History Of The World War: An Authentic Narrative Of The World's Greatest War - free ebook by Richard Joseph Beamish

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History Of The World War: An Authentic Narrative Of The World's Greatest War

Richard Joseph Beamish

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COPYRIGHT, 1918

COPYRIGHT, 1918

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. 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 w

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FOREWORD

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 preparati

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CHAPTER I

CHAPTER I

"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

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CHAPTER II

CHAPTER II

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 un

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CHAPTER III

CHAPTER III

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;

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CHAPTER IV

CHAPTER IV

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

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CHAPTER V

CHAPTER V

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

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CHAPTER VI

CHAPTER VI

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 expr

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CHAPTER VII

CHAPTER VII

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 cap

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CHAPTER VIII

CHAPTER VIII

On August 15, 1914, the Empire of Japan issued an ultimatum to Germany. She demanded the evacuation of Tsing-tau, the disarming of the warships there and the handing over of the territory to Japan for ultimate reversion to China. The time limit for her reply was set at 12 o'clock, August 24th. To this ultimatum Germany made no reply, and at 2.30 P. M., August 23d, the German Ambassador was handed his passports and war was declared. The reason for the action of Japan was simple. She was bound by

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CHAPTER IX

CHAPTER IX

Long before the declaration of war the German military experts had made their plans. They recognized that in case of war with Russia, France would come to the rescue of its ally. They hoped that Italy, and felt sure that England, would remain neutral, but, no doubt, had provided for the possibility that these two nations would join the ranks of their foes. They recognized that they would be compelled to fight against greatly superior numbers, but they had this advantage, that they were prepared

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CHAPTER X

CHAPTER X

Captain Mahan's thesis that in any great war the nation possessing the greater sea power is likely to win, was splendidly illustrated during the World War. The great English fleets proved the insuperable obstacle to the ambitious German plans of world dominion. The millions of soldiers landed in France from Great Britain, and its provinces, the millions of Americans transported in safety across the water, and the enormous quantities of supplies put at the disposal of the Allies depended, absolut

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CHAPTER XI

CHAPTER XI

As soon as the diplomatic relations between Austria and Serbia had been broken, the Turkish Grand Vizier informed the diplomatic corps in Constantinople that Turkey would remain neutral in the conflict. The declaration was not formal, for war had not yet been declared. The policy of Turkey, as represented in the ministerial paper, Tasfiri-Efkiar, was as follows: "Turkey has never asked for war, as she always has worked toward avoiding it, but neutrality does not mean indifference. The present Au

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CHAPTER XII

CHAPTER XII

The sufferings of Belgium during the German occupation were terrible, and attracted the attention and the sympathy of the whole world. To understand conditions it is necessary to know something of the economic situation. Since it had come under the protection of the Great Powers, Belgium had developed into one of the greatest manufacturing countries in the world. Nearly two million of her citizens were employed in the great industries, and one million two hundred thousand on the farms. She was p

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CHAPTER XIII

CHAPTER XIII

The month of October, 1914, contained no important naval contests. On the 15th, the old British cruiser Hawke was torpedoed in the North Sea and nearly five hundred men were lost. On the other hand, on the 17th of October, the light cruiser Undaunted, accompanied by the destroyers, Lance, Legion and Loyal, sank four German destroyers off the Dutch coast. But the opening of November turned the interest of the navy to the Southern Pacific. When the war began Admiral von Spee, with the German Pacif

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CHAPTER XIV

CHAPTER XIV

When Germany embarked upon its policy of frightfulness, it held in reserve murderous inventions that had been contributed to the German General Staff by chemists and other scientists working in conjunction with the war. Never since the dawn of time had there been such a perversion of knowledge to criminal purposes; never had science contributed such a deadly toll to the fanatic and criminal intentions of a war-crazed class. As the war uncoiled its weary length, and month after month of embargo a

