History of the World War
by Jr. Francis A. March · English · Gutenberg #18993 · 1,461,309 chars · public domain (US)
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Title: History of the World War
An authentic narrative of the world's greatest war
Author: Jr. Francis A. March
Richard J. Beamish
Release date: August 6, 2006 [eBook #18993]
Language: English
Other information and formats: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/18993
Credits: Produced by Don Kostuch
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY OF THE WORLD WAR ***
Produced by Don Kostuch
[Transcriber's Notes]
My father's part in WWI attracted me to this book. I recall him talking
briefly about fighting the Bolsheviki in Archangel. "The machine gun
bullets trimmed the leaves off the trees, as if it were fall." Like most
veterans, he had little else to say.
This book mentions his campaign on page 736; "August 3, 1918.--President
Wilson announces new policy regarding Russia and agrees to cooperate
with Great Britain, France and Japan in sending forces to Murmansk,
Archangel and Vladivostok."
My father's experience seems to be described in the following excerpt
from the University of Michigan "The University Record", April 5, 1999.
"Bentley showcases items from World War I 'Polar Bears'"; by Joanne
Nesbit.
"During the summer of 1918, the U.S. Army's 85th Division, made up
primarily of men from Michigan and Wisconsin, completed training at Fort
Custer in Battle Creek, Mich., and proceeded to England. The 5,000
troops of the division's 339th Infantry and support units realized that
they were not being sent to France to join the great battles on the
Western Front when they were issued Russian weapons and equipment and
lectured on life in the Arctic regions.
"When they reached their destination in early September, 600 miles north
of Moscow, the men of the 339th joined an international force commanded
by the British that had been sent to northern Russia for purposes that
were never made clear. The Americans were soon spread in small fighting
units across hundreds of miles of the Russian forest fighting the
Bolsheviks who had taken power in Petrograd and Moscow.
"The day of the Armistice (Nov. 11) when fighting ceased for other
American armies, the allied soldiers were fighting the Bolsheviks said
to be led by Trotsky himself. After three days, the allies finally were
able to drive off the Bolsheviks. While this fight was a victory for the
Americans, the battle led to the realization that the war was not over
for these men. As the weeks and months passed and more battles were
fought, the men began to wonder if they would ever get home.
"The men of the 339th generally were well equipped with winter clothing
during the winter of 1918-19 while stationed near the Arctic Circle,
where temperatures reached minus 50 degrees Fahrenheit.
"There was little daylight for months at a time. Knowing that the war was
over for other American soldiers, the morale of the troops declined
throughout the winter.
"Families and friends of the men began to clamor for their return.
Politicians unwilling to support an undeclared war against the Russian
government joined in their demand. A petition to Congress was
circulated. Several of the British and French units mutinied and refused
to continue fighting. In early April, the American troops learned that
they would be withdrawn as soon as the harbor at Archangel was cleared
of ice.
"It was not until June of 1919 that the men of the 339th sailed from
Russia and adopted the polar bear as their regimental symbol. After a
stop in New York, the troops went on to Detroit where they took part in
a gala July 4 homecoming parade at Belle Isle."
The converted text for several chapters is copied from Project
Gutenberg's eBook 16282, History of the World War, Vol. 3, prepared by
Juliet Sutherland, Jennifer Zickerman, and the Project Gutenberg Online
Distributed Proofreading Team. This edition has minor differences,
mostly additional passages and images.
When considering monetary values listed in the text, one United States
dollar in 1918 is equivalent to about thirteen dollars in 2006. One
United States dollar in 1918 is equivalent to about 5.6 French Francs in
1918; one Franc in 1918 is equivalent to about 2.3 dollars in 2006.
For additional insight into the pilots and air battles of the war read
"The Red Knight of Germany; The Story of Baron von Richthofen, Germany's
Great War Bird" by Floyd Gibbons. This book is copyright 1927 and will
not be freely available online until 2022.
In the PDf and Doc versions, the following pages contain additional maps
that may assist in understanding some of the references to locations in
the text. The first shows Western France. The second map contains many
of the locations of the European battles. They are adapted from
Putnam's Handy Volume Atlas of the World, published by G.P. Putnam's
Sons, New York and London, 1921.
The next two maps from the USMA, West Point, map collection, compare
Europe before and after World War I.
Finally, a full map of the European theater has much detail. It should
be scaled up to about 500% for detail viewing. It is derived from a
larger map from Rand, McNally & Company's Indexed Atlas of the World,
Copyright 1898.
[Illustration: Western France; Southern England]
[Illustration: Western Front Battle Zone--Eastern France; Southern
Belgium; Western Germany]
[Illustration: WWI Locales; Lens; Cinde; Mons; Douai; Valenciennes;
Cambri Landrecies; St. Quentin; Sedan; Argonne Forest; Noyon; Chauny;
Soissons; Rheims; Verdun; Metz; Chateau-Thierry; St. Mihiel; Paris;
Sezanne]
[Illustration: Europe Before World War I]
[Illustration: Europe After World War I]
[Illustration: Europe, 1898]
This is a glossary of unfamiliar (to me) terms and places.
Boche
Disparaging term for a German.
camion
Truck or bus. [French]
charnel
Repository for the dead.
colliers
Coal miner
congerie
Accumulation, aggregation, collection, gathering
consanguinities
Relationship by blood or common ancestor. Close affinity.
deadweight
Displacement of a ship at any loaded condition minus the lightship
weight (weight of the ship with no fuel, passengers, cargo). It
includes the crew, passengers, cargo, fuel, water, and stores.
debouch
March from a confined area into the open; to emerge
Gross Tonnage
Volume of all ship's enclosed spaces (from keel to funnel) measured to
the outside of the hull framing (1 ton / 100 cu.ft.).
inst.
The current month: your letter of the 15th instant.
invest
Surround with troops or ships; besiege.
irredenta
Region culturally or historically related to one nation, but subject
to a foreign government.
Junker
Member of the Prussian landed aristocracy, formerly associated with
political reaction and militarism.
Kiao-chau
German protectorate from 1898 to 1915, on the Yellow Sea coast of
China. It was on 200 square miles of the Shantung Peninsula around the
city of Tsingtao, leased to Germany for one hundred years by the
imperial Chinese government. In 1898 Tsingtao was an obscure fishing
village of 83,000 inhabitants. When Germany withdrew in 1915, Tsingtao
was an important trading port with a population of 275,000.
kine
Plural of cow.
kultur
German culture and civilization as idealized by the exponents of
German imperialism during the Hohenzollern and Nazi regimes.
lighterage
Transportation of goods on a lighter (large flatbottom barge used to
deliver or unload goods to or from a cargo ship or transport goods
over short distances.)
lyddite
An explosive consisting chiefly of picric acid, a poisonous, explosive
yellow crystalline solid, C6H2(NO2)3OH.
mitrailleuse
Machine gun.
morganatic
Marriage between a person of royal birth and a partner of lower rank,
where no titles or estates of the royal partner are to be shared by
the partner of inferior rank nor by any of the offspring.
nugatory
Of little or no importance; trifling; invalid.
pastils
Small medicated or flavored tablet; tablet containing aromatic
substances burned to fumigate or deodorize the air; pastel paste or
crayon.
poilus
French soldier, especially in World War I.
pourparler
Discussion preliminary to negotiation.
prorogue
Discontinue a session of parliament; postpone; defer.
punctilio
Fine point of etiquette; precise observance of formalities.
rinderpest
Contagious viral disease, chiefly of cattle, causing ulceration of the
alimentary tract and diarrhea.
Sublime Porte
[French. Porte: a gate] Ottoman court; government of the Turkish
empire; from the gate of the sultan's palace.
Tsing-tao (Qing-dao)
City in eastern China on the Yellow Sea, north-northwest of Shanghai.
The city was leased in 1898 to the Germans, who established a famous
brewery.
Uhlans
Horse cavalry of the Polish, German, Austrian, and Russian armies.
ukase
Order or decree; an edict; proclamation of a czar having the force of
law in imperial Russia.
verbund
[German] Interconnection.
Wipers
British soldiers' pronunciation of "Ypres".
Zemstvos
An elective council for the administration of a provincial district in
czarist Russia.
[End Transcriber's notes]
[Illustration: THE VICTORIOUS GENERALS; photographs]
General Foch, Commander-in-Chief of all Allied forces. General
Pershing, Commander-in-Chief of the American armies. Field Marshal
Haig, head of the British armies. General d'Esperey (French) to whom
Bulgaria surrendered. General Diaz, Commander-in-Chief of the Italian
armies. General Marshall (British), head of the Mesopotamian
expedition. General Allenby (British), who redeemed Palestine from the
Turks.
HISTORY OF THE WORLD WAR
An Authentic Narrative of The World's Greatest War
By FRANCIS A. MARCH, Ph.D.
In Collaboration with
RICHARD J. BEAMISH
Special War Correspondent
and Military Analyst
With an Introduction
By GENERAL PEYTON C. MARCH
Chief of Staff of the United States Army
Illustrated with Reproductions from
the Official Photographs of the United
States, British and French Governments
PUBLISHED FOR THE UNITED PUBLISHERS OF THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA
PHILADELPHIA CHICAGO TORONTO
1919
COPYRIGHT, 1918
FRANCIS A. MARCH
This history is an original work and is fully protected by the copyright
laws, including the right of translation. All persons are warned against
reproducing the text in whole or in part without the permission of the
publishers.
WAR DEPARTMENT,
OFFICE OF THE CHIEF OF STAFF.
WASHINGTON,
NOVEMBER 14, 1918.
With the signing of the Armistice on November 11, 1918, the World War
has been practically brought to an end. The events of the past four
years have been of such magnitude that the various steps, the numberless
battles, and the growth of Allied power which led up to the final
victory are not clearly defined even in the minds of many military men.
A history of this great period which will state in an orderly fashion
this series of events will be of the greatest value to the future
students of the war, and to everyone of the present day who desires to
refer in exact terms to matters which led up to the final conclusion.
The war will be discussed and re-discussed from every angle and the
sooner such a compilation of facts is available, the more valuable it
will be. I understand that this History of the World War intends to put
at the disposal of all who are interested, such a compendium of facts of
the past period of over four years; and that the system employed in
safeguarding the accuracy of statements contained in it will produce a
document of great historical value without entering upon any speculative
conclusions as to cause and effect of the various phases of the war or
attempting to project into an historical document individual opinions.
With these ends in view, this History will be of the greatest value.
Signature [Payton C. March]
General,
Chief of Staff.
United States Army.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I. A WAR FOR INTERNATIONAL FREEDOM
A Conflict that was Inevitable--The Flower of Manhood on the Fields of
France--Germany's Defiance to the World--Heroic Belgium--Four
Autocratic Nations against Twenty-four Committed to the Principles of
Liberty--America's Titanic Effort--Four Million Men Under Arms, Two
Million Overseas--France the Martyr Nation--The British Empire's
Tremendous Share in the Victory--A River of Blood Watering the Desert
of Autocracy
CHAPTER II. THE WORLD SUDDENLY TURNED UPSIDE DOWN
The War Storm Breaks--Trade and Commerce Paralyzed--Homeward Rush of
Travelers--Harrowing Scenes as Ships Sail for America--Stock Markets
Closed--The Tide of Desolation Following in the Wake of War
CHAPTER III. WHY THE WORLD WENT TO WAR
The Balkan Ferment--Russia, the Dying Giant Among Autocracies--Turkey
the "Sick Man" of Europe--Scars Left by the Balkan War--Germany's
Determination to Seize a Place in the Sun.
CHAPTER IV. THE PLOTTER BEHIND THE SCENES
The Assassination at Sarajevo--The Slavic Ferment--Austria's
Domineering Note--The Plotters of Potsdam--The Mailed Fist of
Militarism Beneath the Velvet Glove of Diplomacy--Mobilization and
Declarations of War
CHAPTER V. THE GREAT WAR BEGINS
Germany Invades Belgium and Luxemburg--French Invade Alsace--England's
"Contemptible Little Army" Lands in France and Belgium--The Murderous
Gray-Green Tide--Heroic Retreat of the British from Mons--Belgium
Overrun--Northern France Invaded--Marshal Joffre Makes Ready to Strike
CHAPTER VI. THE TRAIL OF THE BEAST IN BELGIUM
Barbarities that Shocked Humanity--Planned as Part of the Teutonic
Policy of Schrecklichkeit--How the German and the Hun Became
Synonymous Terms--The Unmatchable Crimes of a War-Mad Army--A Record
of Infamy Written in Blood and Tears--Official Reports
CHAPTER VII. THE FIRST BATTLE OF THE MARNE
Joffre's Masterly Plan--The Enemy Trapped Between Verdun and
Paris--Gallieni's "Army in Taxicabs"--Foch, the "Savior of
Civilization," Appears--His Mighty Thrust Routs the Army of
Hausen--Joffre Salutes Foch as "First Strategist in Europe"--Battle
that Won the Baton of a Marshal
CHAPTER VIII. JAPAN IN THE WAR
Tsing Tau Seized by the Mikado--German "Gibraltar" of the Far East
Surrendered After Short Siege--Japan's Aid to the Allies in Money,
Ships, Men and Nurses--German Propaganda in the Far East Fails
CHAPTER IX. CAMPAIGN IN THE EAST
Invasion of East Prussia--Von Hindenburg and Masurian Lakes--Battle of
Tannenberg--Augustovo--Russians Capture Lemberg--The Offer to Poland
CHAPTER X. STRUGGLE FOR SUPREMACY ON THE SEA
The British Blockade--German Raiders and Their Fate--Story of the
Emden's Remarkable Voyage--Appearance of the Submarine--British Naval
Victory off Helgoland--U-9 Sinks Three British Cruisers
CHAPTER XI. THE SUBLIME PORTE
Turkish Intrigues--The Holy War--Mesopotamia and Transcaucasia--The
Suez Canal--Turkey the Catspaw of Germany
CHAPTER XII. RESCUE OF THE STARVING
Famine in Belgium--Belgium Relief Commission Organized in
London--Herbert C. Hoover--American Aid--The Great Cardinal's Famous
Challenge
CHAPTER XIII. BRITANNIA RULES THE WAVES
German and British Squadrons Grapple off the Chilean Coast--Germany
Wins the First Round--England Comes Back with Terrific Force--Graphic
Picture of the Destruction of the German Squadron off Falkland
Islands--English Coast Towns Bombarded for the First Time in Many
Years.
CHAPTER XIV. NEW METHODS AND HORRORS OF WARFARE
Tanks--Poison Gas--Flame Projectors--Airplane Bombs--Trench
Mortars--Machine Guns--Modern Uses of Airplanes for Liaison and
Attacks on Infantry--Radio--Rifle and Hand Grenades--A War of
Intensive Artillery Preparation--A Debacle of Insanities, Terrible
Wounds and Horrible Deaths.
CHAPTER XV. GERMAN PLOTS AND PROPAGANDA IN AMERICA
Trailing the German Plotters--Destruction of Ships--Pressure on
Congress--Attacks in Canada--Zimmerman's Foolish Effort to Embroil
America with Mexico and Japan--Lies of the Propagandists After America
Entered the War--Dumba, Von Bernstorff, Van Papen and Boy-Ed, a quartet
of Unscrupulous Destructionists
CHAPTER XVI. SINKING OF THE LUSITANIA
The Submarine Murderers at Work--Germany's Blackband Warning--No
Chance for Life--The Ship Unarmed and Without Munitions--The
President's Note--Germany's Lying Denials--Coroner's Inquest Charges
Kaiser with Wilful Murder--"Remember the Lusitania" One of America's
Big Reasons for Declaring War
CHAPTER XVII. NEUVE CHAPELLE AND WAR IN BLOOD-SOAKED TRENCHES
War Amid Barbed-Wire Entanglements and the Desolation of No Man's
Land--Subterranean Tactics Continuing Over Four Years--Attacks that
Cost Thousands of Lives for Every Foot of Gain
CHAPTER XVIII. STEADFAST SOUTH AFRICA
Botha and Smuts, Rocks of Loyalty Amid a Sea of Treachery--Civil War
that Ended with the Drowning of General Beyers and the Arrest of
General De Wet--Conquest of German Colonies--Trail of the Hun in the
Jungle
CHAPTER XIX. ITALY DECLARES WAR ON AUSTRIA
Her Great Decision--D'Annunzio, Poet and Patriot--Italia
Irredenta--German Indignation--The Campaigns on the Isonzo and in the
Tyrol
CHAPTER XX. GLORIOUS GALLIPOLI
A Titanic Enterprise--Its Objects--Disasters and Deeds of Deathless
Glory--The Heroic Anzacs--Bloody Dashes up Impregnable
Slopes--Silently they Stole Away--A Successful Failure
CHAPTER XXI. THE GREATEST NAVAL BATTLE IN HISTORY
The Battle of Jutland--Every Factor on Sea and in Sky Favorable to the
Germans--Low Visibility a Great Factor--A Modern Sea Battle--Light
Cruisers Screening Battleship Squadron--Germans Run Away when British
Fleet Marshals Its Full Strength--Death of Lord Kitchener
CHAPTER XXII. THE RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN
The Advance on Cracow--Van Hindenburg Strikes at Warsaw--German
Barbarism--The War in Galicia--The Fall of Przemysl--Russia's
Ammunition Fails--The Russian Retreat--The Fall of Warsaw--Czernowitz
CHAPTER XXIII. HOW THE BALKANS DECIDED
Ferdinand of Bulgaria Insists Upon Joining Germany--Dramatic Scene in
the King's Palace--The Die is Cast--Bulgaria Succumbs to Seductions of
Potsdam Gang--Greece Mobilizes--French and British Troops at
Saloniki--Serbia Over-run--Roumania's Disastrous Venture in the Arena
of Mars
CHAPTER XXIV. THE CAMPAIGN IN MESOPOTAMIA
British Army Threatening Bagdad Besieged in Kut-el-Amara--After Heroic
Defense General Townshend Surrenders After 143 Days of Siege--New
British Expedition Recaptures Kut--Troops Push on up the Tigris--Fall
of Bagdad, the Magnificent
CHAPTER XXV. CANADA'S PART IN THE GREAT WAR
By COL. GEORGE G. NASMITH, C. M. G.
Enthusiastic Response to the Call to Action--Valcartier Camp a
Splendid Example of the Driving Power of Sir Sam Hughes--Thirty-three
Liners Cross the Atlantic with First Contingent of Men and
Equipment--Largest Convoy Ever Gathered Together--At the Front with
the Princess Pat's--Red Cross--Financial Aid--Half a Million Soldiers
Overseas--Mons, the Last Stronghold of the Enemy, Won by the Men from
Canada--A Record of Glory
CHAPTER XXVI. IMMORTAL VERDUN
Grave of the Military Reputations of Von Falkenhayn and the Crown
Prince--Hindenburg's Warning--Why the Germans Made the Disastrous
Attempt to Capture the Great Fortress--Heroic France Reveals Itself to
the World--"They Shall Not Pass"--Nivelle's Glorious Stand on Dead Man
Hill--Lord Northcliffe's Description--A Defense Unsurpassed in the
History of France
CHAPTER XXVII. MURDERS AND MARTYRS
The Case of Edith Cavell--Nurse Who Befriended the Helpless, Dies at
the Hands of the Germans--Captain Fryatt's Martyrdom--How Germany
Sowed the Seeds of Disaster
CHAPTER XXVIII. THE SECOND BATTLE OF YPRES
The Canadians in Action--Undismayed by the New Weapon of the
Enemy--Holding the Line Against Terrific Odds--Men from the Dominion
Fight Like Veterans
CHAPTER XXIX. ZEPPELIN RAIDS ON FRANCE AND ENGLAND
First Zeppelin Attack Kills Twenty-eight and Injures Forty-four--Part
of Germany's Policy of Frightfulness--Raids by German Airplanes on
Unfortified Towns--Killing of Non-Combatants--The British Lion
Awakes--Anti-Aircraft Precautions and Protections--Policy of Terrorism
Fails
CHAPTER XXX. RED REVOLUTION IN RUSSIA
Rasputin, the Mystic--The Cry for Bread--Rise of the Council of
Workmen's and Soldiers' Delegates--Rioting in Petrograd--The
Threatening Cloud of Disaster--Moderate Policy of the Duma Fails--The
Fatal Easter Week of 1917--Abdication of the Czar--Last Tragic Moments
of the Autocrat of All the Russias--Grand Duke Issues Declaration
Ending Power of Romanovs in Russia--Release of Siberian
Revolutionists--Free Russia
CHAPTER XXXI. THE DESCENT TO BOLSHEVISM
Russia Intoxicated with Freedom--Elihu Root and His Mission--Last
Brilliant Offensive in Galicia--The Great Mutiny in the Army--The
Battalion of Death--Kerensky's Skyrocket Career--Kornilov's
Revolt--Loss of Riga--Lenine, the Dictator--The Impossible "Peace" of
Brest-Litovsk
CHAPTER XXXII. GERMANY'S OBJECT LESSON TO THE UNITED STATES
Two Voyages of the Deutschland--U-53 German Submarine Reaches Newport
and Sinks Five British and Neutral Steamers off Nantucket--Rescue of
Survivors by United States Warships--Anti-German Feeling in America
Reaching a Climax
CHAPTER XXXIII. AMERICA TRANSFORMED BY WAR
The United States Enters the Conflict--The Efficiency of Democracy--
Six Months in an American Training Camp Equal to Six Years of German
Compulsory Service--American Soldiers and Their Resourcefulness on
the Battlefield--Methods of Training and Their Results--
The S. A. T. C.
