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

Front matter

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Preface

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

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

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

Chapter I. The End And The Beginning

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

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

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

— Declaration of War 17

Chapter II. The Mailed Fist Strikes Belgium

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

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

Chapter IV. The Compulsion Of Trench Warfare

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

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

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

Beginning of the Four Years' Deadlock 52

Chapter V. The Race Of Two Armies To The Sea

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

Chapter VI. The French Offensive In Alsace-lorraine

Both Sides Essay a Ruse at Mulhausen— The Bath of Blood at Altkirch— Strategical Value of the Vosges — Invading French Army Defeated at Luneville — Guerrilla Fighting — Failure of Campaign as a Conquest, Success as a Buffer Against Attack Toward Belfort 83

Chapter VII. Verdun! "they Shall Not Pass!"

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

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Chapter VIII. The Changing Tides Of War

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

Chapter IX. Driving The Germans Out

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

Chapter X. Serbia Under The Steel-shod Heel

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

Chapter XI. Fighting On The Roof Of Europe

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

Chapter XII. The Heroic Defence Of The Piave

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

Chapter XIII. The Hair-trigger Of Saloniki

Civil War Questions in Greece — Port Desired by Germans as a Submarine Base — King Constantine and Yenizelos — Practical Impossibility of Transport Conditions — Fighting in Macedonia — Establishment of Allied Supply Bases — Final Collapse of Bulgaria 155

Chapter XIV. The Russian Steam-roller Blows Up

Cossack Success at Lemberg — East Galicia Captured— Occupation of Przemysl — Turn of the Tide at Cracow — Debacle of Tannenberg — Battle of Lodz — Decisive Winter Campaign of the Masurian Lakes 162

Chapter XV. The Roar Of Guns In Frozen Lands

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

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

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

the Murman Coast 174

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Chapter XVI. The Intrepid Anzacs At Gallipoli

German Seizure of Constantinople — Turkey in the War — The Impregnable Dardanelles — Seven Months in a Hail of Fire — The Storming of Suvla Bay — The Three Great Assaults — Final Failure of British and Abandonment of the Campaign 183

Chapter XVII. The Crusaders In Jerusalem At Last

The Turkish Advance Towards Egypt— British Alliance With Arab Tribes- Failure of the Jehad — Campaign in the Holy Land— Greatest Cavalry War in Modern History — The Holy City — Capture of Damascus — The Mesopotamian Campaign, Capture of Bagdad 189

CHAPTER XVIIL JAPAN'S PLACE IN THE SUN.

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

Chapter XIX. The Hun's Hand Lifted From Africa

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

Chapter XX. The Armed Vigil Of The North Sea

Great Britain Blockades Germany on the First Day — Submarine Mines and Mine- Sweepers — Affair of Helgoland Bight — German Sea-Power Becomes a Mockery — Bombarding Inoffensive Villages — The Battle of Jutland — The Plugging of Zeebrugge — Shameful Surrender of Fleet 215

CHAPTER XXL

NAVAL GUNS SWEEP THE MEDITERRANEAN.

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

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

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

Barred From the Sea 227

Chapter XXII. Hunting Down The Modern Pirates

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

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

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

of the Falklands 231

Chapter XXIII. Outwitting The Wily Submarine

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

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Chapter XXIV. Death-dealing Squadrons Of The Sky

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

Chapter XXV. Modern Weapons Of Land Warfare

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

Book II. Chapter Xxvl

ALLIANCES AND ENTANGLEMENTS.

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

CHAPTER XXVIL THE ALLIED NATIONS, A GENERAL REVIEW.

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

CHAPTER XXVIII.

THE BRITISH LION AND THE LION-CUBS.

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

CHAPTER XXIX.

BELGIUM, THE BATTLEFIELD OF EUROPE.

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

CHAPTER XXX.

INDOMITABLE FRANCE AND ALSACE-LORRAINE,

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

CHAPTER XXXI.

ITALY REDEEMED AND UNREDEEMED.

The Great Spiritual Drama — Garibaldi — Quirinal and Vatican — The Unholy Alliance — Meaning of "Italia Irredenta" — Adriatic Sea as the Key to the Mediterranean — The Red Week — The Perilous Decision — Forged Propaganda and the Piave 305

CHAPTER XXXII.

SERBIA AND THE JUGO-SLAVS.

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

CHAPTER XXXIII.

LITHUANIA, POLAND AND THE CZECHO-SLOVAKS.

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

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

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

Forces in Siberia 321

CHAPTER XXXIV.

MODERN JAPAN AND THE NEW CHINA.

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

CHAPTER XXXV.

THE CENTRAL POWERS— A GENERAL REVIEW.

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

CHAPTER XXXVI.

THE MILITARISTIC GERMAN EMPIRE.

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

CHAPTER XXXVIL

AUSTRIA-HUNGARY THE UNSTABLE.

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

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

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

Collapse From Within 355

CHAPTER XXXVIII.

BULGARIA AND THE BALKAN MUDDLE.

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

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CHAPTER XXXIX.

ORIENTAL TURKEY AND THE NEAR EAST.

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

CHAPTER XL.

NEUTRAL AND SEE-SAW NATIONS.

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

CHAPTER XLI.

BLIND RUSSIA, MISUNDERSTANDING AND MISUNDERSTOOD.

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

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

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

man and Siberia 386

CHAPTER XLII.

FEUDAL ROUMANIA, A COUNTRY OUT OF DATEw

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

CHAPTER XLIIL FALLEN GREECE, A LAND OF CIVIL STRIFE.

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

CHAPTER XLIV.

SWEDEN AND FINLAND, WRESTLERS OF THE NORTH

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

CHAPTER XLV.

DENMARK AND HOLLAND, THE "STRICTLY NEUTRALS."

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

CHAPTER XLVL SWITZERLAND THE EYE OF THE CYCLONE.

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

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Book III. Chapter XLVII

AMERICA AS A NEUTRAL.

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

CHAPTER XLVIII,

THE AMERICAN CALL TO ARMS.

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

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

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

Funds — How the Country Prepared 437

CHAPTER XLIX.

THE CREATION OF THE NATIONAL ARMY.

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

CHAPTER L.

THE TRANSPORTATION OF TROOPS.

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

CHAPTER LL THE AMERICAN NAVY.

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

CHAPTER LII.

THE ARMY ORGANIZATION IN FRANCE.

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

CHAPTER Lin.

THE IRRESISTIBLE MARINES.

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

CHAPTER LIV.

THE RED CROSS, THE MOTHER OF SOLDIERS.

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

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CHAPTER LV.

ARMY WELFARE WORK.

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

. CHAPTER LVI.

AMERICAN HEROISM FROM CANTIGNY TO SEDAN.

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

CHAPTER LVII.

PERSHING'S OWN STORY,

Summary of Operations of the American Expeditionary Force as Cabled to

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

CHAPTER LVIII.

THE ARMISTICES AND AGREEMENTS.

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

Austria's Sacrifice — Bulgaria — Turkey 530

CHAPTER LIX.

THE ARMY OF OCCUPATION.

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

CHAPTER LX.

THE WORLD PEACE PLANS.

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

Introduction

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

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

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

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INTRODUCTION xm

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

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

The Editors.

Foreword

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

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

earth.

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

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

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

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

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FOREWORD XV

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

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

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

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

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

Book I MILITARY HISTORY OF THE

WORLD WAR

Editor FRANCIS ROLT-WHEELER, Ph. D.

XVI

Chapter I. The End And The Beginning

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Pretext for War.

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

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

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

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