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CHAPTER XV

CHAPTER XV

The pages of Germany's militaristic history are black with many shameful deeds and plots. Those pages upon which are written the intrigues against the peace of America and against the lives and properties of American citizens during the period between the declaration of war in 1914 and the armistice ending the war, while not so bloody as those relating to the atrocities in Belgium and Northern France are still revolting to civilized mankind. Germany not only paid for the murder of passengers on

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CHAPTER XVI

CHAPTER XVI

The United States was brought face to face with the Great War and with what it meant in ruthless destruction of life when, on May 7, 1915, the crack Cunard Liner Lusitania, bound from New York to Liverpool, with 1,959 persons aboard, was torpedoed and sunk by a German submarine off Old Head of Kinsale, Southwestern Ireland. Two torpedoes reached their mark. The total number of lives lost when the ship sunk was 1,198. Of these 755 were passengers and the remainder were members of the crew. Of the

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CHAPTER XVII

CHAPTER XVII

After the immortal stand of Joffre at the first battle of the Marne and the sudden savage thrust at the German center which sent von Kluck and his men reeling back in retreat to the prepared defenses along the line of the Aisne, the war in the western theater resolved itself into a play for position from deep intrenchments. Occasionally would come a sudden big push by one side or the other in which artillery was massed until hub touched hub and infantry swept to glory and death in waves of gray,

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CHAPTER XVIII

CHAPTER XVIII

When Germany struck at the heart of France through Belgium simultaneous action was undertaken by the German Command in Southwest Africa through propaganda and mobilization of the available German troops. Insidiously and by the use of money systematic propaganda was instituted to corrupt the Boers against their allegiance to the Union of South Africa. One great character stood like a rock against all their efforts. It was the character of General Louis Botha, formerly arrayed in battle against th

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CHAPTER XIX

CHAPTER XIX

For many years before the great war began the great powers of Europe were divided into two great alliances, the Triple Entente, composed of Russia, France and England, and the Triple Alliance, composed of Germany, Austria and Italy. When the war began Italy refused to join with Germany and Austria. Why? The answer to this question throws a vivid light on the origin of the war. Italy was a member of the Triple Alliance; she knew the facts, not only what was given to the public, but the inside fac

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CHAPTER XX

CHAPTER XX

If ever the true mettle and temper of a people were tried and exemplified in the crucible of battle, that battle was the naval and land engagement embracing Gallipoli and the Dardanelles and the people so tested, the British race. Separated in point of time but united in its general plan, the engagements present a picture of heroism founded upon strategic mistakes; of such perseverance and dogged determination against overwhelming natural and artificial odds as even the pages of supreme British

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CHAPTER XXI

CHAPTER XXI

Germany's ambition for conquest at sea had been nursed and carefully fostered for twenty years. During the decade immediately preceding the declaration of war, it had embarked upon a policy of naval upbuilding that brought it into direct conflict with England's sea policy. Thereafter it became a race in naval construction, England piling up a huge debt in its determination to construct two tons of naval shipping to every one ton built by Germany. Notwithstanding Great Britain's efforts in this d

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CHAPTER XXII

CHAPTER XXII

In the very beginning Russia had marked out one point for attack. This was the city of Cracow. No doubt the Grand Duke Nicholas had not hoped to be able to invest that city early. The slowness of the mobilization of the Russian army made a certain prudence advisable at the beginning of the campaign. But the great success of his armies in Lemberg encouraged more daring aims. He had invested Przemysl, and Galicia lay before him. Accordingly, he set his face toward Cracow. Cracow, from a military p

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CHAPTER XXII

CHAPTER XXII

For more than half a century the Balkans have presented a problem which disturbed the minds of the statesmen of Europe. Again and again, during that period, it seemed that in the Balkan mountains might be kindled a blaze which might set the world afire. Balkan politics is a labyrinth in which one might easily be lost. The inhabitants of the Balkans represent many races, each with its own ambition, and, for the most part, military. There were Serbs, and Bulgarians, and Turks, and Roumanians, and

