One hundred years of conflict between the nations of Europe, the causes and issues of the great war

Front matter

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Preface

The year 1914 will stand out prominently in future history as the date of the most stupendous war in the history of mankind. In its special character, also, it may come to be regarded as the most atrocious of all wars, at least of all fought by civilized nations. Flashing out suddenly like a bolt from the blue, unannounced, unexpected, unexplained, unprecedented in suddenness and enormity, it hurled nearly the whole of Europe within a week's time from a state of profound peace into one of continental war. The ringing of church bells was drowned by the roar of cannon, the voice of the dove of peace by the blare of the trump of war, and throughout the world ran a shudder of terror as these unwonted and ominous sounds greeted men's ears.

But in looking back through history, tracing the course of events during the past century, following the footsteps of men in war and peace from that day of upheaval when medieval feudalism went down in disarray before the arms of the people in the French Revolution, some explanation of the great European war of 1914 may be reached. Every event in history has its roots somewhere in earlier history, and we need but dig deep enough to find them.

Such is the purpose of the present work. It proposes to lay down in a series of apposite chapters the story of the past century, beginning, in fact, rather more than a century ago with the meteoric career of Napoleon and seeking to show to what it led, and what effects it had upon the political evolution of mankind. The French

2 PREFACE

Revolution stood midway between two spheres of history, the sphere of medieval barbarism and that of modern enlightenment. It exploded like a bomb in the midst of the self-satisfied aristocracy of the earlier social system and rent it into fragments which no hand could put together again. In this sense the career of Napoleon seems providential. The era of popular government had replaced that of autocratic and aristocratic government in France, and the armies of Napoleon spread these radical ideas throughout Europe until the oppressed people of every nation began to look upward with hope and see in the distance before them a haven of justice in the coining realm of human rights.

These new conceptions took time to disseminate themselves. The oppressed peoples had to fight their way upward into the light, to win their progress step by step to the heights of emancipation. It was a hard struggle. Time and again they were cast downward in their climb. The powers of privilege, of the " divine right of kings," fought hard to preserve their ascendency, and only with discouraging slowness did the people move onward to the haven they so earnestly sought.

The story of this upward progress is the history of the nineteenth century, regarded from the special point of view of political progress and the development of human rights. This is definitely shown in the present work, which is a histor}^ of the past century and of the twentieth century so far as it has gone. Gradually the autocrat has declined in power and authority, and the principle of popular rights has risen into view. But the autocrat has not been fully dethroned. Medievalism still has its hold on a few of the thrones of Europe, notably those of Germany, Russia and Austria. Is the present war a final effort of medievalism to regain its hold, to put down the doctrine of popular rule and replace it bv the old

PREFACE 3

system of absolute government? This, at least, in the absence of apparent causes for the present war, may be offered as one conceivable explanation. If so, we can but hope that the prediction given at the end of this work may come true, and that the close of the war may witness the complete downfall of autocracy as a political principle and the rise of the rule of the people in every civilized nation of the earth.

Charles Morris.

CHAPTER I All Europe Plunged into War PAGE

Dramatic Suddenness of the Outbreak — Trade and Commerce Paralyzed — Widespread Influences — Dilemma of the Tourists — An Ocean Incident — Closing the Stock Market — Terrible Effects of War— The Tide of Desolation— Who Caused the Conflict?— Cost of Modern Warfare 11

CHAPTER II Underlying Causes of the Great European War

Assassination of the Austrian Crown Prince — Austria's Motive in Making War — Servia Accepts Austria's Demand — The Ironies . of History — What Austria had to Gain — How the War Became Continental — An Editorial Opinion — Is the Kaiser Responsible?— Germany's Stake in the War — Why Russia Entered the War — France's Hatred of Germany — Great Britain and Italy — The Triple Alliance and Triple Entente 28

CHAPTER III Strength and Resources of the Warring Powers

Old and New Methods in War — Costs of Modern Warfare — Nature of National Resources — British and American Military Systems — Naval Strength — Resources of Austria-Hungary— Resources of Germany — Resources of Russia — Resources of France — Resources of Great Britain — Servia and Belgium 50

