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diff --git a/7189-8.txt b/7189-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..33b570e --- /dev/null +++ b/7189-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,12835 @@ +Project Gutenberg's A Short History of the Great War, by A. F. Pollard + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Short History of the Great War + +Author: A. F. Pollard + + +Release Date: December, 2004 [EBook #7189] +This file was first posted on March 26, 2003 +Last Updated: May 7, 2013 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A SHORT HISTORY OF THE GREAT WAR *** + + + + +Produced by Project Gutenberg Distributed Proofreaders Team + + + + + + + A SHORT HISTORY OF + THE GREAT WAR + + BY + + A. F. POLLARD + M.A., Litt.D. + + FELLOW OF ALL SOULS COLLEGE, OXFORD + PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH HISTORY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF LONDON + + WITH NINETEEN MAPS + + METHUEN & CO. LTD. + 36 ESSEX STREET W.C. + LONDON + + First Published in 1920 + + + CONTENTS + + CHAP. + I. THE BREACH OF THE PEACE + II. THE GERMAN INVASION + III. RUSSIA MOVES + IV. THE WAR ON AND BEYOND THE SEAS + V. ESTABLISHING THE WESTERN FRONT + VI. THE FIRST WINTER OF THE WAR + VII. THE FAILURE OF THE ALLIED OFFENSIVE + VIII. THE DEFEAT OF RUSSIA + IX. THE CLIMAX OF GERMAN SUCCESS + X. THE SECOND WINTER OF THE WAR + XI. THE SECOND GERMAN OFFENSIVE IN THE WEST + XII. THE ALLIED COUNTER-OFFENSIVE + XIII. THE BALKANS AND POLITICAL REACTIONS + XIV. THE TURN OF THE TIDE + XV. HOPE DEFERRED + XVI. THE BALANCE OF POWER + XVII. THE EVE OF THE FINAL STRUGGLE + XVIII. THE LAST GERMAN OFFENSIVE + XIX. THE VICTORY OF THE ENTENTE + XX. THE FOUNDATIONS OF PEACE + INDEX + + + LIST OF MAPS + + 1. THE GERMAN INVASION OF FRANCE + 2. THE BATTLES OF THE AISNE + 3. THE CAMPAIGNS IN ARTOIS + 4. THE DARDANELLES + 5. THE RUSSIAN FRONT + 6. THE BALKANS + 7. MESOPOTAMIA + 8. THE CAUCASUS + 9. THE ATTACK ON VERDUN + 10. THE BATTLE OF THE SOMME + 11. THE RUMANIAN CAMPAIGN + 12. THE CONQUEST OF EAST AFRICA + 13. THE BALTIC CAMPAIGNS + 14. THE BATTLES IN FLANDERS + 15. THE ITALIAN FRONT + 16. THE BATTLES OF ARRAS AND CAMBRAI + 17. THE LAST GERMAN OFFENSIVE + 18. THE CONQUEST OF SYRIA + 19. FOCH'S CAMPAIGN + + NOTE + +The manuscript of this book, except the last chapter, was finished on +21 May 1919, and the revision of the last chapter was completed in +October. It may be some relief to a public, distracted by the +apologetic deluge which has followed on the peace, to find how little +the broad and familiar outlines of the war have thereby been affected. + + A. F. P. + + A SHORT HISTORY OF THE + GREAT WAR + + CHAPTER I + + THE BREACH OF THE PEACE + +On 28 June 1914 the Archduke Francis Ferdinand, heir-presumptive to +the Hapsburg throne, was shot in the streets of Serajevo, the capital +of the Austrian province of Bosnia. Redeemed by the Russo-Turkish war +of 1876-7 from Ottoman rule, Bosnia had by the Congress of Berlin in +1878 been entrusted to Austrian administration; but in 1908, fearing +lest a Turkey rejuvenated by the Young Turk revolution should seek to +revive its claims on Bosnia, the Austrian Government annexed on its +own authority a province confided to its care by a European mandate. +This arbitrary act was only challenged on paper at the time; but the +striking success of Serbia in the Balkan wars of 1912-13 brought out +the dangers and defects of Austrian policy. For the Serbs were kin to +the great majority of the Bosnian people and to millions of other +South Slavs who were subject to the Austrian crown and discontented +with its repressive government; and the growing prestige of Serbia +bred hopes and feelings of Slav nationality on both sides of the +Hapsburg frontier. The would-be and the real assassins of the +Archduke, while technically Austrian subjects, were Slavs by birth, +and the murder brought to a head the antagonism between a race +becoming conscious of its possibilities and a government determined to +repress them. The crime gave a moral advantage to the oppressor, but +the guilt has yet to be apportioned, and instigation may have come +from secret sources within the Hapsburg empire; for the Archduke was +hated by dominant cliques on account of his alleged pro-Slav +sympathies and his suspected intention of admitting his future Slav +subjects to a share in political power. + +For some weeks after the murder it bade fair to pass without a +European crisis, for the public was unaware of what happened at a +secret conclave held at Potsdam on 5 July. It was there decided that +Germany should support to the uttermost whatever claims Austria might +think fit to make on Serbia for redress, and she was encouraged to put +them so high as either to ensure the domination of the Balkans by the +Central Empires through Serbian submission, or to provoke a war by +which alone the German militarists thought that German aims could be +achieved. That was the purport of the demands presented to Serbia on +23 July: acceptance would have reduced her to a dependence less formal +but little less real than that of Bosnia, while the delay in +presenting the demands was used to complete the preparations for war +which rejection would provoke. It was not, however, against Serbia +that the German moves were planned. She could be left to Austria, +while Germany dealt with the Powers which would certainly be involved +by the attack on Serbian independence. + +The great Power immediately concerned was Russia, which had long +aspired to an outlet into European waters not blocked by winter ice or +controlled by Baltic States. For that and for the less interested +reasons of religion and racial sympathy she had fought scores of +campaigns against the Turks which culminated in the liberation of most +of the Balkans in 1878; and she could not stand idle while the fruits +of her age-long efforts were gathered by the Central Empires and she +herself was cut off from the Mediterranean by an obstacle more fatal +than Turkish dominion in the form of a Teutonic corridor from Berlin +to Baghdad. Serbia, too, Orthodox in religion and Slav in race, was +more closely bound to Russia than was any other Balkan State; and an +attack on Serbia was a deadly affront to the Russian Empire. It was +not intended as anything else. Russia was slowly recovering from her +defeat in the Russo-Japanese war of 1904-5 and from the revolutionary +outbreaks which had followed; and there was little doubt that sooner +or later she would seek compensation for the rebuffs she had suffered +from the mailed fist during her impotence. Conscience made Germany +sensitive to the Slav peril, and her militarist philosophy taught her +that the best defence was to get her blow in first. Her diplomacy in +July was directed towards combining this advantage with the +appearance, needed to bemuse her people and the world at large, of +acting in self-defence. + +But Russia was the object of Germany's diplomatic activity rather than +of her military preparations. It was thought that Russia could not +mobilize in less than six weeks or strike effectively in less than two +or three months, and that that interval would suffice for the crushing +of France, who was bound by treaty to intervene if Russia were +attacked. The German mobilization was therefore directed first against +France, defence against Russia being left to second-line German troops +and to an Austrian offensive. The defeat of France was not, however, +regarded by Germans as a mere incident in a war against Russia; for it +was a cardinal point in the programme of the militarists, whose mind +was indiscreetly revealed by Bernhardi, that France must be so +completely crushed that she could never again cross Germany's path. To +Frenchmen the war appeared to be mainly a continuation of the national +duel which had been waged since the sixteenth century. To Great +Britain it appeared, on the other hand, as the forcible culmination of +a new rivalry for colonial empire and the dominion of the seas. But +these were in truth but local aspects of a comprehensive German +ambition expressed in the antithesis Weltmacht oder Niedergang. +Bismarck had made the German Empire and raised it to the first place +as a European Power. Europe, it was discovered, was a small portion of +the globe; and Bismarck's successful methods were now to be used on a +wider scale to raise Germany to a similar predominance in the world. +The Serbian plot was merely the lever to set the whole machinery +working, and German activities all the world over from Belgrade and +Petrograd to Constantinople, Ulster, and Mexico were parts in a +comprehensive piece. + +But while the German sword was pointed everywhere, its hilt was in +Berlin. Prussia supplied the mind which conceived the policy and +controlled its execution; and in the circumstances of the Prussian +Government must be sought the mainspring of the war. The cause of the +war was not the Serbian imbroglio nor even German rivalry with Russia, +France, or Britain. These were the occasions of its outbreak and +extension; but national rivalries always exist and occasions for war +are never wanting. They only result in war when one of the parties to +the dispute wants to break the peace; and the Prussian will-to-war was +due to the domestic situation of a Prussian government which had been +made by the sword and had realized before 1914 that it could not be +maintained without a further use of the sword. That government was the +work of Bismarck, who had been called to power in 1863 to save the +Hohenzollerns from subjection to Parliament and had found in the +Danish and Austrian wars of 1864 and 1866 the means of solving the +constitutional issue at Berlin. The cannon of Königgratz proved more +convincing than Liberal arguments; and the methods of blood and iron, +by which Bismarck, Moltke, and Roon conquered Denmark, Austria, and +France and annexed to Prussia the greater part of German soil, +impressed upon Germany a constitution in which the rule of the sword +was merely concealed behind a skilfully emasculated parliamentary +system. The Reichstag with its universal suffrage was the scabbard of +the Prussian sword, and it was because the sword could not do the work +required of it while it lay in the scabbard that it was drawn in 1914. + +Since 1871 the object of every Prussian Government had been to +reconcile the German people to the veiled rule of the sword by +exhibiting results which, it was contended, could not otherwise have +been secured. Historians dwelt on the failure of the German Parliament +at Frankfurt to promote a national unity which was left for Prussian +arms to achieve, and philosophers deduced from that example