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CHAPTER VII

CHAPTER VII

In our previous discussion of the British campaign in Mesopotamia we left the British forces intrenched at Kurna, and also occupying Basra, the port of Bagdad. The object of the Mesopotamia Expedition was primarily to keep the enemy from the shores of the Gulf of Persia. If the English had been satisfied with that, the misfortune which was to come to them might never have occurred, but the whole expedition was essentially political rather than military in its nature. The British were defending I

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CHAPTER XXV

CHAPTER XXV

By COL. GEO. G. NASMITH, C. M. G., TORONTO When, in August,1914, war burst suddenly upon a peaceful world like distant thunder in a cloudless summer sky, Canada, like the rest of the British Empire, was profoundly startled. She had been a peace-loving, non-military nation, satisfied to develop her great natural resources, and live in harmony with her neighbors; taking little interest in European affairs, Canadians, in fact, were a typical colonial people, with little knowledge even of the streng

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CHAPTER VIII

CHAPTER VIII

France was revealed to herself, to Germany and to the world as the heroic defender of civilization, as a defender defying death in the victory of Verdun. There, with the gateway to Paris lying open at its back, the French army, in the longest pitched battle in all history, held like a cold blue rock against the uttermost man power and resources of the German army. General von Falkenhayn, Chief of the German General Staff and military dictator of the Teutonic allies, there met disaster and disgra

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CHAPTER XXVII

CHAPTER XXVII

Many examples might be cited to show that the Central empires were dead to the humanities. There were apparently no limits to the brutality of the German war-makers. Among the outstanding deeds of the Teutons that sickened the world was the killing of Miss Edith Cavell, an English nurse working in Belgian hospitals. A shudder of horror circled the world when announcement was formally made that this splendid woman was sentenced to death and murdered by a German firing squad at two o'clock on the

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CHAPTER XXVIII

CHAPTER XXVIII

First to feel the effects of German terrorism through poison gas were the gallant Canadian troops on the afternoon of April 22, 1915, at Ypres, Belgium. Gas had been used by the Germans previously to this, but they were mere experimental clouds directed against Belgian troops. Before the battle, the English and Canadians held a line from Broodseinde to half a mile north of St. Julien on the crest of the Grafenstafel Ridge. The French prolonged the line to Steenstraate on the Yperlee Canal. The G

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CHAPTER XXIX

CHAPTER XXIX

The idea of warfare in the air has been a dream of romancers from a period long before Jules Verne. Indeed, balloons were used for observation purposes in the eighteenth century by the French armies. The crude balloon of that period, in a more developed form, was used in the Franco-Prussian War, and during the siege of Paris by its assistance communication was kept up between Paris and the outside world. Realizing its possibilities inventors had been trying to develop a balloon which could be pr

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CHAPTER XXX

CHAPTER XXX

The Russian Revolution was not a sudden movement of the people. Long before the war it had raised its head. The Duma itself came into existence as one of its fruits; but when the war began all parties joined in patriotic support of the Russian armies and laid aside for the time their cherished grievances. The war was immensely popular. Slavonic nationalism turned against Austria-Hungary and Germany who were bent upon crushing the Slavonic sister state, Serbia. The Liberal elements saw in Germany

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CHAPTER XXXI

CHAPTER XXXI

The hopes entertained for the new Republic of Russia were doomed to disappointment. For a short time, under the leadership of Lvov, the Russians marched along the path of true democracy. But the pace became too rapid. The government prospered in Petrograd, and the economic organization of the country proceeded with great speed. An eight-hour day was introduced in the capital and in many other cities throughout the republic. The fever of organization spread even to the peasants. They formed a Cou

