Bulgaria, both sides tried to bribe Greece. Serbia was
approached by Germany with a quite flattering offer for a separate
peace, but she refused to consider it. In August Bulgaria signed a
secret Alliance with Germany.

i;jU SERBIA UNDER THE STEEL-SHOD HEEL

In September General von Mackensen, who had been extraordinar-
ily successful in his Russian operations, was sent down to take charge
of the Serbian campaign. For a long time this was unknown. All
the German dispatches still continued to associate von Mackensen's
name with the Russian operations that the secret of preparation
against Serbia might be well kept. The chancelleries of the Allied
Powers grew suspiciously alert. On October 1, 1915, reports were
sent out that German and Austrian officers were arriving in the Bul-
garian capital. On October 3 Russia notified Sofia that friendly
relations would be broken off unless all enemy officers left the city
within 24 hours. Bulgaria returned no reply. The Russian minister

left next day. _

But something louder than diplomacy, though not deadlier, was
beginning to roar over and near Belgrade. The first shells flew on
September 20 ; German aeroplanes began to appear in the Serbian sky.
Day by day the shells grew more numerous and the black-crossed birds
of evil omen flew thicker. On October 3, the day that Russia sent
an ultimatum to Bulgaria, bombardment in the full sense of the word
began and the departure of Russia's minister from Sofia chorded
well in its dark augury with the death-storm of high-explosive shell.

Germany Advances on Serbia.

Serbia had defied Austria successfully. Three invasions had failed.
She was not to be allowed to defy Germany. Von Mackensen had not
planned in vain. Two huge armies faced the Save and the Danube,
each of 150,000 men, picked veterans. Over 2,000 big guns had been
brought down from Russia, to play their part. On her part, Serbia
had not been idle. Nine months of comparative peace had been spent
in digging trenches, fortifying positions, storing munitions and train-
ing every man able to hold a rifle. Her armies, also, amounted to
300,000 men. If Bulgaria kept out of the fray, the situation was
almost equal, for the greater artillery force of the German-Austrian
armies would be counterbalanced by the stronger position held by the
Serbians. Von Mackensen, however, had the advantage of offering
battle at whatever point he chose and therefore could concentrate more
men at that point.

On October 5, 1915, the Germans set themselves to destroy Bel-
grade by long-distance bombardment. They first laid down a curtain

SERBIA UNDER THE STEEL-SHOD HEEL 137

of fire on the further side of the city to prevent the fli.^bt of the in-
habitants, then shelled the city not only with high-explosive shells but
also with inflammatory bombs. The city was set ablaze in a dozen
places. On October 6, although two landing parties were killed to
a man, the Germans finally crossed near the city. They brought their
heavy guns over, raked the river and shattered all defensive works.
On October 7 and October 8, the Austrian troops attacking on the
west of the city, also secured entrance. Belgrade was taken October
9, but the defending army retreated in good order to solidly built
trendies. On the 9th, 10th and 11th, all along the Danube, Save and
Drina Rivers, reserves poured over. Serbia was unable to fight on
every point at once, and withdrew from the frontier to the fortified
lines, which she held in spite of poison gas attacks, liquid fire and all
the other ingenuities of horror that German chemists had invented
to add to the terrors of war.

Serbia Doomed Through Non-Assistance,

Then, at Serbia's back, without notice, Bulgaria plunged into the
fray. For a week, Balkan fighting tactics resumed their old sway.
But, day by day, the Bulgars drove the Serbs back, outnumbered two
to one, and on October 17 and October 20 they cut the main railroad
from Saloniki to Nish at two points. The Serbians retreated to Ba-
buna Pass, north of Uskub, which became known as one of the most
heroic stands of the war.

None the less, Serbia was doomed. With the main railroad cut
no supplies could make their way up to the Serbs in the north. Von
Mackensen drove on slowly, but remorselessly. The Serbs made every
advantage they could out of the rocky and rugged character of the
ground, but the terrific German artillery fire leveled the trenches.
When those were untenable, the Serbs moved back and dug others.
The artillery rolled on and commenced the destruction anew. Soon
the Serbian artillery found itself short of shells. The Balkan tactics
of savage personal onslaught, which had proved so potent during the
three earlier Austrian invasions, were useless now. The Germans did
not advance until they had made trenches that were sown with ma-
chine guns and the machine gun knows no fear. The wild, reckless
attacks of the Serbs might have been as destructive, had they reached

i;}8 SERBIA UND m THE STEEL-SHOD HEEL

the trenches. But they never reached. Shrapnel and machine g^un
fire answered cold steel.

In the south, Serbia was holding out with marvellous tenacity.
The Austrian troops operating to the south, found tTiemselves halted
at every point by the Serbs. The Bulgars, gnashing their teeth with
rage, could get no farther. And meanwhile, steadily creeping up from
the Mediterranean, a small French force sought to overthrow a Bul-
garian x\rmy which stood between them and a junction with the Serbs.
This army was under General Sarrail, the hero of Verdun. Once,
indeed, he got so near as to hear the sound of the Serbian cannon, only
ten miles away, in the heroic defense of the Babuna Pass.

Serbia Conquered After Terrific Resistance.

On November 2 the Bulgarian main army, supported by German
artillery, opened the attack on Nish, the Serbian capital since the
beginning of the war. The city was at that very time decorated with
the Allied colors and flags were floating everywhere, for it was ex-
pected that a large force of English and French troops would enter
the city in a day or two. The French were doing their best. The
British were down by Lake Doiran. On November 5 Nish fell, and
with it came the surest evidence that all was lost for Serbia. Gen.
von Mackensen now controlled all north Serbia, all of western Serbia
was in Austrian hands, all of eastern Serbia was in the hands of the
Bulgarians, and only a little corner in the south still kept up the heroic
resistance.

This centered at Babuna Pass, a point which will go down in
history with the Pass of Thermopylae. Five thousand Serbs, without
artillery, defied 20,000 Bulgarians, backed by German gunnery. ''Day
after day and night after night," writes Reynolds, ''the little force of
Serbians crouched among the deep shadows of the defile, sometimes
without food, always under a heavy fire, now and again making the
rock cliffs about them echo with bursts of their plaintive national
folk-songs. After November 4, 1915, the Bulgarian attacks became
more persistent, and their infantry would hurl itself into the pass;
then the Serbians would spring up from behind rocks and ledges and
throw themselves at their hated kinsmen (they are not kinsmen, how-
ever) with naked bayonets, shouting such words in their foe's language
as would send the flush of rage burning through the cheeks of men

SERBIA UNDER THE STEEL-SHOD HEEL 139

and make things red before their eyes. Again and again were these
sanguinary hand-to-hand struggles enacted under the towering rock
walls of those mountains, and again and again were the Bulgarians
thrown back."

They heard, every now and again, the sound of the French guns
striving to reach them. A wind blowing from the south would seem
to bring a promise of victory, a counter-breeze would carry away the
hope. Sarrail and his French fought stubbornly and well, but they
were few and the Bulgars were many. A stubborn French victory
cost 4,000 men, but Bulgarian reenforcements arrived daily. The
Serbs could hold Babuna Pass no longer and fell back on Prilep. And,
steadily, Austrian armies, German armies and Bulgarian armies rolled
on step by step. The Serbs now had no ammunition, no food. Winter
lay chill on the high hills. On November 20, 1915, the last Serb
force left Serbian land, not to return until the last year of the war.

It was a blow of terrible portent to the allies. The main railroad
from Berlin to Constantinople was open. German munitions and Ger-
man troops could go to Turkey. Teuton lands stretched from the
North Sea to the Dardanelles. The great goal of Pan-Germanism was
in sight. Suez was threatened. The Holy Land awaited the rule of
the Mailed Fist. Asia Minor, with all her riches, lay open for exploita-
tion. The line to Bagdad could be rushed to completion, and India
was menaced. All this and more was contained in the news that the
French could not reach Babuna Pass and that Serbia, as Serbia, was
no more. She was a conquered land, with not an inch of her soil
remaining to her people.

CHAPTER XI.

FIGHTING ON THE ROOF OF EUROPE.

Italy's Entrance Into the War— Strategic Passes Into Austria— The Dolomites— The Battles of the Isonzo
—Aerial Railways in the Julian Alps— The Bridgehead of Goritzia— The Carso— Feats of the Bersag-
lieri— The Dead-Line to Trieste.

THE diplomatic reasons which lay behind Italy's severance with
the ''Unholy Alliance" and the question of ''Italia Irredenta,"
together with the political civil war which raged over the question of
neutrality, are to be found in a later chapter in this book. Condensed
into a couple of phrases it may be said that Italy entered the war
oflSciaJly because "the independence of Serbia was considered by Italy
as essential to Balkan equilibrium" and because while admitting soma
concessions in the Trentino, "the Austro-Hungarian government per-
sisted in its opposition to all our other demands, especially those re-
garding the boundary of the Isonzo, Trieste and the islands."

The Italian- Austrian frontier as it was at the opening of the war
may be divided into five parts: The Rhaetian Alps from the Swiss
border to the lower Trentino, with the passes near the Swiss border;
the lower Trentino, where the mountains slope down toward the plain ;
the eastern side of the Trentino or the Dolomite Alps; facing toward
Vienna, the inaccessible heights of the Carnic Alps ; and facing toward
the Balkans the foothills of the Julian Alps with the Isonzo River run-
ning between the Italian border and the high ridge which runs down to
Fiume. War between Austria and Italy, therefore, confined itself of
necessity to mountain actions for the control of the passes through
these rugged regions. Modem war requires modern artillery, which
is enoimously heavy in itself and which requires a constant supply of
heavy shells. The Italian War, therefore, was different in its char-
acter and manner of operation from that of any other part of the battle
front.

On May 24, 1915, Italy's declaration of war against Austria-
Hungary became effective. Austria retorted by aerial bombardment
of Venice and the next day five Italian armies attacked the Austrian

140

FIGHTING ON THE ROOF OF EUKOPE 141

frontier at five different points. Commencing near the Adriatic, one
army struck out along the railway to Monfalcone and succeeded in
capturing that important point on June 10. Monfalcone being an im-
portant railway junction and the seat of the electrical works which
operate the light and power of the great Austrian port of Trieste, its
seizure was of the highest importance.

Next to the north, another Italian army invaded Austria by the
Udine-Cormons Railroad and by June 4 had succeeded in gaining pos-
session of the heights near the fortified city of Goritzia. A third army,
striking in at the southernmost pass of the Camic Alps, was faced by
a strong Austrian army near Tolmina, and the first serious battle on
that front occurred on June 7, 1915. A fourth army, in the extreme
north, swept the Austrians from Monte Croce and seized Feikofel.

Sharp Fighting Between Italians and Austrians,

In the Trentino, as the southern part of the Austrian territory is
called, where it dips like a triangle into Italy, a fifth army advanced
unchecked until June 17, when it found itself confronted by a strong
line of fortifications between Rovereto and Mori. On the same day
the armies advancing on the Isonzo River were brought to a sudden
halt by an elaborate series of Austrian entrenchments, holding that river.

By the end of July the Italian- Austrian conflict had advanced suf-
ficiently to show that Goritzia was the Verdun of that whole campaign.
The Italian cl^arges on the fortified lines on the Isonzo and the en-
trenched camps of Goritzia were as desperate as the mass-drives of the
Germans against the Rheims-Verdun-Toul line. Moreover, the de-
fences of the Isonzo were tenfold stronger than any point on the western
front.

Approximately thirty important outpost positions were stormed
during June and July, and August 1 found the Italians firmly estab-
lished at several points on the east of the Isonzo River. The main de-
fenses of Goritzia and Trieste were as yet untaken, and the main Aus-
trian line of defense remained intact. The Austrian losses had been far
heavier than the Italian, although the latter had taken the offensive.

So picturesque was this fighting that one is tempted to stop and
give incidents. Only one will be given, chosen by the writer because it
portrays the wide difference between the fighting in this theatre of
war and others which have been described. On the western front

142 FIGHTING ON THE ROOF OF EUROPE

the battles began with mass drives and afterwards turned to trench
warfare ; in the Balkans, irregular hand-to-hand melees were frequent.
In the Dolomites, Alpine and Carso plateau fighting, there was far
more of individual warfare and brilliant feats by small groups. It
called for the high-hearted courage which Italian soldiers know so
well to display.

The incident in question was the capture of the peak of Zellenkoffel,
a most important observation point for the direction of firing, but
supposedly inaccessible. After the Austrians had lost Freikofel and
Cresta Verde it became urgent to seize Zellenkoffel, on which the
Austrians, with terrible difficult}^— even though not under fire— had
succeeded in establishing an observation post. It was held by forty
men. This was deemed sufficient force for the reason that the entire
slope of the peak — it would be nearer the truth to say the sheer precipice
of the peak — was swept by machine gun fire.

Tyroleans Execute Marvelous Deeds.

On the night of July 3, however, twenty-nine men, every one of
them trained Alpine climbers, among them eighteen Alpine guides,
who had spent their lives leading climbing parties up the most dan-
gerous summits of the Alps, undertook the dislodgment of the Aus-
trians on Zellenkoffel. They were roped. In the black dark, without
showing a light or making a sound, the twenty-nine Alpinists climbed
the thousand feet sheer. Not only that, but they actually pulled a
machine gun up with them.

The extraordinary daring of this mountain work was by no means
confined to the Italians. The Tyroleans covered themselves with
equal glory. The story of how a hundred Tyroleans cut an ice tunnel
through the Monte Adamelle glacier in mid-July and seized the Tonale
Pass ranks vnth the greatest of the Italian marvels. Both Austrian
and Italian engineers and artillerists worked wonders in bringing to
the top of supposed impassable mountains huge guns and howitzers,
weighing over a ton. Beside such extraordinary examples of the
miracles to be done by human power unaided by machinery, the build-
ing of the Pyramids of Eg\'pt sinks into insignificance.

The entire autumn and winter of 1915-1916 saw little change in
the situation so far as great gains of territory were concerned.
Six months' fighting in the Trentino had demonstrated that no fur-

FIGHTING ON THE ROOF OF EUROPE 143

ther advance could be made there by Italy. Even if the Adige Pass
were taken, with the enormous loss of life it would require, other
passes lay behind, and still further north was the famous Brenner
Pass which Austria could undoubtedly hold for ever. Along the Carnic
Alps, on the northern frontier, the condition was practically the same.
This left the Isonzo section as the one point against which all
Italian efforts should best be directed, and similarly, on which all
Austrian defensive tactics should be maintained. The battlefront,
so far, had changed to little advantage on either side, except at Isonzo,
where Italy had bitten in at two points toward the great defensive bar-
riers of the Julian Alps. On the other hand, the Isonzo,. though the
most vulnerable point, was of disheartening difficulty. None the less,
unless the Goritzia defenses of the Isonzo were taken, it would not
be safe for Italy to make an attack on Trieste.

Goritzia Much Desired by the Italian Army.

Goritzia is at the northern end of an oval plateau, north from
which the Isonzo River enters a canyon. On the Italian side of the
northern end of this oval stands the spur of Podgoro, which changed
hands four times during that winter. Overlooking the bridgehead
is the important height of Oslavia, which the Italians won in Decem-
ber, 1915, lost in January, gained again towards the end of January
and lost the month after. In the early winter the heights on the
Italian, southern, end of this oval, San Michele and San Martine
di Carso, also came into Italian hands. The whole of the opposite
side of the oval, forming the line of the Julian Mountains, was never
in danger. The Austrians held powerful trench and commanding ar-
tillery positions all the time. Bombardments were continuous and
without cessation. Both sides constantly strove to gain the advantage
on this mountain slope or that. But all this time Goritzia remained
in Austrian hands.

Italian strategy, originally, had counted on the help of Serbia.
The plan had been first, a checking of Austrian invasion at the moun-
tain passes ; and second, a quick sweep into Istria and Dalmatia, with
the occupation of the ports from which and by means of which the
Italian armies purposed to join Serbia and invade Hungary. All this
plan was negatived by the strength of the Austrian defenses at Goritzia
and the Julian Alps.

144 FIGHTING ON THE ROOF OF EUROPE

TIk' winter campaigns of 1915-1916 were attended with extraor-
dinary difficulties. When the snows thawed in the spring, revealing
layer upon layer of bodies, deposited on the snow in successive attacks ;
hiyer upon layer of ever newly-built barricades, all sinking with the
melting snow into an appalling tangle of barbed wire, stakes and
human remains, it was difficult to imagine that such conditions could
be surpassed on any part of the battlefronts. Fortunately, most for-
tunately for Italy, the strong clear air of the mountains carried off
disease.

The Italians Lose the Hard-Fought-for Trentino.

The deadlock continued until May, 1916, with gains alternating
on both sides, but in that month the Austrians concentrated all their
forces for a drive in the Trentino region. The concentration of the
bombardment began on May 15, 1916, and the town of Asiago was
shelled from long-range shots fired from a 15-inch naval gun. The
Alpine troops, suffering heavily under the bombardment of the
trenches, charged forward three times, but the old story of human
effort against machine guns brough the same old answer. The loss
of life was enormous. The Austrian infantry charged also with great
gallantry, and in far greater number than the Italian. They lost
heavily also, but the preponderant masses of the Austrians were so
great that the Italians had to abandon their lines.

The Italians were driven from their positions, hurled back from
the advance they had made into Austria and forced down the hill-
sides, fighting for every yard of earth. By the end of the first week of
the drive, all that the Italians had gained by a year's fighting in the
Trentino was lost. On and down plunged the Austrians, with a terrible
concentration of artillery until the Italian frontier was reached and
crossed. By May 26, 1916, two Austrian armies were sweeping down
into Italy, one attacking Arsiero, the other threatening Vicenza through
Schio. By June 1 Asiago was evacuated by the Italians and the de-
tendors took up a last position on the hills to the east. The Austrian
advance now menaced the entire Venetian plain.

It was a crucial week, the first week of June, for, in order that
the drive mto the plain might be continued, the Austrians must forego

r^ Ku'T' ^^^^^^^^^ ^^^r^i^g by their position of coming down
the hdl. They must begin to fight in the open. The result was the

FKiHTiNG ON THE ROOF OF EUROPE 145

adoption of Berlin tactics, rather than those of Vienna, namely, mass
drives against trenches. But, as occurred over and over again in
the world war, offensives of the mass drive character possess extraor-
dinary potency only at the beginning, so long as they are under the
protection of the vast curtains of fire* Heavy artillery, however, can
never keep pace with the drive, and hence an offensive is compelled to
slow up after a certain ratio of advance.

This was exactly what happened in the Austrian advance from
the Trentino. Austrian assaults on Italian positions on June 6 and
7 were repulsed with heavy loss. The Austrian offensive had then
gained 35,000 prisoners and 300 cannon, the latter a heavy blow to
Italian efficiency. Casualties on the Italian side were placed at 80,000
men. But the drive had spent its force. Posina, Arsiero and Asiago
were within Austrian grasp, but the offensive lacked the driving force
to grasp them securely. Vincenza was only twenty miles away, but
those twenty miles were as unreachable as though the distance had
been two hundred.

The Tunnel of Monte Sabotino.

The Italians counter-attacked furiously. Austrian consolidation,
though good, was insufficient to do more than check the Italian offen-
sive. It would only confuse the reader to treat of this counter-offensive,
peak by peak, suffice it to say that between June 15 and August 15^
1916, the Italians regained nearly all the territory that they had lost
during the Austrian offensive, and once more established themselves on
strategic positions which defended the Venetian plain. The new battle
line on that frontier was, on an average, not more than a mile or two
from the frontier of Italy.

Naturally, the Austrian offensive in the Trentino was synchronized
with an Austrian offensive on the Isonzo, near Goritzia. In the latter
campaign, however, the Austrians had no success. They lost many
men and gained only a few minor heights. Naturally, also, the success
of the responding Italian offensive would be paralleled with an offensive
on Goritzia, to keep the Austrians engaged at both ends of the line at
the same time. This was remarkably successful, resulting in the fall
of Goritzia.

During the summer a tunnel 838 feet long had been drilled in the

solid rock through Monte Sabotino, without a hint of the operations

in— w. L.

146 FIGHTING ON THE ROOF OF EUROPE

having reached the Austrians. Suddenly, early in the morning of
Aiiguf.t 6 the end of this tunnel was blasted clear and the opening
vomited Italian soldiers. Men darted to every point of the mountain
and set on fire the dry scrubby undergrowth. Masked by the low roll-
in? smoke of the burning bushes, the Italians swarmed into and stormed
the intricate series of tunnels, trenches and galleries which the Aus-
trians had constructed on Monte Sabotino. The whole position, deemed
impi egnable, was taken in twenty minutes, even before the full measure
of the offensive had become known to the Austrian command. It was
a lightning stroke and gave the Italians immediate command of a power-
ful gun position. Every detail had been worked out in advance, and
with the capture of Monte Sabotino, the tunnel swarmed with bat-
teries as ants rush out of a hole made in an ant-hill. By noon, the
western bank of the Isonzo was untenable for the Austrians, and,
in one wild and victorious rush, supported by their artillery rapidly
falling into place on Monte Sabotino, the Italians rushed Monte San
Michele and secured absolute artillery control of the Goritzia bridge-
head. Three days' fighting had gained them the territory for which
they had fought more than a year in vain.

Steady Advancement of the Italians.

On August 9, 1916, occurred one of the most hotly contested
battles in the whole world war, the fight on the bridge over the Isonzo
at Goritzia. It was a breathless whirlwind of attack, so furious that
the opposing regiments were all entangled in each other. Horse, foot
and artillery fought in confusion. At last the Austrians broke and
Goritzia fell into Italian hands. To the north a similar violent offensive
carried the Italians within gunfire of the important point of Tolmino,
but they could reach no further, nor did they shell the town.

A winter marked by heavy snows put a stop to all big offensives
from either side. Not a week passed without a minor engagement,
of course, for in all mountain fighting, as has been shown, sometimes
a small attack by a few men will succeed in gaining a height of great
importance, either as an observation point, or, even more often, as a
point from which cables may be stretched for an aerial railway, either
to bring up provisions and shells or to send down wounded for hospital
care in the valleys below.

These aerial railways, like spiders ' webs flung from peak to peak,

FIGHTING ON THE ROOF OF EUROPE 1-17

were the Italian highways of the war. Italian engineers are rightly
accounted among the greatest in the world. Americans have not
always realized that the standard of technical training in French and
Italian universities is far and away higher than in German. A degree
from Milan is worth three times as much as one from Heidelberg.

The spring thaws of 1917 stopped fighting for nearly a month.
It was not until the middle of May that hostilities recommenced on
a large scale. May 14, 1917, brought about a somewhat curious situa-
tion. So heavy was the bombardment that day that it presupposed
the beginning of an Austrian offensive. The Italian commanders,
however, had also planned an offensive on that day.

Determining to take the bull by the horns, the Italians were thrown
forward in the very fury of this terrific fire. This high-hearted au-
dacity gained its reward. Unprepared for fierce infantry assault,
four separate heights, which were supposed to be impregnable, were
rushed by the Italians. It only took the Austrians forty-eight hours,
however, to stiffen their resistance to such effect that the Italian drive
was stopped. Twelve batteries of British artillery aided in this ad-
vance, which was resumed three days later and continued in a tornado
of fury for a fortnight.

Several Important Events That Happened.

The result was the same as the preceding autumn. The Italians
advanced steadily and repulsed all counter-attacks. A most sensa-
tional attack on a famous Austrian position at Castagnievizza resulted
in the capture of a main highway suppljang the Austrian lines and also
four strategic heights of commanding importance. But, by this time,
the force of the Italian blow was weakening. Austrian counter-attacks
began to show gains. South of Jamiano, the Italians were driven back,
and during June the whole character of the battle operations in the
Goritzia and Car so sectors was devoted to a straightening and strength-
ening of the line. On the Trentino, likewise, artillery duels consumed
the energies of both sides.

Meanwhile, several important events had happened in the world
war as a whole. Russia had gone to pieces. Greece was swinging to
the Allies. Roumania had made up her mind to go against the Central
Powers— and had suffered for it. Biggest and most important of all
in its moral effect, the United States had declared war on Germany

148 FIGHTING ON THE ROOF OF EUROPE

and tlie Teuton High Command was beginning to realize that it might
not be all ''a bluff."

The Asiatic nations, Bulgaria and Turkey, were beginning to
wonder whether they had not picked the wrong horse to win. If Ger-
many was to hold her allies in the Balkans and the Near East, it was
necessary to secure another sweeping victory. To do so in the west had
proved impossible, and, in any case, the influence in the Near East would
be more potent if the victory were nearer home.

Serbia had defied Austria until Germany undertook the campaign.
Italy had defied Austria. Obviously, therefore, Germany must enter
the campaign. From many points of view, but especially that of its
effect on the Near East, Germany's next move must be a drive at
Italy. With Treachery as her herald, Germany struck, and struck
hard.

CHAPTER XII.

THE HEROIC DEFENSE OF THE PIAVE.

Sudden Smashing Descent of the Invaders Into the Italian Plains— Propaganda and Treachery— Venice
Threatened— A Human Barrier to the Guns— Allied Rush to the Support— Italian Mastery of the
Air— Collapse of Austria— Heights Re-won by Sheer Gallantry.

FOR two years the world had stood amazed at Italy's relentless
straggle on the Alpine heights and her feats of daring had become
proverbial. Even when the Austrians had descended from the Tren-
tino, she had succeeded in driving them back up the mountains with a
loss of 80,000 men. Suddenly, with a fall that shook the Allied cause
to its foundations, the Italian line broke and went to pieces. The Ger-
mans and Austrians plunged down into the plain and for some weeks
the issue as to whether Italy would be overrun by the Teutons trem-
bled in the balance.

Such a disaster could not come without sharp and definite causes.
These causes were three in number, propaganda, treacheiy and over-
confidence. Space is scant to go into the details of each of these, but
a word or two must be said.

German propaganda was the first force. For nearly a year the
Italian troops on the Tolmino front had not been changed. It was
known that the Italian plan of attack was southwards from Goritzia
rather than northwards through Tolmino. This sector was generally
quiet. The Italians had begun to fraternize with the Austrians. See-
ing this, Germany and Austria drafted numbers of agents as soldiers
in the Austrian lines with instructions to spread socialistic doctrines
among the Italians. The crisis of this propaganda arrived when the
Austrians printed forged copies of newspapers purporting to be the
daily papers of Naples and Genoa, containing reports of socialist
riots in those cities and of British troops, summoned to restore order,
firing on defenseless women and children in the streets.

The treacherous part in the demoralization of the Italian armies
was done by the Camorrists. The Camorra, as is well known, is the

149

150 THE HEROIC DEFENSE OF THE PI AVE

most important political agency in Italy, a secret society with a sin-
ister reputation, strongly inclined towards socialism, anarchy and
pacificism. There is not a city in Italy that has not one or more
branches of the Camorra, not a political party in which its agents are
not found, not a branch of Italian life in any class that is unaffected.
The Camorrists are fecund material for the growth of Bolshevism in
Italy. They played their part in destroying the morale of the war-
woarv soldiers.

Defeat of the Second and Third Italian Armies.

On Sunday, October 21, a heavy artillery fire began on the Plezzo-
Tolmino front. Italian artillery observers soon recognized that the
shells were mainly German rather than Austrian. Under cover of this
bombardment, the Austrian regiments which had been fraternizing with
the Italians were removed and German shock troops, fresh, rested
and well-prepared, were substituted. On October 24, with unexpected
abruptness, the Germans charged. The Second Italian Army, utterly
demoralized, gave way at once. Some regiments fled, some threw down
their arms and surrendered without fighting. They expected to find
Austrian brotlier-socialists, they found German fighting men instead.
Through the huge hole made by the failure of the Second Army,
the Germans, supported by Austrians, burst in huge numbers. The
line was not driven back. It was pierced. It is to be remembered
that a battle line pierced is in a desperate case, for the armies on
either side of the gap are immediately flanked, and a flanked army can
be eaten up at leisure. This piercing tactics put the Germans to flank
and rear of the Third Italian Army, which had fought heroically inch
by inch for Goritzia and the Carso plateau. AU that gain had to
be abandoned in a moment, or the army would be trapped and anni-
hilated.

The retreat of the Third Army ranks with the great military
retreats of the war. ''The enemy maintained his terrific fire upon
the Italian communications," wrote a spectator, "so that the troops
withdrew into the tornado of shells of every kind that makes a hell
of war. Gas shells loosed vapors that haunted the roads invisibly;
acid shells set the men suddenly gasping and strangling; tear-produc-
ing shells half blinded them. Nothing could have brought them help
but the dozen rear-guard actions roaring and flaming at their heels,
and superb and long-confirmed discipline."

THE HEROIC DEFENSE OF THE PIAVE 151

Tt was a masterly retreat, but none the less it was a terrible one.
On October 27 the Italians saw that it was hopeless to try and hold
any part of the line. On October 28 the Austrian-German armies took
Goritzia. On October 30 Udine, which had been the Italian General
Headquarters, fell into enemy hands, and the Austrians were pushing
forward hard. Between them and Venice lay three rivers, the Taglia-
mento, the Livenza, and the Piave, all running from the Alps to the
sea. South of Venice flowed the Brenta River, running into the Dolo-
mites north of Asiago. Any one of these rivers might be taken up
as new defense lines by the Italians.

On November 1 the Italians halted on the Tagliamento, and estab-
lished a defense line, as strong as the rapid preparations would
allow. But it could not be held. Too many guns had been left behind
in the retreat. The army itself was only making connections with diffi-
culty. The armies to the north, in the Venetian Alps, finding them-
selves being flanked, had to surrender their long-held strategic natural
fortresses and descend into the plain.

Germans and Austrians Held by Piave Defenses.

The Tagliamento line could not be maintained. On November 6
the Germans and Austrians crossed in at least forty points, several
Italian detachments being cut off. By November 8 the whole line of
the Tagliamento was in German hands, and the number of prisoners
taken since the beginning of the rout on October 24 had reached the
appalling number of 250,000. Over two thousand guns had been cap-
tured, a large proportion of Italy's heavy artillery. At this point a
change was made in the Italian command, General Diaz replacing
General Cadoma. It was Diaz's plan not to attempt to hold the River
Livenza, which had few natural advantages, but to fall back on the
third line, the River Piave.

The second phase of the German invasion of Italy began with three
simultaneous drives, one by frontal attack on the lower Piave, one by
rear attack from the Trentino to Asiago and the third down the Cadore
River (a tributary of the Piave) on the city of Belluno. As always,
these drives began with successes. Asiago was taken on November 10.
Belluno fell on November 11. But when, on November 12, the Austrian-
German armies made a united attack and tried to pierce the Italian
line at Feltre, where the River Piave turns, they were thrown back

152 THE HEROIC DEFENSE OF THE PIAVE

with heavy losses. Neither was the frontal attack signaUy successful.
On November 13, indeed, the enemy crossed the Piave near Zenson,
nineteen miles from Venice but, as a whole, the line resisted. The
next day saw the fall of Feltre, menacing the whole Piave line.

Reinforcements, however, were arriving hourly. Some of the
crack French regiments were hurried to the Italian front and the Brit-
ish sent batter}- after battery of artillery. The lower reaches of the
Piave were deliberately flooded, and part of the battleground took on
a curious resemblance to the inundated lands near Ypres. By this
time the Italian troops realized that the single army which had mo-
mentarily failed in its trust had been decoyed by lies and treachery.
Moreover, they were defending their own soil, and they had abundant
evidence of Allied help.

Venice Saved From the Hun.

Like a miracle, the small remaining part of the spirit of disaffec-
tion was exorcised and fighting blood ran hot. The Austrians and the
Germans hurled their men against the Piave defenses as they had
at Verdun — and with the same result. They could not pass. They did
succeed in establishing two menacing salients, one on the Brenta River
near Valstagna, the other on Monte Tomba, controlling a crossing of
the Piave. The French drove back the Germans at the former point
on January- 20-23, 1918, and the Italians wrenched the Austrians from
the height above the river on January 28-31. All the while the sound
of distant shots could be heard in Venice and the bombing aeroplanes
of the Central Powers sent load after load of explosive into the ancient
city, for the impure joy of destruction.

There was no early spring offensive by the Austrians for one good
reason. Germany had found, time and again, that Austrian offensives
alone were of little value. Even Serbia had driven Austria away. An
Italian offensive must be German and Austrian combined. Germany
could have no troops to spare for Italy unless she were successful on
the western front. If successful there, then a drive would be made—
not on the Piave, but west of the Trentino, in order to get at the metal-
lurgical centre there, for Germany was desperately in need of metals.
If unsuccessful, then the offensive would be a local Austrian affair, at
some pomt into the Venetian plain. The Asiago Plateau was one of
the chief points chosen.

THE EtEBOIC DEFENSE OF THE PIATE 153

On June 15, 1918, the Austrians attacked. They were repulsed at
once. The British on the Asiago Plateau, the French at Monte Grappa
and the Italians at other points resisted stoutly. The Austrians claimed
30,000 prisoners and 120 guns for the three days of the offensive, a
puny result (even when thus exaggerated) compared with the an-
nounced goal which was ''the conquest of the Italian plain." ''We
expected you to put Italy out of the war," was the Kaiser's order to
Emperor Karl.

Italy then counter-attacked. Torrential rains aided the Italians,
for the flooded Piave swept away the Austrian bridges and enabled
Italian monitors to come up the river and add naval guns to the fight.
On June 22 the Italian, French and British armies advanced all along
the line. By July 5 there were 300,000 casualties recorded for the
Austrians and on July 6 the Italians drove the last Austrian across
the Piave. All along the line strategic points were stormed and taken.
And then on, from day to day, up that dreaded Alpine stairway climbed
the invader, always with the advantage of position, but never again
to make a foot of advance. July and September saw Venice further
and further from the menace of the Hun.

Allied Forces Drive Austrians Out of Italy.

Meantime, Germany's last offensive at Rheims and Chateau-
Thierry had come. It had come and it had gone. It had found the
Stars and Stripes among the banners on the battle line. If the
American troops in the battle line were an obstacle, the millions drilling
was a threat far more potent. It was the mass of men in uniform, those
in the United States as well as those in Picardy and Champagne, which
lamed the German drive. Each day's news in October told more and
more clearly how Germany was slipping, slipping, on the brink of
crushing defeat. No more reenforcements for Austria now!

And then the thunderbolt!

On October 24, thanks largely to united command, a terrific attack
was made all along the line. The Italians drove at Monte Grappa,
between the Brenta and Piave Eivers; the French, with British artil-
lery, attacked on the Asiago Plateau; the British, with Italian and
British naval support, attacked on the Lower Piave. In the great
drive fifty-one Italian divisions, three British divisions, two French

154 THK HKROIC DEFENSE OF THE PIAVE

divisions, one Czecho-Slovak division and one lone American regiment
attacked sixty-three Austro-Hungarian divisions.

The drive began with terrific vim. On the first day 3,000 prisoners
were taken ; on the second, 10,000, and on the third, 30,000. By October
30 Monte Grappa had been captured, 33,000 prisoners being seized
at that point alone. This cut the Austrian lines in two, and the Italians
took full revenge for the preceding autumn, when their line had been
pierced. The Austrians fled in confusion. From a rout it became a
helter-skelter flight. On November 3 Trent had been taken and the
Italians were in Udine. Chiefest of all, the Italians had secured their
great goal throughout the war. They were in Trieste and the last
Austrian was driven from Italian soil.

Austria threw up her hands. Already, on October 27, when the
drive was only three days old, Emperor Karl had ordered a military
capitulation to General Diaz. On October 29 an Austrian captain came
forward from the trenches with a white flag. On his rank becoming
known he was curtly bidden to return. The Italian generals would
deal only with properly accredited Austrian generals. On October
30 General von Weber led forward a party of eight naval and military
officers under a flag of truce. Finally, on November 3 General Diaz
signed the armistice, to go into effect at 3 o'clock, November 4, 1918.
Austria w^as out of the war. Turkey had surrendered four days before,
Germany was to surrender a week later.

Italy's military part in the war had been of vital importance to the
Allies. She had stoutly kept the Germans and Austrians from pene-
trating France by the southern door. She had compelled Austria to
maintain a very long and costly line from Switzerland to the sea. She
had taken hundreds of thousands of Austrian prisoners and forced
the employment of an average of 1,500,000 Austrian troops on the
Italian front, troops which might have turned the tide of battle in
the west on some of the many occasions when the Allied line was
stretched to its uttermost. Besides which, Italy had sent troops to the
western front to the Monastir campaign. Stubbornly and gallantly
she maintained her right to be classed as one of the ''Big Four" among
the powers of the world who fought to save civilization from the blood-
stamed hand of the Hun.

CHAPTER XIII.

THE HAIR TRIGGER OF SALONIKI.

Civil War Questions in Greece-^ort Desired by Germans as a Submarine Base— King Constantlne and
Veneziios— Practical Impossibility of Transport Conditlons^Figbtlng in Macedonia— Establisbment
of Allied Supply Bases— Final Collapse of Bulgaria.

THE Saloniki campaign commenced by being one of the great
Allied disappointments of the war. Begun hastily in the hope of
coming to the relief of Serbia, and begun too late, it was an utter
failure at the start. It remained for two years a question of heart-
burnings and trouble and only toward the end did it justify its ex-
istence. Few people, except military and diplomatic oflficials, realized
its importance or the part it played, still less did the public realize,
in the military quiescence of Saloniki, how difficult a part the garrison
had there to play.

AVhy were Allied troops sent to Saloniki in September and October
of 1915? The answer to this question will go far to explain the com-
plicated issues which revolved around that all-important sea-coast
town of Macedonia, which has become one of the greatest fortified
places of the world, a second Verdun or Gibraltar.

First of all. Allied troops were sent to Saloniki to march north
therefrom to the relief of Serbia, which had been invaded from the
south by Bulgarian and German-Bulgarian armies, at the same time
that it had been invaded on the north by a German Army and on the
west by an Austrian Army. The history of Serbia's place in the
war has been told in an earlier chapter. It will be remembered that
on September 30 the bombardment of Belgrade by the Germans was
in progress, that on October 3, the German invasion of Serbia began,
and that, on October 13, the Bulgarians entered Serbian territory and
stabbed their neighbors in the back. Compare these dates with the
landings of Allied troops. The first French detachment landed on
September 30, a British and French Division arrived on October 5;
General Sarrail arrived on October 12, and the first advance was
made October 14.

155

156 THF. HATK TRTCrGER OF SALONIKI

It was just oue day after Serbia was beleaguered on all sides
that the Allies started to aid her. This first hopeless thrust was the
first phase of the Saloniki campaign.

On November 20 the Serbian Army gave up its last vam hope and
began that desperate and awful march over the snow-covered and path-
les's mountains of Albania to try and reach the sea. The half-wild
,loos of the neighborhood formed generally their only food. The Al-
l)anians, frankly or secretly hostile, refused food to the Serbians on
tlieir arrival and shot them from behind on their departure. It was
a ghastly march. It was worse than Napoleon's return from Moscow.
Those who did not find dogs to devour were found by dogs who de-
voured them. Many men w^nt mad. More became so crippled from
frost-bite, starvation and exposure that even though they reached the
Adriatic, they never recovered.

Impregnable Defenses Created at Saloniki.

Yet, in this state, in order to escape the Austrians they were
compelled to march from Scutari to Valona, dysentery-ridden every
one, and in a state of feebleness that passes description. They died
by scores in muddy places in the road, not having strength to lift
their feet, and though the Allies fed them on the way, put ferries
across the rivers, and in hundreds of cases carried the men on their
backs, it was a wan and ghostly 130,000 men who finally reached
Valona and were shipped to the island of Corfu to rest and recuperate.

The second stage in the Saloniki campaign was the transforma-
tion of that somewhat desolate spot on the Aegean sea as a great
intrenched camp in the very heart of the Balkans. It was made more
difficult by the intrigues of the Greeks, enemies of the most treach-
erous sort, all the more dangerous because secret. Incredible labor
and millions of dollars were spent in the creation of impregnable
defenses, constructed not for this war alone, a fact in itself so remark-
able that one well may pause to ask w^hy the Allies considered it worth
while to make a new Gibraltar of Saloniki.

There were many cogent diplomatic reasons. Saloniki has a
good harbor, and forms an excellent naval base. It possesses the
only railroad line running north to tap the Vienna-Constantinople
Kailway. It is within reach of the important point of Monastir. It is
handy to Constantinople. In the event of German or Bulgarian ambi-

THE HAIR TRIGGER OF SALONIKI 157

tions towards the Near East it would be a serious thorn in the side
of such a project. Above all, it is one of the chief keys to the in-
terior of the Balkans which are not approachable from the Adriatic
Sea save by a few almost inaccessible passes through high and rugged
mountains. It opens the Vardar Gate.

Saloniki became necessary to British protection of Suez and
India when the Berlin-to-Bagdad railway almost was realized. Great
Britain made Saloniki the Gibraltar of the Balkans. With England's
navy, it could never be taken from the sea; it would be at least as
difficult as Verdun to capture from the land side. No matter what
happened on the western front, Saloniki was one sure anchor in the
stormy seas of Near East politics.

Roumania Declares War on Austria-Hungary.

The most trenchant question during the summer of 1916, when
this huge intrenched camp had been constructed under conditions of
perfect peace, not a shot having been fired at it, was the question of
Roumania. The Allies were doing their best to bring Roumania in
as their ally, the Central Powers were doing their utmost to keep
her neutral. General Sarrail was eager to clinch the matter by a
successful offensive up the Vardar River Valley. He was ready for
the drive, but Roumania dilly-dallied for weeks. Whereupon, Bulgaria
decided to influence Roumania to the other side by a successful offen-
sive on her part, and, having accurate knowledge of the Allied move-
ments from the Greeks — who always double-crossed both sides — the
Bulgarians attacked from the west on August 17, 1916. The Serbs
holding that sector were beaten back as far as Lake Ostrovo, but, by
August 22, the French troops who had been waiting for the moment
to start on Sarrail 's offensive, had come to the aid of the Serbs
and all future Bulgar attacks were repulsed. This timely aid given,
Sarrail advanced on the Vardar and captured a number of strategic
positions from the Bulgars on August 22, while a strong counter-
attack on the Struma was beaten back, the next day.

These Allied successes had their effect. On August 27 Roumania
declared war against Austria-Hungary and commenced the invasion
of Transylvania, in the manner described in the next chapter. This
was a political move, and a wise one in the event of success ; it was
not a military move and a, most unhappy one in the event of failure.

158 THE HAIK TKIGGEH OF SALONIKI

A powerful southern concentration, to take the Bulgars in the rear,
would have strengthened the Allies immensely and given a relief to
Serbia which might have staved off the fall of the nation long enough
to enable the Allies to reach the beleaguered country in time to be
of real assistance.

Roumaniii thought only of herself and depended on the help of
Russia. The outcome was disastrous. The fall of Serbia, the con-
quest of southern Roumania and the isolation of the Allies at Saloniki
were the result of lack of teamwork in the Balkans in the autumn of
1916. The Central Powers had a common plan, the Allies had none.
This lack of a plan was heightened by the treachery of Russia.

Macedonia a Desert Land.

The entrance of Roumania, although mishandled from a military
point of view, was a great heartener for the Serbs, wiio had ever con-
sidered that their reward from the war should be possession of Mace-
donia, that central battleground of the Balkans which is claimed alike
by Serbia, Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey and Albania. Macedonia, roughly,
is that piece of land included in the Turkish vilayets of Saloniki, Mon-
astir and Kossovo. It is about the same size as Belgium, Holland
and Denmark together, and had at the time of this war a population
of over 2,000,000, about one-half Bulgarian stock, one-quarter Turkish
and the remainder divided between Serb, Albanian and Greek. To
the Serbs the city of Monastir was one of their chief goals, and ac-
cordingly, w^th Allied help, a drive was made, resulting in the capture
of Monastir, November 17, 1916, just a year after the crumpled Serbian
army was making its dreadful way to the coast after the conquest of
their country.

In December, 1916, the French entering Koritza reproclaimed
the independent Republic of Koritza or Albania. That established a
complication. A word or two may be said about Albania. It was
created by the Conference of London in 1913, after the Balkan Wars
and made a principality under the Prince of Wied. During a revo-
lution in May, 1914 (before the opening of the world war) the German
Prince was driven out, a republic proclaimed and Essad Pasha made
President. In September, 1914, Albania declared war on the Austrians,
and throughout the war Essad Pasha remained a loyal ally of the
Entente, flying his nation's flag in Saloniki while his Albanian army

THE HAIR TRIGGER OF SALONIKI 1&9

of 600 men was brigaded with the French. Valona was occupied by
the Italians.

The principal issue of importance during 1917 was the enforced
abdication of King Contantine of Greece on June 12, 1917. In one
of the later chapters of this book, dealing with political and diplo-
matic affairs ,in Greece the significance of this abdication is told
in detail. From a military point of view it was of value since it
added the Greek Army to that of the Allies, but it was of greater
value in that it set to rest the constant fear that the Greek armies
would knife the Allies in the back.

A New Battle Front Established.

At about the same time, Austria announced the independence of
the whole of Albania under Austrian protection, on March 9, 1917;
and on June 3, 1917, Italy proclaimed recognition of ''the unity and
independence of the whole of Albania, under the shield and protec-
tion of the Italian Kingdom," thus supplementing the provisional
republic of Koritza or Albania, proclaimed by the French at Koritza.
It may be mentioned that Italy's action was somewhat disingenuous,
as in her secret treaty signed with the Allies before entering the
war, the partitioning of Albania had been agreed upon.

The arrival of the United States into the war in 1917 and the
elimination of Russia and Roumania turned the attention of the Allies
away from the problems of Serbia and Albania. The concentration
of forces needed on the western front precluded the sending of any
large army to Saloniki at that time.

When the spring of 1918 made movements possible in Saloniki,
however, a new face had come over the war. Instead of the promises
of American troops, the soldiers themselves were beginning to arrive ;
instead of mere threats in Mesopotamia, triumphs were being recorded. "
There was no longer a Russian front, but there was a Bulgarian-
Austrian front, facing the Italian occupation of Avlona on the Adri-
atic Sea and also facing Saloniki on the Aegean Sea, reaching inland,
in this latter case, beyond Monastir.

Action on this front began on May 31, 1918, when Greek troops
advanced and captured strong positions on the Struma River. A
counter-attack on a Serb sector a week later was repulsed with heavy
loss. The Allies had been on the ground too long for any of their

160 THE HAIR TRIGGER OF SALONIKI

defensive lines to be taken. Moreover, they had accumulated vast
stores of supplies aiid munitions, they had built railroads, they had
made highways, they had constructed stone bridges and were pre-
pared to push the kind of campaign which two years before had
been impossible because of the character of the ground to be cov-
ered.

During June, the final snows being off the mountains and the
spring mud having become only of normal depth, the Allies from the
east and the Italians and French from the west commenced to extend
their lines. On July 6, the Albanian campaign opened, on July 9 the
heights near Pohani were carried and on July 10-11, after some sharp
lighting, the Allies linked up a mile 210 miles long from Saloniki to
the Adriatic Sea. A new battle-front had been established.

Aim of the Saloniki Campaign Achieved.

A battle-front is a very different thing from attacks radiating out
from two centers. It is a menace. Once this line was forced, if it
were strong enough not to be pierced, it could advance steadily. With
thousands of transport mules, with the most modem mountain motor
transports, with mountain batteries, with Italian skill in handling
supplies by aerial railways, the campaign proceeded swiftly through
the Albanian mountains. Meanwhile, British and Greek detachments,
operating from the powerful base of Saloniki, were in a position to
push north also. On July 15, the main Austrian defense line was
reached, and a deep salient was driven in at Meran. On July 21, Point
Tozi, a commanding strategical barrier, was taken. In August, further
advance was made.

The Bulgarian smash began on September 15. The whole Bul-
garian front from Lake Doiran to the Vardar Valley fell almost at
once, a line which had remained unbroken since the autunm of 1915.
French, Serbian and Jugo-Slav troops led the drive. On September
16, the first and second line positions fell. The Bulgarians were un-
ready to withstand such a concentration of artillery as now faced them,
still less were their transport conditions such as those that the Allies
had built up in two long years of preparation.

It only took two days more to pierce the third line positions and
on September 18, a huge gap was broken in the Bulgarian line, north-
east of Monastir, lea\dng the road open for an advance into Bulgaria.

(S) Loin. Pub. Inf. From 1. F. S.

A GIANT 16-INCH GUN.
A French Kun mounted on an American armored train and manned by U. S. heavy

artillerymen.

Pr.«id.nt Wif'^^^^'^/S^^^^^"^^ PRESIDENT WILSON ON ARRIVAL. "'" ' ^^ ^■

President Wilson and President Poircare. in procession through the streets of Paris" and

acknowledgmg the plaudits of the crowds.

Photo I. F. S.

THE GERMAN NAVAL FL.EET IN BATTLE FORMATION.

These fine ships surrendered to the Allies. They were kept bottled up, practically, for

four years and then steamed out and surrendered.

Photo I. F. S.
THE SURRENDER OP GERMAN U-BOAT FLEET.
These German submarines are waiting to be escorted into Harwich, England, after their
surrender. The German crews are seen standing on deck.

From U. & U.

Upper — General Pershin
the town of Luxemburg:.

Gene^lTeTiS^tS^DSsrS'ILl^mb^iS^ '" Luxemburg, passin

, ^ , © Com. Pub. Inf.

ana jjuctiess ot Luxemburg reviewing American troops in

in review before

EXPERTS AT HURLING HAND GRENADEH.
The Hun started the use of poisonous gas, grenades, etc., and got strong doses of his own
medicine thrown back on him. Then he wanted to quit.

iintish Utticial Fhoto.

>^»^«>;,

^:-^',/r^:^^

CREEPING ALONG A HEDGE IN NO MAN'S LAND.
Royal Scots in open warfare. When they got the Huns out of the trenches they went
after them with vigor and enthusiasm.

© I. F. S.
DUTCH CASTLE WHERE THE FORMER KAISER HID
The Castle of Middachten, near Arnhem, Holland, owned by Count William Betinck. i
friend of the ex-Emperor and with whom he stayed.

il l'l!„.u.

V rlVi^^^ J^^'^^ THOUSAND GERMAN SOLDIKIiS WERE BURIED
A German Cemetery ne^ Bethune, which was recaptured by The BHti'sh.
The two pictures tell their own stories.

Con;

ST. MIHIEL TAKEN BY THE VICTORIOUS A^IERICAXS.

The upper picture ^shows the firgt batch of Hun prisoners being brought in by American
i-p H soldiers, and the lower an American outpost near bt. .Mime..

*-.

^^--tt.

>.-i:»i-.-«.4'k,-JLJ.

■ 1 i.i. i'upuiai be

AluiiUily," .New York.

LOCATING GUNS BY SOUND.
Microphones such as tliat shown at the end of the dotted lines located no less than sixty-
three German g-uns in one day.

Frank Parker Stockbridge, who describes it in "The Popular Science Monthly"
(New York, December), tells that the hiding-places of no less than sixty-three German
guns were detected in this way in a single day. Says this writer, in an article entitled
"How Far Off Is That German Gun?"

"By the use of 'receiving stations' behind the lines, British and French military
observers have been able to locate hundreds of German guns through the application
of the science of acoustics. These stations are placed behind the Allied lines at points
accurately determined, with the distance from each station to all others carefully
recorded.

"A receiving station may be nothing more than a microphone-receiver concealed
under a rock. The receiver is connected by wire to a central station wfith which the
other stations arc also connected. A simple clockwork device in the central station
records the exact instant at which every sound is received at each receiving station.

"The first sound is that of the shell passing overhead, since the projectile fired by a
high-power rifled cannon travels faster than the speed of sound, which is normally
1,123 feet a second, varying, however, with wind velocity and direction and the tem-
perature and density of the air. The next sound recorded is the 'boom' of the gun, and
then comes the sound of the exploding shell.

"Careful corrections are worked out to allow for variation in the speed of the
sound-waves due to atmospheric conditions. Then the difference in time at which the
same sound was recorded from the different receiving stations is compared with the
known distance from station to station. . . .

"So accurate has this method proved that in almost every instance, when the work
of the observers at the central station (which may be miles away from the receiving
stations) is compared with photographs made from airplanes, showing the position of
the same guns, there is not room for separate pinpricks to indicate the results of the
two sets of observations.

"In one day, recently, sixty-three German guns were located by this means, and
destroyed by airplane bombs, although many of them had been so successfully camou-
flaged that probably they never would have been discovered by any other means."

-«

IMM

REMAINS OF A GERMAN BATTERY.

A common scene before the troops at the front on all the battlefields in France and

Belgrium.

THE MODERN TYPE OF TRENCH.

Photo I. F. S.

Seeing the enemy without being seen. Keeping covered from the enemy in the air as
well as on land, is also a necessity.

© I. F. S.
SHOWING THE RED CROSS SERVING FOOD AND DRINK.
Coffee and sandwiches being- served to the soldiers. They not only bandaged their
wounds and nursed them when sicli, but tliey also gave them food and drinl^ when they
were hungry and tired.

RESTING NEAR THE MARNE WAITING TO GO INTO ACTION
Always If a^y. were the famous US Marines, to go into action. Furthermore, they
aiwajs ga\e a good account of themselves, and the Hun knows it.

THE HAIR TRIGGER OF SALONIKI 161

On September 23 the Serbians carried the huge massif of Drenska,
commanding the important city of Prilep, and entered that city next
day. The First Bulgarian Army, scarcely believing that this -strong-
hold could be taken, fled in disorder. This cut off the Second Bul-
garian Army behind Doiran, which, finding the First Army gone and
its flank open, fled also. On September 25, Veles, the principal rail-
way centre of old Serbia, was captured.

The invasion of Bulgaria by the Allies commenced on September
25, when the frontier was crossed near the fortress of Strumnitza,
which fell next day. Uskub, the most important point in Southern
Serbia, which had been used as the Main Headquarters for the Bul-
garian Army, was entered on September 30. This opened a direct
railroad line to Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria, and it was evident that
another two or three days would see Bulgaria overrun. The capture
of Uskub also opened the railroad toward Nish and laid Bulgaria
to the menace of invasion from that side. Germany could send no
help, she was being driven back. Austria could give no help, Italy was
at her heels.

Although, only a month before. King Ferdinand had promised
that he would never make a separate peace, the threat of revolution
and anarchy in his capital forced his hand. On September 24 Bulgaria
asked for an armistice. On September 29 the armistice was signed
in Saloniki, the terms including the words ''The armistice means a
complete military surrender, and Bulgaria ceases to be a belligerent.'*
Arrangements were made for the military occupation of Bulgaria,
and the re-occupation of Serbia. Almost the whole of the Balkan
section of the Berlin-to-Bagdad railroad came into Allied hands.
Ferdinand abdicated on October 4.

There was still some fighting in this sector, for Austria had not
yet surrendered. The naval base of Durazzo fell on October 2, 1918,
from Italian and British naval attack, and Elbasan was taken by the
Italians after a stubborn Austrian resistance. On October 13 the
Serbians reentered their war capital at Nish and the ultimate aim of
the Saloniki campaign had been achieved.

11— W. L.

CHAPTER XIV.

THE RUSSIAN STEAM-ROLLER BLOWS UP. ,

Cossack Success at Lemberg-East Galicia Captured-Occupation of Przemysl-Turn of the Tide at
Cracow-Debacle of Tannenberg-Battle of Lodz-Decisive Winter Campaign of the Masurian Lakes.

THE opening of the war on the eastern front divided itself, from
the very first day, into three parts. To the north, there was the
German-Russian campaign, which began with the seizure of Czesto-
chowa in Russian Poland and its supporting strategic point, Kalicz,
both centering on Warsaw, a campaign which later extended northeast-
wards to the great Battles of the Masurian Lakes. The second was the
Austrian-Russian campaign, which centered on Lemberg and Przemysl,
whereby two armies passed north of the Carpathian Mountains into the
Galician plain; this divided, later, into two parts. The third was the
Austrian-Russian (and later, Roumanian) campaign, which covered the
fighting from Czernowitz south to the ever-changing lines of the Balkan
fronts.

Of these the Lemberg-Przemysl campaign was the first and the most
central. It will make the strategy of the whole eastern front easier to
understand if this dominating attack be made clear.

First and foremost, the Austrian-Russian border does not march
with the line of the Carpathian Mountains. That mountain range forms
an arc, with the convex of the curve pointing towards Russia. The
frontier follows this arc at an average distance of about eighty miles.
In this belt of fertile Galicia, between the Carpathians and the frontier,
lie the two important points of the town of Lemberg and the fort of
Przemysl.

Be it observed that Russia entered the war as coming to the support
of her Slav neighbor, Serbia. The burden of attack, therefore, lay on
Russia, not on Austria. This handicapped Russia seriously for three
reasons: (1) Russian strategy was that of gradual retreat over her
huge territory with flank cavalry and light artillery actions to cut off
an ever-lengthening line of supply; (2) Russian mobilization had always

162

THE RUSSIAN STEAM ROLLER BLOWS UP 163

been leisurely and slow; (3) Russian transport was notoriously weak, for
she possessed few strategic railways and almost no organized motor
transport corps, such as are needed for a modern army.

For these three reasons Austria adopted partly the same tactics for
Russia that she did, later, for Italy. She fortified and entrenched her
naturally strong lines and awaited attack. The Russian invasion of
Austria during the first few days of the war, like the Italian, later, was
not due to Austrian weakness, but to an Austrian plan. In order to
cover this line of defense, however, a separate Austrian army, under
General Dankl, was marched forward to the northward, on Tomasov,
to invade Russian Poland. Thus, should the Russian attack fail suffi-
ciently to permit a counter-offensive, Dankl might encircle the Russian
army, which had advanced on Lemberg and Przemysl and might take
them in the flank or rear.

Start of the War on the Eastern Front.

The war on the Eastern front began quickly. On August 3, the
day before the eastern war became a world war, both Germany and Rus-
sia had invaded each other's territory. On August 5, both Austria and
Russia had invaded each other 's territory.

The Austrian First Army, under Dankl, at once took the offensive.
It advanced into Russian Poland, meeting little resistance. The First
Russian Army fell back on the River Bug, following typical Russian
strategy. The line of the Bug, protected by the forts of Zamosc, was a
strong position. The psychological effect of this retreat, however, was
to convince the Second Austrian Army, holding Lemberg, that the Rus-
sians were a weak foe, or at least, that in this war they purposed to re-
tain their customary defensive strategy.

On August 12, the Russian forces advanced slowly across the
frontier. The dashing Austrian cavalry tried to face the Cossacks, but
were swept away like straw before a tornado. The next day, August
13, the important point of Sokal was seized. General von Auffenberg,
secure in his supposed larger numbers and in his strong position,
calmly awaited the Russian onslaught, which was seen advancing.

Meanwhile, unknown to the Austrians, a powerful Russian Army,
under General Brussilov, was advancing on Tarnopol from Odessa. It
contained 250,000 men. On August 14 this little-expected army seized
Tarnopol and joined with the Second Russian Army a few miles south

164 THE RUSSIAN STEAM ROLLER BLOWS UP

of Brody. Not counting reserves, therefore, the Russians under Brussi-
lov (who took charge of the campaign) were 550,000 against the Aus-
trian 350,000.

The movements of the various Russian armies at this point are a
little obscure. All tactics were kept a profound secret. Some facts,
however, are clear. On August 17, for example, Dankl was compelled
to halt his pursuit of the First Russian Army, von Auffenberg was
fighting frontier actions with Russky, and Brussilov was concentrating
at Tarnopol. During this week Russky seems to have had a far larger
force than the week preceding. There seems reason to suppose that
when Tarnopol was invested, Brussilov lent an army corps to Russky
to enable the latter to drive the Austrians out of all their forward
positions and to hammer them back on Lemberg. Brussiloff was de-
laj'ed a few days because, on crossing the Austrian border at "Woloc-
ziska, all his railroad rolling stock became useless, as Austrian and
Russian railroad tracks are not of the same gauge.

Junction of Russian Armies Accomplished.

Sunday, August 23, 1914, which was a notable day on the western
front, when Charleroi was in flames and the British were battling at
Mons, unwitting of the French disaster, was also a notable day on
the east front. Both the Russians and the Austrians claimed victories.
As a matter of fact, there were no notable victories for either side.
The Austrians repulsed the steadily rolling rush of the Second Russian
Army at one point, the Cossacks sent the Austrian cavalry flying to
the rear at another.

"What was reaUy going on was that the Russians were advancing
with an exasperating slowness, while an aggressive and powerful Cos-
sack cavalry screen was harrying the Austrians, and even flanking their
main army. Behind the confusion thus created by his cavalry Brussiloiif
was successful in achieving his desired goal, namely, the junction of his
army with that of Russky.

Russian mobilization was proceeding apace, but it was a very
different matter from German mobilization. From Berlin every detail
had been arranged beforehand; in the Czar's armies, arrangements
were made on the spur of the moment. There was amazing complica-
tion in the Russian lines. Had von Auffenberg been strong enough

THE RUSSIAN STEAM EOLLER BLOWS UP 165

and daring enough to make a sudden advance, he might have been able to
prevent the junction of the two Russian armies.

To keep him from doing so was the work of the northern Russian
army. Russky's steam-roller advance kept von Auffenberg on the alert
all the time and the Cossacks, like hornets, gave his regiments no
peace. Moreover, he could not tell what was happening behind that
cavalry screen. That section of the country, moreover, being more
friendly to the Russians than to the Austrians, little news of Brussiloff 's
movements leaked out. This Cossack advance, supported by light artil-
lery, was admirably carried out. Many points which could only have
been taken by infantry after heavy fighting were seized with the
quickness that is only possible in cavalry manoeuvres. Meantime, at
the slow rate of eight miles a day, the main armies moved on.

Strategical Position of Lemberg.

A word or two as to the general tactics of the Battle of Lemberg
will make it clearer to the reader than a record of the minor actions
day by day. Lemberg, capital of the crown-land of Galicia, a rich,
historic, university city of a quarter of a million population, lies out in
the plain. It is a railroad point of the first magnitude. Six railway
lines ran out of it. The River Dneister runs to the south of it, at a
distance of fourteen or fifteen miles, the River Bug runs to the northeast
at almost the same distance. It is on a plain between two river valleys.
Behind it lie the Carpathian Mountains and the fortress of Przemysl.
If strongly held, therefore, Lemberg might be a dangerous wedge, pre-
venting the Russian advance. If weakly held, it could easily become an
ineffective salient.

Russian strategy in this case was clear. Since one Austrian Army
had advanced northeastwards, in the direction of Russian Poland, and
the other was seeking to defend Lemberg and Przemysl, the obvious
aim of the Russians was to cut these two armies apart, if possible, and
then defeat them one after the other. First, however, all means of
escape must be cut off. Between August 26 and September 1 Brussiloff
sent heavy Cossack divisions in advance to clear the way, drove his
infantry by forced marches over a country without roads and seized
the crossing of the Dneister, south of Lemberg. This gave him time
to bring up heavy artillery to hold the stream. The river being thus

1G6 THE RUSSIAN STEAM ROLLER BLOWS UP

fortified, there was no place for the Austrians to escape between the
rugged heights of the Carpathians and the southern outlet of Lemberg.
Meanwhile, Russky had been feinting with a large part of his army
on the southern end of the Lemberg trenches, in order to give von
Auffenberg the impression that the main Russian drive was to be made
at that point. No sooner, however, did Brus&iloff close the southern
outlet from Lemberg than the whole Russian conjoined armies swung
sidewise and to the north, and Russky struck heavily on von Auffen-
berg 's northern wing. It took no great amount of penetration for the
Austrians to see their danger. If they delayed longer, in the hope of
saving Lemberg, there was a grave probability that they would be
surrounded. A bombardment would gain them nothing; it would only
cause the destruction of the town, which, be it remembered, was in Aus-
trian, not Russian, territory. Von Auffenberg evacuated Lemberg the
next day, and on September 3, 1914, the capital of Galioia was in
Russian hands.

The Pall of Lemberg.

The main purpose of this first Russian strategical plan, therefore,
had been achieved. Not only had Lemberg fallen, but the First and
Second Austrian Armies were cut off from each other. The Second
Army, under von Auffenberg, compelled to retire on Przemysl, was
forced to the utmost to hold itself against the Russian steam roller
advance. It is to be seen, now, what had been happening to the First
Austrian Army during this period of Russky 's and Brussiloff^s united
effort, which resulted in the taking of Lemberg.

The First Russian Army, under von Plehve, which had been re-
treating towards the lower part of the River Bug, stiffened its defense
during the last week in August, and commenced to counter-attack, skil-
fully advancing with its left or southern wing, while holding firm with
the right. The effect of this was steadily to cut off Dankl from the
von Auffenberg armies around Lemberg and Przemysl. By September
3 this action had become so marked that a Third (and it seems, a
Fourth) Army was hurried up to fill the gap between the First and
Second Austrian armies. This Army, afterwards called the Fourth,
was under command of the Archduke Joseph Ferdinand.

The Russian offensive against Dankl developed force on Septem-
ber 4. Swampy ground and pressure on the south prevented retreat

THE RUSSIAN STEAM ROLLER BLOWS UP 167

in that direction. The River Vistula hemmed it in on the north.
DankPs retreat became a difficult military- problem, the front of his
army being congested to a front of less than forty miles, and only
bad roads behind him. Moreover, it was necessary for him to cross
the River San while under pursuit, a feat accomplished by the Austrian
commander with great skill. On September 6 the important town of
Tomaszow was taken by the Russians. But Dankl, although hampered
by congestion of transport, was all the better placed for rear guard
actions. If the ground prevented a wide retreat, it also prevented a
wide offensive.

Decisive Russian Victories.

The Austrians reached the River San on September 12. The river
was heavily fortified throughout its length. At the south it was
protected by Przemysl and Jaroslav; from thence, as it flowed north
until it reached the wide river, the Vistula, it had been made the base
of intrenchments. But the Russians were too close on the heels of
the Austrians for the latter to be able to destroy all the bridges. The
bridge at Kresnov was seized by the Russians, bringing the conflict
to an immediate issue. The fighting on the San occupied a week, but
it resulted in a decisive Russian victory. Losses were heavy, truly,
but the amount of munitions and supplies that the Russians seized was
enormous.

Russian success continued. Grodel and Mocsiska fell into Rus-
sian hands, cutting off the railroad communication to the east and
south of Przemysl. On September 20 the fortress had been entirely
surrounded. A fortnight's bombardment followed and then, on Octo-
ber 2, the Russians offered to accept the surrender of the city. General
Kusmanek, of the garrison, who had 100,000 men at his command, de-
clared his intention of holding the city to the last man. Fighting be-
came desperate, reaching a crisis on October 5, 1914. The Russians
stormed in force and even carried one of the outer works. A slight, a
very slight, additional push might have taken them into the city, but
that added driving force was lacking. The main Russian attack was
definitely repulsed with exceedingly hea^^ losses. Since storming
would not serve, the Russians settled down to a steady siege. That
gave the enemy time to recuperate. The Austrians, with German
reenforcements arriving day by day, commenced to flank the Russian
armies of investment.

168 THE RUSSIAN STEAM EOLLER BLOWS UP

The tide began to turn. On October 18 a sharp action at Chyrow
was disastrous for the Russians. At Nizankowice, the Austrians retook
the hci-hts Far to the south, flanking Brussiloff's army, a German-
^ustria'n army retook Czernowitz, the capital of the crown-land of
Bukovina Filled with hope from these successes, the Austrians
1-uinched a heavy counter-attack against Lemberg, hoping to drive a
wedge between Brussiloff and Russky. In this they failed, though
Jaroslav fell into their hands. Russian reserves having come up, a
new offensive was begun and the Czar's armies retook Jaroslav on
November 5 and, on the same day, also seized the important strategic
point of Dandomierz. By November 20 the Russians were before
Cracow and the larger part of Central Galicia was in their hands.

Cracow, however, proved as impregnable as had Przemysl. Hav-
ing fallen back on the strong defense line of the Carpathian Mountains
from Przemysl to Cracow, and supported by heavy German reenforce-
ments, the Austrian line not only became rigid, but from time to time
during the early winter it drove back the Russians at one point or
another.

Russian Disaster at Tannenberg.

So far the Galician campaign had been localized and waged on
its own merits. It was an affair solely between Russian and Austrian
armies. With the entrance of the Germans into those sectors of the
battlefront, however, it took on a new phase. This strengthening of
the Galician line Avas made possible by the German victory at the Battle
of Tannenberg, a battle almost as important in the east as was the
Battle of the Marne in the west.

The main significance of the Battle of Tamienberg consisted in the
fact that it stopped Russia's drive into East Prussia. It prevented
the Czar's armies marching into Berlin.

This battle can be easily understood by grasping two main facts.
The hrst of these facts was the personality of Paul von Hindenburg,
the second was the topography of the country in which the battle was
fought. The two were closely interlinked. For more than twenty
years von Hindenburg, who lived in Hanover, had made a special and
exhaustive study of the section of the German frontier, known as the
''Land of the Masurian Lakes." He had tramped the marshes on
foot, ridden over their dangerous paths on horseback, deliberately
tested the most tricky fords and crossings with a heavy motor car. He

THE RUSSIAN STEAM ROLLER BLOWS UP 169

had drawn maps of the couutr>' vrith his own hands. In the General
Staff College at Berlin he was an official lectarer on this subject.

It was von Hindenburg's influence which had caused the Kaiser
to countermand a plan to drain and reclaim the swamps, on the ground
that their defensive value outweighed the agricultural gain which
might result from drainage. When the war broke out, von Hinden-
burg, a retired commander of 67 years of age, was put in charge of
the army sent to defend this section, which he knew as well as a subur-
banite knows his own back garden.

Physical Character of the Masurian Lakes.

The ''Land of the Masurian Lakes" may be classed as the most
treacherous piece of land in Europe. It is a mixture of patches of
sand, beds of clay, hard bogs, soft bogs, morasses, quicksands, lakes,
marshes, ponds and patches of scrubby woodland. Within a mile, a
straight piece of road will pass through two or three of these sections.
A hundred yards of dry hard gravel which could bear modem artillery
may, with absolute suddenness, change its character and be followed
by a soft clay mud, which would mire a horse. Fords across brooks
and lakes are death-traps, for of two of them, only fifty yards apart, one
may be solid and safe, the other may be a quicksand.

So much for the actual character of the ground in which the
fighting was to occur. It remains now to see the general geography
of the battleground. A north to south line will run almost through
Konigsberg, Warsaw, Tamov (not far from Cracow) and Belgrade.
The Russians had invaded GaUcia and had reached Cracow. They
invaded East Prussia and reached almost to Konigsberg. Between
these two points lay the great mass of Russian Poland,

East Prussia, therefore, to use a military term, may be regarded
as a salient thrust into Russian territory, flanked on one side by the
Baltic Sea, on the south by Russian Poland, with the point of the salient
facing towards Petrograd. The point of this salient is a border of
approximately 150 miles. On the northeast comer runs a small river,
the Xiomen. On the southeast runs a small river, the Narew. Russian
armies mobilized at these two comers, the Army of the Xiemen under
General von Rennenkampf, the Army of the Xarew under General
Samsonoff. Each of these armies numbered about 200,000 men.

The first Russian advance was of startling success. The Annv

170 THK IIUSSIAN STEAM KOLLEK BLOWS UP

of tlio Niomon drovo straiii'lilway into OonnMi) lorrilory. A sini>-lo
(lornmn Army C\H'ps statiouod at Kouigsborg hurriiHi forward to re-
sist luMuuMdvampf. Tlio (lornians, howovor, oven with reserves, did
not liavo inort' lliaii 7r),000 men, and Ihe short engagement at Stallu-
ptihnen sliowed at onee that the h'ussians were in far too great foree
for it to be military wisdom to olYer resistance.

The (Jermans fell back i>n (lumbinnen. (hi August 20 came the lirst
battle, but, after tifteen hours of stubborn fighting, the Germans with-
drew to Insterburg. Witliin three days all the northern part of East
Prussia was in Kussian hands, and Kennenkampf was witiiin striking
distance of Kouigsberg. tlie most important point in East Prussia and
the easternmost outpost of Teutonism.

The Russians Invade German Territory.

The Army o\' the Narew, which operated out from Warsaw, had
two railroatl lines to hand, that on the west through iSllawa and
Soldau, and a roundabout road through Osowieck, Lyck and Ortelsburg.
The former was used for llie left wing of troops, the latter for the
center and right wings and for supjilies. Against the Army of the
Xarew the Germans could not present more than 75,000 men, a totally
inade(juate t'oree. Therefore, in quick succession the Russian left
wing, which advanced by the Mlawa road, took Soldau and Nieden-
Imrg; the center debouched south from Ortelsburg and took Willen-
berg; the right wing went north and seized AUenstein and Passenheim.

The delinite location of the battleground was now beginning to^
be revealed clearly. In that country of lakes, bogs and swamps, it
was the railroad lines and highways, instead of mountain heights and
passes, which became the military points of strategy. Let the reader
conceive a diamond-shaped rectangle of railroads, Eylau being the
western point, AUenstein being the northern point, Soldau the southern
point and Ortelsburg the eastern point. Tannenberg was in the middle.
Five railroads fed the north-to-east sides of this diamond; only two
railroads (those that have already been mentioned as used by the Rus-
sians) fed the other three sides. The Russian advance, it will be re-
membered, captured the eastern, northern and southern corners. The
western corner w^as free.

On August 22 this eastern junction was menaced by the Russians.
If Eylau fell, with it would go control of the five northern railroads

THE ItCSSiAX STEAM llOLLEit BLOWS Cl^ 171

supplyirif.^ Komn-^hcru,. It would ir\v(t tho ntraf/jg'ic command of tho
whoJo hfjction of tho Masurian lydkf^^^. If tho Gormann would navo tho
situation immediate action was imperative. On that very day (hinaml
von ilindenburg was sent to take command.

Tlis :strate;<-ical plan was simple. Combininj^ all the (jftnuixn i'orcfiH
available, he had about 150/KK) men. Aj^ainst him were two armies of
2rX),000 men apiece. Obviously he could not allow them to make a
junction. Each army must be attacked separately.

General von Hindenburg's Forces Recover Lost Ground.

Judjrinjr that the Germans would be in keenest anxiety with re^^ard
to the Ru.H.sian threat at Koni^sber^, Samsonoff had thrown the strong-
est jjart of his army to the center and right. Soldau was but loosely
held. With his intimate knowledge of the only possible by-paths and
trails through the swamps, and still possessing control of the Eylau
railroad junction, von liindenburg attacked suddenly and sharjjly at
Soldau, on Augu.st 20, 1914. The point was carried by storm imme-
diately. With extraordinary speed and with a knowledge of the ground
so exact as to seem uncanny, von TTindenburg intrenched.

The Russians counter-attacked with superior numbf^rs the next
day, but the German stategist had so disposed his lesser force that
the railroad was under so conc^mtrated a ftre that the Russian troops
could not detrain. Moreover, every possible path through the bog
was held by machine gun nests. The heavy Russian counter-attack was
repulsed and Samsonoff thrown back. With Soldau thus firmly in
German hands, not only was the southwestern side of the diamond
secured, but the whole Mlawa line back to Warsaw was cut ofif. If
Sam.sonoff could be forced to retreat, he had no railroad open save
the single round-about line through Lyck,

Meantime, von Hindenburg sent a part of his anny through the
marshes up to Hohenstein, where he menaced the long-strung-out Rus-
sian line which encircled the northeastern and southeastern sides of the
diamond. At the same time he sent troops along the Eylau-Allenstein
road. Supposing that the Germans were in equal force with himself,
and realizing that he could not defend so lengthy an advance line, Sam-
sonoff withdrew from AUenstein the next day. Thus, whereas on
August 26, the Russians had held three junction points of the diamond-
shaped rectangle of railroads, by August 28 they only held one — the

172 THE RUSSIAN STEAM ROLLER BLOWS UP

easternmost. Control of Allenstein gave von Hindenburg control of all
the railway facilities of the diamond, except the single eastbound
line to Lyck,

Bringing up regiments of the reserve, and using a few storm
troops as the driving point, von Hindenburg swept outwards through
the marsh around Allenstein, flanking the Russian army, a feat abso-
lutely impossible unless every defile were plotted and every bog and
treacherous place marked in the commander's mind as well as on the
detail maps carried by the German officers. Thence he struck at Sam-
sonoff — not from the western but from the eastern side of the railroad,
forcing the Russians back along the line of road and driving them
into the interior of the diamond. The reader will remember that the
interior was little more than a welter of bog and swamp.