a +comprehensive creed of might. More material arguments were provided +for the man in business and in the street by the skilful activities of +the Government in promoting trade, industry, and social welfare; and +the wealth, which would in any case have accrued from the removal of +the tariff-walls and other barriers between the thirty-nine +independent States of Germany, was credited to the particular method +of war by which the unification had been accomplished. No State had +hitherto made such economic progress as did the German Empire in the +generation after Metz and Sedan, and the success of their rulers led +most of the German people to place implicit reliance on the testimony +those rulers bore to the virtue of their means. The means did not, +however, commend themselves to the rest of the world with equal +conviction; and an increasing aversion to the mailed fist on the part +of other countries led to what Germans called the hostile encirclement +of their Fatherland. Gradually it became clearer that Prussian +autocracy could not reproduce in the sphere of world-ambitions the +success which had attended it in Germany unless it could reduce the +world to the same submission by the use of similar arguments. + +But still the Prussian Government was driven towards imperialistic +expansion by the ever-increasing force of public opinion and popular +discontent. It could only purchase renewed leases of autocratic power +at home, with its perquisites for those who wielded and supported +autocracy, by feeding the minds of the people with diplomatic triumphs +and their bodies with new markets for commercial and industrial +expansion; and the incidents of military domination grew ever more +irksome to the populace. The middle classes were fairly content, and +the parties which represented them in the Reichstag offered no real +opposition to Prussian ideas of government. But the Social Democrats +were more radical in their principles and were regarded by Prussian +statesmen as open enemies of the Prussian State. Rather than submit to +social democracy Prussians avowed their intention of making war, and +war abroad would serve their turn a great deal better than civil +strife. The hour was rapidly advancing two years before the war broke +out. The German rebuff over Agadir in 1911 was followed by a general +election in 1912 at which the Social Democrats polled nearly a third +of the votes and secured by far the largest representation of any +party in the Reichstag. In 1913, after a particularly violent +expression of militarism called "the Zabern incident," the Reichstag +summoned up courage for the first time in its history to pass a vote +of censure on the Government. The ground was slipping from under the +feet of Prussian militarism; it must either fortify its position by +fresh victories or take the risk of revolution. It preferred the +chances of European war, and found in the Serbian incident a means of +provoking a war the blame for which could be laid at others' doors. + +The German Kaiser played but a secondary part in these transactions. +It is true that the German constitution placed in his hands the +command of the German Army and Navy and the control of foreign policy; +but no paper or parchment could give him the intellect to direct the +course of human affairs. He had indeed dismissed Bismarck in 1890, but +dropping the pilot did not qualify him to guide the ship of state, and +he was himself in 1906 compelled to submit to the guidance of his +ministers. The shallow waters of his mind spread over too vast a +sphere of activity to attain any depth, and he had the foibles of +Frederick the Great without his courage or his capacity. His barbaric +love of pomp betrayed the poverty of his spirit and exhibited a +monarchy reduced from power to a pageant. He was not without his +generous impulses or exalted sentiments, and there was no section of +the British public, from Mr. Ramsay Macdonald to Mr. Rudyard Kipling +and the "Daily Mail," to which one or other of his guises had not +commended itself; it pleased him to pose as the guardian of the peace +of Europe, the champion of civilization against the Boxers, and of +society against red revolution. But vanity lay at the root of all +these manifestations, and he took himself not less seriously as an +arbiter of letters, art, and religion than as a divinely appointed +ruler of the State. The many parts he played were signs of versatile +emotion rather than of power; and his significance in history is that +he was the crest of a wave, its superficial froth and foam without its +massive strength. A little man in a great position, he was powerless +to ride the whirlwind or direct the storm, and he figured largely in +the public eye because he vented through an imperial megaphone the +fleeting catchwords of the vulgar mind. + +After Agadir he had often been called a coward behind his back, and it +was whispered that his throne would be in danger if that surrender +were repeated. He had merited these reproaches because no one had done +more than he to inflate the arrogance of his people, and his eldest +son took the lead in exasperating public opinion behind the scenes. +The militarists, with considerable backing from financial and +commercial groups, were bent on war, and war appeals to the men in the +streets of all but the weakest countries. The mass of the people had +not made up their mind for a war that was not defensive; but modern +governments have ample means for tuning public opinion, and with a +people so accustomed as the Germans to accept the truth from above, +their rulers would have little difficulty, when once they had agreed +upon war, in representing it as one of defence. It is, however, +impossible to say when, if ever, the rulers of Germany agreed to +attack; and to the last the Imperial Chancellor, Bethmann-Hollweg, +struggled to delay if not to avert the breach. But he gradually lost +his grip on the Kaiser. The decisive factor in the Emperor's mind may +have been the rout in 1912-13 of the Turks, on whom Germany had staked +her credit in return for control of the Berlin-Baghdad route; for the +free Balkan confederation, which loomed on the horizon, would bar for +ever German expansion towards the East. The Balkan States themselves +provided the German opportunity; the Treaty of Bukarest in 1913 +entrenched discord in their hearts and reopened a path for German +ambition and intrigue. Austria, not without the usual instigation, +proposed to Italy a joint attack upon Serbia; the offer was not +accepted, but by the winter of 1913-14 the Kaiser had gone over to the +party which had resolved upon war and was seeking an occasion to +palliate the cause. + +The immeasurable distance between the cause and the occasion was shown +by the fact that Belgium was the first to suffer in an Austro-Serbian +dispute; and the universal character of the issue was foreshadowed by +the breach of its neutrality. Germany would not have planned for two +years past an offensive through that inoffensive, unconcerned, and +distant country, had the cause of the war been a murder at Serajevo. +The cause was a comprehensive determination on the German part to +settle international issues by the sword, and it involved the +destinies of civilization. The blow was aimed directly or indirectly +at the whole world, and Germany's only prospect of success lay in the +chance that most of the world would fail to perceive its implications +or delay too long its effective intervention. It was the defect of her +self-idolatry and concentration that she could not develop an +international mind or fathom the mentality of other peoples. She could +not conceive how England would act on a "scrap of paper," and never +dreamt of American participation. But she saw that Russia and France +would inevitably and immediately be involved in war by the attempt at +armed dictation in the Balkans, and that the issue would decide the +fate of Europe. The war would therefore be European and could only be +won by the defeat of France and Russia. Serbia would be merely the +scene of local and unimportant operations, and, Russia being the +slower to move, the bulk of the German forces were concentrated on the +Rhine for the purpose of overwhelming France. + +The condition of French politics was one of the temptations which led +the Prussian militarists to embark upon the hazard. France had had her +troubles with militarism, and its excesses over the Dreyfus case had +produced a reaction from which both the army command and its political +ally the Church had suffered. A wave of national secularism carried a +law against ecclesiastical associations which drove religious orders +from France, and international Socialism found vent in a pacifist +agitation against the terms of military service. A rapid succession of +unstable ministries, which the group system in French parliamentary +politics encouraged, militated against sound and continuous +administration; and in April 1914 a series of revelations in the +Senate had thrown an unpleasant light upon the efficiency of the army +organization. On military grounds alone there was much to be said for +the German calculation that in six weeks the French armies could be +crushed and Paris reached. But the Germans paid the French the +compliment of believing that this success could not be achieved before +Russia made her weight felt, unless the Germans broke the +international guarantees on which the French relied, and sought in +Belgium an easier and less protected line of advance than through the +Vosges. + +For that crime public opinion was not prepared either in France or +England, but it had for two years at least been the settled policy of +the German military staff, and it had even been foretold in England a +year before that the German attack would proceed by way of Liège and +Namur. There had also been military "conversations" between Belgian +and British officers with regard to possible British assistance in the +event of Germany's violation of Belgian neutrality. But the Belgian +Ministry was naturally reluctant to proceed far on that assumption, +which might have been treated as an insult by an honest or dishonest +German Government; and it was impossible for England to press its +assistance upon a neutralized State which could not even discuss it +without casting a slur upon the honour of its most powerful neighbour. +Nor was England bound by treaty to defend the neutrality of Belgium. +She had been so bound by a treaty concluded during the Franco-Prussian +War; but that treaty expired in the following year, and the treaty of +1839, which regulated the international situation of Belgium, merely +bound the five great signatory Powers