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CHAPTER XXXII

CHAPTER XXXII

During the first two years of the war many Americans, especially those in the West, observed the great events which were happening with great interest, no doubt, but with a feeling of detachment. The war was a long way off. The Atlantic Ocean separated Europe from America, and it seemed almost absurd to think that the Great War could ever affect us. In the year 1916, however, two events happened which seemed to bring the war to our door. The first was the arrival at Baltimore, on July 9th, of th

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CHAPTER XXXIII

CHAPTER XXXIII

When Germany threw down the gauge of battle to the civilized world, the German High Command calculated that the long, rigorous and thorough military training to which every male German had submitted, would make a military force invincible in the field. The High Command believed that a nation so trained would carve out victory after victory and would end the World War before any nation could train its men sufficiently to check the Teutonic rush. To that theory was opposed the democratic conceptio

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CHAPTER XXXIV

CHAPTER XXXIV

Food won the war. Without the American farmer the Entente Allies must have capitulated. Wheat, beef, corn, foods of every variety, hermetically sealed in tins, were thrown into the scales on the side of the Entente Allies in sufficient quantities to tip the balance toward the side of civilization and against autocracy. Late in the fall of 1918 when victory was assured to America and the Allies, there was received this message of appreciation from General Pershing to the farmers of America, throu

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CHAPTER XXXV

CHAPTER XXXV

Long before war was declared the United States Government had been engaged in preparation. It had realized that unrestricted submarine warfare was sure to lead to war, and though for a time it was preserving what it was pleased to call "an armed neutrality" the President doubtless was well aware what such an "armed neutrality" would lead to. Merchant ships were being armed for protection against the submarine, and crews from the Navy assigned to work the guns. The first collision was sure to mea

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CHAPTER XXXVI

CHAPTER XXXVI

The circumstances connected with the entrance of the Republic of China into the World War were as follows: On February 4, 1917, the American Minister, Dr. Reinsch, requested the Chinese Government to follow the United States in protesting against the German use of the submarine against neutral ships. On February 9th Pekin made such a protest to Germany, and declared its intention of severing diplomatic relations if the protest were ineffectual. The immediate answer of Germany was to torpedo the

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CHAPTER XXXVII

CHAPTER XXXVII

None of the surprises of the World War brought such sudden and stunning dismay to the Entente Allies as the news of the Italian disaster beginning October 24, 1917, and terminating in mid-November. It is a story in which propaganda was an important factor. It taught the Allies the dangers lying in fraternization between opposing armies. During the summer of 1917 the second Italian army was confronted by Austrian regiments composed largely of war-weary Socialists. During that summer skilful Germa

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CHAPTER XXXVIII

CHAPTER XXXVIII

From the beginning of the war the German General Staff and the British War Office planned the occupation of Palestine and Macedonia. Germany wanted domination of that territory because through it lay the open road to Egypt and British prestige in the East. Turkey was the cat's paw of the Hun in this enterprise. German officers and German guns were supplied to the Turks, but the terrible privations necessary in a long campaign that must be spent largely in the desert, and the inevitable great los

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CHAPTER XXXIX

CHAPTER XXXIX

When America entered the war there was a very great increase in the volume of business of the railroads of the country. The roads were already so crowded by what the Allies had done in purchasing war supplies, that a great deal of confusion had resulted. The Allies had expended more than three billion dollars in the United States, and as nearly all of their purchases had to be sent to a few definite points for shipment to Europe, the congestion at those points had become a serious difficulty. Th

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CHAPTER XL

CHAPTER XL

When the United States of America entered the World War she was confronted at once by a serious question. The great Allied nations were struggling against the attempt of the Germans, through the piratical use of submarines, to blockade the coast of the Allied countries. It was this German action which had led America to take part in the war. It is true that America had other motives. Few wars ever take place among democratic nations as a result of the calculation of the nation's leaders. The peo