Men, Horses and Guns Engulfed in the Mire.

There was nothing but bog and swamp. Relentlessly and resist-
lessly, von Hindenburg moved southward from Allenstein until at last
he had taken Ortelsburg, the junction of the onl}^ remaining railroad line
eastward or southward out of the diamond. The Russian troops stationed
at Ortelsburg had been able to escape in part, but, in order to get away,
they had left behind them nearly all their guns and munitions, and not
a single locomotive or railroad car remained to transport the divisions
which were thus marooned.

Having put the Russians into a triangle from which there was no
outlet, and controlling the railroads which ran along the two sides
of that triangle, von Hindenburg struck with his main force, from
Tannenberg, on the base of the triangle.

Von Hindenburg had cornered the Russians like rats in a pit.
From light artillery mounted on flat cars, from machine guns placed
on the banks of the railroad, he poured shrapnel and bullets as a rain
of death on the defenceless Russians. Striving to flee, companies, yes
whole regiments floundered into bogs.

Without considering the losses during the actual fighting, 20,000
men were actually buried alive in the muck, and 30,000 men were taken
prisoner in that small triangle alone. Of Samsonoff's huge army, less
than 100,000 escaped the trap set by von Hindenburg, and those which
remained were utterly demoralized, without supplies, without guns,
without horses and in touch with Russia only by the single narrow line

THE RUSSIAN STEAM ROLLER BLOWS UP 173

of railroad through Lyck. It was more than a disaster, it was a
horror !

Von Hindenburg's knowledge of the country had stood him in
good stead. He had routed Samsonoff with fearful loss, but his task
was not over. Von Rennenkampf, with a Russian Army still superior
in numbers to the German, was confidently awaiting a frontal attack.
Von Hindenburg had no intention of risking the issue by such crude
tactics. He was working in a swamp country, and he intended to take
full advantage of his superior knowledge. Instead of striking directly
at von Rennenkampf he circled northward toward Eydtkuhnen, with
the intention of repeating his former manoeuvre and driving von
Rennenkamp down into the treacherous Masurian Lake country.

Von Hindenburg was then summoned to another part of the battle-
front, in recognition of his marvellous success at Tannenberg, and
General von Morgen took his place. The German advance into Russia
was promptly countered, and Rennenkampf invaded Germany anew,
once more taking Lyck. But, by October 13, the Germans had replied
with a vigorous counter-offensive and the second invasion of East
Prussia lasted but ten days.

A third invasion in November reached but a small distance into
enemy territory. At the conclusion of this winter campaign, the Rus-
sians were definitely barred out from East Prussia. All future fighting
in this section was on Russian soil.

CHAPTER XV.

THE ROAR OF GUNS IN FROZEN LANDS.

The Kaleidoscope of Divided Russia and Siberia— Poland— The Cossacks— The Ukraine— Vladivostock—
String of Conflicts Along the Trans-Siberian Railroad— Czecho-Slovaks With Their Backs to the
Wall— German-Made Revolt in Finland— Allied Troops on the Murtnan Coast.

IT is necessary to preface any writing on the subject of the territorial
and governmental changes in the erstwhile Russian Empire with
a word of warning. Ever since the Bolshevist coup d'etat, and, to some
extent, ever since the abolition of the Czar's regime, there was
nothing definite in Russia. One may speak of the Ukraine, of the
Don Cossacks, of the government of Omsk, and the like, as if they were
separate entities. Up to the end of 1918 they were not so. These
regions were merely nuclei of groups of people with similar senti-
ments. They had no oflficial boundaries. They had no constitutional
leaders. They had no national position. They had no diplomatic
representation.

Finland and the Ukraine, alone, may be regarded as somewhat
more clearly defined ; Finland, because she was a separate entity before
being included in the Russian Empire; the Ukraine, because a vague
frontier was defined in the treaty of Brest-Litovsk. But, since the
armistice terms declared Brest-Litovsk treaties null and void, this fron-
tier line, also, was largely a disputed and uncertain thing. Moreover,
most of the dates given in contemporary records are misleading and
inaccurate.*

The largest question with regard to the partition of Russia was
that of Poland. It had been a European problem for several hundred
years. The world war did not settle it, on the contrary, it made the
complication more acute. The Central Powers allegedly made a free
Poland on November 5, 1916. It took only a few weeks to show that

•The dates given in this chapter are those of the Chronology in "Current History." It is to be
remembered that the Russians do not use the same calendar as Americans. Some of the new republics
dated their actions "Old Style," others "New Style." These dates are all New Style, but can only be con-
sidered as approximate, not exact.

174

THE ROAR OF GUNS IN FROZEN LANDS 175

this was a German trick to inveigle the Polish armies. On December 8
the German and Austrian Governors-General decreed a provisional
National Council, acclaiming the fact that Poland was freed from
Russian despotism, but ignoring the fact that they were putting her
under Gennan despotism. The Poles would have none of if.

The next move with regard to Poland came from Russia, During
the iirst month after the abdication of the Czar, the Duma decided to
set Poland free. On March 29, 1917, the Provisional Government of
Russia appointed a committee "to make the necessary arrangements
for the separation of Poland from Russia and to determine the relation
of the state to the Roman Catholic Church." This was eminently
agreeable, but the Russian declaration had little more direct and ef-
fective result than the German. Poland had already been divided by
Austria, Germany and Russia. Both the new Russian and the German
declarations dealt mth a part of Poland, not with Poland as a whole.
The Poles would have none of this, either. It was seen, at once, that
the efforts of both Germany and Russia were bids for Polish sympathy
for their own ends.

Free Poland a Necessity.

Far more interest was accorded to President Wilson's declaration

of the rights of all-Poland on January 19, 1917. More important still
was the Allied recognition of the Polish troops as a national anny,
thus definitely declaring that Poland was regarded by the Allies as
a nation in being. This recognition of the Army was first made by
France, June 4, 1917.

• With a Polish Army fighting against the Central Powers, Germany
could no longer continue the autonomy she had herself suggested. Ac-
cordingly, on September 15, 1917, the "supreme authority" in Poland
was transferred to a regency council of three members, appointed by
the Kaiser of Germany, the Emperor of Austria and the Sultan of
Turkey. It promised, however, a Polish King and a Polish Parliament
after the war. This satisfied nobody.

Next came President Wilson's "fourteen points," stated on Jan-
uary 8, 1918.

By the treat}^ of Brest-Litovsk, Russia ceded Poland to Germany,
the action being taken by the Bolshevist representatives, who were
in German pay. The Bolshevists announced on February 19, 1918, that

176 THE ROAR OF GUNS IN FROZEN LANDS

they had been compelled to accept the terms and. the treaty was
si^ed on March 3. On March 18, the Allies in a united statement
answered this treaty with the statement : ' ' Poland, whose heroic spirit
has survived the most cruel of national tragedies, is threatened with
a fourth partition and, to aggravate her wrongs, devices by which the
last trace of her independence is to be crushed, are based on fraudulent
promises of freedom."

The Polish Army Recognized by the United States.

The summer of 1918 saw a curious situation in Poland. The
Poles, as a whole, frenetically desired independence. Some thought it
might come through the Central Powers, some through the Allies, some
by independent military action. In addition to these three main divi-
sions, there were Polish Legions with the Kaiser and Polish Legions
with the Allies. Besides these, there were five strong personal political
parties in Poland. To follow the mazes of Polish political intrigue
would take a volume. What really happened was that the Poles began
to see clearly that the Germans and the Bolshevists were their prin-
cipal enemies, and the various disagreements began, to fuse into a direct
hostility against these two forces. The beginning of the German de-
feat increased this feeling and the Poles grew more aggressive, realiz-
ing that all their hopes lay with the Allies. All this time, of course,
Poland was being subjected to German atrocities.

On November 4, seven days before the ending of the war. Secretary
Lansing, for the United States, "recognized the Polish Army, under
the supreme political authority of the Polish National Committee, as
autonomous and co-belligerent."

One cannot pass without mention the famous incident of the Poles
captured by Austrian troops and sentenced to death, who declared
that they did not wish an appeal for mercy from their Polish com-
patriots to Austria. The words are too beautiful to lose. They said,
in part: ''We cast unfalteringly into the lot our greatest asset, the
fame of a Polish soldier, established upon his blood and that most
beautiful legend of a Polish army reborn.

"You are not to injure us with gifts requiring too great concessions.
Do not permit our personal lot to weaken the united Polish front, for
the verdict and the death penalty can only affect us physically. The
sufferings undergone by our grandfathers and fathers we will continue

THE ROAR OF GUNS IN FROZEN LANDS 177

as a national obligation, without complaint and without resentment, and
with the sincere conviction that we are serving a free, united and in-
dependent Poland."

i Toward the end of October, 1918, Germany instituted an organized
system of massacre in Prussian Poland. On October 24 the Polish
National Committee proclaimed the union of all Polish territories
subject to Germany, Austria and Russia. On November 9 the Polish
Republic was proclaimed under the presidency of President Daszynski,
on a territorial basis of Old Poland. War then recommenced against
Germany, Austria and the Ukraine. The armistice was signed between
the Allies and Germany on November 11. Poland was not one of the
signatories. She severed relations with Germany on December 15,
General Pilsudski assuming control of the government until the meet-
ing of the Constituent Assembly in January. On January 1, 1919, a
Polish army was marching on Berlin. Poland was also in arms against
the Bolsheviki and sharp fighting was in progress, though of a scattered
character. It was clear, none the less, that Poland as an independent
state, was definitely formed. Later phases would be questions of
organization.

The World War in the Ukraine.

It is necessary next, in considering the partition of Russia, to
trace the developments of the world war in the Ukraine. This is the
southeastern section of Russia, and is populated by the Little Russians,
sometimes called ''The Irish of Russia." The Ukrainians are a quick-
thinking, gay, witty people, who were formerly the masters of Russia.
The Great Russians, a heavy, group-moving northern people, conquered
them centuries ago. There is a marked difference in race, customs
and language. A large proportion of the writers, artists, musicians
and intelligentsia of Russia were Little Russians; comparatively few
were Great Russians, hardly any were White Russians.

The Ukraine as a separate question in the world war came to the
surface as a result of disintegration of Russia, the weakening of Aus-
tria, and the strengthening of its former master, Poland. The
Ukrainian People's Republic was proclaimed by the Rada or Parlia-
ment, November 20, 1917, thirteen days after the Bolshevist coup
d'etat. It was recognized at the Brest-Litovsk peace negotiations as
a separate state, both by the Bolshevists and by the Central Powers.
It claimed an area of 195,000 square miles, with a population approx-

12— W. L.

178 THE ROAR OF GUNS IN FROZEN LANDS

imately as large as that of France. It is one of the richest parts of
Russia.

Trouble began at once. The Ukranians or Little Russians — who
have largely intermarried with Cossack blood — found themselves in
harmonious relations with the Don Cossacks. For their part, the Cos-
sacks of the Don, not being an industrial people in any sense of the
word, and regarding war from its loftier and more chivalrous side,
could not abide Lenine, Trotzky and all their works. They hated
treachery and despised traitors.

Demands of the Bolsheviki Refused.

Consequently, Lenine find Trotzky sent an ultimatum to the
Ukraine accusing the new state of a "double-faced and bourgeois
policy" and declaring that the Ukraine was supporting the counter-
revolution of the Don Cossacks under Kaledine. Lenine demanded
that passage be given to armies of the Reds, that the Ukraine aid in
warfare against the Cossacks, and that a Soviet government be organ-
ized at once. Twenty-four hours were given for reply. None was
made. Civil war formally began December 18, 1917. The Bolsheviki
captured Odessa on January 26, and Orenburg on January 31. On
the other hand, Rcumanian and Ukranian troops, acting together, took
Kishineff, the capital of Bessarabia, on January 27.

At the Brest-Litovsk negotiations, there were two delegations
from the Ukraine, one representing the People's Republic, the other
representing the Russian Bolshevist Soviets in the Ukraine. The Cen-
tral Powers decided to deal with the former and a treaty was signed
which made the Ukraine commercially a part of Austria-Hungary, but
politically an entity of its own. This treaty was abrogated by the
terms of the armistice between the Allies and the Central Powers.

This selection by the Central Powers of the original Ukraine gov-
ernment continued the bad blood between the Ukraine and the Bol-
sheviki. The Red Guard invaded the Ukraine anew. Appeals for
help were sent by the Ukraine to their new allies, the Austro-Germans.
Accordingly, German armies commenced the invasion of Ukraine.
Once settled in the country, they would not leave it, and instead of
coming to the aid of the Little Russians, it speedily became evident
that Germany was occupying the Ukraine, exactly as it would a con-
quered territory.

THE ROAR OF GUNS IN FROZEN LANDS 179

The next entanglement occurred between Ukraine and Romnania.
Early in April, 1918, the Bessarabian Diet announced that it had voted
by a large majority to join its territory to the Klingdom of Roumania.
The Ukraine protested, as Bessarabia was largely populated by
Ukrainians, and the sea-coast frontier was a matter of dispute.

On April 18, Germany threw off its disguise of pretended friend-
ship, and on April 26, General von Eichhorn, commander of the Ger-
man Army in the Ukraine, proclaimed a ''state of enhanced protec-
tion." On April 28 German soldiers entered the hall of the Rada or
Parliament, dissolved it, arrested many of its members, and nominated
General Skoropadsky to be Hetman of the Ukraine.

Germany's Interference in the Ukraine.

This Germanized and non-Ukrainian government of the Ukraine
promptly proceeded to make peace with the Germanized and non-
Russian Bolshevist government of Russia, negotiations beginning on
May 10. Roumania, meantime, had been forced to an agreement of
the Peace of Bucharest, closed on May 10, which put all her resources
under the heel of Germany. This treaty, also, was revoked by the
terms of armistice of November 11. Germany then interfered in the
Ukraine-Russia peace meetings, feeling that it was better to keep all
Slav forces antagonistic to each other for their better weakening.
None the less, an agreement with regard to boundaries was reached
on June 28.

The enforced German occupation of the Ukraine set the whole
country in arms. The revolt became a national rebellion. Germany
was compelled to rush large numbers of troops to aid the alien Skoro-
padsky regime. By the middle of July Germany had a new little
first-class war on her hands. On July 31, Field Marshal von Eichhorn,
the German Commander in the Ukraine, was killed by a bomb. Ger-
man garrisons were beleagured at several points. The Mailed Fist,
however, was sufficiently strong to retain Skoropadsky as Hetman.
The surrender of Bulgaria and the collapse of Turkey, however,
strengthened the hands of the anti-German Ukranians, and thus Ger-
many was unable to get supplies. The close of German aggression
came when the general armistice was signed on November 11, order-
ing Germany to evacuate all territory which belonged to Russia as
before the war. This left the Ukraine a separate state, recognized by

180 THE BOAR OF GUNS IN FROZEN LANDS

the Central Powers, by Bolshevist Russia, and by Roumania, but not
by anv of the '' Big Four. "

The Don Cossack question may be briefly told. Cossack resent-
ment against the Russian Revolution began from the beginning. The
Cossacks had always received special military privileges from the
Czar. The Provisional Government's plan for putting them on the
same plane as the rest of the army was an affront to their dignity.
From that time until the end of the war they were uniformly opposed
to Lvoff, Kerensky and the Bolshevists.

The Chaotic Conditions in Russia.

Nothing could more clearly show the chaotic conditions in Rus-
sia than the establishment of an Austro-German pro-Bolshevist Cos-
sack government under General Krasnoff on May 29, 1918. This was
an offshoot of the Skoropadsky action in the Ukraine. It was a mere
announcement on paper, and never had any adherence among the
people. On July 29 a treaty was signed whereby the two real Cos-
sack governments, one of Rostov and the other of Astrakhan, recog-
nized their complete and separate autonomy and agreed to help each
other against all enemies and for the reconquest of their original ter-
ritories. When the famous Ufa government was organized on Oc-
tober 7, 1918, to replace ''the fallen Bolshevists" (who had by no
means fallen) Cossack delegates were among those admitted to the
convention.

Very characteristically, it was the Cossacks under General Deni-
kine who put an end to the fiction of the Ukraine government under
Skoropadsky. On November 20, 1918, nine days after the general
armistice, the Ukrainian Government was overthrown and General
Denikine entered Kiev. Three days later a courier from General
Denikine's army was favorably received at Saloniki, reestablishing
communication between the Cossacks and the Allied armies which had
been broken a year before. Throughout the years, however, the Cos-
sacks had been regarded as loyal to the Allied cause.

Lithuania once stretched from the Baltic to the Black Sea. In
a later section of this book the racial and diplomatic history of the
Letts is told in some detail. In its relation to the world war, Lithuania
as a separate state entered proceedings by a formal declaration of
independence proclaimed by Lithuanian delegates at Stockholm,

THE ROAR OF GUNS IN FROZEN LANDS 181

Sweden, on January 8, 1918. The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk gave Lithu-
ania to Germany.

On May 14, 1918, the Kaiser issued a proclamation recognizing
the independence of Lithuania, but promptly asserting that it would
be expected to aid Germany in the war. Lithuania was at this time
entirely in German hands, all the peasant men and old women being set
at work in the fields, all the girls commandeered and shipped to parts
of the battle-line for the use of the soldiers. On September 10 an
ofi&cial dispatch was received in Washington stating that Germany
had finally organized the Baltic provinces into two parts, one the
"military administration of the Baltic Provinces," with its capital
at Riga, including the three provinces of Courland, Livonia and
Esthonia, with provincial governments under a "Captain of Adminis-
tration"; the second being the "Military Administration of Lithu-
ania," with the capital at Vilna, divided into five districts. All this
organization was thrown into the scrap-heap by the armistice of No-
vember 11, which curtly told the Germans to evacuate Lithuania and
the Baltic Provinces without delay.

Internal Strife in Finland.

The Finnish question was so completely a diplomatic, rather than
a military issue, that it has been treated in detail in the later portion
of this book. The military question began with the declaration of
Independence of Finland by the Diet in November, 1917, the proclama-
tion of that Independence in December, and the overthrow of the
"bourgeois" government by Finnish Red Guards, or a variety of
Bolsheviki, in January. German troops landed on February 21, 1918.
On March 10, the Finnish Bolshevist Government and the Russian
Bolshevist Government made a mutual treaty by which Russia ac-
ceded independence to Finland.

Dealing in a general manner, it may be said that White Finland,
or the White Guards, represented the pro-Swedish and therefore the
pro-German party. The clash was rendered keener by Sweden's
seizure of the Aland Islands, belonging to Finland, but a strategic
naval base for Sweden. The Swedish Parliament ordered the occu-
pation of the Aland Islands on the ground that since the islands were
populated by Swedes they needed protection against the atrocities of
the Red Guards. On April 3, a German Army co-operating with the

182 THE ROAR OF GUNS IN FROZEN LANDS

White Guards, landed in Finland. On April 15, Helsingf ors, the capital
of Finland, was occupied hj German troops and, two days later, an-
other army corps was landed in Helsingfors. The actual government
(Bolshevist or Red Guard) moved its capital to Viborg. Fighting
was bitter, but on April 30 the Germans and White Guards together
took Viborg and massacred every Red Guard taken prisoner. This
practically ended the independence of Finland, which had now be-
come a German military administration. Germany and Russia then
made secret treaties, the net result of which was that Russia should
cede the Murman coast to Finland in return for certain important
fortresses and strategic points in the south.

A state of war was forthwith proclaimed in the province of Arch-
angel, June 23, owing to the attempt of the Finnish Government (now
Germanized) to take Kola. On July 7 the population of the Murman
Coast broke allegiance with Russia and joined the Allies. On August
2, Finland reiterated her Alliance with Germany. With the evident
weakening of Germany, Finland began to see that she had chosen
unwisely, a feeling which was all the more impressed on her by Allied
successes to the north. Consequently, a general armistice was granted
by the White Guard Government to all Red Guards and revolution-
aries on November 1. Wlien the armistice was signed on November
11, German troops were ordered to evacuate Finland. This left Fin-
land in a divided state, with all the conditions favorable for con-
tinued civil war.

CHAPTER XVI.

THE INTREPID ANZACS AT GALLIPOLI.

German Seizure of Constantinople-Turkey in the War— The Impregnable Dardanelles— Seven Months
in a Hail of Fire— The Storming of Suvla Bay— The Three Great Assaults^Turkish Gallantry— Final
Failure of the British and Abandonment of the Campaign.

VIEWED from its military aspect, the entrance of Turkey into
the war had a five-fold aspect. First and most important, there
was the question of the guarding of the Dardanelles ; second, there was
the territorial integrity of Turkey in Europe, with its Greek and
Serbian frontier ; third, there was the opportunity of invasion of Egypt
and the capture of the Suez Canal; fourth, there was the Caucasus
frontier, with its interminable complications and the menace of Russia ;
and, fifth, there was the Mesopotamian campaign. For these various
purposes Turkey was able to place 2,000,000 men in the field, com-
manded largely by Germans with Field Marshal Liman von Sanders
in actual supreme command, and with German artillery and equipment.
Besides this, the Turk had the reputation — which the world war only
increased — of being one of the best fighting men in Europe.

The question of the Dardanelles can be considered in two phases,
its military and naval aspects. The latter will be told in one of the
later chapters on Naval Warfare. For the present, the land attack
will be considered as a single whole. It is the Gallipoli Peninsula which
is under consideration.

In some of the theatres of war the topography was difficult to
follow. Here, it is of the simplest. The Gallipoli Peninsula is a
mountainous strip of land only two and a half miles wide at its nar-
rowest point and sixty miles long, controlling the Dardanelles for the
whole length of the straits. There are few points in the world natu-
rally so well adapted for defensive operations as the shores of the
Gallipoli Peninsula. The beaches are narrow, with steep mountain
slopes, often unscalable cliffs, rising to considerable heights. There
are three main crests : (1) that of Achi Baba, situated within three miles

183

184 THE INTREPID ANZACS AT GALLIPOLI

and a half of the tip of the Peninsula; (2) Sari Bair on the western
side of the Peninsula, eight miles to the north; (3) Kilid Bahr, a
plateau with three strong forts conunanding the Narrows of the Dar-
danelles, the most important of all.

The defenses of the peninsula could be cut off at two points, one
at the Isthmus of Bulair, between the Gulf of Saros and the Sea of
Marmora,. and the other at a stretch of low country lying between the
Sari Bair heights and those of Kilid Bahr. In order to achieve the
former, conjoined naval action would be necessary both from the
Gulf and from the Sea of Marmora, and the latter could not be attained
without the capture of the Dardanelles. It was the latter severance,
therefore, which was attempted.

Unsuccessful Attacks by the Anzacs, British and French.

The British planned landings which should at the same time rush
the southern position of Achi Baba, and, if possible, also take Sari
Bair entirely or occupy the belt of low country and the heights beyond,
thus cutting it off from Kilid Bahr. Landings, however, were almost
impossible. Along many miles of coast there' were no beaches. Every
hillside along the whole coast was defended to the uttermost. Row
upon row of barbed wire had been stretched along the beaches and
even into the sea. Ever}^ inch of the coast was mined. The German
artillery officers had studied the ground and there was not a possible
landing which was not under heavy fire, both direct, cross and enfilad-
ing. In addition to which, heavy batteries solidly mounted in the hills
of the interior had all their ranges worked out in advance, ready to
blow into atoms all boats beaching on the shore.

The landing was done in three main parties. On Sunday, April
25, 1915, just at dawn, the British landed at five beaches near the tip
of the peninsula, with Achi Baba as their goal; the Australians and
New Zealanders, or '^'Vnzacs," landed northeast of Gaba Tepe, at Sari
Bair, having gone a mile and a half north of their designated point,
and the French landed on the Asia Minor side, at Kum Kale, the latter
being announced in the communique merely a feint, although the heavy
casualties seemed to deny this. The losses at all points were des-
perate. Numbers of boatloads were shot to a man before setting
foot ashore.

THE INTREPID ANZACS AT GALLIPOLI 185

The fighting continued without cessation for three days, the French
speedily leaving their Asian attack at Kum Kale and coming to the
aid of the British. At the end of those three days, one third of the
landing forces were killed or wounded, Achi Baba had not been carried,
even the village of Krithia had defied all Allied advance, and the
Anzacs were hanging on to a thin strip of shore by sheer nerve and
courage.

Sir Ian Hamilton, the British commander, ordered attack after
attack on Achi Baba, forming what were known as the First and Second
Battles of Krithia and the First and Second Battles of the Anzac.
No words could suffice to praise the courage of the Anzacs, but every
word of praise should be repeated for the Turks, who proved them-
selves not only gallant soldiers, heroes in their handling of desperate
attacks and counter-attacks, but also the most chivalrous foes which
the Allies encountered on the battlefield. The French Expeditionary
Force fought with equal gallantry. It was all useless. The natural
defenses, the marvellously intricate trench system, the powerful Ger-
man artillery, and the daring of the Turks rendered it sure that long
before the Allies could take those trenches inch by inch every man
of the Allied forces would be killed. The battle casualties (not in-
cluding an appalling hospital list) were 40,000 for the British alone in
those three days, or more than the total losses of the three long years
of the Boer War.

Second Phase of the Gallipoli Campaign.

This ended the first part of the Gallipoli campaign. The net
result was that the French had been driven entirely off from the
Kum Kale landing ; the British had dug themselves in on the tip of the
peninsula, but were exposed to constant fire and an insuperable diffi-
culty of landing supplies ; the Anzacs had dug in near Sari Bair and
were holding on with their teeth. The Allies were out-numbered, out-
manoeuvred, out-placed and out-fought. The British Commander saw
his forces melting away under disease and Turkish attack and notified
the military authorities in England that further frontal action would
be suicidal.

The second phase of the Gallipoli campaign was known as the
Attack on Suvla Bay. This was an even bigger affair. Heavy reen-
foroements had been sent from England, including several Indian hill-

186 THE INTREPID ANZACS AT GALLIPOLI

tribe regiments. The attack was to be fourfold. The main attack
was to be at Suvla Bay, a few miles north of Anzac Cove, where the
Australians and New Zealanders were holding fast. The troops estab-
lishing the new landing here were to push rapidly across country,
skirting the small Salt Lake and to seize Anafarta Ridge, at once tak-
ing up artillery positions against Sari Bair. The second attack
was to be an Anzac charge on Sari Bair itself. The third was to
be an attack on the main railroad communications as they passed along
the narrow Isthmus of Bulair leading from the Turkish Mainland to
the Gallipoli Peninsula. The fourth was to be a. new assault on Krithia
with the intention of storming the height of Achi Baba.

The Suvla Bay landing on August 6, 1917, was a success, regarded
as a landing only. The troops marched inland and took up moderately
strong positions. The Sari Bair attack of the same day was repulsed
with heavy losses. On August 7 the Turks realized that the troops which
had landed at Suvla Bay and were threatening the Anafarta Ridge might
become a serious menace, although the Ridge itself had no relation to the
Dardanelles shores, wliich were on the other side of the peninsula. The
Turks moved reenforcements and artillery with surprising vigor and
very soldierly handling, and held the invaders back. At Sari Bair the
Anzacs and the Indian troops charged up some of the steepest and
most fiercely held slopes of the height, whose crest they were deter-
mined to reach, and, though decimated, the survivors dug in.

Complete Failure of the Allied Offensive.

On August 9 occurred one of the bravest charges of the war. The
Ghurkas and the New Zealanders actually carried HiU Q and Rhodo-
dendron Ridge. But the German and Turkish artillery was ready.
The men had just ten seconds to cheer their victory and then the guns,
laid to command those very heights, poured in a storm of shrapnel,
even before the attackers had time to dig themselves in one inch.
The firing began and stopped with the precision of clockwork, and,
synchronized to the minute, the Turkish troops, at least four to one in
number, swept the survivors of the Ghurka and Anzac regiments en-
tirely free from the slopes of Sari Bair. The Irish and Australians,
meantime, had been fighting desperately on the Anafarta Ridge and
had gained several heights, in many cases, to be expulsed immediately
afterwards.

THE INTREPID ANZACS AT GALLIPOLI 187

One last final attack was made on August 21. It told the same
story. The Irish, English, Australian, New Zealand and Indian troops
fought savagely. Officers sacrificed themselves with the men. But the
soldiers facing them were not inferior in courage, they had the ad-
vantage of position, they possessed plenty of supplies, and the Allied
attack was crumpled. The slopes flowed with blood, but the Turks held
to the death.

The slaughter was terrific, and no military urgency could justify
the continuance of the campaign. England had lost, counting killed,
wounded, missing and invalided home close to 200,000 men, making
it the most costly single campaign in history. Yet not one single ob-
jective had been attained. Achi Baba had not been taken. Sari Bair
had suffered only a temporary occupancy during a few minutes of one
of its lower slopes and the main point, that of Kilid Bahr, had never
been threatened at all.

The Campaign Abandoned.

Lord Kitchener was sent to find a way whereby the troops could
be withdrawn without too much loss. Great praise was given to Sir
Ian Hamilton's successor, General Monroe, for the manner in which the
retreat was accomplished. On December 19, 1915, the Anzacs left the
beaches at Anzac Cove and Suvla Bay, which they had held so tena-
ciously and at such terrible sacrifice, and, on January 8, 1916, the
British left the tip of the Peninsula. It was cold comfort to Britain
to write with loud and fulsome praise of the way in which this oper-
ation had been carried out. With a tremendous loss of prestige, at
enormous expense, with a deplorable loss of life, the whole Gallipoli
campaign was abandoned. The Turks proclaimed everywhere, and
with truth, that "England had run away." Perhaps the saddest part
of the whole affair was the knowledge that these heroic troops, than
which none better ever stepped on the field of battle, might have saved
Serbia had they been sent in time to help the tiny French force at
Saloniki.

The disaster had one good effect for the Allies. It showed the
danger of divided command. It resulted in a closer understanding
between the armies of France and Great Britain. That winter Sir John
French resigned and Haig took his place. But this was locking the
stable door after the steed was stolen. The world had witnessed Tur-

188 THE INTREPID ANZACS AT GALLIBOLI

key chase the Allies into the sea, and had seen Bulgaria stride rough-
shod over Serbia. The failure of the Gallipoli campaign, coupled with
the failure of the first Saloniki campaign, did much to prolong the
war.

It was not until nearly three years later that Turkey surrendered
to the Allies as the result of the Mesopotamian and Syrian campaigns.
The first clause in the armistice was the opening of the Dardanelles
and the Bosphorus to the Allied Fleets. On November 9 British troops
had again landed on the peninsula of Gallipoli and looked once more
on these hillsides, still protected by barbed wire, the trenches of which
were empty of men and the guns of whose forts were silent. On
November 10 a British destroyer, followed by a French destroyer,
cast anchor in the Golden Horn, their guns trained on Constantinople.
On November 13 the Allied fleet steamed up the Dardanelles, beneath
the forts whose guns had driven them back three years before, and
in the early morning dropped anchor before Constantinople, two
British battleships leading, then two French, two Italian, and a Greek
vessel in the rear. Formal surrender of the famous ''Gate of the
World" was made to the British General, Sir Henry Wilson, placed in
command of the Allied garrisons in the forts of the Dardanelles and of
the Bosphorus. The goal, at last, was won. The key of the Near East
was in the hands of the Allies.

CHAPTER XVII.

THE CRUSADERS IN JERUSALEM AT LAST.

The Caucasus Campaigns— Mesopotamlan Campaign— The Kut-el-Amara Trap— Capture of Bagdad-
Turkish Advance Toward Egypt— Failure of the Jehad— Campaign in the Holy Land— A Cavalry
War— The Sacred City— Capture of Damascus— Situation of Persia.

THE futile invasion of the Gallipoli Peninsula by the Allies has
hereinbefore been treated separately, for the reason that it had no
effect on the fate of Turkey, and almost none on the war as a whole.
It was very diiferent with the other Turkish campaigns, sometimes
incorrectly called ' ' the campaigns of Asia Minor. ' ' Since Turkey was
the chief factor upon one side, all these campaigns dove-tailed, more
or less, into each other. Yet, as they were attacked from entirely
different points by the Allies, and as their results operated in entirely
different regions of the world, it will be better to consider each of
them separately rather than to attempt to give the three simul-
taneously in their chronological sequence.

The campaign which will be treated first is that of the Caucasus ;
which was, for the most part, a campaign between Turkey and Russia,
and centered around the famous fortress of Erzerum. The second
campaign to be considered will be the Mesopotamian Campaign, which
dealt largely with the oil question and England's sphere of influence
on the Persian Gulf; this was a war between Turkey and the British,
and was marked first by the English defeat at Kut-el-Amara and by
the Allied capture of Bagdad. The third campaign began with the
Turkish effort to start a Jehad or Holy War, striking at Egypt and
the Suez Canal, but which turned to the conquest of Syria; this was
a war between Turkey and the combined British, French and Arab
forces, and resulted in the occupation of Jerusalem and the capture of
Damascus,

The Caucasus conflicts were begun by the Armenians. The most
cruelly misgoverned of all peoples of the world, constantly subjected

189

190 CKUSADERS IN JERUSALEM AT LAST

to plunder and wholesale massacre, seized the opportunity given by
the opening of the world war to revolt against their Turkish masters.
Every Armenian centre became a hot-bed of rebellion. Turkey re-
sponded with her customary atrocities and Armenia called on Russia

for help.

Russia was preparing to invade Turkey, in any case, while Turkey
was putting herself in readiness to seize Tiflis, the capital of the
Georgians. The Turks had 140,000 men, well equipped and tolerably
well officered, centered mainly at Erzerum and at Trebizond, the latter
a port on the Black Sea. The Russians had 110,000 men, centered
mainly at Kars and at Erivan, the latter a few miles north of Mt.
Ararat, where legend declares Noah^s Ark to have rested after the
Deluge.

The Battle of Sarikamish.

As the mutual opposition of these three factors, Armenian, Turk-
ish and Russian, combined to bring about one of the decisive battles
of the war, the Battle of Sarikamish, the incidents of that engagement
may be told briefly. On November 20, 1914, the Russians invaded
Turkey, crossing the frontier near Sarikamish. They seized the Turkish
town of Khoprikeui, thirty miles from Erzerum, and camped there. The
Turks, lacking a railroad behind them, lost much time preparing to
counter-attack. On December 14, however, the Turkish armies advanced
and gave battle at four points. The Eleventh Turkish Corps attacked
the Russians at Khoprikeui, and drove them back to Khorasan; the
Tenth Corps crossed the mountains and threatened Sarikamish, the
Ninth Corps advanced toward Kars, while two divisions of the First
Corps marched from Trebizond through a blizzard toward Ardahan.

The Russians then threw their whole weight against the Tenth
Corps, drove them back, isolated them in the mountains and cut them
off. This flanked the Ninth Corps. The Russians attacked savagely
and of the 40,000 men of that corps barely 6,000 Turks struggled
through to Sarikamish, where, in spite of their losses, they assaulted
the small garrison vigorously. The handful of Russians in the town
resisted long enough to allow the main army to reencircle the Turks
and the rest of that army corps surrendered. The Battle of Sarikamish
had annihilated one Turkish Corps, decimated another and broken
up all the Turkish Campaign. The Eleventh Corps, however, was still

CKUSADERS IN JERUSALEM AT LAST 191

active and vigorous, and the Russians had to give over pursuit, to
shorten their own lines.

The spring offensive resulted in a decided victory for the Rus-
sians near the Persian-Russian-Turkish border on April 20, 1915. On
April 30, a set battle began at Janik, on the east of Lake Van, result-
ing in Turkish defeat, and on May 5, the important city of Van felJ
into the hands of the Russians, the Armenian peasants and villagers
aiding the invaders to the utmost of their power.

This stimulated the Kurds and Turks to even more atrocious mas-
sacres of the Armenians than had before been attempted. On May
23, a joint official statement was made by all the Allied governments
stating that "the inhabitants of a hundred villages near Van have
been assassinated," and affirming that Turkey and each of her officials
would be held personally responsible. The American ambassador told
of one convoy of 18,000 women and children deported from their
homes, of whom but 150 reached xlleppo.

Inhuman Treatment of Armenians.

''Day after day and night after night," wrote Ambassador Mor-
genthau, "the prettiest girls were carried away; sometimes they re-
turned in a pitiable condition. . . . Any stragglers, the old, the
infirm and the sick, were promptly killed. Whenever they reached a
Turkish village, all the local vagabonds were permitted to prey upon
the Armenian girls. . . . They had been so repeatedly robbed that
they had practically nothing left except a few ragged clothes and even
these the Kurds took ; and the larger part of the convoy marched for
five days almost completely naked under the scorching desert sun.
For another five days they did not have a morsel of bread nor a
drop of water. . . . Where there were wells, some women threw
themselves into them. . . . The policemen forbade them to take
a single drop of water. . . .

"I am confident that the whole history of the human race contains
no such horrible episode as this. The great massacres and persecu-
tions of the past seem almost insignificant when compared with the
sufferings of the Armenian race in 1915. . . . Previous persecu-
tions seem almost trivial when we compare them with the sufferings
of the Armenians, in which at least 600,000 people were destroyed
and perhaps as many as 1,000,000." As Mr. Morgenthau, the American

192 CRUSADERS IN JERUSALEM AT LAST

Ambassador, was a Jew, there is no reason to regard his figures as
biased in favor of the Christian Armenians. In the English House
of Commons the figures stated were ''not under a million Armenians
massacred in cold blood."

During this summer there were several sharp engagements be-
tween the Turks and Russians, with varying success on either side.
In September, 1915, the Grand Duke Nicholas Nicholaievitch was sent
down to the Caucasus in order that the Czar and his ring could more
easily betray Russia in the west.

By midwinter Grand Duke Nicholas was ready for the attack. He
planned nothing less than the capture of Erzerum, the Verdun of
Asia Minor. The Russians had about 300,000 troops, the Turks about
200,000. On February 8, 1916, Nicholas advanced from three points,
Olty, Sarikamish and Melazghert. A blinding snowstorm was rag-
ing, the temperature was 25 degrees below zero, and from Erzerum
to the nearest Turkish railhead is 200 miles. After five days of fierce
assault, the Siberian troops — of all soldiers those best adapted to such
weather conditions — carried the outer forts. The fall of Erzerum on
February 15, 1916, was of vast political influence in Persia and the
Far East.

Conquest of Turkish Armenia.

Resting a while on this base, bringing up supplies, the Russians
were ready to advance a couple of weeks later. On March 2, 1916,
Bitlis, an important trade center, was taken, and a new menace put
at the rear of the Turkish Army fighting against the British in Meso-
potamia. Fighting now became tense all along the line, but Grand
Duke Nicholas shifted his heaviest blows to the north, finally cap-
turing the principal port of Trebizond on April 18, 1916.

There remained now but one more important point for the Rus-
sians to gain, that of Erzingan, the capture of which would open the
way into the Asia Minor plains on the further side of the supposedly
impassable barrier of mountains. On July 25, 1916, the strongly
fortified city of Erzingan fell into Russia hands, completing the con-
quest of Turkish Armenia, and opening the way to Constantinople from
the east.

It might be mentioned at this point that Russian armies had been
operating southward toward Bagdad, through Persia. The city of
Kermanshah, less than 200 miles from Bagdad, was taken on Feb-

CKUSADEKy IN JEKUSALEM AT LAST 193

ruary 27, 1918, and Kasr-i-Shir'n, 110 miles from Bagdad, on May 10.

At this point came three sudden surprises. The first was the
smashing disaster to the British at Kut-el-Amara ; the second was the
unexpected anti-Russian attitude of the Persian Kurds, combined with
a strong pro-German movement m the Persian government; the third
was a notable stiffening of the Turkish Army, made possible by the
British fiasco at Gallipoli..

The second theatre of war in Asia Minor was Mesopotamia. The
first move was quick and successful. One of the most important points
in the east, to Britain, is the main pipe line of the Anglo-Persian Oil
Company, a main source of supply for the British oil-burning super-
dreadnoughts. This comes down to Abadam, almost opposite the
Turkish village of Sanijeh. On November 7, a brigade of white and
Indian troops attacked the antiquated Turkish fort of Fao. By No-
vember 16 a fairly large body of troops landed, and on November 17
a. Turkish force was met at Sahil and defeated. With the aid of
river steamers, the town of Basra was taken on November 22. It was
promptly prepared with defenses both as a land and naval base.

The First Mesopotamian Venture of the British.

On December 3, a small British and Indian detachment proceeded
up the river to Kurna, fifty miles above Basra, where the Tigris
empties into the old channel of the Euphrates, a point of strategic im-
portance as it controls the Euphrates delta. The Turks promptly
drove the British back. After this repulse, the British prepared to
attack in force, and the date of attack was set for December 9. On
December 6, however, Turkish officers appeared at the British camp
and asked for terms. Conditions were refused and the Turks sur-
rendered. The British intrenched heavily at Kurna, content with their
first Mesopotamian venture since the oil pipe-line was safe, and all
unwitting of the disasters which awaited them in the future.

In the Orient, prestige is one of the most important factors. Much
of the intense difficulty which was sustained by the Allies during the four
years of the war in this part of the world, was due to the British defeat
at Ctesiphon by Turkish troops, which resulted in the bottling-up of
General Townshend and his army at Kut-el-Amara, on the Tigris.
This was another case of General Gordon and Khartoum. An Ameri-
can military expert hit off the situation very happily when he described

13— W. L.

194 CRUSADERS IN JERUSALEM AT LAST

the reason of this disaster as ''England's traditional blunder: sending a
boy on a man's errand and being then forced to rush an army to the
rescue of the bo}^ ' '

The only authoritative statement made concerning the causes and
character of the early part of the Mesopotamian campaign was made by
Prime Minister Asquith before the British House of Commons on
November 2, 1915. He said, in part: "The object of the expeditionary
force, which originally consisted of only one division (about 50,000 men)
in the autumn of last year (1914) in Mesopotamia, was to secure the
neutrality of the Arabs, to safeguard our interests in the Persian Gulf,
to protect the oil fields and generally to maintain the authority of our
flag in the East."

British Defeated on Way to Bagdad.

On December 1, 1915, less than a month after Asquith 's explana-
tion, the British advanced toward Bagdad. They reached Ctesiphon, not
anticipating alarming opposition, for, at that stage of the war, and in
that outlying corner of the globe, air scouting was negligible. The
British were depending mainly on cavalry scouts. Quite suddenly, at
Ctesiphon, they found themselves faced by a powerful Turkish Army, of
not Jess than 100,000 men. The British Army, which had been divided
into two parts, one operating on the Tigris and the other on the Euphra-
tes, and which, moreover, had been weakened by the necessity of leaving
garrisons, and by sickness, did not have more than 30,000 men, more
than a half of which were Indian native troops. .The Turks did not
await the attack. With that dash which distinguishes the Turk in actual
war, they charged the British. Their artillery was German and the bat-
teries were commanded and trained by German officers. The English
were smashed back, with casualties of 6,800 men on the first day. By
land, on the river bank and by river boats, the British were routed. The
retreat was panicky, and when a halt was made at Kut-el-Amara, eighty
miles to the southeast, nearly two-thirds of the English and' Indian
troops had been killed, wounded or made prisoners.

At this unfortunate juncture, the Australian and New Zealand cam-
paign at Gallipoli came to an inglorious end, and the British forces
abandoned all attempts on the Dardanelles. The immediate effect of
this was to release 300,000 Turkish troops for action on other fronts. Of
these men three divisions (150,000 men) were dispatched at once to Kut-

CRUSADERS IN JERUSALEM AT LAST 195

el-Amara, with the goal of investing the 10,000 British at that point
and either capturing the post entire or starving the small force to sur-
render by means of siege. Still more dangerous, the defeat of the
British gave the Turks and Germans an opportunity of convincing the
Arab tribes that England's power was gone, and that, thenceforward,
they should throw their alliance to the Central Powers. Such an alli-
ance would vastly strengthen the Turko-German advance on Egypt and
the Suez Canal.

In this desperate strait, England did as has been said — she ''sent
an army to save the boy." It became a race between the transport of
Turkish troops from Constantinople to Bagdad, and of English troops
from India up the Persian Gulf and the Tigris to Kut-el-Amara. Had
the Constantinople to Bagdad (or the Berlin to Bagdad) railroad been
completed throughout, the issue would have been certain at once. On
the other hand, had the Russians been able to advance into the plain,
the English force would have been relieved immediatel3\ And it was
all that General Townshend could do after his defeat at Ctesiphon on
November 22, 1915, to intrench at Kut-el-Amara on December 5, repel
all Turkish attacks and wait for relief.

Fighting in Water Waist Deep.

A strong British force reached Basra in December and started
north up the Tigris on January 4, 1916. Two months ' fighting brought
them to Es Sinn, only seven miles away from Kut-el-Amara, but the
Turks were heavily entrenched and the British attempt to storm the
position resulted in failure. On March 8, the Turks counter-attacked
and took part of the British trenches, but were driven out again. Lack
of water and sickness in the troops compelled General Aylmen to fall
back, Kut-el-Amara still unreached.

Then came the spring floods, submerging the land on either side
of the Tigris for a considerable space, for the old supposed site of the
Garden of Eden is a bottomless swamp in spring. None the less, on April
5, General Gorringe, who had succeeded General Aylmer, attacked
Unun-el-IIannah, using seasoned troops who had served on the Galli-
poli Peninsula. After fierce fighting the trenches were carried, and
the Turks driven back on their main defenses at Es Sinn. But heavy
rains and floods came to the aid of the Turks. Turkish reports stated
that 3,000 British were trapped and either drowned or killed by their

196 CRUSADERS IN JERUSALEM AT LAST

exposure to Turkish fire. Both sides were wading in water to their
waists. The British fought well and advanced steadily, but could only
make a few hundred yards at a time, so stubborn was the Turkish
resistance. General Townshond, in Kut-el-Amara, who had been com-
municating by wireless throughout the siege, now announced that his
provisions were running low. Five months' siege had consumed them,
even on short rations.

During the night of April 24, a relief ship was sent up the Tigris.
It was a desperate venture, for the river banks were lined with Turkish
guns. Moreover, during flood-times the bed of the Tigris changed con-
stantly, like the Mississippi. The boat stranded. Another effort to
get food to Kut-el-Amara by aeroplane was also a failure.

Surrender of General Townshend.

On the one hundred and forty-third day of the siege the following
wireless report was received from General Townshend: "Have de-
stroyed my guns, and most of toy munitions are being destroyed. Offi-
cers have gone to Kliali to say I am ready to surrender. I must have
some food and cannot hold out any more." A few hours later came
a second message: "I have hoisted the white flag over Kut fort and
towns, and the guard will be taken over by a Turkish regiment which
is approaching. I shall shortly destroy wireless." This surrender
included ' * a force of 2,,970 British troops of all ranks and services and
some 6,000 Indian troops and their followers," closs to 10,000 men
in all. Then came the summer, rendering military operations impos-
sible.

The legendary Garden of Eden, a rich alluvial plain, once was the
fertile grain country of the great Empire of Babylon. It had degen-
erated into a swamp under Arabian and Turkish dominance. This,
now, was drained by the British army engineers, highways were built
and two railroads constructed, one up the Tigris banks towards Kut-
el-Amara, the other up the Euphrates banks to Nasiriyeh, only ten
miles from Kut. In this region the two rivers run parallel. "The
Army sent to save the boy" now had become a veritable army. The
troops decimated nnd weakened by the Mesopotamian summer were
relieved and General Maude, a very able officer, took command. On
December 13-14, 1916, General Maude drove in the Turkish defenses
south of Kut. A few days later he reached the river, thus ensuring
transport and supplies.

CEUSADERS IN JERUSALEM AT LAST 197

At this point General Maude changed the campaign into a cavalry
war. On February 27, he struck simultaneously from no less than
seven points: river steamers on the Tigris, river steamers on the
Euphrates, infantry from the camps near Kut, infantry from advanced
trenches north of Nasiriyeh, and immense cavalry detachments sweep-
ing out to the northeast and southwest of the valley of the combined
rivers.

The Turks were not ready for any such all-embracing plan and
on February 28, 1917, Kut-el-Amara was occupied; on March 5, Lajij
fell; on March 7, the Turks, supported by a couple of German regi-
ments, stiffened on the Diala River, eight miles from Bagdad. Sud-
denly, upon them fell swarms of cavalry, 4nd, a few hours later, light
artillery. On March 11, Bagdad fell, and it was semi-officially an-
nounced that two-thirds of the Turkish guns had either been captured
or thrown into the Tigris.

General Maude's Bagdad Proclamation.

Whereupon, General Maude, in a proclamation which for dignity
the greatness of speech deserves to be quoted in its entirety, pro-
claimed that the British came to free the Arabs from the Turks that
they "should prosper even as in the past, when your lands werfj
fertile, when your ancestors gave to the world literature, science and
art, and when the City of Bagdad was one of the wonders of tne
world. . . . You are not to understand that it is the wish of the
British government to impose on you alien institutions . . . but
institutions of your own which are in consonance with your sacred
laws and your racial ideals. . . ." At the same time, Persia was
also brought under British domination.

The summer of 1917 saw the steady strengthening of the British
lines. The Russian Armies of the Caucasus, now reduced to the Kuban
and Terek Cossacks and native Caucasians, all hereditary enemies of
the Turks, succeeded in holding fast their defenses, possessing vast
supplies of stores at Trebizond, Erzerum and Bitlis. Without mili-
tary leadership, however, they could not advance. The chief value of
the Caucasus Army lay in protecting the right flank of the British
advance. Thus strengthened. General Maude annihilated the Eigh-
teenth Turkish Army Corps near Samara on April 18, and the Thir-
teenth Corps on April 30, in the Jebel Hamrin Hills. Thus Mosul was

198 CRUSADERS IN JERUSALEM AT LAST

menaced when summer heat temporarily closed the campaign. It re-
opened on September 29, when Ramadie, on the Euphrates, was cap-
tured and another Turkish Army destroyed. Two months later Gen-
eral Maude died of cholera.

The next spring campaign was complicated by the Russian failure.
The Turks marched north and retook all the territory seized by Rus-
sia, even occupying the Russian port of Batum. None the less, on
March 10, 1918, the British entered Hit, and, on March 28, the Turkish
Army at Hit was wiped out. Before the resumption of the autumn
campaign in Mesopotamia, Turkey was on her last legs and Germany
was on the run.

The third theatre of war was Syria, the Holy Land, and Egypt.
The early part of this campaign began with the announcement of a
Jehad, or Holy War, fomented by Germany. As, however, Moham-
medan's the world over were well aware that the Sultan of Turkey was
but acting as the mouthpiece of Germany, and the Kaiser was not en-
titled to summon a Jehad, they refused to accept the call.

Turkish Army Defeated With Heavy Losses.

As easly as October 29, 1914, the Bedouins invaded the Sinai
peninsula, and a small force occupied the Wells of Magdala on the
road to the Suez Canal. This was a ''bluff," intended to keep as many
British troops as possible tied down in Egypt, expecting a second at-
tack. Camels were collected in thousands, and during the next three
months a Turkish force — hardly an army — prepared to attack the Suez
Canal. On February 1, 1915, British outpost forces met the oncoming
Turks in three columns, one directed at Kantara, near the Nile Delta ;
one near Ismailia, the railway junction to Cairo; and the third near
Kubri, almost opposite to Suez.

The Turks had counted upon a revolt in Egypt and a mutiny
among the Indian troops. Neither occurred. On the contrary, the
Eg\'ptians supported the English and the Indian troops fought well.
In the three days' fighting, the British lost only 115 killed and wounded,
while the Turkish losses were over 3,000. A third attempt was made
by the Turks, on August 4, 1915, a division strong, but in the open
terrain, machine-gun and rifle-fire was deadly, and more than half the
Turkish Army was struck down almost without reply.

The winter of 1916 saw the relief of Kut-el-Amara, and the fol-

CRUSADERS IN JERUSALEM AT LAST 199

lowing March, 1917, witnessed the fall of Bagdad. Mesopotamia thus
disposed of, Great Britain was willing to take up the Egypt-Syria cam-
paign, and in June, 1917, General Allenby, a cavalry leader, was sent
to take command.

By this time a very powerful German-Turkish front had been
established from Gaza, on the Mediterranean Sea, to Beersheba. Rail-
way extensions had been built to support this line and good highways
built behind it. Gaza was entrenched with all the science born from
German experience in modern war. The difficulties of transport from
Egypt to this defensive line lay with the English, just as in former
engagements in this section, the barrier of the desert had been the
chief difficulty of the Turks.

General Allenby Enters Jerusalem.

On October 27, 1917, the Gaza defenses were bombarded from land,
and by long-range naval guns from the sea, British and French battle-
ships operating in unison. On October 31, the first infantry attack
was made on the outer defenses surrounding Beersheba. The resist-
ance was very stubborn, but the British and Indians took trench after
trench, although with serious losses. On November 7, under the heavy
artillery of land and naval guns combined, the garrison at Gaza found
it could no longer hold out. The city was evacuated and the British
entered the same day. On the 7th also, the centre of the Turkish de-
fense line was broken by grenade and bayonet charges, and the British
reached Tel el Sheria. Hebron was taken November 10. A stand was
made on November 13 at Junction station, the main railway point of
Palestine, due east of Jerusalem, but, although the going was sandy
and difficult, good artillery handling not only brought the field guns
through, but even two batteries of the ''heavies" as well. The trans-
port handling across the desert was marvelous. Junction station
was occupied on November 14, and Joppa, on the seacoast, two days
later. This cut the Turkish Army in two, without communications.

On the other side of Jerusalem, the Turks resisted stoutly, driv-
ing the English back, and on November 21, the British suffered a
"serious reverse. General Allenby, however, had handled his cavalry
in such a way that the Turks did not dare follow up their advantage,
and he had forced the two Turkish Armies into a double-pointed angle
which hampered every move they tried to make.

200 CKUSADERIS IN JERUSALEM AT LAST

Tlie British commander, instead of trying to force the pursuit to
the east, halted until all the positions taken had been thoroughly con-
solidated, until supplies had been renewed and his men and horses
thoroughly rested, and then closed in on the roads controlling Jerusa-
lem. On December 10 the British had isolated Jerusalem, and though
there was firing from the outskirts of the city, not a shot was fired
in return. Finally, on December 11, 1917, General AUenby made his
entrance into Jerusalem.

Thenceforward the conquest went forward with a steady and care-
ful swiftness which was the result of combined cavalry dashes and
infantry consolidation. On February 21, 1918, Jericho fell, and by
April 1, the British armies prepared to advance on Aleppo. On Sep-
tember 19, General Allenby renewed the campaign, breaking the whole
Turkish line along a front of sixteen miles. Acting with the Hejaz
Arabs as allies, the Turkish Army between the Jordan and the Medi-
terranean was annihilated on September 22, and on September 26
British cavalry reached the Sea of Galilee and occupied Tiberias.

The culminating point of the campaign arrived with the capture
of Damascus on October 1, 1918. This, with the landing of French
troops at Beirut, enabled the completion of the Aleppo movenient, and
that main point on the Constantinople-Bagdad Railroad was seized on
October 26. Meantime, the Mesopotamian Army was marching on
Mosul, and its fall could not be averted.

With Bagdad, Mosul, Allepo and Damascus in Allied hands, with
Bulgaria collapsed, Austria tottering and Germany retreating, Turkey's
doom was sealed. On October 31 she surrendered.

CHAPTER XVIII.

JAPAN'S PLACE IN THE SUN.

The Attack on Tslng-Tao-^apture of Kiao'Chau^German Prestige In the Oilent Lost at One Blow-
Conquest of Solomon, Caroline and Marshall Islands— The Surrender of German New Guinea— No
Teuton Naval Base Left in the Pacific.

THERE was no uncertainty as to what side Japan would take in
the world war, and no hesitation in declaring it. The Anglo-
Japanese Alliance of 1905 provided for the maintenance of peace in
Eastern Asia, and the preservation of the various "spheres of influ-
ence" held by the great powers in China, through the preservation
of the integrity of the Chinese Empire. On August 15, 1914, Japan
sent Germany an ultimatum demanding the immediate withdrawal or
disarmament of all G^erman warcraft in eastern seas, and the rendering
up to JapaUj by September 15, the entire leased territory of Kiao-
ChaU "with a view to the eventual restoration of the same to China."
Germany returned no answer, and at the expiration of the time set
in the ultimatum, on August 23, 1914, Japan declared war.

Tsing-Tao, at the opening of the war, was a strongly fortified
naval base, a city of 58,000, entirely Chinese and German. The mili-
tary force in Tsing-Tao at the time of the Japanese declaration of
war was but 5,000 men. Japan had a peace strength of 250,000 men
and a war strength of 1,500,000. Also, the Japanese Navy was vastly
larger than the German fleets in eastern waters. The day before the
declaration of war, a fleet of a dozen first-class warships set out
from Japan with transports carrying land forces of 22,980 officers and
men.

The bombardment of the five great forts around Tsing-Tao began
on August 26 and by September 1 Japanese blue-iackets and marines oc-
cupied several small islands in the bay. The first landing on Shan-tung
Peninsula was made September 2, 10,000 troops being put ashore.
This was not so mudi with the intent of direct attack as for the occu-
pation of the leased territory. By September 13 the Japanese had

201

202 JAPAN'S PLACE IN THE SUN

taken Kiao-Chau, twenty-two miles inland from Tsing-Tao. China
protested, but Japan replied that the railway was a German concession,
o\vned and operated by Germans. Torrential rains flooded all the
streams and prevented the Japanese from definite land advance. On
September 23 a small British force arrived from Wei-hai-wei.

The siege in proper, or rather the fighting therein, began on Sep-
tember 26, 1914, the English joined in on September 28 and by Sep-
tember 30 the outer fortifications were taken and Tsing-Tao was com-
pletely surrounded. A direct assault upon the city was made, but was
\dgorously repulsed. The Japanese commander, realizing that he could
spare all the time necessary, made no second attack, but waited for his
heavy artillery to advance, meanwhile settling his men down to strong
defensive trenches.

German Possessions in the Pacific Captured.

During October mine-sweeping operations cleared Tsing-Tao har-
bor, so that the big British and Japanese battleships could stand in.
The garrison refused to surrender, and on October 31 there began a
concerted bombardment from the ships and from the Japanese heavy
artillery, which had taken up strong positions commanding the city and
which had secured the exact ranges. Every defensive and protective
structure was smashed into flinders by the weight of metal. There
was no need to waste lives, the artillery was all-sufficient. The Japanese
waited until November 6 for their first assault. All positions were
taken with ease. The grand assault, set for November 7, was equally
facile, and Tsing-Tao fell on November 7, 1914, with total Allied casu-
alties of less than 2,000 men.

There were several other important German naval bases and
cable stations in the Pacific to be captured, however, and in this work
the Australian and New Zealand ships of the British Navy took a
leading part. German Samoa was the first point attacked by these
forces. On August 15, 1914, an expedition sailed from New Zealand.
As there were a couple of German battle cruisers known to be in those
waters, the expedition steamed first for French New Caledonia, where
three light British cruisers were waiting. On August 23 this fleet,
now of considerable size, for a French battle cruiser and two Australian
cruisers had joined it, reached Apia, on Upolu Island, off Samoa. New-
Zealand Marines were sent ashore, but there was no resistance.

JAPAN'S PLACE IN THE SUN 203

*' Samoa proved a walk-over," wrote a correspondent to the Syd-
ney Bulletin; "not a gun, not a ship, not a mine. A bunoh of school-
boys with Shanghais and a hatful of rocks could have taken it. The
German fleet that was supposed to be awaiting us hadn't been around
for eleven months. Seemingly the German fleet has gone into the
business of not being around ! " This was a trifle unjust, for that same
German fleet gave a very good account of itself, as will be told in a
later chapter.

Germansr's Colonial Aspirations in the Pacific Defeated.

The Caroline Islands were first taken by Japan, but were turned
over to New Zealand forces in September, 1914. The next important
point to be attacked was German New Guinea and Bismarck Archi-
pelago, together comprising an area of nearly 90,000 square miles,
almost half the size of Germany. The Australian Naval Reserve cap-
tured the wireless station at Herbertshohe in New Pomerania on Sep-
tember 12, 1914, after eighteen hours' bush fighting over a terrain of
six miles. An Australian naval force, landing in German New Guinea,
found much more vigorous resistance. The Australian Expeditionary
Force decided to land the artillery. On September 13, however, Rahaul,
the capital of German New Guinea, surrendered. Another party at
Bougainville, in the Solomon Islands, took that point and captured
there the governor of New Pomerania, who had fled thither. During
October the wireless stations on the island of Yap and on Pleasant
Island were taken over by British colonial expeditionary forces. The
Marshall and Solomon Islands were likewise occupied on December 9,
thus winding up the last of Germany's colonial possessions in the
Pacific.

The importance of these apparently minor conquests is out of
all relation to their size. Modern warfare must necessarily be con-
nected with modern commerce. It is universally known that Germany's
great desire was to extend her colonies. Colonial empire requires a
navy. Modern warships — not being like sailing vessels — require large
stores of coal or oil. No battleship can carry fuel for distant voyages.
Therefore it is necessary to have coaling stations scattered all over
the Seven Seas. Moreover, oceans are treacherous, and storms are
beyond the mastery of man. Therefore it is necessary to have repair
stations at naval bases all over the world.

204 JAPAN'S PLACE IN THE SUN

Furthermore, in times of war, the movements of fleets can only be
regulated by movements of other fleets and by advices from home,
therefore it is necessary to have wireless stations all over the world.
A powerful German Navy without naval bases would rust itself away
in impotent rage. Without fuel for its engines, without food and
.water for the men, without the means of dry-docking, and without
wireless communication, it would be helpless.

With German hostility thus turned inveterately against Australia
and New Zealand, it is not surprising that the Parliaments of both
colonies should have gone on record as declaring that the Pacific colo-
nies of Germany should never be allowed to return to German hands.
The German islands in the Pacific had an aggregate area of territoiy
reaching 96,000 square miles, about the same size as England, Scotland
and Wales. Their population was about three-quarters of a million.
The exports were valued at over $22,250,000 annually, Kiao-Chau and
Samoa being the most productive and valuable.

There was German retaliation, of course, such as the attack on
Tahiti, but all these were purely naval matters and will be treated
in later chapters. "What is above all things important to remember is
that English and Japanese landing parties, both in the nature of
expeditionary forces, put an end to Germany's colonial aspirations in
the Pacific within four months of the first declaration of war.

CHAPTER XIX.

THE HUN'S HAND LIFTED FROM AFRICA.

Campaigns in Togoland, Kamerun, and German East Africa— Rebellion in South Africa and the Campaign
in German Southwest Africa— Teuton Barbarities in Her Colonies>— Naval War 2,000 Miles From the
Ocean— Boer Generals and Troops in the Dark Continent.

TriE German possessions in Africa, as a natural procedure, became
points of attack upon the opening of the world war. There were
four of these colonies: Togoland, a country the size of Ireland, with
1,000,000 population, lying between the British colony of the Gold Coast
and the French colony of Dahomey; Kamerun, a country almost as
large as Germany, lying between the British colony of Nigeria and
the French colony of French Congo, with a population of 2,750,000;
German Southwest Africa, half as large again as Germany, lying be-
tween the Portuguese colony of Angola and the British colony of Cape
Colony, its whole inland border confronting the British protectorate
of Bechuanaland, with the small population of less than 100,000; and
German East Africa, almost twice as large as Germany, lying between
Portuguese East Africa and British East Africa, its hinterland facing
the Belgian Congo, with a population of 7,750,000. All these colonies
were of very recent annexation, mostly dating from 1884.

These colonies, since Germany was unable to protect them navally
because of England's mastery of the seas, were open to land attack
from the first. The various African campaigns, therefore, can be
treated in four parts: the campaign in Togoland; the campaign for
Kamerun; the campaign in German Southwest Africa, prefaced by the
rebellion which was fomented in British South Africa; and the long
and arduous campaign, almost worthy of being named a war, which was
waged in German East Africa. To a far larger extent than was
realized, the battles in Belgium, in France, in Serbia and in Poland,
were battles waged for the winning of stakes in Africa and Asia.
Had Germany been victorious, not only would the Allies have been
forced to give up their gains, but, probably, Germany would have

205

206 THE HUN'S HAND LIFTED FROM AFRICA

demanded enormous tracts of territory that had been held by the AlUed

nations. - ■, - o j r\

The campaign in Togoland may be dismissed m a tew words. Un
August 8, 1914, a British cruiser appeared off the port of Lome, the
capital of Togoland, cleared for action, and pointed her guns at the
town. Lome surrendered without firing a shot. The main German
wireless station was at Kamina near Atakpame, some hundred or more
miles inland, on high ground, where the climate was less deadly, and
to this point the German garrisons at Lome retired. A British force
invaded Togoland from the west, a French force from the east, on
August 8 and 9. Having occupied all southern Togoland, the Allies
marcned north and attacked the Kamina wireless station on August 25,
driving the enemy from his intrenchments at once. On August 26
Atakpame was taken and the Germans surrendered unconditionally.
The Germans had counted on the natives taking up arms against
the British. On the contrary, the natives hailed the Allies as their
saviors.

The British Repulsed in the Kamerun.

The Germans were outnumbered almost to the same extent in the
Kamerun, but this proved a much tougher nut to crack. England,
starting operations with too small a force, got a sharp whipping at
the beginning. On August 8 a British detachment left Kano, in the
centre of Nigeria, and, after a seventeen days' march, reached Tepe,
a Kamerun frontier station. A sharp engagement followed and the
Germans fell back. On August 29 the British reached the station of
Garua, on the Benue River, the main fortified point of the hinterland,
and attacked in force on August 31. A murderous machine gun fire
met them and the native troops fled. The British officers retired to
the trenches and there 21 out of 31 officers were killed, including the
lieutenant-colonel in command. The remainder of the British and
natives fled.

A second British expedition, which attacked the Germans at Nsana-
kong, fared no better and had to escape through the bush. A coast
expedition succeeded in securing a foothold at Archbong, August 29,
1914, and the day after a German force successfully invaded Nigeria
at Okuri. The first British attempt to take Kamerun by land had
proved a dismal and utter failure.

The next attempt was by sea. After considerable mine sweeping,

THE HUN'S HAND LIFTED FROM AFRICA 207

the British cleared the channel to Duala, the capital of Kamerun.
Under the cover of naval guns, the town surrendered and troops
landed and took possession. The French seized one or two smaller
ports on the coast. It took the Allies until October 26 to reach
Mujuka, fifty miles in the interior. Buea, to which the German gov-
ernment had retired, was taken early in November, and in December
the railway line fell into Allied hands. The German seat of govern-
ment was then transferred to Yaunde, a point arduous of access and

attack.

So extraordinarily difficult was this country that the Allies could
never have conducted military operations there had it not been for
the aid of the natives, who hated their German masters. Sharp fight-
ing, though on a very small plan, was continuous and finally, on May
31, the British were ready to renew their attack on the important hin-
terland point of Garua. The forts fell on June 10, 1915.

Germany's Plans for a Rebellion in South Africa.

Meantime the French were steadily pushing on toward Yaunde, the
new capital, reaching the outer defenses on August 11. General Dobell,
in charge of the campaign, was not able to take the strong point, but
intrenched solidly, awaiting junction with the other Allied columns,
mainly British, which had been operating at Garua and Mount Banyo.
The German forces, seeing that they were almost surrounded, escaped
to the tiny stretch of territory known as the Spanish Congo, where
they were interned by the Spanish authorities. On February 18, 1916,
the German garrison at Mora, in the extreme north, capitulated, com-
pleting the conquest of Kamerun. The colony was put under the direc-
tion of French authorities for the duration of the war.

The conquest of German Southwest Africa was a very different
matter. Grave political questions entered into its case. It will facili-
tate an understanding of the difficulties in German Southwest Africa
if Germany's plans to create a rebellion in South Africa be made
clear, for they came near to success. The tale has a romantic flavor,
even though it is found in the supposedly dry-as-dust pages of the
official South Africa **Blue Book."

This sober historic document deals with the- visions, prophecies
and dreams of one Niklaas van Rensburg who, several years ago, ac-
cording to the report, "had beheld the number 15 on a dark cloud from

208 THE HUN'S HAND LIFTED FROM AFRICA

which blood issued, and then saw General de la Rey returning home
without his hat. Immediately afterward came a carriage covered
with flowers." This General de la Rey, so curiously envisioned by
"The Prophet of Lichtonburg, " had commanded the Lichtenburg burg-
hers in the Boer War and thereafter had become President of the
Western Transvaal Farmers ' Association and the strongest man in the
country. Pro-Dutch and pro-German farmers of the Transvaal, when
the world war opened, saw a supposed fulfilment of the prophecy,
realized a possible chance of revenge on England for the Boer War
and 'counted on General de la Rey to lead a rebellion against British
interests in the Union of South Africa.

General Louis Botha, a former Boer leader, and President of
the South African Union (it is notable that the British Empire had
a Boer as President of one of its largest colonies), sent for General
de la Rey a few days before the meeting scheduled for August 15, the
day of prophecy, and urged him to allay the excitement. The day
came. Everything was ready for rebellion. All expected de la Rey to
break out into a speech of flaming nationalism. Instead, the Western
Transvaal leader urged prudence and advised his followers to await
the turn of events in Europe. Stupefied by this action, the Afrikan-
ders allowed a resolution to be put through endorsing the government
of the Union of South Africa.

Conspiracy for Aiding German Ends.

There were two other leaders, however, who were only using the
"prophet" as a means for aiding German ends. These were General
Beyers and Colonel Maritz. They had received German promises that,
in the event of a successful revolt and when Germany was victorious,
the Free State and the Transvaal should be restored to independence.
Accordingly, Beyers and Maritz stirred up the people by a false report
that "the prophet" had declared that September 15, not Augnist 15,
was the date di^-inely set.

The place chosen by Beyers and Maritz for the outbreak of the
rebellion was Potchefstroom. Over l,fiOO armed men were in readi-
ness. "There was an attempt to line up the prophet for theatric
effect." remarks the official report with unaccustomed ^dvidness of
sppeeh, "but. unfortunately for them, however, the seer declined to

THE HUN '8 HAND LIFTED FROM AFRICA 209

leave his home, saying that *it was not yet clear to him that that was
his path.' "

The signal for the revolt was to be the arrival of General Beyers
and General de la Rey in the Potchefstroom camp. Beyers arrived on
time, but on the appointed day, General de la Rey was only as far as
Johannesburg. General Beyers, in a high-powered motor car, weiit to
Johannesburg to fetch the leader.

The rest of the story reads like a dime novel, only it happens to
be true. That very day, as it chanced, a police cordon had been thrown
around the city to try to trap three notorious desperadoes, known as the
*' Foster Gang," who had been operating in Johannesburg and who were
known to have seized a powerful car. The police were instructed to stop
all cars, especially any containing three men.

The Rebellion in Full Force.

As Beyers' car with the chauffeur and two generals whizzed out
of town, it was twice challenged by the police and ordered to stop.
But neither de la Rey, who had arrived that afternoon, nor Beyers,
who had arrived ten minutes before, knew anything about the "Foster
Gang." They thought this summons to stop on the part of the police
was an evidence that the British authorities had wind of their plan,
and they ordered the chauffeur to put on full speed. When the car
reached the outer cordon and refused to stop at a third policeman's
summons, he tired at the wheels of the car. The bullet ricochetted and
killed de la Rey.

Nothing more dramatic could have occurred. It was the "15th,"
there was "a dark cloud from which blood issued," General de la Rey
did "return without his hat" and the "carriage of floWers" was the
funeral cortege. The report ran like wildfire that General de la Rey
had been assassinated by the orders of the British Government. The
"prophet" was curiously justified in every point. Since he had further
declared that Botha would offer no resistance and that the revolution
would be bloodless, thousands of burghers joined the cause of Beyers
and Maritz overnight. The rebellion was on.

The result of treachery soon showed itself. On September 26
Colonel Grant and a small force of African Rifles and Transvaal Horse
Artillery were trapped by two German battalions while on their way
to a water hole. All the gun crews were wiped out before the little

14— W. L.

210 THE HUN'S HAND LIFTED FROM AFRICA

band surrendered, and it became known that Maritz had given the
Germans the information which led to this disaster. General Smuts,
Minister of Defense, ordered Maritz to give up his command. Maritz
refused and sent an arrogant reply to the effect that he had made an
alliance with Germany, which had ceded parts of the British territory
(Whale Bay) to the South African Republic. General Botha replied
by proclaiming martial law all through the Union on October 12, 1914.
By the beginning of November the situation was made much worse
by the formation of a strong though ill-organized force under General
de Wet, one of the famous guerrilla leaders of the Boer War and an
old rival of Botha. He was an excellent fighter and a man of enormous
popularity, but he possessed neither organization nor discipline. Yet,
by November 5, there were 10,000 men under arms following either
Beyers, Maritz or de Wet. These were in separate commands, await-
ing heavy Teuton reenforcements from German Southwest Africa.
There was more than a little suspicion that Holland had shown herself
kindly disposed to the rebels.

The German-Made Rebellion Finally Put Down,

Generals Botha and Smuts found the mass of the Boers loyal,
none the less, and soon had 40,000 men in the field, disciplined troops
with full equipment. Notwithstanding, the situation was delicate. It
would scarcely do to force the Boers to fight against their owm kinsmen
on behalf of the British. Botha abstained from forcing engagements,
using his Boer troops mainly for the purpose of harrying the rebols,
stopping their supplies and making life miserable for them generally,
while, when any small armed clash was inevitable, he sent forward Brit-
ish detachments.

A battle of some importance was fought at Marquard, near Win-
burg, when General Botha defeated de Wet with heavy losses. Of the
2,000 men who had made a stand at Marquard it was reported that only
28 men crossed the Vaal River, the rest either were killed, wounded,
taken prisoner or dispersed. Pursuit was close, however, and on
December 1, 1914, General de Wet was captured and imprisoned for
high treason. General Beyers was trapped on the Vaal River and
tried to s^vim on horseback across under fire. He was seen to fall, but
was drowned before any one could come to the rescue. The last sally
made by the rebels was on January 24, 1915, under Maritz. They

THE HUN'S HAND LIFTED FROM AFRICA 211

were sternly repulsed and Maritz fled to German territory, where he
was captured later. On February 3, 1915, the rest of the rebels sur-
rendered, including ''the prophet of Lichtenburg. " The German-made
rebellion in South Africa was over.

The conquest of Southwest Africa was not so much a British vic-
tory as a Boer victory. General Botha and General Smuts had prin-
cipal charge of the campaign, Botha operating from the coast at Swakop-
mund, which was the port of Windhoek, the capital, and Smuts
operating from the southern frontier. A small British army struck in
from Ijuderitz Bay, and a second small Boer Army attacked along the
Nababas Railroad. The difficulties of the campaign were immense, not
because of German opposition but because of the difficulty of the coun-
try. The heat was terrific and the Germans, retreating, poisoned most
of the wells. Botha's handling of transport, due largely to his thor-
ough understanding of African conditions, was little short of miracu-
lous. The total casualties for five months were under 2,000, including
the men invalided home.