CHAPTER XXXIV. HOW FOOD WON THE WAR
The American Farmer a Potent Factor in Civilization's
Victory--Scientific Studies of Food Production, Distribution and
Consumption--Hoover Lays Down the Law Regulating Wholesalers and
Grocers--Getting the Food Across--Feeding Armies in the Field
CHAPTER XXXV. THE UNITED STATES NAVY IN THE WAR
Increase from 58,000 Men to Approximately 500,000--Destroyer Fleet
Arrives in British Waters--"We Are Ready Now"--The Hunt of the
U-Boats--Gunnery that is Unrivalled--Depth Charges and Other New
Inventions--The U-Boat Menace Removed--Surrender of German Under-Sea
Navy
CHAPTER XXXVI. CHINA JOINS THE FIGHTING DEMOCRACIES
How the Germans Behaved in China Seventeen Years Before--The Whirligig
of Time Brings Its Own Revenge--The Far Eastern Republic Joins Hands
with the Allies--German Propaganda at Work--Futile Attempt to Restore
the Monarchy--Fear of Japan--War--Thousands of Chinese Toil Behind the
Battle Lines in France--Siam with Its Eight Millions Defies the
Germans--End of Teuton Influence in the Orient
CHAPTER XXXVII. THE DEFEAT AND RECOVERY OF ITALY
Subtle Socialist Gospel Preached by Enemy Plays Havoc with Guileless
Italians--Sudden Onslaught of Germans Drives Cadorna's Men from
Heights--The Spectacular Retreat that Dismayed the World--Glorious
Stand of the Italians on the Piave--Rise of Diaz
CHAPTER XXXVIII. REDEMPTION OF THE HOLY LAND
A Long Campaign Progressing Through Hardships to Glory--General
Allenby Enters Jerusalem on Foot--Turkish Army Crushed in Palestine--
Battle of Armageddon
CHAPTER XXXIX. AMERICA'S TRANSPORTATION PROBLEMS
Government Ownership of Railroads, Telegraphs, Telephones--Getting the
Men from Training Camps to the Battle Fronts--From Texas to Toul--A
Gigantic System Working Without a Hitch
CHAPTER XL. SHIPS AND THE MEN WHO MADE THEM
The Emergency Fleet Corporation--Charles M. Schwab as Master
Shipbuilder--Hog Island the Wonder Shipyard of the World--An
Unbeatable Record--Concrete Ships--Wooden Ships--Standardizing the
Steel Ship--Attitude of Labor in the War--Samuel Gompers an Unofficial
Member of the Cabinet--Great Task of the United States Employment
Service
CHAPTER XLI. GERMANY'S DYING DESPERATE EFFORT
The High Tide of German Success--An Army of Six Million Men Flung
Recklessly on the Allies--Most Terrific Battles in all History--The
Red Ruin of War from Arras to St. Quentin--Amiens Within Arms' Reach
of the Invaders--Paris Bombarded by Long-Range Guns from Distance of
Seventy-six Miles--A Generalissimo at Last--Marshal Foch in Supreme
Command
CHAPTER XLII. CHATEAU-THIERRY, FIELD OF GLORY
German Wave Stops with the Americans--Prussian Guard Flung Back--The
Beginning of Autocracy's End--America's Record of Valor and Victory--
Cantigny--Belleau Wood--Thierry--St. Mihiel--Shock Troops of
the Enemy Annihilated--Soldier's Remarkable Letter.
CHAPTER XLIII. ENGLAND AND FRANCE STRIKE IN THE NORTH
Second Terrific Blow of General Foch--Lens, the Storehouse of
Minerals, Captured--Bapaume Retaken--British Snap the Famous
Hindenburg Line--The Great Thrust Through Cambrai--Tanks to the
Front--Cavalry in Action
CHAPTER XLIV. BELGIUM'S GALLANT EFFORT
The Little Army Under King Albert Thrusts Savagely at the
Germans--Ostend and Zeebrugge Freed from the Submarine
Pirates--Pathetic Scenes as Belgians are Restored to Their Homes
CHAPTER XLV. ITALY'S TERRIFIC DRIVE
Enemy Offensive Opens on Front of Ninety-Seven Miles--Repulse of the
Austrians--Italy Turns the Tables--Terrific Counter-Thrusts from the
Piave to Trente--Forcing the Alpine Passages--Battles High in the
Air--English, French and Americans Back up the Italians in Humbling
the Might of Austria--D'Annunzio's Romantic Bombardment of
Vienna--Diaz Leads his Men to Victory
CHAPTER XLVI. BULGARIA DESERTS GERMANY
Greece in the Throes of Revolution--Fall of Constantine--Serbians
Begin Advance on Bulgars--Thousands of Prisoners Taken--Surrender of
Bulgaria--Panic in Berlin--Passage Through the Country Granted for
Armies of the Allies--Ferdinand Abdicates--Germany's Imagined
Mittel-Europa Dream Forever Destroyed
CHAPTER XLVII. THE CENTRAL EMPIRES WHINE FOR PEACE
Austria-Hungary Makes the First Plea--President Wilson's Abrupt
Answer--Prince Max, Camouflaged as an Apostle of Peace, made
Chancellor and Opens Germany's Pathetic Plea for a Peace by
Negotiation--The President Replies on Behalf of all the Allied
Powers--Foch Pushes on Regardless of Peace Notes
CHAPTER XLVIII. BATTLES IN THE AIR
Conquering the Fear of Death--From Individual Fights to Battles
Between Squadrons--Heroes of the Warring Nations--America's Wonderful
Record--From Nowhere to First Place in Eighteen Months--The Liberty
Motor
CHAPTER XLIX. HEALTH AND HAPPINESS OF THE AMERICAN FORCES
Record of the Red Cross on all Fronts--A Gigantic Work Well
Executed--Y. M. C. A.--Y. W. C. A.--Knights of Columbus--Jewish
Welfare Association--Salvation Army--American Library
Association--Other Organizations--Surgery and Sanitation
CHAPTER L. THE PIRATES OF THE UNDER-SEAS
Germany's Ruthless Submarine Policy--A Boomerang Destroying the Hand
that Cast It--Terrorism that Failed--One Hundred and Fifty U-Boats
Sunk or Captured--Shameless Surrender of the German Submarines and of
the Fleet They Protected
CHAPTER LI. APPROACHING THE FINAL STAGE
Cutting the Railroads to Cambrai--Americans Co-operate with British in
Furious Attack--Douai and St. Quentin Taken--The Battle Line
Straightened for the Last Mighty Assault--All Hope Abandoned by the
Kaiser
CHAPTER LII. LAST DAYS OF THE WAR
American Troops Join with the Allies in Colossal Drive on 71-mile
Front--Historic Sedan Taken by the Yanks--Stenay, the Last Battle of
the War--How the Opposing Forces Greeted the News of the Armistice
CHAPTER LIII. THE DRASTIC TERMS OF SURRENDER
Handcuffs for Four Nations--Bulgaria First to Fly the White Flag--
Allenby's Great Victory Forces Turkey Out--Austria Signs Quickly--
Germany's Capitulation Complete and Humiliating
CHAPTER LIV. PEACE AT LAST
An Unfounded Rumor Starts Enormous Jubilation--Armistice Signed Four
Days Later--Kaiser Abdicates and Flees to Holland--Cowardly Ruler
Seeks Protection of Small Neutral Nation--Looking Into the
Future--Cost of War to the Nations--Liberty Loans--Reconstruction
Problems--McAdoo Resigns--American Ideals in the Old World
CHAPTER LV. AMERICA'S POSITION IN PEACE AND WAR
President Wilson's Stirring Speech in Congress Which Brought the
United States into the War--His Great Speech Before Congress Ending
the War--The Fourteen Points Outlining America's Demands Before Peace
Could be Concluded--Later Peace Principles Enunciated by the President
CHAPTER LVI. THE WAR BY YEARS
Condensed Word-Picture of the Happenings of the Most Momentous
Fifty-two Months in All History--Leading Up to the Eleventh Hour of
the Eleventh Day of the Eleventh Month of 1918
CHAPTER LVII. BEHIND AMERICA'S BATTLE LINE
General March's Story of the Work of the Military Intelligence
Division--Of the War Plans Division--Of the Purchase and Traffic
Divisions--How Men, Munitions and Supplies Reached the Western Front
CHAPTER LVIII. GENERAL PERSHING'S OWN STORY
The Commander-in-Chief of the American Expeditionary Forces Tells the
Story of the Magnificent Combat Operations of his Troops that Defeated
Prussia's Legions--Official Account Discloses Full Details of the
Fighting.
CHAPTER LIX. PRESIDENT WILSON'S REVIEW OF THE WAR
A Year in the Life of the United States Crowded with Great
Events--Tribute to the Soldiers and Sailors, the Workers at Home Who
Supplied the Sinews of the Great Undertaking, the Women of the Land
Who Contributed to the Great Result--The Future Safe in the Hands of
American Businessmen
SUMMARIZED CHRONOLOGY OF THE WAR
FOREWORD
This is a popular narrative history of the world's greatest war. Written
frankly from the viewpoint of the United States and the Allies, it
visualizes the bloodiest and most destructive conflict of all the ages
from its remote causes to its glorious conclusion and beneficent
results. The world-shaking rise of new democracies is set forth, and the
enormous national and individual sacrifices producing that resurrection
of human equality are detailed.
Two ideals have been before us in the preparation of this necessary
work. These are simplicity and thoroughness. It is of no avail to
describe the greatest of human events if the description is so confused
that the reader loses interest. Thoroughness is an historical essential
beyond price. So it is that official documents prepared in many
instances upon the field of battle, and others taken from the files of
the governments at war, are the basis of this work. Maps and photographs
of unusual clearness and high authenticity illuminate the text. All that
has gone into war making, into the regeneration of the world, are herein
set forth with historical particularity. The stark horrors of Belgium,
the blighting terrors of chemical warfare, the governmental restrictions
placed upon hundreds of millions of civilians, the war sacrifices
falling upon all the civilized peoples of earth, are in these pages.
It is a book that mankind can well read and treasure.
CHAPTER I
A WAR FOR INTERNATIONAL FREEDOM
"My FELLOW COUNTRYMEN: The armistice was signed this morning. Everything
for which America fought has been accomplished. The war thus comes to an
end."
Speaking to the Congress and the people of the United States, President
Wilson made this declaration on November 11, 1918. A few hours before he
made this statement, Germany, the empire of blood and iron, had agreed
to an armistice, terms of which were the hardest and most humiliating
ever imposed upon a nation of the first class. It was the end of a war
for which Germany had prepared for generations, a war bred of a
philosophy that Might can take its toll of earth's possessions, of human
lives and liberties, when and where it will. That philosophy involved
the cession to imperial Germany of the best years of young German
manhood, the training of German youths to be killers of men. It involved
the creation of a military caste, arrogant beyond all precedent, a caste
that set its strength and pride against the righteousness of democracy,
against the possession of wealth and bodily comforts, a caste that
visualized itself as part of a power-mad Kaiser's assumption that he and
God were to shape the destinies of earth.
When Marshal Foch, the foremost strategist in the world, representing
the governments of the Allies and the United States, delivered to the
emissaries of Germany terms upon which they might surrender, he brought
to an end the bloodiest, the most destructive and the most beneficent
war the world has known. It is worthy of note in this connection that
the three great wars in which the United States of America engaged have
been wars for freedom. The Revolutionary War was for the liberty of the
colonies; the Civil War was waged for the freedom of manhood and for the
principle of the indissolubility of the Union; the World War, beginning
1914, was fought for the right of small nations to self-government and
for the right of every country to the free use of the high seas.
More than four million American men were under arms when the conflict
ended. Of these, more than two million were upon the fields of France
and Italy. These were thoroughly trained in the military art. They had
proved their right to be considered among the most formidable soldiers
the world has known. Against the brown rock of that host in khaki, the
flower of German savagery and courage had broken at Chateau-Thierry.
There the high tide of Prussian militarism, after what had seemed to be
an irresistible dash for the destruction of France, spent itself in the
bloody froth and spume of bitter defeat. There the Prussian Guard
encountered the Marines, the Iron Division and the other heroic
organizations of America's new army. There German soldiers who had been
hardened and trained under German conscription before the war, and who
had learned new arts in their bloody trade, through their service in the
World War, met their masters in young Americans taken from the shop, the
field, and the forge, youths who had been sent into battle with a scant
six months' intensive training in the art of war. Not only did these
American soldiers hold the German onslaught where it was but, in a
sudden, fierce, resistless counter-thrust they drove back in defeat and
confusion the Prussian Guard, the Pommeranian Reserves, and smashed the
morale of that German division beyond hope of resurrection.
The news of that exploit sped from the Alps to the North Sea Coast,
through all the camps of the Allies, with incredible rapidity. "The
Americans have held the Germans. They can fight," ran the message. New
life came into the war-weary ranks of heroic poilus and into the
steel-hard armies of Great Britain. "The Americans are as good as the
best. There are millions of them, and millions more are coming," was
heard on every side. The transfusion of American blood came as magic
tonic, and from that glorious day there was never a doubt as to the
speedy defeat of Germany. From that day the German retreat dated. The
armistice signed on November 11, 1918, was merely the period finishing
the death sentence of German militarism, the first word of which was
uttered at Chateau-Thierry.
Germany's defiance to the world, her determination to force her will and
her "kultur" upon the democracies of earth, produced the conflict. She
called to her aid three sister autocracies: Turkey, a land ruled by the
whims of a long line of moody misanthropic monarchs; Bulgaria, the
traitor nation cast by its Teutonic king into a war in which its people
had no choice and little sympathy; Austria-Hungary, a congeries of races
in which a Teutonic minority ruled with an iron scepter.
Against this phalanx of autocracy, twenty-four nations arrayed
themselves. Populations of these twenty-eight warring nations far
exceeded the total population of all the remainder of humanity. The
conflagration of war literally belted the earth. It consumed the most
civilized of capitals. It raged in the swamps and forests of Africa. To
its call came alien peoples speaking words that none but themselves
could translate, wearing garments of exotic cut and hue amid the smart
garbs and sober hues of modern civilization. A twentieth century Babel
came to the fields of France for freedom's sake, and there was born an
internationalism making for the future understanding and peace of the
world. The list of the twenty-eight nations entering the World War and
their populations follow:
Countries. Population. Countries. Population.
United States 110,000,000 Italy 37,000,000
Austria-Hungary 50,000,000 Japan 54,000,000
Belgium 8,000,000 Liberia 2,000,000
Bulgaria 5,000,000 Montenegro 500,000
Brazil 23,000,000 Nicaragua 700,000
China 420,000,000 Panama 400,000
Costa Rica 425,000 Portugal* 15,000,000
Cuba 2,500,000 Roumania 7,500,000
France 90,000,000 Russia 180,000,000
Gautemala 2,000,000 San Marino 10,000
Germany 67,000,000 Serbia 4,500,000
Great Britain 440,000,000 Siam 6,000,000
Greece 5,000,000 Turkey 42,000,000
Haiti 2,000,000 -----------------
Honduras 600,000 Total 1,575,135,000
* Including colonies
The following nations, with their populations, took no part in the World
War:
Countries. Population. Countries. Population.
Abyssinia 8,000,000 Argentina 8,000,000
Afghanistan 6,000,000 Bhutan 250,000
Andorra 6,000 Chile 5,000,000
Colombia 5,000,000 Paraguay 800,000
Denmark 3,000,000 Persia 9,000,000
Ecuador 1,500,000 Salvador 1,250,000
Mexico 15,000,000 Spain 20,000,000
Monaco 20,000 Switzerland 3,750,000
Nepal 4,000,000 Venezuela 2,800,000
Holland* 40,000,000 -----------------
Norway 2,500,000 Total 135,876,000
* Including colonies.
Never before in the history of the world were so many races and peoples
mingled in a military effort as those that came together under the
command of Marshal Foch. If we divide the human races into white,
yellow, red and black, all four were largely represented. Among the
white races there were Frenchmen, Italians, Portuguese, English,
Scottish, Welsh, Irish, Canadians, Australians, South Africans (of both
British and Dutch descent) New Zealanders; in the American army,
probably every other European nation was represented, with additional
contingents from those already named, so that every branch of the white
race figured in the ethnological total.
There were representatives of many Asiatic races, including not only the
volunteers from the native states of India, but elements from the French
colony in Cochin China, with Annam, Cambodia, Tonkin, Laos, and Kwang
Chau Wan. England and France both contributed many African tribes,
including Arabs from Algeria and Tunis, Senegalese, Saharans, and many
of the South African races. The red races of North America were
represented in the armies of both Canada and the United States, while
the Maoris, Samoans, and other Polynesian races were likewise
represented. And as, in the American Army, there were men of German,
Austrian, and Hungarian descent, and, in all probability, contingents
also of Bulgarian and Turkish blood, it may be said that Foch commanded
an army representing the whole human race, united in defense of the
ideals of the Allies.
It will be seen that more than ten times the number of neutral persons
were engulfed in the maelstrom of war. Millions of these suffered from
it during the entire period of the conflict, four years three months and
fifteen days, a total of 1,567 days. For almost four years Germany
rolled up a record of victories on land and of piracies on and under the
seas.
[Illustration: TERRITORY OCCUPIED BY THE ALLIES UNDER THE ARMISTICE OF
NOVEMBER 11, 1918 (East/West: Brussels to Berlin; North South: Keil to
Bern)]
Dotted area, invaded territory of Belgium, France, Luxembourg and
Alsace-Lorraine to be evacuated in fourteen days; area in small
squares, part of Germany west of the Rhine to be evacuated in
twenty-five days and occupied by Allied and U. S. troops; lightly
shaded area to east of Rhine, neutral zone; black semi-circles
bridge-heads of thirty kilometers radius in the neutral zone to be
occupied by Allied armies.
Little by little, day after day, piracies dwindled as the murderous
submarine was mastered and its menace strangled. On the land, the
Allies, under the matchless leadership of Marshal Ferdinand Foch and the
generous co-operation of Americans, British, French and Italians, under
the great Generals Pershing, Haig, Petain and Diaz, wrested the
initiative from von Hindenburg and Ludendorf, late in July, 1918. Then,
in one hundred and fifteen days of wonderful strategy and the fiercest
fighting the world has ever witnessed, Foch and the Allies closed upon
the Germanic armies the jaws of a steel trap. A series of brilliant
maneuvers dating from the battle of Chateau-Thierry in which the
Americans checked the Teutonic rush, resulted in the defeat and rout on
all the fronts of the Teutonic commands.
In that titanic effort, America's share was that of the final deciding
factor. A nation unjustly titled the "Dollar Nation," believed by
Germany and by other countries to be soft, selfish and wasteful, became
over night hard as tempered steel, self-sacrificing with an altruism
that inspired the world and thrifty beyond all precedent in order that
not only its own armies but the armies of the Allies might be fed and
munitioned.
Leading American thought and American action, President Wilson stood out
as the prophet of the democracies of the world. Not only did he inspire
America and the Allies to a military and naval effort beyond precedent,
but he inspired the civilian populations of the world to extraordinary
effort, efforts that eventually won the war. For the decision was gained
quite as certainly on the wheat fields of Western America, in the shops
and the mines and the homes of America as it was upon the battle-field.
This effort came in response to the following appeal by the President:
These, then, are the things we must do, and do well, besides
fighting--the things without which mere fighting would be fruitless:
We must supply abundant food for ourselves and for our armies and our
seamen not only, but also for a large part of the nations with whom we
have now made common cause, in whose support and by whose sides we shall
be fighting;
We must supply ships by the hundreds out of our shipyards to carry to
the other side of the sea, submarines or no submarines, what will every
day be needed there; and--
Abundant materials out of our fields and our mines and our factories
with which not only to clothe and equip our own forces on land and sea
but also to clothe and support our people for whom the gallant fellows
under arms can no longer work, to help clothe and equip the armies with
which we are co-operating in Europe, and to keep the looms and
manufactories there in raw material;
Coal to keep the fires going in ships at sea and in the furnaces of
hundreds of factories across the sea;
Steel out of which to make arms and ammunition both here and there;
Rails for worn-out railways back of the fighting fronts;
Locomotives and rolling stock to take the place of those every day going
to pieces;
Everything with which the people of England and France and Italy and
Russia have usually supplied themselves, but cannot now afford the men,
the materials, or the machinery to make.
I particularly appeal to the farmers of the South to plant abundant
foodstuffs as well as cotton. They can show their patriotism in no
better or more convincing way than by resisting the great temptation of
the present price of cotton and helping, helping upon a large scale, to
feed the nation and the peoples everywhere who are fighting for their
liberties and for our own. The variety of their crops will be the
visible measure of their comprehension of their national duty.
The response was amazing in its enthusiastic and general compliance. No
autocracy issuing a ukase could have been obeyed so explicitly. Not only
did the various classes of workers and individuals observe the
President's suggestions to the letter, but they yielded up individual
right after right in order that the war work of the government might be
expedited. Extraordinary powers and functions were granted by the people
through Congress, and it was not until peace was declared that these
rights and powers returned to the people.