not to violate Belgian +neutrality without obliging them individually or collectively to +resist its violation. It was not in fact regarded in 1839 as +conceivable that any of the Great Powers would ever violate so solemn +a pledge, and there was some complacent satisfaction that by thus +neutralizing a land which had for centuries been the cockpit of +Europe, the Powers had laid the foundations of permanent peace. But +the bond of international morality was loosened during the next +half-century, and in the eighties even English newspapers argued in +favour of a German right-of-way through Belgium for the purposes of +war with France. It does not appear that the treaty was ever regarded +as a serious obstacle by the German military staff; for neither +treaties nor morality belong to the curricula of military science +which had concluded that encirclement was the only way to defeat a +modern army, and that through Belgium alone could the French defence +be encircled. The Chancellor admitted that technically Germany was +wrong, and promised full reparation after the war. But he was never +forgiven the admission, even by German jurists, who argued that +treaties were only binding rebus sic stantibus, while the conditions +in which they were signed remained substantially the same; and Germans +had long cast covetous eyes on the Congo State, the possession of +which, they contended, was inconsistent with Belgium's legal immunity +from attack in Europe. + +The opposition of Bethmann-Hollweg and the German foreign office was +accordingly brushed aside, and the army made all preparations for an +invasion of France through Belgium. The diplomatists would have made a +stouter resistance had they anticipated the attitude England was to +adopt. But the German ambassador in London, Prince Lichnowsky, failed +to convince his Government that there was anything to fear from the +British Empire. Mr. Lloyd George has claimed it as one of the +advantages we derive from the British press that it misleads public +opinion abroad, and a study of "The Times," the only British newspaper +that carries much weight in foreign countries, may well have persuaded +the German Government in 1914 that eight years of Liberal +administration were not likely to have provided England with the +means, or left it the spirit, to challenge the might of Germany. She +was known to have entered into no binding alliance with France or +Russia; the peace had never in all their history been broken between +the two great Protestant Powers; and, while there had been serious +naval and colonial rivalry and some diplomatic friction, relations in +1913-14 seemed to have entered calmer waters. Germany had been well +satisfied with the efforts and sacrifices England had made to prevent +the Balkan crisis from developing into a European war; and Lichnowsky +was successfully negotiating treaties which gave Germany unexpected +advantages with regard to the Baghdad railway and African +colonization. On the eve of war the English were hailed as cousins in +Berlin, and the earliest draft of the German official apology, +intended for American consumption, spoke of Great Britain and Germany +labouring shoulder to shoulder to preserve the peace against Russian +aggression. The anger of the Kaiser, the agitation of the Chancellor, +and the fury of the populace when England declared war showed that +Germany had no present intention of adding the British Empire to her +list of enemies and little fear that it would intervene unless it were +attacked. Any anxiety she may have felt was soothed by the studied +assumption that England's desire, if any, to intervene would be +effectively checked by her domestic situation. Agents from Ulster were +buying munitions to fight Home Rule with official connivance in +Germany, and it was confidently expected that war would shake a +ramshackle British Empire to its foundations; there would be +rebellions in Ireland, India, and South Africa, and the self-governing +Dominions would at least refuse to participate in Great Britain's +European adventures. In such circumstances "the flannelled fool at the +wicket and the muddied oaf at the goal" might be trusted to hug his +island security and stick to his idle sports; and the most windy and +patriotic of popular British weeklies was at the end of July +placarding the streets of London with the imprecation "To hell with +Servia." + +The object of German diplomacy was to avoid offence to British +susceptibilities, and the first requisite was to keep behind the +scenes. The Kaiser went off on a yachting cruise to Norway, where, +however, he was kept in constant touch with affairs, while Austria on +23 July presented her ultimatum to the Serbian Government. The terms +amounted to a demand for the virtual surrender of Serbian +independence, and were in fact intended to be rejected. Serbia, +however, acting on Russian and other advice, accepted them all except +two, which she asked should be referred to the Hague Tribunal. Austria +refused on the ground that the dispute was not of a justiciable +nature; and the meagre five days' grace having expired on the 28th, +Austrian troops crossed the Save and occupied Belgrade, the Serbians +withdrawing without resistance. Meanwhile feverish activity agitated +the chancelleries of Europe. The terms of the ultimatum had been +discussed by the British Cabinet on Friday the 24th, and the British +Fleet, which had been reviewed at Spithead on the previous Saturday, +was, instead of dispersing at Portland, kept together, and then, on +the 29th, dispatched to its war stations in the North Sea. +Simultaneously the German High Seas Fleet withdrew on the 26th to Kiel +and Wilhelmshaven. Russia replied to the Austrian invasion of Serbia +by mobilizing her southern command and extending the mobilization, as +the hand of Germany became more apparent, to her northern armies. Sir +Edward Grey made unceasing efforts to avert the clash of arms by +peaceable negotiation, and proposed a conference of the four Great +Powers not immediately concerned in the dispute--Germany, France, +Italy, and Great Britain. Germany, knowing that she would stand alone +in the conference, declined. The dispute, she pretended, was merely a +local affair between Austria and Serbia, in which no other Power had +the right to intervene. But she refused to localize the dispute to the +extent of regarding it as a Balkan conflict between the interests of +Austria and Russia. Austria was less unyielding when it became evident +that Russia would draw the sword rather than acquiesce in Serbia's +subjection, and on the 30th it seemed that the way had been opened for +a settlement by direct negotiation between Vienna and Petrograd. At +that moment Germany threw off the diplomatic disguise of being a +pacific second to her Austrian friend, and cut the web of argument by +an ultimatum to Russia on the 31st. Fear lest the diplomatists should +baulk them of their war had already led the German militarists to +publish in their press the unauthorized news of a complete German +mobilization, and on 1-2 August German armies crossed the frontiers. +It was not till some days later that war was declared between Austria +and any of the Allies; the war from first to last was made in Germany. + +Throughout that week-end the British Cabinet remained in anxious +conclave. The Unionist leaders early assured it of their support in +any measures they might think fit to take to vindicate Great Britain's +honour and obligations; but they could not relieve it of its own +responsibility, and the question did not seem as easy to answer as it +has done since the conduct of Germany and the nature of her ambitions +have been revealed. A purely Balkan conflict did not appear to be an +issue on which to stake the fortunes of the British Empire. We were +not even bound to intervene in a trial of strength between the Central +Empires and Russia and France, for on 1 August Italy decided that the +action of the Central Empires was aggressive and that therefore she +was not required by the Triple Alliance to participate. There had in +the past been a tendency on the part of France to use both the Russian +alliance and English friendship for purposes in Morocco and elsewhere +which had not been quite relished in England; and intervention in +continental wars between two balanced alliances would have found few +friends but for recent German chauvinism. It might well seem that in +the absence of definite obligations and after having exhausted all +means of averting war, Great Britain was entitled to maintain an +attitude of benevolent neutrality, reserving her efforts for a later +period when better prepared she might intervene with greater effect +between the exhausted belligerents. + +Such arguments, if they were used, were swept aside by indignation at +Germany's conduct. Doubts might exist of the purely defensive +intentions of France and Russia; each State had its ultra-patriots who +had done their best to give away their country's case; and if Russia +was suspect of Panslavist ambition, France was accused of building up +a colonial empire in North Africa in order to throw millions of +coloured troops into the scale for the recovery of Alsace-Lorraine. +But no such charge could be brought against Belgium. She had no +interest and no intention but to live in peace with her neighbours, +and that peace had been guaranteed her by international contract. If +such a title to peace was insecure there could be no security for the +world and nothing but subservience for little nations. The public +sense which for a century had been accustomed to welcome national +independence wherever it raised its head--in Greece, the Balkans, +Italy, Hungary, Poland, the South American Republics--revolted at its +denial to Belgium in the interest of German military aggression; and +censure of the breach of international contract was converted to +passion by the wrong wantonly done to a weak and peaceful by a mighty +and ambitious Power. Great Britain was not literally bound to +intervene; but if ever there was a moral obligation on a country, it +lay upon her now, and the instant meeting of that obligation implied +an instinctive recognition of the character of the war that was to be +fought. Mixed and confused though the national issues might be in +various quarters, the war, so far as concerned the two Powers who were +to be mainly instrumental in its winning, was a civil war of mankind +to determine the principle upon which international relations should +repose. + +That issue was not for every one to see, and there were many to whom +the struggle was merely national rivalry in which the interests of +England happened to coincide with those of France