The War in. German East Africa.

Details of the campaign are not important. Botha advanced
very slowly on Windhoek, making the most elaborate precautions
against counter-attack. A few were tried, but the old general
was never caught napping. He took two months to clear away both
lines of railroad. On April 17 General Smuts made a junction with
the Second Army under Colonel Van der Venter at Kalkfontein. On
April 24 the British under General Mackenzie reached the railroad at
Aritetis, thus making a junction with Smuts' armies. By May 5 the
combined British and Boer Armies reached Windhoek from the south,
ready to join Botha, who was comfortably intrenched on the north
and west. On May 10 Windhoek announced itself ready to surrender
and on May 12 British and Boer forces entered the capital. The next
six weeks were spent in chasing the remaining German troops from
one place to another and on July 9, 1915, Dr. Seitz, the German gov
ernor, capitulated to Botha and Colonel Francke. It was a well-man-
aged campaign, but a wholly one-sided affair. The Germans did not
have a chance.

The campaign, or rather the war, in German East Africa was more
serious, more difficult and more prolonged. Moreover, it was exceed-

212 THE HUN'S HAND LIFTED FROM AFRICA

ingly picturesque, giving rise to conditions of warfare such as had
never been seen in the world before. To attempt to give the intricate
topography of that huge country of German East Africa, and the
details of the campaigns, would be out of proportion to their interest.
A brief record will sufl&ce.

The war opened with a vigorous effort on the part of the Germans
to invade British East Africa and seize Mombasa, now a railroad ter-
minus, but famous in history as that most woeful town in the world,
which for decades had been the end of the Great Slave Road running
from the interior of Africa, which had been beaten hard by countless
naked feet trampling the blood-drenched earth. The army attacked
in force, but was repulsed by a handful of British. In the end of
October and November, 1914, the British having gained reenforcements
from India, counter-attacked and seized the port of Jassin, from which,
however, they were ousted by a large German force later. In the
spring of 1915 there was heavy fighting around the shores of Lake
Victoria Nyanza, in which, on the whole, the British gained distinct but
not overpowering advantages.

Boer War Generals Faithful to England.

In that land of sleeping sickness and the tsetse fly, where malig-
nant fevers of a dozen sorts abound, where the water seems to be espe-
cially designed to sicken white troops, the principal difficulty found
both by the German and the British lay in keeping the soldiers in
half-way fit condition. It was largely because of this, and in recogni-
tion of his splendid work in German Southwest Africa, that General
Smuts, later in the year, was put in supreme command of all the forces
operating in German East Africa. It was an outstanding monument
to England's colonial policy that less than two decades after the Boer
War she should be able to entrust her armies to the generals who had
been the leaders of her foes.

General Smuts, more accustomed to African climates and condi-
tions, began to put matters in motion without delay. He adopted the
same tactics as those which had proved so valuable on the other side of
the continent, pressing forward slowly from all frontiers, isolating the
enemy in the centre and cutting him off from all possible points of
supply. In this work, the Belgians (from the Belgian Congo to the
west), and the Portuguese (from Portuguese East Africa to the south),

THE HUN'S HAND LIFTED FROM AFRICA 213

co-operated with the Boer and British troops working from the east
and north.

By the beginning of June, 1916, the Belgians had reached the
southern point of Lake Victoria Nyanza, thus capturing the whole
Ruanda section, the G-erman strongholds south of Tanganyika had been
carried by the British, and the Boers and British had crossed the
Kilimanjaro Range. Germany was fighting hard and cleverly, but
both sides waged a cautious war, knowing the deadly effect of too
great exertion in that climate and realizing that waste of ammuni-
tion would be fatal, owing to the unprecedented difficulties of transport.

General Smuts laid especial stress on the capture of the Usumbara
Railroad running south from Mt. Kilimanjaro. Under General Van
der Venter, this railroad was carried in two months' steady fighting
and, after a most brilliant march across the famous Masai steppe, he
came close to the Central Railroad, the goal of all the enclosing in-
vasions. There was a three-day battle. May 9-11, 1916, with the main
German Army, but General von Lettow-Vorbeck was forced back, fight-
ing vigorously. The Boers marched on doggedly, pursuing the Ger-
mans by forced marches, and caught them at last on the Central Rail-
way, which was straddled at Dodoma Station on July 29. Thenoe
General Van der Venter, operating under General Smuts, drove east to
Mpwapwa, defeating the enemy anew.

The End of German East Africa.

A glance at the map will show the importance of this, for, with the
British fleet at Dar-es-Salaam, the ocean terminus of the railroad,
and General Van der Venter at Mpwapwa, supplies could be sent both
ways, the road cleared and a line of transport established to the centre
of the hostile country. It was essential, however, to occupy Dar-es-
Salaam, which was captured from the land side on September 4, 1916.
One should not forget, also, the picturesque hauling of small motor
boats, fitted with guns, half across Africa, for ''naval battles" on the
^^ictoria Nyanza, more than a thousand miles inland.

The beginning of the end came when on August 26, 1916, the forces
of General Smuts entered Mrogoro, the seat of the German Provisional
Government, and the few remaining German officials fled to the "Hunger
(^ountry," between the Ruaha and the Ruhnje Rivers. A swift pur-
suit in the Uluguru Hills cost the fleeing Germans nearly all their

214 THE HUN'S HAND LIFTED FROM AFRICA

artillery, but they broke away to the southeast. The Germans had
no longer any hope of saving the colony, they only hoped to find some
comer where they could intrench and defend themselves in the expecta-
tion that the Germans would enter Paris and that they could declare
that German East Africa had not been conquered.

For more than a year they. defied forces of twenty times their
number. The Boers marched south from the Central Railroad, the
British struck westward from the sea at Kilwa Kivinji and the Portu-
guese struck northward across the Ru\Tima River. Yet the fragments
of the German armies hid in the guUies of totally unexposed mountains,
and lived as outlaws on the game of the country. The man-hunt became
an epic. Not until December 1, 1917, was the official announcement
made of the final conquest of German East Africa and the last inch
of Germany's colonies was gone. The Hun's hand was lifted from the
Dark Continent, made darker wherever it had pressed, and the flags of
the Allies rose triumphant (save for a few small black independencies)
from Cairo to the Cape, from the western to the eastern seas.

CHAPTER XX.

THE ARMED VIGIL OF THE NORTH SEA.

Great Britain Blockades Germany on the First Day— Submarine Mines and Mine-Sweepers— Affair of
Helgoland Bight— German Sea-Power Becomes a Mockery— Bombarding Inoffensive Villages— The
Battle of Jutland— The Plugging of Zeebrugge— Shameful Surrender of Fleet.

ON the day that the world war broke out, August 4, 1914, German
sea:power was destroyed. It needed not the firing of a shot. The
British Na^^y closed the North Sea to the Germans so swiftly, so
efficiently, and with such a terrible preponderance of power that the
Kaiser's great battleships were doomed to rust in the Kiel Canal until
their shameful surrender at the end of the war. Once and for all, Eng-
land showed that her title to ''Mistress of the Seas" was absolute and
inviolable.

Three principal factors entered into this crushing but silent defeat.
The first was ships, the second was position, the third was men. Ship
for ship and gun for gun, the British Navy alone, without her Allies,
could have blown the combined navies of the Central Powers off the
map, with the greatest ease. So far as position was concerned, she had
all her home fleets in the North Sea and could compel the Germans to
fight the question out in those narrow waters. So far as men were con-
cerned, the British Navy was unlike an}i:hing else on earth ; it was not a
service, it was a religion, and officers and men were devotees. Besides
which, the British Nav^^ was made up of seamen, most of whom had
spent their whole lives in the Navy, not of civilians who had taken a
three or four years ' course on a battleship.

Take the question of ships, first. England always maintained the
theory of the two-power nav;^^, just as Germany sought to maintain the
two-power army standard. In other words, Britain at sea and Germany
on land sought to have naval and military forces, respectively, larger
than those of any other two European powers. At the same time, in
naval matters, even more than in military questions, it is not number
which determines strength, but power. A few years renders an old bat-

215

216 THE ARMED VIGIL OF THE NORTH SEA

tleship obsolete, not because she is worn out, but because later craft
have more speed, heavier armor and more powerful guns.

This can be reduced to simple terms. A ship which possesses both
greater speed and heavier guns than her adversary, can pound that
adversary to pieces at leisure and without a particle of danger. She
can steam continuously just out of reach of the enemy's guns and land
shell after shell upon the foe. The weaker guns of her foe cannot reach
her, the lower speed of her foe will not permit the older vessel to close
up to a range where the lighter guns will carry. Thus a Super-Dread-
nought can make hay of a Dreadnought.

Germany did not begin to have a Navy until the Naval Armament
Law was passed in the Reichstag in 1901. Thereafter she built quickly.
But — and this is a very large "but" — Gei*many could only build ships
after the British pattern. At best, even with her spies in the naval
dockyards, she was therefore about two years behind England, for she
could not learn the plans of new developments until England had worked
them out. The most notable example of this was the Dreadnought, the
famous ship which revolutionized all modern naval warfare, and the
principle of which, in the two great sea battles of the world war, showed
that England 's judgment had been sound.

Germany Imitates Great Britain's Navy.

The essential principle of the Dreadnought, launched in 1906, was
that of the all-big-gun-ship. British naval builders argued that second-
ary batteries (batteries of lighter guns) were unnecessary on a battle-
ship. If all the weight were given to heavy g-uns, in turrets, she would
either sink her enemy or have been sunk by the heavy guns of her
enemy before the secondary battery could be brought into play.

A battleship did not fight as a unit. The fleet was the unit. There-
fore a battleship 's lighter guns should be mounted on lighter ships. This
secret was so well kept (the Dreadnought was known as the "mystery
ship") that it was not till she was actually in commission that the Ger-
mans learned about her. They at once commenced to imitate the plan,
but they were three years behind. At the opening of the war they were
still three years behind, and when the first ship of the Queen Elizabeth
was launched they were four years behind. The ships that England
launched during the war were heavy enough to demolish the German
Navy in themselves, without considering the rest of the fleet.

THE ARMED VIGIL OP THE NOKTH SEA 217

"When the war broke out, England had twenty-two Dreadnoughts
and super-Dreadnoughts against Germany's sixteen. All were in home
waters. In super-battle-cruisers, England had nine and Germany
three, but four of the British ships were in foreign waters, and one
German vessel was abroad, leaving the North Sea fleet five battle-
cruisers to two. In super-ships, then, the proportion was 27 to 18.
Three of the German ships, the Konig, the Grosser Kurfiirst and the
Markgraf carried ten 12-inch guns, a great deal weaker than the 13.5-
inch of the British Iron Duke class, but half a knot faster. During
the war, England put five ships of the Queen Elizabeth class in the
water, all with 15-inch guns. These latter ships had a speed of 25
knots against the 23 knots of Germany's heaviest ships. Thus the
British Navy, at any time in the war, could outnumber, outrange, and
outrun the German fleet. Germany could neither afford to fight nor
run away.

The British Naval Fleet's Great Advantages.

Under these circumstances, Germany's only chance would be naval
strategy. She would have to put the British Navy in a battle-line for
bad manoeuvring. This she could not do, because England had the
advantage of position. The North Sea is small, and there are only
two ways out of it, one to the north, between Scotland and Norway,
the other, through the Straits of Dover, between England and France.
The distance between the Orkney Islands and Norway is only 300 miles
across, the distance between the French and English coasts is only 21
miles across. This left Germany only three alternatives: (1) to fight
a general engagement in the North Sea; (2) to break out to the north;
(3) to break out to the south.

Considering the efforts to break out, first. A couple of days be-
fore war was actually declared, that is to say, when it had become
sure that war could not be averted. Admiral Jellicoe had gathered at
a naval base in the Orkneys twenty-two Dreadnoughts and super-
Dreadnoughts, a unit in itself heavy enough to outweigh the whole
German Navy. In the Firth of Forth Admiral Beatty had five of the
Super-Battle Cruisers, the class known as "the Cats," together with
the most powerful of the light-cruiser squadrons and a destroyer flo-
tilla.

The distance from the middle of the line between Scotland and
Norway was approximately 150 miles from Jellicoe 's base, 300 miles

218 THE AKMED VIGIL OF THE NORTH SEA

from Beatty's base, and 500 miles from Helgoland, Germany's nearest
base. If, then, the Germans started from Helgoland, Jellicoe would
have plenty of time to cork up the outlet and give battle, and Beatty
would have plenty of time to take the German Navy in the flank and
rear and pound all the smaller supporting vessels of the fleet to pieces.
If the Germans detached a part of their fleet to fight Beatty, then they
would be even still more hopelessly outnumbered by the heavy battle-
ships under Jellicoe.

Consider, next, the possibility of breaking out through the Straits
of Dover. From Helgoland to the straits is 350 miles, from the Firth
of Forth 400 miles, and the Orkneys 500 miles. Here the Germans
had a start, and on a foggy night they could slip down the Holland
and Belgian coasts and get a good lead on the northern fleets. But,
on the Other hand, in the estuary of the Thames, 25 miles from the
straits, Great Britain had collected all her pre-Dreadnought battle-
ships, her armored cruisers, a flotilla of modem destroyers, and the
old torpedo-boat fleet, to say nothing of submarines.

The Naval Policy of Great Britain.

It is true, as has been shown, that the German Dreadnoughts,
super-Dreadnoughts and Battle Cruisers could make hay of these old
ships, at long ranges. But suppose Germany tried to break through
by mass-formation, in three- or even four-column line, nothing would
be easier than for the English to strew the sea with floating short-
life mines, and the German ships would be targets for torpedoes that
could hardly be missed. The Teutons could not send out destroyers as
a shield, for destroyers are not armored, and the pre-Dreadnought
guns would punch holes in them like a pepper-box. Being compelled
to steam straight, because of the narrowness of the channel, the extra
speed of the destroyer — which is its sole protection — would avail
nothing.

If, to speak of the third possibility of attack on the Straits of
Dover, the German super-Dreadnoughts lay off at long range and com-
menced to pound the older fleet at its leisure, the operation would take
considerable time, twenty-four hours at the least. But Beatty's de-
etroyor flotilla would be down in fourteen hours and his Super-Battle-
Cruisers in twenty hours. The Germans would be attacked in the rear
again, and long before they could dispose of Beatty's fleet, Jellicoe

THE AEMED VIGIL OF THE NORTH SEA 219

would have come up, and the Germans would be encircled by three
fleets.

This same condition prevailed in the event of the third alternative,
namely, a Grand Fleet engagement in the North Sea. If the Germans
could be tempted out by the bait of a few small ships, if a squadron
could be decoyed away from its naval base, then, maybe, the whole
fleet would issue in support, but, even in that case, a flank attack cxDuld
also be made to cut off Germany's retreat, and if the retreat were
definitely cut off, then aU three British fleets could sally out to send
every German craft to Davy Jones.

The British naval policy was of the simplest, therefore. It con-
sisted of three things : to cork the north and south outlets of the North
Sea, to keep a constant and heavy patrol on vigil against raids, and
as scouts in the event of a German dash, and to control blockade-
running to German or supposedly neutral ports with contraband of
war. Thus Germany's only hope became the mine and the submarine.

There were only two North Sea engagements of any consequence,
the Battle of the Bight of Helgoland, and the Battle of Jutland Bank.
The Battle of the Bight was simply a decoy engagement, to test the
strength and combativeness of the enemy.

On August 24, 1914, British submarines on scouting duty reported
that there was a large force of GeiTaan destroyers and light cmisers
lying at anchor under protection of the guns of the Helgoland forts.
Jellicoe decided to see if he could decoy these out, then pounce on them
from the rear, and inflict as much damage as possible. It was to be
a cruiser action.

Decoy Plan of the British Successfxil.

A British submarine flotilla, accompanied by two destroyers, the
Lurcher and the Fired rake, were to steam to the northwest past Hel-
goland. If chased, they should continue to the northwest, in which
direction lay a strong Battle-Cniiser fleet. Due west lay a squadron
of light cmisers, with the Arethusa and the Fearless considerably in
advance and detached from the rest of the squadron, but accompanied
by a flotilla of destroyers. Southwest lay another squadron of light
ci-uisers. If the decoy was successful, as soon as the British sub-
marine flotiUa had cleared Helgoland, the Arethusa and the Fearless
were to steam due east, thus coming in on the rear of the German

220 THE AKMED VIGIL OF THE NORTH SEA

vessels which had oome out of Helgoland Bight to chas6 the submarines.
A ranning fight should be made northwestwards, which would decoy
the Germans into the range of the powerful guns and speed of the
Battle Cruisers. Should a formidable German force come out, the
British light cruiser squadrons to the west and southwest should close
in after the Arethusa and the Fearless.

The affair came off exactly as planned. On August 28, 1914, the
eight British submarines, three awash and five submerged, accom-
panied by the destroyers Lurcher and Firedrake, steamed past the
island fortress. A German destroyer came out and had a look, then
wirelessed in for the rest of the flotilla. Twenty-one German destroyers
shot out of the bay at full speed after the submarines. A German
seaplane circled up, and, probably, saw the British cruisers in the
distance, for, immediately after, a German squadron of light cruisers
move^ out to sup^port its flotilla of twenty-one destroyers.

The Battle of the Bight of Helgoland.

The Arethusa and Fearless played their assigned part in cutting
off the chase of the German cruiser squadron, but speedily found them-
selves in trouble. The German cruisers Ariadne and Strassburg con-
centrated their fire on the Arethusa and had her partly crippled, when
the Fearless came up and drew the Strassburg 's fire. At almost the
same time a shot from the Arethusa carried away the bridge of the
Ariadne and killed her captain. By this time, scouting German de-
stroyers reported other British cruisers in the vicinity, and the Ariadne
and Strassburg sheered off to the protection of the fortress, while the
Fearless towed the Arethusa (which was on fire, and in a bad way),
out of the scene of action.

Meanwhile the destroyer flotillas had not been idle. The German
destroyer V-187 dashed straight at the British destroyers, her flotilla
behind her, but she was unready for the weight of steel which poured
from the decks of the British destroyers, and she went down in a
few minutes, her guns firing until the last minute, even until her decks
were below the water and the water began to run into the muzzles
of the guns. During the lull in the action, which lasted for about an
hour until ten o'clock, the British destroyers. Goshawk and Defender,
turned around and went to pick up the German survivors of the V-187,
who were clinging to the wreckage. The German light cruiser Mainz

THE AEMED VIGIL OF THE NORTH SEA 221

came out to chase away these destroyers, and advanced so quickly that
the men in the boats, at the rescue work, could not get back to their
ships. In this predicament, suddenly beside the small boats popped
up the British submarine E-4, opened, took the men aboard, and sub-
merged. It was like a rescue in a fairy tale.

The next phase in the battle came as a result of wireless calls
for assistance from the destroyers Lurcher and Firedrake, with the
decoy submarines, who stated that they were being chased by fast
German light cruisers. The Arethusa, having put out the fire on
board and made some repairs, though still in a shaky state, turned
with the Fearless to give battle again. Then, out of the mist popped
the protected cruiser Strasshurg, and the Arethusa and Fearless sent
wireless calls for the battle cruisers in the northwest. Meantime the
Strasshurg inflicted still more damage on the Arethusa, but got badly
handled herself from the guns of the Fearless and the destroyers. The
German cruisers Koln a.nd Mainz came to the aid of the Strasshurg.
This made things look bad for the British, when down from the north
bore two modern light cruisers, the Falmouth and the Nottingham, and
the Strasshurg made off towards Helgoland, badly crippled.

Victory for the British.

This left the German Mainz and Koln against the two new foes,
Falmouth and Nottingham, as well as the Fearless and the almost use-
less Arethusa. The odds were too great and a concentrated fire on
the Mainz began to tell. Then, majestically, appeared one of the
"C^ts," the battle cruiser Lion, and all the chance for the Mainz was
over. Fire broke out in her hold, the machinery stopped and a tor-
pedo promptly finished her. She sank slowly, the Germans on her
decks in perfect discipline to the last.

By now the Queen Mary, of the same class as the Lion, appeared
on the scene and went after the Koln. Against the super-battle-
cruisers, with their high speed and 13.5-inch guns, the Koln had no
chance. She sank under the heavy shells so quickly that British small
boats coming up to the rescue found not a man afloat. The Ariadne
fled, but was reported to have sunk before reaching port. Aside from
loss in destroyers, the Germans had lost the Mainz, Koln, and prob-
ably the Ariadne, while the Strasshurg was little better than a wreck.
The British had not lost one major ship, but the Arethusa was in al-

222 THE ARMED VIGIL OF THE NORTH SEA

most as bad a condition as the Strasshurg, and the Fearless was badly
knocked about. In terms of naval losses, the Germans had lost two
ships, the British none. This confirmed the German naval officers hi
their decision to keep their fleets indoors.

Two raids were successfully made during foggy weather on the
English coast, Lowestoft and Yarmouth, two fishing villages, being
bombarded on November 3, 1914 ; and' Hartlepool and Scarborough
being bombarded on December 16, 1914. This was a purely unneces-
sary, useless, unjustifiable attack on the civilian population, women
and children mainly being the victims, and it gained for the Germans
the name of * ' baby-killers. ' '

The third raid Avas not so successful, from the German point of
view. This was a mixture of raid and decoy. The German fleet was
of good size and the ships were fast, but the English had still heavier
and faster ships, the four "Cats" and light cruisers besides. On being
discovered, the Germans turned toward Helgoland. One German ship,
the Blucher, was sunk, after a gallant fight, and the British flagship,
the Lion, was crippled and towed home. The Germans had concen-
trated all their fire on her, both because of her position and because
the sinking of the flagship would be the greater victory.

The Battle of Jutland Bank.

Sometimes an admission of ignorance is strength. The writer,
therefore, does not hesitate to admit a certain amount of ignorance
about the Battle of Jutland Bank. There is every indication that the
true story of the Battle of Jutland Bank will remain more or less
confused. The reader, therefore, is asked to regard the following ac-
count as a skeleton, since it states only those facts that are known
and admitted by both sides.

The Battle of Jutland Bank was fought in the afternoon and
evening of May 31. The Grand Fleets of both sides were engaged in
the movements of manoeuvre, though not all were in the action. The
lead in the entire affair was taken by Admiral Beatty's Battle Cruiser
Squadron, consisting of the four "Cats," the Lion, Princess Royal,
Queen Mary and the Tiger. Behind Beatty were two ships of the
Second Battle Cruiser Squadron, the Indefatigable and the New Zea-
land. Still further astern were the four Queen Elizabeth class battle-
ships, the Barham, Valiant, Warspite and Malaya, forming the Fifth

THE ARMED YIQIL OF THE NOKTH SEA 223

Battle Cruiser Squadron, under Admiral Evan-Thomas. The main
British Grand Fleet, under Admiral Jellicoe, lay from fifty to sixty
miles to the north.

At 2.30 in the afternoon light cruisers sighted the enemy, and a
scouting seaplane returned with the news that a German battle-cruiser
squadron was in sight, consisting of the Derfflinger, Lutzow, Moltke,
Seydlitz and Von der Tann, under Admiral von Hipper. The opening
of the battle was that a British Battle Cruiser Squadron of six ships
met a German Battle Cruiser Squadron of five ships, and that the
Germans turned south to come under the protection of their own guns,
fighting, however, a running fight as they did so. The English Battle
Squadron of Queen Elizabeths, having but 23 knots speed to the 25
knots of the battle cruisers, fell behind.

Details of the Jutland Bank Battle.

The First Phase of the Battle of Jutland Bank was that portion
of the engagement between the time Beatty and von Hipper sighted
each other until the time that the two battle cruiser lines came within
reach of the German High Seas Fleet. Firing began at 18,500 yards'
distance at 3.48 P. M., and between the two lines of huge battle cruisers,
thus over ten miles apart, sharp fighting began between smaller ships,
light cruisers pounding light cruisers and destroyers stabbing at each
other.

The German marksmanship was of the first rank at the beginning.
The Indefatigable, hindmost of the six battle cruisers, was struck at
3.55, seven minutes after the action commenced, and blew up. At 4.08,
the four Queen Elizabeth battleships, led by the Barham, which had
saved some miles from cutting across the corner, opened fire at 21,000
yards range. Visibility was low, however, and the shooting was bad.
At 4.18 the Queen Mary suddenly blew up, in exactly the same manner
as the Indefatigable.

(The British Admiralty declined to state the cause of the disaster
to these two ships, other than to say it was not due to a mine, a tor-
pedo, an enemy's shell or to unstable explosives on board. Even after
the end of the war the matter was still kept an Admiralty secret.)

At 4.42 the German High Seas Fleet was sighted in the distance,
and Beatty realized that he could not afford to run slap into them.
He turned northward, hoping that von Hipper would follow him, now

224 THK AKMED MGIL OF THE NORTH SEA

that he had made a junction with his battleships. Thiis Beatty, in his
turn, planned to decoy the pursuing Germans into the arms of Jellicoe
and the Grand Fleet.' So ended the First Phase.

It is evident, then, that in this First Phase the British were
whipped and whipped badly. At the beginning they had six battle
cruisers to four, and before the middle of the phase they had six
cruisers and four battleships to four cruisers, yet the Germans sank
(or something sank) the Indefatigable and the Queen Mary, while only
the third ship of von Hipper 's line was seen to be on fire.

The Second Phase of the battle was the northward turn and move-
ment to meet Jellicoe. Since the speed of the battle cruisers was far
higher than that of Evan-Thomas' battleships, as soon as the turn was
made, the gap between Beatty and Evan-Thomas opened wide. This
was intentional, for the four h.ea,vj Queen Elizabeths were expected
to stand off the main German fleet until Jellicoe could reach the line,
at which time the whole super-Dreaflnought Grand Fleet could fall
into line-of-battle behind Beatty and in front of Evan-Thomas. At
the same time, Jellicoe 's three battle cruisers, the Invincible, Inflex-
ible and Indomitable, under command of Admiral Hood, were sent
due south at full speed to take the head of the line in advance of
Beatty and relieve the ' ' Cats ' ' a little.

Terrific Engagement Rages.

The four Queen Elizabeths, by reason of their heavy armor, al-
though they had to face the whole force of von Hipper 's battle cruiser
squadron and the fire of the leading battleships of von Scheer's fleet,
stood the punishment bravely. Th(j English gunners were settling to
the work, and hits were being registered on the enemy. On the other
hand, as the battle stiffened, German shots went wild.

By 6.15 the three battle cruisers under Admiral Hood s\vung in
front of the Lion, the Invincible then being the head of the longest
battleline of the heaviest ships that the world ever saw. Yet she had
hardly taken her place at tho head of the line before there came an
explosion as though a volcano had erupted, and the Invincible disap-
peared in a murk of smoke and flame. The explosion was similar to
those on the Queen Mary and the Indefatigable. On the other hand,
one of von Hipper's battle cniisers was seen to be missing.

Just about 7.00 P. M., the Grand Fleet, steaming at full speed,

THE AKMED ^IGIL OF THE NORTH SEA 225

dropped into its place between the widely separated fleets of Beatty
and Evan-Tliomas, and the head of the German colmnn snddenly fonnd
himself nnder the guns of the whole British fleet. At the same time.
Beatty, with the two ships of Hood's squadron in front of him, had
succeeded in heading off the German line, or * 'forming a cap,'' as it
is navally known. Another of von Hipper 's cruisers went down.

The German commander, von Scheer, moved quickly. Swinging
each ship independently, he turned from easterly course to westerly
and threw his whole force of destroyers at fidl speed against the
British line to cover the turning movement of his capital ships. Jelli-
coe responded in kind and a most terrific destroyer battle was waged,
in which the British immediately showed themselves the masters. This
quite unexpected manoeuvre brought the German fleet suddenly within
range of the four light-aiTuored cruisers, the Duke of Edinburgh. De-
fetiec. JVarrior and BlacJc Prince, who ought to have been well out of
the way of any such encounter. The Germans opened fire at short
range. The Defence and Black Prince sank at once. The Warrior sank
trying to make port. The Dule of Edinburgh escaped.

The foggy night dosed down, studded with destroyer attacks, in
which the British claimed that they sank two German capital ships and
the Germans denied the claim. The British naval authorities were a
unit in declaring that the German official account did not state its
fuH losses (a very typical German habit 'i, but, none the less, the Ger-
man Admiralty admitted the loss of the battle cruiser Lutsotc, the bat-
tleship Pommern. and tlie light cruisers Wicsbadtn. Frauenlob. Elbing
and Eostock. Of positive knowledge, however, two other battle cruisers
were sunk and one more battleship of the Thuriugen class.

The Battle of Jutland Bank was the most decisive and indecisive
naval battle in history, decisive in that it frightened the Germans from
ever daring to come on the sea again, indecisive because of the charac-
ter of the action in itself.

Its real result came on that day of shame and himiiliation. Xcv-
vember 21. 191 S, when the German High Seas Fleet, in performing
the Most Supreme Act of Cowardice known in the history of the sea.
tamely steamed to the shores of the British Isles and surrendered with-
out a blow. The first and main detachment held the Bauern. Germany's
latest battleship, a copy of the Queen Elizabeth Class, as usual, imi-
tated three vears late, the Grosser Kurfursi, Markgraf and Kronprins.

15— W. L.*

226 THE AEMED VIGIL OF THE NORTH SEA

the Friedrich der Grosse, Konig Albert, Prinz-regent Luitpold, Kaiser
and Kaiserin. The battleships were followed by the battle cruisers
Derfflinger, Uindenburg, Seidlitz and the Von der Tann. Then came
seven light cruisers and fifty destroyers. There were five great war-
ships flying the Stars and Stripes in the grim line of Allied vessels
receiving the surrender.

And, crowning infamy, so low had the world ^s belief in German
honor fallen that the Allied fleets were cleared for action, their guns
bore on the surrendering vessels, ammunition was in the turret hoists,
and the gun crews were at their posts. No one could trust to German
honor. There was rejoicing that day in all lands where the German
hand had lain, everywhere but on the sea. But sailors, all the world
over, felt that sailordom was in some strange and terrible way befouled
by this ignoble action.

*'I'd hoped," said a British naval officer, 'Hhat they'd have scut-
tled the ships half way across and gone to their deaths like men. But
they're not that breed!"

At sundown that day, the German flag was hauled down from Ger-
man warships in a British anchorage and the naval crews which had
brought them over slunk back to their disgraced homes.

CHAPTER XXI.

NAVAL GUNS SWEEP THE MEDITERRANEAN.

Austria Bottled Up by the rrench Nary— The "Goebea" and the "Bre«lau" a Romantic Ruae of the Sea-
British Bombardment of the Dardanelles— The Italian Fleet and Its Operation on Pola and Durazzo—
The Central Powers Barred for Europe's Great Inland Sea.

JUST as the British Navy undertook to guard the northern coasts
of France, so the French Navy assumed a major place in the protec-
tion of British possessions in the Mediterranean against the German and
Austrian navies. When the war broke out, Grermany had but two war-
ships in the Mediterranean, and Austria, though she possessed nine
battleships, was in no position to do battle with France, whose navy
ranked as the fourth largest in the world.

The two German vessels in the Mediterranean, however, began
the war in most exciting fashion. These were the Goeben, a modern
high-powered battle cruiser, with ten 11-inch guns and a speed of
28 knots. France had four battleships of the Jean Bart class, but while
these carried 12-inch guns, their speed was not over 20.5 knots, so
that the Goeben could hit and run away. The other German vessel
was the Breslau, a light cruiser of high speed, but light armor and
small gun-power. Both vessels were remarkable for their fuel capacity.

The war began on August 4, 1914. That evening British and
French warships, knowing that the Goeben and Breslau were off the
coast of Algeria, started to give battle. The German commander,
realizing that his location was known, put the ship's band on a raft,
ordering them to play German national airs. The battleships hunted
for the raft — a hard thing to find at night in mid-sea — and the Goeben
and Breslau escaped.

They entered the neutral port of Messina, Italy, next day. The
officers went ashore, made their wills, gave up their valuables to the
German consuls, and, since the Italian authorities would not allow
them to stay there more than 24 hours, according to international
law, the two German vessels sallied out that night, their decks cleared

227

228 NAVAL GUNS SWEEP THE MEDITERRANEAN

for action, going, as every man on board believed, to their deaths.
The British and French fleets had taken up positions at either end of
the Straits of Messina. They did not come within the three-mile limit
for fear of international complications. With cunning navigation, the
Germans felt their way along the shore, escaped detection, in spite of
the enemy's searchlights, and, when day came, steamed at full speed
for Constantinople.

Only the British light cruiser Gloucester spied them, and, greatly
daring, she opened fire on the powerful Goeben, which could have eaten
her up. The German commander, however, could not risk the chance of
being disabled, even slightly, by a chance shot, when he had a powerful
fleet at his heels, and so he sheered off from the engagement and two
days later steamed through the Dardanelles. Without delay the ships
were formally sold to Turkey, a violation of international comity.
This was, practically, the casus belli under which Turkey was brought
into the war. The Goehen and Breslau, later, aided the Turkish forts
in the defence of the Dardanelles and, still later, took part in the bom-
bardment of Russian ports. But their fate was yet to come. On Jan-
uary 20, 1918, they made a sortie from the Dardanelles and ran into
a fleet of British monitors, the tanks of the sea. The Breslau was
sent to the bottom and the Goehen so badly injured that she had to be
beached.

The Dardanelles Forts Attacked.

The bombardment of the Dardanelles forts, the only important
fleet- action in the Mediterranean during the world war, was against all
naval precedent. The Russo-Japanese War had shown that land forts
had a tremendous advantage, but the British and French felt that such
guns as the Queen Elisabeth's 15-inch monsters more than outrivalled
the advantage that land mounting gave to cannon of smaller calibres.
The action began on February 19, 1915. The fleet was of great size
and strength, and naval confidence in the long-range guns was at first
justified, for, by firing from a range outside the farthest carrying
power of the shells of the forts, the land defenses were battered down.
The outer forts of the Dardanelles, such as Kum Kale on the Asian
side and Cape Hellas on the European side were soon silenced.

This allowed some mine-sweeping to be done, and on February
26, the battleships were ready to attack the straits themselves. This
was a bombardment of a very different order, for, in order to be able

NAVAL GUNS SWEEP THE JVIEDiTEKRANEAN 229

to attack, the ships would have to come within the range of the fort
guns. On March 3 and March 4 a determined attempt was made to
silence the land defenses by French and British ships which entered
the straits, but, though the forts were struck many times and the ves-
sels badly hammered, the forts were not put out of action nor were
any of the ships sunk. On March 7 the Agmnemnon and the Lord
Nelson made a desperate charge and silenced two of the smaller inner
forts. Both ships were struck and losses were heavy, but neither of the
craft was put out of action.

Finally, on March 15, the main attack was made with the com-
bined efforts of all the heavier ships. It may be interesting to show
how powerful an attack this was. The battleships, Agamemnon, Prince
George, Queen Elizabeth, Lord Nelson, Triumph and Inflexible steamed
fairly up into the Narrows and attacked Chanak. An hour later the
French battleships Sujfren, Gaulois, Bouvet and Charlemagne joined in
the fray, and wdth splendid dash, ran into still closer range. This
gave room for six more battleships, the Ocean, Swiftsure, Majestic,
Albion, Irresistible and Vengeance, who tried to plunge further in. None
of these had smaller armament than 12-inch guns.

The Attack Unsuccessful.

The Turks settled to their work and sent down quantities of
floating mines. The Bouvet was struck by a mine and also received
three heavy high-explosive shells, and sank, carrying most of her
crew with her. The Irresistible, badly crippled by shell-fire, also ran
into a mine; a destroyer took off her crew, but she sank that evening.
The Ocean went to the bottom from a mine and shell-fire. The Gaulois
was put in a bad way, with a hole between wind and water and her
upper works shot into splinters. The Inflexible had been set on fire,
most of her officers were killed or wounded, and she had to fall out of
the line. At the end of the day the forts were firing — if not as strongly
as ever, at all events, with terrible accuracy and penetration. The at-
tempt to force the Dardanelles had failed.

Afterwards, a story went abroad that the forts had used nearly
all their shells and that if the attack had been repeated next day it
would have been successful, but the Germans and Turks deny the
story and there is no manner of proving it. In any case, the British and
French commanders, without accurate knowledge of that fact, would

230 NAVAL GUNS SWEEP THE MEDITERRANEAN

not have been justified in exposing their fleets to such a terrible ham-
mering as they had received. The Great Naval Powers had done their
uttermost, and proved that, given enough shell for the land forts, the
Dardanelles could not be forced.

Other naval engagements in the Mediterranean were without im-
portant effect in the world war, for Germany was impotent except for
her submarines, and Austria was made helpless by the entrance of
Italy and the Italian Navy into the war. There were many romantic
incidents, such as the cutting of the great steel mine-holding cables
that guarded the harbor of Trieste by an Italian lieutenant in a motor
boat, and the consequent blowing up and sinking of two Austrian battle-
ships, the Monarch and the Wien, at anchor there, by torpedoes
launched from a second motor boat. Such events as these, however,
had little effect on the great conflict itself.

As long as the Mediterranean was kept open for trade, as long
as transports could carry soldiers to Avlona and Saloniki, as long
as the Suez Canal and Gibraltar were unchallenged, as long as troops
could cross from Algeria to France without fear of a hostile fleet, so
long were the fleets of France, England and Italy doing their needed
bit to establish the cause of the Allies in the world. The submarine
menace roved there, as it roved over the seas, but that is a matter to
be dealt with separately.

The capture of Pola and Durazzo gave the death-blow to Austria's
naval hopes. France and Italy blocked the Austrian Navy and com-
pelled it to skulk in land-locked harbors, just as the British Navy had
shaken its fist in the face of the German Navy and dared it to come
out and give battle. As naval factors, the Central Powers proved
themselves insignificant, and nowhere was their failure more notice-
able than in the Mediterranean, which in his blind arrogance before the
war, the Kaiser had marked down for his own.

CHAPTER XXII.

HUNTING DOWN THE MODERN PIRATES.

The Tropical Adventures of the Konigsberg— The Emden, the "Terror of the East"— Australians Make
the Germans Walk the Piank— The Fight Off Coronel— Von Spec's Defeat of an English Fleet and
the Terrible Revenge of the Battle of the Falklands.

SUCH forms of commerce raiding, and especially commerce raiding
on neutrals, as were practiced on the high seas by Germany during
the world war outdid the blackest deeds of the buccaneers. Actions
such as the sinking of the Lusitania ''represent not merely piracy," as
ex-President Roosevelt said, "but piracy on a vaster scale of murder
than old-time pirates ever practiced. It is a warfare against innocent
men, women and children traveling on the ocean."

At the same time, it is to be remembered that there is such a thing
as legitimate commerce raiding. According to international law, a
naval vessel has a right to capture and make a prize of any vessel
belonging to an enemy power, putting a prize crew on board and
bringing the vessel under convoy to a home port. She may also sink
an enemy vessel, providing that the passengers and crew are saved.
To sink an unarmed vessel, with its passengers and crew aboard, even
though belonging to the enemy, is not piracy, but murder. To sink an
unarmed vessel belonging to a neutral country while saving passengers
and crew is a matter to be settled by damages; to do so with persons
aboard is piracy without any possible shadow of justification.

The Emden may be taken as an example of commerce raiders'
work, for not only was she rightly dubbed ''The Terror of the East,"
but her story is one of the most romantic in the history of the Seven
Seas. It is too good a story not to tell, and the following account is
pieced together from the story of the gallant Captain Miicke, who led
R ragged landing party by steam, sail, sambuk, afoot and camel-back
half around the world; and from an officer of the Australian cruiser
Sydney, which sunk the ever-famous cruiser.

*'0n August 11, 1914," begins the Odyssey of Captain Miicke, "we
separated from the cruiser squad, escorted only by the coaler
Markomannia. ... On September 10 we met the Indus, bound for

231

232 HUNTING DOWN THE MODERN PIRATES

Bombay, all fitted up as a troop transport, but still without troop
That was the first one we sank. The crew we took aboard the MarJx
mannia. . . . Then we sank the Lovat, a troop transport ship, and
took the KaUnga along mth us. . . .

"After a few days, capturing ships became a habit. Of the
twenty-three which we captured, most of them stopped after our first
signal. When they didn't, we fired a blank shot. Then they all
stopped. Only one, the Clan Mattesen (September 21, 1914), waited
for a real shot across the bow before giving up its cargo of locomotives
and automobiles to the seas. . . . We had mostly quiet weather, so
that communication with captured ships was easy. They were mostly
dynamited or else shot close to the water line. . . . Mostly, the ships
liocled over on their sides till the water flowed down the smokestacks,
a last puff of smoke came out and then they were gone. . . .

Prolific Commerce Raiding.

"A few days later, by Calcutta, we made one of our richest
hauls, the Diplomat, chock full of tea — we sank $2,500,000 worth. On
the same day the Trdbhotch, too, which steered literally into our arms.

' * Now we wanted to get out of the Bay of Bengal, because we had
learned that the Er.iden was being keenly searched for. Near Rangoon,
we encountered a Norwegian tramp steamer, which, for a cash consid-
eration, took over all the rest of our prisoners of war. . . . Later on
another neutral ship rejected a similar request, and betrayed us to the
Japanese into the bargain.

''On September 23, we reached Madras and steered straight for
the harbor. We stopped, 3000 yards before the city. Then we shot up
the oil tanks. ... By daylight, ninety sea miles away, we could still
see the smoke from the burning oil tanks. Two days later we gathered
in two more steamers, the King Lund and the Tyweric. . . . Every-
thing went well, the only trouble was that the Markomannia didn 't have
much coal left. . . . The next evening we got a steamer with 500
tons of Cardiff coal, the Burresk, brand-new, from England on her
maiden voyage, bound for Hong-Kong. Then followed in order the
Riheria, Foyle, Grand Ponrahhel, Benmore, Troiens, Exfort, Gryce-
fale, Samkt Eckhert and Chilkana. Most of them were sunk ; the coal
ships were kept. The Eckhert was let go with a load of passengers and
the captured crews. . . .

HUNTIXG DOWX THE MODKRX PIRATES 233

"All this happone<i UtUiva October 20; then we sailed fiouthv;'.xr(iy
to Doogazia, HouthwcHt of Colombo. . . . Now we went on toward
Miniko, where we Hank two ships more. ... On the next day we
found three steamers to the north, r/ne of them with much-desired
Cardiff coal. On October 28 we raised our very practicable fourth
smokestack (a dummy funnel devi.sed by the captain himself;. As a
result we were taken for Engli.sh or French.

"One night we started for Penang. . . . The harbor lies in a
channel difBcult of access. AVe had to try it at rlaybreak. At high
speed, without smoke, with lights out, we steered into the mouth of the
channel. A torjjedo boat on guard slept well. (This was the French
tf>rpedo boat MousqiMit, evidently fooled by the Emden's new dummy
fourth funnel, which caused her to resem?jle the British crui.ser Torr-
rnouth, which was on patrol duty in those seas.)

"Inside lay a dark silhouette; that must be the war.ship! But it
vrasn't the French cruiser we were looking for ... it was the
Russian cruiser Jemtchung. There it .slept like a rat. Xo watch to be
seem That made it easj' for us. (This was CTirninal carelessness in
war times. Her captain was sjjending the night ashore, the decks were
not cleared for action and no one aboard seemed cajjaV^le of acting with
the lightning quickness that the urgency demanded.)

"Because of the narrowness of the harbor we had to keep close;
we fired the first torpedo at 4J'/J yards. Then, to be sure, things livened
up a bit on the .sleeping warship. At the same time we took the crew
quarters under fire, five shells at a time. There was a flash of flame
on hoard, then a kind of burning aureole. After the fourth shell, the
flame burned high. The first torpedo had .struck the ship too deep
because we were too close to it, a second torx>edo, which we fired from
the other side, did not make the same mistake. After twenty seconds,
there was absolutely not a trac^i of the ship to l)e seen. . . .

"Shortly afterwards an incoming destroyer was reported. It
proved to be the French Mousquet. . . . The Frenchman behaved
well, accepted battle and fought us, but was polished off by us with
three broadsides. The commander of the torpedo boat lost both his
legs by the first broadside. . . . He went down with his .ship as a
brave captain, lashed fast to the mast. "We then started for the Cocos
Islands."

(So far, the Etory has been recounted from the German account

234 HUNTING DOWN THE MODERN PIRATES

in the Berliner Tageblatt, translated for the Current History Maga-
zine of the New York Times. The next phase is from British Admiralty
reports, rewritten by Bennet Copplestone in ''The Silent Watchers.")
"At a point in the sea fifty miles east of the Cocos Islands," wrote
Copplestone, "on the tropical night of November 8, 1914, two hostile
naval forces were approaching, entirely ignorant of the nearness of
the other. Coming up from Colombo was a fleet of transports . . .
convoyed by the Australian light cruiser Melbourne. On the left, and
hence nearer to the Cocos Islands (which lie west and a little south of
Java), was the Australian light cruiser Sydney. At half past six in
the morning, the Emden appeared off the Cocos Islands and, before
the wireless plant was destroyed, the watching operators sent out a
warning to all whom it might concern that a foreign warship was in
sight. . . . The Sydney (which picked up the radio message) was
manned only by raw naval recruits in the course of training, but had
experienced naval officers on board."

Engagement Between the "Sydnejr" and the "Emden."

It may be interesting to compare the vessels. The Sydney was
much more powerful than the Emden. She carried eight 6-inch guns,
mounted on the one -calibre idea, so that five could fire on either broad-
side, her lyddite shells weighing 100 pounds. The Emden carried ten
4.1-inch guns, with shells weighing 38 pounds. The Sydney was new
and fast, the Emden' s bottom was foul, having been in tropical waters
without dry-docking for many months. It is not known just when
the Emden found out the approach of the Sydney, but she rushed out
of port in the hope of escape, without sparing the time to pick up the
landing party sent ashore to destroy the wireless. As soon as he got
out of the harbor, however, Captain von Muller of the Emden recog-
nized the Sydney as a vessel both faster and more heavily gunned than
his own. Escape, therefore, was impossible, his only chance was to
rush his foe, hope to disable her and thus get away.- He steamed at
full speed for the Sydney and opened fire at 10,500 yards, nearly ten
miles.

"To the astonishment both of the captain and the gunnery lieu-
tenant of the Sydney ... at this very long range for his small 4.1-
inch guns, von Muller got within a hundred yards at his first salvo.
It was wonderful shooting. His next was just over, and with his

HUNTING DOWN THE MODERN PIRATES 235

third he began to hit." One shell missed the captain by a few inches,
glanced on the pedestal of the range-finder without bursting, cut off
the leg of the operator and plunged overboard. Had it burst, it would
have killed the captain and the gunnery chief, not to speak of ma-
terial damage.

' * The first salvo fired by the Sydney, immediately after the Emden
opened, was much too far ; their second was wild and ragged, but with
the third some hits were made. . . . Glossop (of the Sydney) hav-
ing the fuU command given by superior speed, manoeuvred so as to
keep out to about 8,000 yards ... to present the smallest danger
space to the enemy. (This was largely owing to the possibility that
if the Sydney were hit, the Eynden might escape.) The Emden' s first
attempt to close in had failed, and when the Sydney's 100-pound shells
began to burst well on board of her, the Emden' s one chance had disap-
peared. During the first fifteen minutes the Sydney was hit ten times,
but afterwards not at all; the Emden was hit again and again during
the long-drawn-out two hours of the hopeless struggle. After twenty
minutes, the Emden' s forward funnel went and she caught fire aft. Her
steering gear was wrecked and she became dependent on the manipula-
tion of her propellers.

''After the lapse of about three-quarters of an hour, the Emden
had lost two funnels and the foremast: she was badly on fire aft and
amidships, so that, at times, nothing more than the top of the main-
mast could be seen amid the clouds of steam and smoke. Her guns,
now firing occasionally, gave out a short yellow flash by which they
could be distinguished from the long dark red flames of the Sydney's
bursting lyddite. Once she disappeared so completey that the cry
went up from the Sydney that she had sunk, but she appeared again,
blazing, almost helpless. ... At last von Muller, finding that his
ship was badly pierced under water as well as on fire, put about again
and headed for the North Keeling Island where he ran aground. The
one remaining gun continued to fire until the last. . . ."

The Sydney then chased the collier Buresh and settled with her,
then returned to the wreck of the Emden, which was still flying the
German flag. For a quarter of an hour, Glossop, of the Sydney sig-
nalled by International Code and Morse, begging von Muller to sur-
render. The German commander refused. Under his duty, Glossop
was compelled to force submission. With a heavy heart he brought

236 HUNTING DOWN THE MODERN PIRATES

the Sudneij to witliiu 4,000 yards and smashed the doomed Emden from
stem to steru. Not until late in the afternoon was the white flag run
up. Several wounded men, including a doctor, managed to scramble
ashore, without food and drink, and spent the night amid huge red
hmd-crabs, with which the island was infested. They were rescued
next morning by the British.

The story now returns to the landing party, under Captain Miicke,
left marooned by the sudden departure of the Emden. Some of the
sea-fight had been seen from the shore. "I made up my mind," con-
tinued Captain Mticke, 'Ho leave the island as soon as possible. In
the harbor I had noticed a three-master, the schooner Ayesha.^^ The
Germans seized her, provisions were taken for eight weeks, water for
four. ''I sailed at first westward, then northward. . . . We needed
eighteen days to reach Padang (in Sumatra), the weather was so rot-
tenly cahn. . . ." After leaving Padang on November 28 (with
many adventures) the Ayesha cniised until she met a German coaster,
the Clioising. On December 16, 1918, the German landing party boarded
the Clioising, and scuttled the Ayeslm, thus leaving no trace of their
whereabouts.

The "Emden's" Crew Return to Germany.

' ' On the 7th of January, we sneaked through the Strait of Perim.
That lay swarming full of Englishmen. We steered along the African
coast, close past an English mine-layer. That is my prettiest delight,
how the Englishmen wiU be vexed when they leam that we have passed
smoothly by Perim. ' ' An armored French cruiser was sighted, but the
four boats of the Choising set the German landing party ashore ''under
the very noses of the unsuspecting Frenchmen. ' '

The Arabs of that section were at that time friendly to the Turks,
and hence helped the group of German wanderers from the Emden.
The worn-out men went up country to the highlands to rest and to give
the fever patients a chance to recuperate. Two months later, in two
small sailing sjambuks, provided by the Turkish government, Captain
Miicke sailed from Hodeida (on the Red Sea) northwards. One of
the boats ran on a coral reef, but with most of its passengers piled
on the other small boat they reached Konfida. There a larger sjambuk
was secured and they sailed on to Lith. At that point Captain Miicke
engaged an overland caravan and, after several encounters with desert

HUNTING DOWN THE MODERN PIRATES 237

Bodonins, the party reached Damascus and took rail thence to Haidar-
Pasha, the last station on the Asiatic side, where a German admiral
awaited them. The hero of this Odyssey then stepped up to the ad-
miral, lowered his sword, and reported, simply:

''Beg to report, most obediently, Herr Admiral, landing corps of
the Emden, 4A men, 4 officers, 1 surgeon."

Thence to Constantinople and Germany. So ended the Odyssey of
the Wanderers of the Emden, one of the strangest stories that has
ever occurred on sea or land, ranking, in its multiplicity of interest
and change, the Wanderings of Ulysses, as told by Homer.

One of the queer happenings of the sea was the fate of the German
cruiser Konigsherg which, in October, 1914, was hiding a little distance
up the Rufiji River, in German East Africa. The British sank a collier
across the mouth of the river to prevent the German boat from reach-
ing the sea. The Konigsherg was invisible, by reason of dense jungle.
The crew built powerful land defenses. For many months the British
could do nothing. At last some aeroplanes arrived and these found
out, from overhead, the exact location of the cruiser. Whereupon,
British monitors, with heavy guns, directed a heavy dropping fire, the
aeroplanes spotting the shells and wirelessing back corrections. On
July 4, 1915, the cruiser was set on fire. On July 11, the bombard-
ment was renewed and the screaming shells, flying high above the
tropical forest, fell on the doomed craft, and she was smashed to
pieces.

Stories of Other German Sea Raiders.

Space is too scant to permit the story of the Prins Eitel Friedrich,
which, after roving the seven seas for seven months out from her
home port of Tsing-Tao, and sending eight merchant ships to the bot-
tom, one of them being an American vessel, put into Newport News,
Virginia, for repairs, and was interned. A still more exciting story
is that of the Dresden, which took part in the great sea-fights of Cor-
onel and the Falkland Islands, but which was finally destroyed by the
British cruiser Glasgow. The Moewe's record was even more spec-
tacular. She left Germany on December 20, 1915, under Swedish colors,
ran down the English Channel, raided the high seas, sank fifteen mer-
chant vessels, captured the Appam and sent her to Norfolk, Virginia,
and then returned back through the navy-infested North Sea into
Wilhelmshaven with many prisoners and $250,000 in gold bars.

238 HUNTING DOWN THE MODERN PIRATES

The two great South Sea actions, the defeat of the British off
Coronel, and the ensuing revenge and destruction of the German
South Sea Fleet at the Falkland Islands, cannot be told in detail. A
bare record of the facts must suffice. When war broke out, Admiral
von Spee was stationed at the German Caroline Islands with the
Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, two powerful battle cruisers. Each carry-
ing eight 8.2-inch guns, their shells were almost three times as heavy
as the 100-pound shells of the 6-inch guns mounted on the Good Hope
and Monmouth, leading ships of the British squadron in those seas.
Von Spee had also with him the Dresden and the Leipzig.

The fight between the German and English squadrons was joined
on November 1,* 1914, and lasted fifty-two minutes. By that time the
Good Hope had been blown up and the Monmouth was on fire. Later
that same night, the Nurnherg, coming up, poured a broadside into the
the crippled Monmouth and sent her to the bottom. The Glasgow,
unable to oppose the guns of the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, and hav-
ing the heels of them, made good her escape.

German Battle Career on the Sea Ended.

This naval disaster did more than annoy the British naval authori-
ties, it enraged them, and they determined on a drastic revenge. They
succeeded, in most amazing fashion, in sending the two powerful battle
cruisers, Invincible and the Inflexible, from England to the Falkland
Islands without anyone being the wiser. These were 27-knot ships,
with eight 12-inch guns apiece, far outranging, outweighing and out-
running von Spec's ships. They reached the Falkland Islands and
went in to coal. Then, as luck would have it, the very next day, up
came the Scharnhorst and the Gneisenau. On December 8, 1914, their
funnels were sighted on the horizon. As they came nearer, the old
British battleship Canopus, which had grounded, loosed a couple of
pot-shots at a distance of six miles. Then, as though to give battle,
out crept the hastily repaired Glasgow, the little Kent and the unim-
portant Carnarvon. In the words of a German prisoner: "We laughed
till our sides ached."

"A few more minutes passed," says Copplestone, "and then,
from under the cover of the smoke and the low fringes of the harbor,
steamed grandly out the Invincible and the Inflexible, cleared for ac-
tion, their huge turrets, fore and aft ana upon either beam, bristling

HUNTING DOWN THE MODERN PIRATES 239

with 12-inch guns, their turbines working at fullest pressure, the flag
of Vice-Admiral Sturdee fluttering aloft. There was no more German
laughter. ' '

The fight dragged on to great length, for Sturdee knew that he
had the guns, he had the speed, he had the greater range. He knew
that the Germans could gain no re-enforcements, and that he himself
was far from any naval base to which he could repair in the case of
a chance shot crippling one of his big ships. Besides, the odds were
impossible. Though the Invincible was the leading ship and at one
time received the concentrated fire of both German ships, she did not
suffer a single casualty. ''And while she was being peppered almost
harmlessly, her huge shells, which now and then burst inboard the
doomed German vessels, were setting everything on fire between decks,
until the dull red glow could be seen from miles away through the
gaping holes in the sides.

''Firing began seriously at 12.55 and continued, with intervals
of rest for guns and men, till 4.16, when the Scharnhorst sank. . . .
Every man in the Scharnhorst was killed or drowned. For nearly two
hours longer the Gneisenau kept up the fight. ... By half past five,
she was blazing furiously fore and aft, and at 6.02 she rolled over
and sank. Her guns spoke to the last. She sank with her ensign still
flying. . . . Those of the crew who remained afloat were picked up
by boats from the cruisers and the Carnarvon, only 108 officers and men,
all told, were saved.'*

Meantime, the elderly cruiser Kent, the lame duck of the squadron,
feeding her fires with ladders, doors, the officers ' furniture, tables and
chairs from the captain's cabin, and — still more remarkable, with the
boats — chased and caught the Niirnberg and sank her out of hand. The
Glasgow, burning to revenge the disaster at Coronel, pursued the Leip-
zig, and sank her also. Of all the German South Sea Squadron, only
the light cruiser Dresden escaped. She fled without firing a shot, and
her end came, at Robinson Crusoe's Island some three months later.
The Battle of Falkland Islands ended Germany's battle career upon
the open sea.

CHAPTEB XTTTT .
ODT Wiii-U C- rzi -s-iiT stsjcjlsxjtb.

So :ar as iucn^niies aie eoiui-cnied, the world war de^nitelv taught
- - - — ': ■_- :-- It tanght that submarines are only moderately dan-

g^j . . ets tmless they can be developed to snch a point that

they can n^iie li-g" Tmder-water cmis^s at a mnch greater depth than
is p:s5-:^r :; 117 " " -^. It taught that the snbmaiine

c^-' ■ ^5-e^ ^i -- - jtLStinably, for the reason that it

CA- - £ up tl- ngers and crew, not having any means of

conveyug -^rzi to a home port. It tau^t that stibmarnies are highly

i excessively threatening as mine-layers.

. _rr to realize the submarine situation in the world war, it is

ry to understand clearly the limitation of a submarine. First

of au, a submarine nmning under water is blind, absolutely and entirely

blini I: =tt: nothing, hears nothing, knows nothing. To continue, a

5-:i_-r-:-T :ii.Ier water stores and can produce only a certain quantity

of air, the supply in the very latest types at the dose of the war extend-

" ~s' breathing for the crew. In the third place, in order

: — . ;_. _ _irine may be kept as near as possible to the sp«iific

gravity : ; — :.:rr, that it may rise and >i'nV by a ymall inclination of the

planes, the =k±n or shell of the submarine must be thin This thiTi shell

prevents the sntmarine from sinlrfnor to a great depth, not beyond

eighteen or twenty fathoms at most, because if it went down deeper,

the pressure of the wat^r would squash in its sides like a paper bag.

The submarine is not an under-water boat. It is a surface boat
which can go under the water for a time. The difference is highly impor-
tant A submarine whose periscope, only, may be showing above the
surface, leaves behind it a ripple and wake which can eaiy be seen
from a hydroplane, especially in smooth water. In really rou^ water

240

OUTW'ITTIXG THE VTILY ST'EISIAEINE 24^

a submarine cannot operate at alL Moreover, owmg to the thir
of its skin, it is not necessary to actually hit it with a depth, bomb.
If the bomb bnrsts within twenty-seven feet on any side of it, the
vacuum in the water caused by the explosion of the bomb paQs its
X>late5 out <'not drives them in; in the same way that the windows of
a house fall outwards when a bomb explodes in the street.

Consider, for a moment, the three pc^sible lines of oi)eration for a
submarine. Let it be supposed that an enemy fleet is steaming^ alon^
slowly on a calm sea, the ideal conditions for submarine attack. It
runs as deep down as it dares, until somewhere near the fleet. Then
it has to come up to within three or four feet of the surface to put its
p»eri scope out of the water to find where to go.

It win be lucky to escape observation then. Xine times out of ten-
it win come up outside the outer ring of the fleet, the circle of destrov-
ers. If sighted by them, the four-inch guns will begin to pop. K not,
it may be sighted by the hydroplanes, flying overhead, to whom a sub-
marine which has come close to the surface is as plain to see as thou^
it were awash.

Battleships steam an eighth of a mile apiit. I: i= useless merelv
to fire a torpedo in the general direction. The submarine must dive,
therefore, and come up again, dose to some battleship. This time it
cannot escape detection. In the space of a few seconds the commander
of the submarine must si^t the victim, get the exact direction, figure
out the speed at which she is traveling, make his calculations and fire
the torpedo, for unless he does so in a few seconds, he will be assuredly
snnk or have his periscope shot away, which is just as bad, for it means
a blind groping until death comes, or until he is forced to come to the
surface and be made prisoner.

Suppose, however, that the torpedo has been fired. It is extremelv
difficult to hit with a first shot. Suppose, also, ^lat the submarine
escapes being hit the first time it appears above the surface, what then!
It is doomed, just the same. The hydroplanes overiiead will keep an
eye on the deadly man-made fish and will wireless to the destrovers
its exact position. Bunning right over its ijath the destTover= w-n^
drop depth bombs every twenty-five feet A pkch of ofl and sometime.
a floatmg but shattered body tell the rest of the story.

i^w.^-£^^' °^^' -^ question of the submarine (of any type prior

242 OUTWITTING THE WILY SUBMAEINE

to the end of the war) as a commerce raider. Since space is at a pre-
mium in a submarine, it is impossible for it to take off the passengers
and crew of any vessel it captures. Equally it is impossible for it to
carry enough men to put on board vessels so seized, as prize crews.
Its only possible mode of capture is to sink the commerce vessel with
all hands, allowing them to take to the boats, or not. This, however, is
outside the pale of international law. It is not raiding; it is piracy.
Germany's submarine policy aroused the vengeful detestation of
the whole world because of its brutal disregard for human life. The
fault did not lie with the commanders of the submarines, but with the
conditions which of necessity belong to submarine usage. Submarine
commerce raiding, of itself, cannot be made justifiable. It must be
admitted, however, that many submarine commanders seemed to take
a delight in acts which aggravated their offences, such as the sinking
of neutral ships and even of Red Cross vessels with wounded men

aboard.

Amount of Shipping Sunk by German U-boats.

Although the submarine was widely used by Germans during 1915
and 1916, it was not until February 1, 1917, that Germany declared
her intention of unrestricted U-boat warfare in the barred zones. The
German plan was two-fold, to blockade England so that she would be
starved out, and to sink a sufficient number of naval vessels to reduce
Great Britain 's Navy until it was no larger than that of Germany. Such
important factors as the sinking of the Lusitania and the Provence
did not come under this head, and there is no need to burden the
reader with the list of armed and unarmed ships sunk by submarines.
It will serve the purpose best to give the figures for the entire
war. The German U-boats sank during the four years of the war
a total of 15,053,786 gross tons of shipping, of which over 9,000,000
was British. The loss of life in the British merchant marine was
15,000, the loss among other nations being proportionate. During the
war period there was a total ship construction among the Allies of
10,849,527 gross tons, while 2,392,675 was captured. The net loss dur-
ing the war, therefore, among Allied and neutral nations was under
2,000,000 tonnage, say five hundred ships averaging ocean liners and
coasting craft together.

According to figures issued by the British Admiralty from Ger-
man sources, secured after the war, it was learned that 360 U-boats

OUTWITTING THE WILY SUBMARINE 243

had been built, altogether, by Germany. Of these there were only 129
remaining to be turned over to the Allies (including those interned
as well as delivered), so that 231 U-boats had either been sunk or
taken prisoner. Nearly all had been sunk. Full figures of the build-
ing of submarines among the Allied nations have not been issued, but
semi-oflScial reports show that, at the close of the war, the Allies had
not less than 500 submarines against the 129 remaining to the Ger-
mans.

The utter failure of the submarines to sink any American trans-
ports was due mainly to the system of convoy. Twenty vessels, armed,
with naval escort, including destroyers and seaplanes had little to fear
from a submarine. One vessel of the convoy, might, by an off chance,
be torpedoed, but the submarine, for reasons given above, could never
escape. Chances such as that of the 11-19, which sank the three British
cruisers, Aboukir, Cressy and Hogue, one after the other, right at the
beginning of the war, could never happen again.

Regarded navally, the submarine was a complete failure. It did
not and could not turn the tide of a naval battle, it failed to serve its
purpose as a commerce-destroyer after the convoy system had been
established, it Avas impotent as a blockader of ports or harbors. Its
principal value was found as a mine-layer, and therein it created, even
to the end of the war, a serious difficulty. * ' The Fleet of the One-Eyed
Death" which, Admiral von Tirpitz proclaimed, ''was to bring Eng-
land to her knees, ' ' grew steadily more and more inept throughout the
war, although the under-sea vessels themselves were being built upon
more and more powerful lines.

Just as a last flare, the world was astonished, two days before the
close of the war, when the British battleship Britannia was torpedoed
and sunk by a submarine near Gibraltar. It was evident that the fins
of the submarine had been clipped, but that the menace was not over.
Naval opinion, when the war ended, was in full agreement on the point
that the submarine had not justified its existence in the world war,
but that even a little more improvement would make it a threat to
every ship afloat. The next naval war— should there be another— will
tell the tale.

CHAPTER XXIV.

DEATH-DEALING SQUADRONS OF THE SKY.

Development of Types of Air-Craft— Dirigibles and Their Uses— Summary of Military Failure of Zeppe-
lin Raids— Tlie Differences in Aeroplanes Required for Bombing, Spotting, Reconnoissance and Com-
bat—Aerial Strategy->Aces— Famous Feats of Daring.

AIR-CRAFT have created a new warfare. Nothing since the
invention of gunpowder so revolutionized every phase of battle
tactics. Combats in the air had practically no decisive effect in the
world war, saving and only as these were necessary for the protection
of aeroplanes which were on their proper business. The chief business
of air-craft is two-fold: firstly, scouting; secondly, as the eyes of the
heavy artillery.

It was air-craft, and air-craft only, which made possible the use
of the heavy artillery used in the world war. When a siege howitzer
shoots over a hill, dropping its shells near a fort on the other side of
it, how can the gunners teU if their shots are falling short, going too
far, or missing to the right or left? Only by information from an
observational captive balloon (such as the sausage or the kite), from a
dirigible balloon, or from an aeroplane. When a long-range gun (and
the Germans produced two, at least, with a range of sixty-five miles),
even of moderate force, bombards a position ten miles away, the accu-
racy of its fire can only be judged by an aerial observer, who signals
or wirelesses back to the battery the necessary changes in the direction
of the shots.

There is one famous example of this. In the Russo-Japanese War,
over a quarter of a million men lost their lives in the battle for 403-
Metre Hill. Why? Merely because it commanded a view of the harbor
in which the Russian fleet was lying. If the Japanese could have gained
even a single observation post on this hill, they could have bombarded
the fleets with their heavy batteries, and by the correction of the direc-
tion which the observer could give, it would take but a few minutes to
get the exact range. A modem aeroplane, even of an early type, could
have avoided all this slaughter.

244

DEATH-DEALING SQUADRONS OF THE SKY 245

Equal in value to the usefulness of air-craft as the eyes of the guns
'vas their value as scouts. It was the business of the air squadrons to
give information as to the enemy's movements, thus minimizing the
dangers of surprise. If the enemy was gathering munitions or troops
or stores at any particular point, it was evidence that a drive was being
prepared there. The defending army could then strengthen its line at
tliat point. If the enemy was thinning his line, by the gradual shifting
of troops, the keen air scout could give information to the High Com-
mand which might lead to a smashing counter-offensive at that thinned
point and a consequent victory.

There were two famous oases at the beginning of the world war
where victories were won by the Allies which would not have been
possible had the enemy possessed good air scouts. The first of these
was at the Battle of the Marne, when Foch deliberately withdrew an
entire division of men from the center of the battle and told them to
rest in a field during the whole of that vital afternoon. Then, at five
o'clock, he launched them against the thinned line of the Prussian
Guard. Good air-scouting by the enemy would have warned the German
general that a fresh division of troops was ready to attack his weakest
point. The other case was the capture of Lemberg, at the beginning
of the Russian campaign, when General Brusiloff came up with an
army of 250,000 men from a direction where the Austrians did not
anticipate a single soldier. One reconnoissance flight by an Austrian
aviator would have given this information.

No Man's Land of the Air.

With these two main branches of aerial work in mind, it may be
well to explain what is meant by "mastery of the air," a phrase which,
of necessity, occurs constantly in all stories of the campaigns and
battles of the world war. It is understood that between two opposing
armies there is a patch of contested ground, which, as yet, has been
seized by neither. This was called No Man's Land in the world war,
after the trench warfare period had begun.

It does not follow, however, that the line of trenches on the earth,
which marks the boundaries of the opposing armies, is the same as the
aerial border line. It is clear, for example, that if the Allies had
stronger aerial squadrons than those of the Central Powers, they could
keep the German aviators from ever flying over the Allied lines, while,

246 DEATH-DEALING SQUADRONS OF THE SKY

at the same time, they c uld do so with a greater or lesser penetration
over the German lines. If the German air squadrons were the stronger,
the converse would be true. There was thus a No Man's Land of the
air which did not run horizontally parallel to the No Man's Land of
the ground. Mastery of the air consisted in having the No Man's Land
of the air so far behind the enemy lines that defending aviators could
!>-ee all that the foe was doing, while enemy aviators could see nothing
in the opposing lines.

An excellent example of mastery of the air occurred in the minor
but important American success at Vaux, when the American troops
drove the Germans before them like rabbits from a beaten glade, the
Crown Prince not having any expectation of the attack. That whole
section of the line was completely in the control of the air men of the
Allies. Contrariwise, the success of the German drives of 1915 and
1916 was due to the fact that the German flyers had air mastery of a
larger portion of the front than did the overhead scouts of the Allies.

The Zeppelin a Failure as a War Machine.

For this reason it gives a false impression to speak of aeroplanes
as winning this battle or that. They did nothing of the sort. They
were an arm of the service, an essential arm, but a consideration of
their services has no place in Military History, except in so far as they
fought in each particular battle. To outline the respective values of in-
fantry, cavalry, artillery, signal, engineer and aerial services in every
engagement would be unending. The air work commends itself espe-
cially to writing of flights as incidents, because of the opportunity
for individuality in the aviator, but in no single case can it be said
that air raids in themselves have turned the tide of battle or altered
the progress of the war.

The Zeppelin was even a greater failure as a war machine than
the submarine. It, also, had been heralded by Germany as a means
of subduing the French and British. Air raids on London were numer-
ous, and attempts on Paris were not less so. The total casualties from
all exclusively Zeppelin and Schutte-Lanz dirigible raids, so far as
is known, was approximately 9,000 civilians, during the four years of
the war. This is a great deal higher than any figures which were given
out, pending the conflict, and undoubtedly includes minor casualties.
Deaths are given as 831.

DEATH-DEALING SQUADRONS OF THE SKY 247

The Inteliigence Department of the French Army announced that
it had learned that 100 Zeppelins had been built by March, 1918. There
seems reason to estimate that four more were constructed between that
time and the end of the war, making 104 in all. Every Zeppelin built
before the beginning of the war is known to have been destroyed. Of
these 104 the destruction of 31 is definitely Imown, 9 were presumably
lost but actual evidence was not forthcoming, 17 were so seriously in-
jured as to be dismantled, 4 were employed as school ships. This ac-
counts for 61 ships out of the 104, not including any which may have
been lost by accident (such as entering a hangar) within the German
lines. Without going into the cost of building Zeppelins (which is
huge, owing to the amount of aluminum used) and the cost of train-
ing Zeppelin crews, it is clear that, during the war, more than one-half
were put out of business. Moreover, when it is realized that Zeppelins
were little used, that they remained in their hangars for weeks, some-
times months, at a time, and that their raids had no military value, the
failure of the Zeppelin is demonstrated.

There is a curious similarity between the Zeppelin and the sub-
marine. Both developed, during the world war, to a high degree of
efficiency, yet not in the military sense. Both added immensely to
man's conquest of the air and man's conquest of the sea. Both are
ripe with promise of great commercial scope and gain. And since, in
this world, it often follows that out of evil some Guiding Hand may
produce good, it may well be that the future will see over a world at
peace, great craft of air and under-sea speeding on missions to bless
instead of curse humanity.

CHAPTER XXV.

MODERN WEAPONS OF LAND WARFARE.

The Rifle and the Machine Gun— Light Artillery— The French "75"— Heavy Artillery— Tha "Big Bertha"
and Siege Howltxer— Aerial Guns— Hand Grenade and Bolo— Gas and Explosives.

NO matter how much the world may feel like congratulating itself
upon the fact that victory perched upon the side of right in the
great war, the bitter struggle of four years clearly demonstrated the
age-old principle that force mil conquer. Three factors which are abso-
lutely necessary to the making of a victorious army are man-power,
resources and equipment. And these in the finality the Allies possessed.

It required four years of concentrated effort to build up a military
machine of such superior force and equipment as to bring defeat to the
German hordes, but that is what the Allies did, and not the least of
their success was due to the development of their arms and weapons
of offense and defense.

The whole history of the struggle offers no more interesting study
than that of the arms, armaments and devices used by the opposing
forces in their efforts to annihilate one another.

When Germany plunged into Belgium she possessed what was
conceded to be the very best arms and equipment that science and
mechanics could supply. Her big guns reduced the forts of Liege and
Namur and similar Belgian and French strongholds with a dispatch
that startled the civilized world, and in the course of the long war she
brought forth improvements which taxed the ingenuity of her opponents
to resist.

A detailed technical description of all the arms used during the
four years of warfare would involve a story of science and mechanics
covering practically all that is known of guns, gun-resisting materials
and explosives and their effects, for practically everything that gave
promise of offering some advantage to the opposing forces was given
a thorough test by the military authorities.

For this very reason much appeared regarding the wonderful

248

MODERN WEAPONS OF LAND WARFARE 249

weapons and devices of war which was not justified by their actual use
nor by the facts.

In considering the value of arms it should be remembered that the
mobile fighting forces of the army consist of three main arms: the
infantr}'-, field artillery and cavalry, and that the infantryman with
his rifle and bayonet forms the backbone of the fighting force.

The weapon of the infantryman is what is commonly called the
automatic '' repeating rifle." There are many types of these guns,
and while one may possess qualities of distinct advantage over another,
the rifles used by the armies in the world-wide struggle all involved
the same general convenience of construction — a mechanism which
made it possible for the soldier to shoot in rapid succession from ten to
twenty shots without reloading.

Different Types of Rifles.

At the outbreak of the war Germany used what was known as the
''98" gun, which was in reality a Mauser rifle of the model of 1898,
with a capacity of twenty to thirty shots a minute. It had a calibre of
7.9 millimeters (.30 calibre), which was regarded as the smallest calibre
that could be used with effect against the enemy.

The American Army — the Expeditionary Force — used the standard
United States rifle, which is actually the Enfield rifle, officially adopted
by the Government, and which is of .30 calibre. The weapon is the
magazine typo and is loaded with a clip on which are arranged car-
tridges automatically fed into the firing chamber one after another.
The gun has a high initial velocity and uses a pointed bullet, which
gives what is known as a flat trajectory. This simply means that the
bullet travels in a straight line within a prescribed range. The advan-
tage of this is easily apparent to the layman when it is stated that the
ideal rifle would be the one the path of whose bullet would at no range
be higher than a man's head.

The Austro-Hungarian troops were supplied with Krag-Jorgensen
and Mauser rifles of older model than the German weapons, and which
were inferior as to muzzle velocity and therefore less effective, while
the Turkish Army was organized with three grades of infantry fire-
arms. The first line was armed with the Mauser repeating rifle of the
standard .30 calibre, while the second line carried a larger or .38
calibre Mauser and the third line had a Martini-Henry rifle of ,45

250 MODERN WEAPONS OF LAND WARFAEE

calibre. The cavalry, too, carried a Mauser .30 calibre repeating
carbine, or short gun.

The Bulgarians used an 8 millimeter repeating rifle, model of 1888,
together with a Mannlichter rifle of the model of '95, while the Russians
carried the model '91 repeating rifle of 7.6 millimeter, which, as the
date indicates, was not as effective as the later models.