These governmental activities ceased functioning after the war:
Food administration;
Fuel administration;
Espionage act;
War trade board;
Alien property custodian (with extension of time for certain duties);
Agricultural stimulation;
Housing construction (except for shipbuilders);
Control of telegraphs and telephones;
Export control.
These functions were extended:
Control over railroads: to cease within twenty-one months after the
proclamation of peace.
The War Finance Corporation: to cease to function six months after the
war, with further time for liquidation.
The Capital Issues Committee: to terminate in six months after the peace
proclamation.
The Aircraft Board: to end in six months after peace was proclaimed; and
the government operation of ships, within five years after the war was
officially ended.
President Wilson, generally acclaimed as the leader of the world's
democracies, phrased for civilization the arguments against autocracy in
the great peace conference after the war. The President headed the
American delegation to that conclave of world re-construction. With him
as delegates to the conference were Robert Lansing, Secretary of State;
Henry White, former Ambassador to France and Italy; Edward M. House and
General Tasker H. Bliss.
Representing American Labor at the International Labor conference held
in Paris simultaneously with the Peace Conference were Samuel Gompers,
president of the American Federation of Labor; William Green,
secretary-treasurer of the United Mine Workers of America; John R.
Alpine, president of the Plumbers' Union; James Duncan, president of the
International Association of Granite Cutters; Frank Duffy, president of
the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners, and Frank Morrison,
secretary of the American Federation of Labor.
Estimating the share of each Allied nation in the great victory, mankind
will conclude that the heaviest cost in proportion to prewar population
and treasure was paid by the nations that first felt the shock of war,
Belgium, Serbia, Poland and France. All four were the battle-grounds of
huge armies, oscillating in a bloody frenzy over once fertile fields and
once prosperous towns.
Belgium, with a population of 8,000,000, had a casualty list of more
than 350,000; France, with its casualties of 4,000,000 out of a
population (including its colonies) of 90,000,000, is really the martyr
nation of the world. Her gallant poilus showed the world how cheerfully
men may die in defense of home and liberty. Huge Russia, including
hapless Poland, had a casualty list of 7,000,000 out of its entire
population of 180,000,000. The United States out of a population of
110,000,000 had a casualty list of 236,117 for nineteen months of war;
of these 53,169 were killed or died of disease; 179,625 were wounded;
and 3,323 prisoners or missing.
[Illustration: KINGS AND CHIEF EXECUTIVES OF THE PRINCIPAL POWERS
ASSOCIATED AGAINST THE GERMAN ALLIANCE (King George V of England,
President Raymond of France, President Woodrow Wilson of the United
States, King Victor Emmanuel II of Italy, King Albert I of Belgium)]
[Illustration: Photograph of Clemenceau]
Copyright International Film Service.
THE "TIGER" OF FRANCE
George Benjamin Eugene Clemenceau, world-famous Premier of France, who
by his inspiring leadership maintained the magnificent morale of his
countrymen in the face of terrific assaults of the enemy.
[Illustration: THE RIGHT HONORABLE DAVID LLOYD GEORGE]
British Premier, who headed the coalition cabinet which carried
England through the war to victory.
[Illustration: KING GEORGE V]
King of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India, who struggled
earnestly to prevent the war, but when Germany attacked Belgium sent
the mighty forces of the British Empire to stop the Hun.
To the glory of Great Britain must be recorded the enormous effort made
by its people, showing through operations of its army and navy. The
British Empire, including, the Colonies, had a casualty list of
3,049,992 men out of a total population of 440,000,000. Of these 658,665
were killed; 2,032,122 were wounded, and 359,204 were reported missing.
It raised an army of 7,000,000, and fought seven separate foreign
campaigns, in France, Italy, Dardanelles, Mesopotamia, Macedonia, East
Africa and Egypt. It raised its navy personnel from 115,000 to 450,000
men. Co-operating with its allies on the sea, it destroyed approximately
one hundred and fifty German and Austrian submarines. It aided
materially the American navy and transport service in sending overseas
the great American army whose coming decided the war. The British navy
and transport service during the war made the following record of
transportation and convoy:
Twenty million men, 2,000,000 horses, 130,000,000 tons of food,
25,000,000 tons of explosives and supplies, 51,000,000 tons of oil and
fuels, 500,000 vehicles. In 1917 alone 7,000,000 men, 500,000 animals,
200,000 vehicles and 9,500,000 tons of stores were conveyed to the
several war fronts.
The German losses were estimated at 1,588,000 killed or died of disease;
4,000,000 wounded; and 750,000 prisoners and missing.
A tabulation of the estimates of casualties and the money cost of the
war reveals the enormous price paid by humanity to convince a
military-mad Germanic caste that Right and not Might must hereafter rule
the world. These figures do not include Serbian losses, which are
unavailable. Following is the tabulation:
THE ENTENTE ALLIES THE CENTRAL POWERS
Russia 7,000,000 Germany 6,338,000
France 4,000,000 Austria-Hungary 4,500,000
British Empire (official) 3,049,992 Turkey 750,000
Italy 1,000,000 Bulgaria 200,000
Belgium 350,000
Roumania 200,000
United States (official) 236,117
Total 15,836,109 Total 11,788,000
Grand total of estimated casualties, 27,624,109, of which the dead alone
number perhaps 7,000,000.
ESTIMATED COST IN MONEY
THE ENTENTE ALLIES THE CENTRAL POWERS
Russia $30,000,000,000 Germany $45,000,000,000
Britain 52,000,000,000 Austria-Hungary 25,000,000,000
France 32,000,000,000 Turkey 5,000,000,000
United States 40,000,000,000 Bulgaria 2,000,000,000
Italy 12,000,000,000 ------------------
Roumania 3,000,000,000 Total $77,000,000,000
Serbia 3,000,000,000
--------------------
Total $172,000,000,000
Grand total of estimated cost in money, $249,000,000,000. Was the cost
too heavy? Was the price of international liberty paid in human lives
and in sacrifices untold too great for the peace that followed?
Even the most practical of money changers, the most sentimental
pacifist, viewing the cost in connection with the liberation of whole
nations, with the spread of enlightened liberty through oppressed and
benighted lands, with the destruction of autocracy, of the military
caste, and of Teutonic kultur in its materialistic aspect, must agree
that the blood was well shed, the treasure well spent.
Millions of gallant, eager youths learned how to die fearlessly and
gloriously. They died to teach vandal nations that nevermore will
humanity permit the exploitation of peoples for militaristic purposes.
As Milton, the great philosopher poet, phrased the lesson taught to
Germany on the fields of France:
They err who count it glorious to subdue
By conquest far and wide, to overrun
Large countries, and in field great battles win,
Great cities by assault; what do these worthies
But rob and spoil, burn, slaughter, and enslave
Peaceable nations, neighboring or remote
Made captive, yet deserving freedom more
Than those their conquerors, who leave behind
Nothing but ruin wheresoe'er they rove
And all the flourishing works of peace destroy.
CHAPTER II
THE WORLD SUDDENLY TURNED UPSIDE DOWN
Demoralization, like the black plague of the middle ages, spread in
every direction immediately following the first overt acts of war. Men
who were millionaires at nightfall awoke the next morning to find
themselves bankrupt through depreciation of their stock-holdings.
Prosperous firms of importers were put out of business. International
commerce was dislocated to an extent unprecedented in history.
The greatest of hardships immediately following the war, however, were
visited upon those who unhappily were caught on their vacations or on
their business trips within the area affected by the war. Not only men,
but women and children, were subjected to privations of the severest
character. Notes which had been negotiable, paper money of every
description, and even silver currency suddenly became of little value.
Americans living in hotels and pensions facing this sudden shrinkage in
their money, were compelled to leave the roofs that had sheltered them.
That which was true of Americans was true of all other nationalities, so
that every embassy and the office of every consul became a miniature
Babel of excited, distressed humanity.
The sudden seizure of railroads for war purposes in Germany, France,
Austria and Russia, cut off thousands of travelers in villages that were
almost inaccessible. Europeans being comparatively close to their homes,
were not in straits as severe as the Americans whose only hope for aid
lay in the speedy arrival of American gold. Prices of food soared beyond
all precedent and many of these hapless strangers went under. Paris, the
brightest and gayest city in Europe, suddenly became the most somber of
dwelling places. No traffic was permitted on the highways at night. No
lights were permitted and all the cafes were closed at eight o'clock.
The gay capital was placed under iron military rule.
Seaports, and especially the pleasure resorts in France, Belgium and
England, were placed under a military supervision. Visitors were ordered
to return to their homes and every resort was shrouded with darkness at
night. The records of those early days are filled with stories of
dramatic happenings.
On the night of July 31st Jean Leon Jaures, the famous leader of French
Socialists, was assassinated while dining in a small restaurant near the
Paris Bourse. His assassin was Raoul Villein. Jaures had been
endeavoring to accomplish a union of French and German Socialists with
the aim of preventing the war. The object of the assassination appeared
to have been wholly political.
On the same day stock exchanges throughout the United States were
closed, following the example of European stock exchanges. Ship
insurance soared to prohibitive figures. Reservists of the French and
German armies living outside of their native land were called to the
colors and their homeward rush still further complicated transportation
for civilians. All the countries of Europe clamored for gold. North and
South America complied with the demand by sending cargoes of the
precious metal overseas. The German ship Kron Prinzessin with a cargo of
gold, attempted to make the voyage to Hamburg, but a wireless warning
that Allied cruisers were waiting for it off the Grand Banks of
Newfoundland, compelled the big ship to turn back to safety in America.
Channel boats bearing American refugees from the Continent to London
were described as floating hells. London was excited over the war and
holiday spirit, and overrun with five thousand citizens of the United
States tearfully pleading with the American Ambassador for money for
transportation home or assurances of personal safety.
The condition of the terror-stricken tourists fleeing to the friendly
shores of England from Continental countries crowded with soldiers
dragging in their wake heavy guns, resulted in an extraordinary
gathering of two thousand Americans at a hotel one afternoon and the
formation of a preliminary organization to afford relief. Some people
who attended the meeting were already beginning to feel the pinch of
want with little prospects of immediate succor. One man and wife, with
four children, had six cents when he appealed to Ambassador Page after
an exciting escape from German territory.
[Illustration: WHERE THE WORLD WAR BEGAN. Map showing 15 degrees East to
28 degrees East; 35 degrees North to 52 degrees North. Germany and
Russia on the North; the Mediterranean on the South; the Adriatic Sea
on the West; the Aegean and Western Turkey on the East.]
Oscar Straus, worth ten millions, struck London with nine dollars.
Although he had letters of credit for five thousand, he was unable to
cash them in Vienna. Women hugging newspaper bundles containing
expensive Paris frocks and millinery were herded in third-class
carriages and compelled to stand many hours. They reached London utterly
fatigued and unkempt, but mainly cheerful, only to find the hotels
choked with fellow countrymen fortunate to reach there sooner.
The Ambassador was harassed by anxious women and children who asked many
absurd questions which he could not answer. He said:
"The appeals of these people are most distressing. They are very much
excited, and no small wonder. I regret I have no definite news of the
prospects or plans of the government for relief. I have communicated
their condition to the Department of State and expect a response and
assurances of coming aid as soon as possible. That the government will
act I have not the slightest doubt. I am confident that Washington will
do everything in her power for relief. How soon, I cannot tell. I have
heard many distressing tales during the last forty-eight hours."
A crowd filled the Ambassador's office on the first floor of the flat
building, in Victoria Street, which was mainly composed of women, school
teachers, art students, and other persons doing Europe on a shoestring.
Many were entirely out of money and with limited securities, which were
not negotiable.
The action of the British Government extending the bank holiday till
Thursday of that week was discouraging news for the new arrivals from
the Continent, as it was uncertain whether the express and steamship
companies would open in the morning for the cashing of checks and the
delivery of mail, as was announced the previous Saturday.
Doctors J. Riddle Goffe, of New York; Frank F. Simpson, of Pittsburgh;
Arthur D. Ballon of Vistaburg, Mich., and B. F. Martin, of Chicago,
formed themselves into a committee, and asked the co-operation of the
press in America to bring about adequate assistance for the marooned
Americans, and to urge the bankers of the United States to insist on
their letters of credit and travelers' checks being honored so far as
possible by the agents in Europe upon whom they were drawn.
[Illustration: THE CATHEDRAL OF RHEIMS]
In the first weeks of the war the Germans occupied Rheims, but were
driven out after von Kluck's retreat. On September 20, 1914, they were
reported as first shelling the Cathedral of Rheims and the civilized
world stood aghast, for the edifice, begun in 1212, is one of the
chief glories of Gothic architecture in all Europe.
[Illustration: Seven men marching abreast.]
Photo by Underwood and Underwood. N.Y.
THE KAISER AND HIS SIX SONS
The ex-Emperor and his sons leading a procession in Berlin soon after
the declaration of war. It was noted that in spite of their martial
appearance the royal family were extremely careful to keep out of
range of the Allied guns. From left to right they are: The Kaiser,
Crown Prince Wilhelm, Princes Eitel Friedrich, Adalbert, August, Oscar
and Joachim.
Dr. Martin and Dr. Simpson, who left London on Saturday for Switzerland
to fetch back a young American girl, were unable to get beyond Paris,
and they returned to London. Everywhere they found trains packed with
refugees whose only object in life apparently was to reach the channel
boats, accepting cheerfully the discomforts of those vessels if only
able to get out of the war.
Rev. J. P. Garfield, of Claremore, N. H., gave the following account of
his experiences in Holland:
"On sailing from the Hook of Holland near midnight we pulled out just as
the boat train from The Hague arrived. The steamer paused, but as she
was filled to her capacity she later continued on her voyage, leaving
fully two hundred persons marooned on the wharf.
"Our discomforts while crossing the North Sea were great. Every seat was
filled with sleepers, the cabins were given to women and children. The
crowd, as a rule, was helpful and kindly, the single men carrying the
babies and people lending money to those without funds. Despite the
refugee conditions prevailing it was noticeable that many women on the
Hook wharf clung tenaciously to bandboxes containing Parisian hats."
Travelers from Cologne said that searchlights were operated from the
tops of the hotels all night searching for airplanes, and machine guns
were mounted on the famous Cologne Cathedral. They also reported that
tourists were refused hotel accommodations at Frankfort because they
were without cash.
Men, women and children sat in the streets all night. The trains were
stopped several miles from the German frontier and the passengers,
especially the women and children, suffered great hardship being forced
to continue their journey on foot.
Passengers arriving at London from Montreal on the Cunard Line steamer
Andania, bound for Southampton, reported the vessel was met at sea by a
British torpedo boat and ordered by wireless to stop. The liner then was
led into Plymouth as a matter of precaution against mines. Plymouth was
filled with soldiers and searchlights were seen constantly flashing
about the harbor.
Otis B. Kent, an attorney for the Interstate Commerce Commission, of
Washington, arrived in London after an exciting journey from Petrograd.
Unable to find accommodations at a hotel he slept on the railway station
floor. He said:
"I had been on a trip to Sweden to see the midnight sun. I did not
realize the gravity of the situation until I saw the Russian fleet
cleared for action. This was only July 26th, at Kronstadt, where the
shipyards were working overtime.
"I arrived at the Russian capital on the following day. Enormous
demonstrations were taking place. I was warned to get out and left on
the night of the 28th for Berlin. I saw Russian soldiers drilling at the
stations and artillery constantly on the move.
"At Berlin I was warned to keep off the streets for fear of being
mistaken for an Englishmen. At Hamburg the number of warnings was
increased. Two Russians who refused to rise in a cafe when the German
anthem was played were attacked and badly beaten. I also saw two
Englishmen attacked in the street, but they finally were rescued by the
police.
"There was a harrowing scene when the Hamburg-American Line steamer
Imperator canceled its sailing. She left stranded three thousand
passengers, most of them short of money, and the women wailing. About
one hundred and fifty of us were given passage in the second class of
the American Line steamship Philadelphia, for which I was offered $400
by a speculator.
"The journey to Flushing was made in a packed train, its occupants
lacking sleep and food. No trouble was encountered on the frontier."
Theodore Hetzler, of the Fifth Avenue Bank, was appointed chairman of
the meeting for preliminary relief of the stranded tourists, and
committees were named to interview officials of the steamship companies
and of the hotels, to search for lost baggage, to make arrangements for
the honoring of all proper checks and notes, and to confer with the
members of the American embassy.
Oscar Straus, who arrived from Paris, said that the United States
embassy there was working hard to get Americans out of France. Great
enthusiasm prevailed at the French capital, he said, owing to the
announcement that the United States Government was considering a plan to
send transports to take Americans home.
The following committees were appointed at the meeting:
Finance--Theodore Hetzler, Fred I. Kent and James G. Cannon;
Transportation--Joseph F. Day, Francis M. Weld and George D. Smith, all
of New York; Diplomatic--Oscar S. Straus, Walter L. Fisher and James
Byrne; Hotels--L. H. Armour, of Chicago, and Thomas J. Shanley, New
York.
The committee established headquarters where Americans might register
and obtain assistance. Chandler Anderson, a member of the International
Claims Commission, arrived in London from Paris. He said he had been
engaged with the work of the commission at Versailles, when he was
warned by the American embassy that he had better leave France. He acted
promptly on this advice and the commission was adjourned until after the
war. Mr. Anderson had to leave his baggage behind him because the
railway company would not register it. He said the city of Paris
presented a strange contrast to the ordinary animation prevailing there.
Most of the shops were closed. There were no taxis in the streets, and
only a few vehicles drawn by horses.
The armored cruiser Tennessee, converted for the time being into a
treasure ship, left New York on the night of August 6th, 1914, to carry
$7,500,000 in gold to the many thousand Americans who were in want in
European countries. Included in the $7,500,000 was $2,500,000
appropriated by the government. Private consignments in gold in sums
from $1,000 to $5,000 were accepted by Colonel Smith, of the army
quartermaster's department, who undertook their delivery to Americans in
Paris and other European ports.
The cruiser carried as passengers Ambassador Willard, who returned to
his post at Madrid, and army and naval officers assigned as military
observers in Europe. On the return trip accommodations for 200 Americans
were available.
The dreadnaught Florida, after being hastily coaled and provisioned,
left the Brooklyn Navy Yard under sealed orders at 9.30 o'clock the
morning of August 6th and proceeded to Tompkinsville, where she dropped
anchor near the Tennessee.
The Florida was sent to protect the neutrality of American ports and
prohibit supplies to belligerent ships. Secretary Daniels ordered her to
watch the port of New York and sent the Mayflower to Hampton Roads.
Destroyers guarded ports along the New England coast and those at Lewes,
Del., to prevent violations of neutrality at Philadelphia and in that
territory. Any vessel that attempted to sail for a belligerent port
without clearance papers was boarded by American officials.
The Texas and Louisiana, at Vera Cruz and the Minnesota, at Tampico,
were ordered to New York, and Secretary Daniels announced that other
American vessels would be ordered north as fast as room could be found
for them in navy yard docks.
At wireless stations, under the censorship ordered by the President, no
code messages were allowed in any circumstances. Messages which might
help any of the belligerents in any way were barred.
The torpedo-boat destroyer Warrington and the revenue cutter
Androscoggin arrived at Bar Harbor on August 6th, to enforce neutrality
regulations and allowed no foreign ships to leave Frenchman's Bay
without clearance papers. The United States cruiser Milwaukee sailed the
same day from the Puget Sound Navy Yard to form part of the coast patrol
to enforce neutrality regulations.
Arrangements were made in Paris by Myron T. Herrick, the American
Ambassador, acting under instructions from Washington, to take over the
affairs of the German embassy, while Alexander H. Thackara, the American
Consul General, looked after the affairs of the German consulate.
President Poincare and the members of the French cabinet later issued a
joint proclamation to the French nation in which was the phrase
"mobilization is not war."
The marching of the soldiers in the streets with the English, Russian
and French flags flying, the singing of patriotic songs and the shouting
of "On to Berlin!" were much less remarkable than the general demeanor
and cold resolution of most of the people.
The response to the order of mobilization was instant, and the stations
of all the railways, particularly those leading to the eastward, were
crowded with reservists. Many women accompanied the men until close to
the stations, where, softly crying, farewells were said. The troop
trains left at frequent intervals. All the automobile busses
disappeared, having been requisitioned by the army to carry meat, the
coachwork of the vehicles being removed and replaced with specially
designed bodies. A large number of taxicabs, private automobiles and
horses and carts also were taken over by the military for transport
purposes.
The wildest enthusiasm was manifested on the boulevards when the news of
the ordering of the mobilization became known. Bodies of men formed into
regular companies in ranks ten deep, paraded the streets waving the
tricolor and other national emblems and cheering and singing the
"Marseillaise" and the "Internationale," at the same time throwing their
hats in the air. On the sidewalks were many weeping women and children.
All the stores and cafes were deserted.
All foreigners were compelled to leave Paris or France before the end of
the first day of mobilization by train but not by automobile. Time
tables were posted on the walls of Paris giving the times of certain
trains on which these people might leave the city.
American citizens or British subjects were allowed to remain in France,
except in the regions on the eastern frontier and near certain
fortresses, provided they made declaration to the police and obtained a
special permit.
