What brought on the mighty war which so suddenly sprang forth? What evident, what subtle, what deep-hidden causes led to this sudden demolition of the temple of peace? What pride of power, what lust of ambition, what desire of imperial dominion cast the armed hosts of the nations into the field of conflict, on which multitudes of innocent victims were to be sacrificed to the insatiate hunger for blood of the modern Moloch? Here are questions which few are capable of answering. Ostensible answers

Within the whole history of mankind the nations of the earth had never been so thoroughly equipped for the art of warfare as they were in 1914. While the arts of construction have enormously developed, those of destruction have fully kept pace with them; and the horrors of war have enormously increased side by side with the benignities of peace. It is interesting to trace the history of warfare from this point of view. Beginning with the club and hammer of the stone age, advancing through the bo

The influence of the European War permeated everything from and through the nation to the individual, from trade and commerce and world-finance to the cost of food and the price of labor. The whole world, civilized and uncivilized, was drawn into this whirlpool of disaster - the majority of the population of the earth was actually at war. Was it possible that such a vast conflict - so far reaching in its racial and national elements, so bitter in its old and new animosities, so great in its terr

The history of the leading events in the nations of Europe during a hundred years of the past, so far as they related to the decline of autocratic power in the monarchs and the development of popular rights and liberty, has been given in the preceding chapters, where it is brought down to the close of the Balkan War and the opening of the great war that succeeded in 1914. As regards this war, its story cannot be told or even summarized in a chapter, but some indication of its general character m

Its Effect on National conditions Finally Led to the War of 1914 Conditions in France and Germany - The Campaign in Italy - The Victory at Marengo - Moreau at Hohenlinden - The Consul made Emperor - The Code Napoleon - Campaign of 1805 - Battle of Austerlitz - The Conquest of Prussia - The Invasion of Poland - Eylau and Friedland - Campaign of 1809 - Victory at Wagram - The Campaign in Spain - The Invasion of Russia - A Fatal Retreat - Dresden and Leipzig - The Hundred Days - The Congress of Vie

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 Pan-Slavism against Pan-Germanism was the issue which was launched when the Emperor of all the Russias took up Servia's quarrel with Austria-Hungary. Russia, if she wanted a ground for war, could have found no better one. The popularity of her aggressive big-brother attitude to all

The Final Overthrow of Napoleonism The Coup-d'Etat of 1851 - From President to Emperor - The Empire is Peace - War With Austria - The Austrians Advance - The Battle of Magenta - Possession of Lombardy - French Victory at Solferino - Treaty of Peace - Invasion of Mexico - End of Napoleon's Career The name of Napoleon is a name to conjure with in France. Two generations after the fall of Napoleon the Great the people of that country had practically forgotten the misery he had brought them, and rem

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 From the time of the fall of the Roman Empire until late in the nineteenth century, a period of some fourteen hundred years, Italy remained disunited, divided up among a series of states, small and large, hostile and peace

Beginnings 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 The effort made in 1848 to unify Germany had failed for two reasons - first, because its promoters had not sufficiently clear and precise ideas, and, secondly, because they lacked material strength. Until 1859 re

Birth of the German Empire and the French Republic 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 - Paris is Besieged - Defiant Spirit of the French - The Struggle Continued - Operations Before Paris - Fighting in the South - Th

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 Throughout the various events narrated in the two preceding chapters the hand of Bismarck was everywhere visible. He had proved himself a statesman of the highest powers

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 It is a fact of much interest, as showing the growth of the human mind, that William Ewart Gladstone, the great advocate of English Liberalism, made his first political speech in vigorous opposition to the Reform Bill

Struggles of a New Nation The Republic Organized - The Commune of Paris - Instability of the Government - Thiers Proclaimed President - Punishment of the Unsuccessful Generals - MacMahon a Royalist President - Bazaine's Sentence and Escape - Grevy, Gambetta and Boulanger - The Panama Canal Scandal - Despotism of the Army Leaders - The Dreyfus Case - Church and State - The Moroccan Controversy It has been already told how the capitulation of the French army at Sedan and the captivity of Louis Nap

The Outcome of Slavic Ambition Siege of Sebastopol - Russia in Asia - The Russo-Japanese War - Port Arthur Taken - The Russian Fleet Defeated Among the most interesting phases of nineteenth-century history is that of the conflict between Russia and Turkey, a struggle for dominion that came down from the preceding centuries, and still seems only temporarily laid aside for final settlement in the years to come. In the eighteenth century the Turks proved quite able to hold their own against all the

How England Became Mistress of the Seas Great Britain as a Colonizing Power - Colonies in the Pacific Region - Colonization in Africa - British Colonies in Africa - The Mahdi Rebellion in Egypt - Gordon at Khartoum - Suppression of the Mahdi Revolt - Colonization in Asia - The British in India - Colonies in America - Development of Canada - Progress in Canada In the era preceding the nineteenth century Spain, France, and Great Britain were the great colonizing Powers, the last named being the la

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 - Capture of Wei Hai Wei - Europe Invades China - The Boxer Outbreak - Russian Designs on Manchuria - Japan Begins War on Russia - The Armies Meet - China Becomes a Republic Asia, the greatest of the contine

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 In the southeast of Europe lies a group of minor kingdoms, of

Ancient and Modern Weapons - New Types of Weapons - The Ironclad Warship - The Balloon in War - Tennyson's Foresight - Gunning for Airships - The Submarine - Under-Water Warfare - The New Type of Battleship - Mobilization - The Waste of War One hundred years ago the Battle of Waterloo had just been fought and Napoleon's star had set never to rise again. For years he had swept Europe with his armies, rending the nations into fragments, and winning world-famous victories with weapons that no one w

New Relations Toward the Empire - Military Preparations - The Great camp at Valcartier - The Canadian Expeditionary Force - Political Effect of Canada's Action on Future of the Dominion The sailing of the First Canadian Contingent on October 2, 1914, for England, en route to the theater of war, marked a noteworthy epoch in Canadian history. For the first time the Dominion took her place, not as a British colony, but as a component part of the British Empire. This position was established by the