Chapter IV

Russia's Part in the Servian Issue — Strength of the Russian Army — The Distribution of the Slavs — Origin of Pan-Slavism — The Czar's Proclamation — The Teutons of Europe — Intermingling of Races — The Nations at War — Spread of Teutonic Civilization —

Views of German- Americans 70

PAGE

CHAPTER V Europe at the Close of the Eighteenth Century

End of Medievalism and Beginning of Modernism Tlie Age of Feudalism — Issues of the French Revolution — How Napoleon Won Fame — Conditions in France and Germany — Austria and Italy — Spain and Poland — Russia and Turkey 83

CHAPTER VI The Earthquake of Napoleonism

Its Effect on National Conditions Finally Led to the War of 1914 The Campaign in Italy — The Victory at Marengo — Moreau Wins Glory at Hohenlinden — Napoleon the Idol of France — The Consul made Emperor — The Code Napoleon — Campaign of 1805 — Battle of Austerlitz — The Gains of the Empire — The Conquest of Prussia — Invasion of Poland — Victory at Eylau — Russian Defeat at Friedland — Campaign of 1809 — Great Battles around Vienna — Victory at Wagram — The Divorce of Josephine 92

CHAPTER VII Nelson and Wellington, the Champions of Britain

End of the European Reign of Terror The Battle of the Nile — Nelson at Copenhagen — Defeat of the Danes — Nelson at Trafalgar — Nelson Wins and Dies — The Campaign in Portugal — Oporto and Talavera — The French Driven from Portugal — Wellington in Spain — Madrid Occupied 121

CHAPTER VIII The Decline and Fall of Napoleon's Empire

Dawn of a New Era in Europe The Kings and People of Spain — French Defeated and Napoleon in Command — The Triumph of Wellington — Napoleon's Fatal Enterprise — The Grand Army in Russia — Smolensk on Fire — The Fight at Borodino— Moscow Occupied by the French— The Terror of Flame — Napoleon's Dread Dilemma — Winter in Full Fury — The Remnant of the Grand Army — Europe Rises Against the Corsican — The Empire Goes to Pieces — Napoleon Exiled to Elba — End of Napoleon's Career 138

CHAPTER IX The Congress of Vienna Radical Changes in the Map of Europe page

Map Making — Empire Building — Membership of the Congress — Reaction the Order of the Day — Brief Summary of Changes — Excesses of the Congress — Confederation of the Rhine — How Other Countries Fared— Character of the Work done— The Rights of the People 157

CHAPTER X The Holy Alliance and Its Unholy Work

Events Leading to the Monroe Doctrine and the Foreign Policy of the United States.

Significance of the Name — A Dangerous Doctrine — Revolution in Spain and Naples — Work of the Holy Alliance in Italy — The Spanish Revolt put down — The Allies gain Freedom for Greece — Liberty for Spanish-America — The Birth of the Monroe Doctrine. 168

CHAPTER XI The Revolution of 1830

Its Disintegrating Effect on National Conditions Reaction under Charles X — "Down with the Bourbons" — Louis Philippe on the Throne — Holland and Belgimn Divide — Popular Movements in Germany and Italy — Poland in Arms — Prosperity in Great Britain — An Intolerable Situation — Representation in Parliament — Lord Russell's Great Speech — Effect of the 1830 Revolution — The Struggle for Reform — How Suffrage was Gained — The Corn-Laws Repealed 179

CHAPTER XII Outbreak of Nineteenth Century Democracy

Liberty, Equality and Fraternity — Reform Outbreak in Paris — A

Republic Founded — Revolt in Germany and Austria — The Met-

ternich Policy Fails — The Struggle in Vienna and Berlin — A

Federal Empire in Germany — Italy Strikes for Freedom — A

French Army Occupies Rome — The Hungarian Revolution —

Kossuth and the Magyars — How the Conflict Ended 195

CHAPTER XIII Russia and the Crimean War Outcome of Slavic Ambitions in the Near East PASa

Turkey the "Sick Man" of Europe — Oppression of the Christians — England and France Declare War — Invasion of the Crimea — The Siege of Sebastopol — Charge of the Light Brigade — The Gallant Six Hundred — Tennyson's Famous Poem — Sebastopol Taken — The Treaty of Paris 207

