Rheims, France

General von Ludendorff fled to Sweden, and one by one the rulers of the several German states were forced to abandon their thrones.

It has been said that in the hour of granting the armistice Marshal Foch showed more than at any other time the greatness of his character. He had fought with infinite skill for many months to bring about a German defeat, first through the dark hours of the great German offensive in the spring, and later, through the brilliant successes of the summer to the crowning glory of victory. In another week, or at the outside two, he would have been able to cause the most colossal surrender in the history of the world. Yet, in order that no more lives might be sacrificed, he permitted the fighting to cease. A smaller man might have found many pretexts to delay negotiations, meanwhile insuring to himself this huge military triumph. That Foch did not do so places him among the world's immortals.

THE

CHAPTER XXX

RESULTS OF THE WAR

HE immediate result of the war was the signing of an armistice which left Germany powerless. Her allies had already been rendered so. There was no possibility of further resistance.

In a general way the armistice with Germany provided that her armies should at once be withdrawn from all invaded territory, in Belgium, France, Luxemburg, and from Alsace-Lorraine, fourteen days being allowed for this operation. Forces of the Allies and the United States were to occupy these territories as the enemy withdrew. Russia and Rumania were also to be evacuated. All inhabitants of invaded countries who had been carried off to Germany were to be returned at

once.

The German armies were to surrender to the Allies as they withdrew, 2500 heavy guns, 2500 field-guns, 30,000 machine guns, 3000 trench mortars, 2000 airplanes, 5000 locomotives, 50,000 railroad cars, 10,000 motor-trucks, and a vast amount of other war material. All merchant ships belonging to the Allies in German ports were to be returned. The German navy was to be virtually destroyed by the surrender of 160 submarines

(all she possessed), 6 battle-cruisers, 10 battleships, 8 light cruisers, 50 destroyers, and a large number of auxiliary ships, such as repair vessels and mine-layers.

All prisoners of war in German hands were to be released at once, the Allies, however, retaining all their German prisoners. The iniquitous treaty of Brest Litovsk, as well as the one forced on Rumania, were declared void. Every precaution was taken to render Germany, from a military standpoint, helpless. Allied and American troops, advancing into German territory on the heels of the retiring enemy, were to occupy the Rhine cities of Mayence, Coblenz, Cologne, and the bridgeheads on the eastern side of the river, so that crossing could not be effected, while a stretch of territory along the east bank of the Rhine over eighteen miles in width, from Holland to the Swiss border, was declared neutral ground.

All these provisions were to be carried out within thirty days from the date of the armistice, and meanwhile a conference was held in Paris to arrange the terms of a permanent peace.

On November 20, Germany's great sea surrender was begun, when twenty submarines were turned over to an English squadron off Harwich. On the twenty-second it was completed by the delivery to the Allied and American fleets of the battle-ships and other war-craft named in the armistice. In utter silence the German battle fleet steamed