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CHAPTER XLI

CHAPTER XLI

In the spring of 1918 it must have been plain to the German High Command that if the war was to be won it must be won at once. In spite of all their leaders said of the impossibility of bringing an American army to France they must have been well informed of what the Americans were doing. They knew that there were already more than two million men in active training in the American army, and while at that time only a small proportion of them were available on the battle front, yet every day that

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CHAPTER XLII

CHAPTER XLII

Nowhere in American history may be found a more glorious record than that which crowned with laurel the American arms at Chateau-Thierry. Here the American Marines and divisions comprising both volunteers and selected soldiers, were thrown before the German tide of invasion like a huge khaki-colored breakwater. Germany knew that a test of its empire had come. To break the wall of American might it threw into the van of the attack the Prussian Guard backed by the most formidable troops of the Ger

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CHAPTER XLIII

CHAPTER XLIII

Up to July 18, 1918, the Allied armies in France had been steadily on the defensive, but on that date the tide turned. General Foch, who had been yielding territory for several months in the great German drives, now assumed the offensive himself and began the series of great drives which was to crush the German power and drive the enemy in defeat headlong from France. The first of these great blows was the one which began with the appearance of the Americans at Chateau-Thierry. The Germans had f

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CHAPTER XLIV

CHAPTER XLIV

For more than four years Belgium suffered under the iron heel of the German invaders. One little corner in the far west was occupied by her gallant army, fighting with the utmost courage and a patriotism which has won the admiration of the world under its great King Albert, whose heroic leadership had turned the little commercial nation into a nation of heroes. Conditions of life in the Belgian cities were almost intolerable. The great Belgian Relief Commission, under the direction of Mr. Hoover

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CHAPTER XLV

CHAPTER XLV

For many months after the great Italian stand on the Piave there was inactivity on both fronts in Italy. The Italians had been reinforced by troops from France and Great Britain and their own army was now larger than it had been at any other time. On June 15th, about the time when the Germans were being driven back on the Marne and the Oise, the Austrians, urged to action by the Germans, suddenly undertook a great offensive on a front from the Asiago Plateau to the sea, a distance of ninety-seve

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CHAPTER XLVI

CHAPTER XLVI

During the year 1916 there was little movement in the Balkans. The Allies had settled down at Saloniki and intrenched themselves so strongly that their positions were practically impregnable. These intrenchments were on slopes facing north, heavily wired and with seven miles of swamp before them, over which an attacking army would have to pass. It was obviously inadvisable to withdraw entirely the armies at Saloniki. So long as they were there it was possible at any time to make an attack on Bul

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CHAPTER XLVII

CHAPTER XLVII

The Allied victories in France during the months of August and September of 1918, led to a new peace offensive among the Central Powers. It was very plain to the German High Command, as well as to the Allied leaders, that Germany's great ambitions had now been definitely thwarted. It seems clear that, in spite of the hopeful and encouraging words which they addressed to their own armies, the expert soldiers, who were controlling the destinies of Germany, understood well the conditions they were

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CHAPTER XLVIII

CHAPTER XLVIII

He who conquers the fear of death is master of his fate. Upon this philosophy fifty thousand young men of the warring nations went forth to do battle among the clouds. The story of these battles is the real romance of the World War. In 1914 no one had ever known and history had never recorded a struggle to the death in the air. When the war ended a new literature of adventure had been created, a literature emblazoned with superb heroisms, with God-like daring, and with such utter disdain of deat

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CHAPTER XLIX

CHAPTER XLIX

Since the fateful day when Cain slew Abel, thereby setting a precedent for human warfare, no fighter has been so well protected from disease and discomfort of mind and body, so speedily cured of his wounds, as the American soldier and sailor during the World War. The basis of this remarkable achievement was sanitary education preached first by competent physicians and sociologists; then by newspapers to the civilian population; and ultimately by the soldiers and sailors themselves, each man acti