CHAPTER XIV The Ambition of Louis Napoleon The Final Overthrow of Napoleonism

The Coup d'etat of 1851 — From President to Emperor — The Empire is Peace — War With Austria — The Battle of Magenta — Possession of Lombardy — French Victory at Solferino — Treaty of Peace — Invasion of Mexico — End of Napoleon's Career 219

CHAPTER XV Power of Austria Broken

The Carbonari — Mazzini and Garibaldi — Cavour, the Statesman — The Invasion of Sicily — Occupation of Naples — Victor Emmanuel Takes Command — Watchword of the Patriots — Garibaldi Marches Against Rome — Battle of Ironclads — Final Act of Italian Unity 235

CHAPTER XVI The Expansion of Germany Beginning of Modern World Power

William I of Prussia — Bismarck's Early Career — The Schleswig- Holstein Question — Conquest of the Duchies — Bismarck's Wider Views — War Forced on Austria — The War in Italy — Austria's Signal Defeat at Sadowa — The Treaty of Prague — Germany after 1866 248

CHAPTER XVII The Franco-Prussian War

Birth of the German Empire and the French Republic paqe Causes of Hostile Relations — Discontent in France — War with Prussia Declared — Self-deception of the French — First Meeting of the Armies — The Stronghold of Metz — Mars-la-Tour and Gravelotte — Napoleon III at Sedan — The Emperor a Captive; France a Republic — Bismarck Refuses Intervention — Fall of the Fortresses — Gambetta in Command — Defiant Spirit of the French — The Struggle Continued — Operations Before Paris — Fighting in the South— The War at an End 262

CHAPTER XVIII Bismarck and the New German Empire

Building the Bulwarks of the Twentieth-Century Nation Bismarck as a Statesman — Uniting the German States — William I Crowned at Versailles — A Significant Decade — The Problem of Church Power — Progress of Socialism — William II and the Resignation of Bismarck — Old Age Insurance — Political and Industrial Conditions in Germany 292

CHAPTER XIX Gladstone as an Apostle of Reform

Great Britain Becomes a World Power Gladstone and Disraeli — Gladstone's Famous Budget — A Suffrage Reform Bill — Disraeli's Reform Measure — Irish Church Disestablishment — An Irish Land Bill — Desperate State of Ireland — The Coercion Bill — War in Africa — Home Rule for Ireland 303

CHAPTER XX The French Republic

Struggles of a New Nation The Republic Organized — The Commune of Paris — Instability of the Government — Thiers Proclaimed President — Punishment of the Unsuccessful Generals — McMahon a Royalist President — Bazaine's Sentence, and Escape— Grevy, Gambetta and Boulanger — Despotism of the Army Leaders — The Dreyfus Case — Church and State — The Moroccan Controversy : 316

CHAPTER XXI How England Became Mistress of the Seas page

Great Britain as a Colonizing Power — Colonies in the Pacific Region — Colonization in Africa — British Colonies in Africa — The Mahdi Rebellion in Eygpt — Gordon at Khartoum — Suppression of the Mahdi Revolt — Colonization in Asia — The British in India — Colonies in America — Development of Canada— Railway Progress in Canada 333

CHAPTER XXII The Open Door in China and Japan

Development of World Power in the East Warlike Invasions of China — Commodore Perry and His Treaty — Japan's Rapid Progress — Origin of the China-Japan War — The Position of Korea — Li Hung Chang and the Empress — How Japan Began War — The Chinese and Japanese Fleets — The Battle of the Yalu — Preparing for Battle — How the Ships Fought — Perils of the Commanders — Capture of Wei-Hai-Wei — Europe Invades China — The Boxer Outbreak — Russian Designs on Manchuria — Japan Begins War on Russia — The Armies Meet — Port Arthur Taken — Russian Fleet Defeated — China Becomes a Republic. . . 348

CHAPTER XXIII Turkey and the Balkan States

Checking the Dominion of the Turk in Europe The Story of Servia — Turkey in Europe — The Bulgarian Horrors — The Defense of Plevna — The Congress of Berlin — Hostile Sentiments in the Balkans — Incitement to War — Fighting Begins — The Advance on Adrianople — Servian and Greek Victories — The Bulgarian Successes — Steps toward Peace — The War Resumed — Siege of Scutari — Treaty of Peace — War between the Allies — The Final Settlement 373