As to Italy's situation, Rome was quite calm and the normal aspect made
tourists decide that Italy was the safest place. Austria's note to
Serbia was issued without consulting Italy. One point of the Triple
Alliance provided that no member should take action in the Balkans
before an agreement with the other allies. Such an agreement did not
take place. The alliance was of defensive, not aggressive, character and
could not force an ally to follow any enterprise taken on the sole
account and without a notice, as such action taken by Austria against
Serbia. It was felt even then that Italy would eventually cast its lot
with the Entente Allies.
Secretary of the Treasury William G. McAdoo; John Skelton Williams,
Comptroller of the Currency; Charles S. Hamblin and William P. G.
Harding, members of the Federal Reserve Board, went to New York early in
August, 1914, where they discussed relief measures with a group of
leading bankers at what was regarded as the most momentous conference of
the kind held in the country in recent years.
The New York Clearing House Committee, on August 2d, called a meeting of
the Clearing House Association, to arrange for the immediate issuance of
clearing house certificates. Among those at the conference were J. P.
Morgan and his partner, Henry P. Davison; Frank A. Vanderlip, president
of the National City Bank, and A. Barton Hepburn, chairman of the Chase
National Bank.
CHAPTER III
WHY THE WORLD WENT TO WAR
While it is true that the war was conceived in Berlin, it is none the
less true that it was born in the Balkans. It is necessary in order that
we may view with correct perspective the background of the World War,
that we gain some notion of the Balkan States and the complications
entering into their relations. These countries have been the adopted
children of the great European powers during generations of rulers.
Russia assumed guardianship of the nations having a preponderance of
Slavic blood; Roumania with its Latin consanguinities was close to
France and Italy; Bulgaria, Greece, and Balkan Turkey were debatable
regions wherein the diplomats of the rival nations secured temporary
victories by devious methods.
The Balkans have fierce hatreds and have been the site of sudden
historic wars. At the time of the declaration of the World War, the
Balkan nations were living under the provisions of the Treaty of
Bucharest, dated August 10, 1913. Greece, Roumania, Bulgaria, Serbia and
Montenegro were signers, and Turkey acquiesced in its provisions.
[Illustration: PROVISIONS OF THE TREATY OF BUCHAREST, 1913. (Map showing
the Adriatic on the West, the Black Sea on the East, Roumania on the
North and Crete on the South. Cross hatching show land allocations
among Serbia, Montenegro, Greece, Bulgaria and Roumania.)]
The assassination at Sarajevo had sent a convulsive shudder throughout
the Balkans. The reason lay in the century-old antagonism between the
Slav and the Teuton. Serbia, Montenegro and Russia had never forgiven
Austria for seizing Bosnia and Herzegovina and making these Slavic
people subjects of the Austrian crown. Bulgaria, Roumania and Turkey
remained cold at the news of the assassination. German diplomacy was in
the ascendant at these courts and the prospect of war with Germany as
their great ally presented no terrors for them. The sympathies of the
people of Greece were with Serbia, but the Grecian Court, because the
Queen of Greece was the only sister of the German Kaiser, was whole
heartedly with Austria. Perhaps at the first the Roumanians were most
nearly neutral. They believed strongly that each of the small nations of
the Balkan region as well as all of the small nations that had been
absorbed but had not been digested by Austria, should cut itself from
the leading strings held by the large European powers. There was a
distinct undercurrent, for a federation resembling that of the United
States of America between these peoples. This was expressed most clearly
by M. Jonesco, leader of the Liberal party of Roumania and generally
recognized as the ablest statesman of middle Europe. He declared:
"I always believed, and still believe, that the Balkan States cannot
secure their future otherwise than by a close understanding among
themselves, whether this understanding shall or shall not take the form
of a federation. No one of the Balkan States is strong enough to resist
the pressure from one or another of the European powers.
"For this reason I am deeply grieved to see in the Balkan coalition of
1912 Roumania not invited. If Roumania had taken part in the first one,
we should not have had the second. I did all that was in my power and
succeeded in preventing the war between Roumania and the Balkan League
in the winter of 1912-13.
"I risked my popularity, and I do not feel sorry for it. I employed all
my efforts to prevent the second Balkan war, which, as is well known,
was profitable to us. I repeatedly told the Bulgarians that they ought
not to enter it because in that case we would enter it too. But I was
not successful in my efforts.
"During the second Balkan war I did all in my power to end it as quickly
as possible. At the conference at Bucharest I made efforts, as Mr.
Pashich and Mr. Venizelos know very well, to secure for beaten Bulgaria
the best terms. My object was to obtain a new coalition of all the
Balkan States, including Roumania. Had I succeeded in this the situation
would be much better. No reasonable man will deny that the Balkan States
are neutralizing each other at the present time, which in itself makes
the whole situation all the more miserable.
"In October, 1913, when I succeeded in facilitating the conclusion of
peace between Greece and Turkey, I was pursuing the same object of the
Balkan coalition. On my return from Athens I endeavored, though without
success, to put the Greco-Turkish relations on a basis of friendship,
being convinced that the well-understood interest of both countries lies
not only in friendly relations, but even in an alliance between them.
"The dissensions that exist between the Balkan States can be settled in
a friendly way without war. The best moment for this would be after the
general war, when the map of Europe will be remade. The Balkan country
which would start war against another Balkan country would commit, not
only a crime against her own future, but an act of folly as well.
"The destiny and future of the Balkan States, and of all the small
European peoples as well, will not be regulated by fratricidal wars,
but, with this great European struggle, the real object of which is to
settle the question whether Europe shall enter an era of justice, and
therefore happiness for the small peoples, or whether we will face a
period of oppression more or less gilt-edged. And as I always believed
that wisdom and truth will triumph in the end, I want to believe, too,
that, in spite of the pessimistic news reaching me from the different
sides of the Balkan countries, there will be no war among them in order
to justify those who do not believe in the vitality of the small
peoples."
The conference at Rome, April 10, 1918, to settle outstanding questions
between the Italians and the Slavs of the Adriatic, drew attention to
those Slavonic peoples in Europe who were under non-Slavonic rule. At
the beginning of the war there were three great Slavonic groups in
Europe: First, the Russians with the Little Russians, speaking languages
not more different than the dialect of Yorkshire is from the dialect of
Devonshire; second, a central group, including the Poles, the Czechs or
Bohemians, the Moravians, and Slovaks, this group thus being separated
under the four crowns of Russia, Germany, Austria and Hungary; the
third, the southern group, included the Sclavonians, the Croatians, the
Dalmatians, Bosnians, Herzegovinians, the Slavs, generally called
Slovenes, in the western part of Austria, down to Goritzia, and also the
two independent kingdoms of Montenegro and Serbia.
Like the central group, this southern group of Slavs was divided under
four crowns, Hungary, Austria, Montenegro, and Serbia; but, in spite of
the fact that half belong to the Western and half to the Eastern Church,
they are all essentially the same people, though with considerable
infusion of non-Slavonic blood, there being a good deal of Turkish blood
in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The languages, however, are practically
identical, formed largely of pure Slavonic materials, and, curiously,
much more closely connected with the eastern Slav group--Russia and
Little Russia--than with the central group, Polish and Bohemian. A
Russian of Moscow will find it much easier to understand a Slovene from
Goritzia than a Pole from Warsaw. The Ruthenians in southern Galicia and
Bukowina, are identical in race and speech with the Little Russians of
Ukrainia.
Of the central group, the Poles have generally inclined to Austria,
which has always supported the Polish landlords of Galicia against the
Ruthenian peasantry; while the Czechs have been not so much
anti-Austrian as anti-German. Indeed, the Hapsburg rulers have again and
again played these Slavs off against their German subjects. It was the
Southern Slav question as affecting Serbia and Austria, that gave the
pretext for the present war. The central Slav question affecting the
destiny of the Poles--was a bone of contention between Austria and
Germany. It is the custom to call the Southern Slavs "Jugoslavs" from
the Slav word Yugo, "south," but as this is a concession to German
transliteration, many prefer to write the word "Yugoslav," which
represents its pronunciation. The South Slav question was created by the
incursions of three Asiatic peoples--Huns, Magyars, Turks--who broke up
the originally continuous Slav territory that ran from the White Sea to
the confines of Greece and the Adriatic.
[Illustration: Map: Austria-Hungary and surrounding nations]
THE MIXTURE OF RACES IN SOUTH CENTRAL EUROPE.
[Illustration: Photograph of three soldiers firing artillery.]
Copyright Underwood and Underwood, N. Y.
SERBS DEFENDING THE MOUNTAIN PASSES LEADING TO THEIR CAPITAL
Little Serbia, before she was overwhelmed by the concentrated force of
a mighty Teuton drive, and afterward, did some fighting that
astonished the world. The photo shows some of her artillery engaged in
holding back the enemy in the mountain regions near Nish.
[Illustration: A SCENE FROM EARLY TRENCH WARFARE. Painting shows German
soldiers defending a trench line on the left. British attackers are
approaching from the right. Several men are already dead in front of the
trench.]
From the woods in the background the British charge on an angle of the
German breastworks under cover of artillery and machine-gun fire. This
illustrates the early trench warfare before the development of the
elaborate concrete-protected structures the Germans later devised.
They can be seen wearing the famous spiked helmets which were later
replaced by steel ones.
This was the complex of nationalities, the ferment of races existing in
1914. Out of the hatreds engendered by the domination over the
liberty-loving Slavic peoples by an arrogant Teutonic minority grew the
assassinations at Sarajevo. These crimes were the expression of hatred
not for the heir apparent of Austria but for the Hapsburg and their
Germanic associates.
By a twist of the wheel of fate, the same Slavic peoples whose
determination to rid themselves of the Teutonic yoke, started the war,
also bore rather more than their share in the swift-moving events that
decided and closed the war.
Russia, the dying giant among the great nations, championed the Slavic
peoples at the beginning of the war. It entered the conflict in aid of
little Serbia, but at the end Russia bowed to Germany in the infamous
peace treaty at Brest-Litovsk. Thereafter during the last months of the
war Russia was virtually an ally of its ancient enemy, Turkey, the "Sick
Man of Europe," and the central German empires. With these allies the
Bolshevik government of Russia attempted to head off the Czecho-Slovak
regiments that had been captured by Russia during its drive into Austria
and had been imprisoned in Siberia. After the peace consummated at
Brest-Litovsk, these regiments determined to fight on the side of the
Allies and endeavored to make their way to the western front.
No war problems were more difficult than those of the Czecho-Slovaks.
Few have been handled so masterfully. Surrounded by powerful enemies
which for centuries have been bent on destroying every trace of Slavic
culture, they had learned how to defend themselves against every trick
or scheme of the brutal Germans.
The Czecho-Slovak plan in Russia was of great value to the Allies all
over the world, and was put at their service by Professor Thomas G.
Masaryk. He went to Russia when everything was adrift and got hold of
Bohemian prisoners here and there and organized them into a compact
little army of 50,000 to 60,000 men. Equipped and fed, he moved them to
whatever point had most power to thoroughly disrupt the German plans.
They did much to check the German army for months. They resolutely
refused to take any part in Russian political affairs, and when it
seemed no longer possible to work effectively in Russia this remarkable
little band started on a journey all round the world to get to the
western front. They loyally gave up most of their arms under agreement
with Lenine and Trotzky that they might peacefully proceed out of Russia
via Vladivostok.
While they were carrying out their part of the agreement, and well on
the way, they were surprised by telegrams from Lenine and Trotzky to the
Soviets in Siberia ordering them to take away their arms and intern
them.
The story of what occurred then was told by two American engineers,
Emerson and Hawkins, who, on the way to Ambassador Francis, and not
being able to reach Vologda, joined a band of four or five thousand. The
engineers were with them three months, while they were making it safe
along the lines of the railroad for the rest of the Czecho-Slovaks to
get out, and incidentally for Siberians to resume peaceful occupations.
They were also supported by old railway organizations which had stuck
bravely to them without wages and which every little while were "shot
up" by the Bolsheviki.
Distress in Russia would have been much more intense had it not been for
the loyalty of the railway men in sticking to their tasks. Some American
engineers at Irkutsk, on a peaceful journey out of Russia, on descending
from the cars were met with a demand to surrender, and shots from
machine guns. Some, fortunately, had kept hand grenades, and with these
and a few rifles went straight at the machine guns. Although
outnumbered, the attackers took the guns and soon afterward took the
town. The Czecho-Slovaks, in the beginning almost unarmed, went against
great odds and won for themselves the right to be considered a nation.
Seeing the treachery of Lenine and Trotzky, they went back toward the
west and made things secure for their men left behind. They took town
after town with the arms they first took away from the Bolsheviki and
Germans; but in every town they immediately set up a government, with
all the elements of normal life. They established police and sanitary
systems, opened hospitals, and had roads repaired, leaving a handful of
men in the midst of enemies to carry on the plans of their leaders.
American engineers speaking of the cleanliness of the Czecho-Slovak
army, said that they lived like Spartans.
The whole story is a remarkable evidence of the struggle of these little
people for self-government.
The emergence of the Czecho-Slovak nation has been one of the most
remarkable and noteworthy features of the war. Out of the confusion of
the situation, with the possibility of the resurrection of oppressed
peoples, something of the dignity of old Bohemia was comprehended, and
it was recognized that the Czechs were to be rescued from Austria and
the Slovaks from Hungary, and united in one country with entire
independence. This was undoubtedly due, in large measure, to the
activities of Professor Masaryk, the president of the National Executive
Council of the Czecho-Slovaks. His four-year exile in the United States
had the establishment of the new nation as its fruit.
Professor Masaryk called attention to the fact that there is a peculiar
discrepancy between the number of states in Europe and the number of
nationalities--twenty-seven states to seventy nationalities. He
explained, also, that almost all the states are mixed, from the point of
nationality. From the west of Europe to the east, this is found to be
true, and the farther east one goes the more mixed do the states become.
Austria is the most mixed of all the states. There is no Austrian
language, but there are nine languages, and six smaller nations or
remnants of nations. In all of Germany there are eight nationalities
besides the Germans, who have been independent, and who have their own
literature. Turkey is an anomaly, a combination of various nations
overthrown and kept down.
Since the eighteenth century there has been a continuing strong movement
from each nation to have its own state. Because of the mixed peoples,
there is much confusion. There are Roumanians in Austria, but there is a
kingdom of Roumania. There are Southern Slavs, but there are also Serbia
and Montenegro. It is natural that the Southern Slavs should want to be
united as one state. So it is with Italy.
There was no justice in Poland being separated in three parts to serve
the dynasties of Prussia, Russia and Austria. The Czecho-Slovaks of
Austria and Hungary claimed a union. The national union consists in an
endeavor to make the suppressed nations free, to unite them in their own
states, and to readjust the states that exist; to force Austria and
Prussia to give up the states that should be free.
In the future, said Doctor Masaryk, there are to be sharp ethnological
boundaries. The Czecho-Slovaks will guarantee the minorities absolute
equality, but they will keep the German part of their country, because
there are many Bohemians in it and they do not trust the Germans.
CHAPTER IV
THE PLOTTER BEHIND THE SCENES
One factor alone caused the great war. It was not the assassination at
Sarajevo, not the Slavic ferment of anti-Teutonism in Austria and the
Balkans. The only cause of the world's greatest war was the
determination of the German High Command and the powerful circle
surrounding it that "Der Tag" had arrived. The assassination at Sarajevo
was only the peg for the pendant of war. Another peg would have been
found inevitably had not the projection of that assassination presented
itself as the excuse.
Germany's military machine was ready. A gray-green uniform that at a
distance would fade into misty obscurity had been devised after
exhaustive experiments by optical, dye and cloth experts co-operating
with the military high command. These uniforms had been standardized and
fitted for the millions of men enrolled in Germany's regular and reserve
armies. Rifles, great pyramids of munitions, field kitchens, traveling
post-offices, motor lorries, a network of military railways leading to
the French and Belgian border, all these and more had been made ready.
German soldiers had received instructions which enabled each man at a
signal to go to an appointed place where he found everything in
readiness for his long forced marches into the territory of Germany's
neighbors.
More than all this, Germany's spy system, the most elaborate and
unscrupulous in the history of mankind, had enabled the German High
Command to construct in advance of the declaration of war concrete gun
emplacements in Belgium and other invaded territory. The cellars of
dwellings and shops rented or owned by German spies were camouflaged
concrete foundations for the great guns of Austria and Germany. These
emplacements were in exactly the right position for use against the
fortresses of Germany's foes. Advertisements and shop-signs were used by
spies as guides for the marching German armies of invasion.
[Illustration: Painting of KAISER WILLIAM II.]
Copyright Press Illustrating Service.
KAISER WILLIAM II OF GERMANY
Posterity will regard him as more responsible than any other human
being for the sacrifice of millions of lives in the great war, as a
ruler who might have been beneficent and wise, but attempted to
destroy the liberties of mankind and to raise on their ruins an odious
despotism. To forgive him and to forget his terrible transgressions
would be to condone them.
[Illustration: Men marching past a band.]
Copyright Underwood and Underwood, N, Y.
FRANCIS JOSEPH I OF AUSTRIA, THE "OLD EMPEROR," ON A STATE OCCASION.
Francis Joseph died before the war had settled the fate of the
Hapsburgs. The end came on November 21, 1916, in the sixty-eighth year
of his reign. His life was tragic. He lived to see his brother
executed, his Queen assassinated, and his only son a suicide, with
always before him the specter of the disintegration of his many-raced
empire.
In brief, Germany had planned for war. She was approximately ready for
it. Under the shelter of such high-sounding phrases as "We demand our
place in the sun," and "The seas must be free," the German people were
educated into the belief that the hour of Germany's destiny was at hand.
[Illustration: Map of Africa.]
GERMANY'S POSSESSIONS IN AFRICA PRIOR TO 1914
German psychologists, like other German scientists, had co-operated with
the imperial militaristic government for many years to bring the
Germanic mind into a condition of docility. So well did they understand
the mentality and the trends of character of the German people that it
was comparatively easy to impose upon them a militaristic system and
philosophy by which the individual yielded countless personal liberties
for the alleged good of the state. Rigorous and compulsory military
service, unquestioning adherence to the doctrine that might makes right
and a cession to "the All-Highest," as the Emperor was styled, of
supreme powers in the state, are some of the sufferances to which the
German people submitted.
German propaganda abroad was quite as vigorous as at home, but
infinitely less successful. The German High Command did not expect
England to enter the war. It counted upon America's neutrality with a
leaning toward Germany. It believed that German colonization in South
Africa and South America would incline these vast domains toward
friendship for the Central empires. How mistaken the propagandists and
psychologists were events have demonstrated.
It was this dream of world-domination by Teutonic kultur that supplied
the motive leading to the world's greatest war. Bosnia, an unwilling
province of Austria-Hungary, at one time a province of Serbia and
overwhelmingly Slavic in its population, had been seething for years
with an anti-Teutonic ferment. The Teutonic court at Vienna, leading the
minority Germanic party in Austria-Hungary, had been endeavoring to
allay the agitation among the Bosnian Slavs. In pursuance of that
policy, Archduke Francis Ferdinand, heir-presumptive to the thrones of
Austria and Hungary, and his morganatic wife, Sophia Chotek, Duchess of
Hohenberg, on June 28, 1914, visited Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia. On
the morning of that day, while they were being driven through the narrow
streets of the ancient town, a bomb was thrown at them, but they were
uninjured. They were driven through the streets again in the afternoon,
for purpose of public display. A student, just out of his 'teens, one
Gavrilo Prinzep, attacked the royal party with a magazine pistol and
killed both the Archduke and his wife.
Here was the excuse for which Germany had waited. Here was the dawn of
"The Day." The Germanic court of Austria asserted that the crime was the
result of a conspiracy, leading directly to the Slavic court of Serbia.
The Serbians in their turn declared that they knew nothing of the
assassination. They pointed out the fact that Sophia Chotek was a Slav,
and that Francis Ferdinand was more liberal than any other member of the
Austrian royal household, and finally, that he, more than any other
member of the Austrian court, understood and respected the Slavic
character and aspirations.
At six o'clock on the evening of July 23d, Austria sent an ultimatum to
Serbia, presenting eleven demands and stipulating that categorical
replies must be delivered before six o'clock on the evening of July
25th. Although the language in which the ultimatum was couched was
humiliating to Serbia, the answer was duly delivered within the
stipulated time.
The demands of the Austrian note in brief were as follows:
1. The Serbian Government to give formal assurance of its condemnation
of Serb propaganda against Austria.
2. The next issue of the Serbian "Official Journal" was to contain a
declaration to that effect.
3. This declaration to express regret that Serbian officers had taken
part in the propaganda.
4. The Serbian Government to promise that it would proceed rigorously
against all guilty of such activity.
5. This declaration to be at once communicated by the King of Serbia to
his army, and to be published in the official bulletin as an order of
the day.
6. All anti-Austrian publications in Serbia to be suppressed.
7. The Serbian political party known as the "National Union" to be
suppressed, and its means of propaganda to be confiscated.
8. All anti-Austrian teaching in the schools of Serbia to be suppressed.
9. All officers, civil and military, who might be designated by Austria
as guilty of anti-Austrian propaganda to be dismissed by the Serbian
Government.
