In a narrower sense we may ask whether or not Germany was defeated in a military way. Up to 1 November it was not possible to say she was defeated. Her lines were heavily beset but they still held. Then came Pershing's break through and the capture of Sedan. After that Germany was defeated. It is true her armies were not back to the Rhine, but they were isolated and pressed by greatly superior foes. With heavy losses they might have drawn back through the roads in the Ardennes in the cold, but it would have been as Napoleon retreated from Moscow, with a victorious enemy harassing at every step, and in the spring the coup de grace. Ludendorff was beateu when he surrendered. He was too good an officer to give up. too soon. By prolonging the war he could have inflicted more punislunent on the opponents of Germany and a greater amount on Germany herself, but he could not have ob tained better terms. It is a wise general who knows when he ought to lay down the sword.
The honor of breaking through the German defenses .was not all Pershing's. Rawlinson's feat north of Saint Quentin was equally valor ous. Moreover, Pershing could not have reached Sedan if French, British and Belgian armies had not been fighting hard in other sec tors to hold the attention of the Germans. Against the German ring blows were being de livered simultaneously irr several places, wear ing thin the iron ring. It was the blows of the men front the United States that first broke through. If they struck harder they had not struck so long. Fresh, ardent and brave, they were in a position to reap the fruits of the service of those who had fought and died be fore they came into the war. The defeat of Germany was won by all who fought against her.
Bibliography.— Of general works the best is Buchan, John, (Nelson's History of the War' (24 vols., New York and London 1915-19). Its point of view is British, and it contains little on the inilitary controversies rising mit of the war. It deals with all phases of the war, and may be pronounced a successful contemporary account of the struggle. A shorter but more critical work is Simonds, Frank H., (History of the World War) (3 vols., Garden City 1919). The first volume appeared in two parts as (The Great War' (to the fall of Antwerp; New York 1914) and (The Great War, the Second Phase) (to the end of the second battle of Ypres, 1 May 1915; ib. 1915). The author was one of the best American military ex perts who wrote for the newspapers during the war. He writes very clearly, but at times his descriptions are needlessly prolix. Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan, (A History of the Great War' (Vols. I-V, New York and London 1916-19) is a dry summary of facts without perspective or philosophy. Belloc, Hilaire, (The Elements of the Great War' (Vols. ib. 1915-16) is an ambitious work that vvas not finished. The same may be said of Murray, Col. A. M., (The ((Fortnightly* History of the War) (Vol. I, ib. 1916). Another similar work is Le Quex, William and Wallace, Edgar, (The War of Nations) (4 vols., London). A small French
work is Zurlinden, General, (La guerre de liberation, 1914-18' (2 vols., Paris 1919). An informing commentary on events in France is Reinach, Toseph, (La guerre de 1914-16: Les commentaires de Polybe (Vols. I-XVI, ib. 1916),. comments day by day published first in Le Figaro, Paris newspaper; The New York Times"Current History of the War) (9 vols., December 1914-November 1918) contains some valuable documents, as well as many important papers. Johnson, Douglas W., (Topography and Strategy of the Great War' (New York 1917) is interesting because it traces the relation of geography and physical conditions to the strategy of campaigns. On American participa tion in the war two books are available: Mc Master, John B., (The United States in the Great War) (2 vols., ib. 1918-19) and Bassett, Joh,n S, (Our War with Germany) (ib. 1919).
The beg.inning of the war brought forth a great number of books of personal experience in the war areas, some of them dealing with trench life, others with specific campaigns, and others with various phases of experience in the war. Many sprightly narratives were thus produced, and some of them will endure as vivid portrayals of the life of the times. Of this class of books the following are among the best: Beith, John Hay (pseud. Ian Hay), (The First Hundred Thousand) (Boston and London 1916) ; id., (All in It) (ib. 1917); Powell, E. Alexander, (Fighting in Flanders' (New York and London 1914); Davis, Richard Harding, (With the Allies) (New York 1914) ; Huard, Mme. Frances (Wilson). (My Home in the Field of Honor) (ib. 1916) • ul., (My Home in the Field of Mercy) eib. 1917); Belmont, Capitaine Ferdinand, (Lettres d'un officier de Chasseurs Alpins, 1914-15' (Paris 1916); Malleterre, General, (Etudes et . im pressions de guerre) (2 vols., ib. 1917) ; Morlat, Edward, (A Soldier of the Legion' (Boston 1916), on the campaigns of the Foreign Legion; Kipling, Rudyard, (France at War' (Garden City and London 1915) ; and La Mout, Ellen N., (The Bacicwash of War' (New Yoric 1916Y, observations in hospitals. Several newspaper correspondents wrote -emineeted accounts of events, mostly reprinted from their journalistic work, among them being: Gibbs, Philip, (The Soul of the War' (New Wick and London 1915; id, (From Bapaume to Pass chendaele) (New York 1917) ; id., (The Battles of the Somme) (ib. 1917) • id_ (The Way to Victory) (2 vols., ib. 1919)'. Mr. Gibbs puts much color into his letters and declared-that he tried to portray the spirit of the British army; Cobb, Irving S., (Paths of Glory) (ib. 1915), behind the German lines; Hedin2 Sven Anders, 'With the German Armies in the West) (New York and London 1915) ; Palma, Frederick, (My Year of the Great War) (New York 1915) ; id., (My Second Year of the War) (ib. 1917) •, id., (America in France) (ib. 1918) ; Gibbons, Herbert Adams, (Paris Re born) (ib. 1915) ;. and Whitridge, F. W., (One American's Opinion of the European Wae (ib. 1914).