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CHAPTER L

CHAPTER L

Germany relied upon the submarine to win the war. This in a nut-shell explains the main reason why the United States was drawn into the World War. Von Tirpitz, the German Admiral, obsessed with the theory that no effective answer could be made to the submarine, convinced the German High Command and the Kaiser that only through unrestricted submarine warfare could England be starved and the war brought to an end with victory for Germany. Since August, 1914, the theory held by von Tirpitz and his

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CHAPTER LI

CHAPTER LI

The might and pride of Germany were smashed and humbled by Foch in frontal attacks divided roughly into three great sectors. The first of these attacks was delivered by the French and Americans in the southern sector which included Verdun and the Argonne. The second smash was delivered by British, French and Americans in the Cambrai sector. The third was delivered by British, Belgians, French and Americans in the Belgian sector on the north of the great battle line. The Cambrai operation had as

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CHAPTER LII

CHAPTER LII

From November 1st until November 11th, the day when the armistice granting terms to Germany was signed, the collapse of the German defensive was complete. The army that under von Hindenburg and Ludendorf had smashed its way over Poland, Roumania, Serbia, Belgium, and into the heart of France, was now a military machine in full retreat. It is only justice to that machine to say that the great retreat at no place degenerated into a rout. Von Hindenburg and the German General Staff had planned a se

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CHAPTER LIII

CHAPTER LIII

The end of the war came with almost the dramatic suddenness of its beginning. Bulgaria, hemmed in by armies through which no relief could penetrate, asked for terms. The reply came in two words, "Unconditional Surrender." Turkey, witnessing the rout of her army in Palestine by the great strategist, General Allenby, and a British army, asked for an armistice. The Porte signed without hesitation an agreement comprising twenty-five severe requirements. The surrender of Bulgaria and Turkey forced Au

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CHAPTER LIV

CHAPTER LIV

War came upon the world in August, 1914, with a suddenness and an impact that dazed the world. When it seemed, in 1918, that mankind had habituated himself to war and that the bloody struggle would continue until the actual exhaustion and extinction of the nations involved, peace suddenly appeared. The debacle of the Teutonic alliance was both dramatic and unexpected, except to those who knew how desperate were the conditions in the nations that were battling for autocracy. Bulgaria was first to

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CHAPTER LV

CHAPTER LV

By common consent of the Entente Allies, President Wilson was made the spokesman for the democracy of the world. As Lloyd George, Premier Clemenceau of France, Premier Orlando of Italy, and other Europeans recognized, his utterances most clearly and cogently expressed the principles for which civilization was battling against the Hun. More than that, these statesmen and the peoples they represented recognized that back of President Wilson were the high ideals of an America pledged to the redempt

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CHAPTER LVI

CHAPTER LVI

Germany's military strength developed during forty years of preparation, and the offensive plans of the German High Command developed in connection with an extraordinary spy service in France, Belgium, Russia, England and the United States, culminated in a simultaneous campaign on land and by sea, affecting these five nations. Belgium and Northern France were overrun by a German invading force under General von Kluck. The heroic effort of the French army under General Joffre and a supreme strate

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CHAPTER LVII

CHAPTER LVII

It is important that a general summary of America's military preparations, a detailed description of the operations behind the battle line and a detailed chronology of America's principal military operations in France during the year 1918 should be presented to the reader. Such a summary is afforded by the report of General Peyton C. March, Chief of Staff, United States Army, for the last year of the war. Addressing the Secretary of War, General March wrote in part: The signing of the armistice

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CHAPTER LVIII

CHAPTER LVIII

GENERAL PERSHING'S OWN STORY [Footnote: From General Pershing's official report to the Secretary of War. November 20, 1918] Immediately upon receiving my orders I selected a small staff and proceeded to Europe in order to become familiar with conditions at the earliest possible moment. The warmth of our reception in England and France was only equaled by the readiness of the commanders-in-chief of the veteran armies of the Allies and their staffs to place their experience at our disposal. In con