10. Austrian agents to co-operate with the Serbian Government in
suppressing all anti-Austrian propaganda, and to take part in the
judicial proceedings conducted in Serbia against those charged with
complicity in the crime at Sarajevo.
11. Serbia to explain to Austria the meaning of anti-Austrian utterances
of Serbian officials at home and abroad, since the assassination.
To the first and second demands Serbia unhesitatingly assented. To the
third demand, Serbia assented, although no evidence was given to show
that Serbian officers had taken part in the propaganda.
The Serbian Government assented to the fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and
eighth demands also.
Extraordinary as was the ninth demand, which would allow the Austrian
Government to proscribe Serbian officials, so eager for peace and
friendship was the Serbian Government that it assented to it, with the
stipulation that the Austrian Government should offer some proof of the
guilt of the proscribed officers.
The tenth demand, which in effect allowed Austrian agents to control the
police and courts of Serbia, it was not possible for Serbia to accept
without abrogating her sovereignty. However, it was not unconditionally
rejected, but the Serbian Government asked that it be made the subject
of further discussion, or be referred to arbitration. The Serbian
Government assented to the eleventh demand, on the condition that if the
explanations which would be given concerning the alleged anti-Austrian
utterances of Serbian officials would not prove satisfactory to the
Austrian Government, the matter should be submitted to mediation or
arbitration.
Behind the threat conveyed in the Austrian ultimatum was the menacing
figure of militant Germany. The veil that had hitherto concealed the
hands that worked the string, was removed when Germany, under the
pretense of localizing the quarrel to Serbian and Austrian soil,
interrogated France and England, asking them to prevent Russia from
defending Serbia in the event of an attack by Austria upon the Serbs.
England and France promptly refused to participate in a tragedy which
would deliver Serbia to Austria as Bosnia had been delivered. Russia,
bound by race and creed to Serbia, read into the ultimatum of Teutonic
kultur a determination for warfare. Mobilization of the Russian forces
along the Austrian frontier was arranged, when it was seen that Serbia's
pacific reply to Austria's demands would be contemptuously disregarded
by Germany and Austria.
During the days that intervened between the issuance of the ultimatum
and the actual declaration of war by Germany against Russia on Saturday,
August 1st, various sincere efforts were made to stave off the
world-shaking catastrophe. Arranged chronologically, these events may
thus be summarized: Russia, on July 24th, formally asked Austria if she
intended to annex Serbian territory by way of reprisal for the
assassination at Sarajevo. On the same day Austria replied that it had
no present intention to make such annexation. Russia then requested an
extension of the forty-eight-hour time-limit named in the ultimatum.
Austria, on the morning of Saturday, July 25th, refused Russia's request
for an extension of the period named in the ultimatum. On the same day,
the newspapers published in Petrograd printed an official note issued by
the Russian Government warning Europe generally that Russia would not
remain indifferent to the fate of Serbia. These newspapers also printed
the appeal of the Serbian Crown Prince to the Czar dated on the
preceding day, urging that Russia come to the rescue of the menaced
Serbs. Serbia's peaceful reply surrendering on all points except one,
and agreeing to submit that to arbitration, was sent late in the
afternoon of the same day, and that night Austria declared the reply to
be unsatisfactory and withdrew its minister from Belgrade.
England commenced its attempts at pacification on the following day,
Sunday, July 26th. Sir Edward Grey spent the entire Sabbath in the
Foreign Office and personally conducted the correspondence that was
calculated to bring the dispute to a peaceful conclusion. He did not
reckon, however, with a Germany determined upon war, a Germany whose
manufacturers, ship-owners and Junkers had combined with its militarists
to achieve "Germany's place in the sun" even though the world would be
stained in the blood of the most frightful war this earth has ever
known. Realization of this fact did not come to Sir Edward Grey until
his negotiations with Germany and with Austria-Hungary had proceeded for
some time. His first suggestion was that the dispute between Russia and
Austria be committed to the arbitration of Great Britain, France, Italy
and Germany. Russia accepted this but Germany and Austria rejected it.
Russia had previously suggested that the dispute be settled by a
conference between the diplomatic heads at Vienna and Petrograd. This
also was refused by Austria.
Sir Edward Grey renewed his efforts on Monday, July 27th, with an
invitation to Germany to present suggestions of its own, looking toward
a settlement. This note was never answered. Germany took the position
that its proposition to compel Russia to stand aside while Austria
punished Serbia had been rejected by England and France and it had
nothing further to propose.
During all this period of negotiation the German Foreign Office, to all
outward appearances at least, had been acting independently of the
Kaiser, who was in Norway on a vacation trip. He returned to Potsdam on
the night of Sunday, July 26th. On Monday morning the Czar of Russia
received a personal message from the Kaiser, urging Russia to stand
aside that Serbia might be punished. The Czar immediately replied with
the suggestion that the whole matter be submitted to The Hague. No reply
of any kind was ever made to this proposal by Germany.
[Illustration: THE GERMAN CONFEDERATION IN 1815 (Map: Baltic Sea on the
North, Adriatic Sea on the South, Eastern France and Belgium on the
West, Poland on the East.)]
All suggestions and negotiations looking forward to peace were brought
to a tragic end on the following day, Tuesday, July 28th, when Austria
declared war on Serbia, having speedily mobilized troops at strategic
points on the Serbian border. Russian mobilization, which had been
proceeding only in a tentative way, on the Austrian border, now became
general, and on July 30th, mobilization of the entire Russian army was
proclaimed.
Germany's effort to exclude England from the war began on Thursday, July
29th. A note, sounding Sir Edward Grey on the question of British
neutrality in the event of war was received, and a curt refusal to
commit the British Empire to such a proposal was the reply. Sir Edward
Grey, in a last determined effort to avoid a world-war, suggested to
Germany, Austria, Serbia and Russia that the military operations
commenced by Austria should be recognized as merely a punitive
expedition. He further suggested that when a point in Serbian territory
previously fixed upon should have been reached, Austria would halt and
would submit her further action to arbitration in the conference of the
Powers. Russia and Serbia agreed unreservedly to this proposition.
Austria gave a half-hearted assent to the principle involved. Germany
made no reply.
The die was cast for war on the following day, July 31st, when Germany
made a dictatorial and arrogant demand upon Russia that mobilization of
that nation's military forces be stopped within twelve hours. Russia
made no reply, and on Saturday, August 1st, Germany set the world aflame
with the dread of war's horror by her declaration of war upon Russia.
Germany's responsibility for this monumental crime against the peace of
the world is eternally fixed upon her, not only by these outward and
visible acts and negotiations, not only by her years of patient
preparation for the war into which she plunged the world. The
responsibility is fastened upon her forever by the revelations of her
own ambassador to England during this fateful period. Prince Lichnowsky,
in a remarkable communication which was given to the world, laid bare
the machinations of the German High Command and its advisers. He was a
guest of the Kaiser at Kiel on board the Imperial yacht Meteor when the
message was received informing the Kaiser of the assassination at
Sarajevo. His story continues:
Being unacquainted with the Vienna viewpoint and what was going on
there, I attached no very far-reaching significance to the event; but,
looking back, I could feel sure that in the Austrian aristocracy a
feeling of relief outweighed all others. His Majesty regretted that his
efforts to win over the Archduke to his ideas had thus been frustrated
by the Archduke's assassination.
I went on to Berlin and saw the Chancellor, von Bethmann-Hollweg. I told
him that I regarded our foreign situation as very satisfactory as it was
a long time indeed since we had stood so well with England. And in
France there was a pacifist cabinet. Herr von Bethmann-Hollweg did not
seem to share my optimism.
He complained of the Russian armaments. I tried to tranquilize him with
the argument that it was not to Russia's interest to attack us, and that
such an attack would never have English or French support, as both
countries wanted peace.
I went from him to Dr. Zimmermann (the under Secretary) who was acting
for Herr von Jagow (the Foreign Secretary), and learned from him that
Russia was about to call up nine hundred thousand new troops. His words
unmistakably denoted ill-humor against Russia, who, he said, stood
everywhere in our way. In addition, there were questions of commercial
policy that had to be settled. That General von Moltke was urging war
was, of course, not told to me. I learned, however, that Herr von
Tschirschky (the German Ambassador in Vienna) had been reproved because
he said that he had advised Vienna to show moderation toward Serbia.
Prince Lichnowsky went to his summer home in Silesia, quite unaware of the
impending crisis. He continues:
When I returned from Silesia on my way to London, I stopped only a few
hours in Berlin, where I heard that Austria intended to proceed against
Serbia so as to bring to an end an unbearable state of affairs.
Unfortunately, I failed at the moment to gauge the significance of the
news. I thought that once more it would come to nothing; that even if
Russia acted threateningly, the matter could soon be settled. I now
regret that I did not stay in Berlin and declare there and then that I
would have no hand in such a policy.
There was a meeting in Potsdam, as early as July 5th, between the German
and Austrian authorities, at which meeting war was decided on. Prince
Lichnowsky says:
I learned afterwards that at the decisive discussion at Potsdam on July
5th the Austrian demand had met with the unconditional approval of all
the personages in authority; it was even added that no harm would be
done if war with Russia did come out of it. It was so stated at least in
the Austrian report received at London by Count Mensdorff (the Austrian
Ambassador to England).
At this point I received instructions to endeavor to bring the English
press to a friendly attitude in case Austria should deal the death-blow
to "Greater-Serbian" hopes. I was to use all my influence to prevent
public opinion in England from taking a stand against Austria. I
remembered England's attitude during the Bosnian annexation crisis, when
public opinion showed itself in sympathy with the Serbian claims to
Bosnia; I recalled also the benevolent promotion of nationalist hopes
that went on in the days of Lord Byron and Garibaldi; and on these and
other grounds I thought it extremely unlikely that English public
opinion would support a punitive expedition against the Archduke's
murderers. I thus felt it my duty to enter an urgent warning against the
whole project, which I characterized as venturesome and dangerous, I
recommended that counsels of moderation he given Austria, as I did not
believe that the conflict could be localized (that is to say, it could
not be limited to a war between Austria and Serbia).
[Illustration: Photographs of Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg and Prince
Maximilian.]
Photos from International Film Service.
THE GERMAN CHANCELLORS
On the right is Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg who is held responsible
in large measure for bringing on the war. On the left is Prince
Maximilian of Baden, the Kaiser's camouflage chancellor who was
appointed in a vain attempt to fool the American people into thinking
that a democratic government had been set up in Germany.
[Illustration: Photograph of ex-Emperor Charles and ex-Empress Zita.]
Copyright Press Illustrating Service. THE DEPOSED RULERS OF
AUSTRIA-HUNGARY The ex-Emperor Charles and his wife, the ex-Empress
Zita, in deep conversation with Hungarian leaders who are explaining
the distressing situation confronting the country.
Herr von Jagow answered me that Russia was not prepared; that there
would be more or less of a rumpus; but that the more firmly we stood by
Austria, the more surely would Russia give way. Austria was already
blaming us for flabbiness and we could not flinch. On the other hand,
Russian sentiment was growing more unfriendly all the time, and we must
simply take the risk. I subsequently learned that this attitude was
based on advices from Count Pourtales (the German Ambassador in
Petrograd), that Russia would not stir under any circumstances;
information which prompted us to spur Count Berchtold on in his course.
On learning the attitude of the German Government I looked for salvation
through English mediation, knowing that Sir Edward Grey's influence in
Petrograd could be used in the cause of peace. I, therefore, availed
myself of my friendly relations with the Minister to ask him
confidentially to advise moderation in Russia in case Austria demanded
satisfaction from the Serbians, as it seemed likely she would.
The English press was quiet at first, and friendly to Austria, the
assassination being generally condemned. By degrees, however, more and
more voices made themselves heard, in the sense that, however necessary
it might be to take cognizance of the crime, any exploitation of it for
political ends was unjustifiable. Moderation was enjoined upon Austria.
When the ultimatum came out, all the papers, with the exception of the
Standard, were unanimous in condemning it. The whole world, outside of
Berlin and Vienna, realized that it meant war, and a world war too. The
English fleet, which happened to have been holding a naval review, was
not demobilized.
The British Government labored to make the Serbian reply conciliatory,
and "the Serbian answer was in keeping with the British efforts." Sir
Edward Grey then proposed his plan of mediation upon the two points
which Serbia had not wholly conceded. Prince Lichnowsky writes:
M. Cambon (for France), Marquis Imperiali (for Italy), and I were to
meet, with Sir Edward in the chair, and it would have been easy to work
out a formula for the debated points, which had to do with the
co-operation of imperial and royal officials in the inquiries to be
conducted at Belgrade. By the exercise of good will everything could
have been settled in one or two sittings, and the mere acceptance of the
British proposal would have relieved the strain and further improved our
relations with England. I seconded this plan with all my energies. In
vain. I was told (by Berlin) that it would be against the dignity of
Austria. Of course, all that was needed was one hint from Berlin to
Count Berchtold (the Austrian Foreign Minister); he would have satisfied
himself with a diplomatic triumph and rested on the Serbian answer. That
hint was never given. On the contrary, pressure was brought in favor of
war....
After our refusal Sir Edward asked us to come forward with our proposal.
We insisted on war. No other answer could I get (from Berlin) than that
it was a colossal condescension on the part of Austria not to
contemplate any acquisition of territory. Sir Edward justly pointed out
that one could reduce a country to vassalage without acquiring
territory; that Russia would see this, and regard it as a humiliation
not to be put up with. The impression grew stronger and stronger that we
were bent on war. Otherwise our attitude toward a question in which we
were not directly concerned was incomprehensible. The insistent requests
and well-defined declarations of M. Sasanof, the Czar's positively
humble telegrams, Sir Edward's repeated proposals, the warnings of
Marquis San Guiliano and of Bollati, my own pressing admonitions were
all of no avail. Berlin remained inflexible--Serbia must be slaughtered.
Then, on the 29th, Sir Edward decided upon his well-known warning. I
told him I had always reported (to Berlin) that we should have to reckon
with English opposition if it came to a war with France. Time and again
the Minister said to me, "If war breaks out it will be the greatest
catastrophe the world has ever seen." And now events moved rapidly.
Count Berchtold at last decided to come around, having up to that point
played the role of "Strong man" under guidance of Berlin. Thereupon we
(in answer to Russia's mobilization) sent our ultimatum and declaration
of war--after Russia had spent a whole week in fruitless negotiation and
waiting.
Thus ended my mission in London. It had suffered shipwreck, not on the
wiles of the Briton but on the wiles of our own policy. Were not those
right who saw that the German people was pervaded with the spirit of
Treitschke and Bernhardi, which glorifies war as an end instead of
holding it in abhorrence as an evil thing? Properly speaking militarism
is a school for the people and an instrument to further political ends.
But in the patriarchal absolutism of a military monarchy, militarism
exploits politics to further its own ends, and can create a situation
which a democracy freed from junkerdom would not tolerate.
That is what our enemies think; that is what they are bound to think
when they see that in spite of capitalistic industrialism, and in spite
of socialistic organizations, the living, as Nietzsche said, are still
ruled by the dead. The democratization of Germany, the first war aim
proposed by our enemies, will become a reality.
This is the frank statement of a great German statesman made long before
Germany received its knock-out blow. It was written when Germany was
sweeping all before it on land, and when the U-boat was at the height of
its murderous powers on the high seas. No one in nor out of Germany has
controverted any of its statements and it will forever remain as one of
the counts in the indictment against Germany and the sole cause of the
world's greatest misery, the war.
America's outstanding authority on matters of international conduct,
former Secretary of State Elihu Root declared that the World War was a
mighty and all-embracing struggle between two conflicting principles of
human right and human duty; it was a conflict between the divine right
of kings to govern mankind through armies and nobles, and the right of
the peoples of the earth who toil and endure and aspire to govern
themselves by law under justice, and in the freedom of individual
manhood.
After the declaration of war against Russia by Germany, events marched
rapidly and inevitably toward the general conflagration. Germany's most
strenuous efforts were directed toward keeping England out of the
conflict. We have seen in the revelations of Prince Lichnowsky how eager
was England to divert Germany's murderous purpose. There are some
details, however, required to fill in the diplomatic picture.
President Poincare, of the French Republic, on July 30th, asked the
British Ambassador in Paris for an assurance of British support. On the
following day he addressed a similar letter to King George of England.
Both requests were qualifiedly refused on the ground that England wished
to be free to continue negotiations with Germany for the purpose of
averting the war. In the meantime, the German Government addressed a
note to England offering guarantees for Belgian integrity, providing
Belgium did not side with France, offering to respect the neutrality of
Holland and giving assurance that no French territory in Europe would be
annexed if Germany won the war. Sir Edward Grey described this as a
"shameful proposal," and rejected it on July 30th.
On July 31st England sent a note to France and Germany asking for a
statement of purpose concerning Belgian neutrality. France immediately
announced that it would respect the treaty of 1839 and its reaffirmation
in 1870 guaranteeing Belgium's neutrality. This treaty was entered into
by Germany, England, France, Austria and Russia. Germany's reply on
August 1st was a proposal that she would respect the neutrality of
Belgium if England would stay out of the war. This was promptly
declined. On August 2d the British cabinet agreed that if the German
fleet attempted to attack the coast of France the British fleet would
intervene. Germany, the next day, sent a note agreeing to refrain from
naval attacks on France provided England would remain neutral, but
declined to commit herself as to the neutrality of Belgium. Before this,
however, on August 2d, Germany had announced to Belgium its intention to
enter Belgium for the purpose of attacking France. The Belgian Minister
in London made an appeal to the British Foreign Office and was informed
that invasion of Belgium by Germany would be followed by England's
declaration of war. Monday, August 3d, was signalized by Belgium's
declaration of its neutrality and its firm purpose to defend its soil
against invasion by France, England, Germany or any other nation.
The actual invasion of Belgium commenced on the morning of August 4th,
when twelve regiments of Uhlans crossed the frontier near Vise, and came
in contact with a Belgian force driving it back upon Liege. King Albert
of Belgium promptly appealed to England, Russia and France for aid in
repelling the invader. England sent an ultimatum to Germany fixing
midnight of August 4th as the time for expiration of the ultimatum. This
demanded that satisfactory assurances be furnished immediately that
Germany would respect the neutrality of Belgium. No reply was made by
Germany and England's declaration of war followed.
Chancellor von Bethmann-Hollweg, of the German Empire, wrote Germany's
infamy into history when, in a formal statement, he acknowledged that
the invasion of Belgium was "a wrong that we will try to make good again
as soon as our military ends have been reached." To Sir Edward Vochen,
British Ambassador to Germany, he addressed the inquiry: "Is it the
purpose of your country to make war upon Germany for the sake of a scrap
of paper?" The treaty of 1839-1870 guaranteeing Belgium's neutrality was
the scrap of paper.
[Illustration: Photographs]
KING ALBERT I, QUEEN ELIZABETH, THE HEROIC RULERS OF BELGIUM
[Illustration: Photograph showing bombed out shells of buildings. In the
foreground a building has been leveled to the ground.]
Copyright International News Service.
THE RED RUINS OF YPRES
Ypres, the British soldiers "Wipers," was the scene of much of the
bloodiest fighting of the war. Three great battles were fought for its
possession. The photograph shows what was once the market place.
With the entrance of England into the war, the issue between autocracy
and democracy was made plain before the people of the world. Austria,
and later Turkey, joined with Germany; France, and Japan, by reason of
their respective treaty obligations joined England and Russia. Italy for
the time preferred to remain neutral, ignoring her implied alliance with
the Teutonic empires. How other nations lined up on the one side and the
other is indicated by the State Department's list of war declarations,
and diplomatic severances, which follows:
Austria against Belgium, Aug. 28, 1914.
Austria against Japan, Aug. 27, 1914.
Austria against Montenegro, Aug. 9, 1914.
Austria against Russia, Aug. 6, 1914.
Austria against Serbia, July 28, 1914.
Belgium against Germany, Aug. 4, 1914.
Brazil against Germany, Oct. 26, 1917.
Bulgaria against Serbia, Oct. 14, 1915.
China against Austria, Aug. 14, 1917.
China against Germany, Aug. 14, 1917.
Costa Rica against Germany, May 23, 1918.
Cuba against Germany, April 7, 1917.
Cuba against Austria-Hungary, Dec. 16, 1917.
France against Austria, Aug. 13, 1914.
France against Bulgaria, Oct. 16, 1915.
France against Germany, Aug. 3, 1914.
France against Turkey, Nov. 5, 1914.
Germany against Belgium, Aug. 4, 1914.
Germany against France, Aug. 3, 1914.
Germany against Portugal, March 9, 1916.
Germany against Roumania, Sept. 14, 1916.
Germany against Russia, Aug. 1, 1914.
Great Britain against Austria, Aug. 13, 1914.
Great Britain against Bulgaria, Oct. 15, 1915.
Great Britain against Germany, Aug. 4, 1914.
Great Britain against Turkey, Nov. 5, 1914.
Greece against Bulgaria, Nov. 28, 1916. (Provisional Government.)
Greece against Bulgaria, July 2, 1917. (Government of Alexander.)
Greece against Germany, Nov. 28, 1916. (Provisional Government.)
Greece against Germany, July 2, 1917. (Government of Alexander.)