England's infantry in the main was armed with the Lee-Enfield
rifle, of .30 calibre, while the French used a Lebel of nearly .32 calibre,
of the model of 1893. The Belgian infantry was armed with Mausers
of 7.6 millimeters, while Italy used the Mannlichter-Caraco rifle, model
1891. Serbia used the Mauser.

Development of the Machine Gtin.

By this it will be seen that the ''repeating rifle" was the weapon
of all infantrymen and the principle involved in the construction of
all was in the main the same. The gas generated by the discharge of
one shell forced the next into place ready to be expelled, hence the
term automatic, no operation being required on the part of the gunner
to throw the shall into place or to dislodge the exploded one.

Before the end of the war, however, and in building up the ulti-
mately victorious military machine, the Allies had largely standard-
ized their small arms and ammunition, and the Enfield rifle of one or
several models constituted the main weapon of the infantry. At a
range of 1000 yards a bullet from one of these rifles will penetrate a
pine plank seventy inches thick.

It is a matter of extreme interest in the development of small arms
to note that the first of such weapons used by the fighting forces of the
world was the *'gonne" or hand cannon, which was a tube mounted on
a holder or stick, and fired by touching a match to a hole in the powder
chamber. This was the forerunner of the wheel-lock and flint-lock guns,
and one of the first of the latter was made by the Germans in the
sixteenth century.

The machine gun, which is the secondary weapon of the infantry,
is a development of modem war, each regiment having a machine gun
company with twelve guns. These weapons are vital necessities in the
modern army and all of the forces in the war were provided with them.
As in the case of the infantry arm, the machine guns are constructed
upon the same principle, but vary as to the types in use.

MODERN WEAPONS OF LAND WARFARE 251

The machine gun of the United States Army and the Expeditionary
Forces used in the field were the Browning and the Colt-Browning,
with the Lewis gun prescribed for aviation service. The machine
gun is supposed to deliver against the attacks of oncoming forces a
rain of bullets equivalent to the fire of an entire infantry section.

The machine guns may be divided into two classes: those having
a rotary steel drum or cylinder in which a round of loaded shells is
held, and those through which a strip or belt containing cartridges is
fed. The guns are mounted on tripods and will shoot from 200 to 500
shots per minute. The guns in warfare open sudden blasts of fire upon
the enemy from concealed positions. The fire is of such intensity that
well-launched attacks break down under them.

It was against the nests of these guns that the American soldiers
made such heroic advances at Chateau Thierry and in Belleau Wood.
In the open the guns are particularly vulnerable and once located by
opposing artillery must shift their positions or be blown to atoms.
The guns shoot a regulation .30 calibre bullet. The weapons weigh
from thirty to fifty pounds, complete with tripod.

Importance of the Artillery.

The force required to properly utilize the machine gun in warfare
may be determined from the fact that a machine gun company with
its 12 guns consists of 6 officers and 172 men, 12 of whom comprise the
train required to supply the organization and furnish the ammunition.
Nearly all of the countries at war utilized the Lewis machine gun in
some branch of the service, but there were others, like the Vickers,
utilized by the French Army. The Hotchkiss was also used by some
of the aviation corps. The Vickers differed from some of the others
in that it is water-cooled, it being necessary to have a cooling device
on all types because of the intense heat generated by the rapid fire.
Even with the cooling jacket it is necessary to give the machines "rest'*
or time to cool after from 300 to 500 rounds have been fired.

The artillery comes as an auxiliary of the infantry. It prepares
the way for the infantry attacks, destroys the enemy's defenses — forti-
fications and entrenchments — and protects the advancing troops with
barrages or shell "curtains" that are timed to precede the advancing
line. The mobile artillery consists of "mountain artillery,*' light field
artillery, heavy field artillery and siege artillery.

252 MODERN WEAPONS OF LAND WARFARE

The experience of four years proved among other things that the
most valuable asset of an army is sufficient and effective field artillery,
end in this equipment the French forces proved their superiority over
the Germans. The fame of the French " 75 " was heralded abroad early
in the war and to the very end it proved a stumbling block to the ambi-
tions of the Germans. The French ''75" is a three-inch field gun, and
it is a fact of historic interest that the proof of value of such a compar-
atively small bore, rapid-fire field gun was first established by the
Boers against the British in the South African War.

The Boers used what were termed pompoms against the heavier
artillery of the British with deadly effect. They were the forerunner
of the French "75," which is capable of delivering from twelve to
sixteen shots per minute. Because of this rapid fire, in the develop-
ment of her army just prior to the world war, France reduced the
number of guns per battery from six to four, making up for the loss
of pieces by the rapidity of fire and adding ammunition wagons to
replace the guns.

The Duty of the Artillery,

The value of the artillery of this type in blazing the way for the
advancement of the infantry may be judged from reports on the
German advances made early in 1917 — in connection with what is
known as the March offensive — when reports taken from German
officers captured by the Allies showed that they had a gun for every
fifteen men on the front.

A military explanation of the advance shows the use made of the
various types of arms in support of the infantry. An official report
says : ' ' The first wave to cross No Man 's Land consisted of about 250
men with light machine guns almost shoulder to shoulder. A hundred
yards behind came another line of 250 men, then more machine guns.
Next after an interval of two or three hundred yards, came light trench
mortars and the battalion staff. Again a space of 200 yards, and then
from prepared exits from the trenches the field artillery drove out
into open column, forming lines of batteries as soon as possible."

In general the artillery bombards the enemy's first, second and
third lines, all gun positions, roads, villages, railway junctions, etc.,
follows this up with a rain of shrapnel and gas shells and then puts
down a rolling barrage from the field guns, which starts when the
infantry goes over the top.

MODERN WEAPONS OF LAND WARFARE 253

The three-inch gun — the French "75" — uses a projectile weigh-
ing approximately 15 pounds and having a muzzle velocity of 1,700
feet per second. These weapons became the artillery backbone of the
Allied forces. A battery of four of such machines costs about $110,000
and it costs about $20 to fire one of the guns once. When the United
States Government began making these weapons to supply its Oversea
forces it was necessary to give some of the guns the "destruction"
test to determine how long they would last. Two guns were fired at a
cost of $20 a shot until they were worn out. The test cost nearly half
a million dollars, for it was demonstrated that a gun would discharge
about 2,500 shots before it had to be rebuilt.

After the three-inch gun comes the 4.7 field gun, which fires a pro-
jectile weighing 60 pounds; then the six-inch howitzer, which uses a
3.20-pound projectile, and lastly a nine-inch howitzer, which discharges
« shell one-half larger.

The Use of Caterpillar Wheels.

The main difference between the howitzer and the field gun is
that the howitzer has a shorter barrel in proportion to its length and
can be aimed at a high angle to throw explosive shells into protected
positions, intrenchments, etc.

The developments which made possible the use of guns above nine-
inch in the field during the war related more to the methods of mount-
ing and transportation than to the improvement of the guns themselves.

The three factors which made the use of such guns possible were
the "self -laying track" on which they were moved, the tractor, to sup-
plant horses, and the mount on which the guns were operated. Because
of their weight it was manifestly impossible to draw big guns over
soft fields and rough roads on ordinary or even specially designed
extra heavy wheels. Germany and Austria must be given credit for
first solving the problem.

The advanced step was the use of caterpillar wheels. The veriest
novice now knows that caterpillar wheels consist of ordinary wheels
which run in a continuous shoe or belt with a broad surface. Briefly,
an endless chain runs around the fore and aft wheels on either side of
a four-wheeled vehicle. The contact surface of this chain or belt may
be from a foot to two feet in width and it extends on the earth's surface
from the greatest diameter of the front to the rear wheel, or the

254 MODERN WEAPONS OF LAND WARFARE

distance between the front and rear axles. It provides a long, wide bear-
ing surface which passes easily over soft or rough surfaces. As some
of the 30 centimeter and 42 centimeter guns which the Germans first
used weighed from twenty to forty tons, the caterpillar wheels were
uecessary to their transportation on other than regularly laid railroad
tracks. Because of their weight also it required from thirty to forty
horses to draw one of the huge guns.

This problem was partly solved, however, by constructing the guns
so that they could be demounted and moved in sections. An automobile
tractor carried the artillery crew and tools and furnished the motive
power, while a second car carried the platform and turntable on which
the gun was mounted. The gun proper was carried on a separate car-
riage or caterpillar wheeled truck.

Up until the ''great war" such guns as the 42 centimeter weapon
of the Germans had only been used on naval vessels and at fortified
points where they could be set up on firmly built concrete bases. The
development of the recoil principle, however, made it possible to use
the powerful guns wherever they could be moved, and Italy, France,
England and America at various stages of the war brought into use
immense guns.

Necessity of the Gun Recoil.

The recoil principle is that in which the force exerted against the
breech of the gun by the discharge of a shell is taken up in the gun-
carriage or mount, instead of being against the ground or base on
which the entire gun rests or is anchored.

It has been applied to the construction of all large guns and almost
everybody now understands it when the big gun, after being discharged,
slides back under the force of the explosion and then slowly moves
forward again into firing position. The perfection of a mechanical
arrangement to take up this recoil made it unnecessary to have the big
guns solidly attached or anchored and also made possible their mount-
ing on turntables, so that they can be moved in any direction and the
muzzles elevated at the required angle.

The French went the Germans one better in the transportation of
heavy guns and used armor-protected trains on which were mounted
heavy howitzers. The United States also developed several guns of
this character which were taken to France, and a number were in
process of manufacture when the war ended.

MODERN WEAPONS OF LAND WAEFABE 255

Probably the most interesting of these guns was the "Big Bertha*'
which was set up by the Germans to bombard Paris from a distance
of seventy-five miles. The fact that a gun could be made which would
shoot such a distance was at first regarded as marvelous, but military
authorities quickly demonstrated that the only thing that was really
extraordinary about it was the fact that Germany had done it.

What the German military authorities did in their efforts to
frighten Paris was to set up in St. Gobain Forest a gun of the long-
range naval type, putting in a concrete base on which to mount it. The
greatest previous range of a gun was about twenty-five miles, and
their mathematical experts figuring out the problems of air resistance,
velocity, elevation, and using explosives of a high propulsive power
and a projectile shaped to develop the minimum resistance in flight,
had fixed an elevation which carried the shell upon discharge into the
higher altitudes. Since the density of the air diminishes in high alti-
tude, the resistance likewise decreases. What this means may be
drawn from the statement that military authorities estimate that at
height of about twenty miles each cubic foot of space contains only
about 15 grains of air as compared with 534 at the ground.

The Principle of Ballistic Efficiency.

With this idea of decreased density or resistance in mind, it must
be understood that the "ballistic efficiency" of the projectile was taken
into consideration. The missile that possesses the power to cut its
own path through the air has the greatest ballistic efficiency. A tennis
ball would travel as far as a leaden missile of the same size under a
similar propelling force if it were not for the fact that it has not the
power to force its way through the atmosphere, hence it lacks what
science calls ballistic efficiency.

If, then, a projectile is propelled into the higher altitudes, its
ballistic efficiency increases as the resistance of the rarified atmosphere
decreases and it travels twice the distance in the upper arc, practically
without resistance, and descends at a greater distance from the place
of its original projection. In other words, it makes a longer arc in its
flight by passing through the higher altitudes than if the gun were
pitched at an angle to make the flight of the shell through the dense
atmosphere closer to the earth's surface. Incidentally it has been
estimated that the time required for the flight of a shell over a distance

256 MODERN WEAPONS OJ^^ LAND WAKFAKK

of seventy-five miles is about 175 seconds. The shells used in the
bombardment of Paris were of an eight-inch type and weighed in excess
of 300 pounds.

Next to the astonishment created by the bombardment of Paris,
the ''tanks" first used by the British on the Somme were the subject
of the greatest interest and proved to be a vital factor in the offensive
warfare of the Allies. The tanks were simply tractor engines of the
"caterpillar" wheel type, armored and mounted with guns. England,
Germany and France all developed types of these monsters, as did
America, the United States, however, developing one-man tanks and
creating tank companies to ride through the most closely defended
sections and intrenchments. The Government was training entire regi-
ments of ''tankers" when the war ended.

The turreted or armored motor car was another device which
added to the offensive power of the Allies. Every country had types,
but the Allies had a greater force of them than Germany and her
allies, Italy being unusually well equipped. Most of the armored cars
were mounted with rapid-fire guns, although some types had three-
inch field guns.

Tracer Bullets for Day or Night.

In keeping with the developments made in the use of guns were
those made in the devising of shells and secondary equipment. Wire-
cutters, which were like small two-wheeled chariots, in which scouts
crept toward the enem^y lines and cut the wire entanglements. Shells
that burst in the air and sent forth phosphorescent light to illuminate
the enemy's line. Tracer bullets, which left a trail of light in the night
or smoke in the day. These, however, were confined in their use largely
to aviators. The need for such missiles was shown when the airplanes
became offensive weapons and carried rapid-fire guns. There was no
way to tell where a missile from a gun went. No dust or earth showed
where the bullet struck and no distant range finder directed the fire
of the aviator. To give him some sense of direction in firing his
machine gun, a tracer bullet was devised by the Ordnance Department
of the United States. In daytime this bullet was followed by a long
trail of blue smoke; at night by a phosphorescent light. One shell
containing such a bullet was set at regular intervals in the clip holding
the regular shells for the machine gun. When one of these tracers
went forth the airman could tell the direction of his fire.

MODERN WEAPONS OF LAND WARFARE 257

With the increased use of the airplanes and their bombing came
the air-craft guns, which are rapid-fire guns of varying calibre, so
mounted that they can be elevated for shooting into the air. Various
carriages have been built for this purpose, but the ordinary quick-fire
rifle and the machine gun have also been used with good effect.

No story of modern armament would be complete without refer-
ence to the hand-grenade which came into use in consequence of the
progress made in trench warfare. The hand-grenade was used as far
back as the sixteenth century by the French and during the recent war
several types were evolved. There were in the main, however, two
principal types. One type exploded with a time fuse, and the other,
was discharged on striking the earth or other object at which it was
thrown. One type had a time fuse which caused explosion of the
grenade five seconds after the ignition of the fuse. The free end of
the fuse had attached to it a ''match-tip" which was ignited by striking
it with a ring worn by the bomb thrower.

Germany's Devilish Gas Devices.

One of the impact type had a lever attachment which was released
when the bomb was thrown. When the lever is freed it releases a
firing pin which strikes a percussion cap at impact, causing the grenade
to explode. Another type with a time fuse has a friction pin which is
jerked out when the bomb leaves the thrower 's hand. The pulling out
of the pia ignites the fuse and explosion follows in five or six seconds.

There is material for much study in mechanics and chemistry for
those interested in the devices of the war. The greatest protest aroused
by Germany was by her use of the poisonous gases in waging warfare
against the Allies.

The gas was first used in the spring of 1915, notably at Ypres.
The earliest attacks were directed against the French lines, and results
were secured by releasing chlorine fumes from cylinders into which
the gases had been compressed. The fumes were carried by a favorable
wind across the positions held by the French and thousands were suffo-
cated or poisoned to such an extent that they were rendered useless as
combatants for long periods. After gas masks were developed to
protect the French and English soldiers from the chlorine fumes, the
German chemists developed the use of phosgene instead of chlorine,
and the masks devised to absorb the chlorine fumes were not effective.

Finally, because the gfas clouds freed from compressed tanks could

17— W. L.

258 MODERN WEAPONS OF LAND WARFARE

onlv be effective when the wind was in a favorable direction, the
German military directors adopted gas shells containing substances
which were vaporized by the explosion of the shell and scattered in
minute drops over a large area. Tear bombs, sneezing-gas shells and
shells containing mustard gas, with which American troops were bom-
barded, were among their devilish devices. The mustard gas was
extremely virulent and set up an intense irritation wherever it came
in contact with the mucous membrane. The eyes, nose and throat of
any unprotected person were literally made raw and pulmonary troubles
were developed which frequently caused death. Blindness was frequent.

Naturally the constant use of such gases must be met and the gas
mask came into existence. A dozen forms were made, but at the end
of the war the most effective device had been created in America and
was being used by most of the Allied troops. This mask consists of a
head covering having in it mica, glass or composition goggles, a nose
clip to close the nostrils against the entrance of gas, an aluminum
mouthpiece connected with a tube which is attached to a chemical box
suspended from the neck. The chemical box contains a carbon or char-
coal and other chemicals which neutralize the poisonous gases and the
air breathed by the wearer is filtered through the box.

The explosives used in the war were of as many types and grades
as there were guns. In the main, smokeless powder has supplanted
the slow-burning black powder of the old days. Picric acid, nitro-
plycerine, guncotton and a dozen other chemical compounds were used.
One of the most powerful explosives used was T. N. T., or trinitro-
toluol, which may be described briefly as a triple-nitrated guncotton.
Lyddite, used in the manufacture of Lyddite explosive shells, has as
its basis picric acid, but the largest percentage of explosives are those
formed of nitrated cellulose.

The large quantities of nitrates required to make the necessary
explosives formed a severe stumbling block to the Allies for a time,
and there is a story of industrial romance in how American institu-
tions and chemists made the necessary nitrates out of kelp or seaweed
or extracted it from the air. The importance of nitrates, or nitrogen,
will be better understood when it is stated that all explosives are
nitrogen or nitrous compounds, and their deadly effect is the result of
this liberty-loving gas to burst its bonds and scatter in every direction
the elements which sought to restrain it.

Book II

WORLD ISSUES OF THE WAR

Editor
FRANCIS ROLT-WHEELER, Ph.D.

259

CHAPTER XXVI.

ALLIANCES AND ENTANGLEMENTS.

Close of the Franco-Prussian War— Congress of Berlin— League of the Three Emperors— Triple Alliance—
Dual Alliance— Fashoda Incident— Boer War Enmities— Moroccan Trouble— Tripoli and the Concert
of Europe— Triple Entente.

TO an American, there are certain questions involved in the Great
War which are exceedingly difficult to understand. It is simple
enough to see that Austria forced the war on Serbia in spite of the
fact that Russia was supporting her Slav small brother, for the suffi-
cient reason that Austria was backed up by Berlin. But this statement
does not explain the motives of either Austria, Serbia, Russia or
Germany. Still less easy is it to understand why an Austrian ultimatum
to Serbia should embroil France and England, Italy's relation is even
more puzzling, and, so far as Turkey, Bulgaria and the Balliians are
concerned, most people are groping in the dark.

The Key Points of the Situation.

Information on these points becomes a matter of vital interest
since America has a voice in trying to arrange a saitisfaotory compro-
mise of the thousand-and-one bitter and black hostilities which have
been caused or re-awakened by the war. It is not enough to know that
Alsa^je-Lorraine, Schleswig-Holstein, Bosnia, Macedonia, Dobrudja and
the Czecho-Slovaks are the chief problems of the war, it is necessary
to know why these are the key points of the situation. There is no
study so bewildering and so fascinating as that wherein races and
nations are moved like pawns upon the great chessboard of the world.

The United States is no longer isolated and alone, scorning to be
interested in European affairs and as scornfully debarred from them.
Willy-nilly, she has become a part of them, or, at least, has a part
in them, and, since the American government is only the spokesman
for Americans, it follows that every citizen, man or woman, in the
United States should know what is being done and why. These world
issues will be set forth here, as simply and as briefly as possible.

261

262 ALLIANCES AND ENTANGLEMENTS.

There are five fundamental principles which create separaite na-
tionalities. These are Kace, Language, Religion, Political History and
Geographic Isolation. Sometimes, but rarely, these principles work
singly, generally nations possess differing characters because of a
mixture of these principles. On the other hand, these same principles
may be the causes which disintegrate nations as well as uniting them.

A few examples may serve to make this clear. Sweden and Den-
mark are alike in Race, Language and Religion, but the Baltic Sea
between them— which is Geographic Isolation— has given a slightly
different Political History and made them separate nations. Switzer-
land, on the other hand, is a combination of three types, different in
Race and Language, but the Geographic Isolation of their Alpine home
has given them a Political History which has fused them into one.

Conditions Leading Up to the War.

Again, the strength of Germany is a unity of Race and Language,
while the weakness of Austria is that she is a mere collection of peoples
with different temperaments, speaking different tongues. It is because
certain provinces held by Austria are Italian in speech and tempera-
ment that Italy claims them, it is because Bulgaria and Roumania are
respectively Tartar and Latin Islands in a Slavic sea that fighting
never ceases in the blood-soaked Balkans.

In order to avoid confusion, it is well to fix a certain definite
point from which to survey the conditions which led up to and caused
the war, not only because they were the causes of the war but because
they explain why each and every nation entered the war and what
each nation hopes to gain thereby. There is no altruism in diplomacy,
all wars are fought either to gain something or to defend something.
England fought the Boer War as a war of aggression, France fought
the Franco-Prussian War as a war of defence.

The Great War is a sequel to two preceding wars, one, the Franco-
Prussian War; the other, the Second Balkan War. It is absolutely
impossible for a peace treaty to satisfy everybody, therefore all wars
are but preludes to other wars. Peace is not a thing in itself, it is
merely an absence or an abstention from war.

The Franco-Prussian War was deliberately brought about by Bis-
marck, not because of any personal enmity to France, but because the
consolidation of German national unity was his goal, because the wars

ALLIANCES AND ENTANGLEMENTS. 263

with Denmark in 1864, and Austria in 1866, had only partly achieved
this end, and because he believed that a war with France would at
once bring into the North GTerman Confederation, headed by Prussia,
those South German States which had declined to join it in 1866. The
master diplomatist of the century was right, and the victory over
France in 1871 was the beginning of the German Empire.

All wars end with treaties, defining the changed political and
economic relations that have been brought about by the war. The
Franco-Prussian War was closed by the Treaty of Frankfort and Bis-
marck demanded a war indemnity of six billion francs ($1,200,000,000)
the cession of part of Lorraine, all of Alsace and the fortress city
of Belfort, near the Franco-Swiss border. The treaty, signed May 10,
1871, compelled France to pay five billion francs ($1,000,000,000),
ordered the occupation of French territory by a German Army until
the debt was paid, deprived France of 5,000 square miles of territory
with 1,500,000 inhabitants. Speaking of this in 1918, Lloyd George,
Prime Minister of England, declared 'Hhis sore has poisoned the peace
of Europe for half a century," and three days later President Woodrow
Wilson affirmed that ''the wrong done to France by Prussia in the
matter of Alsace-Lorraine has unsettled the peace of the world for
nearly fifty years."

Kicking the Turk Out of Europe.

France paid the indemnity with an honorable dispatch which an-
noyed Germany terribly, for Prussia had hoped to cripple her enemy
for many decades to come. But France never forgot the unwarranted
attack of Germany and the irrational seizure of Alsace-Lorraine, never
forgot and never forgave.

The Balkan Wars and all the attendant complications may be
regarded as parts of a fifty-year-long process of kicking the Turk out
of Europe. In 1871, to use the same date for a starting-point, Turkey-
in-Europe was a vast state. It embraced the Black Sea coast as far
north as the mouth of the Danube, included the Greek province of
Thessaly and had a sea-line on the Adriatic confronting and menacing
Italy. Bulgaria was a Turkish holding and much of Servia was in
Ottoman hands. Bosnia-Herzegovina was also subject to Turkey.

In 1875, the peasants of Herzegovina revolted on a tax question,
and their Slavic brethren in Serbia, Montenegro and Austrian Dalmatia

264 ALLIANCES AND ENTANGLEMENTS.

joined them. Owing to the holding of large quantities of Turkish bonds,
the powers tried to make peace. England refused to join the powers.
The next year Turkey sent a horde of Bashi-Bazouks, irregular mili-
tary brigands, to murder the Slavic Christians, and 12,000 men, women
and children were massacred in cold blood. England became indignant
and moved against Turkey, while Russia, as the ''Big Brother" of the
Slavs, declared war on Turkey. Seizing this opportunity Bulgaria
declared her independence and it was a Bulgarian Army which first
stopped the victorious Turkish general Osman Pasha. Russia and
Roumania hemmed in the Turkish Armies and Turkey was severely
vanquished in 1878. A treaty was signed at San Stefano which, how-
ever, was modified three months later by the famous Congress of
Berlin.

Result of the Congress of Berlin.

In later chapters of this book, details will be given as to these
treaties, but for a broad general view it must suffice to state that the
great Congress of Berlin did the following things: (a) enlarged the
territories of Serbia and Montenegro, (b) gave the administration
of Bosnia and Herzegovina to Austria, while allowing them to remain
nominally a part of Turkey, (c) extended northwards the frontier of
Greece, though denying to the Hellenes the Hellenic island of Crete,
(d) extended to the southward the Russian frontier in Asia Minor,
at the same time compelling the Sultan of Turkey to promise reforms
in Armenia, (e) cut the new Bulgaria of the Treaty of San Stefano
in half, returning Macedonia to the Turks and making northern Bul-
garia an autonomous state, (f ) created a new autonomous or self-govern-
ing state of eastern Rumelia, (g) took Bessarabia from Roumania and
gave it to Russia, in return taking Dobrudja from Turkey and making
it a coast-line for Roumania, and (h) gave the island of Cyprus to
England.

It was a vicious arrangement, pregnant with future war. It begot
the Bosnian question between Austria and Servia, which nearly brought
about the world war in 1908 and which was the direct cause of the
outbreak of the Great War of 1914. It angered Bulgaria and made her
hungry for the sea. It left the Cretan quarrel unsettled and a sore spot
between Greece and Turkey. It made Macedonia a subterranean mine
to blow up the peace of Europe. It bred enmity between Germany and

ALLIANCES AND ENTANGLEMENTS. 265

Russia which fouud echo in the Great War. Since Bismarck was the
directing genius of the Congress, and succeeded in giving back to
Turkey much of the territory which had been rightfully taken from
her by the Treaty of San Stefano three months before, it made Turkey
a friend to Germany. In the results of the Congress of Berlin may be
seen the reasons why, at the outbreak of the Great War in 1914, Russia
and Germany were foes and Turkey and Germany w^ere friends.

The world war nearly broke out on October 7, 1908, when Austria,
without rhyme or reason, audaciously announced the annexation of
Bosnia-Herzegovina, thus tearing up the treaty of the Congress of
Berlin., England fumed, but Germany took her place behind Austria.
England was not ready for war, but immediately after the arising of
this issue she doubled her navy building plans, having secured a three
years* lead of all other navies by her Dreadnought principles, a matter
discussed elsewhere in this book. Russia, also, was incensed by the
seizure of Bosnia, but she had just been defeated in the Russo-Japanese
War and was in no position to offend Austria and Germany. It is of
interest to note that this was one of the ties which helped to make
an Alliance between England and Russia.

Macedonia Taken From Turkey.

Macedonia, with its main port of Saloniki, now took the center
of the stage. Greece, Turkey, Serbia, Bulgaria, Austria and Italy
all wanted it. In 1912 a series of treaties between the Balkan States
were made, local enmities were set aside and these states set their
shoulders to the wheel to get ''reforms" for Macedonia, All diplomats
knew that after Macedonia was wrenched from Turkey, the Balkan
States would commence to quarrel among themselves over the spoils.
The ' ' Concert of Europe ' ' — which is a term meaning the united action
of the diplomatic offices or chancelleries of the Great Powers — ordered
the BaU^an States to keep quiet. But Bulgaria had wonderful French
artillery, while Turkey had recently undergone a military reorganiza-
tion by the Prussian general Von der Goltz and possessed modern big
guns from Krupps. The First Balkan War began on October 18, 1912.
In fourteen days Turkey was utterly whipped in the north by the
Balkan States, nine days later she was routed out of Saloniki by the
Greeks. It took until April 22, 1913, however, before the gallant little
army of Montenegrins reduced the great Turkish fortress of Scutari.

266 ALLIANCES AND ENTANGLEMENTS.

The Treaty of London, closing this war, was signed on May 1, 1913.
The efforts of the Balkan States had been successful. Greece had
secured Crete. The Macedonian problem was settled so far as "The
Sick Man of Europe" — a conunon name for Turkey — was concerned.
Montenegro, Serbia, Bulgaria and Greece had each received new ac-
quisitions of territory. But — there is always a "but" in treaties —
Austria was dissatisfied, and she fomented trouble between the Balkan
States so cleverly that four weeks later, on May 28, 1913, Serbia sent
an ultimatum to Bulgaria. The case grew so serious that on June 8,
the Czar begged Bulgaria and Serbia "not to dim the glory they had
earned in common by a fratricidal war."

To the Teutonic dream of a Berlin-to-Bagdad railway — a matter
to be discussed in a later chapter — peace in the Balkans was a hind-
rance. It meant a Slav barrier to German influence. So Germany set
herself on the side of Bulgaria and fanned the flames of race hatred.
Herein, largely, lies the explanation of the alliance between Germany
and Bulgaria in the Great War.

The Treaty of Bucharest.

Thanks to German spurring, the Second Balkan War broke out
on June 29, 1913, by a cold-blooded, unprovoked Bulgarian attack. It
was arranged by Germany and was of a piece with Germany's invasion
of Belgium thirteen months later. The war was as brief as it was
vindictive, ferocious and bloody. Greece to the south and Roumania
to the north smashed Bulgaria utterly. Armistice was signed a month
later, on July 30, 1913.

The Treaty, or as it is known, the "Peace" of Bucharest was
signed on August 10, 1913, making a new map of the Balkans. The
results were: (a) Turkey in Europe almost disappeared, (b) Roumania
gained 2,687 square miles and 286,000 population at the expense of
Bulgaria, (c) Serbia nearly doubled her territory and added 1,500,000
inhabitants, also, largely at Bulgaria's expense, (d) Greece had done
still better, gaining 18,000 square miles and 1,700,000 inhabitants,
mainly at the expense of Turkey, and (e) Montenegro had gained a
quarter of a million people. To offset these huge losses, Bulgaria got
only 9,660 square miles and 125,000 inhabitants. This left Bulgaria
ravished and wrathful, looking to Germany to aid her in revenge.

ALLIANCES AND ENTANGLEMENTS. 267

The ''Peace" of Bucharest was the eastern cause of the breaking out
of the world war.

To make clear the alignment of the powers, great and small, in
the Great War, there remains now only to show the upbuilding of
the Alliance. The first of these was the unification of the loose con-
federated state of Germany into the German Empire. The importance
of this lay in the fact that Germany was a unit. Alliance between
Germany and France was impossible as long as Alsace-Lorraine rankled
Alliance between Germany and England was impossible because of
Bosnia and Bulgaria. That left only Russia and Austria. Alliance
with both at the same time was impossible because Austria and Russia
were arrayed one against the other on all Balkan questions. It was
necessary to make a choice. Bismarck figured that an alliance with
Russia was an alliance between equals, while with Austria, owing to
the civil dissension in that ramshackle empire, the ally would become
a tool. Tools were useful. On October 7, 1879, Germany and Austria
became allies.

The Creation of the Triple Alliance.

This undermined the rather dim "League of the Three Emperors,"
the rulers of Germany, Austria and Russia, which had been a matter
of court intrigue and courtesy during the early seventies. This League,
indeed, perished of itself in 1881 when Czar Alexander II was assas-
sinated by terrorist nihilists.

Curiously enough, it was at another comer of the world that trouble
was renewed between the powers, and, this time, France was the
aggressor. Possessing control of Algeria, France cast longing eyes
at Tunis. On a flimsy pretext she sent an army into Tunis and, though
her action was a menace to Italy, seized that African coast country
and made it a French protectorate. France had dared to do this, for
Bismarck had hinted that Germany would not interfere, Bismarck's
intention being to sow the seeds of dissension between France and Italy.
Rome was unable to interfere, for she was not a member of any
alliance and she was not strong enough to attack France singlehanded.

This Tunis trouble created the Triple Alliance. A few months
after France had seized Tunis, the King of Italy visited his hereditary
foe, the Emperor of Austria. He waived the ancient claims to "Italia
Irredenta" — to be explained in a later chapter — and entered into a

26S ALLIANCES AND ENTANGLEMENTS.

defensive alliance with Oormaiiy and Austria. The word defensive is
important, for Italy refused to enter the ^vorld war in 1914 on the
ground that the war was an aggressive war and she was not bound to
keep the x")act. The treaty was signed on INTay 22, 1882.

This disturbed the "balance of power in Europe" — a. phrase whicJi
means that no coalition of nations shall be allowed to become so strong
as to endanger all the other nations. Accordingly France loaned to
Russia the sum of twelve billion francs, at various times, and in 1891
a secret "Dual Alliance" was formed between Eussia and France. It
was not officially announced for several years, but all the cJiancellerics
of Europe knew that it existed. Its chief importance lay in the fact
that Germany and Austria could not act either in the east or the west
without having to defend their eastern and western borders simul-
taneously. This was exactly what happened in the Great War.

The Triple Entente Is Formed.

In very truth, France should have come to the aid of Russia against
Japan, in 1905, but, just at this moment, Germany, who wished to see
Eussia defeated, threatened France in the question of Morocco: There
was an Anglo-French agreement in Morocco and to push the matter to
an issue meant a sea war for which Germany, with an inadequate na"^^
at that time, was quite unfitted. The Act of Algeciras tided over the
storm.

Italy now was growing restive under the ''unholy" Triple Alli-
ance, yet she saw an opportunity to use it. Eesentful at the seizure of
Bosnia by Austria and a witness to the weakening of Turkey, Italy
decided to seize Tripoli, the last of T]urkey's possessions on the north
coast of Africa. She sent a forty-eight hours' ultimatum, and on
September 29, 1911, Italy declared war. The contest was one-sided but
a year elapsed before the Treaty of Lausanne, October 15, 1912, gave
Tripoli to Italy.

From what has already been said, it is evident thatj a new com-
bination of forces had been formed, which became known as the ''Triple
Entente." This was not a formal alliance. It was merely the inter-
locking of two mutually supporting pacts, the Dual Alliance and the
Anglo-French agreement, between France and Eussia and France and
England respectively. To make this a time "Entente" the third side
of this triangle was necessary, namely, an Anglo-Russian understand-

ALLIANCE AND ENTANGLEMENTS 269

ing. This resulted after the Russo-Japanese War. As long as Russia's
aims for outlet to the sea were in the far east, that threatened England's
sphere of influence in China and brought a new power into the Pacific
Ocean, hence England must needs be Russia's enemy. When Russia's
aims for an outlet approached the near east or the Balkans, she inter-
fered with the plans of Germany and England became Russia's friend.
Besides, England had steadily supported Slavic aspirations in the
Balkans as against Teutonic aims. A secret Anglo-Russian agreement
cemented the Triple Entente.

When the Great War actually broke out in 1914 Germany, Austria,
Bulgaria and Turkey possessed a similarity of interests. The reasons
for their alliance were firm and strong, for the reasons already set
forth. Likewise England and France had common interests afl had
Serbia and Russia. The stage was set and the hostile forces arrayed
when Germany rang up the bloody curtain in July-August, 1914-. Envy,
hatred, malice and all uncharitableness found vent at the cannon's
mouth.

CHAPTER XXVII.

THE ALLIED KATIONS— A GENERAL REVIEW.

MlUtaiy, Political and Economic Conditions of the Twenty-lour Nations Aligned Against the Central
Pew»rt— Colonies of the Allies in Africa, Asia and Oceanica— Gradual Change la World Sentiment
During til* War— Shipping the Key to Victory.

HOEVER is a human being at all is also a moral human being.
In face of this truth, no isolated occurrences have any im-
portance save as phenomena, and so it is with war.'' So sums up
Doctor Nicolai in "The Biology of War," one of the few remarkable
books that the world war has produced, whether his conclusions be ap-
proved or not. In considering the relations of the Allied Nations this
is the main issue to be remembered — that it was as a moral question,
toainly, that the Allies entered the war. France entered the war purely
for defense, England because her honor was concerned to support
Belgium. Italy because she could not condone Austria's aggressions
on the smaller Balkan Nations, and the United States because of
Gennan atrocities and submarine piracy.

The first war declaration was that of Austria against Serbia,
July 28, 1914. This was, as yet, only a local war. France and Germany
mutually declared war August 3, 1914. This rendered it a land war
on both sides of Europe. Belgium and Germany mutually declared
war the next day, August 4, 1914, and on the same day Great Britain
declared war against Germany. This made it a European War. The
United States declared war on Germany April 6, 1917. This made the
conflict a world war, Japan having entered the fray on August 23, 1914.

Adopting the classification of the State Department at Washington,
there are forty-nine independent nations on the globe. There are
five other small states whose independence is questionable, but they
are small and may be left out of the count. Of these 49 nations, 24
declared war against the 4 Central Powers. There were, thus, at the
close^ of the war, 28 nations involved. Five had broken diplomatic
relations with Germany, without declaring war, making 33 nations
which were not at peace. Sixteen nations remained neutral, these six-

270

THE ALLIED NATIONS— A GENERAL REVIEW 271

teen nations, however, totalling less than one-sixteenth of the world's
whole population.

Of the 24 nations which were definitely aligned against Germany,
two made a separate peace. Russia signed a peace treaty with the
Central Powers on March 3, 1918, and Roumania did likewise on May
7, 1918. Greece remained in confusion throughout the war, toward
the end, however, the pro-Ally spirit of the people rising superior to
the pro-German spirit of the court.

Regarded from a militar^^ aspect, the war declarations of Brazil,
Costa Rica, China, Cuba, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Liberia, Nicar-
agua, Panama, San Marino and Siam had little effect on the result.
The total number of soldiers sent overseas by these nations — some did
not send a single man or a single gun — ^was negligible. The situation
by states, therefore, at the end of the war may be summarized as fol-
lows: Central Powers, 4; Allied Military Powers, 10; nations which
joined the Allies by sympathetic declarations of war, 12 ; nations which
joined the Allies by sympathetic severance of diplomatic relations with
Germany, 5 ; nations which made a separate peace, 2 ; neutrals, 16.

Immensity of Great Britain and Her Colonies.

The British Empire, approximately, contains 11,705,900 square
miles, inclusive of small islands, exclusive of a few protectorates which
are practically independent, and exclusive of ' ' spheres of influence. ' ' It
is therefore more than three times as large as the United States, Alaska
and all other possessions included. Its population reaches the stagger-
ing figure of 363,785,000, or almost four times as large as that of the
United States. At the same time it would be absurd to draw an exact
parallel between either areas or populations. For example, the area of
the island of Kong Kong is 32 square miles, while the population is
360,000 ; the area of Labrador is 120,000 square miles and the population
is 4,000. Again, it is to be remembered that large parts of British
Imperial Territorj'^ are almost exclusively native; Swaziland, for ex-
ample, which has 100,000 Zulus to 900 whites.

From the economic point of view the British Empire is immeasur-
ably larger than any other power. Approximately her foreign com-
merce, export and import combined, is $10,000,000,000 annually as
against $6,000,000,000 for the United States, $5,000,000,000 for the Ger-

272 THE ALLIED NATIONS— A GENERAL REVIEW

man Empire, $2,500,000,000 for France and $2,000,000,000 for Holland.
Indeed, if some of the protectorates of the British Empire be added
(as the German Customs Union does) then the commerce of the British
Empire is greater than that of all the countries and empires of Europe
put together.

From the military point of view, the British Empire showed an
extraordinary ability to raise men during the war. On August 4, 1918,
at the close of the fourth year of the war, the British Empire had
raised 7,500,000 men, irrespective of her immense naval force. Her
expenditures for military and naval purposes alone, during the war,
were $34,210,000,000 and she lent in cash and credit to her allies the
sum of $16,000,000,000. Without considering internal affairs, therefore,
the British Empire has devoted fifty biUions of dollars to the war.
The contributions of other nations, both in men and money, are small
beside these figures.

Siiperiority of Great Britain's Navy.

So far as her navy is concerned, the British Empire has been mis-
tress of the seas from the first day of the war. Without the aid of
the French and Italian navies, both of the first class of excellence, she
was ship for ship and gun for gun almost in a proportion of three to
two against the combined navies of the Central Powers. During the
war she put ten immense super-Dreadnoughts into the water, any one
of them larger than the largest German battleship and armed with 15-
inch guns, not to be found on any ship of the enemy navy.

It is a truism that mercantile shipping was one of the dominant
factors of the war. Throughout the four years of the conflict, three-
fifths of the transport of troops, munitions, supplies and provisions
were carried in British vessels. Even when the United States entered
the war, according to Secretary Baker's statement, more than one-half
the American troops were carried across in English ships.

The second power in importance to enter the war with the Allies
was the United States. As a large part of this book is given to
America's share in the war, there is no need to duplicate the figures
here.

The Republic of France, with her colonies, ranks as the third power
among the Allies. The total area of her possessions is 4,056,000 square

THE ALLIED NATIONS-A GENERAL REVIEW 273

miles, with a population of 89,435,000 or nearly as large as the popula-
tion of the Continental United States. About 55,000,000 of these are
whites.

The eoonomio strength of France lies not so much in her commerce
as in her internal affairs. Even so, her foreign commerce reaches the
figure of $3,650,000,000. Aside from Argentina, which did not enter
the war, France is far and away the richest country per capita, more
than twice as rich as the United States. Per head of population France
at the opening of the war had $83,06 in bank, the United States had
$39.58, the British Empire had $30.12, Italy had $26.97, and the German
Empire had $21.84, less even than miserable Turkey. It was an open
commercial secret that, at the opening of the war, Germany was on the
edge of national bankruptcy.

From the military point of view, the strength of France was almost
incredible. She raised for war purposes 5,250,000 men, inclusive of
native troops. Though robbed, at the outset of the war, of her principal
coal and iron mines, within fourteen months of the opening of the war
she was able to keep pace in munition manufacture with the unparalleled
demands produced by modern war. In extraordinary expenditure she
raised the sum of $16,000,000,000 and this in a manner which showed
that her resources were not exhausted. Her navy held the Mediter-
ranean, and the devotion of her women kept industry and agriculture
at full blast

Strength of Japaa and Italy.

The fourth power was Japan, who declared war against Germany,
August 23, 1914. As, however, she entered the war with the distinct
understanding that her interests lay to the east, she is not to be re-
garded as a complete military ally. Her area is only 245,000 square
miles but her population is 81,000,000, the same size as the German
Empire. Her internal economic strength is poor from the European
point of view, being but $4.60 per capita, an utterly disproportionate
figure, for it is based on stocks of money and Japan has an entirely
different fiscal system. Her imports and exports, however, are also
small, reachiQg but $700,000,000 annually. Her military and naval
force is strong and her prestige in the East is enormous.

The fifth of the Allied Military Powers was Italy, who declared

18— W. L.

274 THE ALLIED NATIONS— A GENERAL REVIEW

war against Austria, May 24, 1915. Her area (including her posses-
sions) is 2,000,000 square miles, about half that of France. Her
total population is approximately 37,500,000. Italy has a foreign com-
merce of well over $1,000,000,000 and possesses a considerable mercan-
tile fleet. As a militaiy nation, Italy is of the first rank. Her soldiers
are famous for their gallantry. From the point of view of modern
war, Italy is sadly lacking in the ability to supply herself with muni-
tions, mainly for industrial reasons. She was able to put 3,750,000
men into the field, but was dependent largely on the AUies for military
supplies. In aviation, she was foremost. Internal difficulties— related
in the chapter on Italy — complicated her financial status several times
during the war.

Little Belgium comes sixth in size, though, possibly, first in what
may be called the importance of sentiment. The area of Belgium and
her colonies is 100,000 square miles and the population is 22,000,000.
But Belgium cannot draw on her colonies in the same way that England
can call on Canada, or France on Algeria. Belgium's only large colony
is the Congo, unavailing as a military asset. Belgium herself has but
an area of 11,000 square miles with a population of 7,500,000.

Economically and industrially Belgium is an important nation.
Her per capita wealth is low, largely because of her peculiar place
among the nations, but her commerce movements are very large in
proportion to her size, in fact, reaching the figure of $1,700,000,000.
This is three-quarters again as much as Italy. The military side of
Belgium is bound up with the question of her compulsory neutrality.
Roughly, 120,000 men would be needed for fortress duties, giving a field
army of 80,000. As a matter of fact, Belgium succeeded in building up
a field army of 250,000 heroes, who saved a corner of their country from
the Hun invasion. She has no navy.

Statistics of Belgium and Portugal.

Portugal, the seventh power in size, though far removed from the
scene of conflict, came into the war gallantly, becoming a British ally on
November 23, 1914, and declaring war on Germany May 19, 1915. A
comparatively small country, of 840,000 square miles, she has a popu-
lation of 15,000,000; of this, however, Portugal herself has an area of
only 35,000 square miles with 6,000,000 population. Compared, for ex-

THE ALLIED NATIONS— A GENERAL REVIEW 275

ample, with Spain, she is advanced and progressive. Economically she
is stable with a per capita stock of money of $28.66, and a foreign com-
merce of $171,000,000 annually. She sent about 200,000 men to the front
after the declaration of war (mainly line regiments), which she entered
as an ally of England and because of the German submarine policy
with regard to neutral shipping.

Greece, the eighth of these nations, is small, having an area of
45,000 square miles, a population of 5,000,000, a wretched economic sys-
tem and a commerce which does not reach $60,000,000 annually. Her in-
ternal affairs are pei-petually in a state of disquietude, and her army
is perforated with politics. She did not declare war until November
28, 1916, recalled it, declared war anew on July 2, 1917, and generally
hindered the Allies as much as she helped them.

Serbia, the ninth allied country, fought bravely but was soon out
of the conflict, her territory having been taken by conquest. In the
chapter on Serbia will be found the whole territorial question. Actually^
at the opening of war, she had an area of 33,000 square miles and
a population of 4,500,000. Her economic condition was woeful and her
conmierce only $125,000,000 annually. Her military aid was large, but
ineffective.

Montenegro, the tenth and last of the nations which joined the
Allies and which fought well, is a tiny kingdom of 5,000 square miles,
less than half the size of Belgium, with a population of only 500,000.
She declared war on Germany August 9, 1914. She is a primitive
country of gallant fighters.

Military Resources Compared.

A comparison of the military resources of the Allies and of the
Central Powers is in itself impossible. The population basis would
be nonsense, for a large part of the British and French Empires and
Belgian possessions were natives. Armies on a peace basis form a
false comparison, for no two countries have the same basis of estimate
nor the same training. Moreover, owing to the extraordinary differ-
ences in mobilization and the fact that the Allies did not all enter the
war at the same date, any set of figures would be misleading. It will
be necessary once more to generalize.

In the roughest possible way, and merely to give figures in gross,

276 THE ALLIED NATIONS— A GENERAL REVIEW

it may be said that the Central Powers, during the whole course of
the war, put 12,000,000 men in the field (inclusive of active reserves).
The Allies, including the United States, put 17,000,000 men in the field.
But, on the other hand, on the first day of the war, Germany put
3,000,000 on the western front when the Allies did not have 1,000,000,
and she threw 1,000,000 on the eastern front when the Allied mobiliza-
tion did not reach 500,000. The war began with a balance of three to
one in favor of the Central Powers. At the end of the first year,
Germany's proportionate strength had been reduced to from five to
four. At the end of the second year the Allies were slightly stronger
in the number of men engaged. When the United States declared war
on April 6, 1917, the Allies were five to four and the addition of the
American troops turned the scale definitely to the Allies.

It is worthy of note that the success of Germany at the beginning
and the defeat of Germany at the end bears a very close relation to
these figures of comparative strength. Undoubtedly, the right did
prevail, but not until right had become might. Undoubtedly, the Ger-
man morale broke down, but not until the power of brute force broke
it down. It would be living in a fools' paradise not to realize that
the world's war was won by the side which was able to put into the field
the largest number of fighting men, and the heaviest weight of metal
in the storm of shot and shell. The moral issue counts for much,
leadership counts for much, the spirit of an army counts for much,
but the whole histor}^ of this war, internal and external, supports the
famous military dictum that ' ' Providence is on the side of the heaviest
battalions."

CHAPTER XXVIII.

THE BRITISH LION AND THE LION-CUBS.

The Empire as a Whole— England, Scotland and Wales— Ireland— Dominion of Canada— Newfoundland-
Commonwealth of Australia- Dominion of New Zealand— Union of South Africa— Anglo-Egypt—
India— Naval Bases— Imperial Aims Realized.

THE British Empire exists by three forces, the gift of colonization,
the force of a powerful navy, and the ingenuity with which it
has interwoven its own interests with those of the world's commerce.
In its colonial policy it has learned to administer rather than rule, in
its naval policy it has learned to guard rather than conquer, in its
commercial policy it has learned to dare the hazards of Free Trade
instead of timidly shrinking behind the wall of Protection.

The British Empire as it existed at the beginning of the war,
did not assume its entirety until May 31, 1902, when the Peace Treaty
of Pretoria was signed, ending the Boer War. The importance of this
can scarcely be over-estimated when it is remembered that Boer gen-
erals and Boer troops were England 's valued allies in the Great War,
operating in the campaigns against German East Africa and German
South- West Africa.

Origin of the English People.

From a strictly international point of view, the British Empire
did not exist at all until January 1, 1877, when Queen Victoria was
proclaimed Empress of India at the durbar of Delhi. This technical
division, however, is calculated to mislead, for long before that time.
Great Britain and Ireland, her colonies and her possessions were an
empire in fact, if not in name. In order to set clearly forth the char-
acters of these component parts of a widely scattered empire, it will
be well to deal with them separately.

The English are a people of Teutonic origin, with a slight, a very
slight, sprinkling of Celtic blood, except in the two Celtic counties of
Cornwall and Devonshire. The Angles were Danes, the Saxons were
Germans, hence the Anglo-Saxon race is first cousin to the modem Ger-
man and of the same stock. Its only admixture was that of the Normans,
a French-speaking colony of Scandinavians, who were Teutons also.
England, as such, took form in 1066 when the Norman invaders usurped
the throne.

Scotland is a country racially divided into two sharp and distinct

277

278 THE BRITISH LION AND THE LION-CUBS

parts, the Lowlands and the Highlands. The original inhabitants of
Scotland, the Picts and the Scots (the latter of whom came from Ire-
land) were Celts, and they were gradually pushed to the north by the
intruding English. The Lowlands thus became occupied by English-
speaking Teutons, the Highlands and islands were occupied by Gaelic-
speaking Celts. James VI of Scotland became James I of England in
1603, thus creating an alliance between two nations. Scotland is not a
conquered country and possesses a number of curious privileges unique
in the British Empire.

Wales is a country predominantly Celtic, where the national tongue
is widely spoken. It was always bitterly opposed to the Anglo-Saxons
and to the Normans, but was finally conquered in 1283. In order to
pacify the gallant Welsh, however, it remained a nominal principality,
and, since 1301, the title and honors of Prince of Wales are associated
with the recognized heir of the British Crown,

The Modern Irish Question.

Great Britain, thus, is to be considered as a historic unit of two
races and two language groups, the English overwhelmingly the great-
est in importance. Geographic Isolation has welded these three king-
doms into one whole, utterly heterogeneous in themselves and each
possessing a different religious problem besides, yet still able to think
and act together. England is the spokesman for all.

Ireland is a very different matter. To begin with, Ireland is
mainly Celtic and has always been totally Celtic until the colonization
of the north-east tip of the island, by Lowland Scotch, who, as has been
shown before, are Teutons. These men, who settled in the ancient
Kingdom of Ulster, are Presbyterians. They are called Orangemen
because they supported the Protestant King William III (William of
Orange), and are rancorous haters of the Roman Catholics, by whom
more than two-thirds of Ireland is populated.

The modern Irish question depends largely on the presence in one
small island of these two irreconcilable groups, the one Teuton and
Protestant, the other Celtic and Roman Catholic. It is further compli-
cated by the fact that the Protestant minority is supported by England,
which feeds the flames of animosity on the part of the majority. To off-
set this, it should be added that the Ulstermen are loyal to Great
Britain, are frugal, progressive and leaders of industrialism; the Irish

THE BRITISH LION AND THE LION-CUBS 279

are generally credited with being wasteful, indifferent to progress and
but shiftless agriculturists.

The history of Ireland cannot be written without controversy, be-
cause neither English nor Irish historians tell the truth. A few facts,
undisputed by both sides, must suffice. It is for the reader to draw his
own conclusions. Ireland was conquered by Henry II in 1171. One
hundred and fifty years later, Ireland had shaken off English control
and was under her chiefs, again. Wherefore, in 1361, Edward III, a
powerful monarch, divided Ireland into two parts, Irish Ireland and
English Ireland, and drew up for its governance the famous Statute
of Kilkenny.

Oppression of Ireland.

Some of the provisions in this statute show its tenor. Thus for an
Englishman to marry an Irish girl was high treason, punishable with
death. Any merchant selling a horse or a weapon to an Irishman
was to be cut into pieces. For an Irishman to wear his own costume
was punishable with imprisonment. Killing an Irishman was declared
not to be a crime. No Irishman (except a selected list of families)
was allowed to plead in court. Speaking Irish was made penal. This
Statute was followed by English acts even more ferocious, some too
disg-usting and bloody to quote. The natural result was that Ireland
was in a state of constant rebellion and the gory history grew even
more terrible.

As if this were not enough, later centuries saw an effort to force
Protestantism on Ireland, whether she would or no. The property of
four hundred monasteries — most of them, poor — was confiscated, and
the Protestant Reformers of England sent soldiers to desecrate every
church, and destroy every holy relic they could find. When the staff
of St. Patrick, which was believed to have been used by the Savior,
was publicly burnt in the market-place of Dublin by the English author-
ities, another link was forged in the chain of horror and hatred.

Three risings were put down by an iron hand and food was con-
fiscated, for '^only starvation," said the Lord Lieutenant, "can tame
wild beasts." In 1798 all Ireland rose in rebellion, but could do nothing
against the might of England. Every one of the leaders was either
shot, hanged or died in prison. Matters smouldered until the Great
Famine of 1845, where, for a while, England came to the rescue and

280 THE BRITISH LION AND THE LION-CUBS

sent over quantities of food. But the famine was beyond help. In
whole districts not one soul was left alive, it was impossible to bury
the corpses in others and one-third of the population of Ireland per-
ished of starvation and disease between the years 1845 and 1849, or
emigrated to America. Fenianism sprang up i mm ediately, but it was
not widely supported by the disheartened Irish.

With Mr. Gladstone and the Irish Land Act of 1870 begins the
modem period when England strove, as she still is striving, to bring
peace and content in Ireland.

To discuss Home Rule is outside the scope of this book, but one
may say, simply, that Home Rule is a phrase embodying the idea that
the Irish, as Irish, should have some rights of their own in Ireland
and that such rights can only be safeguarded by some form of self-
government. Gladstone fought hard for Home Rule of a certain
sort, but all his schemes were too little for Ireland and too much for
England, so nothing came of it.

The Sinn Fein Movement.

The history of the succeeding thirty years and more, right up to
the beginning of the war, throws much of the blame on the Irish side.
Now that England was willing to grant some amelioration, the Irish
could not agree on what they wanted, and this disagreement was due
to the antagonism of the Orangemen. Once established in Ireland,
they had a perfect right to be heard and to protect their own interests.

In 1913, civil war threatened momentarily. Sir Edward Carson,
the leader of Ulster, armed and equipped 50,000 men with complete
artillery units, announcing his intention to set up a Provisional Govern-
pient hostile both to England and to Ireland if the Home Rule Bill,
then before Parliament, were passed. The Irish leaders declared
that England winked at Carson's disloyalty, as it afforded a reason
for refusing Home Rule to Ireland. This is a matter of controversy.
Both sides produce contradictory documents. The truth is not publicly
known.

It is at this point that the Sinn Fein movement began to take a
prominent place. In brief, it was and is a movement to develop in-
dustry, agriculture, education, language and citizenship in Ireland, on
the principle that the Irish are a free people. The aims are true, the
principle is false. Ireland is a conquered people.

THE BRITISH LION AND THE LION-CUBS 281

In answer to the defiance of the Ulster Volunteers, however, the
Irish commenced to raise and equip an army of Irish or National Volun-
teers. The British government at once acted, and though there had
been no law to prohibit the shipment of arms to Ulster, within three
weeks England forbade any such shipments to Ireland.

This was the situation in the first half of 1914. Ulster and Ireland
growing more and more wide apart, as further arms were brought in
secretly. English garrisons in Ireland were inorealsed and every
preparation was made in the event of civil war. It is small wonder
that the German agents in Ireland reported to the Kaiser that the
situation in Ireland was so grave that if he started war with France,
England was in too strained a position to dare to join in. In fact,
July 30, 1914, the day Russia mobilized and Berlin prepared her
ultimatum, was the day named for a debate in the British Parliament
which might set Ulster and Ireland at each others' throats.

Loyalty of a Conqxtered People.

What happened? In view of the strained European situation the
debate was postponed by mutual consent and on August 3, John Red-
mond, leader of the Irish Party in Parliament, uttered a speech in
which occurred the following words: "Today there are in Ireland two
large bodies of Volunteers. One of them sprang into existence in the
North. Another has sprung into existence in the South. I say to the
Government that they may tomorrow withdraw every one of their
troops from Ireland. I say that the coasts of Ireland will be defended
from foreign invasion by her armed sons, and for this purpose armed
Nationalist Catholics in the South will be only too glad to join arms
with armed Protestant Ulstermen in the North. ' ' Carson was swift to
endorse this policy. Loyalty is not required of a conquered people,
but Ireland's representatives in Parliament offered it voluntarily.

Carson might speak for all Ulster, but Redmond, certainly, did
not speak for all Ireland. Recruiting was slow in Ireland and the
efforts of the English recruiting sergeant were open to grave question.
The Irish were willing to defend Ireland and the Empire, but not all
of them were willing to fight against Germany in what they felt to be
England's quarrel. England, though she soon came to a desperate
need for men, did not dare enforce conscription in Ireland. The ever-
recurring threats of it brought about the actual moment of the rebel-
lion of 1916.

282 THE BRITISH LION AND THE LION-CUBS

No one who knows the facts of the case will deny that Sir Roger
Casement and many leaders of the seven brotherhoods— headed by the

Sinn Fein ^were in correspondence with Germany. Arms had been

sent from Germany, financial as well as moral support obtained from
Berlin. A conquered people, the Sinn Feiners argued, in seeking to
free itself had an intrinsic right to seek aid wherever it could. England
would not aid Ireland to become a Republic; Germany would do so.
There was the issue in a nutshell.

The Dublin Rebellion.

The Irish Republic was proclaimed April 23, 1916. The banner
of England was hauled down on the Dublin Post Office and the Green,
White and Orange tricolor was hoisted in its place. Dublin Castle
was seized. Seventy-one towns throughout Ireland were in the hands
of the adherents of the Irish Republic by April 25. The Battle of Dublin
began April 26, 1918. There were but 1,100 Irish against 60,000 sea-
soned English troops. The gunboat Helga turned her guns on the city.
Dublin was set on fiire. The fight raged for three days and nights
continuously but on April 29 the leaders of the revolt surrendered to
the English, and the First Irish Republic was at an end.

Four days later three of the leaders, including President Pearse,
were court-martialed and shot, the next day four more were executed,
and, the day after, a boy paid the last penalty. On May 12 the remain-
ing two of the leaders were shot, likewise. Sir Roger Casement was
tried for high treason and hanged August 3, 1916. This was the end
of the ''First Irish Republic" or "The Dublin Rebellion," according
to the point of view of the writer, but it was not the end of Sinn Fein,
nor yet of Ireland.

Canada's place in the Great War begins with the great duel between
the then two master powers of Europe — England and France — which
is immortalized in the names Montcalm and Wolfe. This duel ended in
1759, formal cession of Canada, which included New Brunswick and
Prince Edward Island, being made in 1763. The Oregon Boundary
Treaty of 1846 defined the lands of England and the United States
respectively, in the west, and British Columbia— the name is worth a
moment's thought— was occupied in 1858. The Dominion of Canada
was proclaimed in 1867, and the Northwest Territories embracing in
part the Provinces now known as Manitoba, Alberta and Saskatchewan
were purchased from the Hudson's Bay Company in 1869.

THE BRITISH LION AND THE LION-CUBS 283

As has been shown, Canada sprang eagerly into the War and
displayed a loyalty equal only to the gallantly of her soldiers. The
story of the Canadians at Ypres, when poison gas was used for the
first time, is one of the greatest epics of courage in human histor}^

None the less, Quebec's relation to the war belongs definitely
to the class of world problems. The province of Quebec contains
about one-quarter of the total population of Canada, yet it contributed
less than one twenty-fifth of the total number of volunteers. Bourassa,
the leader of the Quebec Nationalists, openly discouraged enlistment
and declared that "it is the duty of England to defend Canada, not of
Canada to defend England. " The reason of this feeling in the Province
of Quebec lies in the fact that of its population of 2,000,000 people,
over 1,600,000 are of French origin and not British.

Loyalty of Australia and New Zealand.

French Canadians are more French than France, just as British
Canadians are more English than England. The disestablishment of
the Roman Catholic Church in France and the rise of French liberalism
found little echo in Quebec. The ''habitant" is intensely self-centred
and jealous of his provincial integrity, and the war, to him, seemed
remote. Conscription was forced in 1917 and a revolt of no small magni-
tude resulted, a revolt so dangerous that all the news of it was censored
out of the press. "When order was restored the citizens of Quebec were
conscripted against their will, though, once under arms, they acquitted
themselves well. There seems no sufficient reason for crediting the
suspicion that German propaganda was influential in the matter.

Australia has no such racial and religious complications as Canada.
Holland explorers had (probably) sighted the land in the seventeenth
century, but Captain Cook truly discovered New South "Wales in 1770,
and in 1786 it became a convict settlement on the plantation system,
criminals being transported thither for over fifty years.

In 1850 the British Parliament issued an act allowing the Australian
colonies the right to choose their own form of government, and New
South "Wales becam.e a state after the Canadian pattern in 1856. Vic-
toria, separated from New South Wales five years before, took the same
step. Queensland became a separate colony in 1859, South Australia
was of the vintage of 1856. Western Australia became a convict settle-
ment after Botany Bay was abolished and attained partial freedom

284 THE BKITISH LION AND THE LION-CUBS

iu 1870 and powers similar to other Austrial states in 1890. The Island
of Tasmania, or Van Diemen's Land, a dependency of New South
Wales, was included in the 1856 agreement. The Northern Territory
of Australia is not a state but a territory under the control of the
Commonwealth government by permission of South Australia, in 1911.
The Commonwealth of Australia, consisting of these six colonies, was
proclaimed January 1, 1901, and controls the entire continent, including
the island of Tasmania.

The world will never hereafter fail to group Australia and New
Zealand together in a dual alliance of heroism. The word ''Anzac" —
which was taken from the initial letters of the A-ustralian and N-ew
Z-ealand A-rmy C-orps — has become synonymous with desperate cour-
age and high-hearted resolve. The story of the Gallipolis Peninsula,
told elsewhere in this book, is a tale of deeds that rank with those
of the Paladins of old time.

England's Enlarged Interests in India.

Yet, in truth, Australia and New Zealand are radically different
in many ways. Melbourne and Auckland are almost the same distance
apart as New York and Liverpool. Australia is largely a waterless
desert. New Zealand is a country of sea-coast and mountain torrents.
Australia is conservative, New Zealand is frankly a socialistic state.
None the less, in spite of its doctrinaire ideas. New Zealand sent a
larger proportion of volunteers in relation to her population than any
other large colony of the British Empire.

The Indian Empire is the most marvellous piece of administration
yet achieved in the history of nations. Clive, Hastings, and their suc-
cessors, in the name of a commercial venture, The East India Company,
won India by the sword. By 1818, the company was supreme in India
south of the Sutlej. During the next half -century, Bengal, Orissa and
Bihar had been annexed, Oudh and Hyderabad were ruled by subject
princes, the Central Indian chieftains were merely vassals and even
the Emperor at Delhi was a puppet whose strings were pulled by the
company. The conquest of the warlike Sikhs of the Punjab carried
British power to the foot of the Himalayas.

Then came ''The Year." The Sepoy Mutiny was not an Indian
Revolution, far from it, for neither did the Punjab nor any part of
South India take part in it. Yet it was exceedingly grave, for it took

THE BRITISH LION AND THE LION-CUBS 285

the character of a Holy War. The strife was bitter and bloody, and
when the desperate fighting ended with the victory of the British
troops, England realized that a more definite form of government than
that of the East India Company was needed. In 1858 the sovereignty
of India passed to the British Crown and in 1877 Victoria, Queen of
Great Britain and Ireland, was acclaimed Empress of India.

It may be well to point out that, since that time, England had stead-
ily enlarged her Indian Empire. Harsh critics have alleged that
"there has never been a time when England was not engaged in plan-
ning or fighting a war of conquest," and, in a measure, this is true.
For example, during the fifty years preceding the Great War, England's
march in India runs as follows : in 1871 British India was 860,000 square
miles ; in 1881, 875,000 sq. m. ; in 1891, 964,000 sq. m. ; in 1901, 1,097,000
sq. m.; and in 1911, it was 1,093,000 sq. m. During the fifty years
these additions have placed 50,000,000 more people under British rule.

Loyalty of the Indian Empire.

To say that there is never a time when there is not some discontent
in India is a platitude, but it is more powerfully true to say that
India has never been so well content. The Christians form less than
two per cent, of the population of India, the racial mixture is far
more complicated than the whole of Europe, there are four huge and
vividly opposed religions to say nothing of internecine creed divisions,
there are a dozen important and contradictory national aspirations,
yet India is at peace and superbly governed.

Instead of the policy of repression which England adopted in
Ireland and in the English Colonies of America, which cost her the
latter and has made the former a constant thorn in her side, England
has steadily pursued in India the policy of understanding, help and
enlightenment. The result is a tribute of loyalty which seems incredible.
In the teeth of a well organized and heavily subsidized German propa-
ganda to provoke a revolt, every part and comer of India stayed true.

Turkey, incited by Germany, proclaimed a ''Holy War" of the
Mohammedans against the Christians. India's answer was found in
the resolutions of the All-Indian Moslem League pledging ''the loyal
support of the imperial cause by the Mu&selmans of India."

In 1915 Germany announced that the Indian troops had been
coerced into the war and that England had been compelled to send

286 THE BRITISH LION AND THE LION-CUBS

increased white armies to India. The facts of the case are that Eng-
land reduced the number of her garrisoned troops from 75,000 in 1914
to 10,000 in 1918, the latter number being merely a skeleton to keep
garrison posts together. As for coercion, most of the 325,000 troops
given by India were furnished by native princes, who led their forces
in person. The Sikhs from the Punjab are accounted among the bravest
soldiers of the world, but the Ghurkas, Rajputs and Parthians also won
glorious records in the war.

India's financial support was large, the Nizam of Hyderabad alone
personally contributing $10,000,000. India contributed half a billion
dollars in voluntary contributions, and supported her own armies in
the field. The students, among whom Germany counted most to foment
disturbance, organized themselves into hospital units and the Kaiser's
agents, having pocketed the money they were paid for their false reports
as to India's mutinous condition, slunk away.

England's Possessions in Africa.

If India, the goal of Germany's propagandist efforts, proved so
faithful, what must have been the feeling in Berlin at the outcome in
South Africa? There, perhaps, of all corners of the empire, the Teu-
tons might well have expected the outburst of flames of hate. It cannot
be denied that if South Africa turned upon the Empire she could have
found reasons a-plenty.

The African possessions of the British Empire form three groups,
the Union of South Africa and Rhodesia, British East Africa and the
Nile countries, including the Soudan and Egypt, British East Africa,
including Uganda, may be dismissed with a word. These two protec-
torates possess a population of 7,000,000, are rich in resources, and,
when the war broke out, they became the backbone of England's long-
drawn-out war with Germany's most valuable colony, German East
Africa.

Honesty compels the statement that, viewed from the historical
aspect, England's claims in South Africa are those of the usurper.
Cape Colony was taken— not to say stolen— from Holland in 1795, a
purchase treaty making this final in 1814. The population was nearly
all Dutch. In 1828 the Dutch forms of law were abolished and English
judges excluded Hollanders or Boers from a jury even when a prisoner
and witnesses were Dutch. In many courts, the Dutch language might
not be spoken.

THE BRITISH LION AND THE LION-CUBS 287

Meantime, year after year, the boundary was pushed north and
ever north. As the English flowed in from the south, the Dutch were
driven away from the coast lands. Then, in 1833, came tjie abolition
of slavery, and since the compensation allotted to the Dutch planters
and farmers was less than half the estimated value of the slaves, the
colonists deemed that the Crown had arrogantly deprived them of
valuable property.

In 1834, without a word of warning, twelve thousand Kaffir war-
riors, angered by the encroachment of the whites upon their territories,
crossed the frontier, robbing, burning and murdering. The British
governor sent troops to punish the Kaffirs and seized a section of their
land. The missionaries interfered and forced the territory to be given
back, a most unwise move, for the Kaffirs interpreted it to mean that
the white men were afraid. This ill-advised action irritated the already
exasperated Boers still more and led in 1836, to the Great Trek when
all the Boers left Cape Colony and marched north to found the Orange
Free ^tate and the South African Republic.

The War in South Africa.

Presently, after the First Zulu War, Natal became British Terri-
tory and in 1877 the Transvaal was annexed. Then followed the second
and greater Zula War at the end of which British power was seen to
be supreme. Then came the discovery of gold in the lands held by
the Dutch trekkers, and England's cupidity was excited anew. The
Boer War was brewing.

From a certain world-view England might be excused, but from
no possible point of view could she be considered to be in the right.
Even the English public felt this. Two absolutely contradictory princi-
ples were opposed — national pride and commercial gain. The Boer
claimed patriotism and independence, the Briton claimed the progress
of civilization.

The war, to England's surprise and discomfiture, demanded the
output of vast armies, and the Boers, though few in number, inflicted
many a defeat on Britain's best troops. The conflict ended in 1902,
but England's victory was coupled with a great loss of prestige. The
Treaty of Peace contained a promise of autonomy, and accordingly,
in 1906 the Transvaal was proclaimed a self-governing colony. In 1910
the Colonies of the Cape of Good Hope, Natal, Transvaal and the

288 THE BRITISH LION AND THE LION-CUBS

Orange River were united in the Union of South Africa. In its parlia-
ment Boers and Britons sat side by side and General Botha, a Boer
leader, was Prime Minister. Both English and Dutch were recognized
as the official language and Dutch Law was adopted. Rhodesia, mean-
while, remained under English control, in the hands of the British
South Africa Company.

In the history of the war, which is told elsewhere in this volume,
one of the most significant facts is that the Commander of the forces
which conquered German East Africa was General Smuts, a Boer, and
a comrade of General Botha. As for Botha, though he had been com-
mander-in-chief of the Boer Army when it was arrayed against Eng-
land, in 1914 he swung the whole Dutch spirit of South Africa toward
the British Empire. On September 13, 1914, the Parliament of the
Union' of South Africa, strongly controlled by a Dutch majority,
pledged the support of South Africa to the Empire.

Events in Egypt.

German troops had been mobilized on the colonial frontier, but, on
Botha's assurance, England ignored the threat and all the British
troops were withdrawn. A few German-made revolts were put down
by the populace themselves, and German Southwest Africa was con-
quered for the Empire by a Boer Army under General Botha, while,
as has been said. General Smuts commanded the forces in the German
East Africa campaign. Besides these bitter and costly campaigns on
the African continent, South Africa shipped an expeditionary force
of 60,000 troops overseas, and 10,000 Kaffirs were sent as laborers to
France.

In the Great War, Egypt was a vital question. The Kaiser had
not only announced his intention of dining in Paris, but he had also
announced his plans for Germanizing the Suez Canal. This meant the
shutting off of India. The entire Palestine question, with General
Allenby's capture of Jerusalem, can only be understood by remember-
ing that the Holy Land is the northern buffer state to Egypt.

The Mediterranean and Egypt question begins with the taking of
Gibraltar in 1704. Malta, blockaded in 1800, was ceded by France to
England in 1814. Thus England established a naval base at the en-
trance of the Mediterranean and another in the middle of that great
mland sea. She had also wished a canal across Suez, but English

THE BRITISH LION AND THE LION-CUBS 289

capital achieved the impossible, and the Suez Canal was opened in
1869. Then came the Franco-Prussian war, and, simultaneously came
the bankruptcy of the spendthrift Khedive of Egypt who had been
paid for the rights to his territory by one-half the shares of the Canal.
England bought them from him, and, in 1876 the Canal came under
the dual control of England and France.

A revolution broke loose in Egypt, still nominally a Turkish
province, and the British fleet undertook to stop it. France feared
complications with Turkey and the French fleet sailed away. The
British warships opened their batteries. Dual Control was over.
Thenceforward on English shoulders fell the burden of restoring order
in Egypt. Not for a moment did England purpose the conquest of
Egypt when the bombardment of Alexandria began, but an insurrection
in the Soudan, under the Makdi, followed by the Soudanese invasion
of Egypt and the murder of General Gordon at Kartoum, led to a war
of reprisal which did not cease until "Kitchener of Khartoum" stood
victorious on the field of Omdurman.

Germany's Misjudgment of Great Britain.

When the Great War broke out in 1914, Egypt was still nominally
a Turkish province, but financially an English dependency. The diplo-
matic question, however, was always ticklish, and it soon became evi-
dent that the then Khedive was plotting with Germany. Since England
was at war with Turkey, conquest would have been justifiable, but, by
agreement between London and Paris, a protectorate was decided upon
instead, the Eledive deposed and his uncle proclaimed Sultan. This
protectorate has been recognized by the Allies, but not by the Central
Powers. The Road to the East is now definitely in British hands, and,
since British East Africa has fallen, there is no barrier to the com-
pletion of Cecil Rhodes' great dream, the Cape-to-Cairo railway.

Nothing looser, more heterogeneous and more scattering in type
has ever been seen than the British Empire as it was when it entered
the war. For this reason, largely,, Germany hoped on, even after it
became evident that the British Empire had thrown its full force into
the struggle. Yet Germany forgot one thing. She judged England's
colonial possessions by her own. She did not know that the loosest
bonds are the tightest ones when forged in the spirit of Justice, Liberty
and Fair Play. She staked her all on Organized Might, she lost her
all on Co-operated Right. ]9_w l

CHAPTER XXIX.

BXLGIUH, TEE BATTLEFIELD OF ETJROPX.

CoBgress of Vienna— Flemings and Walloons— Revolt for Independence— Intervention ef the Powers-
Perpetual Neutrality- Hunt_ for a King— Policy of Bismarck— German Treachery— Belgian Congo—
A "scrap of paper"— Frlghtfulness and Atrocities— Luxemburg.

4 4 /CHAMPION of human honor!" begins Eden Philpotts' glorious
\^ sonnet to Belgium, and, in all that has been written and said
of Belgium during the war, this is the key thought. Yet why this is
true, why all the world has been stirred by the German aggression of
Belgium, why it was one of the blackest crimes on the sooty pages of
international piracy is a diplomatic question which demands careful
statement.

There are two factors which determine the history of Belgium and
her peculiar place in Europe and which entered actively into her
relation to the world war. The first of these factors is external and
strategical and depends upon her geographical position, the second
is internal and racial.

The strategical importance of Belgium lies in the fact that the
chain of mountains which bridges Europe in a south-easterly direction
is broken only in Belgium. From the Mediterranean, northwestward,
the Maritime Alps, the Swiss Alps, the Jura Mountains, the Vosges
Mountains and the forested hills of the Ardennes create a military
barrier. Belgium is largely a country of plains, a natural battleground
and was long known — in the days of cock-fighting — as the ** cockpit
of Europe."

It was the scene of the constant strife between Spain and the
Netherlands. At the battle of Ramillies, in 1706, the English, under
Marborough defeated the armies of Louis XIV of France, "the great
monarch." The French King was forced to sue for peace, but the
English asked such humiliating terms that he refused and went on
fighting, turning the tide. Peace was made by the Treaty of Utrecht.