and in which we +should have intervened just the same without any question of Belgium's +neutrality. Whether it might have been so can never be determined. But +it is certain that no such struggle would have enlisted the united +sympathies and whole-hearted devotion of the British realms, still +less those of the United States, and in it we might well have been +defeated. From that division and possible defeat we and the world were +saved by Germany's decision that military advantage outweighed moral +considerations. The invasion of Belgium and Luxemburg united the +British Empire on the question of intervention. Three ministers alone +out of more than forty--Lord Morley, Mr. John Burns, and Mr. C. P. +Trevelyan--dissented from the Cabinet's decision, and the minority in +the nation was of still more slender proportions. Parliament supported +the Ministry without a division when on 4 August England declared war. + +Had we counted the cost? the German Chancellor asked our ambassador in +Berlin on the eve of the declaration. The cost would not have affected +our decision, but it was certainly not anticipated, and the Entente +was ill-prepared to cope with the strength displayed by Germany. The +British Navy was, indeed, as ready as the German Army, and the command +of the sea passed automatically into our hands when the German Fleet +withdrew from the North Sea on 26 July. But for that circumstance not +a single division could have been sent across the sea, and the war +would have been over in a few months. Nor was the British Army +unprepared for the task that had been allotted to it in anticipation. +It was the judgment not only of our own but of Allied Staffs that an +expeditionary force of six divisions would suffice to balance German +superiority in the West; and that force, consisting of better material +better trained than any other army in the field, was in its place in +the line of battle hundreds of miles from its base within three weeks +of the declaration of war. The real miscalculation was of the +respective strength of France and Germany, and no one had foreseen +that it would ultimately require three times the force that France +could put in the field to liberate French soil from the German +invader. The National Service League would have provided us with a +large army; but even its proposals were vitiated by their assumption +that these forces were needed to do the navy's work of home-defence, +and by the absence of provision for munitions, without which sending +masses of men into battle was sending them to useless slaughter. Time +was needed to remedy these miscalculations, but time was provided by +our command of the sea, about which there had been no misjudgment and +no lack of pre-vision. We made our mistakes before, and during the +war, but neither Mr. Asquith's Governments nor that of his successor +need fear comparison with those of our Allies or our enemies on that +account; and it is merely a modest foible of the people, which has +hardly lost a war for nearly four hundred years, to ascribe its escape +to fortune, and to envy the prescience and the science which have +lightened the path of its enemies to destruction. + + + CHAPTER II + + THE GERMAN INVASION + +Germany began the war on the Western front before it was declared, and +on 1-2 August German cavalry crossed the French frontier between +Luxemburg and Switzerland at three points in the direction of Longwy, +Lunéville, and Belfort. But these were only feints designed to prolong +the delusion that Germany would attack on the only front legitimately +open to warfare and to delay the reconstruction of the French defence +required to meet the real offensive. The reasons for German strategy +were conclusive to the General Staff, and they were frankly explained +by Bethmann-Hollweg to the British ambassador. There was no time to +lose if France was to be defeated before an effective Russian move, +and time would be lost by a frontal attack. The best railways and +roads from Berlin to Paris ran through Belgium; the Vosges protected +more than half of the French frontier south of Luxemburg, Belfort +defended the narrow gap between them and Switzerland, and even the +wider thirty miles' gap between the northern slopes of the Vosges and +Luxemburg was too narrow for the deployment of Germany's strength; the +way was also barred by the elaborate fortifications of Verdun, Toul, +and Nancy. Strategy pointed conclusively to the Belgian route, and its +advantages were clinched by the fact that France was relying on the +illusory scrap of paper. Her dispositions assumed an attack in +Lorraine, and her northern fortifications round Lille, Maubeuge, and +Hirson were feeble compared with those of Belfort, Toul, and Verdun. +Given a rapid and easy march through Belgium, the German armies would +turn the left flank of the French defence and cut it off from the +capital. Hence the resistance of Belgium had a great military +importance apart from its moral value. To its lasting honour the +Belgian Government had scorned the German proposal for connivance even +in the attractive form which would have limited the German use of +Belgian territory to the eastern bank of the Meuse. + +Haste and contempt for the Belgian Army, whose imperfect organization +was due to a natural reliance on the neutrality which Germany had +guaranteed, accounted for the first derangement of German plans. The +invasion began towards Visé, near the Dutch frontier where the direct +road from Aix to Brussels crosses the Meuse, but the main +advance-guard followed the trunk railway from Berlin to Paris via +Venders and Liège. It was, however, inadequately mobilized and +equipped, and was only intended to clear away an opposition which was +not expected to be serious. The Belgians fought more stubbornly than +was anticipated; and aided by Brialmont's fortification of Liège, +although his plans for defence were not properly executed, they held +up the Germans for two days in front of the city. It was entered on 7 +August, but its fall did not give the Germans the free passage they +wanted; for the forts on the heights to the north commanded the +railway, and the Germans contented themselves with bringing up their +transport and 11 2 in. howitzers. Brialmont had not foreseen the +explosive force of modern shells, and two days' bombardment on the +13th-15th reduced the remaining forts, in spite of their construction +underground, to a mass of shell-holes with a handful of wounded or +unconscious survivors. The last to be reduced was Fort Loncin, whose +gallant commander, General Leman, was found poisoned and half-dead +from suffocation. He had succeeded in delaying the German advance for +a momentous week. + +No more could be done with the forces at his disposal, and the German +masses of infantry were pouring across the Meuse at Visé, towards +Liège by Verviers, up the right bank of the Meuse towards Namur, and +farther south through the Ardennes. The German cavalry which spread +over the country east and north-east of Brussels and was sometimes +repulsed by the Belgians, was merely a screen, which defective +air-work failed to penetrate, and the frequent engagements were merely +the brushes of outposts. Within a week from the fall of Fort Loncin +half of Belgium was overrun and the real menace revealed. Belgium was +powerless before the avalanche, and its only hope lay in France. But +the French Army was still mobilizing on its northern front, and its +incursions into Alsace and Lorraine did nothing to relieve the +pressure. The Belgians had to fall back towards Antwerp, uncovering +Brussels, which was occupied by the Germans on the 20th and mulcted in +a preliminary levy of eight million pounds, and leaving to the +fortifications of Namur the task of barring the German advance to the +northern frontiers of France. Namur proved a broken reed. The troops +which paraded through Brussels with impressive pomp and regularity +were only a detail of the extreme right wing of the invading force; +the mass was advancing along the north bank of the Meuse and +overrunning the whole of Belgium south and east of the river. On the +15th an attempt to seize Dinant and the river crossing above Namur was +repulsed by French artillery; but there was apparently no cavalry to +follow up this success, and the Germans were allowed to bring up their +heavy howitzers for the bombardment of Namur without disturbance. It +began on the 20th, and, unsupported by the Allied assistance for which +they looked, the Belgians were panic-stricken; on the 23rd the city +and most of the forts were in German hands though two resisted until +the 26th. The Germans had not, as at Liège, wasted their infantry in +premature attacks, and with little loss to them, a fortress reputed +impregnable had been captured, the greater part of the southern +Belgian Army destroyed, and the provisional plan of French defence +frustrated. The fall of Namur was the first resounding success of the +Germans in the war. + +Its loss was not redeemed by the French offensive in Alsace and +Lorraine. On 7 August a weak French force advanced through the Belfort +gap and, finding still weaker forces to oppose it, proceeded to occupy +Altkirch and Mulhouse, while a proclamation by General Joffre +announced the approaching liberation of the provinces torn from France +in 1870. It was a feeble and ill-conceived effort to snatch a +political advantage out of a forbidding military situation. German +reinforcements swept up from Colmar and Neu Breisach, and on the both +the French were back within a few miles of the frontier, leaving their +sympathizers to the vengeance of their enemies. More legitimate though +not more successful was the French thrust in Lorraine. It had other +motives than the political: it would, if pushed home, menace the left +of the German armies in Belgium and disturb their communications; and +a smaller success would avert the danger of a German advance in +Lorraine which would threaten the right of the French on the Meuse. +Accordingly, Generals Pau and de Castelnau, commanding the armies of +Alsace and Lorraine respectively, ordered a general advance on the +10th. At first it met with success: the chief passes of the Vosges +from Mt. Donon on the north to the Belfort gap were seized; +counter-thrusts by the Germans towards Spincourt and Blamont in the +plain of Lorraine were parried; Thann was captured, Mulhouse was +re-occupied, and the Germans looked like losing Alsace as far north as +Colmar. German Lorraine seemed equally insecure, for on the 18th +Castelnau's troops were in Saarburg cutting the rail and roads between +Strassburg and Metz. The Germans, however, were not unprepared: their +Fifth Army, under the