Guatemala against Germany and Austria-Hungary, April 22, 1918.
Haiti against Germany, July 15, 1918.
Honduras against Germany, July 19, 1918.
Italy against Austria, May 24, 1915.
Italy against Bulgaria, Oct. 19, 1915.
Italy against Germany, Aug. 28, 1916.
Italy against Turkey, Aug. 21, 1915.
Japan against Germany, Aug. 23, 1914.
Liberia against Germany, Aug. 4, 1917.
Montenegro against Austria, Aug. 8, 1914.
Montenegro against Germany, Aug. 9, 1914.
Nicaragua against Germany, May 24, 1918.
Panama against Germany, April 7,1917.
Panama against Austria, Dec. 10, 1917.
Portugal against Germany, Nov. 23, 1914. (Resolution passed authorizing
military intervention as ally
of England)
Portugal against Germany, May 19, 1915. (Military aid granted.)
Roumania against Austria, Aug. 27, 1916. (Allies of Austria also
consider it a declaration.)
Russia against Germany, Aug. 7, 1914.
Russia against Bulgaria, Oct. 19, 1915.
Russia against Turkey, Nov. 3, 1914.
San Marino against Austria, May 24, 1915.
Serbia against Bulgaria, Oct. 16, 1915.
Serbia against Germany, Aug. 6, 1914.
Serbia against Turkey, Dec. 2, 1914.
Siam against Austria, July 22, 1917.
Siam against Germany, July 22, 1917.
Turkey against Allies, Nov. 23, 1914.
Turkey against Roumania, Aug. 29, 1916.
United States against Germany, April 6, 1917.
United States against Austria-Hungary, Dec. 7, 1917.
SEVERANCE OF DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS
The Nations that formally severed relations whether afterward declaring
war or not, are as follows:
Austria against Japan, Aug. 26, 1914.
Austria against Portugal, March 16, 1916.
Austria against Serbia, July 26, 1914.
Austria against United States, April 8, 1917.
Bolivia against Germany, April 14, 1917.
Brazil against Germany, April 11, 1917.
China against Germany, March 14, 1917.
Costa Rica against Germany, Sept. 21, 1917.
Ecuador against Germany, Dec. 7, 1917.
Egypt against Germany, Aug. 13, 1914.
France against Austria, Aug. 10, 1914.
Greece against Turkey, July 2, 1917. (Government of Alexander.)
Greece against Austria, July 2, 1917. (Government of Alexander.)
Guatemala against Germany, April 27,1917.
Haiti against Germany, June 17, 1917.
Honduras against Germany, May 17, 1917.
Nicaragua against Germany, May 18, 1917.
Peru against Germany, Oct. 6, 1917.
Santo Domingo against Germany, June 8, 1917.
Turkey against United States, April 20, 1917.
United States against Germany, Feb. 3,1917.
Uruguay against Germany, Oct. 7, 1917.
CHAPTER V
THE GREAT WAR BEGINS
Years before 1914, when Germany declared war against civilization, it
was decided by the German General Staff to strike at France through
Belgium. The records of the German Foreign Office prove that fact. The
reason for this lay in the long line of powerful fortresses along the
line that divides France from Germany and the sparsely spaced and
comparatively out-of-date forts on the border between Germany and
Belgium. True, there was a treaty guaranteeing the inviolability of
Belgian territory to which Germany was a signatory party. Some of the
clauses of that treaty were:
Article 9. Belgium, within the limits traced in conformity with the
principles laid down in the present preliminaries, shall form a
perpetually neutral state. The five powers (England, France, Austria,
Prussia and Russia), without wishing to intervene in the internal
affairs of Belgium, guarantee her that perpetual neutrality as well as
the integrity and inviolability of her territory in the limits mentioned
in the present article.
Article 10. By just reciprocity Belgium shall be held to observe this
same neutrality toward all the other states and to make no attack on
their internal or external tranquillity while always preserving the
right to defend herself against any foreign aggression.
This agreement was followed on January 23, 1839, by a definitive treaty,
accepted by Belgium and by the Netherlands, which treaty regulates
Belgium's neutrality as follows:
Article 7. Belgium, within the limits defined in Articles 1, 2 and 4
shall form an independent and perpetually neutral state. She is
obligated to preserve this neutrality against all the other states.
To convert this solemn covenant into a "scrap of paper" it was necessary
that Germany should find an excuse for tearing it to pieces. There was
absolutely no provocation in sight, but that did not deter the German
High Command. That august body with no information whatever to afford an
excuse, alleged in a formal note to the Belgian Government that the
French army intended to invade Germany through Belgian territory. This
hypocritical and mendacious note and Belgium's vigorous reply follow:
Note handed in on August 2, 1914, at 7 o'clock P. M., by Herr von
Below-Saleske, German Minister, to M. Davignon, Belgian Minister for
Foreign Affairs.
BRUSSELS, 2d August, 1914.
IMPERIAL GERMAN LEGATION IN BELGIUM
(Highly confidential)
The German Government has received reliable information according to
which the French forces intend to march on the Meuse, by way of Givet
and Namur. This information leaves no doubt as to the intention of
France of marching on Germany through Belgian territory. The Imperial
Government cannot avoid the fear that Belgium, in spite of its best
will, will be in no position to repulse such a largely developed French
march without aid. In this fact there is sufficient certainty of a
threat directed against Germany.
It is an imperative duty for the preservation of Germany to forestall
this attack of the enemy.
The German Government would feel keen regret if Belgium should regard as
an act of hostility against herself the fact that the measures of the
enemies of Germany oblige her on her part to violate Belgian territory.
In order to dissipate any misunderstanding the German Government
declares as follows:
1. Germany does not contemplate any act of hostility against Belgium. If
Belgium consents in the war about to commence to take up an attitude of
friendly neutrality toward Germany, the German Government on its part
undertakes, on the declaration of peace, to guarantee the kingdom and
its possessions in their whole extent.
2. Germany undertakes under the conditions laid down to evacuate Belgian
territory as soon as peace is concluded.
3. If Belgium preserves a friendly attitude, Germany is prepared, in
agreement with the authorities of the Belgian Government, to buy against
cash all that is required by her troops, and to give indemnity for the
damages caused in Belgium.
4. If Belgium behaves in a hostile manner toward the German troops, and
in particular raises difficulties against their advance by the
opposition of the fortifications of the Meuse, or by destroying roads,
railways, tunnels, or other engineering works, Germany will be compelled
to consider Belgium as an enemy.
In this case Germany will take no engagements toward Belgium, but she
will leave the later settlement of relations of the two states toward
one another to the decision of arms. The German Government has a
justified hope that this contingency will not arise and that the Belgian
Government will know how to take suitable measures to hinder its taking
place. In this case the friendly relations which unite the two
neighboring states will become closer and more lasting.
THE REPLY BY BELGIUM
Note handed in by M. Davignon, Minister for Foreign Affairs, to Herr von
Below-Saleske, German Minister.
BRUSSELS, 3d August, 1914.
(7 o'clock in the morning.)
By the note of the 2d August, 1914, the German Government has made known
that according to certain intelligence the French forces intend to march
on the Meuse via Givet and Namur and that Belgium, in spite of her
good-will, would not be able without help to beat off an advance of the
French troops.
The German Government felt it to be its duty to forestall this attack
and to violate Belgian territory. Under these conditions Germany
proposes to the King's Government to take up a friendly attitude, and
undertakes at the moment of peace to guarantee the integrity of the
kingdom and of her possessions in their whole extent. The note adds that
if Belgium raises difficulties to the forward march of the German troops
Germany will be compelled to consider her as an enemy and to leave the
later settlement of the two states toward one another to the decision of
arms.
This note caused profound and painful surprise to the King's Government.
The intentions which it attributed to France are in contradiction with
the express declarations which were made to us on the 1st of August, in
the name of the government of the republic.
Moreover, if, contrary to our expectation, a violation of Belgian
neutrality were to be committed by France, Belgium would fulfil all her
international duties and her army would offer the most vigorous
opposition to the invader.
The treaties of 1839, confirmed by the treaties of 1870, establish the
independence and the neutrality of Belgium under the guarantee of the
powers, and particularly of the Government of his Majesty the King of
Prussia.
Belgium has always been faithful to her international obligations; she
has fulfilled her duties in a spirit of loyal impartiality; she has
neglected no effort to maintain her neutrality or to make it respected.
The attempt against her independence with which the German Government
threatens her would constitute a flagrant violation of international
law. No strategic interest justifies the violation of that law.
The Belgian Government would, by accepting the propositions which are
notified to her, sacrifice the honor of the nation while at the same
time betraying her duties toward Europe.
Conscious of the part Belgium has played for more than eighty years in
the civilization of the world, she refuses to believe that the
independence of Belgium can be preserved only at the expense of the
violation of her neutrality.
If this hope were disappointed the Belgian Government has firmly
resolved to repulse by every means in her power any attack upon her
rights.
The German attack upon Belgium and France came with terrible force and
suddenness. Twenty-four army corps, divided into three armies clad in a
specially designed and colored gray-green uniform, swept in three mighty
streams over the German borders with their objective the heart of
France. The Army of the Meuse was given the route through Liege, Namur
and Maubeuge. The Army of the Moselle violated the Duchy of Luxemburg,
which, under a treaty guaranteeing its independence and neutrality, was
not permitted to maintain an army. Germany was a signatory party to this
treaty also. The Army of the Rhine cut through the Vosges Mountains and
its route lay between the French cities of Nancy and Toul.
The heroic defense of the Belgian army at Liege against the Army of the
Meuse delayed the operation of Germany's plans and in all probability
saved Paris. It was the first of many similar disappointments and checks
that Germany encountered during the war.
The defense of Liege continued for ten heroic days. Within that interval
the first British Expeditionary Forces were landed in France and
Belgium, the French army was mobilized to full strength. The little
Belgian army falling back northward on Antwerp, Louvain and Brussels,
threatened the German flank and approximately 200,000 German soldiers
were compelled to remain in the conquered section of Belgium to garrison
it effectively.
Liege fortifications were the design of the celebrated strategist
Brialmont. They consisted of twelve isolated fortresses which had been
permitted to become out of repair. No field works of any kind connected
them and they were without provision for defense against encircling
tactics and against modern artillery.
The huge 42-centimeter guns, the first of Germany's terrible surprises,
were brought into action against these forts, and their concrete and
armored steel turrets were cracked as walnuts are cracked between the
jaws of a nut-cracker. The Army of the Meuse then made its way like a
gray-green cloud of poison gas through Belgium. A cavalry screen of
crack Uhlan regiments preceded it, and it made no halt worthy of note
until it confronted the Belgian army on the line running from Louvain to
Namur. The Belgians were forced back before Louvain on August 20th, the
Belgian Government removed the capital from Brussels to Antwerp, and the
German hosts entered evacuated Brussels.
During this advance of the Army of the Meuse, strong French detachments
invaded German soil, pouring into Alsace through the Belfort Gap. Brief
successes attended the bold stroke. Mulhausen was captured and the
Metz-Strassburg Railroad was cut in several places. The French suffered
a defeat almost immediately following this first flush of victory, both
in Alsace and in Lorraine, where a French detachment had engaged with
the Army of the Moselle. The French army thereupon retreated to the
strong line of forts and earthworks defending the border between France
and Germany.
England's first expeditionary force landed at Ostend, Calais and Dunkirk
on August 7th. It was dubbed England's "contemptible little army" by the
German General Staff. That name was seized upon gladly by England as a
spur to volunteering. It brought to the surface national pride and a
fierce determination to compel Germany to recognize and to reckon with
the "contemptible little army."
The contact between the French, Belgian and British forces was speedily
established and something like concerted resistance to the advance of
the enemy was made possible. The German army, however, followed by a
huge equipment of motor kitchens, munition trains, and other motor
transport evidencing great care in preparation for the movement, swept
resistlessly forward until it encountered the French and British on a
line running from Mons to Charleroi.
The British army was assigned to a position between two French armies.
By some miscalculation, the French army that was to have taken its
position on the British left, never appeared. The French army on the
right was attacked and defeated at Charleroi, falling back in some
confusion. The German Army of the Moselle co-operating with the Army of
the Meuse then attacked the British and French, and a great flanking
movement by the German joint commands developed.
This was directed mainly at the British under command of Sir John
French. There followed a retreat that for sheer heroism and dogged
determination has become one of the great battles of all time. The
British, outflanked and outnumbered three to one, fought and marched
without cessation for six days and nights. Time after time envelopment
and disaster threatened them, but with a determination that would not be
beaten they fought off the best that Germany could send against them,
maintained contact with the French army on their right, and delayed the
German advance so effectively that a complete disarrangement of all the
German plans ensued. This was the second great disappointment to
Germany. It made possible the victory of the Marne and the victorious
peace of 1918. The story of that immortal retreat is best told in the
words of Sir John French, transmitting the report of this encounter to
the British War Office:
"The transport of the troops from England both by sea and by rail was
effected in the best order and without a check. Each unit arrived at its
destination well within the scheduled time.
"The concentration was practically complete on the evening of Friday,
the 21st ultimo, and I was able to make dispositions to move the force
during Saturday, the 22d, to positions I considered most favorable from
which to commence operations which the French commander-in-chief,
General Joffre, requested me to undertake in pursuance of his plans in
prosecution of the campaign.
"The line taken up extended along the line of the canal from Conde on
the west, through Mons and Binche on the east. This line was taken up as
follows:
"From Conde to Mons, inclusive, was assigned to the Second Corps, and to
the right of the Second Corps from Mons the First Corps was posted. The
Fifth Cavalry Brigade was placed at Binche.
"In the absence of my Third Army Corps I desired to keep the cavalry
divisions as much as possible as a reserve to act on my outer flank, or
move in support of any threatened part of the line. The forward
reconnoissance was intrusted to Brig.-Gen. Sir Philip Chetwode, with the
Fifth Cavalry Brigade, but I directed General Allenby to send forward a
few squadrons to assist in this work.
"During the 22d and 23d these advanced squadrons did some excellent
work, some of them penetrating as far as Soignies, and several
encounters took place in which our troops showed to great advantage.
"2. At 6 A. M., on August 23d, I assembled the commanders of the First
and Second Corps and cavalry division at a point close to the position
and explained the general situation of the Allies, and what I understood
to be General Joffre's plan. I discussed with them at some length the
immediate situation in front of us.
"From information I received from French headquarters I understood that
little more than one, or at most two, of the enemy's army corps, with
perhaps one cavalry division, were in front of my position; and I was
aware of no attempted outflanking movement by the enemy. I was confirmed
in this opinion by the fact that my patrols encountered no undue
opposition in their reconnoitering operations. The observations of my
airplanes seemed to bear out this estimate.
"About 3 P. M. on Sunday, the 23d, reports began coming in to the effect
that the enemy was commencing an attack on the Mons line, apparently in
some strength, but that the right of the position from Mons and Bray was
being particularly threatened.
"The commander of the First Corps had pushed his flank back to some high
ground south of Bray, and the Fifth Cavalry Brigade evacuated Binche,
moving slightly south; the enemy thereupon occupied Binche.
"The right of the Third Division, under General Hamilton, was at Mons,
which formed a somewhat dangerous salient; and I directed the commander
of the Second Corps to be careful not to keep the troops on this salient
too long, but, if threatened seriously, to draw back the center behind
Mons. This was done before dark. In the meantime, about 5 P. M., I
received a most unexpected message from General Joffre by telegraph,
telling me that at least three German corps, viz., a reserve corps, the
Fourth Corps and the Ninth Corps, were moving on my position in front,
and that the Second Corps was engaged in a turning movement from the
direction of Tournay. He also informed me that the two reserve French
divisions and the Fifth French army on my right were retiring, the
Germans having on the previous day gained possession of the passages of
the Sambre, between Charleroi and Namur.
"3. In view of the possibility of my being driven from the Mons
position, I had previously ordered a position in rear to be
reconnoitered. This position rested on the fortress of Maubeuge on the
right and extended west to Jenlain, southeast to Valenciennes, on the
left. The position was reported difficult to hold, because standing
crops and buildings made the placing of trenches very difficult and
limited the field of fire in many important localities. It nevertheless
afforded a few good artillery positions.
"When the news of the retirement of the French and the heavy German
threatening on my front reached me, I endeavored to confirm it by
airplane reconnoissance; and as a result of this I determined to effect
a retirement to the Maubeuge position at daybreak on the 24th.
"A certain amount of fighting continued along the whole line throughout
the night and at daybreak on the 24th the Second Division from the
neighborhood of Harmignies made a powerful demonstration as if to retake
Binche. This was supported by the artillery of both the First and Second
Divisions, while the First Division took up a supporting position in the
neighborhood of Peissant. Under cover of this demonstration the Second
Corps retired on the line Dour-Quarouble-Frameries. The Third Division
on the right of the corps suffered considerable loss in this operation
from the enemy, who had retaken Mons.
"The Second Corps halted on this line, where they partially intrenched
themselves, enabling Sir Douglas Haig with the First Corps gradually to
withdraw to the new position; and he effected this without much further
loss, reaching the line Bavai-Maubeuge about 7 P. M. Toward midday the
enemy appeared to be directing his principal effort against our left.
"I had previously ordered General Allenby with the cavalry to act
vigorously in advance of my left front and endeavor to take the pressure
off.
"About 7.30 A. M. General Allenby received a message from Sir Charles
Ferguson, commanding the Fifth Division, saying that he was very hard
pressed and in urgent need of support. On receipt of this message
General Allenby drew in the cavalry and endeavored to bring direct
support to the Fifth Division.
"During the course of this operation General De Lisle, of the Second
Cavalry Brigade, thought he saw a good opportunity to paralyze the
further advance of the enemy's infantry by making a mounted attack on
his flank. He formed up and advanced for this purpose, but was held up
by wire about five hundred yards from his objective, and the Ninth
Lancers and the Eighteenth Hussars suffered severely in the retirement
of the brigade.
"The Nineteenth Infantry Brigade, which had been guarding the line of
communications, was brought up by rail to Valenciennes on the 22d and
23d. On the morning of the 24th they were moved out to a position south
of Quarouble to support the left flank of the Second Corps.
"With the assistance of the cavalry Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien was enabled
to effect his retreat to a new position; although, having two corps of
the enemy on his front and one threatening his flank, he suffered great
losses in doing so.
"At nightfall the position was occupied by the Second Corps to the west
of Bavai, the First Corps to the right. The right was protected by the
Fortress of Maubeuge, the left by the Nineteenth Brigade in position
between Jenlain and Bry, and the cavalry on the outer flank.
"4. The French were still retiring, and I had no support except such as
was afforded by the Fortress of Maubeuge; and the 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.
"I had every reason to believe that the enemy's forces were somewhat
exhausted and I knew that they had suffered heavy losses. I hoped,
therefore, that his pursuit would not be too vigorous to prevent me
effecting my object.
"The operation, however, was full of danger and difficulty, not only
owing to the very superior force in my front, but also to the exhaustion
of the troops.
"The retirement was recommenced in the early morning of the 25th to a
position in the neighborhood of Le Cateau, and rearguards were ordered
to be clear of the Maubeuge-Bavai-Eih Road by 5.30 A. M.
"Two cavalry brigades, with the divisional cavalry of the Second Corps,
covered the movement of the Second Corps. The remainder of the cavalry
division, with the Nineteenth Brigade, the whole under the command of
General Allenby, covered the west flank.
"The Fourth Division commenced its detrainment at Le Cateau on Sunday,
the 23d, and by the morning of the 25th eleven battalions and a brigade
of artillery with divisional staff were available for service.
"I ordered General Snow to move out to take up a position with his right
south of Solesmes, his left resting on the Cambrai-LeCateau Road south
of La Chaprie. In this position the division tendered great help to the
effective retirement of the Second and First Corps to the new position.
"Although the troops had been ordered to occupy the Cambrai-Le
Cateau-Landrecies position, and the ground had, during the 25th, been
partially prepared and intrenched, I had grave doubts, owing to the
information I had received as to the accumulating strength of the enemy
against me--as to the wisdom of standing there to fight.
"Having regard to the continued retirement of the French on my right, my
exposed left flank, the tendency of the enemy's western corps (II) to
envelop me, and, more than all, the exhausted condition of the troops, I
determined to make a great effort to continue the retreat until I could
put some substantial obstacle, such as the Somme or the Oise, between my
troops and the enemy, and afford the former some opportunity of rest and
reorganization. Orders were, therefore, sent to the corps commanders to
continue their retreat as soon as they possibly could toward the general
line Vermand-St. Quentin-Ribemont.
"The cavalry under General Allenby, were ordered to cover the
retirement.
"Throughout the 25th and far into the evening, the First Corps continued
its march on Landrecies, following the road along the eastern border of
the Foret de Mormal, and arrived at Landrecies about 10 o'clock. I had
intended that the corps should come further west so as to fill up the
gap between Le Cateau and Landrecies, but the men were exhausted and
could not get further in without rest.
"The enemy, however, would not allow them this rest, and about 9.30 P.