CHAPTER XXIV Methods in Modern Warfare

Ancient and Modern Weapons — New Types of Weapons — The Ironclad Warship — The Balloon in War — Tennyson's Foresight — Gunning after Airships — The Submarine — Under-water Warfare — The New Type of Battleship— Mobilization— The Waste of War— The End of Autocracy 391

CHAPTER I All Europe Plunged Into War

Dramatic Suddenness of the Outbreak — Trade and Commerce Paralyzed — Widespread Influences— Dilemma of the Tourists — An Ocean Incident — Closing the Stock Markets — Terrible Effects of War— The Tide of Desolation— Who Caused the Conflict?— Cost of

Modern Warfare.

^T the opening of the final week of July, 1914, the whole world— with the exception of Mexico, in which the smouldering embers of the revolution still burned — was in a state of profound peace. The clattering hammers and whirling wheels of industry were everywhere to be heard; great ships furrowed the ocean waves, deep-laden with the world's products and carrying thousands of travelers bent on business or enjoyment. Countless trains of cars, drawn by smoke-belching locomotives, traversed the long leagues of iron rails, similarly laden with passengers engaged in peaceful errands and freight intended for peaceful purposes. All seemed at rest so far as national hostile sentiments were concerned. All was in motion so far as useful industries demanded service. Europe, America, Asia and Africa alike had settled down as if to a long holiday from war, and the advocates of universal peace were jubilant over the progress of their cause, holding peace congresses and conferences at The Hague and elsewhere, and giving Nobel prizes of honor even to so questionable an advocate of peace as Theodore Roosevelt, the redoubtable Colonel of the Rough Riders.

Such occasions occur at frequent intervals in nature, in which a deep calm, a profound peace, rests over land and sea. The winds are hushed, the waves at rest; only the needful processes of the universe are in action, while for the time the world forgets the chained demons of unrest and destruction. But too quickly the chains are loosened, the winds and waves set free; and the hostile

(ID forces of nature rush over earth and sea, spreading terror and devastation in their path. Such energies of hostility are not confined to the elements. They exist in human communities. They underlie the political conditions of the nations, and their outbreak is at times as sudden and unlooked-for as that of the winds and waves. Such was the state of political affairs in Europe at the date mentioned, apparently calm and restful, while below the surface hostile forces which had long been fomenting unseen were ready to burst forth and whelm the world.

DRAMATIC SUDDENNESS OF THE OUTBREAK

On the night of July 25th the people of the civilized world settled down to restful slumbers, with no dreams of the turmoil that was ready to burst forth. On the morning of the 26th they rose to learn that a great war had begun, a conflict the possible width and depth of which no man was yet able to foresee; and as day after day passed on, each day some new nation springing into the terrible arena until practically the whole of Europe was in arms and the Armageddon seemed at hand, the world stood amazed and astounded, wondering what hand had loosed so vast a catastrophe, what deep and secret causes lay below the ostensible causes of the war. The causes of this are largely unknown. As a panic at times affects a vast assemblage, with no one aware of its origin, so a wave of hostile sentiment may sweep over vast communities until the air is full of urgent demands for war with scarce a man knowing why.

What is already said only feebly outlines the state of consternation into which the world was cast in that fateful week in which the doors of the Temple of Janus, long closed, were suddenly thrown wide open and the terrible God of War marched forth, the whole earth trembling beneath his feet. It was the breaking of a mighty storm in a placid sky, the fall of a meteor which spreads terror and destruction on all sides, the explosion of a vast bomb in a great assemblage; it was everything that can be imagined of the sudden and overwhelming, of the amazing and incredible.

TRADE AND COMMERCE PARALYZED

For the moment the world stood still, plunged into a panic that stopped all its activities. The chambers of finance throughout the nations were closed, to prevent that wild and hasty action which precipitates disaster. Throughout Europe trade, industry, commerce all ceased, paralyzed at their sources. No ship of any of the nations concerned dared venture from port, lest it should fall a prey to the prowling sea dogs of war which made all the oceans unsafe. The hosts of American tourists who had gone abroad under the sunny skies of peace suddenly beheld the dark clouds of war rolling overhead, blotting out the sun, and casting their black shadows over all things fair.