Crown Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria, came down +from Metz and fell upon the exposed French left, which was routed with +great losses in guns and prisoners on the 21st. Not only did the +invasion collapse, but the Bavarians pushed across the French frontier +nearly as far as Toul and occupied Lunéville, compelling also a French +retreat from the passes of the Vosges. General Pau had soon to follow +suit and retire again from Mulhouse and all but the south-west corner +of Alsace. + +The operations in Alsace and Lorraine had dismally failed to discount +the advance of the Germans through Belgium or even to impede the march +of their centre through Luxemburg and the Ardennes. At the end of +three weeks France was still in the throes of mobilization: the +original scheme of defence along the Franco-German frontier had been +upset by the German attack through Belgium; and second thoughts had +fared little better at Namur. The shortest line of defence after the +Germans had broken through at Liège was one running from Antwerp to +Namur, and the shortest line is imperative for the weaker combatant. +But the Germans were well across it when they entered Brussels, and +with the fall of Namur the hinge upon which depended the defence of +the northern frontier of France was broken. It was to an almost +forlorn hope that the British Army was committed when it took its +place on the left of the French northern armies at Mons to encounter +for the first time since Waterloo the shock of a first-rate European +force. But for its valour and the distraction caused by the Russian +invasion of East Prussia, Paris and possibly the French armies might +not have been saved. + +It was a meagre force for so great a responsibility, but far from the +"contemptible little army" it was falsely believed to have been called +by the Kaiser. The men were all volunteers who had enlisted for seven +years' service with the colours as against the three years' service of +the Germans and the French; and on an average they had seen far more +actual fighting than the Germans, who contemptuously dismissed this +experience as colonial warfare. If in the science of tactics and +strategy the British was inferior to the German Army, its marksmanship +and individual steadiness were unequalled; and under anything like +equal conditions British troops proved themselves the better men. But +the conditions were never equal during the first two years of the war +owing to the German superiority in numbers and in artillery; and there +was a third cause of inequality due to the different military systems +of the two countries. Universal service enabled Germany to select the +ablest men--at least from the middle and upper classes--to officer and +command her armies. In England before the war only an infinitesimal +fraction of her youthful ability found its way into the army. +Independent means and social position rather than brains were the +common qualifications for a commission; and what there was to be said +for such a system so long as fighting was mainly a matter of physical +courage and individual leadership lost its validity when war became a +matter of science and mechanical ingenuity. The fact that four of the +six British army-commanders (Plumer, Byng, Rawlinson, Cavan) in the +West at the end of the war were old Etonians, testifies to more things +than their military skill; and it was a characteristic irony that from +first to last the British armies should have been commanded by cavalry +officers in a war in which cavalry played hardly any part. + +The commander-in-chief was Sir John French, who had made his +reputation as a cavalry leader in the Boer War and had been chief of +the imperial staff since 1911. As inspector-general of the forces from +1907 to 1911 he had a good deal to do with Lord Haldane's +reorganization of the British Army, and as chief of the staff he was +largely responsible for the equipment of the Expeditionary Force and +the agreement with the French Government with regard to its dimensions +and the way in which it should be used. He was the obvious general to +command it when it came to the test. With similar unanimity the +popular voice approved of the appointment of Lord Kitchener as +Secretary of State for War on 5 August. The Expeditionary Force +consisted of three army corps, each comprising two divisions, and a +cavalry division under Allenby. The First Army Corps was commanded by +Sir Douglas Haig, the youngest lieutenant-general in the army, and the +second by Sir James Grierson, its most accomplished student. Unhappily +Grierson died suddenly soon after the landing, and he was succeeded by +Sir H. Smith-Dorrien, who, like French, had made his name in South +Africa. The Third Corps, under Sir W. Pulteney, came later into the +field. The embarkation began on 7 August, less than three days after +war had been declared, and the Government showed a sound confidence in +our little-understood command of the sea when it risked the whole of +our effective fighting force by sending it across the Channel to +assist the French and thus abandoning the defence of British shores to +the British Navy. By the 16th the transportation had been accomplished +without a hitch or loss of any kind. It was an achievement which even +domestic faction failed to belittle until time itself had effaced it +from popular recollection. + +From Boulogne and from other ports the troops were sent up to the +wavering line of battle along the Franco-Belgian frontier. They came +not to win a victory but to save an army from disaster. The mass of +French reserves were in Lorraine or far away to the south, and the +safety of the French line on the northern front had depended upon the +assumed impregnability of Namur and an equally fallacious +underestimate of the number of German troops in Belgium. Three French +armies, the Third, the Fourth, and the Fifth, were strung along the +frontier from Montmédy across the Meuse and the Sambre to a point +north-west of Charleroi, where the British took up their position +stretching through Binche, Mons, and along the canal from Mons to +Condé. Far away to the south-west was a French Territorial corps in +front of Arras, and at Maubeuge behind the British centre was a French +cavalry corps under General Sordet. The French staff anticipated a +defeat of the German attack on these lines and then a successful +offensive, and military critics in England even wrote of the hopeless +position of the Germans under Von Buelow and Von Kluck thrust far +forward into a cul-de-sac in Belgium with the French on their left at +Charleroi, the British on their right front at Mons, and the Belgians +on their right rear before Antwerp. The German calculation was that +the Belgians had been effectively masked by a corps detached +north-westwards from Brussels, that the Duke of Württemberg and Von +Hausen had troops enough to force the Meuse, drive in the French +right, and threaten the centre at Charleroi, and that Von Buelow could +cross the Sambre and Von Kluck encircle the British flank. The +strength which the Germans developed in Belgium and the extension of +their right wing are said to have been an afterthought due to the +intervention of the British Expeditionary Force; but the original +German plan required some such modification when the presence of +British troops lengthened the line of French defence. + +The first two army corps, under Haig to the right and Smith-Dorrien to +the left, were in position on Saturday the 22nd hard at work throwing +up entrenchments and clearing the ground of obstacles to their fire. +That day was more eventful for the French, and it is not quite clear +why they were not assisted by a British offensive on their left. On +the right, the Third and Fourth French armies under Ruffey and Langle +de Cary had advanced from the Meuse to attack the Germans across the +Semois. They were severely checked and withdrew behind the Meuse, +while an unsuspected army of Saxons under Von Hausen attacked the +right flank of the Fifth French army under Lanrezac which lay along +the Sambre with its right flank resting on the Meuse. The fall of +Namur in the angle of the two rivers made Von Hausen's task +comparatively easy, and the Fifth army, which was also attacked by Von +Buelow in front, fell back in some confusion. A breach was thus made +in the French line, and Von Hausen turned left to roll up the Fourth +and Third armies of Langle de Cary and Ruffey; they, too, in their +turn retreated in some haste, and the Germans were free to concentrate +on the British. They had cleared their left and centre of danger, and +Von Kluck was able on the 23rd not only to face our troops with +superior forces in front, but to outflank them towards the west and +bring Von Buelow down upon them from Charleroi on the east. He had at +least four army corps with which to crush the British two, and our +75,000 men were spread out on a line of twenty-five miles thinner far +than the French line just broken at Charleroi. Finally, owing to +defective staff-work and the confusion of the French retreat, they +were left in utter ignorance of what had happened, and faced the +German attack as if they were part of one unbroken front instead of +being a fragment round which the tide of battle surged, and under the +impression conveyed to them on their arrival at the scene of action +that their opponents numbered little more than one or at most two army +corps. + +Fighting began at 12.40 p.m. on Sunday the 23rd with a bombardment +from between five and six hundred German guns along the whole +twenty-five miles of front. It did surprisingly little damage in spite +of the spotting by German aeroplanes; and when the German infantry +came forward in massed formation, they discovered that their shelling +had had no effect upon the moral of our troops or the accuracy of +their rifle-fire. The Germans fought, of course, with obstinate +courage and advanced again and again into the murderous fire of our +rifles and machine guns and against occasional bayonet charges. But +their own shooting went to pieces under the stress, and the frontal +attack was a failure. Success there could not, however, ward off Von +Buelow's threat to our right flank, and under the converging pressure +Binche and then Mons itself had to be evacuated. But it was the +long-delayed news of the French defeat and withdrawal on the whole of +the rest of the line, coupled with more accurate information about the +size of the German force, that determined the abandonment of the +British position. Sir John French had to hold on till nightfall, but +orders were given to prepare the way for retreat. The weary troops +were to have a few hours' rest and start