A century later, Belgium was the scene of the close of Napoleon's

290

BELGIUM, THE BATTLEFIELD OF EUROPE 291

career, when, at the Battle of Waterloo, in 1815, the English and Prus-
sians met the French in the fatal plains of Belgium and inflicted a
decisive defeat. A dozen historic battlefields could be named, all of
which have been the scenes of battle during the present war.

Belgium is of the highest strategical importance to France, for
the frontier between the two countries is political, rather than geo-
graphical, and therefore difficult of defence. To England Belgium is
of strategical importance for it has always been held that her naval
supremacy would be imperilled if a great power held the port of Ant-
werp. To Germany, Belgium (and Holland) held out the tempting bait
of a wide and rich seacoast instead of the small North Sea outlet she
possessed before the war.

Birth of Modem Belgium.

It follows, therefore, that Belgium was coveted by Germany, by
England and by France and that any two of these nations would be ready
I to combine against the third should that third undertake a war of
conquest. When Germany invaded Belgium in 1914, England joined
France, not because of any emotional sympathy for Belgium — chancel-
leries, like corporations, have no souls — but because a German Belgium
would be an intolerable menace, laying the British Isles open to the
risk of sudden invasion.

The second factor, as has been said, was internal and racial.
Small as is Belgium, she is inhabited by two widely different races,
the Flemings and Walloons. The Flemings are the direct descendants
of the Germanic barbarians who swept southward at the collapse of
the Ancient Roman Empire, and who found the people of the low plains
of the north and west an easy prey. They remain there still, thoroughly
Teutonic in blood, language and culture. They are more German, even,
than the Dutch.

The Walloons, on the other hand, are Celtic in stock, greatly Latin-
ized by French influence. They speak French, are possessed of the
French spirit and Brussels ''the little Paris" is as French as the great
city upon the Seine.

The great Congress of Vienna, which dabbled with every kind of
international juggling and had a finger in every pie, recreated the
Kingdom of the Netherlands by joining Belgium to Holland, the reason
of this action being the fear of French aggression which had been pro-

292 BELGIUM, THE BATTLEFIELD OF EUROPE

duced by the incessant victories of Napoleon. But this, like many
similar devices arranged by compromise, could not endure; while the
Walloons had been willing to go in partnership with the Flemings, they
could not trot in harness with the Dutch.

Suddenly — as a matter of fact, incited by a patriotic song sung in
an opera, — the Belgians revolted, secured the aid of such of the Flem-
mings as were Roman Catholics and who had been harassed by the
Protestantism of the Dutch, seized Brussels for themselves, erected
barricades and drove out their rulers. On October 4, 1830, the Independ-
ence of Belgium was proclaimed and a Constitutional Government
formed. This was the birth of Modem Belgium.

Belgium a Perpetually Neutral State.

The "Hunt for a King" became a famous diplomatic affair. In
the briefest possible words it may be said that France insisted on a
French king for Belgium, England was determined on the Prince of
Orange. The National Council of Belgium tentatively offered the crown
to the Due de Nemours, son of the French Emperor Louis Philippe.
Word was sent that the suggestion would be favorably received. A
deputation set off for Paris to make the formal offer. Meantime, before
the deputation arrived, the English Cabinet announced that it -would
declare war on France if the offer were accepted, thus following out
the policy that no great power should control Belgium. Louis Philippe
was compelled to decline the crown on behalf of his son, and England
succeeded in forcing Belgium to offer the crown to Prince Leopold of
Saxe-Coburg, a famous German soldier, conditional on his marrying
the daughter of Louis Philippe. Thus Germany, England and France
could be considered as sharing the interests of the crown of Belgium.

With this, the great powers recognized the independence of Bel-
gium, and at the same time determined that Belgium should be with-
drawn from international wrangling by being made *'a perpetually
neutral state" at the same time pledging her ''perpetual neutrality
and also the integrity and inviolability of her territory. ' ' Prussia and
Austria, be it noted, were among the signers of this treaty, the pledge
also having been signed by England, France and Russia. This treaty
was renewed, enlarged and reinforced in 1839, exact and particular
stipulations being made and sworn that no foreign armies should be
allowed to cross Belgium for any purpose. To enable Belgium to dis-

BELGIUM, THE BATTLEFIELD OF EUROPE 293

charge this duty she was allowed to inamtain an army and to fortify
certain strategic points, especially Liege, Namur and Antwerp.

In the Franco-Prussian War, England grew afraid that either one
or other of the powers might seek to seize Belgium and by implied
threats that she would espouse the refractory cause, she forced France
and Prussia to sign compacts reaffirming ''their settled determination
to maintain the independence and neutrality of Belgium as established
by the treaty of 1839." In 1875 Bismarck renewed the same assur-
ances. In 1907, at the Hague, Germany re-endorsed the principle, and
in 1911, after the Germans had built strategic railways ending in
fields facing the Belgian frontier, Bethman-Hollweg, the German Chan-
cellor, at the outset of the war answered a Belgian protest with the
words ^'Germany has no intention of violating Belgian neutrality."

Germany Renounces Belgium's Neutrality.

German treachery, in this case, grows steadily blacker as the time
of the war approaches. After urging Belgium to modernize her fort-
resses, Germany ordered Krupps not to send the guns that the Belgian
government had ordered. German military books discussed the Belgian
plains as the only line of attack on France. It became an open secret
that Germany pooh-poohed the treaty of eighty years before, which
was signed only by Prussia. Yet, in April, 1914, less than four months
before the outbreak of war, Von Jagow, the German foreign minister,
declared ''Belgian neutrality is provided for by international conven-
tions and Germany is determined to respect those conventions."

War broke out between Austria and Servia. On July 31, 1914,
England officially questioned Paris and Berlin whether both powers
would ''engage to respect the neutrality of Belgium, so long as no other
power violates it?" France answered honestly that she would do so.
Germany evaded reply, the foreign minister declaring that he must
consult the emperor and chancellor before giving an answer. Next
day England put the issue directly before Germany. The German
ambassador countered with the question whether, if Germany assured
England regarding Belgium, would England engage to remain neutral?

On August 1, the German ambassador at Brussels stated to Bel-
gium "you may perhaps see your neighbor's roof in flames, but your
own house will not catch fire." The mHitary attache of the German
legation, on the same day, telephoned to the editor of a famous Brussels

294 BELGIUM, THE BATTLEFIEED OF EUROPE

newspaper, "You may deny in your largest type that Belgium has
anything to dread." Yet, that very day, Germany invaded Luxemburg.

On Sunday, August 2, 1914, the German minister appeared at
the Belgian foreign ofiQce with the official communique from Berlin in
answer to Belgium's request for further assurances that Luxemburg's
violation was not a forecast of what might happen to her. Belgium
asked for an assurance, she received an ultimatum. The document
stated that Germany had learned that French forces ' ' intend to march
through Belgium against Germany." This phrase constitutes what
diplomats call an unsupported statement, and what Americans, gener-
ally, call an impudent and bare-faced lie.

The ultimatum was vicious in its terms. It demanded that Bel-
gium allow the German armies to cross her soil, and that, in such
event, Belgian independence would be restored after the war and
payment given for damage done. If Belgium should refuse, the ulti-
matum read: "Germany will to her regret be compelled to consider
Belgium as an enemy." Twelve hours were given for the answer. In
twelve hours' time, no one, neither France nor England, could reach
Belgium to give aid.

Belgium Staunch in Her Resistance.

To the end of time let it be told that not one voice was raised
in the Belgian Royal Council in favor of submission. Flemings and
Walloons alike refused dishonor. The council debated all night as to
the best means of resistance and in the gray dawn threw down the
gauntlet in the following words: "We refuse to believe that the in-
dependence of Belgium can only be preserved at the price of the viola-
tion of her neutrality. If this hope is disappointed, the Belgian govern-
ment is firmly resolved to repel with all the means in its power, every
attack upon its rights." At the same time King Albert sent a telegram
asking the diplomatic aid of England, Belgian pride forbidding an
appeal for military help.

This is still the morning of August 3. Sir Edward Grey, in the
British House of Commons reviewed the whole Belgian situation. Eng-
land's point of view may be judged from these, the official words of
Britain's Foreign Minister: ''If, in a crisis like this, we run away
from those obligations of honor and interest as regards the Belgian
treaty^ I doubt whether, whatever material force we might have at

BELGIUM, THE BATTLEFIELD OF EUEDPE 295

the end, it would be of very much value in face of the respect that we
should have lost." England was ready to draw the sword.

On August 4, the next day, Bethmann-Hollweg, the German Chan-
cellor, speaking before the Reichstag, made some startling statements.
In his own words he admitted Germany's flagrant disregard of inter-
national rights. He said: ''We are now in a state of necessity and
necessity knows no law. Our troops have occupied Luxemburg and
perhaps are already on Belgian soil. Gentlemen, that is contrary to

the dictates of international law. The wrong — I speak openly that

we are committing, we will endeavor to make good as soon as our
military goal has been reached."

England Ceases Relations With Germany.

Then came the ''scrap of paper" incident. The British Ambas-
sador at 7 o'clock in the evening of August 4 received his final message
from London. He has since stated what his instructions were. In his
own words : "I informed the secretary of state that unless the Imperial
Government could give assurances by 12 o'clock that night that they
would proceed no further with their violation of the Belgian frontier,
I had been instructed to demand my passports, and to inform the Im-
perial Government that His Majesty's Government would have to take
all steps in their power to uphold the neutrality of Belgium and the
observance of a treaty to which Germany was as much a party as
themselves. ' ' Von Jagow replied that reconsideration was impossible.
The British Ambassador (Lord Goschen) then proceeded to call upon
the German Chancellor to make a formal farewell.

Up to the very last minute Bethmann-Hollweg had believed that
England would not fight. His spies had reported trouble in Ireland,
incipient mutiny in India and a lukewarm spirit among a non-militaristic
money-grubbing people. Giddy at the abyss into which Germany was
falling, the chancellor lost his self-control and, during a twenty-minute
harangue uttered the famous words: "Just for a word, Neutrality,
a word which in war times has been so often disregarded; just for a
scrap of paper. Great Britain is going to make war on a kindred
nation ! At what price would that compact have b^n kept ! Has the
British Government thought of that?"

Goschen replied that England had thought of it. If Germany
wished to speak of "life and death interests" he desired to "point out

296 BELGIUM, THE BATTLEFIELD OF EUROPE

that it was a matter of life and death for the honor of Great Britain
that she should keep her solemn engagement to do her uttermost to
defend Belgium. That solenm compact simply had to be kept. Other-
wise, what confidence could any one have with engagements with Great
Britain in the future?" Bethmann-Hollweg raved in reply and the
British ambassador, finding him "so excited, so overcome by the news
of our action and so little disposed to hear reason that I (Goschen)
refrained from adding fuel to the flame of further argument," turned
on his heel and went away. The world war was begun.

Bestiality of the Germans.

No student of international politics will deny that Germany might
defend the invasion of Belgium on the ground of military necessity but,
certainly, no one will admit that Germany was justified for a single
moment in the policy of " schreckliciiheit " or f rightfulness. The
curious German psychology which gave birth to this horror will be
dealt with in another chapter. Let it suffice here to say that this policy
of *' f rightfulness " led to the Belgian atrocities, a page of unparalleled
infamy, cruelty and bloody blame. Europe could not believe that any
civilized people could be guilty of organized crimes which for ferocity
outdid the Apaches and for coarseness outvied the dregs of the lowest
slum. Yet national and international commissions of inquiry reported
such atrocities that humanity stood aghast. It was officially proved
that universal rape had been ordered, massacre had been made a mat-
ter of daily military routine, torture — unknown since the Dark Ages —
had been resumed and deportations continued until the very last day
of the war. The assassination of Edith Cavell, an English nurse,
though it aroused the world, was but one of a hundred similar cases.
The name of Germany became an offence to the nostrils of civilization.

And it failed. It all failed. Elsewhere in this book is told the
siege of Liege and that extraordinary defiance of Fort Loncin and Fort
Boncelles when the Belgians under General Leman held back Germany
for ten days. Belgian gallantry saved the world from the trampling
of the Hun. Moreover, by giving time for France to mobilize — which
she did with extraordinaiy speed— by affording England the oppor-
tunity to ship an expeditionary force across the Channel, Belgium saved
herself. She was never conquered. From Ypres to the sea there re-
mained a strip of Belgium, free, even to the last. Her king fought in

BELGIUM, THE BATTLEFIELI) OF EUROPE 297

the trenches with the soldiers. Her women and children died without
a whimper. To be a Belgian was to be a hero. She had her reward —
imperishable fame blazoned in gold on the book of the world's pride.

The Grand-Duchy of Luxemburg was included from 1815 to 1866
in the Germanic Confederation. By the Treaty of London, May 11,
1867, it was declared neutral territory and its integrity and independ-
ence assured. It has been held, at various times, by Burgundy, Spain,
France, Austria, Holland and Belgium. At the opening of the Great
War it was independent. The population is 260,000, Teutonic in origin
and the language of the people is a German dialect. All the upper
classes also speak French. It is a part of the German ZoUverein or
customs-union, yet the cultured aspect is French, or rather, Belgian.

When Luxemburg was invaded by the Germans on August 1, 1914,
there was no chance of resistance. The Grand Duchess Marie Adelaide,
hardly more than a girl (being but 20 years old), who drove her motor-
car to the Adolf Bridge, on the frontier, and turned it crossways on
the bridge and defied Germany, was taken prisoner and confined in
her own palace.

Thus was this minature kingdom of peace gobbled by the maw of
war. Yet Luxemburg maintained her spirit of independence and when
the war was ended held out hands of welcome to the victorious Allies.
"Prussians we will never be!" is the refrain of Luxemburg's patriotic
song, and Prussians they shall never be, now that Prussianism has
been ground into the dust.

CHAPTER XXX.

INDOMITABLE FRANCE AND ALSACE-LORRAINE,

Napoleon and the Hap of Europe— Royalists and Repabllcans— Siege of Paris— War IndemnitieB and
Alsace-Lorraine— Verdun and Frontier Fortifications— "They shall not pass I"— World Significance
of Battle of the Marne— Genius of the War.

^inp^HE Flame that is France!" Such was the world's verdict in
JL the year 1918. **A light nation, much given to dancing," was
the description of France that appeared in many American school-
books before the year 1914. The first has been derived from a knowl-
edge of France and the French, the second was a part of that despicable
propaganda whereby Germany tried to convince the world that she,
and she only, was worthy of praise. It was Germany who hailed Eng-
land as ''a nation of shopkeepers," it was Germany who nicknamed
America ''The Land of the Almighty Dollar," it was Germany who
coined the phrase "Barbaric Russia." The time has come for the
world to give Germany her name, and it is simply ' ' The Hun ! * '

France was for centuries the intellectual centre of Europe. Her
court was her glory. Napoleon made France the military centre of
Europe. Her armies were her glory. This war has made France the
spiritual centre of Europe. Her people are her glory. The France
of today, after the war, is courtly in her culture, Napoleonic in her
military affairs, democratic in her government.

Because France is thus compounded, when the Third Republic was
established in 1870, before the Siege of Paris in the Franco-Prussian
War, it was called a ' ' republic without republicans. ' ' From the Ameri-
can point of view, there is much that is true in the phrase to this very
day. France has no parties, in the English and American parliamen-
tary sense, she has factions based largely on personal leadership. In
the forty years from 1875 to 1914 France had fifty cabinets or one every
ten months. French politics was in a wretched state, the conservative
class ignored it, the intellectual class despised it. Yet, no matter who
may be in power, one thing continued, the sentiment that ''France is
always France." For this very reason, when any issue arises which
threatens France herself it taps a loyalty, a patriotism, a fire of devo-
tion such as no other country in the world can produce.

298

INDOMITABLE FRANCE AND ALSACE-LORRAINE 299

It cannot be too strongly emphasized that the Republics of France
and the United States are dissimilar. Many people forget this. It is
not unusual to find Americans asserting that the Republican form of
government is the panacea of all evils, meanwhile forgetting that there
are as many different kinds of republics as there are forms of monarchy.

In an earlier chapter of this book, the Moroccan and Tunis questions
were taken up with regard to the alliances of Europe. There is no
need to enlarge, here, upon the colonies of France, save to mention
that her African possessions alone comprise a territory larger than
the United States, with a population of 32,000,000. When the war
broke out Algeria sent troops of the highest military value overseas,
while little Morocco, with an army as large as the United States Regu-
lars, formed the most famous ' * storm troops ' ' of the Allies. Nor should
the Senegalese be forgotten, soldiers at whose appearance the Germans
always immediately broke and ran.

Proofs of German Propaganda Before the War.

Although unknown to the world at large, April 2, 1913, was an
important date in the yet unborn Great War. On that date the French
minister of war handed to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, ' ' an official
secret report.'^ This was the result of several years of secret service
work by the French, for, while other nations were wasting money on
Hague conventions and the like, France was spending money in finding
out what Germany was doing. The money was well expended. This
secret report produced the proofs of German propaganda in every
country of the world, it gave the details of the ''Holy War" plans of
the Kaiser among the native populations of every French and English
colony, it revealed the secret means of building up the German army,
it suggested the certainty of the violation of Belgium and it uncovered
the undermining of court influence in Russia by German intrigue. The
immediate result of this report was the re-enactment by France of the
law making three years, instead of two, the normal term in the army,
and the stiffening of fortifications.

Fiance thus knew, as all Europe knew, that the forces were shaping
for war and she had, some years before, made an agreement with Eng-
land, which, as it afterwards proved, saved the seas from spoliation
and thereby saved the world from Germany. In 1907 and again on
November 22, 1912, international agreements had been entered into

300 INDOMITABLE FRANCE AND ALSACE-LORRAINE

between England and France whereby France should keep her main
fleet in the Mediterranean, thus enabling England to retire all her
ships therefrom except a small squadron, while France withdrew her
fleet from the English Channel and the Bay of Biscay. United naval
action was thus made possible at any time.

Though war was pending several days, the actual break-out through
Luxemburg and Belgium was sudden, so sudden that France did not
have time to move part of her fleet to protect the northern coast.
Moreover, if she had tried to do so, she would not only have left her
Mediterranean and African possessions open to attack by the Austrian
Navy, but she would also have weakened England's hand in the pro-
tection of Malta, C5T)rus and the Suez. Accordingly, on August 2,
1914, England's Foreign Minister, in response to diplomatic questions,
officially assured the French Ambassador of Britain's support in the
following words: ''I am authorized to give an assurance that if the
German fleet comes into the Channel or through the North Sea to
undertake hostile operations against the French coasts or shipping,
the British fleet will give all the protection in its power. " As a matter
of fact, at the time of speaking, all of England's home fleets were in
the North Sea, ready. Without a blow struck, the war at sea was won.
Germany dared not face the issue. So little did she dare, that, at the
end of the war, she sheepishly and shamefully turned over to the Allies
a complete navy that had never had the nerve to fight.

Great Drive on Paris.

That same day, Sunday, August 2, 1914, German troops crossed
the French frontier at three different points. Germany's official excuse
for declaring war on France was, in the terms of the German Ambas-
sador's final paper, that ''French aviators have violated the neutrality
of Belgium by flying over the territory of that nation." A further
charge was made that aviators had dropped bombs in German territory
(which was not true) and that was all.

The war began with the great drive on Paris. Elsewhere in this
book has been told the story of that fighting retreat and of the ''Thus
far, and no farther!" of the Battle of the Marne. There, too, has it
been told how the "Ragged Legion" saved Paris, and the famous
mobilization of an army in busses and taxieabs. Paris was seriously
threatened and on September 3, 1914, the capital of France was removed

INDOMITABLE FRANCE AND ALSACE-LORRAINE 301

to Bordeaux (returning December 11, 1914). The government left
Paris but the spirit of France did not, and the Kaiser's soup, awaiting
him in the Paris hotel where he ordered dinner, had grown cold with
four years of waiting.

The position of France in the War is extraordinarily simple. She
was attacked, absolutely without any cause, her territory was invaded,
her townis and villages burned and pillaged, her women mistreated, her
children slain. There was no bestiality conceivable by the minds of
brutal men that was not wreaked upon her, all for no cause. France
defended herself. Therein, to the eyes of Germany, lay her fault ; she
defended herself so well that the Teuton could not break the line;
there, to Germany, was her crime. The Hun defaced, deflowered and
despoiled the land, but he could not scratch the soul. France said
* ' They shall not pass ! ' ' and they did not pass.

Verdun and Battle of the Marne.

Verdun, however, stands out so strikingly in this war, that its
significance needs presentment. From the strategical point of view,
it is the northern angle of the chain of Franco-German fortresses. It
is also the eastern angle of the natural Marne-Aisne line from Paris
to Germany. It is the key angle. If this angle breaks, an enemy army
can pour through to the plains of France. It cost France 300,000 men
to hold it, but it cost Germany 500,000 men to fail. It cost far more
than this, moreover, it cost Germany her army's belief in its invulner-
ability. The supposed irresistible force had met the immovable object
and Verdun stood while Germany fell.

Yet — and this is the irony of Fate — had Germany done the less
dishonorable thing and dared to attack France directly, had she struck
at Verdun on the first day of the war, she would have won. The siege
guns that reduced Liege and Namur would have smashed the fortifica-
tions of Verdun to powder. Wlien at last she reached Verdun by her
shameful circuitous path through a neutral country, the French artil-
lerists had learned their lesson, the great guns of Verdun were moved
from the forts and placed on railways, never firing twice from the same
spot and the great siege guns were worth exactly nothing at all in that
great two years ' battle. Cowardice begot defeat.

Like Verdun, the Battle of the Marne, September 9, 1914, has a
world significance. It was the decisive battle of the war. Germany

302 INDOMITABLE FRANCE AND ALSACE-LORRAINE

believed that success lay in the first dash. She staked everything on
that. Her attack was the result of forty years of preparation. Each
day meant the weakening of her initial impetus, each day the strength-
ening of the Allies. It was an all-French victory, for the English were
not in contact with the enemy. Nor far from the birthplace of Joan
of Arc the soldiers of Joffre and Foch turned the day. It was the poilu
who determined the world's future. The war lasted four years longer,
and many a time did the German menace loom great and near, but the
back of Kaiserism was broken at the Battle of the Marne.

While France's relation to the war is excessively simple — indeed,
the simplest of all nations engaged in the strife, it is complicated by the
question of Alsace-Lorraine, a very tough nut to crack. This is a sub-
ject on which there are distinctly two sides.

Concerning Alsace and Lorraine.

To begin with, Alsace and Lorraine are two questions, not one.
Like the Flemings and Walloons, in Belgium, the former occupying the
plains and the latter the hills, so Alsace, a flood plain stretching along
the valley of the Rhine, was overrun by the Germanic hordes, and is
Teuton in blood and speech. The broken hill country of Lorraine acted
as a check to the Teutonic tide, and the western part remained French
in language and Latinized Celt in blood. In Alsace-Lorraine, taken as
a whole, the German element is far the strongest. The official census
(German) in 1910 showed a population of 1,634,000 speaking German
and 204,000 speaking French.

In the Middle Ages, both Alsace and Lorraine were loose parts of
the so-called Holy Roman Empire, mainly Germanic. The Duchy of
Lorraine, however, soon became French in character, with Nancy as its
capital, a city distinctly French. France annexed Metz, Toul and
Verdun in 1552, and the Duchy of Lorraine was formally annexed, at
its own request, in 1766. Alsace, meantime, had become a French
province as a result of the Thirty Years 'War, and the French Revolution
cemented to France the few districts that were still semi-independent.
From 1789 to 1870 Alsace-Lorraine grew steadily more and more
French, though in the Rhine Valley, the interests were mainly German.

At the close of the Franco-Prussian War, by the Treaty of Frank-
fort, both provinces were demanded by Germany, even the French
speaking section of Western Lorraine being taken, because of the

INDOMITABLE FRANCE AND ALSACE-LORRAINE 303

military value of the great fortress of Metz. Over 50,000 of the French-
speaking Lorrainers emigrated to France, and this movement has con-
tinued ever since.

For her part, Germany has conducted an arbitrary Germanization
of the two provinces. In 1874, the use of French in the Provincial
Assembly was forbidden and the municipal councils of Strassburg,
Metz and Colmas had to be suspended for insubordination to German
authority. In 1884, by an imperial law, the use of the French language,
generally, was prohibited. In 1889, French was disallowed even by wit-
nesses in a court of law. In 1900 the German civil code was introduced.
Throughout this entire time, any person showing Francophile tendencies
was apt to find himself in conflict with the authorities, new corporations
destined to do business found that only German capital would be con-
sidered, all exploitation of natural resources was in German hands.
Over forty years of this system drove out most of the French-thinking
people and filled their places with Germans.

France Entitled to Alsace-Lorraine.

From the historic point of view, France has a better claim to
Alsace-Lorraine than Germany. From the racial and linguistic point
of view, Germany's claim is the stronger. From the point of view
of justice for an unrighteous spoliation in 1871, France considers the
lost provinces an integral part of her empire ; from the economic point
of view, the provinces are German. Strategically, Alsace-Lorraine in
French hands would mean a wedge driven into the frontier of Germany ;
politically, it would give Germany an admirable basis for constant spy
work and internal political dissensions in France.

There is yet a still further difficulty in relation to Alsace-Lorraine
which it is well to state, because what appear to be slight differences
often become national issues. It has been said that Alsace-Lorraine
has been Germanized. This is true. But it has not been Prussianized.
The Alsatians have a gift of humor. Such a spirit is fatal to Prussian-
ism. The story of the Detwiller Rooster is a historic incident.

In 1895, a peasant who lived in the little village of Detwiller, near
Zabern, possessed a fine white rooster with a handsome red crest.
Being French in sympathy, he dyed the rooster's tail blue, thus dis-
porting in his barnyard the tricolor of France. The Kaiser's police
protested. The peasant replied that the feathers had grown blue.
Grave chemists examined the rooster's tail and pronounced the color

30-1: INDOMITABLE FRANCE AND ALSACE-LORRAINE

to be dye. The police ordered the peasant to slay the fowl. He re-
fused. So military orders were sent that the fowl should be sabred,
which was done. But the howls of delight wkich echoed and re-echoed
over Alsace-Lorraine and France about the Detwiller Rooster seriously
lamed the dignified strut of the Prussian occupation.

It was in this same district, in the little city of Zabem, moreover,
that occurred the famous and grave Zabem incident. A certain Baron
von Forstner, a Junker lieutenant of the Ninety-first Prussian Infantry,
stationed at Zabern, incurred the hatred of the people. The street boys
called him names in the streets. Von Forstner, in retaliation, prom-
ised a ten-mark piece to any one of his men who should kill a Social
Democrat civilian. The town grew restive. Whereupon the colonel of
the garrison commanded the local magistrate to disperse a crowd.
The magistrate refused. Whereupon the military charged and arrested
fifteen civilians, including three judges and the state prosecuting at-
torney. A storm of protest followed. The Governor-General of Alsace
threatened to resign, and the Kaiser was compelled to send a sharp
order censuring the military authorities.

Antipathy of Alsace-Lorraine Towards Prussia.

Von Forstner, however, was furious at the censure. He was re-
moved to a small garrison town, near by, and there a lame shoemaker,
a cripple, presuming on his physical weakness, made a caustic remark
to a friend about Von Forstner, as the latter passed him on the street.
The lieutenant drew his sword and slashed and wounded the cripple.
There was an uproar. Von Forstner was tried by court-martial, de-
clared guilty, he took an appeal and was promptly acquitted. Even the
Reichstag felt that this was too much and passed a vote of censure on
the government, by a vote of 393 to 54. The Zabem incident, however,
crystallizing the growing estrangement between Alsace-Lorraine and
Prussia.

During the war, moreover, Germany's high-handed proceedings,
the atrocities, the spoliation and disregard for human rights definitely
turned the people of Alsace-Lorraine against their German kin, even
as it has disgusted the German Swiss, whom the Alsatians greatly
resemble. There are currents and cross-currents pulling in every direc-
tion in the two provinces. Alsace-Lorraine is a smouldering ember only
too likely to fan another war at some time in the future.

CHAPTER XXXI.

ITALY REDEEMED AND UNREDEEMED.

The Great Spiritual Drama— Garibaldi— Quirinal and Vatican— The "Unholy Alliance"— Meaning of
"Italia Irredenta"— Adriatic Sea as the Key to the Mediterranean— The Red Week— The War Plunge
—Forged Propaganda and the Piave.

ITALY'S relation to the war is a tangled skein. An ally of Germany
and Austria before the war, at the opening of the war she remained
neutral and within a year became an ally of France and England. This
change of attitude, which was of vital importance to the Allies of the
world war, centers largely around the difficult question of "Italia Ir-
redenta" or the unredeemed provinces of Italy.

Modern Italy is a product of the Nineteenth Century. Before
Napoleon conquered Italy, in 1805, the peninsula and the northern
mainland was a confusion of small states and meaningless boundaries.
Napoleon created a new Kingdom of Italy in the north, taking the crown
himself. He swept away a host of Austrian princelets. He played
p!itch and toss with Italian ideals, and set up a Kingdom of Naples
whereof first, his brother, and later, Murat, was the king. He propped
up the Pope on his temporal throne and then toppled him over and
took him prisoner. When Napoleon fell, and at the Congress of Vienna,
Metternich summed up the Italian situation in a historic phrase, * ' Italy
is only a geographical expression." Pope Pius VII summarized the
same situation at the same time when he said to the Doge of Venice,
"nothing remains in Italy but my tiara and your ducal hat."

Outwardh^, both these sayings were true; inwardly, both were
false. Napoleon had found fifteen Kingdoms in Italy, he left but three.
The Italians had learned the value of unity. Moreover, while the Aus-
trian princelets had been reactionary, the French influence, new-born
since the great Revolution of 1879, was progressive. Italy had learned
the value of freedom of thought. When Austria sought to dominate
Italy, the secret society of the Carbonari was formed, reaching a mem-
bership of hundreds of thousands and including the most intellectual
men of Italy. In Naples and in Piedmont, Austrian soldiers were

^^^ 20— W. L.

306 ITALY REDEEMED AND UNREDEEMED

sent to search the houses, to arrest people without warrant, to imprison
leaders without trial and to murder Carbonari agents without redress.
This was the beginning of forty years of Austrian terrorism in Italy.
A word must be said as to the "Holy Alliance," now better known
to history as the ''Unholy Alliance." This was a paper drawn up in
1815 by the then Czar of Russia while under the religious (?) influence
of the notorious Baroness de Krudener. It was, to all intents and
purposes, a ''League of Nations" declaring that "The three contracting
Monarchs, conformably to the words of the Holy Scriptures, which
command all men to consider each other as brethren, will remain united
by the bonds of a true and indisoluble fraternity, and, considering each
other as fellow countrymen, they will, on all occasions and in all places,
lend each other aid and assistance." Metternich's comment on this
mystic document was brief and to the point. ' ' Sign it, ' ' he said to his
imperial master, "it means nothing and may be useful." It became
Austria's club over Italy's head.

Formation of a NeW Italy.

Italy, however, had seen in the sky the hope of a free and united
nation. For this Mazzini conspired. Garibaldi fought and Cavour
negotiated. In 1848 King Charles Albert of Piedmont granted a liberal
constitution to his people. Austria sent an army to enforce tyranny
and defeated the Piedmontese, Charles Albert resigning his throne
rather than accept the peace terms. The result was an Austrian repres-
sion which Gladstone characterized as "an outrage upon civilization,
upon humanity and upon decency." Charles Albert's son. King Victor
Emmanuel II, however, with Cavour at his side, commenced to plot
anew. He joined in the Crimean War, he won the help of France and
forced war on Austria, defeating the ancient foe at Solferino in 1859,
with the aid of French troops.

Briefly to summarize the terms of the peace treaty, Venetia re-
mained Austrian territory, but Lombardy was ceded to Napoleon III
and by him ceded to Piedmont. The way was prepared for the union
with other northern Italian states. Meantime, Garibaldi and the "two
thousand" brought Southern Italy and Sicily, known as "The Two
Sicilies," into the same frame of thought. Thus, in 1860, Parma,
Modena, Romagna, Tuscany, Umbria, the Marches and the Kingdom of
the Two Sicilies accepted the liberal constftution of Piedmont and ac-

ITALY REDEEMED AND UNREDEEMED 307

cepted Victor Emmanuel as their king. The first Italian parliament,
which is the beginning of the Italy of today, convened at Turin in 1861.
It is necessary, now, to touch on the religious question, which,
in Italy, is not a question of religion at all. It is a matter of territory
and centers around the temporal or territorial possessions of the Pope.
The Papal States — ^be it said without criticism — were the worst gov-
erned provinces west of Constantinople. In 1831 Pope Gregory XVI
refused to allow a railway or a telegraph line to be built in the states
over which he ruled, classical Latin was the only tongue taught in the
schools, less than two per cent, of the people were literate, trial by
justice was raie and deemed unnecessary, the press was muzzled and
the police were used to force every man, woman and child into the
confessional. In 1847 Pope Gregory died and his successor, Pius IX,
proved himself a true leader. He was not only a deeply spiritual pre-
late, but a true administrator and a man of broad view. He commenced
to abolish the principal evils in the Papal States but was compelled to
hold his hand for the reason that the people were not sufficiently ad-
vanced to make good use of their liberties. The Papal States were not
Piedmont.

The Quirinal and Pope Pius IX.

The unification of Italy in 1859-1861 deprived Pope Pius IX, or
rather, the Papacy, of all its territorial powers except Rome and its
immediate surroundings. Pope Pius protested, but all that he could
do was to retain Rome, aiid this, only, with the aid of French bayonets.
When France was compelled to withdraw her troops in 1870 to help
in the Franco-Prussian War, the Italian armies breached the walls of
Rome in 1871 and entered in triumph. By an overwhelming vote, the
people of Rome supported the monarchy in this case.

In May, 1871, the Italian Government — known in diplomatic par-
lance as the Quirinal — passed the Law of Papal Guarantees. This
gave the Pope $600,000 income annually from state revenues, entire
control of the Vatican and Lateran palaces and grounds (which are
large), the person of the Pope was declared sacred and inviolable, and
his rights were set forth as those of a sovereign. Pope Pius IX refused
to accept the money, declared that the spiritual ruler of the world could
not accept conditions from a temporal king and immured himself and
his successors in perpetual imprisonment in the Vatican. Italy has ever

308 ITALY KEDEEMED AND UNREDEEMED

since felt that the Vatican was unwilling to accept fair terms and bitter-
ness has always existed. It broke out twice, during the Great War.

In a former chapter, dealing with Alliances, one of the international
causes for Italy's resentment against France was found in the case
of the establishment of a French protectorate over Tunis. There were,
however, even deeper reasons which forced Italy to become an ally of
her hereditary foe, Austria. These are entangled with the Quirinal-
Vatican problem.

It has been said that Pope Pius IX was confirmed in his holding of
Rome by French bayonets. This meant that France and the Papacy
together prevented the Italians from making Rome the capital. ' ' Rome
or Death" was Garibaldi's cry, but the French defeated the Italian
troops at Mentana in 1867. This defeat rankled. When, in 1870, the
French troops were withdrawn and Victor Emmanuel seized Rome in
1871, it was evident that France had not withdrawn willingly. More-
over, French pilgrims to Rome, during the next thirt}^ years, constantly
ii-ritated the Quirinal by references to the Pope-King, and the clerical
party in France made no secret of its alliance with the Papacy. The
creation of the Triple Alliance resulted. In 1887 Italy adopted a pro-
tective tariff and in 1888 the commercial treaty with France was broken.
Not until 1898 were commercial relations restored. Finally, the separa-
tion of church and state in France in 1905 marked the collapse of cleri-
calism and intimated to Italy that never again would armed France
seek to restore to the Pope the territories held by Italy.

The Italia Irredenta.

With these interlocking complications made clear, the ground is
prepared for an understanding of the problem of "Italia Irredenta."
This is not one problem but three, dealing with three areas geograph-
ically separated from each other and only partly populated by Italian-
speaking peoples. These areas are Trentino, Kustenland and Dalmatia.
Half of Trentino is Italian, half Austrian; one-third of Kustenland is
Italian, one-third Austrian, and one-third Jugo-Slav; only the coast-
line of Dalmatia is Italian, the rest is Jugo-Slav.

Consider, first, the geographical character of these three areas,
for geography often determines ethnic and political conditions. The
Alps may be regarded as a great arch rising from the French Riviera
to the south-western comer of Switzerland, curving around that border

ITALY REDEEMED AND UNREDEEMED 309

and approaching the Mediterranean again at the head of the Adriatic
Sea, back of Trieste. This arch, however, is in two spans, for the
great mountain range sends down a triangular spur into Italy, reaching
almost as far south as Verona. This mountainous triangle is the South-
ern Tryol, and the section north of the Brenner Pass is Austrian,
while the section south of that pass, is Italian. It is this latter section
which is know^n as the Trentino.

Kustenland, including Istria and Izonzo, is a peninsula jutting
into the Adriatic just east of the Italian frontier. It is a wild country,
with steep mountain slopes rising directly out of the sea. It is of the
highest strategical importance. Just as the Brenner Pass would be
invaluable to Italy as a defence, so the port of Trieste, in Kustenland,
is the natural outlet to the Adriatic. Pola, the great naval base of
Austria, is at tbe tip of the peninsula, and Fiume, the Hungarian port,
is at the point where the peninsula joins the mainland to the south.
Although Trieste is an Austrian port, in 1900 (the latest census) sev-
enty-four per cent, of the population was Italian.

Italy's Claims and Aspirations.

Dalmatia, if the islands be considered, joins Kustenland, and runs
down one-half the length of the Adriatic. It consists of a fringe of
rocky islands and the steeps of a rugged mountain wall. It is abso-
lutely cut off from the back country by this mountain barrier, though
modern railways — with difficult engineering — begin to link the Balkan
interior with the sea. Roughly, the islands are Italian, the mainland
Slav. "

Italy's claim to the ''unredeemed" provinces is historically weak,
so far as modern history is concerned. It is geographically strong.
Culturally considered, Italy is strong in the Trentino, fairly strong in
Istria, less so in Izonzo and weak in Dalmatia.

Desparate and confused as are these claims, they are rendered ten-
fold more bewildering by the fact that, at the outbreak of the war,
Servia was against Austria and with France. But Servia, at the same
time, was an ardent advocate of "Greater Servia" which laid emphasis
on the Slavic note and which pointed out that Izonzo and Istria were
mainly Slavic and Dalmatia entirely so. Italy's interests, therefore,
were as definitely anti-Servian as they were anti-Austrian. She was
not on either side of the fence.

310 ITALY REDEEMED AND UNREDEEMED

If this were not enough, Italy frankly admitted her intention to
be master of the Mediterranean, a goal equally frankly annulled by the
two great naval powers, England and France. Ferrero, the greatest
of modem historians, an ardent Italian patriot, pointed out that the
Adriatic was "a Roman and Venetian lake,^' and declared that ''unless
we conquer Istria, every memory of Italy will fade froni those lands
which, from the days of Augustus Caesar, have been Latin. It would
be like unmaking the history of Italy.'*

Italy Enters the War.

Meantime, Grerman capital was developing Italian resources, the
great Italian Commercial Bank at Milan was a German institution,
and the powerful German propaganda found soil in business circles.
This tended to make Italy pro-German. Yet she could never defend
her strung-out line of coast against the three-power navy of England
aided by the two-power navy of France, nor could she hope for favor-
able partition of ''Italia Irredenta" as Austria's ally. This threw
her into the arms of the Allies. From every point of view, Italy was
in a tight box when Austria and Germany forced the world war on
Servia and France respectively.

The war had raged for nine months when at last Italy decided to
throw in her fate with the Allies. The Battle of the Marne had been
won, showing the strength of France ; the German Navy had been sewed
into its sack, showing the power of England. But, on the other hand,
Russia was seen to be a negligible factor, showing the strength of
Germany ; the Balkans were overrun, showing the strength of Austria.
From the Italian point of self-interest there was little to choose.

Here, then, were three powerful parties in Italy, pro-ally, neutral
and pro-German. But Germany did not want Italy to join the war;
it meant naval and territorial complications. She wanted Italy to
stay neutral, and, for a while, Italy did so. But Salandra, for the
government, made a secret pact with the Allies concerning "Italia
Irredenta." Then Giolitti "The Italian Clemenceau" dashed into the
arena with the announcement that the Central Powers would make
equally good terms. Civil war boded. At this juncture the great
writer Gabriele d'Annunzio burst into perfervid oratory and inflamed
Italy to war. On May 12, 1915 (nineteen days after Salandra 's secret
pact) he said in a famous speech at Rome : "Since three days, I do not

ITALY REDEEMED AND UNREDEEMED 311

know what odor of treason begins to suffocate us. No, no ! We will
not be a museum, a hotel, a winter resort, a horizon painted in Prussian
blue for international honeymoons ! Sweep away, sweep away all this
filth ! Cast into the sewers all putrified things ! Long live Rome with-
out shame! Long live a great and pure Italy!"

Italy's final moves toward war were swift. On April 25, 1915, the
Salandra government formed the pact with the Allies, on May 3 the gov-
ernment announced its denunciation of the Triple Alliance, on May 9
the Syndicalists threatened a repetition of the anarchy of the Red
"Week (June, 1914) if war were proclaimed, on May 13 the Salandra
ministry resigned to force the issue, on May 15 the pro-German social-
ists established a nation-wide threat of civil war, on May 16 the King
invited Salandra to resume office, thus declaring himself in favor of
war, on May 17 Griolitti left Rome, his life in danger, on May 23 Italy
formally declared war against Austria-Hungary.

Emperor Franz Josef Perturbed,

The feeling of the Central Powers on the subject was expressed
in Emperor Franz Josef's address to his troops on May 24. He said:
' ' The King of Italy has declared war on me. Perfidy, whose like history
does not know, has been committed by the Kingdom of Italy against
both its allies. After an alliance of more than thirty years' duration,
during which it was able to increase its territorial possessions and
develop itself to a flourishing condition hitherto unthought of, Italy
abandoned us in our hour of danger and went over with flying colors
into the camp of our enemies. We did not menace Italy; did not curtail
her authority; did not attack her honor or her interests. We always
responded loyally to the duties of our alliance and afforded her our
protection when she took the field. ' '

The next day Italy answered this with a long official justification
of her action to the effect that 'Hhe Triple Alliance was essentially
defensive and designed solely to preserve the equilibrium of Europe.
. . . Austria-Hungary severed the treaty with her own hands. She
rejected the response of Servia, which gave her all the satisfaction
she could legitimately claim. She refused to listen to the conciliatory
proposals presented by Italy in conjunction with the other powers in
the effort to spare Europe from a vast conflict certain to drench the
Continent with blood and to reduce it to ruin beyond the conception
of human imagination, and, finally, she provoked that conflict."

312 ITALY REDEEMED AND UNREDEEMED

In that part of this book which deals with the military events of
the war, the sudden invasion of Italy by Austria, after a long mountain
campaign wherein Italy was the victor, has been told. The collapse
of Italy, however, had little to do with her armies. It was caused,
primarily, by a treacherous deal between German propagandists and
Italian socialists, and one of the many means taken was the printing
of forged newspapers with dates emanating from various Italian cities,
the forgeries an exact replica in type of the papers themselves, showing
that Civil War was raging in Italy (which it was not) and declaring
that the government w^as preparing to sell itself to the Central Powers
(which was absolutely without foundation in fact). At the same time,
by cleverly working the pro-German commercial interests, the Teuton
propagandists were successful in hampering the forwarding of provi-
sions to the army, thus giving color to their schemes and sowing dis-
content among the troops.

German Lies Refuted. v

The blow struck directly at the morale of the army, for the Italians
themselves knew well that there were powerful pro-neutral and pro-
German parties, as had been evinced by the countless strikes engineered
by the ''Reds." At this moment of weakness, Austria and Germany
together, having massed troops and munitions in advance, struck and
struck heavily. The defense became a retreat, the retreat degenerated
into a rout.

No sooner, however, was the line broken than the news that these
papers had been forgeries began to creep through the army, the propa-
ganda was stamped as a fabric of atrocious lies and the treachery was
uncovered. There was a swift reversal of sentiment. The Italians,
gallant enough before, now performed prodigies of valor, and without
a campaign plan, without adequate defence, having lost vast quantities
of artillery and munitions in their hasty flight, they took their stand
on the River Piave. The Germans were within sight of Venice, but
between them and that goal stood, in serried ranks, the high-hearted
courage of Italy. The Piave was as the Marne, they "did not pass."
Germany might still seek her place in the sun, but across the entrance
to the Italian plains was written in blood the words "No Thorough-
fare!"

CHAPTER XXXII.

SERBIA AND THE JUGO-SLAVS.

Buffer States— Divisions of the Southern Slavs— Incessant Wars With Turkey— Bosnia the Fuse of the
World-Explosion— The Three Historic Assassinations— Serajevo the Match to the Fuse— Allies'
Inability to Prevent Balkan Disaster.

HE who would tread the maze of the Balkans must avoid minor issues,
he must endeavor to carve for himself broad roads and lay down
for himself broad principles. In endeavoring to lead the reader along
such lines, a definite policy is here adopted of bracketing that feature
of the Balkan muddle with the country to which it is most closely
allied. Thus the Bosnian problem is attached to Serbia, the Dalmatian
problem to Italy, the Macedonian problem to Bulgaria, the Albanian
problem to Greece and the Bassarabian problem to Roumania.

Following out this plan, Serbia is taken as the nucleus of the
Southern Slav or Jugo-Slav interests. Jugo-Slavia is an ethnic divi-
sion, embracing Serbia, Old Serbia, Novi-Bazar, Serbian Macedonia,
Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia-Slavonia, Dalmatia, Temes-
var, Styria, Carinthia, Carniola and Kustenland. Its area is 104,000
square miles, approximately, or more than three times as large as
Holland, Belgium and Denmark put together. The population is at
least 15,000,000, with over 11,000,000 of tliis population Jugo-Slav. In
other words, the Jugo-Slav group is about the same in number as the
Scandinavian, including the entire populations of Norway, Sweden and
Denmark. It is, therefore, with a possible first-class power that this
chapter deals.

Of all the many astonishing factors which enter into Serbian his-
tory, certainly the most remarkable is the fact that for five centuries
Serbia maintained her identity in spite of Byzantine, Turkish and
Austrian domination. She possessed a strong literary tradition and
a deep-rooted patriotism. She was ever and always a victim of Turkish
greedy cruelty and misgovernment, and when, in 1804, these grew
insupportable, she took to arms. The peace of Bucharest in 1812 pro-

313

314 SERBIA AND THE JUGTO-SLAVS

vided Serbia with a measure of autonomy, but the old fortresses, Bel-
grade included, remained in Turkish hands.

The revolt of Milosh, in 1815, led to liberation and the formation
(under Turkish permission) of a liberal constitution in 1817. Black
George, the hero of Serbia, was assassinated with the approval of both
Milosh and the Turks. The next fifty years is a history of strife and
unrest between the Serbians and the Turks, conditions which Austria
did her most to foment, with the result that when the last Turkish
troops were driven from Serbia in 1867, Austria had a solid hold on
Serbia. The split between the two parties of Serbia continued un-
abated, however, and, consequently. King Michael was assassinated
by followers of the Black George dynasty.

King Alexander Assassinated.

Matters went on from bad to worse. Austrian and Russian in-
trigue undermined what had been a sincere patriotism, even though
a bloodily partisan one, and secret agents from Russia and Vienna
continuously fed the flames of hate. On June 10, 1903, a revolution
and sudden overthrow of the government was secured by the radicals,
marked by one of the most horrible royal murders in history. Eang
Alexander and Queen Draga — whom the people hated because they felt
that the throne had been disgraced by the King's choice of a notoriously
lewd woman of the baser sort — were murdered in their sleep, and the
woman's body, stripped of all clothing, was thrown from a window
of the palace onto a strip of lawn bordering the main street. There
it remained for hours while the crowds gathered round and sang ribald
songs about the dead. This scandalous, shocking and unclean crime
estranged Serbia from every nation of Europe and the doors of every
court were closed to the incoming King.

The annexation of Bosnia-Herzegovina by Austria in 1908, as has
been shown in a foregoing chapter, almost brought about a world war.
It would have done so, without question, if Europe had been ready
and if Serbia had not been so malodorous in diplomacy. As it was,
the Bosnian compromise proved a matter of tricky adjustment. Turkey
was compensated mth the cession of Novi-Bazar, which drove a wedge
between Serbia and Montenegro. Russia stopped the outbreak of a
Turco-Bulgarian war. Serbia got nothing.

Truth compels the admission that the Serbians of Bosnia were plot-

SERBIA AND THE JUGO-SLAVS 315

ting against Austria. It would, perhaps, be even more true to admit
that Serbia was always plotting for a "Greater Serbia." In 1909
occurred the famous Fried jung trial (and its antecedent treason com-
plications) in which some evidence was brought that bombs were being
prepared for use against Austrian authorities. There was no evidence
that the Serbian government was aware of this. This is plenty of
evidence, however, that the Serbian government viewed favorably "a
disruptive propaganda in Austrian domains, ' ' to quote the official words
of the Austro-Hungarian Red Book.

However justifiable may have been the diplomatic moves which led
to an alliance of Serbia, Montenegro, Bulgaria and Greece against
Turkey, the alliance was absurd from an ethnical viewpoint. It did,
however, do one thing, it made the powers realize that Serbia was
the dominating factor of the Jugo-Slav interests. Moreover, it did
something still more important, it rehabilitated Serbia in the eyes of
the world.

The Jugo-Slav Situation.

The period between 1908, when Bosnia was annexed, and 1912,
when the Balkan Wars began, had given rise to a curious change of
aspect in the "Greater Serbia" question. Instead of spreading the
doctrine that aU Jugo-Slav countries were to be made Serbian, the
general feeling grew that Jugo-Slavia should become an entity in
herself.

The more this angle of the subject was studied, the more value
was it found to have. From the English and French point of view, it
kept Italy from possessing both sides of the Adriatic. From the
Italian point of view, it stopped Austrian aggression. From the Greek
point of view, it placed an ally instead of an enemy on her northern
frontier. From the Austrian point of view, however, it was a menace
perpetually on her border. From the German point of view, it spelt
ruin to the Berlin-to-Bagdad railway project. Thus, while Serbia
concept of a Jugo-Slav state did. If the reader will bear this in mind,
never reached the point of being a valuable asset to the Allies, the
it will throw additional light on the manner in which the crime of
Serajevo plunged the world into war, as partly explained in an early
chapter.

The Serajevo affair, as the fuse which ignited the bomb of the

316 SERBIA AND THE JUGO-SLAVS

world war, deserves a little attention. Serajevo, the capital of Bosnia,
is a picturesque semi-oriental city, dotted with mosques — many Bosnian
Serbs are Mohammedans — with a population of 38,000, mainly Serbs,
in spite of, the Austrian government's attempts to induce Austrian
settlement since its annexation of the territory. It is a strong Jugo-
slav center.

On June 28, 1914, Archduke Ferdinand, Crown Prince of Austria,
and his wife, the Duchess of Hohenburg (who was not of royal blood,
and who had been denied the rank of ' ' Imperial Highness ' ' by the old
emperor) came to Serajevo to make a state visit to the Bosnian capital.
As Austrians they were disliked ; personally, they were hated. Nor was
the Crown Prince better loved in Vienna or in Buda-Pesth. He was
known to foster a scheme for raising the Slavs to federalized equality
with the Germans and the Magyars. This was a subject of irritation
to all three races.

Some clue to the situation may be gained from the Archduke's last
words: ''The fellow," he gasped, "will get the Golden Cross of Merit
for this." As the Golden Cross is an Austrian Order, it is clear that
the Archduke regarded the attack as being fomented from Vienna. One
thing at least is clear, that neither in Berlin, Vienna, Buda-Pesth or
Belgrade was there any great sorrow over the assassination.

Why Was Archduke Ferdinand Murdered?

There is already a whole literature of the Serajevo incident. The
main points will be here condensed. There is the accusation that the
assassination was managed from Belgrade, because the Serbians feared
that the Crown Prince's visit might lead to a Bosnian acceptation of
Austrian control, which would kill the "Greater Serbia" idea. There
was the accusation that Buda-Pesth had sought the death of the Arch-
duke, because his policies would break down the autocratic rule of the
Magyar nobles. There was the accusation that Vienna was favorable
to the plot because the German element in Austria resented being re-
duced to an equality with the Magyars and Slavs, and, finally, there was
the accusation that the whole affair was engineered by Berlin, which
wanted some sort of an excuse for plunging Europe into war.

Which of these is true will never be known. Such matters are not
put on paper. It is the writer's opinion that the spirit of the murder
was born in the "Greater Serbia" organization, for the Serbians have

SERBL\ AND THE JUGO-SLAVS 317

always chosen assassination as their weapon; that Austria sent the
Crown Prince to Bosnia, disregardful of the risk, in order to raise
some issue that could be turned to Bosnia's disadvantage; and that
Berlin, secretly, provoked Serbo-Bosnian feeling to the extent of the
direct act.

It is highly important to remember that this crime occurred on
June 28, 1914. Until July 20 — a curiously long time — there was no
hint from Vienna that she was about to apply a match to the powder
magazine of Europe. On the contrary, semi-inspired articles in the
Austrian papers were moderate in tone and conciliatory. On July 20
came a mild hint. The German Ambassador to England, in reply to a
question from Sir Edward Grey, replied that he had no news from
Vienna on the Serbian question, "but Austria was certainly going to
take some step.*'

Germany's Weak Excuse.

On July 23, 1914, from a sky in which all the clouds seemed to have
rolled' away, the thunderbolt was laujiohed. Austria, with the almost
certain connivance of Germany, delivered an ultimatum to Serbia which
was in the highest degree arrogant, domineering, bellicose and unjusti-
fiable.

It will be observed that the writer has said in the above paragraph
"with the almost certain connivance of Germany." As this is the point
on which hinges the huge controversy as to whether or no Germany
started the war, it is necessary to give at least one document on each
side. The German government asserted in the mouth of the German
Ambassador at St. Petersburg: "The Imperial German Government
had no knowledge of the text of the Austrian note before it was handed
in and has not exercised any influence on its contents." Why, then,
the delay of almost a month, if not to settle and arrange the issues
between Vienna and Berlin?

Moreover, again in Germany's words, on the very same day, in-
deed, almost at the same hour that the ultimatum to Belgrade was
forwarded, the Chancellor of the German Empire instructed the am-
bassadors sissigned to Paris, London and St. Petersburg to state that
"the acts as well as the demands of the Austro-Hungarian government,
cannot but be looked on as justified." How could Germany indorse
these demands if she did not know what they were?

318 SERBIA AND THE JUGO-SLAVS

The reader is asked to observe that no controversial literature has
been used in the above paragraph, the first statement is an official
one made by the German Ambassador, the second is an official statement
in the German ''White Paper."

What was Austria's intolerable ultimatum? What was the note
which ended an era in the world's history? What were these phrases of
djTiamite ?

Briefly, the note attacked Serbia for the Pan-Serbian propaganda,
demanded a repudiation of the project in the official journal, ordered
the dissolution of the "Greater Serbia" society (the Narodna Odbrana),
compelled the dismissal from Serbian public service of all Pan-Serbic
officials without regard to Serbia's admission of their guilt, forbade
the smuggling of arms into Bosnia and, especially, ordered Serbia to
accept in Serbia the trials of Serbians by Austrian officials. As William
Stearns Davis puts it: ''The most deadly sting of this scorpion was
in its tail." This was the phrase: "The Austrian government expects
the reply of the royal (Serbian) government at the latest by 6 o'clock
on Saturday evening, the 25th of July,"

The Meaning of Austria's Ultimatum.

There are two main issues here. The first is that if Serbia assented
to Austria's demands that Austrian officials should enter Serbia to
judge Serbian subjects, such action would in itself constitute a relin-
quishment of independence. It would end, at one stroke, Serbian liberty.
The second was that forty-eight hours ' notice was a time far too brief
to allow the Powers to intervene toward a peaceful settlement of the
question. Put bluntly, it meant the direct annexation of Serbia, or war.
Serbia, in despair, cried to her Slav Big Brother — Russia — and the
cry was heard.

Russia's first move was to beg for delay "to prevent^ the incalcul-
able consequences. ... A refusal to extend the terms of the ulti-
matum would be in contradiction with the very bases of international
relations." Austria laughed. Germany, on the same day, July 24, told
England that Austria's demands "can only be regarded as equitable
and moderate." England, France and Russia protested anew. Berlin
laughed.

SERBIA AND THE JUGO-SLAVS 319

At her wits' end, Serbia agreed to everything except the relinquish-
ment of her national liberty. The Serbian answer was a humiliating
reply, it granted practically every issue, it even contained a tacit
abandonment of the Jugo-Slav dream. The reply reached the Austrian
minister at Belgrade at 5:45 P. M., a quarter of an hour before the
lapse of the ultimatum. The reply was telegraphed to Vienna, being
filed there at 5.58 P. M., two minutes before the close of time.

It is generally asserted and credited that Austria did not even
take the trouble to read and reply, but there is no proof of this. There
could not be. There is definite proof, however, that there was no
consultation over it. Twenty-eight minutes after the receipt of Serbia's
reply — will the reader note, twenty-eight minutes to determine on the
world war! — the German Ambassador at Belgrade informed the Ser-
bian government that ' ' not having received a satisfactory answer within
the time limit set, he was leaving Belgrade."

Reorganization of the Serbian Army.

It would be interesting — but useless — to follow the network of
diplomatic communications during the next three days to July 28,
when Austria formally declared war on Serbia, and Austrian guns fired
the first shot.

The Serbian campaigns are a part of the history of the war, what
is here concerned are the world-issues, especially from their racial and
political sides. The next great move was the declaration of Jugo-
slavia, in place of Gi-eater Serbia, which was officially proclaimed by
the Serbian government as its goal in December, 1914. The next move
was the reorganization of the Serbian army, after its first overwhelm-
ing defeats, and its rejoining of the Allies ' Forces at Saloniki in October,
1915. This was followed by the reconvocation of the Serbian Skupts-
china or Parliament by the Acting Government at Corfu, Serbia having
been conquered and being then in the enemy's hands.

From this point on, Serbia is scarcely a political entity during the
war. A diplomatic and military understanding with the various South
Slav peoples gave rise to a strong feeling on the part of the Allies that,
in order to head off Teuton aspirations in the Balkans and to the south-
east, to bar Germany from Turkey and to clip the Berlin-to-Bagdad
railway project, Allied support of Jugo-Slav interests was of the first
importance. France, quickly followed by England, declared herself

320 SERBIA AND THE JUGO-SLAVS

as favorable to the Jugo-Slav ideal. Italy and Eussia had not officially
done so. The United States was regarded by diplomats as favoring
Jugo-Slav interests, though mainly in the form of presidential utter-
ances which, however interesting, have no special diplomatic value,
for Europe regards the United States Senate as the treaty-making
body. So far as the war of 1914-1918 is concerned, however, it has
changed the ''Greater Serbia" idea into the Jugo-Slav ideal and it
has definitely swung the powers who proved victorious to the side of
the Jugo-Slavs against the aggressions, respectively, of Austria, Turkey
and Russia.

CHAPTER XXXIII.

LITHUANIA, POLAND, AND THE CZECHO-SLOVASS.

Race Barriers in Eastern Europe— Tragedy of Poland, Once a Master Power— Polish Heroism In the
War— Stubborn Lithuania— The Letts— Esthonia— High Standard of Czech Culture— Bohemia— Uoravla
—The Slovaks— Czecho-Slovak Forces in Siberia.

ON the eastern boundaries of the Teutonic peoples dwell the Slavs,
with, here and there, an intrusion of the Mongolian or Yellow
Race. As has been shown, to the south, largely owing to the fact that
the Jugo-Slavs have been continuously oppressed, the various divisions
of that group of peoples have not developed strong political individu-
alities, Serbia and Montenegro excepted. But, when the various nations
which extend along the Austrian and German frontiers northward, as
far as the Baltic Sea, are considered, the direct opposite is true.

There are six groups of these, the Czecho-Slovaks, the Ukrainians,
the Poles, the Lithuanians, the Letts and the Esthonians. The
Czecho-Slovaks, the Ukrainians and the Poles are Slavs. The
Lithuanians and the Letts are ethnological puzzles, being neither Slav
nor Teuton, and are classed as a separate racial stock, called the Baltic
Race. The Esthonians are not Aryans at aU, but belong to that curious
compound known as the Ugro-Finnic Race, which includes such scat-
tered peoples as the Magyars of Hungary and the Finns of Finland,
and which has the Tartars as cousins on one side and the Eskimo as
relatives on the other.

It needs, therefore, no great amount of penetration to discover
that these peoples cannot all be united, save by some arbitrary and
imperial system which would contain the seeds of future war. The
pity of the situation is that certain of these peoples have imperial
aspirations to hold the other races in subjection. It is an open secret
that Poland, needing an outlet to the sea, wishes to arrogate authority
over the Lithuanians certainly and over either the Letts or the Germans
as she can best make communications to the Baltic.

It will make the matter easier of understanding if the geographical
and racial divisions of these separate peoples are considered, beginning

321 21— W. L.

322 LITHUANIA, POLAND, AND THE CZECHO-SLOVAKS

with the north, and going southward until the Jugo-Slav demarcation
is encountered.

The Gulf of Finland— at the head of which is Petrograd— is the
starting point. Both sides of this gulf are inhabited by people of the
Finno-Ugric, which is a branch of the Mongolian or Yellow Race. The
north shore is dominated by the Finns, the south shore by the Esthon-
ians. Petrograd is not in Slavic Russia, but just at the point where
the Slav and the Finnic races join. The province of Esthonia may
roughly be regarded as the south shore of the Gulf of Finland, but
the Esthonian peoples spill over into Livonia, the next province to the
south. Livonia, inhabited by Letts, is the shore and hinterland of the
Gulf of Riga. Courland, also inhabited by Letts, extends along the
shore of the Baltic as far as the eastern border of Germany.

Strategy of the Baltic Provinces.

The three Baltic Provinces have a total area of over 34,000 square
miles or twice as large as Switzerland, the total population is a trifle
larger than that of Norway. About one-third of the population is
Esthonian, more than a third Lettish, less than one-third German. The
Russian admixture is slight.

Strategically the Baltic Provinces are important. They form Rus-
sia's only "window on the sea." Sea-power exists only via Lettish
and Esthonian ports. Riga is a city with half a million inhabitants
and the economic life of foreign trade in Russia lies mainly there.
Yet Russia's cultural control is slight.

Historically the German claim has a solid basis. The savage and
warlike paganism of that part of Europe was conquered and Christian-
ized by the Teutonic Knights of the Sword, a German crusading order,
in the thirteenth century. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries
these provinces became successively the prey of Denmark, Sweden and
Poland. When Peter the Great defeated Sweden in 1721, the Baltic
Provinces came under Russian control. For nearly two centuries
Russia tried to set the Letts and Esths against the Germans and,
though she failed to make them Russian, she succeeded in awakening
their national aspirations. This was the situation at the opening of
the war. During the war Courland fell into German hands and Esthonia
and Livonia remained Russian until the revolution and collapse of

LITHUANIA, POLAND, AND THE CZECHO-SLOVAKS 323

Russia. From that time to the end of the war Grermany assumed the
right to dictate to the Baltic Provinces but achieved nothing definite.

I/ithuania was once a powerful kingdom embracing all of Black
Russia, and at the beginning of the fifteenth century she held nearly
a half of European Russia, her boundary running roughly on a line
from Moscow to the Crimea. Lithuania then united with Poland and
her history became Polish, but when Poland was broken up she fell
under the dominion of the newly formed Russian Empire, where she
has remained ever since. The White Russians, while not true Lithuan-
ians, possess a strong admixture of this race.

The Division of Poland.

Modem Lithuania is considerably larger than the Baltic Provinces,
larger than Holland, Belgium and Denmark £ut together. The popula-
tion is nearly 7,000,000, with a little less than one-half of the Lithuanian
Race. Politically the Great Russians dominate, the cultural influence
is Polish and the commercial influence is German. Lithuania was under
Russian control at the opening of the war but in the autumn of 1915
Germany occupied the entire region. It was, therefore, conquered terri-
tory at the close of the war. , This territory Poland claims, as does
Germany. Lithuania proclaimed herself a Republic in December, 1918.

Where is Poland? It would puzzle a student of history to say.
The answer would depend on the century. Poland was once the master
of Eastern Europe, Poland was the very center and flower of chivalry,
Poland was a giant when Russia was a dwarf. The partition of Poland
is without a parallel in the international sport of carving up your neigh-
bor's lands. Prussia, Austria and Russia stole — the word is used
purposely — stole her territories and divided them. Now, Germany is
vanquished, Austria has disintegrated and Russia has become a shambles
of anarchy.

The national history of Poland has been long and glorious. She
was Europe 's defence against the Turk. She saved Vienna, and more,
far more, she saved Christianity in Europe. The power of the Moham-
medan stopped at Poland. The Cross, in Polish hands, overbore the
Crescent.

In the seventeenth century Poland was one of the largest geo-
graphical states in Europe, extending from Posen (near Berlin) to
Smolensk (near Moscow), and from Riga in the north to Bukowania

324 LITHUANIA, POLAND, AND THE CZECHO-SLOVAKS

on the south. She was the third largest state in Europe and stood fifth
in population. At the beginning of the world war Poland did not exist
as a state, yet its ethnographical group of twenty-one millions made
it sixth among the Powers, being slightly larger than the population
of Spain.

Poland figured largely in the world war, not so much as Poland,
but under territorial names, such as Silesia, which is German
Poland, and Galicia, which is Austrian Poland. Yet Poland figured
even more largely at the end of the war, for the reason that the Allies
granted to the Polish armies in the field a belligerent status. In other
words, a nation technically non-existent was recognized as existent
and its armies were declared to be national armies by reason of their
national spirit rather than their national integrity. Such an unpre-
cedented state of affairs can only be understood by a knowledge of
Polish history.

Poland Defeats Both Sweden and Russia.

Poland's importance as a land of national liberty begins in 1368
when Casimir the Great gave a liberal constitution to Poland. He
formed a Poland more advanced than any European nation except
Bohemia and England. This constitution, though its weaknesses were
to become apparent later, smashed feudal abuses and gained for Casimir
the name of * ' The Peasants ' King. ' ' A century and a half later Poland
and Lithuania defeated the famous czar, Ivan the Terrible, and at the
Diet of Lublin, 1569, the two great kingdoms were joined with Warsaw
as the capital.

At this time Sweden was becoming a great power and in 1655 the
Swedes invaded Poland, in order to recover the Baltic Provinces. The
Czar seized the opportunity to invade Lithuania. Yet, by the aid of
her great military leader, Sobieski, Poland defeated both Sweden and
Russia at the same time.

The Cossacks and the Ukrainians, however, had sided with Russia
and aided by a huge army (for that time) of 300,000 Turks, Southern
Poland was invaded in 1672 and overrun. The Treaty of Budziak gave
the Polish Ukraine to the Sultan and guaranteed a yearly tribute.
The Polish Diet, or parliament, refused to ratify the Treaty and in
the famous Battle of Chocim, Sobieski led the Poles to victory and de-
feated the Mohammedan armies. The throne of Poland being vacant,
Sobieski was crowned king.

LITHUANIA, POLAND, AND THE CZECHO-SLOVAKS 325

Turkey, however, was to make one more attempt to bring Moham-
medanism over Europe. With the avowed intention of putting to the
sword every Christian who would not forswear his faith and bow the
knee to Mohammed, the Sultan launched an attack on Vienna in June,
1683. The Emperor of Austria fled. The Siege of Vienna is famous,
and the defence was on the point of abandonment, having held out for
58 days, when the King of Poland arrived on the scene with an army
about one-fifth the size of the Turkish force and on September 12 of
that year the power of the Turk in Europe was forever quelled.

The lack of a hereditary monarchy was the cause of Poland's down-
fall. Since the monarch was elective, the State was not stable, and
every individual noble plotted for himself or his clique. The monstrous
character of the Parliament, which did not rule by majority, but by
unanimity, rendered it possible for one discontented noble to vitiate
every advance.

In this unfortunate condition, there occurred a rare event in the
monarchical sky — two great personalities at the same time. Frederick
the Great sat on the throne of Prussia, Catherine the Great on the
throne of Russia. Maria Theresa, on the throne of Austria, had been
bled white through wars with Frederick the Great over Silesia. Cath-
erine and Frederick callously decided to partition Poland. The treaty
was signed in 1772 and Poland was denuded of one-third of her terri-
tory and a third of her population. The two powers generously (?)
gave a strip of Little Poland to Austria.

Wars of Catherine the Great.

It would take up too much space to give the military complications
of the next period. It will be enough to say that the death of Frederick
the Great weakened Prussia, England was concerned with the revolu-
tion of 1776 which gave the United States of America to the world,
France was preparing for the Revolution of 1789, the Sweden of Gus-
tavus Adolphus had dwindled. Only Catherine the Great remained as
a forceful power. Turkey declared war on Russia in 1787, Sweden —
of all weird alliances! — declared war on Catherine in the following
year. The terrible empress first whipped Sweden and then, in 1790,
got the better of Turkey. But, in those four years Poland and Prussia
had been plotting against Russia and Catherine sought revenge. She
provoked Prussia and Austria to meddle in royalist plans in France—

326 LITHUANIA, POLAND, AND THE CZECHO-SLOVAKS

that story is too long to tell — shrewdly set the southern Poles against
the north and invaded Poland in 1792. The Prussian forces were
speedily victorious and Catherine dickered with Prussia to partition
Poland anew, remembering that Prussia had been beaten by France at
Valmy and would need the salve of more territory. Russia cut the
remainder of Poland in half and took three-quarters of the stolen land.
Now comes the period of Kosciusko. This young nobleman, having
fled from his country by reason of a love affair, joined the Americans
in the War of Independence, fought in 1776 as a Colonel of Artillery,
rose to the rank of Brigadier General and was publicly thanked by
Congress. He returned to Poland and was active in its affairs. The
second partition of Poland in 1793 stirred Polish patriotic sentiment
and Kosciusko set the land aflame. At the head of volunteer and ill-
armod troops he defeated the Russian forces of occupation, and the in-
surrection spread all over Poland.

The End of Poland.

At first Kosciusko was extraordinarily and unexpectedly successful.
He dodged, outfought and outmanoeuvred the Prussians, each week
that went by seeming to bring back the hopes for an independent Poland.

But Catherine of Russia was not dead, yet. She was too wise a
ruler to send an insufficient force against Poland. She waited until
all her armies had been brought back from the Turkish frontier and
launched them in three different campaigns at the same time. On No-
vember 10, 1794, at the Battle of Maciejowice, the Poles were cut to
pieces and Kosciusko, falling wounded, exclaimed ' ' The end of Poland ! ' '
His prophecy was true, for what remained of Poland was there and
then divided among the three hungry powers.

Misfortune, moreover, was still to dog the steps of Poland. She
turned her hopes on France and a Polish legion was sent to aid Na-
poleon Bonaparte. When, like the tread of Mars himself. Napoleon
thundered over Europe, Poland rejoiced. It was a false hope, even
though the Countess Walewska, who had captivated Napoleon, sur-
rendered her honor to him in response to promises for her country's
sake, promises he never kept. The fall of Napoleon drove Poland
deeper into the mire.

Seventy years of misrule brought the Polish problem into the hands
of Bismarck. The Iron Chancellor advocated a system of buying land

LITHUANIA, POLAND, AND THE CZECHO-SLOVAKS 327

from Polish landowners and selling it to Germans. It was a part of
his famous ''infiltration" schemes. The plan succeeded, at first, but
later the Poles turned the tables on the Germans and won more than
they lost.

German misrule in Poland was even worse than Eussian. In 1872
German was ordered as the only langnage to be used in the schools.
In 1883 German was ordered for religious instruction. In 1899 Polish
teachers were forbidden to speak Polish in their homes. In 1902 it
became known that thousands of school children were flogged annually
for refusing to say the Lord's Prayer in German. In 1906 half a
million school children went on strike. The brutality employed by
Prussian officialdom was incredible at the time, though the events of
the world war in Belgium show that such methods are a part of Prus-
sian character. Several children were flogged to death and tens of
thousands of families were driven to starvation by the levy of enormous
fines. It was the greatest uprising of childhood since the days of the
Children's Crusade.

When the world war broke out, Poland was the battlefield of the
east. German troops entered "Warsaw, August 5, 1915. "The atrocities
perpetrated by the Germans in Belgium and France, "says one authority,
**are mild compared with those committed in Poland." It is difficult
to say anything more condemnatory.

German Conquest a Nightmare.

One story, however, may be told. In Czentochowa, a village of
Russian Poland, is a small church containing the oldest known picture
of the Virgin and Child in the world. It is a sacred relic. When the
Germans reached that village, they tore the picture from its frame and
dispatched it to Berlin, then put a vulgar portrait of the Kaiser in
military uniform above the altar and forced the villagers at the bayonet-
point to enter the church and kneel to the tawdry chromo above the
desecrated shrine.

By the autumn of 1916, the German conquest of the world was seen
to be a nightmare from the fear of which all nations were awakening.
In an effort to win back Poland, and to save something from a possible
crash, the Central Powers declared the independence of Poland, defin-
ing the new state, however, with vague boundaries which showed that
Prussia intended to keep her own share of it, and merely robbing

32« LITHUANIA, POLAND, AND THE CZECHO-SLOVAKS

Russia. The Polish legions and the Polish councils scornfully refused
to accept the bait.

During 1917, the Allies announced their intention of restoring
Poland to hei* foimer greatness. Details, of course, have not been
formally announced, but during 1918 informal conferences suggested
the restoration of Poland, from Russia; of West Prussia, Posen and
Silesia, from Germany ; of Austrian Silesia and Galicia from Germany.
This would give Poland a territory of almost the same size as Italy
and a population of 35,000,000. But this arrangement, or for that
matter, almost any other, leaves the Polish question a breeding-ground
of future wars.

If this last geographical boundary be borne in mind, however,
it will at once make clear the question of the Czecho-Slovaks, whose
territories are bounded on the north by Silesia and Galicia. These
territories consist of three historic divisions with markedly different
geographical characters. These divisions are Bohemia, Moravia and
the Tatra, which last is the country of the Slovaks.

The Story of Bohemia.

Let it be said, at the outset, that Bohemia and the Bohemians are
culturally as far advanced as Italy or the United States. It may sim-
plify matters and keep the reader from falling into the mistake of
confusing them with, say, the Slovaks or the Servians. Bohemia has
a long and honorable history, possesses a marvellous literature, is a
world-famous center for art and music and is the commercial and in-
dustrial section of Austria.

A powerful kingdom in the Middle Ages, Bohemia was trodden
down by the Hapsburgs after the Thirty Years* War, which ended in
1648. The Hapsburg policy was simple. It consisted in killing all the
Czech nobles, confiscating their lands and giving them to Austrian
Germans. The story of Bohemia is singularly like that of Ireland. The
Czech language, in the eighteenth century was confined mainly to
peasants. Then, however, the revival spirit of the nineteenth century
aroused Bohemia— just as it did in Ireland— and a national revival
began. Only, possessing a land rich in mineral wealth and being aligned
against a weak and tottering state, the Czech revival rushed forward
with tornado velocity. By the middle of the nineteenth century, the
Czechs were more than holding their own ; when the war broke out, the

LITHUANIA, POLAND, AND THE CZECHO-SLOVAKS 329

Czechs were in political control of Bohemia and Mora\'ia and the Aus-
trian Germans had been made to toe the mark.