M. a report was received that the Fourth Guards Brigade in Landrecies
was heavily attacked by troops of the Ninth German Army Corps, who were
coming through the forest on the north of the town. This brigade fought
most gallantly, and caused the enemy to suffer tremendous loss in
issuing from the forest into the narrow streets of the town. This loss
has been estimated from reliable sources at from 700 to 1,000. At the
same time information reached me from Sir Douglas Haig that his First
Division was also heavily engaged south and east of Maroilles. I sent
urgent messages to the commander of the two French reserve divisions on
my right to come up to the assistance of the First Corps, which they
eventually did. Partly owing to this assistance, but mainly to the
skilful manner in which Sir Douglas Haig extricated his corps from an
exceptionally difficult position in the darkness of the night, they were
able at dawn to resume their march south toward Wassigny on Guise.
"By about 6 P. M. the Second Corps had got into position with their
right on Le Cateau, their left in the neighborhood of Caudry, and the
line of defense was continued thence by the Fourth Division toward
Seranvillers, the left being thrown back.
"During the fighting on the 24th and 25th the cavalry became a good deal
scattered, but by the early morning of the 26th, General Allenby had
succeeded in concentrating two brigades to the south of Cambrai.
"The Fourth Division was placed under the orders of the general officer
commanding the Second Army Corps.
"On the 24th the French Cavalry Corps, consisting of three divisions
under General Sordet, had been in billets north of Avesnes. On my way
back from Bavai, which was my 'Poste de Commandement' during the
fighting of the 23d and 24th, I visited General Sordet, and earnestly
requested his co-operation and support. He promised to obtain sanction
from his army commander to act on my left flank, but said that his
horses were too tired to move before the next day. Although he rendered
me valuable assistance later on in the course of the retirement, he was
unable, for the reasons given, to afford me any support on the most
critical day of all, viz., the 26th.
"At daybreak it became apparent that the enemy was throwing the bulk of
his strength against the left of the position occupied by the Second
Corps and the Fourth Division.
"At this time the guns of four German army corps were in position
against them, and Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien reported to me that he judged
it impossible to continue his retirement at daybreak (as ordered) in
face of such an attack.
"I sent him orders to use his utmost endeavors to break off the action
and retire at the earliest possible moment, as it was impossible for me
to send him any support, the First Corps being at the moment incapable
of movement.
"The French Cavalry Corps, under General Sordet, was coming up on our
left rear early in the morning, and I sent an urgent message to him to
do his utmost to come up and support the retirement of my left flank;
but owing to the fatigue of his horses he found himself unable to
intervene in any way.
"There had been no time to intrench the position properly, but the
troops showed a magnificent front to the terrible fire which confronted
them.
"The artillery, although outmatched by at least four to one, made a
splendid fight, and inflicted heavy losses on their opponents.
"At length it became apparent that, if complete annihilation was to be
avoided, a retirement must be attempted; and the order was given to
commence it about 3.30 P. M. The movement was covered with the most
devoted intrepidity and determination by the artillery, which had itself
suffered heavily, and the fine work done by the cavalry in the further
retreat from the position assisted materially in the final completion of
this most difficult and dangerous operation.
"Fortunately the enemy had himself suffered too heavily to engage in an
energetic pursuit.
"I cannot close the brief account of this glorious stand of the British
troops without putting on record my deep appreciation of the valuable
services rendered by Gen. Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien.
"I say without hesitation that the saving of the left wing of the army
under my command on the morning of the 26th of August, could never have
been accomplished unless a commander of rare and unusual coolness,
intrepidity, and determination had been present to personally conduct
the operation.
"The retreat was continued far into the night of the 26th and through
the 27th and 28th, on which date the troops halted on the line
Noyon-Chauny-LaFere, having then thrown off the weight of the enemy's
pursuit.
"On the 27th and 28th I was much indebted to General Sordet and the
French Cavalry Division which he commands for materially assisting my
retirement and successfully driving back some of the enemy on Cambrai.
"This closes the period covering the heavy fighting which commenced at
Mons on Sunday afternoon, 23d August, and which really constituted a
four days' battle.
"It is impossible for me to speak too highly of the skill evinced by the
two general officers commanding army corps; the self-sacrificing and
devoted exertions of their staffs; the direction of the troops by
divisional, brigade, and regimental leaders; the command of the smaller
units by their officers; and the magnificent fighting spirit displayed
by non-commissioned officers and men.
"I wish particularly to bring to your Lordship's notice the admirable
work done by the Royal Flying Corps under Sir David Henderson. Their
skill, energy, and perseverance have been beyond all praise. They have
furnished me with the most complete and accurate information, which has
been of incalculable value in the conduct of the operations. Fired at
constantly both by friend and foe, and not hesitating to fly in every
kind of weather, they have remained undaunted throughout.
"Further, by actually fighting in the air, they have succeeded in
destroying five of the enemy's machines."
The combined French and British armies, including the forces that had
retreated from Alsace and Lorraine, gave way with increasing
stubbornness before von Kluck. That German general disregarding the
fortresses surrounding Paris, swung southward to make a junction with
the Army of the Crown Prince of Germany advancing through the Vosges
Mountains. General Manoury's army opposed the German advance on the
entrenched line of Paris. General Gallieni commanding the garrison of
Paris, was ready with a novel mobile transport consisting of taxicabs
and fast trucks. The total number of soldiers in the French and British
armies now outnumbered those in the German armies opposed to them.
General Joffre, in supreme command of the French, had chosen the
battleground. He had set the trap with consummate skill. The word was
given; the trap was sprung; and the first battle of the Marne came as a
crashing surprise to Germany.
CHAPTER VI
THE TRAIL OF THE BEAST IN BELGIUM
Germany's onrush into heroic Belgium speedily resolved itself into a
saturnalia that drenched the land with blood and roused the civilized
world into resentful horror. As the tide of barbarity swept forward into
Northern France, stories of the horrors filtered through the close web
of German censorship. There were denials at first by German
propagandists. In the face of truth furnished by thousands of witnesses,
the denials faded away.
What caused these atrocities? Were they the spontaneous expression of
dormant brutishness in German soldiers? Were they a sudden reversion of
an entire nation to bestiality?
The answer is that the private soldier as an individual was not
responsible. The carnage, the rapine, the wholesale desolation was an
integral part of the German policy of schrecklichkeit or frightfulness.
This policy was laid down by Germany as part of its imperial war code.
In 1902 Germany issued a new war manual entitled "Kriegsbrauch im
Landkriege." In it is written this cold-blooded declaration:
All measures which conduce to the attainment of the object of war are
permissible and these may be summarized in the two ideas of violence and
cunning. What is permissible includes every means of war without which
the object of the war cannot be attained. All means which modern
invention affords, including the fullest, most dangerous, and most
massive means of destruction, may be utilized.
Brand Whitlock, United States Minister to Belgium, in a formal report to
the State Department, made this statement concerning Germany's policy in
permitting these outrages:
"All these deliberate organized massacres of civilians, all these
murders and outrages, the violation of women, the killing of children,
wanton destruction, burning, looting and pillage, and whole towns
destroyed, were acts for which no possible military necessity can be
pleaded. They were wilfully committed as part of a deliberately prepared
and scientifically organized policy of terrorism."
[Illustration: Painting]
From a Painting by F. Gueldry to illustrate an official report.
GERMAN ATROCITIES
At Senlis, Department of Oise, on September 2,1914, French captives
were made to walk in the open so as to be hit by French bullets. Many
were killed and wounded. The townsman on the left was struck in the
knee. A German officer asked to see the wound and shot him through the
shoulder. On the right a German officer is seen torturing a wounded
French soldier by beating him in the face with a stick.
[Illustration: Photographs]
Copyright Underwood and Underwood, N. Y.
THE SUPREME EXPONENTS OF GERMAN FRIGHTFULNESS
On the left, General van Bossing, military commander of Belgium. On
the right, Grand Admiral van Tirpitz, who inspired the German
submarine campaign.
THE TRAIL OF THE BEAST IN BELGIUM 91
And now, having considered these outrages as part of the German policy
of terrorism, let us turn to the facts presented by those who made
investigations at first hand in devastated Belgium and Northern France.
Let us first turn to the tragic story of the destruction of Louvain. The
first document comes in the form of a cable sent from the Belgian
Minister of Foreign Affairs under date of August 8,1914:
"On Tuesday evening a body of German troops who had been driven back
retired in disorder upon the town of Louvain. Germans who were guarding
the town thought that the retiring troops were Belgians and fired upon
them. In order to excuse this mistake the Germans, in spite of the most
energetic denials on the part of the authorities, pretended that
Belgians had fired on the Germans, although all the inhabitants,
including policemen, had been disarmed for more than a week. Without any
examination and without listening to any protest the commanding officer
announced that the town would be immediately destroyed. All inhabitants
had to leave their homes at once; some were made prisoners; women and
children were put into a train of which the destination was unknown;
soldiers with fire bombs set fire to the different quarters of the town;
the splendid Church of St. Pierre, the markets, the university and its
scientific establishments, were given to the flames, and it is probable
that the Hotel de Ville, this celebrated jewel of Gothic art, will also
have disappeared in the disaster. Several notabilities were shot at
sight. Thus a town of 40,000 inhabitants, which, since the fifteenth
century, has been the intellectual and scientific capital of the Low
Countries is a heap of ashes. Americans, many of whom have followed the
course at this illustrious alma mater and have there received such
cordial hospitality, cannot remain insensible to this outrage on the
rights of humanity and civilization which is unprecedented in history."
Minister Whitlock made the following report on the same outrage:
"A violent fusillade broke out simultaneously at various points in the
city (Louvain), notably at the Porte de Bruxelles, Porte de Tirlemont,
Rue Leopold, Rue Marie-Therese, Rue des Joyeuses Entrees. German
soldiers were firing at random in every street and in every direction.
Later fires broke out everywhere, notably in the University building,
the Library, in the old Church of St. Peter, in the Place du Peuple, in
the Rue de la Station, in the Boulevard de Tirlemont, and in the
Chaussee de Tirlemont. On the orders of their chiefs, the German
soldiers would break open the houses and set fire to them, shooting on
the inhabitants who tried to leave their dwellings. Many persons who
took refuge in their cellars were burned to death. The German soldiers
were equipped with apparatus for the purpose of firing dwellings,
incendiary pastils, machines for spraying petroleum, etc. . . .
"Major von Manteuffel (of the German forces) sent for Alderman Schmidt.
Upon the latter's arrival, the major declared that hostages were to be
held, as sedition had just broken out. He asked Father Parijs, Mr.
Schmidt, and Mgr. Coenraedts, First Vice-Rector of the University, who
was being held as a hostage, to make proclamations to the inhabitants
exhorting them to be calm and menacing them with a fine of twenty
million francs, the destruction of the city and the hanging of the
hostages, if they created disturbance. Surrounded by about thirty
soldiers and a few officers, Major Manteuffel, Father Parijs, Mr.
Schmidt and Mgr. Coenraedts left in the direction of the station, and
the alderman, in French, and the priest, in Flemish, made proclamations
at the street corners.. . .
"Near the statue of Juste-Lipse, a Dr. Berghausen, a German surgeon, in
a highly excited condition, ran to meet the delegation. He shouted that
a German soldier had just been killed by a shot fired from the house of
Mr. David Fishbach. Addressing the soldiers, Dr. Berghausen said: 'The
blood of the entire population of Louvain is not worth a drop of the
blood of a German soldier!' Then one of the soldiers threw into the
interior of the house of Mr. Fishbach one of the pastils which the
German soldiers carried and immediately the house flared up. It
contained paintings of a high value. The old coachman, Joseph
Vandermosten, who had re-entered the house to try to save the life of
his master, did not return. His body was found the next day amidst the
ruins. . . .
"The Germans made the usual claim that the civil population had fired
upon them and that it was necessary to take these measures, i. e., burn
the churches, the library and other public monuments, burn and pillage
houses, driving out and murdering the inhabitants, sacking the city in
order to punish and to spread terror among the people, and General von
Luttwitz had told me that it was reported that the son of the
burgomaster had shot one of their generals. But the burgomaster of
Louvain had no son and no officer was shot at Louvain. The story of a
general shot by the son of a burgomaster was a repetition of a tragedy
that had occurred at Aerschot, on the 19th, where the fifteen-year-old
son of the burgomaster had been killed by a firing squad, not because he
had shot a general, but because an officer had been shot, probably by
Belgian soldiers retreating through the town. The story of this tragedy
is told by the boy's mother, under oath, before the Belgian Commission,
and is so simple, so touching, so convincing in its verisimilitude, that
I attach a copy of it in extenso to this report. It seems to afford an
altogether typical example of what went on all over the stricken land
during those days of terror. (In other places it was the daughter of the
burgomaster who was said to have shot a general.)
"The following facts may be noted: From the avowal of Prussian officers
themselves, there was not one single victim, among their men at the
barracks of St. Martin, Louvain, where it was claimed that the first
shot had been fired from a house situated in front of the Caserne. This
would appear to be impossible had the civilians fired upon them point
blank from across the street. It was said that when certain houses near
the barracks were burning, numerous explosions occurred, revealing the
presence of cartridges; but these houses were drinking houses much
frequented by German soldiers. It was said that Spanish students shot
from the schools in the Rue de la Station, but Father Catala, rector of
the school, affirms that the schools were empty. . . .
"If it was necessary, for whatever reason, to do what was done at Vise,
at Dinant, at Aerschot, at Louvain, and in a hundred other towns that
were sacked, pillaged and burned, where masses were shot down because
civilians had fired on German troops, and if it was necessary to do this
on a scale never before witnessed in history, one might not unreasonably
assume that the alleged firing by civilians was done on a scale, if not
so thoroughly organized, at least somewhat in proportion to the rage of
destruction that punished it. And hence it would seem to be a simple
matter to produce at least convincing evidence that civilians had fired
on the soldiers; but there is no testimony to that effect beyond that of
the soldiers who merely assert it: Man hat geschossen. If there were no
more firing on soldiers by civilians in Belgium than is proved by the
German testimony, it was not enough to justify the burning of the
smallest of the towns that was overtaken by that fate. And there is not
a scintilla of evidence of organized bands of francs-tireurs, such as
were found in the war of 1870."
Under date of September 12, 1917, Minister Whitlock, in a report to the
State Department of the United States, made the following summary: "As
one studies the evidence at hand, one is struck at the outset by the
fact so general that it must exclude the hypothesis of coincidence, and
that is that these wholesale massacres followed immediately upon some
check, some reverse, that the German army had sustained. The German army
was checked by the guns of the forts to the east of Liege, and the
horrors of Vise, Verviers, Bligny, Battice, Hervy and twenty villages
follow. When they entered Liege, they burned the houses along two
streets and killed many persons, five or six Spaniards among them.
Checked before Namur they sacked Andenne, Bouvignies, and Champignon,
and when they took Namur they burned one hundred and fifty houses.
Compelled to give battle to the French army in the Belgian Ardennes they
ravaged the beautiful valley of the Semois; the complete destruction of
the village of Rossignlo and the extermination of its entire male
population took place there. Checked again by the French on the Meuse,
the awful carnage of Dinant results. Held on the Sambre by the French,
they burn one hundred houses at Charleroi and enact the appalling
tragedy of Tamines. At Mons, the English hold them, and after that all
over the Borinage there is a systematic destruction, pillage and murder.
The Belgian army drive them back from Malines and Louvain is doomed. The
Belgian army failing back and fighting in retreat took refuge in the
forts of Antwerp, and the burning and sack of Hougaerde, Wavre,
Ottignies, Grimde, Neerlinter, Weert, St. George, Shaffen and Aerschot
follow.
[Illustration: Painting: Three soldiers in a bombed out shack, one on a
telephone.]
AN OBSERVATION POST
Watching the effect of gun fire from a sand-bagged ruin near the
German lines.
[Illustration: Photograph of King and soldiers parading on horses.]
Photo by Trans-Atlantic News Service
KING ALBERT AT THE HEAD OF THE HEROIC SOLDIERS OF BELGIUM
It is universally agreed that the Belgian monarch was no figurehead
general but a real leader of his troops. It was these men, facing
annihilation, who astonished the world by opposing the German military
machine successfully enough to allow France to get her armies into
shape and prevent the immediate taking of Paris that was planned by
Germany.
[Illustration: Painting of soldiers dragging large guns through mud;
shells are exploding in the background; in the foreground a dead
soldier lies face down in the mud.]
THE TERRIBLE FLANDERS MUD
A German battery endeavoring to escape from a British advance sinks in
the mud. The gunners are endeavoring to pull the gun out with ropes.
"The Belgian troops inflicted serious losses on the Germans in the South
of the Province of Limbourg, and the towns of Lummen, Bilsen, and
Lanaeken are partially destroyed. Antwerp held out for two months, and
all about its outer line of fortifications there was blood and fire,
numerous villages were sacked and burned and the whole town of Termonde
was destroyed. During the battles of September the village of
Boortmeerbeek near Malines, occupied by the Germans, was retaken by the
Belgians, and when the Germans entered it again they burned forty
houses. Three times occupied by the Belgians and retaken by the Germans
Boortmeerbeek was three times punished in the same way. That is to say,
everywhere the German army met with a defeat it took it out, as we say
in America, on the civil population. And that is the explanation of the
German atrocities in Belgium."
A committee of the highest honor and responsibility was appointed by the
British Government to investigate the whole subject of atrocities in
Belgium and Northern France. Its chairman was the Rt. Hon. Viscount
James Bryce, formerly British Ambassador to the United States. Its other
members were the Rt. Hon. Sir Frederick Pollock, the Rt. Hon. Sir Edward
Clark, Sir Alfred Hopkinson, Mr. H. A. L. Fisher, Vice-Chancellor of the
University of Sheffield, Mr. Harold Cox and Sir Kenelm E. Digby.
The report of the commission bears upon its face the stamp of
painstaking search for truth, substantiates every statement made by
Minister Whitlock and makes known many horrible instances of cruelty and
barbarity. It makes the following deductions as having been proved
beyond question:
1. That there were in many parts of Belgium deliberate and
systematically organized massacres of the civil population, accompanied
by many isolated murders and other outrages.
2. That in the conduct of the war generally innocent civilians, both men
and women, were murdered in large numbers, women violated, and children
murdered.
3. That looting, house burning, and the wanton destruction of property
were ordered and countenanced by the officers of the German army, that
elaborate provision had been made for systematic incendiarism at the
very outbreak of the war, and that the burnings and destruction were
frequent where no military necessity could be alleged, being, indeed,
part of a system of general terrorization.
4. That the rules and usages of war were frequently broken, particularly
by the using of civilians, including women and children, as a shield for
advancing forces exposed to fire, to a less degree by killing the
wounded and prisoners and in the frequent abuse of the Red Cross and the
white flag.
The Bryce Commission's report on the destruction of Dinant is an example of
testimony laid before them. It follows:
"A clear statement of the outrages at Dinant, which many travelers will
recall as a singularly picturesque town on the Meuse, is given by one
witness, who says that the Germans began burning houses in the Rue St.
Jacques on the 21st of August, and that every house in the street was
burned. On the following day an engagement took place between the French
and the Germans, and the witness spent the whole day in the cellar of a
bank with his wife and children. On the morning of the 23d, about 5
o'clock, firing ceased, and almost immediately afterward a party of
Germans came to the house. They rang the bell and began to batter at the
door and windows. The witness' wife went to the door and two or three
Germans came in. The family were ordered out into the street. There they
found another family, and the two families were driven with their hands
above their heads along the Rue Grande. All the houses in the street
were burning.
"The party was eventually put into a forge where there were a number of
other prisoners, about a hundred in all, and were kept there from 11 A.
M. till 2 P. M. They were then taken to the prison. There they were
assembled in a courtyard and searched. No arms were found. They were
then passed through into the prison itself and put into cells. The
witness and his wife were separated from each other. During the next
hour the witness heard rifle shots continually and noticed in the corner
of a courtyard leading off the row of cells the body of a young man with
a mantle thrown over it. He recognized the mantle as having belonged to
his wife. The witness' daughter was allowed to go out to see what had
happened to her mother, and the witness himself was allowed to go across
the courtyard half an hour afterward for the same purpose. He found his
wife lying on the floor in a room. She had bullet wounds in four places
but was alive and told her husband to return to the children and he did
so.
"About 5 o'clock in the evening, he saw the Germans bringing out all the
young and middle-aged men from the cells, and ranging their prisoners,
to the number of forty, in three rows in the middle of the courtyard.
About twenty Germans were drawn up opposite, but before anything was
done there was a tremendous fusillade from some point near the prison
and the civilians were hurried back to their cells. Half an hour later
the same forty men were brought back into the courtyard. Almost
immediately there was a second fusillade and they were driven back to
the cells again.
"About 7 o'clock the witness and other prisoners were brought out of
their cells and marched out of the prison. They went between two lines
of troops to Roche Bayard, about a kilometer away. An hour later the
women and children were separated and the prisoners were brought back to
Dinant passing the prison on their way. Just outside the prison, the
witness saw three lines of bodies which he recognized as being those of
his neighbors. They were nearly all dead, but he noticed movement in
some of them. There were about one hundred and twenty bodies. The
prisoners were then taken up to the top of a hill outside Dinant and
compelled to stay there till 8 o'clock in the morning. On the following
day they were put into cattle trucks and taken thence to Coblenz. For
three months they remained prisoners in Germany.