at daybreak. Their retreat +was covered by a counter-attack soon after dawn by the First Division +on the right which suggested to the Germans that we had been strongly +reinforced and intended an offensive. Meanwhile Smith-Dorrien moved +back five miles from the Canal, and then stood to protect the +withdrawal of the First Division after its feint attack. It was a +heavy task, and the 9th Lancers suffered severely in an attempt to +hold up the Germans at Audregnies. But by Monday afternoon Haig's +First Army Corps was back on the line between Maubeuge and Bavai, and +Smith-Dorrien fell into line from Bavai westwards to Bry. + +The design was to offer a second battle in this position, and +entrenchments were begun. The fortress of Maubeuge and the Sambre gave +some protection to the British right, but the Sambre was only of use +in front if the Meuse was held by the French on the right and Von +Kluck could not outflank on the left. Neither of these conditions was +fulfilled: Von Kluck had seized Tournai and captured the whole of the +French Territorial brigade which attempted to defend it, while the +Meuse had been forced and the three French armies were in full +retreat. A battle on the Maubeuge-Bry line would invite an +encirclement from which the British had barely escaped at Mons, and +the retreat was reluctantly continued to Le Cateau. Marching, the +First Army Corps along the east of the Forest of Mormal and the Second +along the west, our troops reached at nightfall on the 25th a line +running from Maroilles through Landrecies and Le Cateau to +Serainvilliers near Cambrai; but they had little rest. About 10 p.m., +amid rain and darkness, the Germans got into Landrecies. In the fierce +hand-to-hand struggle which ensued, the individual resourcefulness of +our men gave them the advantage, and the Germans were driven out by +detachments of the Grenadier, Coldstream, and 1st Irish Guards. They +were simultaneously repulsed at Maroilles with some French assistance; +but daybreak saw a third and more powerful attack delivered on Le +Cateau. Sir John French had told Smith-Dorrien the night before that +he was risking a second Sedan by a stand. But Smith-Dorrien thought he +had no option. For eight hours on the 26th his men, reinforced by +Snow's Division, but outnumbered in guns by nearly four to one, held +their own, until another envelopment was threatened by Von Kluck. +Fortunately the struggle had apparently exhausted the Germans; +Sordet's cavalry had ridden across Smith-Dorrien's front and protected +his left from envelopment; and the remnants of the three divisions +were able to withdraw. The retreat was harrowing enough, and the 1st +Gordons, missing their way in the dark, fell into the hands of the +Germans and were all killed, wounded, or taken prisoners. But Le +Cateau had taken the sting out of the German pursuit, and touch was at +last regained with French forces to the east, with a newly-formed +corps under D'Amade to the west, and with a Sixth French army which +Maunoury was collecting on the Somme. On the evening of Friday the +28th Smith-Dorrien reached the Oise between Chauny and Noyon and Haig +at La Fère. The First Army Corps had marched by Guise; the loss of a +detachment of Munsters by misadventure early on the 27th was redeemed +by the defeat on the 28th of two German columns by two brigades of +Allenby's cavalry led by Gough and Chetwode. That night the +Expeditionary Force had its first real sleep since Sunday, and next +day there were no marching orders. + +The British Army had saved itself and a good deal else by its courage, +skill, and, above all, its endurance. But there was much that was lost +in men, material, and ground. The fortification of the French frontier +south and west of Mons was obsolete, and the country had been denuded +of troops save a few Territorials in the process of mobilization. +Maubeuge was the only fortress that made a stand, and Uhlans swept +across Belgium as far as the Lys and down upon Lille and Arras with +the object of cutting communications between the British Army and its +bases at Boulogne and Dieppe. Some resistance was offered at Bapaume, +where the arrival of a British detachment delayed the German advance +until Amiens had been evacuated and the rolling stock removed. But the +threat was sufficiently serious to induce Sir John French to move his +base as far south as St. Nazaire at the mouth of the Loire, and the +Germans could, had they been so minded, have occupied the Channel +ports as far as the Seine. But they were not calculating on a long war +or a serious contest with British forces for the control of Flanders, +and their object was to destroy the French armies and dictate a peace +at Paris before the autumn leaves began to fall. + +They seemed to be making excellent progress towards that end. Sir J. +French, indeed, took a sombre view of our losses at Le Cateau, and +apparently it needed a visitation from Lord Kitchener on 1st September +to retain the British Army in co-operation with the French. The fall +of Namur, the battles of Charleroi and Mons, and the defeat of the +French on the Semois were followed by the rout of Ruffey's and +Langle's armies on the Meuse. They stretched north-westwards from +Montmédy by way of Sedan and Mezières down the Meuse towards Dinant +and Namur. But their left flank had been turned by Von Hausen's +victory and the fall of Namur; and on the 27th Von Hausen, wheeling to +his left, rolled up the French left wing while the Duke of Württemberg +and the Crown Prince attacked all along the front. Ruffey had to seek +safety in the Argonne, while Langle's army made for Rethel on the +Aisne. On the 28th Longwy, the last French fortress north of Verdun, +capitulated after a stout resistance. The defence of the frontier had +collapsed, and the hopes that were entertained of resistance along the +upper Aisne and thence by Laon and La Fère towards St. Quentin, proved +delusive. Lanrezac's Fifth army turned on the 29th between Vervins and +Ribemont, and near Guise inflicted on the Germans the most serious +check to their advance. This reaction was not helped by the British +retreat on Lanrezac's left, and its principal value was to protect +that withdrawal. Nor was it better supported on the right. The Third +and Fourth French armies were too severely hustled in their retreat to +make a stand, and the reserves were still far away to the south. On +the 28th-29th the Aisne was forced at Rethel, and Reims and Chalons +were abandoned to the enemy; and La Fère and Laon followed on the +30th. + +The British fell back from the Aisne and the Oise through the forests +of Villers-Cotterets and Compiègne towards the Marne. At Néry on 1 +September a battery of Royal Horse Artillery was almost wiped out, and +the guns were only saved by a gallant cavalry charge of the 1st +Brigade; and on the same day a hard rearguard defence had to be fought +by the 4th Guards Brigade. On the 3rd they reached the Marne, but it +too was abandoned farther east without resistance, and on the 5th the +Expeditionary Force was concentrated behind the Grand Morin. A +retreat, upon the successful conduct of which depended the existence +of the Force, the security of France, and the cause of the Entente, +had been successfully accomplished by the skill of its commanders and +still more by the fortitude and unquenchable spirit of the men. The +French, too, showed a steadiness in misfortune for which their enemies +had not looked; their reverses had been more severe, and their +preparation less complete than our own, and a high morale was required +for armies to react against such a run of ill-success with the +effectiveness that was presently displayed upon the Marne. + +A public on both sides of the Channel which was unfamiliar with the +elements of military science and history, looked, as soon as it was +allowed to learn the facts about the German advance, for the +investment of Paris and regarded the French capital as the objective +of the German invasion. But Napoleon's maxim that fortresses are +captured on the field of battle was even truer in 1914 than it was a +century earlier; for only the dispersal of the enemy enables an army +to bring up the heavy artillery needed to batter down modern +fortifications, and the great war saw no sieges worth the name +because, the armies being once driven off, no forts could stand +prolonged bombardment by the artillery which followed in the victor's +train. The cities that suffered were not isolated units, they were +merely knotty points in the lines of battle, and there could be no +siege of Paris so long as Joffre's armies kept in line along the Marne +or anywhere in contact with the capital. There was therefore no change +of plan and no mystery when Von Kluck's right veered in the direction +of its advance from south-west to south and then south-east. It was +both avoiding an obstacle and pursuing its original design of +outflanking the Entente's left. Not that Paris was without its +strategic value. It and the line of the Seine impeded the +encirclement, offered a nucleus of resistance, and provided a screen +behind which could be organized a blow against the right flank of the +deflected German march. Still, there was no certainty that Joffre +could hold the Marne, and the French Government took the somewhat +alarming precaution of removing to Bordeaux. + +The presence of the British on the French left, the spectacular threat +to Paris, and the comparative proximity of these operations to our own +shores have possibly led to too great an emphasis being placed upon +Von Kluck's attempt to outflank the left, or at least to too little +weight being attached to the German effort to turn the right in +Lorraine. The Crown Prince was in front of Verdun and the Kaiser +himself went to stimulate the Bavarians at Lunéville and Nancy, and it +was not the imperial habit to bestow the light of the imperial +countenance upon scenes of secondary importance. Lunéville had been +occupied on the 22nd after the French failure on the Saar, and on the +23rd fighting began for the Grand Couronné de Nancy defended by +Castelnau. The line of battle stretched from St. Dié to +Pont-á-Mousson; but although the fiercest attack was still to come, +the German thrust had been decisively checked at Mirecourt before +Joffre determined to stand on the Marne. At last the French seemed to +have a security on their right flank, the lack of which had proved +fatal at Charleroi and on the Meuse. Paris on the one wing and Nancy +on the other forbade the threat of encirclement which had hitherto +compelled retreat; and the French armies were also at last in touch +with their reserves. + +There were other elements in the situation