Bohemia and the Czech question differs utterly from the Polish
problem. The nineteenth century saw the Poles growing less united,
the Bohemians, more so. The Poles in German Poland were ever more
and more under the heel of Prussia ; the Czechs, in Bohemia, were the
masters.

The political situation at the outbreak of the war, therefore, had
a great deal to do with Bohemia, though indirectly. Austria was aware
that the empire was breaking up and she counted on war to unify the
conflicting peoples. She saw the inevitable arrival of the time when
the Czechs would demand an autonomous state and she realized that
Prussian methods could only be put in force by Germany. In 1911, for
example, the Austro-German minority in Bohemia came out point blank
in the Prague disputes and announced their intention to work for a
secession of Bohemia and Mora^^a from Austria to the German Empire.

The Czecho-Slovak Territories.

Moravia is a hill and plateau land, lying to the east of the high
plateau of Bohemia — which overlooks the flat lands of Germany to the
north and the Danube Valley to the south — and it is racially and his-
torically allied to Bohemia. How little it may be inclined to love Austria
may be gleaned from the fact that after the Thirty Years ' War it was
so depopulated by massacre that every man was ordered to marry two
wives. It shared in the Czech revival of Bohemia.

The Slovak question is radically different. The Slovaks live in
an infertile land of rugged mountains, the Western Cai*pathians are
markedly backward in education and progress, little awakened to ideas
of liberty and, since the Middle Ages, have been reduced to peasant-
hood by the dominant Magyar or Hungarian nobles. They were — and
for that matter still are — Czechs, but they are totaly unlike their
kinsmen of Bohemia.

The total area of the Czecho-Slovak territories is about three times
the size of Switzerland. The total population is about 12,000,000, or
as many as Norway, Sweden and Denmark together. Of these peoples
6,500,000 are Czechs, 2,000,000 are Slovaks, the Germans are 3,300,000
and the Magyars are only 200,000, but politically dominant in the lands
of the Slovaks.

330 LITHUANIA, POLAND, AND THE CZECHO-SLOVAKS

Strategically, Bohemia, Moravia and Tatra are essential to Austria-
Hungary, for they are its defensible frontiers. Vienna would be open
to attack, and Buda-Pesth likewise, should the Czecho-Slovak states
be separated from the empire.

Economically, Bohemia, Moravia and Austrian Silesia are the
richest parts of the Austrian Empire. Besides great agricultural
wealth, the most important mineral deposits are situated there and
those regions form the industrial center of the empire. Culturally,
Bohemia is a powerful salient of the highest Slav thought thrust into
Teuton civilization.

The Czecho-Slovaks, therefore, like the Jugo-Slavs, have become
a nation during the war, although nation they have none. At the begin-
ning of the war the Austrian armies contained about 600,000 Western
Slavs from Bohemia and the Carpathians. From time to time, during
the war, about 300,000 deserted to their brother Slavs, the Russians.
In the debacle of July, 1917, thfe Czecho-Slovaks fought like demons to
stay the tide of Russian treachery and were eager to face the foe
alone.

The shameful peace of Brest-Litovsk left these hundreds of thou-
sands of patriotic Slavs stranded, but, at the word of Professor Mas-
aryk. Chief of the Czecho-Slovak National Council, they reorganized
and started their amazing march across Russia and Siberia to cross
the Pacific and Atlantic with the hope of joining the armies in France
to meet the Central Powers face to face once more. The efforts of the
Bolshevists to disarm them is told in the chapter on Russia.

Formation of the Czecho-Slovak Nation.

On May 30, 1917, in the Reichsrat, the Czech Deputies proclaimed
the resolution of their nation, including the Slovaks of Hungary, to
unite in an independent state. On January 6, 1918, the same deputies,
together with representatives of the Diets of Bohemia, Moravia and
Silesia solemnly asserted the rights of Czech countries and announced
that a peace treaty which did not give them freedom would mean the
beginning of another war. On April 13, 1918, the Czecho-Slovak depu-
ties met in formal conclave with Jugo-Slav representatives and plighted
a solemn covenant not to desist from war until both parts of oppressed
Slavdom had been freed and given national liberty. Typically enough,
the laying of the foundation stone of the Czech National Theatre at

LITHUANIA, POLAND, AND THE CZECHO-SLOVAI^S 331

Prague on May 16, 1918, became a formal alliance of the cultural inter-
ests of all the groups of the Western Slavs.

On June 30, 1918, France recognized the Czecho-Slovak nation in
the following words: ''The Government of the Republic deems it
equitable and necessary to proclaim the rights of your nation to inde-
pendence. ... In the name of the government I express the sin-
cerest wish that the Czecho-Slovak State may soon become, by the com-
mon efforts of all the AUies, in close union with Poland and the Jugo-
slav state an impassable barrier to Germanic aggression."

On August 13, 1918, the British government stated : ' ' Great Britain
regards the Czecho-Slovaks as an allied nation and recognizes the unity
of the three Czecho-Slovak armies as an allied and belligerent army
waging regular warfare against Austria-Hungary and Germany. Great
Britain also recognizes the right of the Czecho-Slovak National Council
as the supreme council of Czecho-Slovak national interests and as the
present trustee of the future Czecho-Slovak Government to exercise
supreme control over this allied and belligerent army." Other of the
Allied governments followed later this recognition. The Central
Powers, naturally, did not do so.

From what has been said in the foregoing two chapters it is clear,
therefore, that the world war produced an entirely new alignment of
the countries Ij'ing along the eastern border of Teutonism. No matter
how boundaries, in the future, may change a little to this side or to
that, it means a new map of Europe, based on racial homogeneity
instead of political theft. The splendor of the triumph lies in the fact
that the Allies, notably England and France, saw in victory the oppor-
tunity to help these aspirants to liberty instead of striving to enrich
themselves at the expense of their weaker brethren. The world pro-
gresses.

CHAPTER XXXIV.

MODERN JAPAN AND THE NEW CHINA.

Shogiinate and Samurai— The Restoration— Korea— Russo-Japanese War— The "Yellow Peril"— Old China
—Boxer Rebellion— Manchuria— The Chinese Republic— Slgnlflcanee of Capture of Eiao-Chau by
Japan— New Spheres of Influence In China.

OUTWARDLY, the Japan of today is different in a thousand ways
from the Japan of yesterday. Inwardly, Japan is the same.
"The Ethiopian cannot change his skin nor the leopard his spots,** said
a wise writer, many centuries ago. Japan can — and does — imitate and
copy America and Europe, but she cannot be America or Europe. Cos-
tumes and customs may change, facts and fancies may be interchanged,
but the soul of the yellow man and the soul of the white man will remain
different through all. This is no criticism. It would be as deplorable
to make Japan a little America, as it would be to make America a
greater Japan.

Japan's internal history **has nothing to do with the case." The
dynasty of the present Mikado was founded in 660 B. C. (so the claim
runs) and reigned unbrokenly until 1585, when the Shogun, or Com-
mander-in-Chief, usurped the governing power. In 1868 the Shogunate
was overthrown and the Mikado rule was restored. This restoration
was largely due to the anti-alien position of the Shogun government.
Treaties of 1854 and 1863 — loth though one may be to admit it — were
arrogant intrusions of western powers. In 1871 the feudal system was
overthrown and in 1889 Japan received a liberal constitution.

Japan's successful war with China in 1894 was brought about by
China's intention to annex Korea. In 1898 Russia appropriated the
Liao-tung peninsula, an act which was regarded by Japan as but a
prelude to the seizure of Manchuria and Korea, which, in turn, would
make Russia a sea-power on the Pacific and would menace Japan's
very existence. The Russo-Japanese war of 1904 was the natural
sequence. The defeat of Russia put Japan on the map as a first-class
power.

332

MODEEN JAPAN AND THE NEW CHINA 333

At the opening of the war, however, Japan was more afraid of
Germany than of Russia. She had historic cause. At the end of the
Chinese War, when the Japanese prepared to occupy the Liao-tung
peninsula, which they had won, the German Minister at Tokio, pre-
sented a note to the Japanese Foreign Minister. This read, in part:
''Germany is strong, Japan is weak; what may follow your refusal of
this advice is not difficult to foretell. ' ' The Hun, like the leopard, does
not change his spots, either!

Whereupon, when Germany seized Kiao-Chau Bay in 1897 on the
flimsy pretext that it was in reparation of the murder of two German
missionaries in the interior of Shantung, Japan had to keep quiet.
When she saw the whole province of Shantung become a German
' ' sphere of influence, ' ' she was still compelled to sit still and say noth-
ing. To have Germany and Russia against her at the same time would
have been too dangerous.

Japan Wants a "Place in the Sun,"

To Americans, generally, the ''yellow peril" is something very
real. Discounting many highly imaginary stories woven by the anti-
Japanese propagandists in the United States, the fact remains that the
Japanese laboring man could under-bid, under-cut and under-live the
American laboring man at all points. American labor, especially on
the Pacific coast, is savagely hostile to Japanese immigration.

One more thing remains to be said. Japan, far more urgently than
Germany, demands a "place in the sun." She will not be content until
she gets it. The Mongolian race, if organized and equipped for war,
could drive all the white races off the map of the Far East. It is well
to remember that the munition plants in Japan are not inferior to
those in the United States. It is well to remember that the Japanese
are extraordinarily good soldiers and that they can march further on
less food than any other army in the world. It is to be remembered
that a Mongolian War would have a solidarity which no Alliance could
equal. There may never be such a war, but as long as a Yellow Race
and a White Race inhabit this planet the possibility of such a war
remains.

The seizure of Kiao-Chau was Japan *s most signal act of the war.
It was important, because it drove Germany from Shan-tung. It was
far more important, however, because it linked Japan and China in

334 MODERN JAPAN AND THE NEW CHINA

an Alliance. Japan and Russia— whatever that word may come to
mean in the next few decades— already have an agreement. The
Anglo-Japanese agreement continues only to 1921. In January,
1915, Japan asked China for a concession allowing her to connect Wu-
chang by rail with the Kiukiang-Nanchang line. England stopped it.
In June, 1915, there was tension between England and Japan over
the stoppage of Japanese merchant vessels in Chinese waters. In the
spring of 1918 a bitter controversy arose regarding Japan's interest in
Oceania. At the close of the war, England and Japan, though allies,
were not friends.

Again, in 1917 and 1918 there were curious interchanges of notes
between Germany, Mexico and Japan. The State Department made
public only a few of these papers, and kept silence on those which
dealt with Japan. It cannot be said that Japan, though an ally, is a
friend of the United States. As Japan has a population of 76,500,000,
not far short of the German Empire, she is a power to be reckoned with.

The open Door in China,

The world war has not touched China, except in the single matter
of Kiao-Chau, which was a German ''sphere of influence." But he
knows little of world-politics who does not know that the "Open Door
in China" enters into every diplomatic question. The record of Euro-
pean intrusion in China is staggering. Following on the atrocious
"opium war," England annexed Hong-Kong in 1841. Russia quietly
grabbed all the territory north of the Amur River in 1860, quite with-
out cause. In 1874 France took Annam, and again, in 1885 seized
Tonquin. In 1887 Portugal felt hungry and cut off Macao for herself.
These are not small pieces. French Indo-China contains 16,000,000
people.

The merry game of international theft was not yet over. Germany
seized Kiao-Chau in 1897, the Russians occupied Port Arthur in the
same year, while the British "leased" Wei-hai-wei and Kowloon in 1898
and France "leased" Kwan-chow Bay for a naval base in the same
year The partition of China was the next step.

America then formulated the "open door" policy, realizing that
if the European powers divided China, it would minimize American
influence on the Pacific. Russia and Britain, however, proceeded to
punch holes in the "Open Door" policy while outwardly supporting it.

MODERN JAPAN AND THE NEW CHINA 335

The treaty of Portsmouth, which ended the Russo-Japanese war,
did not divert Russia from the East, it only changed her mode of
approach. Gradually she became dominant in Mongolia, an area of
1,300,000 square miles. The Chinese Revolution of 1911 gave a further
opportunity and on October 3, 1912, Russia added to her dominions
a piece of territory as large as one-third of the United States. It was
a big bite. In all, the Russian sphere of influence in China at the open-
ing of war was a total of 1,821,000 square miles.

It is rarely that Great Britain allows herself to be overlooked.
In February, 1913, England had closed a practical suzerainty over
Thibet which, with Sze-Chuan, Kwantung, and the provinces along the
Yang-Tsi-Kiang, gave her a total of 1,199,800 square miles. France
had Yun-nan, 146,700 square miles, and Germany had 55,900 square
miles. Japan has a larger slice than any foreign power, possessing
for her sphere of influence South Manchuria, Eastern Inner Mongolia,
Pukien, and a section of Shantung, totalling 2,004,600 square miles.

China's Economic Question.

A sharp commercial clash occurred in March, 1914, between America
and Japan, over a railroad rebate question which was regarded as
discriminating against American cotton trade. One year later, Japan
was compelled to yield the point. This factor is important, for Japan
makes no secret of the fact that it is her ambition to dominate the
commerce of the Far East. She regards it as her prescriptive right
in view of the fact that she is the leading Asiatic power. There are
many arguments in her favor. One of them is a powerful navy. The
Philippines question has a queer window to the east, but is not germane
to this book.

The economic question in China is complicated in the last degree.
The United States withdrew from the famous '^five-power loan" in
deference to the wishes of President Wilson. It is generally agreed,
now, that the President's fears were unfounded. America did, how-
ever, make a large loan to China in 1916.

At the close of the war China was a republic. The reader will
remember that there are many different kinds of republics. The first
alleged republic of China was constituted February 12, 1912. When
Yuan Shih-Kai dissolved the Chinese Parliament in 1913 the republic
ceased to be such in anything but name. In 1915 China speeded back

336 MODERN JAPAN AND THE NEW CHINA

to monarchy. On October 23, 1915, Yuan Shih-Kai was "appointed
by Heaven to ascend the Throne of the Chinese Empire and to transmit
it to his heirs for ten thousand generations." Yuan abdicated as Em-
peror the following March but remained President. On May 10 Li
Yuan-Hung was nominated President by the southern provinces. The
following year was one of civil war. Yuan died on June 6, 1916, and
Li Yuan-Hung became President. He promptly restored the Constitu-
tion, the Parliament was convoked on August 1, 1916, and commenced
to draft a Permanent Constitution.

The year 1917 was a constant struggle, and though both political
parties favored Germany, England succeeded in forcing China to break
diplomatic relations. In 1918 the civil war confusion continued, and
Chinese participation in the world war proved a false hope, for the
north was set against the south, the royalists against the republicans,
and each party was split into a thousand cliques. A few regiments
were sent to France but only as an evidence of alliance.

Over China hangs Japan, eager to bite off another piece of the
Celestial Land, and over Japan hang the powers, equally greedy for
themselves and all alike suspicious of Japan. Still further overhead
hangs the United States, as little inclined to give Japan added territory
as Japan is inclined to see the Allies increase their Asiatic holdings.
Meanwhile, China gets nothing. Let no one deem the Chinese question
settled I

CHAPTER XXXV.

THE CENTRAL POWERS— A GENERAL REVIEW.

Military, Political and Economic Conditions of the Three Empires and Their Bulgarian Link— The Berlin-
to-Bagdad Railway— Colonies of the Central Powers— The Breakdown of the Kaiser-Forged Chain
and Appeals for a Separate Peace.

THE world war, regarded as a whole, gave the student of world
history one astounding surprise. This was the defection of all
elements in the Central Powers which were not either Asiatic or Teuton.
The phrase — **The Hun'* — which came to be the current appellation
for the Central Powers, and which was largely based upon a parallel
between the atrocities of the infamous Attila and of the German hosts
in Belgium, has a much deeper root in history. The German-Austro-
Hungarian-Bulgar-Turk alliance was not an alliance of one group of
European nations against another, but an alliance of Teutonized Asia-
tic barbarians against Europe. The statement that "America entered
the war for the cause of civilization" is not a pretty preachment, but
a vital and a sober truth.

Without entering into the question of colonies, the home lands
of the three empires and one kingdom, which constituted the Central
Powers, contained almost 50,000,000 Asiatics. These armies of Asiatic
peoples of Turk, Turko-Tartaric, Mongolian or Finno-Ugric race, were
oflScered by Teutons and supplied with Teuton artillery. The Asiatic
is the Leviathan to Europe, living hidden in his deep Oriental ocean.
In that most marvellous book, the Old Testament, is summed up the
dark, irresponsible enormity of Leviathan in the words of the Book
of Job: ''Will he make a covenant with thee?'* The Teuton menace
was the supposed covenant with Leviathan.

In other chapters of this book, the individual characteristics and
the history of the nations comprising the Central Powers have been
stated, but in a general review of the whole Alliance it is well to observe
that the war was really and truly a war of Civilization against what
may be called Barbarianism rather than barbarism. Gilbert K. Ches-

337

22— W. L.

338 THE CENTRAL POWERS— A GENERAL REVIEW

terton coined a great phrase when he spoke of the Central Powers as
''veneered vandals." A Vandal, in the historic sense, was one who
sought to destroy the evidences of civilization because they evinced
a cultural state different from his own, and veneering is merely the
covering of this desire with the trappings of the civilization he despised.
"A solemn promise,'* says Chesterton, and one cannot refrain from
quoting, "a promise, like the wind, is unknown in nature and is the
first mark of man. It may be said with all seriousness 'In the Begin-
ning was the Word.' The vow is the voice of Man, whereby he is
known. It is not easy to mention anything on which the enormous
apparatus of human life can be said to depend. But, if it depends on
anything, it is on this frail cord, flung from the forgotten hills of yes-
terday to the invisible mountains of tomorrow. On that solitary string,
a man's word, hangs everything, all the principles by which human
society has been made possible hitherto. On that solitary string the
barbarian is hacking with a sabre which is fortunately blunt. ' '

Military Pre- War Superiority of the Central Powers.

The Central Powers were extremely f ona, during the war, of boast-
ing that "Germany had all the world against her, and was facing them
all down." A curious boast, indeed, to pride oneself on having aroused
the contempt, the dislike, and the resentment of the whole world. So
might a duellist, convicted of foul play, boast that no gentleman would
fight with him, so might a swindling merchant boast that no one would
trade with him. This is the very quintessence of barbarism, to take
pride in destroying every evidence of a civilization which is not theirs.
There is one terrible proof, one trenchant comparison. Compare Ger-
many's acts at the opening of the war when she was sure of triumph,
and the Allies' acts at the end of the war, when they were sure of
triumph I

Viewed as a whole, the Central Powers represented a population
of 150,000,000, a number vastly smaller than the populations aligned
against them. Seven-eights of their population, however, was on the
homeland, while, of the far vaster population of the British Empire
and of the French and Italian possessions, only three-eights was avail-
able.

Viewed as a military unit, the position of the Central Powers was
incalculably better than that of the Allies, especially in the event of a

THE CENTRAL POWERS— A GENERAL REVIEW 339

short war. Eastern and western battle-fronts were connected by good
railways and transportation was reduced to a minimum. A German
regiment might fight on the French frontier one week and on the
Russiatn frontier the next. An English regiment fighting on the
French frontier would have to cross the Atlantic Ocean, the whole
of Canada, the Pacific Ocean, the broad wastes of Siberia and all of
Russia to reach the place that its Prussian opponents had reached in
a few days.

Viewed as a military economic unit, the position of the Central
Powers was ideal — for a short war. There were vast stores of grain
on hand, Hungary was one of the best wheat countries in the world
and countless millions of sheep grazed on the mountain slopes of Bul-
garia and Turkey. The great military works of Essen in Germany
and Skoda in Austria were able to turn out quantities of munitions
and transport presented no serious diflSculties.

Germany Wanted a Short War as Only Hope.

As a social economic unit, the Central Powers were poorly equipped.
Germany was bankrupt, or, at least, was on the very edge of a panic
brought about by the reaction from a period of inflation. Austria-
Hungary, in her divided state, had been in a state of money stress for
twenty years, Bulgaria was new in the family of nations and had not
been able to build up a sufficiency of credit, and Turkey had become so
accustomed to the pawnshop method of getting money that she had
forgotten both industry and trade.

Factors such as these are matters of difficulty in a short war.
They spell irretrievable ruin in a long war. Germany knew this well,
and she knew that it was imperative for her to win the war quickly.
She reckoned that if she tried to force her way by Verdun, she would
be stopped, and every day's delay was vital. If she broke her treaties
and went via Belgium, then the war might go quickly and Liege was
the road to the coal and iron mines of Northern France. The blame
for Germany's invasion of Belgium is by no means to be put entirely
on the military authorities of Germany. The bankers knew, and said,
that a short war was the only hope.

The entanglement of the Central Powers with the Russian ques-
tion, again, was an economic problem. The theory that the Czar willingly
allowed himself to be pushed into war against Germany in order that

340 THE CENTRAL POWERS— A GENERAL REVIEW

he might deliver up the country afterwards is not supported by the
evidence. Just what did cause this change in Russia's attitude will be
dealt with in full hereinafter, but in the larger light of world issues
it is clear that three things made the Central Powers seek an alliance
with Russia during the war. These three were : the English blockade,
the entrance of Italy into the war and the final victory of the Venizelos
party over King Constantine in Greece. These three events shut off,
in turn, the North Sea, the Adriatic Sea and the ^gean Sea. The
Baltic Sea being included in the British blockade, this left the Central
Powers without a single port.

Thus came about Zeppelin and submarine raids. It is a gross mis-
take — continuously made by American writers during the war — to sup-
pose that Germany did not see the futility of her Zeppelin raids. With-
out infringing on the military history of aviation, which is dealt with
elsewhere in this book, it is worthy of mention here that the number of
men killed in Zeppelin raids was fewer than the number of men in Zep-
pelin crews lost by those raids. In other words, the Zeppelin was not only
a huge monetary loss, but tactically, it was a military loss. Psycho-
logically considered, it was an obsession, a part of the false ''fright-
fulness" idea which is treated in the chapter on Germany. In actual
fact, the Zeppelin raids were compulsory for the morale of the German
public. It was necessary to show that while the seas might be block-
aded, Gerhaany was not entirely hemmed in.

Germanjr's Purpose in the Submarine.

The submarine menace was a more potent weapon. Its purpose,
however, was the same. It is foolish to blame the Germans for not
having confined their submarine raids to enemy battleships. That was
not their point. It really would have done but little good. A submarine
attacking a cruising fleet has her fate sealed at once by the combination
of hydroplanes, destroyers and depth bombs. The submarine was
primarily an agent of frightfulness and a commerce destroyer. A true
under-water cargo boat would have been a boon to Germany, but there
was no such craft invented. The submarine was Germany's answer
to the closing of the three seas.

Toward the middle period of hostilities, the Berlin-to-Bagdad rail-
way project took on a new form. During the summer of 1916, German
engineers and German diplomats were working on the development of

THE CENTRAL POWERS— A GENERAL REVIEW 341

Southern Russian railways, with Constantinople held out as the bait.
This somewhat ingenious idea gave Turkey a large section of the Bal-
kans with an Adriatic shore, gave the Bosphorus to Russia, the Dardan-
elles to Turkey and made of the Sea of Marmora a protected sea
governed by the mutual interests of Russia, Germany, Bulgaria and
Turkey. Moreover, the Central Powers were simultaneously planning
this project, in various forms, with the Great Russians in Petrograd,
the Little Russians in Kiev and the Cossacks in Odessa. There seems
reason to believe that this hopeful scheme was hatched in Sofia for
only by some such arrangement could Bulgaria get her fingers into the
Constantinople pie.

Germany's Waning Power.

In the following chapter on Germany it will be shown how a Ger-
man error in race psychology led to the entrance of England and the
United States into the war. From the point of view of the Central
Powers, however, the greatest psychological error was that of regard-
ing the Russians as fellow-barbarians. Barbarous, indeed, they proved
to be ; barbarians, they were not. The revolution which was fomented
by Russian and Turkish emissaries recoiled on their heads and the
Central Powers found themselves worse isolated than before. Diplo-
macy might be able to do something with a venal court; it could do
nothing with a seething hotbed of young republics, each with a different
ideal.

The Kaiser had forged the first link of the Berlin-to-Bagdad chain
by his visit to "Abdul Hamid, his brother" in 1888. He forged the
Austrian link by supporting the Bosnian annexation of 1908, and the
Bulgarian link by being the enemy of England, which had demanded
the Bulgarian relinquishment of the ''Greater Bulgaria" awarded by
the Treaty of San Stefano.

By a curious inversion of circumstances, Germany's partial success
on the eastern front was the cause of the loss of her eastern prestige.
When the Central Powers found it necessary to devote their whole
force to the French and Italian fronts, the eastern nations regarded
Germany's strength as waning, which it undoubtedly was. No longer
had the Kaiser a long arm to reach into Asia Minor. England crept
up to Bagdad. The cavalry of England and France swept up to An-
tioch. Jerusalem fell into British hands.

342 THE CENTRAL POWERS— A GENERAL REVIEW

The Kaiser's power over Turkish thought dwindled and perished.
The failure of German diplomacy in Greece and the reconstruction of
Roumania taught Bulgaria that Germany was failing. The Kaiser's
influence in Sofia guttered down to the socket and went out. The Berlin-
to-Bagdad chain was broken.

Moreover, the German colonial empire was no more. In Africa,
"the land of the marvellous future," Germany possessed over 1,000,000
square miles, or territories about the size of British India, with a
population of 12,000,000. By January 1, 1918, every scrap of this had
been conquered.

German Territory Conquered by Allies.

The conquests were as follows: Togoland, 33,700 square miles,
captured by a Franco-British expedition, August 26, 1914; German
Samoa, 1,000 sq. m., captured by New Zealand forces, August 30, 1914 ;
German New Guinea, 90,000 sq. m., captured by an Australian expedi-
tion, September 11, 1914; Caroline, Solomon and Marshall Islands,
10,500 sq. m., captured by Japanese, October 7, 1914; Kiao-Chau, 200
sq. m., captured by Japanese-British force, November 7, 1914 ; German
Southwest Africa, 322,450 sq. m., captured by Union of South Africa
troops under a Boer General, July 9, 1915 ; Kamerun, 300,000 sq. m.,
captured by a Franco-British force, February 18, 1916 ; German East
Africa, 384,000 sq. m., captured by British-South African troops, De-
cember 1, 1917. This settled the hopes of Germany's oriental allies.
If she could no;t hold her own colonies, how could she be counted upon
to undertake and carry out new obligations to them?

The break on the Asiatic side of the alliance brought down the
Central Powers in its fall. After Turkey and Bulgaria had sued for
a separate peace and after the German hopes of Russian support had
proved to be but leaning on a broken reed, the game was up. Had
Germany been three times as strong as she was on the western front,
had she still possessed stores of men and materials to draw on, it
would have been of no use. Had the United States not been present
at Chateau Thierry the result would have been the same. A long,
drawn-out fight might have resulted, many more hundreds of thousands
of gallant soldiers would have lost their lives on both sides, but Ger-
many could not win, could never have won.

Thirty years had elapsed since the Kaiser's visit to Abdul Hamid,

THE CENTRAL POWERS— A GENERAL REVIEW 343

thirty years of gradual preparation for the Teuton-Asiatic attack on
modern civilization. The chain broke, as it ever does, at its weakest
link. Not even Prussianism could put the Occident into the Orient,
and Western Europe could not permit the Orient to march westward
again. As an evil dream fades at the awakening born of sunlight, so
the nightmare of Prusso-Turk barbarianism fled away at the light of
righteousness that glittered on the bayonet-points of the Allies and the
United States.

CHAPTER XXXVI.

THE MILITARISTIC GERMAN EMPIRE.

Old Germany a Loose Confederation of States— Bismarck, "Old Blood and Iron"— Dropping the Pilot—
Kletzsche and Treltsche— Bernhardl and Pan-Germanism— Kaiserdom and Junkerlsm— Wart- The
Cmdal Mistake, an Error in Race Psychology.

aWY^ do not make war against the German people, but against

W Junker rulers of Germany," is a phrase which became cur-
rent in America during the war, and which was nothing more or less
than an ingenious piece of German propaganda. President Wilson,
himself, at the time fell into the trap of repeating it. It was equivalent
to saying *'We do not make war against Americans but against the
American Constitution and the Congress of the United States." Mili-
tarism was as much a part of the soul of the German people at the
close of the war as popular representation was a part of the soul of
the American people.

The history of Germany is marked by one significant fact. In the
great struggle for political liberty which marked the centuries of
the Renaissance and the Reformation, the scattered German states
played but little part. The top-heavy Holy Roman Empire — which was
Catholic — and the feuds of the petty electorates, margravates and

princelings— most of whom were Protestant prevented any united

action. Germany had given birth to princes and to theologians. She
had never given birth to patriots and liberators.

The proof of this dissension lies in the fact that when Napoleon
went through Germany like a tornado, he found nearly 300 principali-
ties, dukedoms, free cities and what not, all an alleged part of the
crumbling Holy Roman Empire. Only four states, said a contemptuous
contemporary historian, ''were larger than a potato field." These
four were Saxony, Bavaria, Wurtemburg, and Prussia.

Prussia was the master spirit of Germany then, as she was at the
opening of the world war. In the seventeenth century Frederick
William ''the Great Elector," had created Prussia, turning two minor

344

THE MILITARISTIC GERMAN EMPIRE 345

provinces into a military monarchy. Frederick the Great, who came
to the throne of Prussia in 1740, was one of the great rulers of all time.
He was a military leader of the first rank. He was also somewhat
ruthless in matters of diplomacy. ''Take what you can,'* he wrote,
''you are never wrong unless compelled to give it back." On another
occasion he wrote "The Right is an affair only for the clergy." As
has been shown in the chapter on Poland, he joined hands with Cath-
erine the Great of Russia to make mincemeat of the territories which
lay between them.

For fifty years after his death Germany made little political prog-
ress. When the beginnings of a liberal movement in Germany — a late
and feeble copy of other nations — arose in 1843, Frederick William IV
said of the proposed constitution that "he would never allow a blotted
parchment to come between Almighty God and this land," meaning
himself. The revolution of 1848 in France and the establishment of
the Second Republic, suggested to the Prussians the possibility of
imitation. There were a few street riots which alarmed the King suffi-
ciently to induce him to convoke a national parliament to debate con-
cerning a constitution.

The Plan of Bismarck.

The parliament degenerated into a professional debating society,
and when, at last, it offered the crown to the King — who already had
it — and tried to give it an imperial character, the King refused it on
the ground that a crown given by plebeians was but "a crown of mud
and wood." The whole project went to pieces and Carl Schurz and
the leaders fled to America. Sixty-five years later, von Biilow was to
say of his own nation that "despite the great qualities with which the
German people is endowed, political talent has been denied it." In
1858 Frederick William was removed to an asylum, his brain having
given way.

William I, "William the Silent," or "Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse,"
came to the throne in 1858. He was bitterly unpopular. Not only
that, but his prime minister. Otto von Bismarck, his minister of war,
von Roon and his chief general, von Moltke, were hated even more.
But there was something new in Germany, there was a man with a
plan. The man was Bismarck, and the plan was the consolidation of

346 THE MILITARISTIC GERMAN EMPIRE

Gemiany under Prussian leadership, rather than under Austrian, as
all former efforts had been.

Now, for the first time, a real movement against militarism began.
The Prussian Chamber of Deputies in 1861 refused to vote the large
appropriations demanded by the King for the strengthening of the
army. William I showed some fear, Bismarck, none. On the contrary,
in 1862 the Iron Chancellor offered to hold office in defiance of parlia-
ment and to collect taxes without authority of law. It was then that
he uttered his famous dictum: "The unity of Germany is not to be
brought about by speeches, nor by votes of majorities, but by blood
and iron." Protests by parliament were thrown into the waste-paper
basket unread, the press was muzzled, local municipal bodies who dared
to pass resolutions counter to the government were fined. In any
country but Prussia this would have caused revolution, in Prussia it
created admiration.

The North German Confederation.

The first blow for modern Germany was struck in 1864, when
Bismarck seduced Austria into an alliance, and, thus strengthened,
forced Denmark to abandon Schleswig-Holstein. Then Bismarck turned
on his former ally, and, at the Battle of Sadowa in 1866, humbled
Austria. This victory was potent. It compelled Austria to relinquish
control of the South German States, Hesse-Darmstadt, Baden, Wurtem-
burg and Bavaria. It did more. It enabled Prussia to take the lead
in establishing the North German Confederation on August 18, 1866.

The make-up of Germany both at the beginning and the end of
the world war was a matter of such importance that it is necessary
to give a little detail of the North German Confederation. It super-
seded the Germanic Confederation, which, in turn, superseded the
Confederation of the Rhine. The latter, also known as the League of
the Germanic States was formed by Napoleon, July 12, 1806, when he
abolished the Holy Roman Empire which had endured since 962 A. D.
The Confederation of the Rhine ended with the collapse of Napoleon.

The Germanic Confederation was constituted June 8, 1815, and
comprised : Austria, Prussia, Bavaria, Saxony, Hanover and Wurtem-
burg, Baden, the electorate and grand duchy of Hesse, Denmark,
Holland, Saxe-Weimer, Saxe-Coburg, Saxe-Meiningen and Saxe-Alten-
burg, Brunswick and Nassau, Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Mecklenburg-

THE MILITAKISTIC GERMAN EMPIRE 347

Strelitz, Oldenburg, the three Anhalts and the two Schwarzburgs, the
two HohenzoUerns, Liechtenstein, Reuss, Schaumburg-Lippe, Lippe and
Waldeck, and the free cities of Hamburg, Bremen, Frankfort and
Lubeck.

The North German Confederation was formed by Bismarck on
August 18, 1866, and differed radically from its predecessors. The
former confederations had been but loose aggregations of states but
the union created by Bismarck was a stiff off'ensive and defensive alli-
ance. It was, to all practical purposes, a single country, comprising
Prussia, Saxe-Wiemar, Oldenburg, Brunswick, Saxe-Altenburg, Saxe-
Coburg-Gotha, Anhalt, Schwarzburg, Waldeck, Reuss, Lippe, Lubeck,
Hamburg and Bremen. In the course of the next two months, the
Mecklenburgs, Hesse, Saxe-Meiningen and Saxony joined, and the first
meeting of the North German parliament was held at Berlin, February
24, 1867.

Bismarck's Ingenious Statecraft.

The Franco-Prussian War, as has been shown in a foregoing chap-
ter on Alliances, was forced by Bismarck not because of any enmity
to France, but because he felt the need of a war to bring into an active
alliance those states of South Germany which had been in the Con-
federation of the Rhine, but had refused to join the North German
Confederation. Moreover, he was a shrewd enough statesman to realize
that he must make large concessions. Thus, for example, Bavaria,
Saxony and Wurtemburg were left as semi-independent kingdoms, with
their own parliaments and control of their own armies in peace times.
Questions of taxation, also, were left to them.

Accordingly, when the Eang of Prussia was made Emperor in
Versailles in 1871, he was not proclaimed Emperor of Germany. There
is no such position. William I was proclaimed '' German Emperor,'*
the distinction being that he held an imperial crown for the German
people but not over the German States. On the other hand, the offices
of King of Prussia and German Emperor were made inseparable,
therefore, since the kingship was hereditary, the Kaisership was heredi-
tary also.

An even more ingenious piece of statecraft was Bismarck's parlia-
mentary handling of the Reichstag and the Bundesrat. This is a ques-
tion which had much to do with the world war.

The Reichstag was supposedly a liberal parliament, originally con-

:US THE MILITARISTIC GERMAN EMPIRE

sisting of 397 members, but gradually increased until on February 16,
1918, the Bundesrat approved a bill increasing the membership of the
Reichstag to 441. The members were elected by an almost universal
male suffrage. But — and this is the essential point — the Emperor had a
right to dissolve the Reichstag after a vote by the Bundesrat. Thus,
no matter what the Reichstag might or might not have wished to do,
if it ran counter to Kaiserism, it could be promptly dissolved, and the
process repeated until a tame Reichstag was secured, one which would
eat out of the Imperial hand.

Since, then, the Bundesrat was thus all-powerful, it is necessary
to understand the basis on which it is constituted. The Bundesrat was
Bismarck's scheme for substituting imperial control for popular control.
At the opening of the war (and at the close) it consisted of 61 members
appointed by the governments of the individual states, but under such
conditions that the delegates to this council were, of necessity, the
choice of the kings, princes and grand-dukes of the empire. Officially
Prussia had but 17 votes in the Bundesrat, but as the princelings could
not but stand with the Kaiser and as a large proportion of votes was
in the hands of the old North German Confederation, the Bundesrat
was in the hollow of the Kaiser's hand.

Junkerism a Part of the Political System.

The parliaments of the several states, such as the Landtag of
Prussia, bore much the same relation to the Reichstag and Bundesrat
that the assemblies of the states of the United States bear to the
House of Representatives and the Senate. Of this Landtag, the upper
house was controlled solely by birth and wealth. The same principle,
with certain modifications, prevailed in each state.

Be it observed that this was Junkerism, and that Junkerism was
not merely an excrescence foisted upon Germany by Emperor William II
and his party but an essential, integral part of the political system of
the empire from the great Kingdom of Prussia to the smallest princi-
pality whose very name is unknown to most Americans. The junker,
in the true sense of the word was a country magnate. If rich and
powerful, he was like a noble of the old French regime— if only moder-
ately well-placed, he was like an English squire during the Georgian
period; if poverty-stricken, he resembled an Irish squireen. Whether
rich, well-off or poor, however, marriage with a girl who had a suffi-

THE MILITARISTIC GERMAN EMPIRE 349

oiently large dowry to support him as an army officer was the goal
of every one. As social precedence was governed by military prece-
dence, the wife of a sub-lieutenant would have social precedence over
the jsdfe of a world-renowned scientist or of a millionaire merchant.
*'This payment by means of social honor instead of by salaries,"
says Davis, "was part of the efficient Prussian system of getting the
greatest possible results for the minimum public expenditure. It
helped the Hohenzollerns to keep up a huge army on a relatively small
military budget.'* It was the key to Junkerism, the prop and pillar
of Prussianism. It explains the anomaly of a huge Prussian army in
a bankrupt country at the opening of the war.

Obligatoiy Service in the German Army.

Moreover, every German was a compulsory soldier. The term
of service in the First Line was seven years, two in the ranks and five
in the reserve; in the cavalry and horse artillery, three in the ranks
and four in the reserve. This took a young man's life from 20 to 27
years of age. The period of the Landwehr or Second Line Army was
five years in the first "ban" and seven years in the second "ban."
He was still a reserve soldier to the age of 39. From that time on men
passed into the Landsturm or home defence army until the age of 45
years.

The disproportionately large force of officers in time of peacg,
which was the most distinguishing feature of German life before the
war, was due to the fact that all these reservists could be called to the
colors and immediately placed in active service under trained officers.
This avoided the extraordinary difficulty that England encountered,
when she raised an enormous volunteer army for the war, and the neces-
sity under which the United States labored of employing officers whose
terms of training had been very short compared with those in European
armies.

Certain phrases become watchwords. One of these resulted from
a cartoon in the London satiric weekly "Punch," which showed the
Kaiser, William II, on board a ship bidding farewell to Bismarck. It
was called "Dropping the Pilot!" The actual happening came about
thus. When the Kaiser — ^he who brought about the world war — came
to the throne, he felt the Iron Chancellor to be a stronger man than
himself. He decided to reduce the powers of the Chancellorate. Bis-

350 THE MILITARISTIC GERMAN "EMPIRE

marck objected. The Kaiser insisted. "Am I to understand, your
Majesty," asked the greatest statesman of the nineteenth century,
' * that I am in your way ? " ' * Yes ! ' ' was the reply. Bismarck prepared
to resign. The letter of resignation did not come fast enough. The
Kaiser drove in haste to Bismarck's residence, summoned the aged
statesman from his bed and commenced to bully him. Bismarck refused
his commands. "I order it as your sovereign!" said the arrogant
young monarch. ''The commands of my King cease at my wife's
drawing-room," quoth the Iron Chancellor. Thenceforth William II
was to walk uncounselled. He strode, head high, to defeat.

Another pregnant phrase summarized Germany's position. "We
need a place in the Sun ! ' ' This was neither vain boast, nor blind arro-
gance. It was a terrible truth. Entering the list of powers at so late
a date (1871) most of the territory available for colonial possession
had been taken by other nations. Moreover, the huge military and
naval expenses which had developed since 1901, the exorbitant social-
istic pension schemes, the vast sums for local and municipal improve-
ments had reduced Germany to a state of beggary. "What comes
next?" asked a diplomatic agent of the head of the Reichsbank, the
great financial institution of Germany. "Smash comes next I" was
the reply.

Germany's Pre- War Financial Condition.

•

Naturally, Germany never published any financial documents show-
ing her weakness. But neither did she publish any showing her sup-
posed strength. Almost the only authoritative statement made during
the war was that by Crammond, the great English expert, Secretary of
the Liverpool Stock Exchange, who was asked by the London Chamber
of Commerce to compare the English and German financial situations.
His report may be colored, but the figures in the case may be taken
as approximately true.

At the opening of the war, Crammond pointed out, Germany had
a gold reserve of $465,000,000, a war-chest large enough to meet her
mobilization needs. The coined gold actually in the country was esti-
mated at $1,000,000,000 (German sources of information). By March,
1916, all the war-chest money had been spent, the four war loans had
taken from the German people $11,600,000,000 and the Reichsbank
held only $625,000,000 in gold. Against this gold she had issued $4,625,-

THE MILITARISTIC GERMAN EMPIRE 351

000,000 notes, making a note insolvency of $4,000,000,000. Germany
was thus, technically, bankrupt to the extent of four billion dollars to
her people, at the middle of the war on notes alone, and was, moreover,
presumptively bankrupt to the extent of eleven billion dollars in prom-
ises to pay on bonds.

Germany's investments abroad (including those in the United
States) were $5,850,000,000, of which, at that time, more than half was
unrealizable. (By the end of the war, all of it was unrealizable.) Her
merchant shipping, consisting of 5,459,296 tons, was all either sunk,
captured or misting in neutral and German harbors. Her credit in the
world was gone, her commercial prestige ruined, and the value of the
mark had declined to a vanishing point on the world's exchanges. Only
crushingly heav}' indemnities levied on the Allied Nations could have
saved Germany from an economic defeat. That was the secret which
welded economic Germany behind the war party. The military defeat
of Germany was not more crushing than the economic defeat she had
brought upon herself. She waged the war as a cloak to hide her un-
stable financial state, staking all on one throw. She lost.

The Course of German Philosophy.

Germany's "place in the sun," moreover, was closely allied to the
great question of Pan-Germanism. In order to simplify this angle of
the subject it will be presented under three heads, attached to what
may be called the three prophets of that creed. These are Nietzsche,
the prophet of the philosophy of Pan-Germanism; Treitsche, the
prophet of the doctrine of Pan-Germanism, and Bemhardi, the prophet
of the means of Pan-Germanism. The first was a philosopher, the
second a professorial politician, the third a soldier.

It is tempting to trace the course of German philosophy, but space
demands only the briefest mention. In 1808, Fichte proclaimed the
first article of the Pan-Germanic creed: "Germany is to the rest
of the world as good is to evil." In 1844 von Fallersleben composed
the national song: "Deutschland iiber alles, iiber alles in der Welt."
(Germany over all, over all in the world.) Nietzsche presented the
thesis of the Super-man, with the German playing that role, and im-
piously tried to prove that Jesus of Nazareth was a German, a thesis
which Chamberlain carried to the most literal alleged proof. True to
the Hun spirit Nietzsche wrote, "This new law, my brothers, I give

352 THE MILITARISTIC GEBMAN EMPIRE

you, 'Become Hard!' " Of war he wrote: *'Ye shall love pea<je as a
means to new wars— and a short peace more than a long." The
Kaiser's pastor declared from the pulpit "God loves Prussia, He may
love the rest of the world." This culminates in Kaiser Wilhelm's
famous words ''Me und Gott!" in which he blasphemously placed him-
self first.

Treitsche was the historian of the HohenzoUems, and, as a pro-
fessor of history in the University of Berlin, he was an inspired
prophet. His lecture rooms were crowded, not only by students, but
by high officials. In the years 1890-1900, intellectually he ruled politi-
cal Germany by a marvellous oratory and by being the mouthpiece
of Kaiserism and Junkerdom. When he said : "A state has no superior
judge over itself and will make all its treaties with this tacit reserva-
tion," he prepared the way for Bethmann-Hollweg^s "scrap of paper!"
Of Belgium he wrote "It is not a nation, for it is mutilated by its
very nature" (its neutrality). Of war, he prophesied grimly, "The
living God will take care that war shall always return as a terrible
medicine for the human race."

German3^s Pet Project — Berlin-to-Bagdad.

Bemhardi was but one of many military exponents of Pan-Ger-
manism. As he is the best known of them, a few extracts will suffice
to show the trend of German feeling in 1911. He said : "War in itself
is a good thing. It is a biological necessity of the first importance."
Of the Hague, he said: "Courts of arbitration are pernicious delu-
sions." Of other nations he wrote: "The State is a law unto itself.
Weak nations have not the same right to live as powerful and vigorous
nations." Of wars of aggression he said: "The State is justified in
making conquests whenever its own advantage seems to require addi-
tional territory. " The Crown Prince Frederick William in 1913 capped
this teaching when he wrote: "It is only by relying upon our good
German sword that we can hope to conquer that place in the sun
which rightly belongs to us. . . . Till the world shall come to an
end, the ultimate decision must rest with the sword."

The Berlin-to-Bagdad railway was the pet project of Pan-German-
ism. It was a tremendous and a daring scheme, the completion of
which, if Kaiser William II had but had patience to await, might have
changed the whole tenor of the worid war. It is not necessary to go

THE MILITARISTIC GERMAN EMPIRE 353

into the negotiations with Turkey regarding concessions. Let it be
sufficient to say that it would have controlled all the Balkan nations
through their commerce, it would have made Turkey a vassal, it would
have given Constantinople to Germany, it would have given the Kaiser
all that he wished to take of Asia Minor, it would have dominated the
Black Sea and Southern Russia, it would have tapped the railways
running into Palestine and made the Kaiser — what he proclaimed him-
self — "The friend of friends of the Mohammedan peoples," it would
have made Persia a vassal of Germany, it would have given Germany
a wide Mediterranean sea-coast just across from the Suez Canal and
it would have landed German armies at the Afghanistan gates of India.
A place in the sun, indeed !

Germanjr's Policy of Frightfulness.

It was with a realization of this terrible menace that the Anzacs
spilt their blood like water on the slopes of the Gallipoli Peninsula,
only to be beaten back at the last. It was because of this that Allied
Armies hovered ready at Saloniki. It was because of this that Bul-
garia's relation to the war was so important. It was because of this that
Russia's coUapse was so alarming. It was because of this that England
made alliance with the Arabs, and, in one of the most picturesque cav-
alry campaigns in human history, spent two long and wearj^ years to
struggle upw^ards from Egypt and from the Red Sea and from the
Arabian Gulf, across stony wastes and supposedly impassable deserts,
to win the last Crusade and plant the Cross in place of the Crescent
on the ramparts of Jerusalem. When, later, British and Allied forces
took Antioch and Bagdad, the Pan-German dream was broken.

The German psychology, however, possessed one glaring fallacy.
It supposed its own spirit to be the spirit of the world. Nowhere did
this spirit show itself more utterly wrong than in the policy of "fright-
fulness. ' ' Arguing that the German people, themselves, would be cowed
by frightfuhiess, they proceeded on the basis that others would "be
cowed similarly. Thus on August 22, 1914, General von Biilow pro-
claimed in Liege: "It is with my consent that the commander-in-chief
has ordered the whole town (Andenne) to be burned and that al)out
one hundred persons have been shot. I bring this fact to the City of
Liege so that citizens of Liege may realize the fate with which they
are menaced if thev adopt a similar attitude." Or in Namur: "A

23— W. L.

354 THE MILITARISTIC GERMAN EMPIRE

German guard will take ten hostages in each street. If any outrage
is conunitted in that street the ten hostages will be shot." Belgium
only fought the harder.

Admiral von Tirpitz, speaking of the submarine policy, said : "It
is only a matter of time until we bring England to her knees." The
sinking of the Lusitania was made the occasion of the casting of a
medal of rejoicing in Germany. But the submarine only made England
fight the harder, and the Lusitania question operated powerfully in
bringing America into the war.

Deeper and worse was the gospel of hate. ' * Gott strafe England ! ' '
(God punish England!) became the rallying cry. Lissauer's ''Hymn
of Hate" became Germany's national war anthem and the composer
was decorated by the Kaiser. Hear the doctrine of hate: ''The fire
of righteous Hate is all aglow. We have but one war cry — ' Gott strafe
England ! ' Hiss it in the trenches, in the charge. You German people
at home, feed this fire of Hate! You mothers, engrave this in the
heart of the babe at your breast! You thousands of teachers, teacli
Hate'. You sacred guardians of the truth, feed this sacred Hate — "
and so the horrid cry of vengeance rolls on, page after page. But
Hate is a two-edged weapon. Curses come home to roost.

The world-issue of Germany at the close of the war was that she
was Germany, and that her people were German. The militarism of
the German Empire was not something dropped down from above, it
was of German origin. The concept of the German Super-man was of
German begetting. The greed of Pan-Germanism was Germanic.
The gospel of hate found voice and echo in German hearts. The soul
of a nation is not a coat to be put on and off. At the close of the war,
even as at the beginning, France was France, England was England,
America was America and Germany was — Germany.

CHAPTER XXXVII.

AUSTRIA-HUNGARY THE UNSTABLE.

The Shadowy Holy Roman Empire— Franz Josef the Juggler— Sadowa— The Dual Monarchy, a Harlequin
State and a Nation Without a Soul— The Magyars— The Teuton Whip— International Trickery-
Treaty of Bucharest— Absolute Collapse From Within.

IT would be difficult to find an excuse for the existence of Austro-
Hungary, that is, the Austro-Hungarian Empire as it was before
the war. There was no racial reason, no linguistic reason, no strategic
reason, no commercial reason, no cultural reason, no political reason.
It had neither power, progress, nor respect. The ' ' polyglot empire ' ' and
the ' ' ramshackle empire ' ' were its general descriptions.

Back of every bewildering business, however, there is a story,
behind the craziest group of effects there must be a group of causes.
The Austro-Hungarian Empire did exist, and not only existed but sent
three millions of fighting men into the world war. That Austria did
this under the Teuton whip is admitted, but why it joined the Central
Powers and how it held its inchoate condition together as long as it
did is a puzzle of absorbing interest.

Primarily, the Austrian problem was one of race divisions. There
were nine several and distinct races (not peoples) inhabiting Austro-
Hungary. Of these 12,000,000 were Germans, 10,000,000 Magyars,
8,500,000 Czechs, 5,000,000 Poles, 4,000,000 Ruthenians, 3,750,000 Ser-
bians 3,250,000 Roumanians, 2,500,000 Jews and 1,250,000 Slovenes.
None of these were friendly with the others at the opening of the war,
none spoke the same language, none were of the same political opinion
and were united only on the one plane, that of mutual distrust. There
was, however, a weak religious bond, for 78 per cent, of Austria and
52 per cent, of Hungary were Roman Catholic. Austro-Hungary was
considered by the Vatican as her main stronghold in Europe. This fact
did much to cause irritation between the Vatican and the Quirinal,
as has been shown in a foregoing chapter on Italy.

Austro-Hungary was the crumbling remains of the old Holy Roman

355

356 AUSTRIA-HUNGARY, THE UNSTABLE

Empire, a shadowy and ill-named creation which had little to do with
modem' Rome and nothing at all to do with ancient Rome. When
Franz Josef came to the throne in 1849, all unknowing that he was
to reign for sixty-seven years and die during a world war, it would
have taxed even a European diplomat to say what were the lands over
which the young monarch was to hold sway. Some of the lands had
been obtained by conquest, some by purchase, some by compromise,
some by marriage, some as the lingering remnant of a feudal system,
some by secret pacts. Each of these districts had its own privileges,
its own customs, its own laws, its own institutions, its own nobility,
its own relation to the government and often its own language.

Political Juggling of Franz Josef.

Franz Josef was the opposite of a great statesman, he was a clever
politician. He was a consummate adept in the difficult art of playing
one party off against the other, while satisfying neither. Only once
did Franz Josef attempt a consolidation of his empire and this was by
the pro-German constitution of 1860-1861. The Magyars smashed ail
hope of this. The war with Prussia in 1866 put Franz Josef at the
mercy of Bismarck. A Saxon nobleman, Von Beust, who was a sharp
enemy of Bismarck, undertook the reorganization of the empire along
a line little liked by the Iron Chancellor. This reorganization was made
in 1867 and continued, despite constant dissension, until the beginning
of the world war in 191^4. "When it is remembered that Franz Josef
held this scattered state together, from a mediaeval stained-glass court
which simply bristled with every kind of shame, crime, swindle, de-
cadence and scandal, it is evident that history must declare him to
have been a political juggler of incomparable cleverness.

First and foremost, it is to be understood that the abiding policy
of the empire, since 1867, was that of uniting the two dominant races,
the Germans and the Magyars, against the lesser races, Czechs, Poles,
Ruthenians, etc. In order to make sure that the Germans and Magyars
might not commence to squabble among themselves, the empire was
divided in halves, Austria being handed over to the Germans, and
Hungary'- to the Magyars. Franz Josef was not in any sense of the
word Emperor of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. There was no such
state. He was Emperor of Austria and Apostolic King of Hungary.
Moreover, when in Hungary, he was no longer Emperor of Austria.

AUSTRIA-HUNGARY, THE UNSTABLE 357

*'A^a," says an ancient proverb of the city of Vienna, ''begins
on the Ringstrasse," the principal street of that city. There is much
truth in the proverb. Hungary was not European, as the word is gen-
erally used. But then, the Magyars are not Aryans. They are neither
Teuton, Latin, Slav nor Celt. They are allied to the Esths, the Finns
and the Eskimo. So, in addition to the enormous difficulty of reconciling
people of the same human family, Austria-Hungary had to try and
bring together Orient and Occident.

In the storm of criticism that fell on Austria-Hungary during the
war, both from her allies and her foes, the Magyars and the question
of Hungary always met with respect. Hungary has been built up
historically from a broad aristocratic basis. The nobles were still the
old type of aristocrat, in the Greek derivation of the word, the rulers
because they were the leaders. The Magyar noble classes were among
the most cultured gentlemen of Europe. As large land-owners, they
established a prosperous free peasantry. They had the most unmiti-
gated contempt for their Austrian neighbors and regarded the whole
German race as distinctly low class. Hungary was an independent,
liberty-loving land. On the other hand, she was not commercial nor
industrial, save in the Jewish colonies which are large. Austria-
Hungary as an empire was a political nightmare, Austria was a political
bedlam, but the Hungarian assembly contrasted favorably with the
government of any state in Europe.

Austria-Hungfary Industries Managed by Germans.

In the chapter on the Czecho-Slovak nations, emphasis has been
laid on the high scale of culture in Bohemia and the very fair progress
in Moravia. There, also, were to be found the industrial centers of the
empire. On the other hand, the Ruthenian remained primitive and the
Slovene was at a low scale of civilization. Austria-Hungary was a land
of extremes.

Economically, Austria-Hungary was poor. Her per capita stock
of money was down to $12.08, her foreign commerce was low, out of all
proportion to her population. Though mainly an agricultural country,
her methods were so archaic that, though possessing a far richer soil,
her crop yield per acre was only 58 per cent, that of Germany. Except
for Bohemia, there was no industry that was not German-managed, and
the profits all went to Germany. Hungary, while having few industries.

358 AUSTRIA-HUNGARY, THE UNSTABLE

still kept them in Magyar hands, just as all the railroads in Hungary
were owned by the Magyar government.

In spite of all this, or because of all this, as one may decide for
himself, Austria finding Germany behind her, forced the war. How
that was done, the ruthless character of the ultimatum and the Bosnia
incident which lay behind it, have been treated in a foregoing chapter
on Servia. The action of the Jugo-Slavs has fomid a place in the
chapter belonging to that subject, the relation of the Czecho-Slovaks,
likewise. The war, therefore, was not brought about by the Czechs,
not by the Southern Slavs, not by the Roumanians, not by the Jews.
It follows, then, that it was the result of the war spirit of the Austro-
Germans and the Magyars.

The Austro-German and the Magyar feeling was prevailingly one
of hostility to Russia. Austria from first to last vehemently affirmed
that Russia started the war. It was the Austrian contention that
Serbians affairs had nohing to do with Russia, that Serbia would have
yielded without war if it had not been for the support of Russia, that
Russia had mobilized against the Austrian border at a time when no
declaration of war had been made and that in its own terms ''the
Serbian Kingdom was the torpedo which Russia has launched at the
body of Austria."

Austria Refused Russia's Request.

In order to see Austria's position in the world war it is necessary
to show her acts in relation to Russia, as well as Serbia. It has been
shown how Austria served an impossible ultimatum on Serbia, at the
same time giving so short a time for the reply, that it amounted to a
declaration of forced annexation or war. During the 48 hours allowed
for consideration Russia begged for time for her smaller Slav neighbor
and was curtly refused. She then begged Austria not to cross the
frontier ''until we had time to arrange matters." Austria replied that
"having once launched the note she could not draw back." On the
following day Russia proposed an interchange of views. To this,
Austria never even replied.

By now, the war between Austria and Serbia had begun. The
Russian- Austrian question began to loom large. This was brought to
a crisis by Germany, when on July 28 the German Imperial Chancellor
excused to the British Ambassador his refusal to entertain the proposal
of a conference of the powers on the ground that the quarrel between
Serbia and Austria was "a purely Austrian concern, with which Rus-

AUSTRIA-HUNGARY, THE UNSTABLE 359

sia had nothing to do. ' ' The British Ambassador pointed out, in reply,
that if it were a purely Austrian concern it was something with which
Germany had nothing to do.

At this point the rulers took up the dispute. The Kaiser, who
had been away in Norway, on returning to Berlin, telegraphed to the
Czar that he was "exerting all my influence to endeavor to make
Austria-Hungary come to an open and satisfying understanding with
Russia. ' ' England suggested to Germany ' ' to suggest any form of pro-
cedure under which the idea of mediation between Austria and Russia
could be applied." The German Foreign Office answered that it could
not act in the matter lest pressure "should cause Austria to precipitate
matters and present a fait accompli" (an irrevocable fact). The Austrian
government, meanwhile, ignored English advances toward the localiza-
tion of the war.

The Kaiser's Arrogant Order.

Austria not only mobilized but advanced to the Russian frontier.
Russia, in return, was mobilizing. At the same time Russia offered to
stop all military preparation if Austria would withdraw from her
ultimatum the one condition which rendered Serbia a vassal. The
Kaiser's reply to this was an arrogant order to demobilize on threat
of war, an order which no self-respecting power could accept. No
sooner had this been sent, and war between Russia and Germany been
shown to be inevitable, than Austria, double-facedly, answered the
Russian notes of several days before that it would be willing to discuss
the terms of the Serbian ultimatum, knowing that it was then too late.

This served its purpose. But what Americans did not realize at
the beginning of the war was that the peoples of Austria-Hungary were
eager for war. Western Europe hardly realized that Austro-Hungarian
resentment to Serbia and hatred of Russia was as a living fire, that
soap-box oratory was to be seen on street and village corner and that
the drowsy patriotism which was always overlaid with local squabbles
suddenly became of a white heat. It will be better understood by the
reader if he remembers that patriotism is a spiritual temper and that
peoples who are all the time alert for local patriotism can readily be
set aright for imperial patriotism.

It is so difficult, sometimes, to get the point of view of a distant
country that von Scherbrand's description of the general argument may

J60

AUSTRIA-HUNGARY, THE UNSTABLE

be worth quoting. He described the impassioned tale of the average
Austrian stump speaker much as follows : ' ' That the old empire had
been asleep for half a century, shamefully asleep, while down below to
the southeast a cunning, boastful, malevolent dwarf had mocked them
all, spat at them, challenged them a hundredfold; how it was time now
to awake from inglorious sleep and to be up and doing; how this wicked
dwarf, the Serb, had in his presumption at last murderously slain the
man on whom Austria had built her hopes of a brighter future, of
prouder days ; and how to the north, another neighbor, half bear, half
man, but wholly evil, had encouraged and egged on this arrogant pigmy
cO the last and final outrage, and how they, the men of Austria, must
avenge the murder and see to it that nothing like should ever become
possible again." Bands played patriotic melodies, apparently spon-
taneous choruses sang martial hjonns.

The Fall of Przemysl.

It was all very dramatic. It is not so sure that it was all spon-
taneous. The joints creaked a little. Certain it was that Count Berch-
told, guiding the destinies of the Dual Monarchhy as a whole and Austria
in particular, and Count Tisza, the Hungarian premier, were agreed
upon war. A happy-go-lucky empire of scattered peoples plunged
gladly into war. More than one wise observer, however, compared
the Austrian situation with the Prussian situation in 1870. These said
that, just as Germany had proved the Franco-Prussian war to unify
Germanj^, so had Austria provoked the world war to unify Austria.

Then came the "hungry spring" of 1915, when Nicholas Nicholaie-
vitch came thundering down the Galician passes, and when Przemysl
fell. That supposedly impregnable fortress was the empire's pride.
When it fell, 100,000 men went into Russian captivity. Over 6,000 guns
were lost. The Russians held 72 per cent, of Galicia, The following
year, with the German-Russian intrigue and the treachery of Petrograd,
saved Austria, and the advance of Germany into France, showing that
she was not finally put out of the war by her defeat at the Marne,
restored Austria's courage. The Roumanian invasion, which threat-
ened Hungary, and the Italian invasion, which threatened Austria, bred
bad blood between Austria and Hungary. The reason for the enmity
' arose from the fact that while the Austro-Hungarian army was Magyar,
Viennese direction sent almost the whole army to the Italian front to

AUSTRIA-HUNGARY, THE UNSTABLE 361

save Austria, and allowed Roumanian to rage, for a while, almost
unchecked in Hungary. This rift in the lute was really never satis-
factorily closed.

In the summer of 1918 the conditions which led to the defeat of the
Austrian offensive came to a head. These were respectively, from the
Austrian point of view, the defection of the Poles, the defection of the
Czecho-Slovaks, the Hungaro-Roumanian resentment and the Allied
promises regarding Jugo-Slavia. Besides this, the evident weakening
of the Central Powers and their sure defeat with the United States
on the other side of the scale, rendered the retention of the Piave im-
possible. None the less, Austria launched a desperate offensive, on
orders from Berlin, and suffered a crushing defeat, losing, in casualties,
a quarter of a million men.

Turkey and Austria Ask for Armistice.

The crash was at hand, and Austria, seeing this, reiterated the
solidarity of the Dual Monarchy and on August 16, 1918, denounced
the Allies' proclamation of a Czecho-Slovak nation. It may be re-
marked, that, in the technical sense of international precedent, Austria
had the better of the argument.

The collapse of Bulgaria and the signing of an armistice on Sep-
tember 30, 1918, followed by the destruction of the naval base at
Durazzo by Allied Fleets on October 2, 1918, was the beginning of the
end. The last week of October saw a general Austrian rout. On
October 31, 1918, Turkey asked for armistice on terms amounting to
unconditional surrender, and there was nothing left for Austria to do
but to take a similar action on November 3, 1918.

It can hardly be said, however, that when Austria-Hungary laid
down her arms, she was still Austria-Hungary. On October 18 the
Provisional Government of the Czecho-Slovaks, a part of the Austrian
empire, declared her independence, and on November 2, the day before
the armistice was closed between Austria and the Allies, the Czecho-
slovak Republic was proclaimed, with Professor Masaryk president.
On October 24, the Polish National Committee proclaimed the union
of all Polish territories subject to Austria, Germany and Russia, a
union which found definite form in the proclamation of a Polish Re-
public on November 9, 1918, under President Daszynski.

Finally, the Mid-European Union signed its Declaration of Inde-

362 AUSTRIA-HUNGARY, THE UNSTABLE

pendence in Independence Hall, Philadelphia, Pa., on October 26, 1918,
with official delegates of the Czecho-Slovaks, Jugo-Slavs, Uhro-
Ruthenes (Ruthenians of the old empire), Ukranians, Roumanians,
people of Italia Irredenta, Greeks, Lithuanians, Albanians and Jews.
The Poles withdrew from^ the Mid-European Union a few days later
on the ground that the Ukrainian Government was holding a portion of
Polish territory in Galicia and maintaining troops there.

"^^'^len Austria-Hungary signed the armistice terms, therefore, she
was no longer in existence as an empire. All that wa« left to her was
part of the German side of Austria and the northern or Magj^ar part
of Hungary. The Magyars, in the early part of 1918, had shown their
evident intention of breaking with Austria. It can scarcely be said,
therefore, that Austria-Hungary, as an empire and kingdom, was
defeated. It collapsed. The mediaeval court of Vienna, like many an
ancient form of life which cannot support the light, had been thrust
into the sunshine of liberty. It writhed supinely and lay still. From
its ashes. Phoenix-like, the new republics of Middle Europe rose.

CHAPTER XXXVni.

BULGARIA AND THE BALKAN MUDDLE.

Bulgars a Tartar Stock— Meteoric Rise — San Stefano and "Great Bulgaria"— England's Compulsion of
"Little Bulgaria"— Battle ol SUvnltza— Montenegro— Tearing up the Treaty of Berlin— Bulgaria
a Bitter Foe to World Peace.

THERE is one primary fact in the Balkans to be remembered,
and that is that Bulgaria is not a Slav state. Though speaking
a language which is largely Slavic, the Bulgars are near of kin to the
Turks. They are an Asiatic, non-European and un-European race. They
take kindly to Mohammedanism. They are intelligent, laborious and
thrifty, while, at the same time, passionate and revengeful. Of the
Balkan peoples they are the most advanced and the most homogeneous.
Their territorial boundaries at the opening of the world war, however,
did not correlate with their racial boundaries and therein lay one of
the many troubles of the Balkans.

Modern Bulgaria was one of the most extraordinary phenomena
of nineteenth century history. It came into existence almost like an
act of creation. Out of an obscure mass of Turko-Tartar serfs, there
sprang into existence, in 1877, a vigorous, healthy, swiftly progressing
nation. There is little that so angers the true Bulgarian as to be
classed among the Slavs, and when Russians talked of *' Pan-Slavism"
and included Bulgaria therein, he fairly frothed at the mouth.

No two races could be more different. The Slav, before the war,
was idealistic, easy-going, prone to dream, boastful and generous.
The Bulgarian was sober, dour, practical, avaricious, laborious and
dogged. ''The Bulgar on his ox-cart," says a national proverb, ''pur-
sues the hare — and overtakes it." Give a people of this type a Great
Idea, and add to the general stock an ability for solidarity and team-
work in pursuit of that Idea, and the materials are ready for the forg-
ing of a powerful state. Bulgaria must be reckoned with as a vital
European factor.

The Bulgarian "Great Idea" begins with Constantinople. It was
the desire of the Bulgar to kick the Turk out of Europe and to be,

363

364 BULGARIA AND THE BALKAN MUDDLE

itself, the Asiatic power holding the Dardanelles. It was the Bulgarian
idea to have a Tartar Christendom. In order to do this, it was the
Bulgarian Idea to reunite the whole Bulgarian race from the Black
Sea to the Albanian Mountains and from the Danube to the ^gean.
It was the Bulgarian Idea to scrimp, and save, and work and fight to
that end, to root out Slav mischief-making among Bulgar peoples.

Bulgaria was not above planning, finally, to dominate the Slav
states, but that was not a part of the Great Idea. Roumania could
keep her territory if she chose, but she must give up the Tartar-inhab-
ited shore of Dobrudja, Turkey must give up her Turkish vilayets,
Bulgarian Macedonia must be restored, Bulgarian Albania must join
the greater nation. Such was the Bulgarian Great Idea, of the ' ' Greater
Bulgaria'^ of the time preceding the Balkan Wars.

Russia and Turkey at War.

The rise of modern Bulgaria begins with Turkey's massacre of
12,000 peasants on the Bulgarian Mountains, in 1876. This stirred
Europe. Gladstone wrote a famous pamphlet entitled ' ' The Bulgarian
Horrors." Serbia and Montenegro fell on Turkey. They were de-
feated, and the Sublime Porte was about to institute new massacres
there, also, when England gave a naval warning and the Czar put a
pistol to the head of Turkey with the abrupt order to conclude an
armistice with Serbia within forty-eight hours, or prepare to face
Russia.

In December, 1876, the powers met at Constantinople to give the
Sultan some pointed advice. But the *'Sick Man of Europe" was
slippery. Even while the diplomats were discussing, he granted a
most extraordinary constitution to the people, liberal beyond believing.
No one believed it, but the Sultan used the new constitution as a basis
for delay, glibly remarking that as a constitutional sovereign now, all
matters must be referred to the people. "When asked about Bulgaria,
his ministers remarked with an air of innocence ''they had never heard
the word!" Under pressure, they were induced to remember that it
''was a geographical term for some part of the region north of the
Balkans. ' '

On April 10, 1877, the Turks rejected the London Protocol and on
April 24, 1877, Russia declared war. The Bulgarian troops proved
to be of immense value and did much to bring the final victory. Fight-

BULGARIA AND THE BALKAN MUDDLE 365

ing continued all 1877 and on January 31, 1878, the Turks accepted an
armistice, the war being closed by the Treaty of San Stefano, March
3, 1878.

This treaty created Bulgaria. A huge state was mapped by the
Treaty of San Stefano, which gave Bulgaria all the provinces of
Turkey in which the Bulgars predominated and included a Mediter-
ranean port. Three-fifths of the Balkan Peninsula was thus made into
a new state under the name of Bulgaria. But — and this was the crucial
point, the new Bulgaria was regarded as owing its creation to the Czar
and therefore was deemed by the Powers a Russian sphere of influence,
if not, indeed, a vassal state.

The Congress of Berlin.

England, always afraid of Russia, protested vehemently. The im-
mediate result was that England threatened Russia and sent a navy
to Turkey's assistance. It needed but a breath to start war between
the two nations, though one was almost wholly a sea power and the
other almost wholly a land one. Bismarck, looking on, said ''it was a
little difficult to prophesy the result of a combat between an elephant
and a whale. ' ' Russia became bellicose, and to give the Czar a hint of
what he might expect, England called out her reserves and sent eight
regiments of Sepoy troops of Malta. Russia climbed down and agreed
to submit to the powers her reconstruction of the Balkans as provided
in the Treaty of San Stefano. Thus came about the Congress of Berlin.

Russia was quite willing to attend the Congress of Berlin, with
Bismarck presiding, for Bismarck had carefully allowed the Czar to be
confident of Russia's friendship. Meantime, Bismarck had found an
equally great diplomat in Beaconsfield, the English Jewish prime min-
ister, and true to his policy of aiding the most powerful, he swung
the German and Austrian interests at the Congress in opposition to
Russia.

So far as Bulgaria was concerned, the effect was drastic. ''Greater
Bulgaria" became "Little Bulgaria." The huge new state was carved
into three arbitrary pieces : Macedonia, Bulgaria, and Eastern Rumelia.
Macedonia was handed back to Turkey, Bulgaria was made ' ' an autono-
mous and tributary principality," and Eastern Rumelia, as invented,
was to be an autonomous province under the political and military rule

366 BULGARIA AND THE BALKAN MUDDLE

of Turkey, but with a Christian governor. This latter state was plain
nonsense.

Bulgaria, once constituted, however, at once grew dangerous.
Austrian diplomats, who knew the Bulgars, preferred that the pride
of the new nation should be taken down by some one other than them-
selves. They chose Serbia as the cat to pull their chestnuts out of the
fire. Egged on by Austria, Serbia declared war on Bulgaria. The two
armies met at Slivnitza, and, to the Serbian surprise, instead of running
away, the Bulgars fought like heroes. The battle was desperate and
lasted three days and, in the end, the Serbian forces were cut to pieces.
Bulgaria would have vanquished and taken Serbia but again the powers
— always interrupting in the Balkans — stepped in. Austria threatened
to aid Serbia, and warned the Bulgars that if they did not stop, they
would have to face the whole Austrian Empire. This was manifestly
unfair. Bulgaria gained nothing from Serbia, but in 1886 she did take
the right of annexing Eastern Rumelia and there was no one to stop her.

For ten years there was comparative peace while a really great
minister, Stambulov, built railroads, taught modern agriculture, estab-
lished schools, developed industry and generally proceeded to bring
Bulgaria into line with the modern world. In true Balkan fashion,
having made enemies, he was assassinated in 1895. The fact that
King Ferdinand was a German prince, was generally regarded as being
the reason why he wanted a true Bulgarian leader out of the way.
He wanted to deliver Bulgaria, bound hand and foot, to Germany.

Troubles in the Balkans.

In a previous chapter it has been shown that Austria annexed
Bosnia, without rhyme or reason, on October 7, 1908. But while there
was no reason, there were precedent events connected with it. On
July 28, 1908, Abdul Hamid, much against his will, admitted the
''Young Turk" constitution. This will be explained in the chapter
on Turkey. But, on October 5, 1908, the German Prince Ferdinand
of Bulgaria took unto himself the title of "Tsar" and proclaimed the
entire independence of Bulgaria from Turkey. Austria's seizure of
Bosnia, was, in a measure, a Balkan retort.

The war of Tripoli, dealt with hereinbefore both in the chapter
on alliances and in the chapter on Italy, broke on September 29, 1911.
From the Bulgarian point of view, its main importance was that it

BULGARIA AND THE BALKAN MUDDLE 367

was a defeat for the "Young Turks." Albania revolted in the spring
of 1912, as soon as the snow was off the mountains. The garrison
of Monastir joined the insurgents. Turkey was in so entangled a state
that the opportunity for knifing her was too good to lose. The Balkan
States struck home for Macedonia.

Macedonia is the racial cross-roads where all peoples of the Balkans
meet. Its people were famous in history, being the Thracian armies
which, under Alexander the Great, conquered the world. During the
power of ancient Greece, Macedonia became Greek, during the Roman
Empire, its inhabitants became Latinized, the great Slav invasions of
the sixth and seventh centuries gave it a Slavic cast and when the
Ottoman Empire brought the Turk to the gates of Vienna, Macedonia
became Turkish in character as well as name.

Alliance of Balkan States With Greece.

Geographically speaking, the vilayets of Saloniki, Monastir and
Kossovo represented Macedonia at the opening of the world war. Of
Macedonia, the part which is mainly Serbian in character had an area
of 15,000 square miles, that of Greek ascendancy, 14,000 square miles,
that of Bulgarian, 7,000 square miles. If these three be averaged
Serbian Macedonia, Bulgarian Macedonia and Greek Macedonia are
each as large as Belgium. One does not speak of small territories when
dealing with the Balkans. It is a common mistake to talk about
the ''small states of the Balkans." As a matter of fact, they are large.

So far as can be determined, the type-inhabitants of early Mace-
donia, the Thracians — whoever they may have been — must have closely
resembled that puzzling folk of the Balkans, who are variously known
as the Vlachs, Wallachs, Kutzovlachs or Meglenians. The United States
Bureau of Irnmigration has adopted the name Wallachs for this people.
They speak a dialect of Roumanian.

In 1912 the apparently impossible happened. The Balkan States,
mutually hostile and enemies to the knife, formed an alliance, with each
other and with Greece, undoubtedly managed by the ablest diplomat
that the southeast of Europe had produced in many a decade, Venizelos,
prime minister of Greece.

The Concert of Europe told the Balkan Alliance to keep quiet.
Again the impossible happened. The Balkan Alliance politely told
the great powers to mind their own business and plunged into the war.