"Unarmed civilians were killed in masses at other places near the
prison. About ninety bodies were seen lying on the top of one another in
a grass square opposite the convent. A witness asked a German officer
why her husband had been shot, and he told her that it was because two
of her sons had been in the civil guard and had shot at the Germans. As
a matter of fact, one of her sons was at that time in Liege and the
other in Brussels. It is stated that besides the ninety corpses referred
to above, sixty corpses of civilians were recovered from a hole in the
brewery yard and that forty-eight bodies of women and children were
found in a garden. The town was systematically set on fire by hand
grenades. Another witness saw a little girl of seven, one of whose legs
was broken and the other injured by a bayonet. We have no reason to
believe that the civilian population of Dinant gave any provocation, or
that any other defense can be put forward to justify the treatment
inflicted upon its citizens."
The Bryce Commission reports the outrages in a number of Belgian
villages in this terse fashion:
"In Hofstade a number of houses had been set on fire and many corpses
were seen, some in houses, some in back yards, and some in the streets.
Two witnesses speak of having seen the body of a young man pierced by
bayonet thrusts with the wrists cut also. On a side road the corpse of a
civilian was seen on his doorstep with a bayonet wound in his stomach
and by his side the dead body of a boy of five or six with his hands
nearly severed. The corpses of a woman and boy were seen at the
blacksmith's. They had been killed with the bayonet. In a cafe, a young
man, also killed with the bayonet, was holding his hands together as if
in the attitude of supplication.
"In the garden of a house in the main street, bodies of two women were
observed, and in another house, the body of a boy of sixteen with two
bayonet wounds in the chest. In Sempst a similar condition of affairs
existed. Houses were burning and in some of them were the charred
remains of civilians. In a bicycle shop a witness saw the burned corpse
of a man. Other witnesses speak of this incident. Another civilian,
unarmed, was shot as he was running away. As will be remembered, all the
arms had been given up some time before by the order of the burgomaster.
"At Weerde four corpses of civilians were lying in the road. It was said
that these men had fired upon the German soldiers; but this is denied.
The arms had been given up long before. Two children were killed in the
village of Weerde, quite wantonly as they were standing in the road with
their mother. They were three or four years old and were killed with the
bayonet. A small barn burning close by formed a convenient means of
getting rid of bodies. They were thrown into the flames from the
bayonets. It is right to add that no commissioned officer was present at
the time. At Eppeghem, on August 25th, a pregnant woman who had been
wounded with a bayonet was discovered in the convent. She was dying. On
the road six dead bodies of laborers were seen.
"At Boortmeerbeek a German soldier was seen to fire three times at a
little girl five years old. Having failed to hit her, he subsequently
bayoneted her. He was killed with the butt end of a rifle by a Belgian
soldier who had seen him commit this murder from a distance. At Herent
the charred body of a civilian was found in a butcher's shop, and in a
handcart twenty yards away was the dead body of a laborer. Two eye
witnesses relate that a German soldier shot a civilian and stabbed him
with a bayonet as he lay. He then made one of these witnesses, a
civilian prisoner, smell the blood on the bayonet. At Haecht the bodies
of ten civilians were seen lying in a row by a brewery wall. In a
laborer's house, which had been broken up, the mutilated corpse of a
woman of thirty to thirty-five was discovered."
Concerning the treatment of women and children in general, the report
continues: "The evidence shows that the German authorities, when
carrying out a policy of systematic arson and plunder in selected
districts, usually drew some distinction between the adult male
population on the one hand and the women and children on the other. It
was a frequent practice to set apart the adult males of the condemned
district with a view to the execution of a suitable number--preferably
of the younger and more vigorous--and to reserve the women and children
for milder treatment. The depositions, however, present many instances
of calculated cruelty, often going the length of murder, toward the
women and children of the condemned area.
"At Dinant sixty women and children were confined in the cellar of a
convent from Sunday morning till the following Friday, August 28th,
sleeping on the ground, for there were no beds, with nothing to drink
during the whole period, and given no food until Wednesday, when
somebody threw into the cellar two sticks of macaroni and a carrot for
each prisoner. In other cases the women and children were marched for
long distances along roads, as, for instance, the march of the women
from Louvain to Tirlemont, August 28th, the laggards pricked on by the
attendant Uhlans. A lady complains of having been brutally kicked by
privates. Others were struck at with the butt end of rifles. At Louvain,
at Liege, at Aerschot, at Malines, at Montigny, at Andenne, and
elsewhere, there is evidence that the troops were not restrained from
drunkenness, and drunken soldiers cannot be trusted to observe the rules
or decencies of war, least of all when they are called upon to execute a
preordained plan of arson and pillage. From the very first women were
not safe. At Liege women and children were chased about the streets by
soldiers.
"Witnesses recount how a great crowd of men, women and children from
Aerschot were marched to Louvain, and then suddenly exposed to a fire
from a mitrailleuse and rifles. 'We were all placed,' recounts a
sufferer, 'in Station Street, Louvain, and the German soldiers fired on
us. I saw the corpses of some women in the street. I fell down, and a
woman who had been shot fell on top of me.' Women and children suddenly
turned out into the streets, and, compelled to witness the destruction
of their homes by fire, provided a sad spectacle to such as were sober
enough to see.
"A humane German officer, witnessing the ruin of Aerschot, exclaimed in
disgust: 'I am a father myself, and I cannot bear this. It is not war
but butchery.' Officers as well as men succumbed to the temptation of
drink, with results which may be illustrated by an incident which
occurred at Campenhout. In this village there was a certain well-to-do
merchant (name given) who had a cellar of good champagne. On the
afternoon of the 14th or 15th of August three German cavalry officers
entered the house and demanded champagne. Having drunk ten bottles and
invited five or six officers and three or four private soldiers to join
them, they continued their carouse, and then called for the master and
mistress of the house.
"'Immediately my mistress came in,' says the valet de chambre, 'one of
the officers who was sitting on the floor got up, and, putting a
revolver to my mistress' temple, shot her dead. The officer was
obviously drunk. The other officers continued to drink and sing, and
they did not pay any great attention to the killing of my mistress. The
officer who shot my mistress then told my master to dig a grave and bury
my mistress. My master and the officer went into the garden, the officer
threatening my master with a pistol. My master was then forced to dig
the grave and to bury my mistress in it. I cannot say for what reason
they killed my mistress. The officer who did it was singing all the
time.'
"In the evidence before us there are cases tending to show that
aggravated crimes against women were sometimes severely punished. One
witness reports that a young girl who was being pursued by a drunken
soldier at Louvain appealed to a German officer, and that the offender
was then and there shot. Another describes how an officer of the
Thirty-second Regiment of the Line was led out to execution for the
violation of two young girls, but reprieved at the request or with the
consent of the girls' mother. These instances are sufficient to show
that the maltreatment of women was no part of the military scheme of the
invaders, however much it may appear to have been the inevitable result
of the system of terror deliberately adopted in certain regions. Indeed,
so much is avowed. 'I asked the commander why we had been spared,' says
a lady in Louvain, who deposes to having suffered much brutal treatment
during the sack. He said: 'We will not hurt you any more. Stay in
Louvain. All is finished.' It was Saturday, August 29th, and the reign
of terror was over.
"The Germans used men, women and children of Belgium as screens for
advancing infantry, as is shown in the following: Outside Fort Fleron,
near Liege, men and children were marched in front of the Germans to
prevent the Belgian soldiers from firing. The progress of the Germans
through Mons was marked by many incidents of this character. Thus, on
August 22d, half a dozen Belgian colliers returning from work were
marching in front of some German troops who were pursuing the English,
and in the opinion of the witnesses, they must have been placed there
intentionally. An English officer describes how he caused a barricade to
be erected in a main thoroughfare leading out of Mons, when the Germans,
in order to reach a crossroad in the rear, fetched civilians out of the
houses on each side of the main road and compelled them to hold up white
flags and act as cover.
"Another British officer who saw this incident is convinced that the
Germans were acting deliberately for the purpose of protecting
themselves from the fire of the British troops. Apart from this
protection, the Germans could not have advanced, as the street was
straight and commanded by the British rifle fire at a range of 700 or
800 yards. Several British soldiers also speak of this incident, and
their story is confirmed by a Flemish witness in a side street."
The French Government also appointed a commission, headed by M. Georges
Payelle. This body made an investigation of outrages committed by German
officers and soldiers in Northern France. Its report showed conditions
that outstripped in horror the war tactics of savages. It makes the
following accusations:
"In Rebais, two English cavalrymen who were surprised and wounded in
this commune were finished off with gunshots by the Germans when they
were dismounted and when one of them had thrown up his hands, showing
thus that he was unarmed.
"In the department of the Marne, as everywhere else, the German troops
gave themselves up to general pillage, which was carried out always
under similar conditions and with the complicity of their leaders. The
Communes of Heiltz-le-Maurupt, Suippes, Marfaux, Fromentieres and
Esternay suffered especially in this way. Everything which the invader
could carry off from the houses was placed on motor lorries and
vehicles. At Suippes, in particular, they carried off in this way a
quantity of different objects, among these sewing machines and toys. A
great many villages, as well as important country towns, were burned
without any reason whatever. Without doubt, these crimes were committed
by order, as German detachments arrived in the neighborhood with their
torches, their grenades, and their usual outfit for arson.
"At Marfaux nineteen private houses were burned. Of the Commune of
Glannes practically nothing remains. At Somme-Tourbe the entire village
has been destroyed, with the exception of the Mairie, the church and two
private buildings. At Auve nearly the whole town has been destroyed. At
Etrepy sixty-three families out of seventy are homeless. At Huiron all
of the houses, with the exception of five have been burned. At
Sermaize-les-Bains only about forty houses out of 900 remain. At
Bignicourt-sur-Saultz thirty houses out of thirty-three are in ruins.
"At Suippes, the big market town which has been practically burned out,
German soldiers carrying straw and cans of petrol have been seen in the
streets. While the mayor's house was burning, six sentinels with fixed
bayonets were under orders to forbid anyone to approach and to prevent
any help being given.
"All this destruction by arson, which only represents a small proportion
of the acts of the same kind in the Department of Seine-et-Marne, was
accomplished without the least tendency to rebellion or the smallest act
of resistance being recorded against the inhabitants of the localities
which are today more or less completely destroyed. In some villages the
Germans, before setting fire to them made one of their soldiers fire a
shot from his rifle so as to be able to pretend afterward that the
civilian population had attacked them, an allegation which is all the
more absurd since at the time when the enemy arrived, the only
inhabitants left were old men, sick persons, or people absolutely
without any means of aggression.
[Illustration: Painting]
THE HORRORS OF GERMAN RULE IN FRANCE
Forcibly removing French civilians from Lille to German labor
colonies. Families were ruthlessly separated and led away into slavery
often worse than death.
[Illustration: Hand to hand combat with bayonets.]
Copyright Underwood and Underwood, N. Y.
A FIGHT IN A CLOUD OF GAS
The Germans had sent over gas and in this spot it lingered. Then the
infantry advanced and here, amid the British wire entanglements, the
foes meet. Both sides in gas masks, they struggle amid the "poisonous
vapor, and when the bayonet fails they fight, like the pair in the
foreground, to bring death by tearing away their opponent's mask.
"Numerous crimes against the person have also been committed. In the
majority of the communes hostages have been taken away; many of them
have not returned. At Sermaize-les-Bains, the Germans carried off about
one hundred and fifty people, some of whom were decked out with helmets
and coats and compelled, thus equipped, to mount guard over the bridges.
"At Bignicourt-sur-Saultz thirty men and forty-five women and children
were obliged to leave with a detachment. One of the men--a certain Emile
Pierre--has not returned nor sent any news of himself. At Corfelix, M.
Jacqet, who was carried off on the 7th of September with eleven of his
fellow-citizens, was found five hundred meters from the village with a
bullet in his head.
"At Champuis, the cure, his maid-servant, and four other inhabitants who
were taken away on the same day as the hostages of Corfelix had not
returned at the time of our visit to the place.
"At the same place an old man of seventy, named Jacquemin, was tied down
in his bed by an officer and left in this state without food for three
days. He died a little time after. At Vert-la-Gravelle a farm hand was
killed. He was struck on the head with a bottle and his chest was run
through with a lance. The garde champetre Brulefer of le Gault-la-Foret
was murdered at Maclaunay, where he had been taken by the Germans. His
body was found with his head shattered and a wound on his chest.
"At Champguyon, a commune which has been fired, a certain Verdier was
killed in his father-in-law's house. The latter was not present at the
execution, but he heard a shot and next day an officer said to him, 'Son
shot. He is under the ruins.' In spite of the search made the body has
not been found among them. It must have been consumed in the fire.
"At Sermaize, the roadmaker, Brocard, was placed among a number of
hostages. Just at the moment when he was being arrested with his son,
his wife and his daughter-in-law in a state of panic rushed to throw
themselves into the Saulx. The old man was able to free himself for a
moment and ran in all haste after them and made several attempts to save
them, but the Germans dragged him away pitilessly, leaving the two
wretched women struggling in the river. When Brocard and his son were
restored to liberty, four days afterward, and found the bodies, they
discovered that their wives had both received bullet wounds in the head.
"At Triaucourt the Germans gave themselves up to the worst excesses.
Angered doubtless by the remark which an officer had addressed to a
soldier, against whom a young girl of nineteen, Mlle. Helene Proces, had
made complaint of on account of the indecent treatment to which she had
been subjected, they burned the village and made a systematic massacre
of the inhabitants. They began by setting fire to the house of an
inoffensive householder, M. Jules Gand, and by shooting this unfortunate
man as he was leaving his house to escape the flames. Then they
dispersed among the houses in the streets, firing off their rifles on
every side. A young man, seventeen years, Georges Lecourtier, who tried
to escape, was shot. M. Alfred Lallemand suffered the same fate. He was
pursued into the kitchen of his fellow-citizen Tautelier, and murdered
there, while Tautelier received three bullets in his hand.
"Fearing, not without reason, for their lives, Mlle. Proces, her mother
and her grandmother of seventy-one and her old aunt of eighty-one, tried
to cross the trellis which separates their garden from a neighboring
property with the help of a ladder. The young girl alone was able to
reach the other side and to avoid death by hiding in the cabbages. As
for the other women, they were struck down by rifle shots. The village
cure collected the brains of the aunt on the ground on which they were
strewn and had the bodies carried into Proces' house. During the
following night, the Germans played the piano near the bodies.
"While the carnage raged, the fire rapidly spread and devoured
thirty-five houses. An old man of seventy and a child of two months
perished in the flames. M. Igier, who was trying to save his cattle, was
pursued for 300 meters by soldiers, who fired at him ceaselessly. By a
miracle this man had the good fortune not to be wounded, but five
bullets went through his clothing."
This summary merely hints at the atrocities that were perpetrated. And
these are the crimes that France and Belgium will remember after
indemnities have been paid, after borders have been re-established and
after generations shall have past. The horrors of blazing villages, of
violated womanhood, of mutilated childhood, of stark and senseless
butcheries, will flash before the minds of French and Belgian men and
women when Germany's name shall be mentioned long after the declaration
of peace.
Schrecklichkeit had its day. It took its bloody toll of the fairest and
bravest of two gallant nations. It ravaged Poland as well and wreaked
its fiendish will on wounded soldiers on the battle-fields.
But Schrecklichkeit is dead. Belgium and France have shown that murder
and rape and arson can not destroy liberty nor check the indomitable
ambitions of the free peoples of earth.
The lesson to Germany was taught at a terrible cost to humanity, but it
was taught in a fashion that nations hereafter who shall dream of
emulating the Hun will know in advance that frightfulness serves no end
except to feed the lust for destruction that exists only in the most
debased and brutish of men.
CHAPTER VII
THE FIRST BATTLE OF THE MARNE
France and civilization were saved by Joffre and Foch at the first
battle of the Marne, in September, 1914. Autocracy was destroyed by Foch
at the second battle of the Marne, in July, 1918.
This in a nutshell embraces the dramatic opening and closing episodes of
the World War on the soil of France. Bracketed between these two
glorious victories were the agonies of martyred France, the deaths and
life-long cripplings of millions of men, the up-rooting of arrogant
militarism, the liberation of captive nations.
The first battle of the Marne was wholly a French operation. The British
were close at hand, but had no share in the victory. Generals Gallieni
and Manoury, acting under instructions from Marshal Joffre, were driven
by automobile to the headquarters of the British commander, Sir John
French, in the village of Melun. They explained in detail General
Joffre's plan of attack upon the advancing German army. An urgent
request was made that the British army halt its retreat, face about, and
attack the two corps of von Kluck's army then confronting the British.
Simultaneously with this attack General Manoury's forces were to fall
upon the flank and the rear guard of von Kluck along the River Ourcq.
This operation was planned for the next day, September 5th. Sir John
French replied that he could not get his tired army in readiness for
battle within forty-eight hours. This would delay the British attack in
all probability until September 7th.
Joffre's plan of battle, however, would admit of no delay. The case was
urgent; there was grave danger of a union between the great forces
headed by the Crown Prince and those under von Kluck. He resolved to go
ahead without the British, and ordered Manoury to strike as had been
planned.
He fixed as an extreme limit for the movement of retreat, which was
still going on, the line of Bray-sur-Seine, Nogent-sur-Seine,
Arcis-sur-Aube, Vitry-le-Francois, and the region to the north of
Bar-le-Duc. This line might be reached if the troops were compelled to
go back so far. They would attack before reaching it, as soon as there
was a possibility of bringing about an offensive disposition, permitting
the co-operation of the whole of the French forces. On September 5 it
appeared that this desired situation existed.
[Illustration: Photograph]
Copyright Underwood and Underwood, N.Y.
GENERAL PERSHING AND MARSHAL JOFFRE
The Commander-in-Chief of the American Expeditionary Forces chatting
with the veteran Marshal of France, the hero of the first battle of
the Marne.
[Illustration: Photograph]
MARSHAL FERDINAND FOCH, GENERALISSIMO OF THE ALLIED ARMIES
No leader could command greater confidence than the brilliant
strategist to whom was mainly due the great victory of the Marne in
the first autumn of the war. He also directed the French offensive on
the Somme in 1916 and in November, 1917, he was chosen as the French
representative and subsequently chairman of the Central Military
Committee appointed to assist the Supreme Allied War Council. Marshal
Foch was formerly for five years lecturer on strategy and tactics at
the Ecole de Guerre. At the close of the war he said to the Allied
armies: "You have won the greatest battle in history and saved the
most sacred cause--the liberty of the world,"
[Illustration: Map; Paris in the lower left corner, showing various
battle lines Eastward to Luxumburg.]
THE FIRST GERMAN DASH FOR PARIS
The First German army, carrying audacity to temerity, had continued its
endeavor to envelop the French left, had crossed the Grand Morin, and
reached the region of Chauffry, to the south of Rebais and of Esternay.
It aimed then at cutting Joffre off from Paris, in order to begin the
investment of the capital.
The Second army had its head on the line Champaubert, Etoges, Bergeres,
and Vertus.
The Third and Fourth armies reached to Chalons-sur-Marne and
Bussy-le-Repos. The Fifth army was advancing on one side and the other
from the Argonne as far as Triacourt-les-Islettes and Juivecourt. The
Sixth and Seventh armies were attacking more to the east.
The French left army had been able to occupy the line Sezanne,
Villers-St. Georges and Courchamps. This was precisely the disposition
which the General-in-Chief had wished to see achieved. On the 4th he
decided to take advantage of it, and ordered all the armies to hold
themselves ready. He had taken from his right two new army corps, two
divisions of infantry, and two divisions of cavalry, which were
distributed between his left and his center.
On the evening of the 5th he addressed to all the commanders of armies a
message ordering them to attack.
"The hour has come," he wrote, "to advance at all costs, and to die
where you stand rather than give way."
If one examines the map, it will be seen that by his inflection toward
Meaux and Coulommiers General von Kluck was exposing his right to the
offensive action of the French left. This is the starting point of the
victory of the Marne.
On the evening of September 5th the French left army had reached the
front Penchard-Saint-Souflet-Ver. On the 6th and 7th it continued its
attacks vigorously with the Ourcq as objective. On the evening of the
7th it was some kilometers from the Ourcq, on the front
Chambry-Marcilly-Lisieux-Acy-en-Multien. On the 8th, the Germans, who
had in great haste reinforced their right by bringing their Second and
Fourth army corps back to the north, obtained some successes by attacks
of extreme violence. But in spite of this pressure the French held their
ground. In a brilliant action they took three standards, and being
reinforced prepared a new attack for the 10th. At the moment that this
attack was about to begin the enemy was already in retreat toward the
north. The attack became a pursuit, and on the 12th the French
established themselves on the Aisne.
Why did the German forces which were confronting the French, and on the
evening before attacking so furiously, retreat on the morning of the
10th? Because in bringing back on the 6th several army corps from the
south to the north to face the French left, the enemy had exposed his
left to the attacks of the now rested British, who had immediately faced
around toward the north, and to those of the French armies which were
prolonging the English lines to the right. This is what the French
command had sought to bring about. This is what happened on September
8th and allowed the development and rehabilitation which it was to
effect.
On the 6th the British army set out from the line Rozcy-Lagny and that
evening reached the southward bank of the Grand Morin. On the 7th and
8th it continued its march, and on the 9th had debouched to the north of
the Marne b
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