to encourage resistance The +momentum of the German rush was somewhat spent in its rapidity, and +the Germans were to illustrate the defect in their own maxim that the +essence of war is violence; for violence is not the same as force and +often wastes it. Moreover, the Russian invasion of East Prussia, if it +did not actually compel the transference of divisions from France to +the Eastern front, diverted thither reserves which might otherwise +have appeared on the Marne or released the troops detained until 7 +September by the siege of Maubeuge. Assuredly Joffre seized the right +moment when on the 4th he decided to strike his blow. Two new armies +of reserves had come into line, Foch's Ninth and Maunoury's Sixth; and +two old armies had new commanders, the Third with Sarrail instead of +Ruffey and the Fifth with Franchet d'Esperey instead of Lanrezac. In +the east Castelnau and Sarrail stood almost back to back along the +eastern and western heights of the Meuse above Verdun. On Sarrail's +left was Langle's Fourth army behind Vitry, and the line was continued +westwards by Foch behind Sezanne and the marshes of St. Gond. Next +came D'Esperey's Fifth at La Ferté-Gaucher, and cavalry linked his +left with the British guarded by the Crecy forest. Thence +north-westward stretched across the Paris front the new Sixth army of +Maunoury. + +As early as 31 August Von Kluck had turned south-east at a right angle +to his south-western march from Brussels to Amiens; but he had not +thereby replaced his enveloping design by a stroke at Joffre's centre. +For he thought he had disposed of the British at Le Cateau and of +Maunoury on the Somme, and that D'Esperey's Fifth had thus become the +flank of Joffre's forces. He was merely curving his claws to grip, and +by the night of the 5th he had crossed the Marne, the Petit Morin, and +the Grand Morin, and his patrols had reached the Seine. It was a brief +and solitary glimpse of the river on which stood the capital of +France. The battle began, like that of Mons, on a Sunday, the 6th of +September reached its climax on the 9th, and was over by the 12th, The +fighting extended in a curved line from Meaux, which is almost a +suburb of Paris, to Lunéville, which is almost on the German frontier; +and Joffre hoped that this line was too strong to be broken, and could +be gradually drawn tighter until the head of the German invasion was +squeezed out of the cul-de-sac into which, in the German anxiety for a +prompt decision, it had been thrust. The German object, of course, +was, as soon as Von Kluck discovered that Maunoury's new and the +British returning armies forbade the enveloping plan, to break the +line where it bent the most, that is, towards the south-east, and the +weight of attack was thrown against Foch and Langle in Champagne. The +business of those two generals was to stand fast while the right flank +of the Germans was exposed to the counter-offensive of Maunoury and +the British. + +Von Kluck had committed the error of underrating his foes, and +assuming that they had been broken beyond the chance of reaction; for +to march across the front of an army that is still able to strike is +inviting disaster, and Joffre had at last been able to shift his +weight from east to west to cope with Von Kluck's unexpected attack +through Belgium. Maunoury's army debouched from Meaux and began +fighting its way to the Ourcq, a little river which runs southwards +into the Marne at Lizy, while the British emerged from the Crecy +forest and drove the Germans back to the Grand Morin. D'Esperey made +headway against the bulk of Von Kluck's army between La Ferté-Gaucher +and Esternay, while Foch held his own against Von Buelow and Von +Hausen's right, and Langle against the Duke of Württemberg. Sarrail's +Third army had, however, to give a little ground along the Meuse. The +morrow's tale was similar: most progress was made by the British, who +drove the Germans across the Grand Morin at Coulommiers, and thus +enabled D'Esperey to do the like with Von Kluck's centre. On the 8th, +however, Maunoury was hard pressed by Von Kluck's desperate efforts to +deal with this sudden danger; but reinforcements poured out from +Paris, the British gained the Petit Morin from Trilport to La +Trétoire, while D'Esperey carried victory farther east and captured +Montmirail. By 11 a.m. on the 9th Von Kluck's army was ordered to +retreat, thus exposing Von Buelow's right, and giving Foch his +opportunity for the decisive stroke of the battle. + +It consisted of two blows, right and left, and both came off late on +the 9th. Maunoury's counter-attack on the left had compelled the +Germans to weaken their centre. Not only was Von Buelow's right +exposed, but a gap had been left between his left and Von Hausen's +right, possibly for troops which were detained at Maubeuge or had been +diverted to East Prussia. Nor was this all, for his centre was bogged +in the famous marshes of St. Gond. Foch struck hard at Von Buelow's +centre, right, and left, and by the morning of the 10th he had smashed +the keystone of the German arch. Meanwhile, on the 9th Maunoury had +cleared the Germans from the Ourcq, the British had crossed the Marne +at Chângis, and reached it at Château-Thierry, and D'Esperey farther +east. Von Kluck now received considerable reinforcements which Von +Buelow needed more, and the latter's rapid retreat made even +reinforcements useless for holding the Ourcq. It was equally fatal to +success against Langle and Sarrail, and on the 10th the German retreat +became general. By the end of the week the Germans were back on a line +running nearly due east from a point on the Oise behind Compiègne to +the Aisne, along it to Berry-au-Bac, and thence across Champagne and +the Argonne to Verdun. They had failed in Lorraine as well, where the +climax of their attack was from the 6th to the 9th. Castelnau then +took the offensive, and by the 12th had driven the Bavarians from +before Nancy beyond the Meurthe, and out of Lunéville and St. Dié. + +The German right had fallen back thirty-five miles and the centre +nearly fifty; but the retreat was not a rout, and the losses in guns +and prisoners were meagre. The first battle of the Marne was important +by reason of what it prevented the Germans from doing, rather than by +reason of what the Allies achieved, and they had to wait nearly four +years for that precipitate evacuation of France which it was hoped +would follow upon the German repulse from the Marne in September 1914. +Nevertheless it was one of the decisive battles and turning-points of +the war. The German surprise, so long and so carefully prepared, had +failed, and the knockout blow had been parried. The Allied victory had +not decided how the war would end, but it had decided that the war +would be long--a test of endurance rather than of generalship, a +struggle of peoples and a conflict of principles rather than duel +between professional armies. There would be time for peaceful and even +unarmed nations to gird themselves in defence; and the cause of +democracy would not go down because military autocrats had thought to +dispose of France before her allies could effectively intervene. + + + CHAPTER III + + RUSSIA MOVES + +The first month of the war in the West had coincided more nearly with +German plans than with Entente hopes, but both Germany and the Western +Allies agreed in miscalculating Russia. The great Moltke had remarked +early in his career that Russia had a habit of appearing too late on +the field and then coming too strong. The war was to prove that to be +a fault of democracy rather than of autocrats, and Russia intervened +with an unexpected promptitude which was to be followed in time by an +equally unexpected collapse. The forecasting of the course of wars is +commonly left to military experts, and military experts commonly err +through ignoring the moral and political factors which determine the +weight and distribution of military forces. The soldier, so far as he +looks behind armies at all, only looks to the numbers from which those +armies may be recruited, and pays scant regard to the political, +moral, social, and economic conditions which may make havoc of armies, +evoke them where they do not exist, or transfer them to unforeseen +scales in the military balance. Russia appeared to the strategist as a +vast reservoir of food for powder which would take time to mobilize, +but prove almost irresistible if it were given time. Both these +calculations proved fallacious, and still less was it foreseen that +the reservoir would revolt. The first misjudgment deranged the German +plans, the second those of the Allies, while the third upset the minds +of the world. + +The outbreak of war found Russia with a peace-strength of over a +million men, a war-strength of four millions, and reserves which were +limited not by her population but by her capacity for transport, +organization, and production of munitions. Her Prussian frontiers were +guarded by no natural defences, but neither were Prussia's. Nature, it +has been said, did not foresee Prussia; Prussia is the work of men's +hands. Nor had Nature foreseen Russia, and men's hands had not made up +the deficiency. Mechanical means had remedied the natural defects of +Prussia's frontier, but not those of the Russian; and Russia's defence +consisted mainly in distance, mud, and lack of communications. The +value of these varied, of course, with the seasons, and the +motor-transport, which atoned to some extent for the lack of railways, +told in favour of German science and industry, and against the +backward Russians. Apart from the absence of natural defences, the +Russian frontier had been artificially drawn so as to make her Polish +province an indefensible salient, though properly organized it would +have been an almost intolerable threat alike to East Prussia and to +Austrian Galicia. But for her preoccupation in the West, Germany could +have conquered Poland in a fortnight, and Russian plans, indeed, +contemplated a withdrawal as far as the line of Brest-Litovsk. As it +was, the German offensive in Belgium and France left the defence of +Prussia to the chances of an Austrian offensive against Lublin, a +containing army of some 200,000 first-line and 300,000 second-line +troops, and the delays in Russian mobilization. + +Two of these proved to be broken reeds. Russian troops were almost as +prompt in invading East Prussia as German troops in crossing the +frontiers of France and Belgium, and by the end of the first week in +August a flight to Berlin had begun. The shortest way from the Russian +frontier to Berlin was by Posen, and it lay through a country peopled +with Poles who were bitterly hostile to their