368 BULGARIA AND THE BALKAN MUDDLE

Germany, confident that the Turkish Army with German officers and
German artillery would whip the Balkan Alliance, allowed the matter
to proceed. About 500,000 men on each side took the field. Christian
fanaticism— though split into several parties— struck at Moslem fanati-
cism and triumphed. French artillery, in the hands of Serbians and
Bulgarians, proved better than German, Turkey, divided with herself,
could only mobilize one-third of her expected strength. The war ended
by the victoiy of the Montenegrins over the Turks by the siege of
Scutari, on April 22, 1913.

At this astounding result the Powers could keep away no longer.
In a foregoing chapter on Serbia, it has been shown how the powers
tried to intervene but were unable to prevent the outbreak of war
between Serbia and Bulgaria on June 29, 1913, forced by a Bulgar
attack (unjustifiable from a military point of view) before war had
been declared. The powers, now, were afraid to intervene, for inter-
vention meant world war. Russia, Germany and Austria would have
supported Bulgaria ; France, England and Italy would have supported
Serbia.

The Peace of Bucharest.

Like an unexpected ghost, Roumania strode down from the north.
She had waited until the Bulgarians were at hand-grips vnih their
foes in the south and now appeared in the Bulgar 's rear. The Bul-
garians were hopelessly overpowered and King Ferdinand could do
nothing but give up the struggle. At the moment of her pride, the
cup of Bulgaria was snatched from her lips by Roumania. The war was
ended by the Peace of Bucharest.

This so-called "Peace" has been analyzed earlier in this book,
but from the Bulgarian point of view it may be pointed out that its
net result was that Roumania, Serbia, Montenegro and Greece had made
large gains, but Bulgaria had lost to Roumania a piece of territory
more valuable and more populated than the bare strip which the powers
gave her from the partition of Turkey. The Peace of Bucharest left
four powers dissatisfied: Germany, Austria, Bulgaria and Turkey.
That last sentence is of the highest and most poignant importance. It
was^ precisely those four nations, Germany, Austria, Bulgaria and
Turkey, who forced upon the world the greatest war in human history.
They only waited eleven and a half months to do so.

BULGARIA AND THE BALKAN MUDDLE 369

The caldron of war had spread from the Balkans to the whole of
Europe. Bulgaria's position was complicated. She had no ethnic
relations with either side. Her sentiments, however, were toward
Germany and Turkey and against Serbia and the Allies. The real ques-
tion to Bulgaria, however, was this : Had she a greater chance of gain-
ing Macedonia and the Dobrudja for herself by remaining neutral or
by going into the war; and, in the event of entering the war, which
side would give her better terms ?

Bulgaria commenced to dicker with the Allies, but demanded that
Serbian troops evacuate Macedonia. This the Allies could not do under
their agreement with Serbia. Germany, on the other hand, being against
Serbia, agreed to give Macedonia to Bulgaria if she would win it with
the sword. Then, in the autumn of 1915, the Austro-German drive
against Serbia began. That forced Bulgaria's hand. Either she must
join the Allies — which meant joining Serbia, an impossible action in
view of the Allies' Macedonian promise to Serbia, or she must join
the Central Powers. On October 14, 1915, Bulgaria declared war against
Serbia, completing in fact the understood alliance which had existed
since the beginning of the war, by which German troops had been al-
lowed to pass through Bulgaria to the aid of Turkey.

The Doom of Serbia.

This put Serbia out of the war as a political unit. When the
Teuton and Bulgar armies struck Serbia at the same time, she was
doomed. By the spring of 1916, Bulgarian troops occupied the greater
part of Macedonia. Meanwhile the Allied armies had occupied the port
of Saloniki in Greek Macedonia, and in the autumn of 1916 began an
offensive which led to the taking of Monastir, in the early days of
December. The whole of the year 1917 was a deadlock, largely due to
the action of Greece, a question which will be dealt with in a separate
chapter.

Came next the beginning of those black and bloody days in Eussia
which, from the spring of 1917 until the end of the war — and after —
were to stain the reputation of Russia with crime and treachery un-
imagined and were to spread an unchecked Reign of Terror from the
Caucasus to the frozen waters of the Arctic Ocean.

It was not until 1918 that the Allies dared to move upon Bulgaria,
for Roumania was a broken reed on which to lean and ever and always

24— W. L.

370 BULGARIA AND THE BALKAN MUDDLE

the rabidly pro-German Constantine, King of Greece, might obey his
brother-in-law, the Kaiser, and launch a Greek army in the rear of the
Allied forces at Saloniki. When, however, Venizelos got control and
the advance was possible, it took but a very short while, exactly
two weeks, before Bulgaria was brought to a state of collapse. In
that time the Bulgarians had been split into two helpless segments, the
Bulgarian government had been compelled to surrender and ask for
a separate peace, King Ferdinand (a German Prince) had abdicated
in favor of his son Boris, and Turkey was isolated from the Central
Powers. The collapse of Bulgaria compelled the collapse of Turkey,
and the shattering of Germany's eastern alliances dissolved into thin
vapor the dream of Pan-Germanism. The Berlin-to-Bagdad railway
scheme, as a Teuton project, was no more.

CHAPTER XXXIX.

ORIENTAL TURKEY AND THE NEAR EAST.

The Terrible Importance of Constantinople and the Dardanelles— Asia Minor and the Armenians-
Syria and the Holy Land— Mesopotamia, the Garden of Eden— The Arab Tribes and the Menace
of Islam— Persia, the England-Russia Gage of War.

THE Turk was the Orient in Europe. A Turkish gentleman weis an
almost perfect friend, a Turkish ruler was an unmentionable
atrocity. A Turkish soldier was a gallant and chivalrous foe, Turkish
hordes of Bashi-Bazouks have committed barbarities only to be equalled
by those committed by Germany in Belgium. In diplomatic guile the
Turk had few equals, but it would tax omniscience to know what he
meant. It is hard for the "Western nations to understand the Orient but
it seemed harder for the Oriental nations to understand the West. The
minds of the Turk and the European do not think on the same planes.

During the Middle Ages, the Turk was Europe's greatest menace.
The history of the last three centuries has witnessed the steady and
continual weakening of the Ottoman Empire. It was in 1853 that Czar
Nicholas I uttered a saying which became a diplomatic password.
"Turkey," he said, '4s in a critical state. The country seems falling
to pieces. We have on our hands a sick man, a very sick man. It will
be a great misfortune if he should slip away from us before the neces-
sary arrangements are made." The rest of Turkey's history, until
the outbreak of the world war, was the carving up among the powers
and the Balkan peoples of the possessions of the ' ' Sick Man of Europe. ' '

Abdul Hamid II, whose name became a synonym for all that was
ignorant, wanton, rapacious and vile, came to the throne in 1876. From
that date until 1908 Turkey was ruled exactly as though it were the ninth
century rather than the nineteenth. Electricity was forbidden because
the word ''dynamo" sounded like "dynamite" and chemistry was for-
bidden because the symbol H2O (water) was regarded as a treasonable
suggestion that H2, or Hamid II, was worth or nothing. Little did
the Turks reck that these letters stood for "hydrogen" and "oxygen.*'

371

372 ORIENTAL TURKEY AND THE NEAR EAST

In 1888 William II of Germany came to the throne. The very next
year the Kaiser selected the Sultan of Turkey as the only great European
monarch worthy of an official visit from him. It may be a matter of
speculation as to what the Kaiser and the Sultan agreed, it is a matter
of history what the Sultan, immediately after the Kaiser's visit, did.
He launched upon the Armenians the most appalling series of massacres
known to Europe for half-a-dozen centuries.

The Armenian question was one of the issues in the world war.
The Armenians are a mixed race. In their mountain region dwelt a
primitive non-Aryan race, conquered in the early centuries of the Chris-
tian era and earlier by Aryans closely allied to certain races in Hindu-
stan. They became ardent Christians, and Armenia remained as a
Christian island in the midst of Mohammedan rule. With a rich lan-
guage and a good literature of their own, with independent mountain
characters, under the isolated conditions, they were forced to become
either struggling peasants or shrewd merchants. Oppression and mis-
rule have been their portion for ten centuries. Throughout it all, they
have maintained a love for liberty and a national spirit of independence
which is marvellous to witness.

Massacres of Armenians by Turks.

The total number of practically pure Armenians is about 1,250,000
and the land wherein Armenians predominate is about 80,000 square
miles, or three times as large as Switzerland, between which two coun-
tries there are numerous strong resemblances. It is a rich and valuable
country, full of mineral resources, but quite undeveloped. This latter
fact may explain the Kaiser's interest in Turkey and the Sultan's
massacres as an excuse for breaking down by armed force the inde-
pendent spirit of Armenia.

For three years the Armenian massacres continued. Over 70,000
Armenians were put to death because they were Christians. The Kurds
were goaded to aid in the demon work. Village after village blazed.
Orders were sent that women and children especially should be killed.
The English people fumed and prepared to step in to stop the outrages,
but the prime minister, Lord Salisbury, was neither a noble Gladstone
nor an astute Disraeli. He kept one eye on Russia, another on Germany
and sent mild protests to the Sultan, which Abdul Hamid received with
profound submission and Oriental flattery— and threw into the waste-

ORIENTAL TURKEY AND THE NEAR EAST 373

paper basket. Berlin's ambassador made daily visits to the Sultan's
palace and the massacres went on.

In 1888 the Kaiser made another visit to Abdul Hamid, ''his
brother," as he called him. It is not polite to state what other people
called him. The Kaiser then went on to Jerusalem. He went scarcely
as a crusader, he took a Cook's tourist ticket! A contemporary com-
ment of the trip was that "The Kaiser changed his religion as often
as he did his uniforms." In that same year, in Damascus, the Kaiser
announced Germany's policy in the east in the following words; ''His
Majesty, Sultan Abdul Hamid, and the three hundred million Moham-
medans who reverence him as Caliph, may rest assured at all times
that the German Emperor is their friend." England and France, co-
keepers of the Suez Canal, noted this remark and kept it in mind.

Revolution of the "Young Turks."

Even Turkey, however, could not stay the progress of time. Liberty
is a stronger force in the world than even "the Red Sultan" or "The
Great Assassin," or Abdul Hamid under any of his picturesque titles.
Between 1906 and 1908, the constitutional party in Turkey, known as
the "Young Turks," was gradually, though secretly, growing in power.
The powerful Third Army Corps of the Turkish Army, ill-paid and dis-
contented, was stationed at Saloniki. Suddenly, in July, 1908, the
Young Turks with the Third (and a few days later, the Second) Army
Corps at their backs marched on Constantinople.

Abdul Hamid was taken unawares. The Sick Man of Europe, how-
ever, was fully possessed of Oriental wiles. Overnight he changed his
opinions, established a liberal constitution and made the "Young Turk"
movement of no value aggressively, for all that they wanted was granted
before they had a chance to ask it. Dervishes embraced Jewish rabbis
and Christian priests in the street. It seemed like the millennium.

"The Spider of Constantinople," to use another of Abdul's many
names, was only craftily biding his time. On April 13, 1909, a counter-
revolution broke out, the minister of justice was murdered and the
"Young Turk" leaders fled. It was the last flash of the old days.
The new regime lasted only twelve days. The Young Turks got the
army together again and entered Constantinople. Abdul appealed to
Berlin.

At this point Germany proceeded to double-cross Abdul Hamid,

374 ORIENTAL TURKEY AND THE NEAR EAST

"my brother." The German Ambassador was bidden to point out that
Germany was an ally of Turkey, but not necessarily of the Sultan.
"Our alliance with Turkey is not a sentimental one," Chancellor von
Buelow said tersely.

The Young Turks promptly hanged forty of the leaders of the
counter-revolution and received the pious opinion of the Sheikh-ul-
Islam (the Mohammedan Pope) that Abdul was unworthy to be Sultan.
Mohammed V was crowned and reigned in his stead.

There was one weakness in the "Young Turk" party. That was,
that they were still Turks. They copied Prussian methods and used
them for Oriental ideas. The confusion was worse than before. Under
the alleged ideal of constitutional principles, they insisted on the Otto-
manization of all subject peoples, Armenians included. The massacres
recommenced. Then came the defeat of Turkey in the Balkan Wars.
The Peace of Bucharest, ten months before the Serajevo incident, found
Turkey more subjugated and therefore more savage than ever.

Closing of the Dardanelles by Germany.

What, then, brought Turkey into the war! The answer is short,
if not sweet — Germany ! It began with the closing of the Dardanelles.
In such a medley of affairs as Turkish diplomacy presents it is valu-
able to have official information. There is the best. The United States
Ambassador to Turkey, Henry Morgenthau, has written of that famous
afternoon when Germany, in the name of Turkey, closed the Dardan-
elles.

"The Grand Vizier came out in answer to my request," wrote the
American Ambassador. ' ' He presented a pitiable sight. His face was
blanched and he was trembling from head to foot. When I asked him
whether the news was true that the Dardanelles had been closed, he
stammered that it was. 'You know this means war!' I said, and warned
him that an American vessel, laden with stores for the Embassy was
waiting to come in. The Grand Vizier excused himself and sent Djavid
Bey, the Minister of Finance, out in his place. Djavid showed that
the Cabinet knew nothing of the matter. He told me how it happened.

"A Turkish torpedo boat had passed through the Dardanelles and
attempted to enter the ^gean Sea. The British warships stationed
outside hailed the ship, and found there were German sailors on board.
The English Admiral at once ordered the torpedo boat to go back. This,

ORIENTAL TURKEY AND THE NEAR EAST 375

under the circumstances (for it was after the declaration of war), he
had the right to do.

''Weber Pasha, the German General who was then in charge of
the fortifications, did not consult the Turks, but immediately gave
order to close the strait. Wangenheim (the German Ambassador) had
already boasted to me that the Dardanelles could be closed in thirty
minutes, and the Germans now made good his word. Down went the
mines and the nets; the lights in the lighthouses were extinguished,
signals were put up notifying all ships that there was no thoroughfare ;
and this deed, the most high-handed which the Germans had yet com-
mitted, was done.

''And here I found these Turkish statesmen, who alone had author-
ity over this indispensable strip of water, trembling and stammering
with fear, running hither and yon like a lot of frightened rabbits, ap-
palled at the enormity of the German act, yet apparently powerless to
take any decisive action. I certainly had a graphic picture of the ex-
tremities to which Teutonic bullying had reduced the present rulers
of the Turkish Empire. And, at the same moment, before my mind
rose the figure of the Sultan, whose signature was essential to close
legally these waters, quietly dozing at his palace, entirely oblivious of
the whole transaction. ' ' The Dardanelles had become a German strait.

The Strategic Position of Constantinople.

** Constantinople,'* says Stoddard, '*is the most significant city
on earth. Strategically, it is the world's most important capital. Situ-
ated at the key-point of the salt water river joining two seas and sunder-
ing two continents, it serves at one and the same time as a toll-gate
between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean, and as bridge between
Europe and Asia." It is so all-important, so vital, that it is impossible
to conceive a condition when it will not be hungrily desired by each and
every one of the first-class powers of the world, or when its possession
by a first-class power would not evoke the jealousy of all the others.
Constantinople, by reason of its strategical position, can never escape
the fate of being a world problem.

It happens in events of world magnitude, sometimes, that those
forces which seemed potent for greatest evil prove ineffective, while
those which seem to have little importance become great issues. It is
certain that Bethmann-Hollweg never expected his "scrap of paper"

376 ORIENTAL TURKEY AND THE NEAR EAST

phrase to become a dominant factor of world thought concerning the
war. It is no less certain that no one could have supposed a "Holy
War" proclamation to 300,000,000 Mohammedans to fall as flat as a
squashed paper bag.

On November 13, 1914, the Sultan of Turkey, as Caliph, ordered a
Jehad or Holy War, and the Sheikli-ul-Islam issued the Fetwa or dec-
laration. It ran, in part, as follows: "(1) If lands of Islam are sub-
jected to attack by enemies, must, in that case, young and old, in all
parts of the earth inhabited by Mohammedans, take part in the Holy
War? Yes! (2) . . . Is it necessary that all Mohammedans who
live in enemy countries shall rise against their government and take
part in the Holy War? Yes ! (This was for India's benefit.) (3) Will
all those who refuse to rise ... be punished! Yes! (4) Will
Mohammedans who live in lands of the enemy and who are forced to
fight as soldiers against Islam be regarded as murderers and punished
with the fires of Hell ? Yes ! ' ' And nothing resulted. Mohammedans
all over the world knew that this was a Jehad dictated by Germany,
a Christian power, and they distrusted every word and every move.

Geography of Asia Minor.

The story of the Gallipolis peninsula is a part of the history of the
war, and is dealt with elsewhere in this book. Likewise, so is the story
of the Turkish campaign in the Caucasus and the great battles of Erze-
rum. But the strategic and political importance of Asia Minor demands
a word.

Asia Minor is the same size as Germany. Its population is ap-
proximately 12,000,000, of whom three-quarters are Turks. It is a
huge peninsula controlling the Black Sea, the Dardanelles and the
Mediterranean. It is the highway to the east. It has a wide variety
of sojl and climate, with some excessively rich sections. Its mountain
rim is fabulously stocked with metals and minerals. Gold, silver, cop-
per, lead, tin, iron and coal are in abundance.

Like a vast isthmus between the Indian Ocean and the Mediter-
ranean, interposes the desert of Arabia. From a line of latitude drawn
east from Suez, Arabia is like a triangle, with the apex pointing into
the mainland edge of Asia Minor. The base line of tliis triangle is
desert. The western side is Syria, including Palestine or the Holy
Land; the eastern side of the triangle is Mesopotamia, generally re-

ORIENTAL TURKEY AND THE NEAR EAST 377

garded as the region where ancient writers believed the Garden of
Eden to have been, and through whicli flow the rivers Tigris and Euph-
rates, when Ninevah and Babylon once displayed their glories. Bag-
dad is in Mesopotamia, on the Tigris.

Syria is of the highest strategical importance. It is the main line
of communication between Africa and Asia. It is a poor land, thinly
populated. It is peopled entirely by Arabs, with Turkish officials and
a few small Turkish garrisons. Strategically, it is all-important to
England, and falling into English hands, during the war, it rendered
Egypt unassailable. France, however, had a strong claim on Syria,
especially to the north, railway concessions were in French hands, and
a vast amount of beneficent educational work was done by French
schools in Syria before the war. Racially, Syria is a part of the Pan-
Arabian Idea, which, to a large extent, was supported by England
during the war, when she made an alliance with the Arabs. It was by
means of this alliance that she drove the Turkish garrisons out of
Syria, and inflicted so crushing a defeat upon the Turkish armies under
Teuton leadership that the German officers left their troops and fled.

Description of Mesopotamia.

Mesopotamia is one of the most fertile valleys in the world. The
Assyrian and Babylonian Empires centered there. Again, in the days
of Haroun-al-Raschid (of whom the Arabian Nights Entertainments
tells) and the later Caliphs of Bagdad, it was the center of an Empire
which reached clear from the borders of India across Egypt, embracing
all of northern Africa and half of Spain. The Saracens and the Moors
were but names of phases of these great Caliphate empires. Turkish
invasion and government ruined the land and have kept it in poverty
for five centuries. Fertile Mesopotamia, with a part of the irrigable
'desert, is about the same size as France. Its population is approxi-
mately 2,000,000, with a little more than one-half Arabs. There arc
Kurds in the north, and Persians around Bagdad. The Turks hold the
towns by officialdom and small garrisons but they have not dared to
try to supersede the authority of the sheiks of the wandering tribes.
Strategically, Mesopotamia controls the Arabian Gulf, a weak point
in England's armor with regard to India.

Arabia, for centuries nominally under Turkish rule, became inde-
pendent during the world war. In November, 1916, the Grand Sheereef

378 ORIENTAL TURKEY AND THE NEAR EAST

of Mecca, under British support, declared himself Sultan of Arabia.
In size, Arabia is one-third the size of the United States or twice as
large as France, Germany and Austria-Hungary put together. Aside
from the possession of Aden, a British protectorate both before and
after the war, Arabia has little political or strategical importance. As
containing the sacred shrines of Mohammedanism, Mecca and Medina,
it is of considerable diplomatic importance in the handling of Islamic
affairs. Economically it is so poor a land as to be a liability rather
than an asset to any European power. Culturally it is solidly Arabian,
and proud of the wonderful civilization and culture which the Arabs
possessed during the caliphates.

Persia is the easternmost of the countries which come under the
generic name of the Near East. During the war it was a battleground
of minor civil war, which, however, hardly reached the point of being
regarded as a world issue. In size it is larger than France, Holland,
Belgium, Germany and Austria-Hungary together, but its population
is only 10,000,000.

Great Britain Gains Control of the Near East.

Strategically, the Persian question was a Russian-English prob-
lem. This became complicated before the war by a sharp conflict be-
tween the British trade monopoly. In November, 1915, under German
influence, the legislature ceased to operate. In 1916 and 1917 civil
war continued. On January 30, 1908, the Anglo-Russian agreement
was formally denounced by the Bolshevist government of Russia and
on May 2, 1918, the Persian government sided with the Bolshevists.
In July, 1918, the Persian authorities began to feel the heavy hand
of England, and when the war closed British overlordship was practi-
cally re-established. The subject is somewhat distant to demand much
space, but the main issue lies in the internal conditions. The cultured
Persians, though nominally dominant, are unable to make head against
the lawless and warlike Turkomans, who are more susceptible to Turk-
ish and German interests.

The close of the war found British power in the Near East multi-
plied a thousandfold. The collapse of Turkey had put the Dardanelles
in Allied hands, and Britain held the naval sway among the powers;
the Holy Land had been captured in a wonderful campaign and General
AUenby, the British general, had won encomiums from the whole world,

ORIENTAL TUEKEY AND THE NEAR EAST 379

Christian and Mohammedan, for his administration of affairs in tJenisa-
lem; France and England had taken Syria; the Armenians always
looked to England for support and always found a friend there, ex-
cept during the Salisbury regime ; Mesopotamia had fallen into British
hands, and Bagdad was occupied; Arabia had become an independent
sultanate under British protection ; and the collapse of Russia weakened
Muscovite pressure in Persia. It would not be overstating the situa-
tion to say that at the close of the world war Britain had gained control
of the Near East.

CHAPTER XL.

NEUTRAL AND SEA-SAW NATIONS.

Military, Economic and Political Conditions of Nations Who Either Stayed Completely Out of the War,
or Who, at One Time or Another, Were Secretly or Actively Allied to Both Sides— Their Moral
Effect on the Respective Belligerents.

THERE were three countries which, throughout the war, were a
source of heart-burnings to both sides. These were Russia, Rou-
mania and Greece. In all three cases one of the main factors was the same
— the presence of a Teutonic prince on the throne, with a Teutonic wife.
The Romanoff dynasty of Russia, or as it is more correctly termed, the
Holstein-Gottorp-Romanoff dynasty, began in 1762 when the son of
Prince Charles Frederick of Holstein married Anna, daughter of Peter
the Great (of the old Romanoff family), and their son Peter III came to
the throne. Czar Nicholas II, who was on the Russian throne when the
war broke out, married Princess Alix of Hesse, a German princess,
allied to the Hanoverian dynasty of England.

King Ferdinand of Roumania was the nephew of Prince Carol, a
Hohenzollern, who took the throne when the Roumanians deposed their
native prince. He also had a German princess to wife, Marie, daughter
of the Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. King Constantine of Greece
was related directly to the Kaiser, came from the Schleswig-Holstein-
Glucksburg family, was educated in a German military school and mar-
ried the sister of the Kaiser. Thus a Slav empire, a Latin Kingdom and
a Greek Kingdom were ruled by German princes.

The reason of this is tied up with a highly curious position in
European politics, ajoosition rarely understood by American statesmen.
This is the necessity of working out, to the last degree, the marriages
and inter-marriages of royal houses. A European diplomat must have
his ''Almanach de Gotha" at his fingers' ends.

According to a prevalent, almost universal, custom in European
royalty, a royal personagge may only marry another person of royal
blood. If he marries a commoner it becomes what is known as a

380

NEUTRAL AND SEE-SAW NATIONS 381

morganatic marriage, legitimate and sacred, but annulling the rights of
dynasties in Europe, so, at the time of the formation of the German Em-
pire, the highly ingenious idea was conceived of allowing all the small
duchies and principalities to continue to exist nominally. The effect of
this was to create, or rather to continue, a vast number of German royal
houses.

Many royal stocks — it might be a little invidious to name them —
possess diseased blood, and any student of European history will be
struck with the number of defectives (the Kaiser has a congenitally
withered arm), idiots, degenerates and eccentrics to be found in royal
families. The heir to a throne, looking about him for a bride, would
probably have no reasonable choice among dynasties of the first order.
Either there would be no one of suitable age, or the lady herself might
not possess those qualifications which would suggest an heir and the
continuation of a dynasty. German princesses, however, would be as
thick as blackberries on a bush, and since there was little need of inter-
breeding in Germany, owing to the score or more of ' * royal ' ' families,
the stock had remained tolerably healthy. Hence the young prince
would find a German bride, and German court influence would spring
anew in a fresh field.

The German Marriage Octopus%

This is sufficiently important to look at a little closer. In Austria-
Hungary, the Hapsburgs were a German family ; in Belgium, the King
was German, a Saxe-Coburg, and his wife was a Bavarian ; in Bulgaria,
Ferdinand was a Saxe-Coburg and his second wife a German Princess
of Eeuss ; in Denmark, the King was from Schleswig-Holstein, and he
mariied a German Princess of Mecklenburg; in England, the King was
of the House of Hanover, his mother was of the German house reigning
in Denmark, and he married a daughter of the Duke of Teck; in Ger-
many, the Emperor was a HohenzoUern and married a Schleswig-
Holstein Princess ; Greece has been shown above, German on both sides ;
Italy had no German ruler, at least not for several centuries back and
the King of Italy married a Montenegrin Princess ; Montenegro had a
Montenegrin King and Queen ; in Holland, Queen Wilhelmina was of a
German family and married a German Prince of Mecklenburg-Schwe-
rin ; in Norway, the King was of the German house ruling in Denmark
and Tiiarrlod a Princess of the house of Hanover, ruling in England;

382 NEUTRAL AND SEE-SAW NATIONS

Portugal had recently become a republic, its last King was of the partly
German house of Braganza-Coburg; Roumania has been given above,
German on both sides ; Russia also named above, German on both sides ;
Serbia a Serbian King, who married a Montenegrin Princess ; in Spain,
the King was the daughter of an Austrian Princess and married an Eng-
lish Princess of the house of Hanover ; in Sweden, the King was of
partly French descent, and married a German Princess of Baden ; leav-
ing, of all the monarchies of Europe, only Italy, Serbia and Montenegro
without either a German King or Queen, or both. The German mar-
riage octopus is the explanation of many of the curious diplomatic en-
tanglements of the war.

Rulers Not True to Their Countries.

In a succeeding chapter, the treachery of the royal house of Rus-
sia to the Allies is traced, but, viewed in the general light of Russia as
an ally, it may be said that the course of the whole war was changed by
the defection of the great Slav Empire. Germany's audacity in being
willing to face France, England and Russia at the same time was better
understood when it was realized how closely knit was the court intrigue
between Berlin and Petrograd. The mere fact that an undermined Rus-
sia, under Nicholas Nicholaievitch, and later, under Brussilov, was able
to act as a powerful steamroller over Austria, only went to show how
quickly the Central Powers would have been overwhelmed had Rus-
sia's rulers been true to Russia, instead of to their relatives. In a sense,
of course, they could not be. German Princes and Princesses were
trained for that special purpose— to betray the thrones of Europe to
Germany.

Roumania was delivered to the enemy likewise, and, as is shown in
a succeeding chapter, the King also was forced to abdicate. In the case
of Greece, the King allowed the whole country to be plunged in civil
war until the Allies compelled him to withdraw, taking his German
Queen with him. The military result of this was that neither Roumania
nor Greece could be counted on as Allies, however pro-Ally the peoples
of the countries might be.

To a greater or lesser extent the same was true of all the nations
of Northern Europe, which were not only inter-related by marriage to
Germany, but were inter-related by commerce. Norway and Sweden,
Denmark and Holland were neutral, truly, but in two of the cases the

NEUTRAL AND SEE-SAW NATIONS 383

sympathies were definitely pro-German, Denmark was afraid to move,
and only Norway was pro-Ally, largely, again, because the King of
England was married to an English Princess, albeit Hanoverian. There,
again, the marriage question played its part.

Spain and Portugal, however, played an entirely different role in
the world war. The Iberian peninsula, like the Scandinavian penin-
sula, consisted of two countries, one small and facing the Atlantic
Ocean, one large and facing an inland sea. The coast peoples were mari-
time, progressive and pro- Ally; the inland peoples were more agri-
cultural, reactionary and pro-German.

Portugal, at the opening of the war, was a republic. It had been
an independent monarchy for seven centuries. Ever since the Middle
Ages, Portugal and England had maintained a close alliance, due, not a
little, to their mutual antagonism to Spain. The Methuen Treaty of
1703 was Portugal's barrier against absorption by Spain, Portugal's
consiant fear. In the Spanish- American War, this English Alliance
was greatly prized by Portugal.

German Overtures to Spain.

From the very beginning of the war, Portugal rendered valuable
aid to the Allies in the African and Asiatic colonies. The Allies re-
sponded by convoying supplies and provisions. It was not until 1916
that Portugal entered the war, and then it officially did so, not as a
power against the Central Powers, but as England's ally. The final
rupture with the German Government was not so much a declaration of
war as the declaration that a state of war was in existence. In 1916,
1917 and 1918 Portugal sent troops to the western front, where they
acquitted themselves with remarkable gallantry.

The Spanish- American War had drilled into Spain so deep a dis-
trust of her officials, her leaders, her army and her navy, that the out-
break of the world war was signalized in the once great Castilian Em-
pire by as universal a protest for neutrality as was possible in that
politically disrupted country. Teuton propaganda promptly proceeded
to hold out to Spanish ambition the annexation of Morocco from France,
the recovery of Gibraltar from England and the absorption of Portugal.

These were glittering hopes and the Carlist party was ready to
snatch the baubles so temptingly held out. The irreconcilable political
cabals of Spain, however, forbade united action. If Spain were to enter

384 NEUTRAL AND SEE-SAW NATIONS

the war at all, it could not be by a strong national feeling. That would
have to be built up, little by little. The very strong Republican-Social-
ists were pro-Ally, and the famous Francisco Ferrer case had warned
the Spanish Government how dangerous it was to play with the Socialist

fire.

During the first two or three months of the war, however, one very
potent fact loomed up on the horizon. This was the blockade of the Ger-
man fleet. Now, for Spanish purposes, a strong German- Austrian fleet
was a prime necessity, for Spain was not connected with Germany by
any contiguous territory. France lay between. Spanish influence
wouM be mainly valuable to Germany on the Mediterranean.

Then came Italy's entrance into the war. That ended all chance for
Spain. It was necessary not only to be neutral but to keep her pro-
Germanism down. The British Navy was a serious enough menace, the
French Navy, at home, was worse, but the French-Italian naval com-
bination in the Mediterranean made Spain's position hopeless. She
had not a single Super-Dreadnought, only three Dreadnoughts with 12-
inch guns and not one battle cruiser. With a corrupt political system,
a country split into factions and the national spirit outwardly boastful,
but inwardly despairing, the proud Don was forced to inaction. In no
sense and in no part did Spain count in the world war.

Germany's Vanity and Purse Destroyed.

So far as the South American and Central American republics
were concerned, together with a number of other smaller countries,
their effect on the war was negligible. Their effect on the morale of the
war, however, was not. As the world war drew to its close and nation
after nation joined the cause of the Allies in protest against the ruthless
savagery of German warfare, the atrocities in Belgium, the destruction
of art treasures, the sinking of neutral merchantmen, with all hands on
board, the fomenting of Armenian massacres and the like, Germany
began to realize not only that the war was lost, not only that her mili-
tary prestige was lost, but that the name of Germany had been befouled
before the whole world.

Two things were dear to the heart of Germany, her vanity and her
purse. Her vanity in her strutting militarism, in her boastful conjur-
ing with the German ''Gott," in her Pan-Germanic ideal, and her
Super-man, was pricked by French, Belgian, English, Italian and Amer-

NEUTRAL AND SEE-SAW NATIONS 385

ican bayonets. It was blown to pieces by hand grenades. The
Marnc, Ypres, the Piave and Chateau Thierry smashed upon that
vanity and trod it down.

The second idol of Germany, her purse, was attacked by the other
nations who took no part in the actual fighting. The markets of the
world slipped away, bit by bit. Capitals which had looked upon Ger-
man bankers as their financial leaders, began to wonder what was the
value of the German mark. Countries which had given valuable con-
cessions to German capitalists began to wonder where any German
would be able to find capital after the war was over.

Therein lay the importance of the alliance of the non-fighting na-
tions. Modern life is built upon modem trade, and the close of the war
saw the world aligned against a nation which had declared a bond to
be but a ' ' scrap of paper, ' ' and had flown in defiance of civilization and
common sense. World commerce might have pardoned Germany for
being either knave or fool, she could never condone her for having been
both.

25— W. L.

OHArTKK XI. 1.
BLi5r RUSSIA. iiisu>*r'ERSTA>'r'i>"o a:td misukperstoop.

Car aa4 X«Mst«*->M«Bjik xni MeiviiAAt— Tnas-SitKTun RaQwxy— Ja^aes« Checkmate — Gcrmin loll-
ttati«k— CMit iBtriiTB^— Betrajml— TTins^^-HfAdiJsi K OT«lati«t— Sluune c^i Bnfst-Litov^— UXriiae—
B«lsk«Tlsaa— Sa&itT ^t Maraua «ad Siberia.

THAT form ot hysteria wkieli Audrey ov called "the red laughter
of war'* \vas as curious a phenomenon of Kussia during the earfy
years of the great condict, as the revolutionary hysteria of Bolshevism
wa^ a phenomenon of world iimazement towards its close. These two
involved issues lxx\ime all the more complicated when it is seen that the
crimes of treachery and anarchy which stamped Russia during the
four years of the war did not spring from her vices, but from her
virtues. Paradoxical though it may seem, Knssia's faults sprang from
too good a heart.

In many cases, the relations of the several nations to the world
issues raised by the war were the result of former alliances or historical
adjustments of territory. There was practic^^lly nothing of the kind
in the case of Russia. Her cause of entrance into the war was as simple
as that of France, or perhaps. England. She entered the war to protect
ber Slav "little brother" Serbia, an action necessitated by Germany *s
support of Austria's aggressive ultimatunL

The puzzle of Eussii^, and it must be admitted at the outset that
it was one of the most intricate problems throughout the whole war,
was an internal one. On which side was Russia, at any given time?
Was the Czar betraying her? Was the Czar honest and only his coun-
sellors treacherous? What part did the Czarina play! What was
the meaning of the retirement of Nicholas Nicholaie\'itch? How did
it happen that the Zemstvos. which started the revolution that over-
tlirew the war, were the backbone of the army supply during the impe-
rial regime? What were the policies of all these dift'erent revolutionary
parties? How did it come about that the main and first revolution was
bloodless, and that anarchy raised his wild-haired head afterwards?
Was Bolshevism financed by Germany, and, if so, why did it overthrow

obo

HUSSIA^MISUNDERSTAXJ^ING AND :^I1SUNDEH.ST00D 387

German intereBts in Euesia? Such, and a thouBand other questionB,
rise to the mind at once when thinking of Russia's part in the war.

There were five stages through which Eussia passed during the
war. These were (1) Eussia -%ith the Allies, (2j EuBsia under process
of imperial betrayal, (3j Eevolutionarj* Eussia, (4) Bolshevist Eussia
and (b) Divided Eussia. Each of these periods overlapped, both in
place and time, so that sections of EussIel, at one and the same time,
might be in any one of these five stages. The Eussian problem, as has
been said, was an internal one, and her essential relations to the world-
issues of the war were two-fold: first, her defection from the Allies;
and, second, her cradling of Bolshevism. It will therefore be best to
give a clear idea of the mental soil from which these two actions grew.

Eussia, at the opening of the war, was governed simultaneously
by two opposite and antagonistic governments. One had its origin in
the Czar, the other had its origin in the jjeasant. In power they were
about equal. One was autocratic, the other democratic; one was con-
servative, the other liberal ; one was reactionary, the other progressive ;
one was old, the other new. One was the Court, the other was the
Zemstvo.

Meaning of the Zemstvo Movement.

If once this Zemstvo question be clearly understood, much of the
confusion regarding Eussia is swept away. The Zemstvo was the
government of the people, for the peojjle, by the people of Eussia in
actual operation. Every village was a democratic entity governed by
itself, with a village council called the Mir, consisting of the peasant
householders of the village. It was strictly peasant. Not even the
land-owner, though he were noble, had a voice in the Mir. It had its
headman of the village and its collector of taxes.

A number of Mirs were united in a Volost, or canton, this being
an assmbly of elected delegates from the Mirs. It also, therefore, was
exclusively peasant in tyjje. The Volost elected a court of Justice
which decided cases by Peasant Law, a code which was highly peculiar
to itself and which had nothing whatever to do with the law-courts of
the empire. The principle of local self-government was continued in
the Zemstvos. These were of two orders, one for the district and one
for the province or government. The Zemstvo was a representative
body having five classes of members: land-owners, clergy, merchants,
artisans and peasant delegates from the Volosts.

388 RUSSIA— MISUNDERSTANDING AND MISUNDERSTOOD

At the top came the Duma, of which the members were elected by
electoral colleges in each government. These colleges, in turn, were
elected on the Zemstvo system with proportionate representation of
the classes of nobles, clergy, merchants, workmen and peasants. In
1906 the privileges of all the various parts of this essentially demo-
cratic system were radically reduced by the Czar, but the system
existed and returned in full measure during one period of the war.
The essential thing to note is that Russia enjoyed a form of democratic
government in which every peasant had the suffrage, and, since the
meetings of the Mir were of the highest interest in the village, every
Russian peasant was accustomed to popular representative government.

The Czar's Autocratic Government.

So far, so good. But Russia also possessed the autocratic govern-
ment, the head of which was the Czar. His official title was ' ' Emperor
and Autocrat of All the Russias." None the less, this autocracy was
definitely limited. The legislative power of the Emperor (after 1905)
could be exercised only in concert with the Duma and the Council of
the Empire. The latter body contained representatives of the monastic
dergy (black), the secular clergy (white), the colleges and learned
societies, the chambers of commerce, the industrial councils, the gov-
ernments or provinces and six members from Poland. There was,
besides this, the Council of Ministers, or the Cabinet, and the Senate,
which was the Supreme Court of Justice in addition to its other admin-
istrative duties. The governmental officials of the various governments
were under the imperial control, as was also the very powerful police
system.

It will thus be seen that working from the bottom up was a power-
ful local system; working from the top down was a powerful central
system. As the power of police and army was in the hands of the
autocratic system, the local system might be held down ; as the taxation
and financial questions were in the hands of the local democratic system,
Tlie autocratic control might be kept down. Moreover, many Zemstvos
had guardians of the peace which corresponded closely to one of the
branches of the imperial police. It followed that a Zemstvo could do
little w^ithout the governor, and, likewise, that the governor could do
little without the Zemstvo. As, however, the one took authority from
the people and the other from the Czar, these forces were always
opposed.

RUSSIA— MISUNDERSTANDING AND MISUNDERSTOOD 389

All the internal problems of Russian government, prior to the war,
were born of the fact that Russian government was a careful balancing
of these opposite forces. There was very much to be said in favor of
such a system, provided that the balance could be kept even, but it was
potent with every kind of mischief should one party or the other secure
control.

At the risk of repetition, it may be said agam, that the evils of
tyranny lurked in the appointive system, wherein the courts, the gov-
ernors, the army and the police were the creatures of the Czar and his
ministers ; and that the evils of revolution and anarchy lurked in the
local government system, wherein every peasant was trained to fight
tooth and nail for his Mir, Volost, Zemstvo or Duma against the consti-
tuted authorities. The former explains such tyrannies as the
''pogroms" or massacres of Jews, the latter explains the revolution
of 1916.

Russian Revolution of 1916.

So much for the machinery through which the spirit of Czardom
and Russism respectively expressed themselves. It is necessary now
to understand the spirit of Russia, and this can best be done by giving
an impartial account of the motives and development of the Russian
revolution. This is all the more necessary as nearly all the books and
propaganda which have been written of the Revolution of 1916 have
been done by Jewish hands. The reader does not need to be reminded
that the Jewish viewpoint is not the Russian viewpoint.

The Revolution of 1916 was a lineal but almost unrecognizable
descendant of Nihilism. Early Nihilism was a movement among the
nobles of Russia in favor of higher education. It began in the fifties.
At that time, all forms of teaching were forbidden to nobles except a
certain official routine. Women of noble families were allowed to attend
only those schools where they were taught languages, music and court
etiquette.

At this time Tolstoi was writing his gospel of humanity and the
nobles took fire. To signalize their revolt against court formalities,
the young nobles donned peasant clothing and the noblewomen (for-
bidden by law. to walk on a street and required at the institutes to wear
court dresses with low necks and long trains all the time, in order that
they might be habituated thereto) cut off their hair, put on thick boots
and made this a symbol of emancipation. This was the beginning of

390 RUSSIA— MISUNDERSTANDING AND MISUNDERSTOOD

the short-haired woman type. The nobles went to all sorts of extremes,
mixing with the peasants and trying to live like them, as did Count
Tolstoi himself. This ill-balanced idealism achieved nothing.

At first the police paid little attention to this intellectual revolt
among the nobles, but, as it gained headway, they began to apply
repressive measures. This increased the spirit of revolt, and some of
the nobles began openly to ally themselves with the earlier movements,
such as the Decembrists of 1820-1824, who had preached the theories
of the French Revolution.

An attempt on the Czar's life in 1866 increased the severity of the
repression. Nihilism took on a different character and became bitter.
This was the period when Prince Kropotkin was the intellectual leader.
To read a book not passed upon by the local police, to wear short hair,
to don a peasant's clothes, to talk to a suspected person, to criticise an
official or to advocate public schools was ''revolution" and punishable
with exile to Siberia.

Assassination of Czar Alexander II.

During the seventies the revolutionary movement spread, but was
compelled to become secret. Police spies wormed their way into the
organization and became members, finding means thus to betray their
supposed comrades. The severity of the persecution steadily increased,
and Terrorism was advocated by the "Central Committee" of a wing
of the Revolutionary Party as the only argument that reactionary
officials could understand. The autocratic tyrants hoped to quell
liberty by fear. The Nihilists retorted that they should live under the
dark shadow of Fear themselves. On March, 1881, Czar Alexander II
was assassinated by a bomb, and the Terrorists openly rejoiced in the

deed.

Under an evil counsellor, Pobiedonostzev, the new Czar, Alexander
III, put into effect measures so stringent as to stamp out the Nihilist-
Terrorist group. All the leaders, yes, all, were either hanged, shot or
sentenced to Siberia. The effect was potent. Without leaders nothing
could be done. The revolutionary movement of the eighties was driven
into the ground. Sophie Petrofskaya, a noblewoman of royal blood,
ixnd a score of others were hanged. Over 600 were banished to Siberia.
The old Nihilism of the nobles became extinct.

During the nineties a great change came over the revolutionary

RUSSIA— MISUNDERSTANDING AND MISUNDERSTOOD 391

party. It had been begun by nobles, exclusively; it had been carried
on into the Terrorist regime largely by younger nobles, with here and
jthere a university student who w^as not noble born. Only one man of
Jewish extraction ever secured a place among the inner councils.
During the nineties, however, the revolution spread among the profes-
sional classes, the merchant groups, the younger radical thinkers every-
where. These were the ''intelligentsia," a word which has been mis-
translated ' ' intellectuals. ' ' The true sense of the word is ' ' those willing
to think." It included such different types as Prince Shakhovskvi,
Professor Milyukoff and I. Petrunkevitch. It culminated in a huge
student strike in 1899, and in 1900 the Minister of Education was
assassinated. A dozen striking assassinations occurred during the
next four years, the most notable being that of Von Plehve, Minister of
the Interior, and Pobiedonostzeff 's right-hand man.

The Crime of "Bloody Sunday."

The years 1900 to 1904 brought about the third form of revolution.
The first had been educational and Nihilistic, the second had been retal-
iatory and Terroristic, the third was constitutional and Socialistic. A
strong proportion of Jewish leaders, followers of less extreme social-
istic theories, urged a revolution which should have a definite aim.
Nihilism had been ridiculous despite the sublimity of its ideals ; Terror-
ism had been inept, for lack of a plan.

The inexcusable crime of ''Bloody Sunday," January 9, 1905, crys-
tallized a strong constitutional movement into a definite rebellion. On
that snowy Sunday, tens of thousands of workers, carrying ikons (sacred
images) and led by Father Gapon, paraded before the Winter Palace
to present a petition to the Czar. They were unarmed. The Grand
Duke Vladimir, uncle of the Czar, ordered the troops to "fire and keep
on shooting." Over 1,500 people, many of them dead and wounded,
lay on the snow in front of the Winter Palace when the short afternoon
was ended.

Repression met with failure, as always. All Russia became indig-
nant. Unions were organized all over the country. Every class and
section of the land espoused the Social Democrat cause. The ' ' Autocrat
of All the Russias" was forced to give way and the First Duma or
representative parliament was called. It was a beginning, but a poor
one, for the First and Second Dumas came to nought. This was the

392 BUSSIA— MISUNDERSTANDING AND MISUNDERSTOOD

fault of both sides. The Duma representatives demanded reforms
which were so sweeping as to be impossible, and thus drew down upon
themselves imperial distrust. Stolypin, the Prime Minister, again
laid a heavy hand on all liberals.

The Third Duma, fairly representative of the spirit of the people,
disillusioned and weary of anarchy, met November 15, 1907. It brought
about a number of reforms, though its work was always hampered and
curtailed in the Imperial Council. Gradually liberalism was spreading
through Russia, a curious kind of liberalism which was without unity,
which represented two-score of different parties, of all varieties of
tJiought, from bloody anarchy to doctrinaire theory. Its principal
characteristic, however, was Pan-Slavism.

Pan-Slavism, originally, had nothing to do with territory. It
resembled Pan-Germanism in nothing. It was, in all essentials, a
movement for Slav culture. This is a most important matter to under-
stand, because it is the explanation of Germany's influence in Russia.

Efforts of Peter the Great.

To begin with, the new Russian culture, originated by Peter the
Great at the beginning of the eighteenth century, was not Russian in
any sense. It was not even Slavic. It was Germanic. Peter the Great
saw the progress of Western Europe and realized the backwardness of
his own country. He decided to force the ideas of Western Europe on
his people. Sooner or later such a policy spells disaster. It was
England's mistake in Ireland. It was Germany's error in Poland.
During the eighteenth century and the first half of the nineteenth,
Russia tended German-wards. Then came the internal revolt, when
Pushkin took the folk-lore of the Slav for his poetry and Tschaikowsky
took the folk-songs of the Slav for a basis in his music. A true Pan-
Slavism took root in the hearts of the Russian people.

For a moment compare the Russian and the Irish situation. Just
as England forced on Ireland governors of English extraction, designed
to Englishize Ireland, so the Russian Czars (a German family, gener-
ally marrying German princesses) forced on Russia administrators
drawn from Germany. The Imperial Court was largely German.
German and French, not Russian, were the languages of the imperial
circle.

Pan-Slavism was definitely opposed to this. It advocated Russian

RUSSIA— mSUNDERSTANDING AND MISUNDERSTOOD 393

officials for the Russian people. It desired the Russian language in
the Russian court. It sought to retain Russian concessions for Russian
captains of industry. It sought uniformity of tariffs, instead of a pref-
erential tariff for Germany. Every Pan-Slavic movement, therefore,
every internal development of Russia, each new public school built,
was a direct blow at Germany. The Kaiser could not maintain his
control over the Czar save by supporting his imperial brother in every
effort to keep the people down. This brought about an impossible
situation. It meant that the autocratic government was pro-German;
the democratic government, pro-Slav. As always, the Zemstvo and the
Court were on opposite sides of the fence. The Grand Duke Nicholas
Nicholaievitch was a pan-Slav.

Duplicity of Czar Nicholas II.

When, therefore, the crime of Serajevo startled the world and
Austria's aggression on Serbia set the world aflame. Czar Nicholas II,
a man of no strength of character, was in an awkward position. If he
definitely humbled himself before Germany, as he seemed to have
wished, he knew that the whole Zemstvo-Pan-Slav forces of the empire
would be aUied against him. He knew that Nicholas Nicholaievitch,
the commander-in-chief of the army, would be against him.

In the characteristic fashion of a weak man, the Czar proceeded to
lie to both parties and to play a double game. He defied Germany
openly and undermined Russia 's armies secretly. He wrote notes and
made speeches declaring his loyalty to Russia, meanwhile sending pri-
vate emissaries in munition factories to see that shells were made which
would not explode. He secretly placea German officials as railroad
heads to prevent the delivery of food supplies to the troops at the time
wnen food was most needed.

The Czarina informed the Germans of all Russian war plans, and
when, in spite of all these handicaps. Grand Duke Nicholas Nicholai-
evitch smashed the Austrian lines, the Czar promptly took him from
his command and sent him to the Caucasus, where he could aid the
Allies but little. This was not necessarily the blame of Nicholas II,
it was a part of the imperial policy of two centuries' standing, and it
was the natural result of a nine-tenths German Czar with an all-German
wife, living in a German court mth German officials. Moreover, Rus-
sianism meant revolution and Nicholas feared two things, assassination

394 RUSSIA— MISUNDERSTANDING AND MISUNDERSTOOD

and dethronement. His weak-kneed policy, instead of saving him from
either of these things, at last brought him both.

It is obvious, therefore, that the war on Germany was a popular
one in Russia, for it was also a war on pro-Germanism in the imperial
reo-ime. It was a blow at the "black hundred." It was a national
movement. All classes of thought, Democrats, Socialists, Constitution-
alists, even some of the groups of Anarchists, joined in approval of the
war. Such widely different men as Prince Kropotkin, Plekhanoff,
Bourtzeff, Deutsch, and even Lenine (at first) endorsed the war. When
it became known in November, 1914, that two of the Czar^s ministers,
Maklakoff and Schcheglovitoff, had presented a secret report advising
immediate agreement to a separate peace, the country fell into an
uproar. The spring of 1915 found the people of Russia a unit for the
war, but also found them growing more and more suspicious of the
pro-German ring in Petrograd.

Influence of the Monk "Rasputin."

The summer of 1915 saw steady defeat of the Russian armies, due
uniformly to the inefficiency of munitions and supplies. This inefficiency
became acute when the Imperial party took the management of trans-
port away from the Zemstvo. In August, 1915, there was a violent
scene in Petrograd when Nicholas Nicholaievitch appeared before the
Czar and accused him in point-blank terms of selling the country to the
enemy. He threatened his august relative with dethronement. But
the court cabal was too strong, and on September 8, 1915, the Grand
Duke was relieved of his position as Commander-in-Chief and the Czar
took the post himself.

After that, matters became easy for the Germans' A month later
they were at Warsaw and before the middle of November all the
fortresses of the Russian frontier had fallen and German troops were
at Riga, Dvinsk, Grodno, Brest-Litovsk and Czortkoff, a seizure of
thousands of square miles of territory. All winter the line held. Grand
Duke Nicholas, however, fighter and a strategist, achieved marvelous
successes in the Caucasus and advanced on Erzerum.

The year 1916, in Russia, centered around the dark figure of Gregor
Novikh, the monk, who became known by the niclmame of '* Rasputin",
(a rake, or person of bad morals). He was a man of extraordinary
personality, a dissolute degenerate, but a possessor of hypnotic healing

RUSSIA— MISUNDERSTANDING AND MISUNDERSTOOD 395

powers. The young Czarevitch was epileptic, the Czarina was hysteric.
Rasputin promptly eased the pains of both and became an indispens-
able attachment to the court. A peasant himself, he realized that even
the imperial underhand methods of dealing with the armies would not
suffice to stop the vast powers of Russia once they woke. He knew,
what no one else in the court realized, that the All-Russian Union of
Zemstvos and the Union of Towns were infinitely stronger than
Czardom. If he were to keep his place, it was necessary that Germany
should be victorious. Accordingly, Rasputin succeeded in arranging
the appointment of Sturmer, a German, as Premier of Russia, in place
of Goremykin, reactionary though the latter had shown himself.

Treachery of Russia's Premier.

Sturmer commenced operations at once. In 1916 he issued an
order forbidding the meeting of any democratic societies and expelling
groups from the army. He placed all liberal headquarters in the hands
of the police. He removed from the cabinet, Sazonoff, Minister of
Foreign Affairs, the only Pan-Slav of the group. Finally, under Ras-
putin's suggestion, he appointed Protopopoff as Minister of the Inte-
rior, with the design of staging a popular revolution of such a character
that the liberal element itself would be obliged either to disavow it or
to find themselves placed in a hopelessly unfavorable light. This would
afford the excuse for a fresh access of repression. Stuimer also defi-
nitely opposed General Brusiloff, apparently for no other reason than
that the Commander of the Armies on the Austrian front was trying
to do his duty in the cause of the Allies.

When the Duma met, November 14, 1916, a storm broke loose.
Even the president of the Duma, Rodzianko, a staunch conservative,
denounced Sturmer, and declared that the Premier was selling Russia
to the enemy. Miliukoff, leader of the Constitutional Democrats, pro-
duced evidence of the treachery, and, not only that, but showed that
Sturmer was receiving bribes from food speculators. Shuvaieff and
Gregorovitch, respectively Minister of War and of the Navy, appeared
at the Duma and supported the statements that Sturmer and Rasputin
(which meant Czar and Czarina also) were negotiating with the enemy.
Sturmer was forced out. Trepoff took his place.

Protopopoff, however, was still active. He organized the secret
police and trained them in machine-gun methods. He ordered the

396 KUS8IA— MISUNDERSTANDING AND MISUNDERSTOOD

assassination of Miliukoff, but, at the last moment, the assassin, who
was a Russian, repented of his treachery and revealed the plot. He
fomented revolutionary disorders of contradictory and opposing char-
acters in the unions of workers. Russia grew to hate Protopopoff with
a mighty hate. Only Rasputin and the Czarina stood behind him.

In the early morning hours of December 30, 1916, two motor cars
drove up to the palace of Prince Yusupoff, whose wife was a cousin of
the Czar. Among the men in the party were two ex-ministers of the
Interior, Pavlovitch and Khvostoff, and also Vladimir Purishkevitch, a
deputy in the Duma. Shots were heard, but the police did not dare
force an investigation, on account of the high rank of Prince Yusupoff.
A bundle resembling a human body was carried out and put into one
of the motor cars. Next morning a hole was found in the ice of the
frozen river Neva, beside which stood two galoshes splashed with blood.
Further search revealed the body. It was that of Rasputin.

The Successor to Rasputin.

The funeral of Rasputin became even more significant than his
death. Though a peasant and a monk, he was accorded imperial honors.
The Czar and Protopopoff actually were among the pall-bearers. On
the other hand, the people greeted the news with delight, as though a
great victory had been won, and the newspapers even dared to publish
all the details of the crime. Even the new Premier, Trepoff, would not
punish the assassins. Protopopoff stepped into Rasputin's place, com-
mencing spiritualistic seances whereat he claimed to be in psychic
communication with the dead monk. Trepoff was removed for failing
to seize Rasputin's murderers, as were also the Ministers of War and
the Navy. Pro-Germans were put in their place.

At last Protopopoff 's plans matured. He was ready to provoke
the revolution, breaking up the army from within, and then, by a
sudden coup, putting the whole Russian government into the hands of
Germany. On February 27, 1917, 300,000 workmen went on strike in
Petrograd. During the first week of March martial law was declared.
x\ll seemed to be going as Protopopoff had desired.

The pro-German Prime Minister, however, had made a mistake.
He had counted on raising a storm which he could quell. He raised a
hurricane, which he could not control, instead. March 9 was the date
set by Protopopoff for the revolution. His plans miscarried. The day

RUSSIA—MISUNDERSTANDING AND MISUNDERSTOOD 397

passed quietly. Everywhere the fostered revolt was becoming a real
revolution. The workingmen were not in the streets raising riot, they
were formally organizing. On the 10th the Council of Workers' Depu-
ties was formed and the Duma suddenly passed a resolution stating
"with such a Government the Duma forever severs its connections."
The Czar answered with a decree dissolving the Duma.

Sunday, March 11, Protopopoff showed his hand. He ordered the
soldiers to start an organized "repression of the revolt." Then
occurred the surprise. Unknown to the Prime Minister, on the Friday
and Saturday previous, several regiments of the army had joined the
Duma and the people. The Pavlovsk regiment was the first. On
Sunday morning, only one regiment in Petrograd remained loyal to
Protopopoff and the pro-German Czarina. The Czar, who may or may
not have known all the details of the plot, was at the front. The loyal
regiment charged on the crowds in the streets. The revolting regiments
seized the motor trucks and artillery and charged back. Vast mobs
gathered. Protopopoff 's newly armed police force joined the fray.
It was a bloody Sunday. Protopopoff 's desire, of provoking anarchy
seemed successful.

Success of the Revolutionists.

Monday saw an absolute change of front. On the Duma the red
flag was flying. The soldiers refused to shoot the mobs, several regi-
ments shot down their officers instead. The revolutionary regiments,
after a sharp fight, captured the Arsenal. The jails and prisons were
broken open and the prisoners liberated. Even the notorious Fortress
of SS. Peter and Paul fell. The headquarters of the secret police was
stormed, its defenders killed and the building burned to its foundations,
together with all the records. There was little resistance.

Rodzianko, the president of the Duma, sent numerous telegrams
to the Czar, closing with the famous message: "The last hour has
struck. Tomorrow will be too late if you wish to save your throne and
your dynasty." To this there was no response. The revolutionary
soldiers then demanded of the Duma what action it intended to take.
Rodzianko showed his telegrams and declared openly for a constitu-
tional democracy. This was deemed satisfactory. That evening, the
Council of Workers ' Deputies admitted delegates from the revolution-
ary regiments and the name of the body was changed to the Council of
Workmen and Soldiers' Deputies.

398 RUSSIA— MISUNDEESTANDING AND MISUNDERSTOOD

On the 12th Sturmer was arrested, and on the 13th Protopopoff
gave himself up. Kerensky, the Socialist leader, saved the Prime Min-
ister from lynching, fearing the effect of allowing mob violence to begin.
Meanwhile the two committees, one of the Duma, and the other of the
Council of Workmen and Soldiers' Deputies, worked furiously to
arrange a programme. On the evening of the 14th a proclamation
was made, beginning ''Citizens! The wonderful has transpired. Or
Russia is dead. ' ' Both parties worked in harmony, reds and constitu-
tionalists. On the 15th a Provisional Government was formed with
Prince Lvoff as Premier. He had been head of the All-Russian Union
of Zemstvos. Miliukoff, leader of the Constitutional Democrats, became
Foreign Minister. Kerensky, the radical Socialist, was made Minister
of Justice. That same day the Czar was forced to abdicate. The revo-
lution was an established fact. On March 22, the United States recog-
nized the new Russian Government, and on March 23, Great Britain,
France and Italy extended the formal diplomatic recognition.

Kerensky Made Provisional President.

Troubles soon began. The first hitch was over the question of
the war. The Duma urged renewal of the Russian offensive, the social-
istic Council of Workmen and Soldiers' Deputies urged internation-
alism and a congress for peace. The second hitch was over the question
of a republic. Prince Lvoff, being a Constitutional Democrat and stand-
ing for a Constitutional Monarchy, while Kerensky urged a republican
form of government. Peace was patched up for a time, but on July
20, 1917, Prince Lvoff retired from the premiership and Kerensky took
his place.

Germany's hand had begun to appear. On July 17, 1917, the
Petrograd Bolsheviki made their first attempt to seize government
power. Both the Duma and the Council were against them. None the
less, between July 17 and 19, over 500 men, women and children were
killed on the streets of Petrograd. On July 25, by a vote of 300 to
11, the Council of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies demanded that
the Bolsheviki explain their alliance with Germany and demanded
the arrest of Lenine and Zinovieff. The famous National Conference
at Moscow, August 27-31, designed to formulate unison, only provoked
discord.

On September 9, General Korniloff rose against the Provisional

RUSSIA— MISUNDERSTANDING AND MISUNDERSTOOD 399

Government. On the 10th Kerensky dismissed Korniloff. The com-
mander-in-chief declared his intention to resist. This precipitated a
new crisis and the Provisional Government declared a republic, with
Kerensky as Provisional President.

The Preliminary Parliament of the Republic opened on October 8,
1917. The Bolshevists left at once. On November 7th the Parliament
came to an abrupt end, when the Bolshevists overthrew it and declared
the arrest of Kerensky. The first Constituent Assembly under Bol-
shevism was formally opened on January 18, 1918, and after a single
day's session was dispersed by bayonets. Russia, delivered into the
hands of the party she had never supported in any way, could do nothing
but submit herself to be bargained for by Lenine, Trotzky and his ilk.

Betrayal of the Russian People.

On January 24, 1918, the Russian delegates to the peace confer-
ence at Brest-Litovsk rejected the German terms. The Germans
answered with a threat. On February 9 the Ukraine signed a peace
treaty with the Central Powers. On February 10 the Bolshevists
capitulated. Documents which came into the hands of the United States
Department of State revealed, to quote officially, "Complete proof of
what the world had long suspected, namely, that Lenine and Trotzky
and other members of the Bolshevist Government of Russia were paid
German agents, who were systematically betraying the Russian people
— even the workingman whom they pretended to represent — and were
working from first to last for the Imperial German Government under
the direction of German officers in Petrograd.

''These documents," says the official American report, ''show that
the Bolshevist revolution was arranged for by the German Great Gen-
eral Staff and financed by the German Imperial Bank and other German
financial institutions. They show that the treaty of Brest-Litovsk was
a betrayal of the Russian people by the German agents, Lenine and
Trotzky; that a German-picked commander was chosen to 'defend*
Petrograd against the Germans ; that German officers have been secretly
received by the Bolshevist Government as military advisers, as spies
upon the embassies of Russia's allies, as officers in the Russian Army
and as directors of Bolshevist military, foreign and domestic policy.
They show, in short, that the present Bolshevist Government is not a
Russian Government at all, but a German government, acting solely

400 RUSSIA— MISUNDERSTANDING AND MISUNDERSTOOD

in the interests of Germany and betraying the Russian people for the
benefit of the Imperial German Government alone."

That there should be no possible counter-revolution, the Bolshevists
assassinated the Czar, killed all nobles at sight, instituted a Reign of
Terror on every hand, and, even after the close of the war, from Novem-
ber 10-15, 1918, instituted a wholesale massacre which, they boasted,
''far outshone the massacres of St. Bartholomew's Eve."

This deplorable picture must be closed with the remembrance that
Bolshevism was not Russian, it was German. The headquarters of the
Bolshevists were in Berlin. Public condemnation should not fall on
the Russian people, but on the Judas who betrayed it and the Teuton
paymaster of the thirty pieces of silver. It must not be forgotten that
the Russia which was recognized by the powers was the Russia under
Prince Lvoff, a constitutional democracy. Russia failed the Allies,
she failed the world, but it was only because she was sold by her false
rulers and her sham friends.

CHAPTER XLII.

FEUDAL ROTJMANIA, A COUNTRY OUT-OF-DATE.

An Island of Latins Entirely Surrounded by Alien Blood— Bessarabia as a Second Alsace-Lorraine—
Dobrudja, the Mouth of the Danube and the Port of Constanza— HalJ-Hearted Entrance Into the
War— Greater Roumania a Possible First-Class Power.

RACIALLY, Roumania had nothing to do with the war. Unlike
every other participant in the East, she conld afford to stay neu-
tral so far as the sentiment of her people was concerned. She was nei-
ther Teuton, Turk nor Slav. With Slavic Russia to the north. Teuton
Austria to the northwest, Finno-Ugric Hungary to the west, Slavic Ser-
bia to the southwest, and Tartar Bulgaria to the south, she was com-
pletely isolated from her nearest of kin, the Italians. For the Rouma-
nians, as their name shows, are the descendants of Roman legions and
speak a Latin not much more removed from ancient Latin that modem
Greek is different from ancient Greek.

The Roumanian territorial problem, however, possessed some in-
tricades. Greater Roumania, that is to say the territory in which the
Roumanians predominate, included Bessarabia in Russia and Transyl-
vania in Hungary. Besides this, much of Bukovina in Austria was
Roumanian. This condition gave rise to neutrality at the beginning of
the war, since, if Roumania were to gain in the great conflict, it would
be necessary for her to find out from which side she could gain the
greatest advantage.

Modem Roumania, as she was at the opening of the war, consisted
of two provinces, Wallachia and Moldavia, which united in 1859 under
a native prince. In 1866 a bloodless revolution deposed and banished
Prince Cousa, because of his high-handed methods, excellent though
these had proved to be for the country. The crown was then offered to
Prince Carol, a member of a sidebranch of the Hohenzollem family.

After the Russo-Turkish War of 1877, Roumania was given the
Dobrudja (a strip of waste land on the Black Sea) in exchange for
southern Bessarabia, which was given to Russia. Roumania bitterly

26— w. L. 401

402 FEUDAL KOUMANIA—A COUNTRY OUT-OF-DATE

resented this. So did Bulgaria, from whom the Dobrudja had been
taken.

As time went on, however, Roumania found that the possession of
a direct frontage on the Black Sea and of the port of Constanza was of
high commercial value. The Bulgarian frontier, however, ran too close
to Constanza for Roumania 's liking, so, in 1913, in the Second Balkan
War, Roumania invaded Bulgaria and compelled that country to cede a
wide strip of territory to the south of Dobrudja, and also the fortress
of Silistria on the Danube. Such was Roumania at the opening of the
war.

Roumania Declares War.

So far as population was concerned, Roumania had an. area of
53,000 square miles and a population of 7,500,000, with four-
fifths of the population Roumanian. Five per cent, of the popu-
lation was Jewish. The remainder, on the frontier, was colored
with the nationalities they bordered. Eastern Hungary, including
Transylvania and the Banat of Temesvar, had an area of 40,000 square
miles, with a population of 6,000,000, of which almost one-half were
Roumanians. Bukowina had an area of 4,000 square miles and a popu-
lation of 750,000, of which one-third were Roumanians. Bessarabia had
an area of 17,000 square miles and a population of over 2,500,000, of
which the Roumanians numbered almost one-half. Northeastern Ser-
bia had an area of 2,000 square miles, with a population of 40,000, one-
third Roumanian. The total area of this whole section was about the
same size as Italy, with a Roumanian population of 14,000,000, or twice
as numerous as that of Norway and Sweden together. Were Greater
Roumania create into a single state, therefore, she would be claimed as
a first-class power.

In the coldest possible terms, Roumania entered the war on the side
which she thought would win, and declared, in her official declaration of
war, that she had done so ''by the side of those who are able to assure-
her realization of national unity. ' ' In addition to this somewhat sordid
aim, Roumania pointed out that the Roumanians in Hungary had been
continually mistreated, an admitted fact, and that Austria had pro-
voked the war to change the status quo in the' Balkans for her own
aggrandizement and in such a manner as to menace Roumania herself.
The declaration of war was made by Roumania on August 28, 1916, and
was greeted with satisfaction by the Allied Powers, who scrupled not

FEUDAL ROUMANIA--A COUNTRY OUT-OF-DATE 403

to say that a Greater Roumania, the country of the ''Latins of the
Danube, ' ' would be a valuable western European barrier to either Teu-
ton, Bulgarian or Slavic aggression.

As has been shown in the historical treatment of the Roumanian
campaign, the Danube Latins chose her time badly. Roumania 's initial
invasion of Austria proved a great military success, indeed, and the aid
of Russia, shown by her occupation of the Dobrudja, was also a success.
Both, however, contained seeds of weakness. Less than a week later a
strong force of Germano-Bulgarian-Turkish troops, which had been
quietly mobilizing in anticipation of Roumania 's decision, hurled itself
into the Dobrudja, which, as has been said, is a sterile wind-swept heath,
essential to Roumania as a coast-line.

Germany Strikes at Rovunania.

The Dobrudja fell almost at once under the smashing tactics of
von Mackensen. The Roumanian troops continued to advance in Hun-
gary until Germany was ready to strike there. The issue was not long
in doubt. Germany hurled armies at three points simultaneously. Von
Mackensen drove north. On December 6, 1916, Bucharest, the capital,
fell into Teuton hands, and with it went one-half of Roumania.

True to its own Hun character and its Bulgaro-Turkish alliance,
the Austro-German occupation of Roumania (which was extended bit by
bit to include almost the whole country) was handled in much the same
manner as the occupation of Belgium. Over 1,100 Roumanians of
Transylvania were sentenced to penal servitude. All Roumanian
estates in Austro-Hungarian territory were confiscated. Bucharest was
victimized by a Reign of Terror. Seventy-five of the national leaders were
executed, following a summary court martial, several of them priests.
The customary personal violence and attacks on convents were made by
the German invaders. This continued until the German aggressors
were finally driven out at the close of the war.

The effect of the war on Roumania was extraordinary. Despite
their Latin stock, in 1914 Roumania was far behind the European na-
tions in her social state. She was still mentally in the Middle Ages, liv-
ing in a feudal state with masses of untaught peasant tenants on the
lands of the Boyars. Commerce was in the hands of the Jews, a perse-
cuted caste. There was no peasant democracy, such as those of Bul-
garia and Serbia. All the intellectual life of the country was in Buch-

404 FEUDAL ROUMANIA— A COUNTRY OUT-OF-DATE

arest. Everything else was ''the provinces/' where the absentee land-
lord Boyars seldom lived, but extorted their rents from Greek agents.
Jewish and Armenian peddlers and usurers bled the Roumanian pea-
sant of everything his noble had left him.

The war necessitated the awakening of the peasant, and,
being of a Latin stock, he was readily teachable. The reorgan-
ization of the Roumanian Army, a fact brought about by the Allied oc-
cupation of Saloniki, whither the Roumanian forces gathered, meant
the leoro-anization of Roumanian character. By the close of the war,
the Roumanian Army was not a collection of armed peasants, but an
army of citizen soldiers, having learned the two great lessons of modem
military life, namely, the value of discipline and the value of individual
action. Roumania, under Germanic militaristic teaching might have be-
come even more submissive; Roumania, under Allied teaching, became
tinct with constitutionalism and the spirit of liberty.

Roumania Redeemed.

Meanwhile, the year 1918 brought into sharp relief the trouble that
always exists between king and people when the king is of a different
race than his subjects. King Ferdinand, nephew of the Hohenzollern
Prince Carol, had married a German Princess, daughter of the Duke of
Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. He played into the hands of Germany to the
extent of accepting terms of separate peace, which was compulsorily
ratified by the Roumanian Senate on July 6, 1918. The Peace itself,
signed by Roumania and the Central Powers on May 7, 1918, gave the
right of navigation of the Danube to the Central Powers and reiterated
Bulgaria's possession of the Dobrudja.

Ijike the former ''Peace" of Bucharest, this latter treaty was but
a foundation for future war. The Roumanian people, in every way pos-
sible for a conquered country, protested. The leaders of Roumania —
such as were left alive — declared: "In the name of the Roumanian
people we openly declare ourselves the allies of the Entente Powers,
and we proclaim the Treaty of Bucharest null and void."

The last phase came with the signing of the armistice when Ger-
many was whipped, and the abdication of King Ferdinand ended
German influence in the Latin state on the Danube.

CHAPTER XLIII.

FALLEN GREECE, A LAND OF CIVIL STRIFE.

Levantine Weakness-Result of Balkan Wars-King Constantine and Premier Venizelos Deadlocked-
Macedonia a Bone of Contention Between Serbia, Bulgaria and Greece-Albania Coveted by Serbia
Greece and Italy— The Occupation of Salonikl.

64/^REECE— the Neutral With No Friends!" Such was the
VX phrase with which Polyzoides in 1916 summed up the result
of the two years of civil war in Greece. It cannot, in honesty, be said
that Greece's action was a surprise to those diplomats who were well
informed on Balkan questions. Rightly or wrongly, throughout the
Near East, Greece has always been regarded as tricky and untrust-
worthy. It is no secret that Greece was despised by all nations border-
ing on the Mediterranean, it is universally known that Greece was
hated by all her neighbors to the north. The reason was simple.
Greece, for many centuries, had manifested a definite objection to
playing fair. "The slippery Greek" is a Levantine proverb.

Greece has always been bitten with the madness of a ' ' Great Idea. ' '
National aspirations may sometimes be legitimate madness. No one
holds Roumania to blame for wanting to put all the Roumanians under
one flag. But Greece wanted far more. Sunk in the stupid notion that
modern Greece is the inheritor of the Byzantine Empire, there has
always been a strong Greek party which demanded all of European
Turkey, control of Constantinople and the western part of Asia Minor,
all of Macedonia, all of Albania, most of the Balkans and all the islands
of the sea adjacent. There was neither rhyme nor reason in this
desire. It was neither historically, racially, linguistically nor polit-
ically sound. It had nothing but a decadent vanity on its side.

With characteristic ingenuity, Greece had succeeded in pulling
most of the plums out of the Balkan War pie with a minimum of effort.
As a result of the treaties — not as a result of fighting — Greece had
doubled her territory and almost doubled her population. Saloniki
and Kavalla, second only in importance to Constantinople, were in
Hellenic hands, and Crete was once more reunited to the motherland.

405

406 FALLEN GREECE-A LAND OF CIVIL STRIFE

With the outbreak of the world war, the Greek people at first found
themselves in sympathy with the Allied cause. This was especially
true of the coast peoples, who were followers of Venizelos, the Premier.
For many years France and England had been friendly to Greece;
during the Balkan Wars, Greece and Serbia had hung together. The
two principal foes to Greece, namely, Bulgaria and Turkey, were on
the opposite side. There seemed no doubt as to where the sympathies
of Greece should stand. When, therefore, the Anglo-French fleet began
its bombardment of the Dardanelles in February, 1915, it was with little
compunction that the Allies asked the Hellenic Government to furnish
an army to aid the naval attack. King Constantine promptly refused.

For this refusal there were three reasons. The first was the char-
acter of the King himself and of his entourage. King Constantine was
not a Greek, but a German. Moreover, he was married to Sophia of
Prussia, sister of the Kaiser. He was, therefore, the Kaiser's brother-
in-law. Naturally, Cabinet ministers chosen by the King would be
strongly influenced by pro-German leanings.

Greece Refused to Assist the Allies.

The second reason was the fear of invasion from the north, espe-
cially by Greece's dark enemy, the Bulgars, a fear which was very
potent with the inland peasants, as contrasted with the coast peoples.
The third reason was the Macedonian question ; Greek Macedonia being
solidly for neutrality, fearing the invasive possibilities of Serbian and
Bulgarian Macedonia. King Constantine argued that the Allies would
have their hands so full on the western and eastern fronts that they
would not be able to spare an army to protect Greece against the Turko-
Bulgarian invasion which would assuredly result from a declaration
of war.

Then came the entrance of Italy into the war. This was a matter
of vital interest to Greece, for the Italian attitude to the Adriatic was
definitely hostile to Greece. The inclusion of Italy among the Allies,
therefore, strengthened King Constantine 's pro-German position,
largely because of Albania.

The Albanians are a race of about 1,000,000 people, mainly settled
in Albania, an artificial State created by the Powers in 1913, after the
close of the Second Balkan War. Albania, so constituted, was a band

FALLEN GREECE— A LAND OF CIVIL STRIFE 407

of rugged mountain-land, facing the Adriatic Sea, with Montenegro on
the north, Serbia on the east and Greece on the southeast and south.