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CHAPTER LIX

CHAPTER LIX

On December 2, 1918, just prior to sailing for Europe to take part in the Peace Conference, President Wilson addressed Congress, reviewing the work of the American people, soldiers, sailors and civilians, in the World War which had been brought to a successful conclusion on November 11th. His speech, in part, follows: "The year that has elapsed since I last stood before you to fulfil my constitutional duty to give to the Congress from time to time information on the state of the Union has been s

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CHAPTER I

CHAPTER I

After the immortal stand of Joffre at the first battle of the Marne and the sudden savage thrust at the German center which sent von Kluck and his men reeling back in retreat to the prepared defenses along the line of the Aisne, the war in the western theater resolved itself into a play for position from deep intrenchments. Occasionally would come a sudden big push by one side or the other in which artillery was massed until hub touched hub and infantry swept to glory and death in waves of gray,

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CHAPTER II

CHAPTER II

For many years before the great war began the great powers of Europe were divided into two great alliances, the Triple Entente, composed of Russia, France and England, and the Triple Alliance, composed of Germany, Austria and Italy. When the war began Italy refused to join with Germany and Austria. Why? The answer to this question throws a vivid light on the origin of the war. Italy was a member of the Triple Alliance; she knew the facts, not only what was given to the public, but the inside fac

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CHAPTER III

CHAPTER III

If ever the true mettle and temper of a people were tried and exemplified in the crucible of battle, that battle was the naval and land engagement embracing Gallipoli and the Dardanelles and the people so tested, the British race. Separated in point of time but united in its general plan, the engagements present a picture of heroism founded upon strategic mistakes; of such perseverance and dogged determination against overwhelming natural and artificial odds as even the pages of supreme British

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CHAPTER IV

CHAPTER IV

Germany's ambition for conquest at sea had been nursed and carefully fostered for twenty years. During the decade immediately preceding the declaration of war, it had embarked upon a policy of naval up-building that brought it into direct conflict with England's sea policy. Thereafter it became a race in naval construction, England piling up a huge debt in its determination to construct two tons of naval shipping to every one ton built by Germany. Notwithstanding Great Britain's efforts in this

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CHAPTER V

CHAPTER V

In the very beginning Russia had marked out one point for attack. This was the city of Cracow. No doubt the Grand Duke Nicholas had not hoped to be able to invest that city early. The slowness of the mobilization of the Russian army made a certain prudence advisable at the beginning of the campaign. But the great success of his armies in Lemberg encouraged more daring aims. He had invested Przemysl, and Galicia lay before him. Accordingly, he set his face toward Cracow. Cracow, from a military p

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CHAPTER VI

CHAPTER VI

For more than half a century the Balkans have presented a problem which disturbed the minds of the statesmen of Europe. Again and again, during that period, it seemed that in the Balkan mountains might be kindled a blaze which might set the world afire. Balkan politics is a labyrinth in which one might easily be lost. The inhabitants of the Balkans represent many races, each with its own ambition, and, for the most part, military. There were Serbs, and Bulgarians, and Turks, and Roumanians, and

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CHAPTER VII

CHAPTER VII

In our previous discussion of the British campaign in Mesopotamia we left the British forces intrenched at Kurna, and also occupying Basra, the port of Bagdad. The object of the Mesopotamia Expedition was primarily to keep the enemy from the shores of the Gulf of Persia. If the English had been satisfied with that, the misfortune which was to come to them might never have occurred, but the whole expedition was essentially political rather than military in its nature. The British were defending I

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CHAPTER VIII

CHAPTER VIII

France was revealed to herself, to Germany and to the world as the heroic defender of civilization, as a defender defying death in the victory of Verdun. There, with the gateway to Paris lying open at its back, the French army, in the longest pitched battle in all history, held like a cold blue rock against the uttermost man power and resources of the German army. General von Falkenhayn, Chief of the German General Staff and military dictator of the Teutonic allies, there met disaster and disgra

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