The World War

THE WORLD WAR Mediation by four powers, direct negotiation, arbitration at The Hague, all were refused. The Austrian mobilization provoked Russia, which proceeded from a partial to a full mobilization. This led Germany to declare war on Russia. She had tried to secure the neutrality of England. She also endeavoured to intimi date France, and prescribed the demand of Toul and Verdun as hostages for the renunciation of the Russian alliance. The French government declared that it would be guided by its own interests alone, made a last appeal to the king of England, whose interven tion might possibly still have made Germany stop to reflect, and, on July 3o, in order to avoid all appearance of aggression, with drew her troops to 10 kilometres from the frontier.

On Aug. 2, by his violation of Belgian neutrality, and on the 3rd, by his declaration of war on France, William showed that he understood neither the history of England nor that of France. The former had never tolerated the presence of a great power at the mouth of the Scheldt, and from the time of Louis XIV. to Na poleon, had shown that she would never retire from a conflict until she had been victorious. As for the latter, in one blow, as in all other tragic moments of her destiny, German aggression rebuilt "l'union sacre." On Aug. 4 England declared war on Germany "for the sake of a scrap of paper" and Italy declared her neutrality.

Everybody believed that the war would be a short one, on ac count of the prodigious military and financial effort entailed. It was to last for more than four years (July 28, 1914–Nov. I I, 1918) ; it took on the character of a fight to the finish, not only between armies, but between whole nations, and, with an aspect increasingly scientific, industrial and economic, grew to undreamt of proportions. (For all detail, see WORLD WAR, etc.) The first period was one of movement ; it lasted for four months. The German plan was to force a decision in France by a series of staggering blows and then to turn against Russia. It nearly suc ceeded. On Aug. 20 the French offensive was broken at Morhange in Lorraine ; on the 22nd the French and the English, who had advanced to help the Belgians, had to withdraw from Mons and Charleroi to the Somme, and thence to the Marne ; but there, by one of the most marvellous recoveries known to military history, the foresight of Gallieni, and the imperturbable sangfroid of Joffre, they stopped the invasion (Sept. 6-12). The Germans were repulsed a second time, when they attempted to resume their offen sive in Flanders, thanks to the battle of the Yser (Oct. 20— Nov. I 7) .

The second phase brought in the subterranean and murderous war of trenches and battles of attrition. To hold on to the death became the order on both sides of the front, which now extended from the North sea to the Suez canal. The opposing forces were in equilibrium. By reason of her long preparation during years of peace, her splendid organization, her alliance with Turkey, Ger many possessed sufficient resources to balance the numerical supe riority of the allies and their control of the sea. The year 1915 was spent in fruitless attempts to break through, in Champagne (March–Sept.), and in Artois (May–June), and on the Isonzo after Italy had entered the war against Austria (May 25). It was, moreover, a year of reverses for the Allies in the East; i.e., the Dardanelles where Anglo-French forces unsuccessfully tried to force an entrance into Russia after communication had been cut by the Turks ; the overwhelming of the Serbs, thanks to Bulgaria, who joined the Central Powers (Oct. 5) ; and finally the im mobilization in its turn of the Russian front after the conquest of Poland by German and Austrian troops.

Verdun.

I916 was pre-eminently the year of Verdun, the most formidable battle of the war on account of its length (Feb.– Aug.) and of its epic tenacity. Having put Russia out of action, the Germans determined to pierce the French front, or to drain French manhood, and chose this old city, whose very name at once became a symbol. The reverses which the Germans suffered were very costly, however, and caused a change of tactics. They began a series of "peace offensives." Being well supplied with sureties, the Germans hoped to tire out the Allies and to escape from the position with advantage to themselves. The intervention of Rumania (Aug. 28), the vigorous counter-offensive of the Allies on the Somme, and of the Italians at Gorizia, revived the hopes of the Allies, but in vain; in a few weeks Rumania was crushed; and Greece, under Constantine, brother-in-law of William II., seemed to favour the latter; the Russians conquered Armenia, but again the naval battle of Jutland was indecisive, while an English army, shut up by the Turks in Mesopotamia, was obliged to surrender.

And so the war went on, with ever-growing intensity, costing daily thousands of human lives, and swallowing up the capital accumulated for generations.

1917.

Under this appalling strain weariness and demoraliza tion—the revolt on which Germany was counting—began to appear among the allies. Hence 1917 was the most difficult year, less on account of the actual course of the war, than because of political and economic events. Exhausted by her losses and by the allied naval blockade, Germany redoubled her intrigues and attempts to impose peace on her adversaries, and gained formida ble help from her unrestricted submarine warfare (Jan. 31) and the Russian Revolution (March). Since she dared not use her battle fleet on the high seas after the battle of Jutland, Ger many decided to starve England by sinking all food ships, even those flying a neutral flag. Instead of bringing her victory, the submarine war was fatal to her, for it brought about the in tervention of the United States (April 6). But this ally was far away and without an army. Just at the breaking point of the Entente, the October Russian Revolution, overturning the Kerensky Provisional Government of March, caused the final withdrawal of the Russian army from the Allied front.

These events naturally affected France, the chief battleground. Following the check of a new offensive on the Aisne, the attrition of English reserves in Flanders, and finally the Italian disaster at Caporetto (q.v.), mutinies broke out in the army, the spirit of 1914 was weakened behind the front, and rival factions again appeared in parliament. Under a vacillating Government a de featist peace propaganda, supposed to have been supported by the minister of the interior, was started in the army and behind the front. In order to counteract this, not only was a strong Government necessary, but one that was not likely to be pro German. Clemenceau, inheritor of the Jacobin tradition of public safety, president of the council in November, 1917, "made war" both at home and abroad, and swept away all the Malvys and Caillaux, while Petain took the army in hand.

1918.

It was time that something was done. At the beginning of 1918 the eastern front gave way completely. By the peace of Brest-Litovsk (q.v.) with the Russian communists, and the peace of Bucharest with the Rumanians, Germany was free to concen trate all her forces on the west and to strike a decisive blow on that front before the arrival of the Americans. As in 1914 she almost succeeded, thanks to the superiority of her effectives and her unity of command. On March 21, 1918, in Picardy, on April 9 in Flanders, and on May 27 on the Aisne, the French and English fronts were overwhelmed and broken under an avalanche of poison-gas shells; the Germans advanced on Calais and Amiens, and pushed to within 65 kilometres of Paris, which they bombarded day and night by aeroplanes and by monstrous and mysterious guns. But unity of command grew out of the danger of disaster. Foch was opposed to Ludendorff. The campaign had now leadership and method ; but the final battle was to last more than seven months.

Having been checked along the whole line after these passing successes, the Germans were once more defeated on the Marne (July 15-18). Foch in his turn took the offensive. Without giv ing the enemy time to breathe, he piled attack on attack, and forced him to retreat further every day in face of a combined attack of all the allied armies, till on Nov. II he drove him to capitulate in order to prevent total catastrophe. The armistice had been preceded and hastened by the collapse of Turkey and Bulgaria, and then by the overthrow of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy. Revolution broke out in Berlin and Munich, and William II., followed by the crown prince, fled to Holland. French troops re-entered Alsace-Lorraine, and there received, after half a century's absence, an unforgettable reception. Sedan was avenged. Victory was achieved, but Europe was in ruins.