Strategically, Albania is important as the Balkan outlet to the
Adriatic. Therefore, Serbia and Bulgaria both wanted it. Italy was
unwilling that a Balkan State should face her across the narrow Adri-
atic. Greece was resentful of Italian desires, rightly claiming that
Albania is more Greek than Italian.

The story of Albania during the first two years of the war can be
told in one word— anarchy. Albania was a ''horrible example" of
international control. The Albanians are a proud, fighting race, wuo
dislike the Serbs as much as they do the Greeks, and hate the Bulgarians
more than either. During the war Austria occupied the hinterland of
Albania and Italy dominated the ooast and the islands.

Civil War in Greece.

King Constantine's refusal of aid to the Allies created great hos-
tility among the Allies, who promptly saw the mailed fist of the Kaiser
leading his brother-in-law by the nose. To the diplomats of the
Entente, therefore, it seemed wiser to try and induce Bulgaria to
transfer her allegiance, for it was a well-known fact that Bulgaria had
only entered the war with the aim of winning as much territory as
possible. For this reason, the Allies went so far as to offer Bulgaria
the whole of Macedonia, specifying those districts which were definitely
Greek. The Allies, here, were imitating the Central Powers in dispos-
ing of territories to which they had not the slightest right.

There were two ways of regarding this offer. The Venizelists
took it as a threat and warned Greece that if she persisted in standing
off from the Allies she would be carved to pieces at the end of the war.
The King and his party promptly took the offer as an affront and
definitely acclaimed Germany as their hope.

The Austro-German drive, in September, 1915, brought the crisis
to a head. The Venizelists stood by Serbia. The King declared that
entrance to the war on the Allied side would simply imbroil Greece
in Serbia's impending fate. Venizelos was compelled to resign, the
King dissolved the Venizelos ministry and appointed a pro-neutral if
not, indeed, definitely pro-German cabinet. As the people of Greece
were with Venizelos, this meant civil war.

During 1916 matters grew more and more tense. The Allies

408 FALLEN GREECE— A LAND OF CIVIL STRIFE

promptly seized the greater part of Greek Macedonia, and, with Veni-
zelist assistance, occupied several Greek islands. Constantine, now
avowedly pro-German, turned over a Macedonian border fortress to

the Germans in May, 1916. ,,. , .

In the autumn of 1916 Venizelos fled from Athens and established
a revolutionary government at Saloniki, under the official protection of
the Allies. The coast peoples followed, and Greek Macedonia swung
into line. Continental and Northern Greece stood by the King. On
October 17, 1916, the Entente Allies formally recognized the Venizelos
government at Saloniki as the government of Greece, the Greek fleet
having been seized by the Allies six days before.

Abdication of Kings Constantine and Ferdinand,

The Allies, now, were thoroughly aroused and determined to stand
no nonsense. On November 15, after two weeks of rigid blockade,
Constantine found himself compelled to accept some stern demands
made by the English and French. The diplomatic representatives of
the Central Powers were curtly ordered to go, and went, under protest,
on November 21. On November 24 the Allies delivered an ultimatum
demanding disarmament of the Greek Army. The Government refused,
on November 28. The next day Allied troopships, with a strong force
aboard, landed in Greece. On December 1 the King publicly rejected
the Allies' demands. On December 11, a still more drastic ultimatum
was presented, expiring December 15. This meant peace or war with
the Allies. The King knew that his people were steadily slipping away
from him, and he was compelled to accept the ultimatum. At this time
a new republic, known as Koritza, was established in Albania, on
December 12, 1916.

In the following spring, Constantine proceeded to strengthen his
secret diplomacy with Germany and thought himself strong enough to
dare to present a note to Italy insisting upon the withdrawal of Italian
troops from Epirus. In May, documents came into the hands of the
Allies showing that Constantine was still intriguing with his brother-
in-law, the Kaiser. Wherefore, on June 12, 1916, the Allies demanded
his abdication and the renunciation of the throne by the Greek Crown
Prince, stating, however, that the second son, Alexander, would be
acceptable.

[With Constantine 's intrigues thus definitely ended, the Allies'

FALLEN GREECE— A LAND OF CIVIL STRIFE 409

concern with Greece grew less. Saloniki was held as a base from which
a Balkan campaign might be begun later, but, in the meantime, France
was kept at her uttermost to hold back the German drives, Italy was
at the stretch and Great Britain was facing serious trouble in Meso-
potamia. There were no troops to spare for a Greek campaign.

It was not until after American troops had begun to arrive in
France that forces could be spared to send to Saloniki. By that time
the Greek Army, no longer under the evil influence of the Kaiser's
brother-in-law, had been reorganized, just as the Roumanian Army had
been.

When, on September 16, 1918, the Allied offensive started from
Bulgaria, the result was a foregone conclusion. It took just twelve
days to humble Bulgaria, and, on September 28, 1918, Bulgaria signed
the terms of the armistice agreeing *'to evacuate all the territory she
now occupies in Greece and Serbia." Ferdinand of Bulgaria (also a
German prince) joined his German relative, the ex-King of Greece, and
abdicated on October 4, 1918. Greece was not only freed of her foes,
but relieved from the Bulgarian menace.

The close of the war found Greece conjoint with the Allies, but not
an ally. Mistrusted at the beginning, she was mistrusted to the last,
her alliance being safeguarded by constant occupation by the fleets
and troops of the Entente. Saloniki was still an Allies' port of occupa-
tion, not a Greek port, when the world war came to an end. She had
made alliances, she had not made friends.

CHAPTER XLIV.

SWEDEN AND FINLAND, WRESTLERS OF THE NORTH.

Gustavus Adolphus and the Baltic— Scandinavia— Separation of Norway and Sweden— Norway Pro-AUy
and Sweden Pro-German In the World War— Finland Taken From Sweden by Russia— Her Strategic
Importance— German Intrusion and Local Bolshevism.

IT is wise to remember that less than three centries ago, Sweden, not
Germany, planned to be the master of Northern Europe In 1630
Gustavus Adolphus landed in Germany, forced an alliance with Pome-
rania and made himself master of the Baltic coast. He advanced to
Berlin and by means of Swedish cannon forced an alliance by which
important fortresses in Germany were ceded to Sweden. Saxony made
an alliance and at the Battle of Breitenfeld, the army of the Holy
Roman Empire was put to flight. The Saxons occupied Prague, in
Bohemia; Gustavus attacked Southern Germany. In 1632, having
conquered Northern Germany, he entered Munich, and Bavaria was
at his feet. It was Gustavus' ambition to create a Protestant Empire,
hut he was killed at the Battle of Lutzen, and, since the Swedish suc-
cesses had been of the Napoleonic character, due to one great military
leader, all the Protestant Empire plans fell to shreds at his death.

During the latter part of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries
Sweden remained within herself, helpless before the growing strength
of Prussia. It had been with the aid of Charles X of Sweden, indeed,
that Prussia freed herself from the Polish Crown, but at the Battle of
Fehrbellin, in 1675, the Great Elector turned on his former allies and
drove them from Pomerania. From that time on, Sweden dwindled
until all her possessions were lost save the Scandinavian peninsula
itself. In 1809 Finland was snatched from Sweden and its history
thereafter became a part of the vast Slav empire.

The nineteenth century, however, transformed Sweden from a
jjoor country into a rich one. The steamship and the railroad unlocked
Sweden's vast mineral wealth, the discovery of the transmutation of
water power into electric power gave Sweden a marvelous industrial
opportunity. Norway, Sweden and Denmark ceased to be '^Scandi-

410

SWEDEN AND FINLAND— WRESTLERS OF THE NORTH 411

navians," they became aggressively Swedes, Norwegians and Danes.
This culminated in the violent separation of Norway from Sweden
in 1905.

At the opening of the war, Norway and Sweden were far apart,
nationally hostile, but linked by the Scandinavian bond. Norway,
primarily a coast people nation, with huge shipping interests — by far
the largest merchant marine in the world in proportion to population —
necessarily was compelled to be friends with the naval powers. Sweden
considered herself the leader of all Scandinavian peoples and had never
forgiven Russia. It was impossible for Swedish thought to favor an
alliance which included Russia. The enforced Russification of Finland
— a dark and bloody chapter — did more than anger Sweden. It made
her fear for herself. It warned her that Russian Finland was just
across the Gulf of Bothnia and that Russian invasion was an ever-
present possibility. Russia had never ceased to seek an outlet to the
sea. She might seize it by the Swedish route. There were a score of
minor issues, but they all tended in the same direction, namely, to cause
Norway to be pro- Ally and Sweden to be pro-German.

Sweden's Support of Germany.

The first two years of the war showed Sweden 's position very defi-
nitely. In January, 1915, when the Germans had been compelled to
dig in at the Aisne, or, to put the matter another way, when France
had shown herself strong enough to hurl back the Teutons at the
Mame, when England had absolutely blockaded the North Sea and
when Russia was in the full tide of advance, Swedish politics took on
H new turn. The "Activist" or pro-German propaganda was stopped
by the government. Sweden would stay neutral if the Allies were
likely to win, she would have plunged solidly into the war if Germany's
initial success had been maintained.

Even then Sweden constantly defied England. She alone retali-
ated against England's somewhat high-handed proceedings on the
high seas, seizing British mail-bags in reprisal and laying an embargo
on Swedish exports to England.

All the world knew that Sweden was Germany's main source of
metals. None the less, the Allies were well aware of the strength and
military efiiciency of Sweden's army and forebore from adding further
battalions in hostile array against them on the western front.

412 SWEDEN AND FINLAND— WRESTLERS OF THE NORTH

Sweden, likewise, forebore to force the issue. The picture of Ger-
many's great fleet lurking in the Kiel Canal, afraid to come out and
face the foe, told its own story of what might happen if a British-
Norwegian fleet entered the Baltic. The Kiel Canal, as a plan, was a
magnificent one, provided the German Navy were strong enough to
play its part. But, with a navy afraid to give battle, no facility of
waterways mattered. In view of the Allies' successes, Sweden was
compelled to sing small. To help Germany as much as possible without
violating neutrality was her part in the war.

Finland, as constituted as a Grand Duchy under Russia at the
opening of the war, was not a small country; it was larger than the
whole of Norway. It was very scantily populated, however, having less
than 3,000,000 people, seven-eighths of whom were Finns or Finno-
Swedes. The pure Swedes were found only on the coast, but formed the
aristocracy of those sections. The Finns are thrifty, intelligent and
far advanced in education. They are intensely nationalistic, and
possess a rich literature of their own. Racially, they are more closely
tdlied to the Magyars of Hungary than any other European people.
An offshoot of the same race stock is the Eskimo. Though politically
under the rule of Russia at the opening of the war, Russia was hated,
Russian cultural influence was small.

Differences Between Russia and Finland.

The breaking away of Finland from Russia was hastened by the
Czar's action in 1899, when the Constitution of Finland was suspended
and the country placed under a Governor General of famed brutality.
The Russian Revolution of 1905 led to a restatement of Finland's
autonomy, but the succeeding reactionism in Russia led to a new set
of repressive measures in 1910.

On March 21, 1917, the famous Restoration Manifesto was Russia's
first definite sign that she dared no longer try and subjugate Poland.
This Manifesto set aside all former laws and imperial edicts contrary
to the Finnish Constitution, and amnestied all Finns (several thousand)
who were imprisoned or exiled for religious or political offences. It
closed with the phrase, ''We solemnly confirm to the Finnish people
the integrity, based on the Constitution, of its internal independence
and the rights of its national culture and languages. ' '

This sounded well, but was nonsense, none the less. Under the

SWEDEN AND FINLAND— WRESTLERS OF THE NORTH 413

Constitution, the supreme governmental authority was vested in the
person of the Czar. At the time of the Manifesto there was no Czar.
To whom, then, did these governmental rights belong? The ensuing
wrangle endured for many months, during which it became more and
more obvious that there was no definite party in Russia with a pro-
gramme susceptible of support by the Finns. Consequently, on July
19, 1917, the Finnish Diet rejected the suzerainty of Russia. The
retort was an order from Russia, received August 3, 1917, declaring
the Finnish Diet dissolved. Moreover, the Russian Governor General
issued a proclamation, "hoping to avoid the necessity of resorting to
force." In view of Russia's previous handling of Finland, this was
not an empty threat. The Finns, following their customary policy of
passive, rather than active, resistance, submitted, but proceeded to
make tax-gathering impossible, and compelled the maintenance of
Russian garrisons throughout the country.

Finland Declared an Independent Republic.

The next change in Finland's affairs came upon the Bolshevist
coup d'etat in November, 1917. When Kerensky fell, the Governor
General left Finland, which was thus without Russian governorship.
The Bolshevists failed to name any one to fill the post, and on Decem-
ber 7, 1917, the Diet proclaimed Finland an independent republic.
Sweden first, and afterwards, France, Norway, Denmark and Germany,
recognized the republic. On January 9, 1918, the Bolshevist govern-
ment also recognized the Republic of Finland, thus canceling all Rus-
sia's claim to any form of over-lordship over the Finnish people.

Then Germany commenced to interfere. On the pretext of saving
the new Republic of Finland from Bolshevism, she sent troops to
Finland toward the end of March, 1918, as soon as travel was possible.
Two parties promptly formed in Finland, one independent, the other
pro-German. A Finnish-German force attacked the Murman Railway
(running from the Arctic Ocean to Petrograd) early in April. The
Allies retorted by sending a detachment to operate with the Russian
Red Guards (a strange mixture !) at Kem. On July 2, a Finno-German
railroad was completed to Kem. The next day a German campaign
started. The Allies replied by landing American and Anglo-French
forces on the Murman coast.

Realizing that a Finnish Republic would be an awkward ally, the

414 SAVEDEN AND FINLAND— WBESTLEES OF THE NORTH

German Kaiser decided to force a German prince upon Finland and
compel it to become a monarchy. The Finns were given the choice of
the Grand Duke of Mecklenburg or Prince William of HohenzoUern-
Sigmaringen. The Diet proving opposed to both, the Germans arrested
all those who were opposed to the plan, ninety-eight members in number.

Early in September, Finland was compelled to submit to Germany
and a treaty was signed whereby the entire force of the Finnish Army
was placed at the disposal of Germany. On September 17, Prince
Frederick Charles of Hesse declared his willingness to accept the
crown of Finland. It may be remarked that the Fiimish people had
not offered the cro^vn, only a Finnish chamber stuffed by Germans with
all non-pro-German members in prison. This Diet ratified the choice
on October 11, 1918. Aside from the imprisoned members, a large pro-
portion of the Diet abstained from voting, thus technically making the
vote null and void, the numbers voting for the monarchy not consti-
tuting a majority.

Ten days later Germany began her appeals for an armistice, and
before the end of the month it became visible throughout Europe that
Germany was defeated and was only striving to find some armistice
terms which did not specifically state that she was whipped. Finland
was not slow to see the weakening grasp of her new master. November
1, 1918, ten days before the world war ended, the Finnish Government
declared an armistice with the Finnish Revolutionists. So the war
closed for Finland, a republic which had, under duress, called a German
monarch to the throne. Come what might in the future, it had at least
become an independent country, freed from the tyrannous yoke of
Russia.

CHAPTER XLV.

DEKXARK AND HOLLAND, THE "STRICTLY NEUTRAL8.-

The Teuton Bullying of Little Denmark, With Schleswlg-Holstein as Booty— Wide Difference im Spirit
Between Schleswlg and Holsteln— Holland, tlis Hater of England— ''Netherlands Over-Seai Ttu»i"
—Feeding Germany on the Sly— Kaiser Received as a Fueitive.

MORE than any other nation of Europe, Denmark preserved a
strict neutrality throughout the war. This was not due to the
tact that Denmark was not vitally interested; it was due rather to two
dominant factors. The first of these was the Scandinavian agreement
whereby Norway, Sweden and Denmark agreed to keep out of the war,
if possible ; the second was the internal condition of Denmark herself,
with a pro-German aristocratic and army circle and an agricultural
and ultra-democratic people, actively pro-Ally. Moreover, Denmark
achieved the apparently impossible — she remained neutral without loss
of self-respect.

It is almost solely with regard to Schleswig-Holstein that Denmark
had any relations with the war, and the Schleswig-Holstein question
did not come to the fore until the latter part of 1918. Throughout the
four years, however, it lurked in the background as a possible issue,
and came prominently forward during preparatory Peace Table con-
ferences.

Schleswig-Holstein has always been controversial territory between
the Germans and the Danes. In the Middle Ages Holstein was a
German frontier against Danish incursions, while Schleswig was Danish
in culture. At the beginning of the fifteenth century, the two Marks
or provinces were united under a single ruler. When his line died out,
the provinces passed by inheritance to the royal house of Denmark
under the special condition that the Danish King should maintain it as
a separate Grand Duchy, somewhat in the same fashion that Finland
was attached to the Czardom of Russia.

Towards the middle of the nineteenth century the old Danish royal
house approached extinction. A genealogical question of great entan-

415

416 DENMARK AND HOLLAND— '' STRICTLY NEUTRALS"

glement arose, out of which it became clear that the Danes desired to
incorporate the provinces as Danish provinces pure and simple. Ger-
many objected. Denmark proposed a fair compromise, that Danish
Schleswig should go to Denmark and G-erman Holstein to Prussia. The
Germans dug up the so-called Indissoluble Union Act of 1420 and
declared that the two provinces could never be separated. War began,
which was stopped by the Powers in 1850. When the Danish royal line
definitely became extinct in 1863, Bismarck came forward and pro-
ceeded to expel the Danes from Schleswig-Holstein. Denmark, relying
on England, resisted. England failed to come to her assistance. The
result was predetermined. In 1864 Prussia seized Schleswig-Holstein
and has kept the provinces ever since.

Schleswig-Holstein Oppressed by Germany.

In size, Schleswig-Holstein as defined at the opening of the war
was approximately 7,340 square miles in area, two-thirds the size of
Belgium. The population was 1,600,000, of which the Danes numbered
only 150,000. Holstein was solidly German and Schleswig was sixty
per cent. German. Strategically, the provinces were important, for
the Kiel Canal runs along the southern border of Schleswig, at Kiel,
while on the North Sea side, Holstein controls the mouth of the Elbe.

One of the principal issues in Schleswig-Holstein, however, has
nothing to do with territorial questions. It deals mainly with Hun
interference in Danish culture. In 1889, it was forbidden to use Danish
even in the schools of Schleswig. Schoolmasters were forbidden to
teach children any Danish history prior to the Prussian conquest.
Prussian military songs were compulsory at examinations. A child)
who spoke Danish to his Danish schoolfellows in the playground was
punishable by flogging. ''The tyrants of the birch rod" became
famous.

This was bad enough, but the Hun could do yet worse. In 1888
religious instruction was forbidden in Danish. The Lutheran ministers
were State functionaries and were compelled to obey. No religious
services could be held in Danish. A Danish pastor was sentenced to
three years' imprisonment for having given the dying sacrament in
Danish to an old Danish woman, although the evidence at the trial
showed that she did not understand German. The Danish Free Church
was forbidden. As late as 1907 further laws were passed, these forbid-
ding the use of Danish in the courts and public assemblies. A lecture

DENMARK AND HOLLAND— ''STRICTLY NEUTRALS" 4171

by the explorer Nansen, in Danish, dealing with North Pole explora-
tion, was broken up by the Prussian police. When, therefore, it is said
that Schleswig had been made sixty per cent. German, it is well to
remember how this consummation had been brought about.

The story of Schleswig-Holstein during the war is the terrible
story of compulsory silence. Schleswig Danes were compelled to fight
on the side of a foe they hated. Food was reduced to a minimum.
Denmark, though conscious of the conditions in her lost provinces, did
not dare to protest, lest this should lead to reprisals and plunge her
into war. Among the allies, at various times, references were made
to the Schleswig-Holstein question, sometimes frankly, more often in
guarded utterance. The war closed with Denmark's skirts clear of any
international difficulties, her attitude being that of a dignified expect-
ance that the Allied victory would result in justice and liberty,

Holland's Peculiar Situation.

Holland, as a ''strictly neutral," is a very different story. Since
no territorial question was involved, it is needless to go into Holland's
early history, although it may be remembered that the Dutch Republic
was one of the first great republics of the world's history. But Holland
for years before the outbreak of the world war had seen the impending
conflict, and, though not a rich nation, had built up a strong defensive
army and navy.

When, in August, 1914, Queen Wilhelmina announced the positive
intention of Holland to stay neutral under any and all conditions of the
world war, her decision was acclaimed by her people of all shades of
opinion. When Germany tempted Holland with the bait of Belgian
territory, she turned a deaf ear ; when the Allies suggested that a slice
of Germany might march well with the coasts of Holland, that offer
met with the same disregard.

There was more than self-interest in Holland's position, however.
There was sentiment, also. The Dutch are essentially a peace-loving
people, strongly individualistic in type, and with a personal aversion
to Prussian militarism. They were historic enemies in the past. On
the other hand, there are strong cultural ties between Holland and
Germany. The trade of the Rhine is a source of Holland's prosperity
and Germany is Holland's best customer. So far as Germany was
concerned, Holland was naturally neutral.

27— W. L.

418 DENMARK AND HOLLAND— ''STRICTLY NEUTRALS"

The British question had another side. In perfectly plain terms,
Holland hated England. Holland was the great early colonial empire
of the world, but, little by little, England robbed her of the supremacy.
Holland was the maritime leader of the world, but when Van Tromp
hoisted a broom at his masthead to show that he swept the sea, the
British promptly hauled it down. The Boer War fanned the flame to
greater fury and England's alliance with Japan had a sinister menace
to Dutch East India interests. Neither did England show any love
lost for the Hollanders.

The progress of the war produced in Holland a type of neutrality
markedly different from that of Denmark. The latter country held
aloof from the war. Holland could not. For one thing, Denmark, an
agricultural people, could well remain self-contained. Holland, a trad-
ing nation, was grievously injured by each succeeding day of the war,
no matter which side possessed the advantage.

The Netherlands Overseas Trust

The question of food and supplies for Germany was a bitter issue.
No one denied that Holland had a perfect right, as a neutral, to deal
with Germany ; nor that she had a perfect right to deal with England.
But that Holland should simply be a port of shipment for supplies to
Germany, when Great Britain had made a blockade of the North Sea,
was intolerable. It would be profitless to detail the innumerable con-
troversies that cropped up throughout the entire war with regard to
l^utch shipping. Much of it dealt with the vexed question of contra-
band of war. Even the United States was entangled in this contro-
versy and there were American seizures of Dutch shipping which greatly
hurt the feelings of Holland.

The principal world issue raised in Holland by the war was m
connection with the ''Netherlands Overseas Trust," an English
embargo on Dutch trade. The facts of the case were simple. During
the first six months of 1914, Holland shipped to Germany 7,000 tons
of butter, but, in the latter half of that year, after war had been
declared, the shipments rose to 19,000 tons; cheese jumped from 6,000
tons to 45,000 tons ; cocoa, from 1,000 tons to 3,000 tons ; eggs, from
7,000 tons to 20,000 tons ; meat, from 6,000 tons to 40,000 tons, and so
forth. When Dutch commercial circles calmly denied that they were
provisioning Germany for the war, England raised Holland's veracity

DENMARK AND HOLLAND— ''STRICTLY NEUTRALS" 419

in question. The Netherlands Overseas Trust was formed, which was
greeted in Holland with furious protest as a limitation of the commerce
rights of a sovereign State.

Lesser causes have plunged nations into war, but, as it chanced,
simultaneously, Germany was arousing Dutch indignation by her com-
merce violations with regard to submarine warfare and also by her
Zeppelin flights over Dutch territory. Holland, eager to show England
in the wrong, could not afford to declare herself on the side of an ally
which was pursuing piracy on the high seas.

In March, 1917, Great Britain went further. She insisted that a
certain percentage of Dutch merchant tonnage should carry cargoes
to Dutch destinations. This demand was promptly refused by the
Government of Holland. Great Britain thereupon announced her inten-
tion of confiscating forty Dutch steamers held in British ports.
Scarcely had the resentment over this situation come to a crisis than
the United States entered the war and the resultant commerce agree-
ment again fell heavily on Holland. Without having definitely violated
neutrality, Holland had suffered terribly in the war. She had done a
great deal for Belgian refugees, she had given largely to Red Cross
purposes. She had suffered hunger and poverty by reason of a block-
ade which closed her ports, although the war was one in which she had
taken no part. Her neutrality was not of a peaceful character.

The flight of the ex-Kaiser to Holland, after the defeat of his
armies and the signing of an armistice, put the Dutch Government in
an awkward position, again, so far as was determined at the time,
through no fault of their own. It was not shown at the time that
Holland had invited the Kaiser. It was not within the province of
Holland to refuse him admission, nor to expel him on her own volition.
No official action was taken either to welcome him as royalty nor as a
distinguished visitor. On the other hand, no official action was taken
to intern him. Guards were posted, not to impede his movements, but
to enable the Dutch Government to keep informed as to them.

In the early part of December, 1918, the Dutch Prime Minister
openly declared that the Kaiser's presence in Holland was regrettable,
but that it was an accomplished fact. Right to the very beginning of
the Peace conferences, Holland maintained the same position that she
had held throughout the war, that of a country grievously injured by
the world conflict, but neutral in the very letter of the law.

CHAPTER XLVI.

SWITZERLAND, THE EYE OF THE CYCLONE.

A Slngle-Souled Nation With Three Faces and Three Languages, French, German and Italian— The Most
Perfect Democracy Existing— Geneva Convention and the Red Cross— Marvellous Organization for
Defence— Refuge of the Hunted— Diplomacy of Independence.

TO see ourselves as others see us," is occasionally welL From
the Swiss point of view of democracv^ the United States is left
far behind. A Swiss will point out that the President of the United
States, in war-time, possesses powers more autocratic than those which
were borne either by the Czar of Russia, the Kaiser of Germany or the
Sultan of Turkey. A Swiss will exclaim with horror at the president of
a republic being also the Commander-in-Chief of the Army and the
Navy, appointing his own cabinet, naming his own delegates to interna-
tional conferences, taking over railroad systems, seizing international
cables, ordering the passage of laws by Congress and trying to dictate
to the people what party they shall elect to power in order that his per-
sonal wishes may not be questioned. For Switzerland is a democracy.

The Swiss, themselves, declare that their own absolute honest, non-
party, non-boss government is the reason why they have succeeded in
doing what has never been done elsewhere in the world, namely, creating
a nation with a single soul out of three racial units, divided religiously,
racially and linguistically, not only speaking three different tongues,
but having cystoms wide apart from each other. Proceedings of the
Central Parliament are printed in three languages, German, French
and Italian. Of the population, which is nearly 4,000,000, the Protest-
ants are over one-half. About 2,500,000 of the population is German-
speaking.

At the beginning of the war the Swiss ranked among the best sol-
diers in Europe. Their army was at a high efficiency. In 1914 their
national militia, in a far higher state of preparedness than the German,
amounted to 200,000 men. Every strategical point of the frontier of
Switzerland was fortified, and well fortified. Within the first six

420

SWITZERLAND— THE EYE OF THE CYCLONE 421

months of the war Switzerland expended over $20,000,000 on military
purposes, a very large sum for so small a country.

Germany tried bribes, big bribes ; they were refused. Germany
made threats ; they were ridiculed. Germany established a very power-
ful propaganda; its agents were kicked out of the country. Not even
the German-Swiss could be organized into disloyalty. Situated on the
Alpine crests, dominating the passes, Switzerland would be a dangerous
foe to rouse. Germany looked longingly — but kept away. President
Motta of the Swiss Confederation (for the year 1915) explained Switz-
erland's position in the war tersely when he said: "Whoever violates
our neutrality will force us to become the allies of his enemy.'* That
ended it.

It should never be forgotten that Switzerland is the home of the
Red Cross. This was the result of the Geneva Convention of 1864, am-
plified in 1906. During the present war, the work of Switzerland has
been that of the Red Cross among nations. No figures have been com-
puted to show the good she has done or the benefits she has conferred.
To take one little point as an example: Throughout the war Switzer-
land forwarded all mail for war prisoners of both sides, free of charge,
at a cost to the Swiss Government of $2,000,000 yearly.

Switzerland's Strict Neutrality.

Switzerland, however, was far from being a tame nation. On the
contrary, she protested sharply to Germany, when von Tirpitz inaugu-
rated ruthless submarine warfare. She dealt swiftly with a most nefa-
rious scheme instituted by Germany of side-tracking and delaying
trains containing incurably wounded, who were being exchanged with
similarly wounded German prisoners coming from France. She de-
ported Russian Bolshevists in a summary fashion when she found
German-made intrigue to set one canton against the other. Nor would
she allow her French-speaking cantons to show any partiality towards
the Allies.

Switzerland has always been the gathering place of the oppressed.
Every revolutionary and national movement in the world has had some
of its leaders in Switzerland. Yet not in a single case has it been found
possible to imbroil that mountain country. When Austria's armies
descended into the Italian plains and Italy held them by the slenderest
thread at Piave, either side was willing to make almost any promise to

422 SWITZERLAND— THE EYE OF THE CYCLONE

Switzerland if she would join. Austria, especially, worked hard in the
German-Swiss cantons to precipitate a revolt. The answer of the Chief
Magistrate of one of the cantons was characteristic : "Sir, I do not wish
to think that I understand what you are implying, but I will say that so
long as there is so much Evil being done in Europe, so long will Switzer-
land try to achieve Good. ' '

Once the playground of Europe, during the war Switzerland became
one vast asylum, hospital and convalescent home. Hunger pinched
her sorely, for Switzerland is not a grain country, and has no sea-coast.
Yet the nations did their best to send stores into Switzerland, for it was
kno\\Ti that political writs did not run in that mountain land, that
the German cripple would receive the same as the French, neither more
nor less. The Allies scrupled not about provisions sent into Alpine
supply stations, for they knew there would be no trans-shipment, as
there had been in Sweden and Holland. Swiss honor could be trusted.

Treaty Conferences Desired at Berne.

Foremost, as always, in the cause of peace, it was Switzerland
which was the first to reply to President Wilson's "feeler" towards a
League of Peace. It was her ambition to have the final peace treaty
conferences at Berne, as being, indeed, the eye of the cyclone, the one
calm spot in all Europe where the delegates could meet without being
on enemy soil. The plan, however, was vetoed by England and France,
the latter, especially, being desirous that the Germans should be made
to feel that Germany was a conquered nation.

Finally, when after the close of the war, preliminary conversations
and conferences suggested that Rhine-land provinces might be attached
to Switzerland as German-Swiss cantons, semi-official statements were
definitely put forth to the effect that Switzerland "was seeking no
political aggrandizement." Secure in her mountain fastnesses, secure
in her people 's patriotism, secure in her 600 years ' integrity, Switzer-
land showed the world, through four years of war that a little nation,
possessing not even a single seaport, could maintain herself in strict
impartiality, ' * unspotted from the world. "

Book III

AMERICA'S PART IN THE WAR

Editor
FREDERICK E. DRINKER

CHAPTER XL VII.

AMERICA AS A NEUTRAL.

Futile Peace Efforts— Financial Depression— Aroused by German Barbarities— Work of Helping Hun Vic-
tims Abroad— German Spies and Propaganda— Protests Against U-Boat Attacks and the Killing of
Americans— "The Strict Accountability Note"— Re-election of President Wilson— Germany's Broken
Pledges— Armed Neutrality.

THE position of the United States in the period between the out-
break of tlie war in the late summer of 1914 and her entrance
into the conflict in the spring of 1917 was one of extreme difficulty.

Not even her most ambitious statesmen wanted war and the policy
of the nation had been to remain aloof from entangling international
alliances and to steer clear of the troublous diplomatic seas of Europe.
Our representatives were in the great capitals of Europe, but they
were there to look after the interest of the United States and her
citizens in foreign lands and not to help settle affairs which did not
concern America.

There were some who thought that the policy which caused the
United States to rush to the protection of Cuba when the little island
country was under the heel of Spain, justified immediate action when
Germany overran Belgium, ignoring that country's right as a neutral.
On the other hand there was a strong peace element. Both used their
influence in "Washington : one to secure action and the other to enforce
a pacific attitude. One of the staunchest of the peace advocates was
Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan, whose attitude when the
Government was compelled to resent the action of Germany and
threaten war resulted in his resignation and the subsequent appoint-
ment of Robert Lansing, of New York, as Secretary.

Immediately after the outbreak of the conflict in Europe President
"Wilson had issued a proclamation declaring the neutrality of the
United States, and for a time there were protests made by the govern-
ment to not only Germany, but to England and others involved in the
struggle, against acts which were interpreted to affect our rights as a
neutral. It was not until the German policy seemed to be directed

425

426 AMERICA AS A NEUTRAL

against America and American institutions that the Government began
its long series of inquiries and exchange of diplomatic messages which
only ceased when all threats and appeals were disregarded by the
Imperial German Government.

The spread of the war through Europe had as one of its earliest
effects on the United States the necessity for aiding citizens who
were within the confines of the warring countries to their homes.
Thousands of tourists and others in Europe on business were caught
in the maelstrom and unable to secure money or obtain passports
to guarantee their passage in safety from the stricken territories.
The various representatives of the Government in all of the belligerent
countries were besieged with applications for assistance and as the
money exchanges were closed the United States was compelled to send
funds for their relief. Early in August one of the government vessels
sailed from New York with $5,000,000 to be used for the Americans
stranded abroad and thousands of persons were returned on American,
Italian and British steamers.

American Commission for Relief of Belgium.

The entire business world was affected by the breaking of the
ties and stocks tumbled in the market and financial depression fol-
lowed. Industrial and commercial interests, fearful lest the conflict
spread, became sensitive and there was a tendency to extreme caution.
Money became tight and the selling of foreign securities — those of the
countries at war — and similar conditions nearly produced a panic.
The New York Stock Exchange closed and the Clearing House issued
certificates to prevent a raid upon the United States gold supply.
There was practically no market for stocks and bonds and it was
not for months that the conditions justified the reopening of the
Exchange.

The improvement in the financial conditions was in a great
measure due to the passage of the Federal Reserve Act and the es-
tablishment of the Federal Reserve Bank system in November, 1916.

The conduct of Germany in Belgium and France was early demon-
strated to be of the most barbaric nature and Ambassador Gerard in
Germany, and Brand Whitlock, Minister to Belgium, as the repre-
sentatives of a neutral country, were quickly besieged with protests
from the representatives and citizens of the invaded countries against

AMERICA AS A NEUTRAL 427

the cruelties and injustices practiced by the German soldiers. Appeals
were made for help for the refugees driven from their homes or whose
farms, gardens and shops were destroyed or taken away from them.

A Relief Commission was appointed with Herbert Hoover, an
American engineer, as the active representative in Belgium, and wide
solicitation was made for funds and clothing and food supplies to
care for the victims of the Huns. Boat loads of clothing, flour and
foodstuffs were sent from the United States, and the work was done
under Government supervision, and in co-operation with the Red Cross.

Ultimately Germany's attitude in the occupied territory compelled
the withdrawal of Mr. Hoover and the work of looking after the
sufferers was left in the hands of nations remaining neutral. The
accomplishments of Mr. Hoover in organizing and conducting the
relief work abroad were such as to lead to his later appointment as
the Government's Food Director after war was declared on Germany
and it was necessary to conserve supplies and food. All over the
country during this period organizations and individual men and
women assumed the responsibility of maintaining orphaned Belgian
children and pledged weekly and monthly contributions for their main-
tenance without reserve as to the length of time the burden should fall
upon them.

German Spies and Propaganda in the United States.

For a time the whole mind of the country was concentrated on
the reports which emanated from the war territories regarding the
cruelties of the Germans and the suffering of innocent men, women and
children and it seemed as though America would maintain her neu-
trality and avoid war.

The awakening as to Germany's purpose and the system which
she was employing came with the discovery that her organization of
spies and distributors of propaganda in the interest of a greater
Germany and the perpetuation of German ''kultur" had secured a
foot-hold in the United States and that attempts were being made to
''Germanize" and to terrorize America.

The story of the operation of these German spies and their in-
trigues, if revealed in their entirety, would fill volumes. The very
offices of the United States Government protected some of the German
agents who operated under the direction of the German Embassy in

428 AMERICA AS A NEUTRAL

Washington, or through paid Consular agents at various ports. Early
in January, 1916, for instance, the fact was heralded to the world
that wireless communication had been established with Germany and
the first message was sent from the aerial station at Sayville, L. I.,
to Germany.

Subsequent developments, some of which did not become public
until after the war, showed conclusively that Germany had established
wireless stations along our coasts and in Mexico and that her agents
in charge of these stations were sending messages in violation of
international agreements, or, after we entered the war, information re-
garding our military and naval developments.

Secret agents of Germany attempted to destroy ammunition fac-
tories which were supplying England, France, Russia and Italy, and to
cripple vessels plying between these countries carrying food, wearing
apparel or metals which it was feared might be of value in a military
sense.

Insidious Schemes of the Teutons.

In San Francisco the Secret Service Agents arrested Franz Bopp,
German Consul General, and Baron E. H. Von Schack, vice consul, and
thirty others, who were indicted for conspiracy to blow up ammunition
plants. Wolf von Igel, under Secretary of the German Embassy, was
arre&ted in New York for complicity in an attempt to blow up and
destioy the W^elland Canal. At Baltimore and at Hoboken large piers
were destroyed as the result of the explosion of ammunition set off
with bombs.

Newspapers were purchased with money supplied by Germany
and subsidized so that their columns would present stories calculated
to create a favorable impression in behalf of the German Imperial
Government. German-Americans occupying positions of trust and re-
spect in their communities were found to be active propagandists. The
German Singing Societies and kindred organizations were found to be
merely agencies through which the German idea was to be developed
in America. Millions of dollars were appropriated by the Imperial
Government to pay spies and weak citizens of the United States who
might be made to sacrifice their honor for a few dollars.

One of the insidious schemes was the Germanizing of Mexico, or
at least the arousing of sympathy for Germany in that country for
the purpose of bringing on war with America and thus giving the

AMERICA AS A NEUTRAL 429

United States sufficient trouble at home so that she would not attempt
intervention in the affairs across the sea. It has already been men-
tioned that the investigations proved that the wireless stations in Mex-
ico were in control of Germany.

But Mexico, in which a large amount of German capital was
interested, was used as an agent also, to induce Japan to abandon
her friendly attitude and relation with the Allies and join with Mexico
in an attack on the United States. The revelations regarding this
episode made by the Department of Justice include a dispatch trans-
mitted by the German Foreign Minister Zimmerman at Berlin in
January, 1917 — on January 19 — to German Minister von Eckhardt
in Mexico City, in which the suggestion for the alliance was contained.

Attempt to Embroil Mexico With the United States.

Mexico for her reward was to receive financial support from
Germany as well as secure for her portion of conquered territory part
of Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. She was of course to participate
in the glories of victory which Germany anticipated.

The instructions to von Eckhardt were transmitted through the
then German Ambassador, Count von Bemstorff at Washington, sub-
sequently given his passports, and were made public by the United
States Government as follows:

''Berlin, January 19, 1917.

"On the first of February we intend to begin submarine warfare
unrestricted. In spite of this, it is our intention to endeavor to keep
neutral the United States of America.

"If this attempt is not successful we propose an alliance on the
following basis with Mexico: That we shall make war together and
together make peace. We shall give general financial support and it
is understood that Mexico is to reconquer the lost territory of New
Mexico, Texas and Arizona. The details are left to you for settlement.

"You, are instructed to inform the President of Mexico of the
above, in the greatest confidence, as soon as it is certain there will be
an outbreak of war with the United States, and suggest that the Presi-
dent of Mexico, on his own initiative, should communicate with Japan,
suggesting adherence at once to this plan; at the same time offer to
mediate between Germany and Japan.

"Please call to the attention of the President of Mexico that the

430 AMEEICA AS A NEUTRAL

employment of the ruthless submarine warfare now promises to compel

England to make peace in a few months.

"Zimmerman,'*

Among the particularly active agents were Captain Boy-Ed and
Captain von Papen, military attaches of the German Government in
America, who were given their passports and forced to leave the
country. It was through Captain von Papen that much of the money
passed which was used to pay the German spies, and what early doubts
there might have been as to the extent of his activities was swept
aside when, just at the close of the war, the British, after their advance
in the famed Holy Lands, sent through to the United States copies of
papers belonging to the Captain, which he had left behind when pressed
by the British soldiers. He had apparently been sent to the great
Eastern theatre of war to carry on his work for Germany with the
Turks. The press of the British gave the Captain no time in which
to gather up his papers and they were taken. Copies were forwarded
to London and then sent to America. These papers furnished a link
in the long chain of evidence against him and his kind.

Forged American Passports for Germans.

There was, for instance, the connection of von Papen with the
activities of Hans Adam von Wedell, who late in 1914 devised a scheme
to send German reservist officers in the United States back to their
native land for service in the army, by procuring forged American
passports for them. The scheme went wrong because when Wedell
had sent one German home via Italy on a fixed passport the subject
of the Kaiser fell into the hands of the British military authorities,
who investigated the passport and von Wedel, whom the Department
of Justice Agents learned was a nephew of Count Botho von Wedell,
of Berlin, left the country.

He had, however, set the plan and left a co-conspirator named
Ruroede, or Rurode, to carry it out. The latter made the mistake of
buymg a passport for his purposes from a Department of Justice
Agent working on the case and his arrest followed. The plan was
simple, as outlined by von Wedell, and as Ruroede attempted to carry
It out It consisted of buying passports from native-bom and natu-
ralized citizens who might "need money" and altering them to fit the

AMERICA AS A NEUTRAL 431

German officers who were badly wanted at home. Such persons were
to make application for passports and then sell them to Ruroede at
prices ranging from $30 to $100, according to how badly the reservist
was wanted at home or how much he wanted to get there.

The most significant thing about this very simple case was the
tracing by the Department of Justice Agents of correspondence and
telegrams to show the connection of Ambassador von Bernstorff and
Captain von Papen with von Wedell.

Investigation of the Spy System.

The extent to which Germany had succeeded in building up its spy
organization in the United States was not, however, revealed in all
its ramifications until the end of the war, when the Senate Committee
investigating the activities of brewers and German propaganda brought
to light facts obtained by the Department of Justice. A. Bruce Be-
laski,, chief of the Department of Justice, testified before the Com-
mittee that Germany had spent $7,500,000 for its propaganda campaign
in the United States, which was taken from a fund of $27,000,000 held
by fhe German Embassy in Washington. Letters from Count Bern-
storff to German consuls throughout the country were read, showing
that the German Ambassador had urged the consuls to have all Ger-
man subjects get out of plants producing war materials for the Allies.
Letters were also read to show that a relief bureau was established in
New York to assist Germans and Austrians who would get out of the
war supply plants, and that branches of the bureau were established
in various cities.

Chief Belaski testified that Captain von Papen, while military at-
tache of the German Embassy, sent a letter to the German Consul
in St. Louis, saying that two agents from the Brotherhood of Metal
Workers in New York were trying to stop the shipment of ammuni-
tion. One of the men mentioned, Samuel ScoUard, was among those
aftei-ward indicted in the trial of Industrial Workers of the World in
Chicago. It was shown that German agents attempted to purchase
the Washington Post and other publications.

Chief Belaski further testified that William Bayard Hale, who was
sent to Berlin as a representative of the William R. Hearst publica-
tions and as the representative of a news agency, was under contract
as a confidential agent of the German Embassy, and that he was em-

432 AMERICA AS A NEUTRAL

ployed also by a publicity organization created by Dr. Bernard Dem-
berg, the German propagandist, at a salary of $15,000 a year and
was under contract from the beginning of the war until June, 1918.

A long list of names of German- Americans and others taken from
a diary of Dr. Karl A. Fuehr, an agent of Germany brought to the
United States by von Bernstorff, was read by the Department of
Justice head to the Senate Committee. The list was designated in
Dr. Fuehr 's diary as ''important list of names.'* They were supposed
to be those of German sympathizers or persons who might be useful
to Germany.

One of the important revelations was that Bolo Pasha, executed
in France as a spy, was in touch with the German Embassy in Wash-
ington shortly after the war began. The beginning of the German
propaganda was in 1914, Chief Belaski said, when Dr. Demberg and
Dr. Albert formed an organization with offices at 1123 Broadway, New
York, and made efforts to secure control of certain newspapers, among
them the New York Sun. It was also sworn that Demberg 's notes
showed that it was proposed to organize a society that was to conduct
propaganda among the Irish in favor of Germany.

The Justification for America Entering the War.

So far as precipitating America into the war was concerned it
was the submarine campaign that furnished the ''straw which broke
the camel's back." The subject had been one of continued discussion
for two years, or from the time that Germany announced the waters
around Great Britain and Ireland, including the British Channel, con-
stituted a war zone which might be passed through only with risk.
In reply to this announcement the then Secretary Bryan issued a note
to the Imperial German Government notifying it that America in-
tended to hold the German Government to "strict accountability" for
the sacrifice of any American lives.

Germany had attacked half a dozen vessels of neutral countries
on which were American citizens and through successive stages and
with each recurring attack there had been diplomatic correspondence
—protests from America and assurances from Germany— until the
cross-Channel steamer Sussex, a French boat, was torpedoed and the
lives of twenty-five Americans imperilled.

This incident precipitated the first ultimatum of America to Ger-

AMERICA AS A NEUTRAL 433

many. Secretary Lansing, appointed to succeed Secretary Bryan, is-
sued a note to the German Government in which it was stated, "Unless
the Imperial Government should now immediately declare and effect
an abandonment of its present methods of submarine warfare against
passenger and freight-carrying vessels the Government of the United
States can have no choice but to sever diplomatic relations with the
German Empire altogether."

America had disputed the right of Germany to maintain or define
any such war zone and contended that neutral vessels should, in ac-
cordance with international usage, be visited and searched for evidence
of violation of the laws of warfare before being attacked. Germany
had in reply declared that the zone was established as a reprisal for
the blockade which Great Britain had established with her war fleet
and that if the United States would prevail upon Germany's enemies
to abandon their methods of maritime warfare Germany would in
return modify her submarine order.

Sinking the Lusitania.

President Wilson had sent an "identic" note to Germany and
Great Britain suggesting the cessation of illegal activities and a dis-
cussion and an agreement on the point. Germany replied that a defi-
nite statement would be reserved until it was learned what obligations
the British Government would assume in the matter.

Meantime the British steamship Falaba was sunk by a submarine
on March 28, when 163 lives were lost. Among these was one Amer-
ican. Again on April 28 the American steamship Gushing was bombed
by an aeroplane and on the first of May the American tank steamer
Gulflight was attacked and sunk and three Americans were lost.

On this eventful day the height of German arrogance was demon-
strated by the placing in American newspapers of a notice to the
public warning them against taking passage on the Cunard steamship
Lusitania about to sail from New York. The agents of the German
Government also sent personal notices to prospective passengers of
national importance, warning them against sailing. Few, at that time
accepted the notice or the personal notes seriously, believing them
to be products of the mind of some person obsessed with the idea
of danger.

The warning was one, however, sanctioned by official Germany

28— W. L.

434 AMERICA AS A NEUTRAL

and German agents in America. The Lusitania went to the bottom of
the sea, as already indicated, on May 7, off Fastnet, Ireland, with the
loss of 1,100 persons, among whom were 115 Americans.

Following in the wake of the other submarine attacks, the Lusi-
tania sinking was made the subject of a new ''note" to Berlin which
concluded with the utterance, ' ' The Imperial German Government will
not expect the Government of the United States to omit any word or
act necessary to the performance of its sacred duty of maintaining the
rights of the United States and its citizens and of safeguarding their
free exercise and enjoyment."

The reply of Germany was that the Lusitania had "masked guns"
aboard and that she, in effect, a British auxiliary cruiser, carried muni-
tions and that her owners were in reality responsible for the loss of
American lives since they risked passage through the danger zone.
It was proved beyond dispute that the vessel was neither armed nor
carried munitions, but that did not satisfy Germany, who was seeking
for excuses to justify her acts.

Germany's Unreliable Assurances.

No satisfactory position was assumed by Germany in the Lusi-
tania matter, though the Imperial German Government did admit
its error in attacking the Gushing and Gulflight, promising to pay
damages in the cases.

It was during the exchange of notes on the submarine warfare
that Doctor Dumba, the Austrian Ambassador at Washington, and
representative of the German clique, interfered in the affairs of the
country and was recalled at the instance of President Wilson. He had
notified Berlin that the Secretary of State had intimated to Count von
Bernstorff that the vigorous tone of the American notes were not to
be regarded as too warlike.

Another note of protest from America brought from Foreign
Minister von Jagow what was in effect an address to the American
people. The nature of the reply was of such tone as to indicate that
it was the intention of Germany to use the submarine in a manner to
compel America to use its power upon Great Britain to secure a
modification of the severe blockade which was curtailing Germany's
source of food supply.

Other notes passed, but things reached such a stage that the

AMERICA AS A NEUTRAL 435

controversy resolved itself into one for discussion between Count von
Bernstorff and Secretary Lansing in Washington. In the meantime
came a written statement from Count von Bernstorff to the effect that
"Liners will not be sunk by our submarines without warning and
without safety to noncombatants, provided the liners do not try to
escape or offer resistance."

These and other assurances had been given by Germany when,
without warning Germany issued notice of a new submarine policy
under which all armed merchant ships were to be sunk without warning.

Germany's Prohibited Sea Zones.

In the interim a formal conununication was submitted to Secre-
tary Lansing by Count von Bemstorff in which Germany had agreed
to pay indemnity for lives lost on the Lusitania, but the matter became
dead-locked because Germany declined to admit the "illegality" of her
act and desired a substitution of the word in the agreement.

President Wilson, who had in the meantime been reelected presi-
dent, largely on the strength of his conduct of affairs and because he
had up to that time "kept the country out of war," had scarcely fin-
ished an address to the United States Congress giving his ideas as
to the steps necessary for a world peace when Germany issued its
restricted submarine note. This was on January 31, 1917.

The note declared that from February 1, 1917, sea traffic would
be stopped with every available weapon and without further notice
in certain prescribed zones around Great Britain, France, Italy and
the Eastern Mediterranean. Channels were indicated through which
ships might venture. It was stated that "neutral ships navigating
these blockade zones do so at their own risk." Regarding Americans
it was specifically stated that "Americans en route to the blockade
zone on enemy freight steamships are not endangered, as the enemy
shipping firms can prevent such ships in time from entering the zone."
It was further provided that American passenger steamships might
continue undisturbed after February 1, if the port of destination were
Falmouth, or a certain specified course were taken and, further, that
on the steamship's hull and superstructure three vertical stripes one
meter wide be painted alternately red and white. Each mast should
show a large flag of checkered white and red and at the stem of the
vessel must be the American national flag. The United States Govern-

436 AMERICA AS A NEUTRAL

mcnt was to guarantee the carrying of any contraband (according to
the German interpretation) on any of the boats.

At this point the United States severed diplomatic relations with
Germany and Count von Bemstorff received his passports as already
noted. The Swiss Minister in behalf of Germany took up the proposal
to review the question and was notified that no attempt would be made
to negotiate with Germany until the restricted submarine order was
withdrawn.

President Wilson meantime announced that an armed guard would
be placed on all vessels passing through the restricted zone, and the
United States assumed a status of ''armed neutrality." The next step
would be war.

CHAPTER XLVIII.

THE AMERICAN CALL TO ARMS.

President Wilson's War Message to Congressr— The Memorable War Declaration— The War Resolution—
The Big War Progranir-German Ships Seized— Arrest of German Agents and Enemy Aliens— Big
Loans to Allies— Raising the War Funds— How the Country Prepared.

THE doom of Germany was sealed on April 6, 1917, when Congress
adopted a resolution authorizing the prosecution of vigorous war
against the Imperial German Government. Perhaps no country ever
went to war with such reluctance. A peace-loving people were forced
to battle.

Protests against the barbarism of the Huns had gone for naught;
even the severance of diplomatic relations had failed to convince the
Prussian geniuses that the United States would actually join the
Allies in bitter warfare against the ''Fatherland." And if America
did step into the fray, it was an open secret that the Kaiser's advisers
held that since she was not a military nation, France could be crushed
and England subdued before accountable numbers of United States
troops could be put into the field.

This was one of Germany's greatest mistakes. The Kaiser and
his leaders failed to read the signs aright, and in their ignorance and
egotism they pulled the weight of the richest and most resourceful
country in the world over against them.

The message of President Wilson in which he asked Congress
to declare a state of war existing between the United States and Ger-
many and to authorize the prosecution of the fight against the Imperial
German Government constituted a classic in literature and one of the
most important documents in the history of the world.

It was a clear presentation of the situation and a history of the
events which compelled the break with Germany and making plain
the purpose of the Government to wage warfare in the interest of
humanity and for international peace. The President, who had reestab-
lished the custom of reading his own messages, appeared before the
great law-making body on April 2, 1917, and while the whole world

437

438 THE AMERICAN CALL TO ARMS

tingled with emotion, made his memorable utterances, which included
the following significant passages:

''The present German submarine warfare is a warfare against
mankind. It is a war against all nations. American ships have been
sunk, American lives taken, in ways which it has stirred us very
deeply to learn of, but the ships and people of other neutral and
friendly nations have been sunk and overwhelmed in the waters in
the same way. There has been no discrimination. The challenge is
to all mankind. Each nation must decide for itself now how it will
meet it. . . . There is one choice we cannot make, we are incapable of
making; we will not choose the path of submission and suffer the most
sacred rights of our nation and our people to be ignored or violated.
The wrongs against which we now array ourselves are no common
wrongs ; they cut to the very roots of human life.

**With a profound sense of the solemn and even tragical character
of the step I am taking, and of the grave responsibilities which it
involves, but in unhesitating obedience to what I deem my constitu-
tional duty, I advise that the Congress declare the recent course of
the Imperial German Government to be in fact nothing less than war
against the Government and people of the United States ; that it form-
ally accept the status of belligerent which has thus been thrust upon
it; and that it take immediate steps, not only to put the country in a
more thorough state of defense, but also to exert aU its power and
employ all its resources to bring the Government of the German Empire
to terms and end the war.

''We have no quarrel with the German people. We have no feeling
toward them but one of friendship. It was not upon their impulse that
their government acted in entering this war. It was not with
their previous knowledge or approval. It was a war determined upon
as wars used to be determined upon in the old unhappy days when
peoples were nowhere consulted by their rulers, and wars were pro-
voked and waged in the interest of dynasties or little groups of am-
bitious men, who were accustomed to use their fellow men as pawns
and tools. Self -governed nations do not fill their neighbor states with
spies or set the course of intrigue to bring about some critical pos-
ture of affairs which will give them an opportunity to strike and make
conquest. . . .

"... The world must be made safe for democracy. Its peace

THE AMERICAN CALL TO ARMS 439

must be planted upon the tested foundations of political liberty. We
have no selfish ends to serve. We desire no conquest, no dominion.
We seek no indemnities for ourselves, no material compensation for
the sacrifices we shall freely make. We are but one of the cham-
pions of the rights of mankind. We shall be satisfied when those rights
have been made as secure as the faith and the freedom of nations can
make them."

On the following Friday— Good Friday— April 6, 1917, Congress
took the formal steps which plunged the country into war, adopting
the resolution:

"Whereas, The Imperial German Government has committed re-
peated acts of war against the Government and the people of the
United States of America : Therefore, be it

"Resolved, By the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States in Congress assembled, that the state of war between
the United States and the Imperial German Government which has
thus been thrust upon the United States is hereby formally declared ;
and that the President be, and he is hereby, authorized and directed to
employ the entire naval and military forces of the United States and
resources of the Government to carry on war against the Imperial
German Government ; and to bring the conflict to a successful termina-
tion all resources of the country are hereby pledged by the Congress of
the United States. '»

Financial Preparations for War Immediately Started.

The formal Presidential proclamation declaring the country at
war was immediately issued. It called upon the people of the country
to unite and to exercise vigilance and zeal in the discharge of their
duties and obligations and recited the restrictions under which enemy
aliens should direct their actions during the period of the war and
while within the country.

Once the step was taken there was no delay and President Wilson
had the undivided support of all parties and factions in inaugurating
his war program. Emissaries from England and France had convinced
the military and executive authorities that a large army would be
needed and plans were concluded at once for putting in the field a force
of at least 1,000,000 men.

Immediately Congress authorized "an issue of bonds to meet ex-

440 THE AMERICAN CALL TO ARMS

pondituros for national security and dofonso, and for the [uirposo of
foreign governments, aiid for other purposes." The act appropriated
$3,007,063,945.56 for establishing credits in the United States for for-
eign governments by purchase of bonds of our Allies and expenses
incident to preparation and issue of bonds and certil'icates; aulhori'/od
the issue of bonds amounting to more than $5,000,000,000. of which
$^^,000,000,000 was for meeting the loans authorized to foreign govern-
ments and $-.000,000,000 for domestic expenditure, and also authorized
the issuance of $2,000,000,000 one-year certilicates of indebtedness tem-
porarily to provide revenue.

England. France, Germany and other countries had made large
war loans and authorized large expenditures, but the Congress of the
United States voted money with a prodigality that was astounding.
Failure of the war program was not to occur for want of means. Imme-
diately upon the passage of the foregoing, $*237,046.32'2.50 was appro-
priated for the support of the army for the year 1918, and $3,281,094,-
541.60 for military and naval establishments on account of war ex-
penses. This appropriation was the largest in the history of the w^orld
up to this time and carried wnth it the original $405,000,000 emer-
gency shipping fund with which to begin the construction of a mer-
chant fleet. An appropriation of $640,000,000 for the aeroplane pro-
gram was also passed.

Immense Appropriation for the Army.

The chronological facts of the fhiancing of the war and building
up of the Army and Navy are not nearly so impressive as the recital
of incidents. In its effort to provide the very best military organiza-
tion and to give the finest equipment, the Government passed a $12,000,-
000,000 appropriation bill for the Army on July 6, 1918, which was the
largest single bill ever passed. $3,000,000,000 of this was for ordnance
and ammunition alone, $1,532,000,000 for transportation, $1,230,000,000
for clothing, $575,000,000 for machine guns, $347,000,000 for armed
motor cars and $884,000,000 for the aviation service.

Wlien it comes to spending money for an army the Ordnance
Department will show the way to any other single branch of the mili-
tary or goverimient service. The sums set aside for the use of this
branch are without parallel in the history of nations, and because the
whole program was not carried out, owing to the sudden stopping of

Tin: AMKKICAN CALL TO ARMS 441

ihfi war— tb rr/ni^h (U-nntihy^n f/AU^fW^—h rJofr» not affect th<> jr^i/rral
nthtf'.mffiii or t,h^; plan ry/nc^jiv^;/!,

Th<; h'ii(W/'/r'.i !*,vTn (ff TUhJihy (iVfrr H)><:f>i for any jiir.:' ''■- - y,ar
or hah'inhHH v/an fjz<;/3 aii the amount t/^ b** tj»>;/j </rj tr ;/rf>-

j^am of the r^dnanc*; hupftHmf^t. T\ih mm whh $12//X),rXXj///j, or
aborjt OTKi-nffvtfnUif'Aiih of th^^ ('M'irnh.U',f] co«t of the war to all cfmninf^
c^jnih'iuf'A at the c^^r^jiatir/n of hontilitieH.

l*hw va«t fftirrj was to provkle, onder the ifTf^f^mm, artillery at a
c^jfet of ^2:;^J///>///j for the two yearjj. T^ie prftfhuM mf-Muif-A tlie
farn(/nh ihrf-j-Anch jran, or f'/)VTiU:Tj)fxn (>f ihh Kn^jch "75,*' v, t

aff^>Tjt $25///^ each t/j uuxTinfh/it.Tirh; h't^it-'indi howitzers wfiich .. ,. /I
an expenditure of more than $-7j///i eadi t/> make and jjet tip rea/Jy for
acti'/n — and from which V/at 2^/> ronnd.H can I^k; fir<^1 before the s^n
iij rearjy for rehaWlitatiwi — t^>jfether '-^Ith larj^^nr .hIz^;«. Tl— * * -d
fr/r arnrnnnition nnder the cymtjAf-A/'A projrrarn ryr-t M//jf)/y .'-,

$8^/j/XX)///) wa«4 Jiet a^ai^fe for machine jrnnsi at a co8t of abont $2o^; each.
fVjr «mall arm« the it>>m wa« $377//Xi//X).

Mo«t Compreheimire War Program Ever Adopted-

P'or the imp}f<jri, of the Arm>' alorje in fc

June, 1.9J8, the Government »perjt $4,412, ,,... ;>r

iJepartrneut fix\>(-n?j'. for Uri* -perirA wan $-0,(i^///>>/XX;. The t/jtal ac-
tual exf^TJHe of the war to this «ami> penfA for the United Htaiea wa»
$i:^,222///V^/;, or nearly $1 /ff)(}/)C)f),(ff/) a rn^/nth with fi; ' *.» to
brin^ the tot^l entirnated eTpen.-/; r>f the war to the ee»?A hf^-

iilhim to ^20,000,000,000. The?5e fibres are interesting when taken in
cr/mpariHon with the co«t of the Civil War for four yearg, which wa«
about $^,r//i,f//;,r/Xj.

Xo more c^>mf/reherj«ive war program waii ever adopt/^1 than that
which the Government get ont to fill, inchidin^ the haiUUnf^ fff aero-
plane-: and aeroplane f^(i\/rn(th; merchard .-:h ^
torpedo boats and riubmarine cha.aer3 and ever;. > . . ,- >.- ... . -..-^ ..t
known to the needn of modem warfare.

In the matter of shipping the Goverr. omewhat in for-

tune that the German Government, v. ' ' ' n

1^14, had In American porta s^.»rr^- r* * ...._;

carrj'ing :-:team«hip.« afloat. T.. re interned and imme-

diately following the declaration of war by America against the Impe-

442 THE AMERICAN CALL TO ARMS

rial German Government the vessels were seized as an act of war.
There were in all nearly one hundred, including the magnificent Vater-
land, Kaiser Wilhelm II, Kronprintzessin Cecile and a list of lesser
oraft. The boats taken had approximately 640,000 gross tonnage and
were valued at $100,000,000.

As indicating the attitude of mind of the Germans when the ves-
sels were taken over the Government inspectors and engineers found
that members of the crew had removed parts of the machinery, broken
down engines and in every way tried to so injure the boats that they
would be unfit for use — and because they were of German make it was
thought that the parts could not easily be replaced here.

American mechanics, however, repaired all of the vessels within
a short time and they were renamed and put into the Government ser-
vice, and used subsequently for the transportation of troops sent to
France to fight the Kaiser, as well as to carry supplies for the army.

Many Enemy Aliens and Draft Evaders Arrested.

The crews of the boats were sent to Fort Oglethorpe and interned.
Immediately also agents of Department of Justice who had been
tracing the activities of the German spies and agents in the country
and all aliens of the enemy countries began rounding up those who
it was suspected would prove dangerous. A report of Attorney Gen-
eral Gregory at the close of the war disclosed the fact that 6000 enemy
aliens were actually taken into custody, though a larger number were
placed in internment camps administered by the military authorities.

Nearly all of those arrested were men. But few of them were
Austro-Hungarian subjects. Under the military regulation requiring
the registration of all enemy aliens in the country about 480,000 Ger-
mans registered. Of these 260,000 were men and 220,000 women.

There were 23,000 attempted draft evaders arrested and forced to
abide by the decisions of the draft boards as to their qualifications to
serve in the army, and a number of propagandists and others were taken
into Court on charges of conspiracy growing out of their efforts to
influence others to evade the draft, together with others on charges of
sedition in causing to be published treasonable articles, but in a
country where the iron hand does not rule the percentage of arrests
was not large.

There were in fact more arrests of consequence of persons charged

THE AMERICAN CALL TO ARMS 443

with committing overt acts, such as attempting to destroy ships, piers
and munitions plants and factories. Conclusive proof of the attempts
to destroy ships with bombs was furnished by the Agents of the De-
partment of Justice. The records in the possession of the government
and testimony produced in one case show that bombs were manufac-
tured on the German Steamer Frederich der Grosse, of the German
Lloyd Line, after a design by Dr. Walter T. Scheele, a German chemist,
of Hoboken, and that the bombs were filled with explosives or fire-
producing chemicals at Dr. Scheele 's laboratory.

Several hundred bombs were manufactured, and it is known that
thirty vessels which left New York alone had such bombs secreted on
them and were fired or endangered. A couple of the bombs were found
on a vessel which had reached Marseilles from New York long before
America was drawn into the conflict. The origin of the incendiary de-
vices was traced and a dozen men were arrested for conspiracy. Dr.
Scheele escaped and fled to Cuba where he was later located. The others
were convicted and sent to jail. The activity of the Department of
Justice Agents, however, kept the destructive agents of the Kaiser well
under control and there was comparatively little damage when the
amount of war and industrial work done just before and during the
period of the war was considered.

Great Financial Assistance Given the Allies.

The program of the Government in helping to win the war was
not without consideration for the Allied Governments and during the
sessions of the Sixty-fourth and Sixty-fifth Congress appropriations
were authorized for $3,000,000,000 and $4,000,000,000 respectively for
making loans to the Allied Governments.

The assistance given by the government in financing the war was
a big factor in the development of the plants and organizations for
turning out needed military equipment in France, England and Italy.
During 1917 the Government advanced to England $1,860,000,000; to
France, $1,130,000,000; to Italy, $500,000,000; to Russia, before the
revolution, $325,000,000; to Belgium, $55,000,000; to Serbia, $3,000,000,
and to Cuba, $5,000,000.

Up to September 3, 1918, a total of $7,098,706,666 war credits had
been established with the Allies against which advances had been made
by the United States of $6,337,764,000. Of this amount England had

444 THE AMERICAN CALL TO ARMS

secured $3,482,000,000; France, $1,780,000,000; Belgium, $144,030,000;
Italy, $730,000,000, and Serbia, $9,005,000.

For its own war purposes the unique plan of selling popular war
bonds was tried. The plan had its features, the educating of the thrifty
workers and people of ordinary means to the habit and value of invest-
ing their earnings in Government securities, and the drawing into a
second line of defense in the war a multitude who would have an
economic interest in winning the conflict, aside from their patriotic
inspiration. Four series of Liberty, or war bonds were issued up to
the conclusion of hostilities for a total of $14,000,000.

The bonds were taken up by a total of 20,000,000 individuals
throughout the country, a large portion of whom bought in the smallest
unit to be purchased, a $50 bond. The first loan of June 15, 1917, was
for $2,000,000,000. The second was the issue of October 27, 1917, was
for $3,000,000,000; the third Liberty Loan of May, 1918, was for $3,000,-
000,000 and the fourth of October, 1918, was for $6,000,000,000. Each
of the loans was largely oversubscribed.

Formation, of the Council of National Defense.

The immense number of subscribers to the loans was a tribute to
the patriotism of the people and to the efficiency of the organizations
effected for securing the subscriptions. Financial, industrial, commer-
cial and social, religious and philanthropic organizations united to help
make the loans a success as a '^win-the-war" necessity. In the exploita-
tion of the loan the Government entered the field of advertising and
publicity to a degree never before attempted, and the entire country
w^as placarded with magnificent posters while publications were filled
with blood-stirring appeals.

When the war clouds first threatened, far-seeing men of the nation
began preparing for an emergency and the executive branches of the
government were extended by the creation of auxiliary or advisory
boards. The first step was taken when the Council of National Defense
was created by Act of Congress of August 29, 1916. The law was
comprehensive and provided for almost every contingency that might
arise, covering almost every facility and activity.

The body as originally created was composed of the members of
the Cabinet : Secretary of War Newton D. Baker; Secretary of the Navy
Josephus Daniels ; Secretary of the Interior Franklin K. Lane ; Secre-

THE AMERICAN CALL TO ARMS 445

tary of Agriculture David F. Houston ; Secretary of Commerce William
C. Redfield, and Secretary of Labor William B. Wilson. The members
of the Advisory Commission were Daniel F. Willard, transportation
and communication; Howard E. Coffin, munitions and manufacturing
and standardization of industries; Julius Rosenwald, supplies, includ-
ing clothing; Bernard M. Baruch, raw materials, minerals and metals;
Dr. Hollis Godfrey, engineering and education ; Samuel Gompers, labor,
including health and conservation of workers; Dr. Franklin Martin,
medicine, surgery and sanitation. Walter S. Gifford was director of
the Council and Advisory Commission.

Commissions, Special Committees and Directors.

Seven distinct committees administered the work of the Advisory
Commission, with one of the Commission members serving as chairman
of each committee. In addition to this there were committees on spe-
cial activities, among the most important of which were General Muni-
tions Board; Munitions Standard Board; Aircraft Production Board;
Medical Section ; Commercial Economy Board ; Inter-Departmental Ad-
visory Board ; Co-operative Committee on the Purchase of Army Sup-
plies; National Research Council; Committee on Shipping; Committee
on Women's Defense Work; Committee on Coal Production, and Sec-
tion of Co-operation with the States.

Subsequently, with the approval of the President, the general
Council created a War Industries Board, which took up in addition to
other duties the work originally assigned to the General Munitions
Board. This body was composed of seven members.

The ramifications of organization multiplied as emergencies de-
veloped until there were almost endless commissions, special commit-
tees and directors. Some of the prominent were Purchasing Commis-
sion of the War Industries Board, Bernard M. Baruch, chairman ; Stor-
age Committee, Morris L. Cooke, chairman; Committee on Priori-
ties, R. S. Lovett, chairman; Committee on Emergency Construction,
Major W. A. Starett, chairman; Director of Steel Supplies, J. L.
Replogle; Committee on Shipping, P. A. S. Franklin, chairman;
Committee on Women's Defense Work, Dr. Anna Howard Shaw,
chairman ; Committee on Inland Water Transportation, General W. M.
Black, Chief of Engineers, chairman; Committee on Coal Production,
F. S. Peabody, chairman ; Sub-committee on Universities and Colleges,

446 THE AMERICAN CALL TO ARMS

Dr. Hollis Godfrey, chairman ; Sub-committee on Secondary and Normal
Schools, Dr. Hollis Godfrey, chairman; Highways Transport Commit-
tee, Roy D. Chapin, chairman.

Under each section there were many sub-committees such as Medi-
ation and Conciliation, as part of the Labor Section; also Wages and
Hours, AVomen in Industry and Welfare Work, with smaller commit-
tees on Industrial Safety and Sanitation, Recreation, Correlation of
Activities, Publicity, Legislation.

There was in fact a committee on almost every possible subject
or activity, and in addition there was an official representative of the
Council in each State with a Woman Chairman for each State.

The Railroads War Board was created early in 1918, but the
attempt to correlate the work of the roads did not satisfy every de-
mand of the Government, and the roads were taken over under a special
Act of Congress and Secretary of the Treasury William G. McAdoo
was made Director of Railroads, which were operated as a unit.

Confiscation of German Property,

In no other war was there such a mobilization of the resources,
facilities and activities of the country, and ''government ownership"
at least for the period of the war became a fact. The question of
output for any industry was determined by the authorized committee or
director under whose jurisdiction the plant or industry came, as in the
case of fuel, which was administered by Dr. Harry A. Garfield, with an
administrator for each State in the Union. The Conservation of food
was ^similarly directed by Herbert Hoover, with State Administrators
and organizations to carry on the work.

In providing for the protection of the country the Department of
Justice was enlarged as was the Secret Service Bureau, and United
States District Attorneys in every district took care of the legal activ-
ities which were increased by the work of the Department of Justice
and Secret Service Agents.

The confiscation of German property — or seizure of enemy prop-
erty — as a war measure led to the appointment of A. Mitchell Palmer
as Alien Property Custodian and a large number of plants and indus-
tries owned and controlled by alien enemies were taken over by the
Government and sold. The individual everywhere was restricted in
the rendering of his personal services, and if he were of military age

THE AMERICAN CALL TO ARMS 447

he must work in industries essential to war or answer the call to
arms.

The Government itself spent millions in the building of piers and
warehouses — piers from which goods might be loaded for foreign ship-
ment with least cost and difficulty and warehouses convenient to
shipping points which would hold supplies for the soldiers overseas.

The need of great quantities of everything to create, feed, supply
and arm millions of soldiers in France made necessary these intensive
plans of mobilization and direction of industry and almost every fac-
tory or shop with any considerable facility for rendering a particular
kind of service was compelled to do a certain portion of government
work.

The percentage of profit to be made was determined by agents of
the Government as was the rate of wages that might be paid in many
cases, and everywhere material was requisitioned to fill the govern-
ment requirements. Out of it all stood the big fact that in a demo-
cratic government where the individual had been permitted to run
his business without interference from the government, he now ac-
cepted the conditions cheerfully and thousands of owners of big indus-
tries gave their personal services and turned their facilities over with-
out hope of profit to help win the war for liberty.

CHAPTER XLIX.

THE CREATION OF THE NATIONAL ARMY.

The Regular Army and the National Guard— National Army Conscription Plan»— Drafting of Citizens-
Recruiting— Camps and Cantonments— Training of Soldiers— France's Appeal for Men.

WHEN the United States declared war upon Germany, its armed
force, while enlarged by the reorganization act of July, 1916,
was not such as to warrant the assumption that it could serve in
giving aid to the Allies in any offensive capacity. Up until the mo-
bilization of the National Guard of the various States along the Mex-
ican boarder in June, 1916, there had been in the country no concen-
tration of armed forces at any time since the Spanish-American War
and the entire regular army of the United States was represented by
a personnel of less than 100,000, including officers and men, divided
among 15 regiments of cavalry, 6 regiments of field artillery, the coast
artillery with approximately 20,000 men and 30 regiments of infantry.
Besides this there were the Philippine Scouts, numbering about 6,000,
a regiment of native Porto Ricans and the United States Marines, num-
bering about 12,000. The Army Signal Corps had but 1,500 officers
and men and the Engineer Corps but 2,000.

The Act of July 1, 1916, established a new basis of organization
with 64 infantry regiments, 25 cavalry regiments, a coast army corps,
brigade division, army corps, army headquarters with their detach-
ments and troops ; a general staff corps, adjutant general 's department,
inspector general's department, judge advocate general's department,
quartermaster corps, medical department, engineer corps, signal corps,
ordnance department, officers of the bureau of insular affairs, military
bureau and detached officers.

The new law provided that the total armed force of the country
should include the regular army, volunteer army, reserve corps, en-
listed reserve corps and the National Guards of the various States,
subject to caU for duty within the borders of the United States only.

448

THE CREATION OF THE NATIONAL ARMY 449

There were at this time 7,578 regiments of National Guards, liaving
a personnel of 132,105 enlisted men, and 9,103 commissioned officers.

As an organization for keeping the peace and maintaining order
wherever the flag of the United States waved the regular army was
conceded to be one of the most efficient of military organizations and
the National Guards had proved a ready and valuable force in deal-
ing with internal disturbances, but as compared with the forces in
the field of Europe it was lacking in practical experience and regarded
as decidedly amateurish. Indeed the Guardsmen were not infrequently
referred to as "tin soldiers."

That name proved a misnomer. In retrospect they pass before
the view in a clear light, for they upheld every tradition of America in
producing brave and heroic fighting units.

Men andi Supplies in an Infantry Regiment.

When the United States entered the war, too, the form of organ-
ization provided for an infantry regiment with but 1,800 men, cavalry
regiment with 1,250, field artillery 1,150, and so on throughout the
units, but when it came to organizing an army to work in harmony with
the forces of England and France it was found necessary to adopt a
new unit basis, with the result that on the recommendation of General
Pershing, selected to command the forces overseas, an infantrj^ regi-
ment was organized with a total of 3,755 men, including headquarters
and headquarters company of 303 men ; 3 battalions of four rifle com-
panies each, 3,078 men, 1 supply company with 140 men, a machine gim
company of 178 men and a medical detachment with 56 men. Each
rifl