What does this state of affairs, this sudden stoppage of the wheels of industry, this unforeseen and wide spread of the conditions of war portend? Emerson has said : "When a great thinker comes into the world all things are at risk." There is potency in this, and also in a variation of Emerson's text which we shall venture to make: "When a great war comes upon the world all things are at risk." Everything which we have looked upon as fixed and stable quakes as if from mighty hidden forces. The whole world stands irresolute and amazed. The steady-going habits and occupations of peace cease or are perilously threatened, and no one can be sure of escaping from some of the dire effects of the catastrophe.

WIDESPREAD INFLUENCES

The conditions of production vanish, to be replaced by conditions of destruction. That which had been growing in grace and beauty for years is overturned and destroyed in a moment of ravage. Changes of this kind are not confined to the countries in which the war rages or the cities which conquering columns of troops occupy. They go beyond the borders of military activity; they extend to far-off quarters of the earth. We quote from the New York World a vivid picture drawn at the opening of the great European war. Its motto is "all the world is paying the cost of the folly of Europe."

" Never before was war made so swiftly wide. News of it comes from Japan, from Porto Rico, from Africa, from places where in old days news of hostilities might not travel for months.

" Non-combatants in Argentina face ruin from the stoppage of their wheat trade. Peru declares a moratorium. China will miss her ginseng from the Virginia mountains, and must otherwise make medicine. Rubber tires go soaring in price. Boots will do the same while shoemakers shoot each other, and the commerce in hides is halted. Children the world over will miss their Nuremberg toys at Christmas.

" Non-combatants are in the vast majority, even in the eountries at war, but they are not immune to its blight. Austria is isolated from the world because her ally, Germany, will take no chances of spilling military information and will not forward mails. If, telephoning in France, you use a single foreign word, even an English one, your wire is cut. Hans the German waiter, Franz the clarinettist in the little street band, is locked up as a possible spy. There are great German business houses in London and Paris; their condition is that of English and French business houses in Berlin, and that is not pleasant. Great Britain contemprates, as an act of war, the voiding of patents held by Germans in the United Kingdom.

"Nothing is too petty, nothing too great, nothing too distant in kind or miles from the field of war to feel its influence. The whole world is the loser by it, whoever at the end of all the battles may say that he has won."

DILEMMA OF THE TOURISTS

Let us consider one of the early results of the war. It vitally affected great numbers of Americans, the army of tourists who had made their way abroad for rest, study and recreation and whose numbers, while unknown, were great, some estimating them at the high total of 100,000 or more. These, scattered over all sections of Europe, some with money in abundance, some with just enough for a brief journey, capitalists, teachers, students, all were caught in the sudden flurry of the war, their letters of credit useless, transportation difficult or impossible to obtain, all exposed to inconveniences, some to indignities, some of them on the flimsiest pretence seized and searched as spies, the great mass of them thrown into a state of panic that added greatly to the unpleasantness of the situation in which they found themselves.

While these conditions of panic gradually adjusted themselves, the status of the tourists continued difficult and annoying. The railroads were seized for the transportation of troops, leaving many Americans helplessly held in far interior parts, frequently without money or credit. One example of the difficulties encountered will serve as an instance which might be repeated a hundred fold.

Seven hundred Americans from Geneva were made by Swiss troops to leave a tram. Many who refused were forced off at the point of guns. This compulsory removal took place at some distance from a station near the border, according to Mrs. Edward Collins, of New York, who with her three daughters was on the train. With 200 others they reached Paris and were taken aboard a French troop train. Most of the arrivals were women; the men were left behind because of lack of space. One hundred women refused to take the train without their husbands; scores struck back for Geneva; others on foot, carrying articles of baggage, started in the direction of Paris, hoping to get trains somewhere. Just why Swiss troops thus occupied themselves is not explained; but in times of warlike turmoil many unexplainable things occur. Here is an incident of a different kind, told by one of the escaping host: "I went into the restaurant car for lunch/' he said. "When I tried to return to the car where I'd left my suitcase, hat, cane and overcoat, I couldn't find it. Finally the conductor said blithely, 'Oh, that car was taken off for the use of the army.'

