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RUSH ON

HE Great War fell like a scourge on humanity and millions of men who had no thought of war or bloodshed in their minds laid down their lives because a group of men, dominant in the German Empire, so willed it. No other verdict is possible in the light of history. And it is important that the verdict be fixed in the consciousness of nations for when the war shall end the damages must be assessed, so far as that may be humanly possible, and they must be laid against the government responsible -namely Imperial Ger

PARIS BATTLE OF THE MARNE

The

all the clashes of rival nationalities in the Balkans. The Pan-German ambitions of the Teutons, the glittering conception of a Mittel Europa under Hohenzollern control must for the moment be passed over. quarrel over France in Morocco, the crisis of Agadir must be ignored. Enough to say here that all the materials for a blaze that should engulf all Europe were in southeastern Europe, and when the assassination, by a fanatic, of the Archduke Ferdinand, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, and his morganatic wife at Sarajevo, in Bosnia, June 28, 1914, touched the match to the pile Germany heaped on more combustibles instead of joining other nations of western Europe in endeavors to extinguish the conflagration.

The youth who slew the royal pair escaped with a brief term of imprisonment, but more than five million men of all countries of the world paid the death penalty for his crime.

The German autocracy, the military caste, had long sought war. The Crown Prince of Germany had repeatedly said that if no war came under his father's rule he himself would start one on coming to the throne. Ambassador Gerard quotes him as having

To-day Prussia dominates all Germany, and in 1914 as since, the military caste dominated Prussia. But prior to the war there were incidents which made that caste fear for its continuance in power. Its growing arrogance was a source of constant irritation to the people. A beardless and penniless subaltern in a uniforrn untarnished by service held himself immeasurably the superior of a captain of industry whose life work had been worth uncounted millions to the Empire and all the power of the army was exerted to maintain his pretensions. The political agitation which followed the affair at Zabern, in which a young officer cut down a crippled shoemaker who laughed at him, showed that the country was ripe for revolt against military arrogance. recognized that to hold its privileges a war would be essential.

The army

And it thought to have a short war. When the Kaiser, speaking from the portal of his

palace on the day of mobilization, assured the soldiers below: "Before the leaves have fallen from the trees you will be back in your homes," he undoubtedly expressed what was his sincere belief. Ambassador Gerard has since hazarded the conjecture that perhaps he was thinking of evergreen trees. At that moment Great Britain had not signified her purpose of entering upon the war, and all Germany believed that their armies would romp to Paris, strike France to her knees, seize her colonies, and then demolish Russia at their leisure.

There were plausible reasons which the militarists could urge for forcing a war at this moment. Germany was never stronger relatively to the other powers. Her fleet, it is true, was still vastly inferior to that of Great Britain, but it was superior to that of France and there was every reason to believe that the British would keep out of the war. The German Ambassador to London had so reported. Prince Henry, the Kaiser's brother, had telegraphed that he had assurance, to that effect from King George. The Irish disaffection was at its height, and Sir Edward Carson's spectacular organization of an army in Ulster to set at defiance the laws of Parliament gave to foreign observers an exaggerated idea of its importance.

The Kiel Canal had just been opened

doubling almost the efficiency of the German fleet. The Zeppelins had been brought to such perfection that German military authorities thought they would be a decisive factor in the war an expectation destined to be sadly disappointed. The war chest was full to overflowing; 317,000,000 marks in gold in the German Imperial Bank, where two years before there had been but 174,000,000. Among the High Command it was known that the army chemists had perfected a new and deadly weapon-an asphyxiating gas that clung close to the face of the earth, and rolled along before a favoring breeze. Nothing living could withstand a breath of it. The German army was at its greatest proportions, while the French law calling for three years' military service, and the Belgian law for universal service had not yet gone into effect.

It was easy for the militarists to convince the handful of men-the people had nothing whatever to say-with whom rested the authority to declare war or peace, that if Germany was ever to strike that was the

moment.

After the assassination of the royal couple in June it seemed for some time that the incident as a casus belli would pass over as so many had before it. It was discussed in the dark and devious ways of secret diplomacy, but the world had forgotten it and was

going its peaceful ways when on the 23rd of July the government of Austria dispatched to Servia an ultimatum so arrogant in its demands, so brutal in its terms that the world suddenly awoke to the fact that this meant war. It practically demanded that Servia surrender its sovereignty, put Austrian officials in charge of its courts, and permit its people to be tried by Austrian tribunals. Forty-eight hours was allowed for a sponse a period which as George Bernard Shaw remarked "would have been indecent. in presenting a board bill." When the threatened nation conceded almost everything more than any other country expected it to concede-Austria backed by Germany remorselessly adhered to the letter of its ultimatum and began the bombardment of Belgrade on the day fixed.

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Europe was of course divided into hostile camps and alliances. Germany, Austria and Italy constituted the Triple Alliance or Dreibund. But Italy was bound only to aid the others in case of an attack upon their territory. Accordingly she held aloof from her allies for nearly a year, and finally entered the war as an ally of their enemies the Triple Entente, of England, France and Russia, with whom the agonies of invasion united Belgium. Pending the outbreak of war we find each group of nations working in concert diplomatically. England, France

After the Austrian ultimatum had been delivered the wires buzzed with the endeavors of the peace seeking nations to check the rush to war. England took the lead. Looking back on those crowded days of diplomatic effort one is convinced that Great Britain sincerely desired that peace be kept, but also that her foreign secretary, Sir Edward Grey, omitted the one thing necessary to secure it. Until the last moment he left the German ambassador to London in doubt whether in any contingency whatsoever Great Britain would fight. The general temper of the British people was so clearly against war, and there seemed to be so many conditions making their entrance upon war at that moment more than ordinarily precarious, that Ambassador Lichnowsky reported from London that Great Britain could safely be counted upon as neutral. Believing this Germany pursued its provocative course. The Kaiser and his advisers were never so astonished and dismayed as when notice came of the British declaration of war, and the populace of Germany straightway began the development and practice of that policy of hate which may have kept them a unit

war.

But prior to taking the final step Sir Edward Grey exhausted every device to secure peace, or at least to delay the declaration of His notes flew along the wires to every chancellery of Europe. He urged that Vienna and Petrograd discuss the situation directly; that the case between Russia and Austria be left to the other four Great PowersGreat Britain, France, Germany and Italy. But Austria turned a deaf ear to all suggestions, while Germany insisted that the quarrel between Austria and Servia should be fought out by those parties alone, and that England should restrain her ally Russia. While urging this, Germany stolidly refused to restrain or even openly to advise her ally Austria. In all the records of diplomatic correspondence issued by Germany and Austria in a belated effort to escape the odium of having caused the world war there is not one letter or dispatch from the former to the latter urging delay, moderation or conciliatory tactics. It is evident that the policy of the Kaiser was to preach ostentatiously to the world his desire for peace, while giving private assurances to Austria of support in all that she might do to make peace impossible.