"I was forced to continue traveling coatless, hatless and minus my baggage until I boarded the steamer Flushing, when I managed to swipe a straw hat during the course of the Channel passage while the people were down eating in the saloon. I grabbed the first one on the hatrack. Talk about a romantic age. Why, I wouldn't live in any other time than now. We will be boring our grandchildren talking about this war."

The scarcity of provisions in many localities and the withholding of money by the banks made the situation, as regarded Americans, especially serious. Those fortunate enough to reach port without encountering these difficulties found the situation there equally embarrassing. The great German and English liners, for instance, were held up by order of the government, or feared to sail lest they should be taken captive by hostile cruisers. Many of these lay in port in New York, forbidden to sail for fear of capture. These included ships of the Cunard and International Marine lines, the North German Lloyd, the Hamburg-American, the Russian-American, and the French lines, until this port led the world in the congestion of great liners rendered inactive by the war situation abroad. The few that put to sea were utterly incapable of accommodating a tithe of the anxious and appealing applicants. It had ceased, in the state of panic that prevailed, to be a mere question of money. Frightened millionaires were credited with begging for steerage berths. Everywhere was dread and confusion, men and women being in a state of mind past the limits of calm reasoning. Impulse is the sole ruling force where reason has ceased to act.

Slowly the skies cleared; calmer conditions began to prevail. The United States government sent the battleship Tennessee abroad with several millions of dollars for the aid of destitute travelers and the relief of those who could not get their letters of credit and travelers' checks cashed. Such a measure of relief was necessary, there being people abroad with letters of credit for as much as $5,000

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■s.s l o S.2 without money enough to buy a meal. One tourist said: "I had to give a Milwaukee doctor, who had a letter of credit for $2,500, money today to get shaved." London hotels showed much consideration for the needs of travelers without ready cash, but on the continent there were many such who were refused hotel accommodation.

As for those who reached New York or other American ports, many had fled in such haste as to leave their baggage behind. Numbers of the poorer travelers had exhausted their scanty stores of cash in the effort to escape from Europe and reached port utterly penniless. The case was one that called for immediate and adequate solution and the governmental and moneyed interests on this side did their utmost to cope with the situation. Vessels of American register were too few to carry the host applying for transportation, and it was finally decided to charter foreign vessels for this purpose and thus hasten the work of moving the multitude of appealing tourists. From 15,000 to 20,000 of these needed immediate attention, a majority of them being destitute.

AN OCEAN INCIDENT

Men and women needed not only transportation, but money also, and in this particular there is an interesting story to tell. The German steamer Kronprinzessin Cecilie, bound for Bremen, had sailed from New York before the outbreak of the war, carrying about 1,200 passengers and a precious freight of gold, valued at $10,700,000. The value of the vessel herself added $5,000,000 to this sum. What had become of her and her tempting cargo was for a time unknown. There were rumors that she had been captured by a British cruiser, but this had no better foundation than such rumors usually have. Her captain was alert to the situation, being informed by wireless of the sudden change from peace to war. One such message, received from an Irish wireless station, conveyed an order from the Bremen company for him to return with all haste to an American port.

It was on the evening of Friday, July 31st, that this order came. At once the vessel changed its course. One by one the ship's lights were put out. The decks which could not be made absolutely dark were enclosed with canvas. By midnight the ship was as dark as the sea surrounding. On she went through Saturday and on Sunday ran into a dense fog. Through this she rushed with unchecked speed and in utter silence, not a toot coming from her fog-horn. This was all very well as a measure of secrecy, but it opened the way to serious danger through a possible collision, and a committee of passengers was formed to request the captain to reconsider his action. Just as the committee reached his room the first blast of the fog-horn was heard, its welcome tone bringing a sense of security where grave apprehension had prevailed.

A group of financiers were on board who offered tojbuy the ship and sail her under American colors. ] But to all such proposals Captain Polack turned a deaf ear. He said that his duty was spelled by his orders from Bremen to turn back and save his ship, and these he proposed to obey. A passenger stated:

" There were seven of the crew on watch all the time, two aloft. This enabled the captain to know of passing vessels before they came above the horizon. We were undoubtedly in danger on Sunday afternoon. We intercepted a wireless message in French in which two French cruisers were exchanging data in regard to their positions.