German masters. But it +was impossible to exploit these advantages at the expense of deepening +the Polish salient with its already too narrow base, and the flanks in +East Prussia and Galicia had first to be cleared. Under the supreme +command of the Grand Duke Nicholas, who in spite of his rank was a +competent professional soldier, and the more immediate direction of +Rennenkampf, one of the few Russian officers to emerge with enchanced +reputation from the Japanese War, the Russians proceed to concentrate +on East Prussia (see Map). On the east Gumbinnen was captured after a +battle on the 20th, and the important junction of Insterburg occupied +by Rennenkampf, while on the south Samsonov on the 21st turned the +German right, threatened Allenstein and drove the fugitives, as +Rennenkampf had done, into the lines of Königsberg. East Prussia lay +at Russia's feet, and something like a panic alarmed Berlin. The +Teutonic cause was faring even worse in Galicia and Poland. Austria +had a million troops in Galicia, but her offensive under Dankl towards +Lublin only produced a strategic Russia retirement, while Ruszky and +Brussilov overran the eastern borders and menaced Lemberg. + +Fortunately for the Germans their own right hand proved a stronger +defence. The incompetent General von François, who had been driven +into Königsberg, was superseded by Hindenburg, a retired veteran of +nearly seventy, whose military career had made so slight an impression +on the German mind that his name was not even included in the German +"Who's Who." Nevertheless he had commanded corps on the Prussian +frontier, and even after his retirement made the study of its defence +his hobby. He knew every yard of the intricate mixture of land and +water which made up the district of the Masurian Lakes, and had, +unfortunately for Russia, defeated a German financial scheme for +draining the country and turning it into land over which an invader +could safely march. Within five days of Samsonov's victory, +Hindenburg, taking advantage of the magnificent system of German +strategic railways, had collected some 150,000 men from the fortresses +on the Vistula and concentrated them on a strong position stretching +from near Allenstein south-west towards Soldau, his left resting on +the railway from Eylau to Insterburg and his right on that from Eylau +to Warsaw. In front of him were marshes with the ways through which he +was, but Samsonov was not, familiar; and the railways enabled him to +threaten either of the enemy's flanks. + +Samsonov was practically isolated. Rightly ignoring the strong +defences of Königsberg but wrongly getting out of touch with +Rennenkampf, he had pushed on, thinking there could be no serious +resistance east of the Vistula and hoping to seize the bridge at +Graudenz. Hindenburg made a feint on his right, but pushed his real +outflanking movement along the railway on his left. But the feint was +enough to outflank Samsonov's left and close the retreat towards +Warsaw. It also diverted his reserves from his centre and from his +right, which on the 27th was cut off from a possible junction with +Rennenkampf. A gallant attempt by Gourko to relieve him on the 30th +came too late. The only exit was along a narrow strip of land between +the marshes leading to Ortelsburg, and here between the 28th and the +31st the Russian forces were almost annihilated. Less than a third +escaped, and the loss of guns was even greater. Over eighty thousand +prisoners were taken, and the Germans who had missed their Sedan in +the West secured a passable imitation in the East. Samsonov perished +in the retreat. The Russian censorship suppressed the news, and what +was allowed to come through from Germany was treated in Entente +countries as a German lie. For more than a fortnight little was known +of a victory which, save for Allenby's four years later, was the +completest in the war. The relief in Berlin was immense; Hindenburg +became the popular idol, Field-Marshal, and Generalissimo of the +Teutonic armies in the East; and a little village, which lay behind +Hindenburg's centre, was selected to give its name to the battle and +to commemorate a national revenge for that defeat at Tannenberg five +centuries before when the Slavonic kingdom of Poland had broken the +power of the Teutonic Order in Prussia. + +Russia, however, was a different power from the Teutonic Order, and +Austrian generals were not Hindenburgs; Ruszky and Brussilov, too, +were better leaders than Samsonov, and though Rennenkampf had to +evacuate East Prussia before Hindenburg's advance, the Austrians were +driven like chaff before their enemies in Galicia. The object of +Russian strategy was to straighten the serpentine line of the frontier +for military purposes. Hence, while pushing forward her wings in East +Prussia and Galicia, she would merely stand on guard or withdraw in +the Polish centre, and the Germans encountered little opposition when +they seized Czenstochowa and Kalisch and pushed towards the Warta, or +the Austrians when they advanced by Zamosc towards the Bug. The +advance in East Prussia was also represented as a chivalrous attempt +to reduce the pressure in France by a threat to Berlin, and the real +Russian effort was the sweep westwards from the eastern Galician +frontier, where the Second Russian army under Ruszky and the Third +farther south under Brussilov were already threatening the envelopment +of Lemberg (or Lwow [Footnote: Pronounced and sometimes spelt Lvoff.]) +and the Austrians under Von Auffenberg. Ruszky, formerly like Foch a +professor in a military academy, was perhaps the most scientific of +Russian generals; Brussilov showed his strategy two years later at +Luck; [Footnote: Pronounced Lutsk: the Slavonic "c" = "ts" "cz" = "ch" +and "sz" = "sh."] and Radko Dmitrieff was a Bulgarian general, now in +Russian service, who in the Balkan wars had won the battle of Kirk +Kilisse and helped to win that of Lule-Burgas. There was not an abler +trio in any field of the war. + +By the end of August Brussilov had captured Tarnopol and Halicz and +forced the successive rivers which guarded the right flank of Lemberg +and Von Auffenberg's forces and protected their communications with +the Carpathian passes; and on 1 September the battle for the capital +of eastern Galicia began. It lasted for nearly three days, and was +almost as decisive as that of Tannenberg. Brussilov's outflanking +movement was continued with success, but the coup de grâce was given +here, as at Charleroi and the Marne, by isolating a central group and +thus breaking the line. Thrusting forward his right, Ruszky outflanked +Lemberg and interposed between Von Auffenberg and the Austrian army in +Poland. On the 3rd Lemberg was evacuated, and the retreat, which was +for a time protected by the entrenched camp at Grodek, gradually +became more disorderly. Over 70,000 prisoners were taken, mostly, no +doubt, Czecho-Slovaks and Jugo-Slavs who had more sympathy with the +Russians than with their Teutonic masters, and masses of machine guns +and artillery. The victory was brilliantly and promptly followed up. +While Brussilov pressed on to Stryj and the Carpathians, Ruszky and +Dmitrieff beat Von Auffenberg again at Rawa Ruska near the frontier on +the 10th, and Ivanoff, who had taken command in Poland, drove Dankl +and the Archduke Joseph Ferdinand from the line they held between +Lublin and the borders. The whole of the Austrian forces fell back +behind the Vistula and the San, Von Auffenberg finding safety in +Przemysl, and others a more temporary refuge at Jaroslav, while the +van of the retreating army did not stop short of Cracow. The German +detachments in Poland had to conform, and by the middle of September +Poland had been cleared as far as the Warta, and Galicia was +defenceless, save for invested Przemysl, as far south as the +Carpathians and as far west as the Dunajec. The days of the Marne were +even more sombre for the Central Empires on the Vistula and the San. + +Their gloom was relieved by the halo which shone round Hindenburg's +head. Rennenkampf was gone and all the faculties of the University of +Königsberg conferred degrees on the victor to celebrate its escape. +Reinforcements were sent to the frontier, and on 7 September Russia +was invaded. The object of the offensive is not clear except on the +assumption that Hindenburg's strategic acumen was defective, and that +he thought he could turn the Russian right by an advance across the +Niemen. But the difficulties were insuperable and the distances were +vast. Even if he got to Kovno it would need far greater forces than he +possessed to cover and control the illimitable land beyond; and +between him and success lay swamps more extensive then the Masurian +Lakes and the heavily fortified line of the Narew. He was, indeed, in +his turn falling into Samsonov's error, and seems to have been saved +from his fate mainly by the prematurely successful Russian defence. He +was allowed to reach the Niemen at various points between Kovno and +Grodno, but was unhappily prevented from committing his fortunes to +the eastern bank by the Russian artillery, which repeatedly destroyed +his pontoons as soon as they were constructed. Lower down on his right +an attempt on the fortress of Ossowiec proved equally futile, because +the Germans could find no ground within range solid enough to bear the +weight of their artillery. The inevitable retreat began on the 27th, +and it was sadly harassed by the pursuing Russians, especially in the +forest of Augustowo, where Rennenkampf claimed to have inflicted +losses amounting to 60,000 men in killed, prisoners, and wounded. By 1 +October the Russian cavalry was again across the German frontier, and +Hindenburg was called south to attempt in Poland to frustrate the +Russian advance on Cracow which his turning movement in the north had +failed to check. + +The call was urgent, for the conquest of Galicia portended disaster to +the Central Empires. Cracow was a key both to Berlin and Vienna; its +possession would turn the Oder and open the door to Silesia, which was +hardly less vital to Germany than Westphalia as a mining and +manufacturing district. It would also give access to Vienna and +facilitate the separation of Hungary, and all that that meant in the +Balkans, from the Teutonic alliance. Even without the loss of Cracow, +that of the rest of Galicia was serious enough; her oil-wells were the +main sources of the German supply of petroleum, and her Slav +population, once assured of the solidity of Russian success, would +throw off its allegiance to the Hapsburgs and entice the +Czecho-Slovaks on its borders to do the same. These prospects were not +visionary in September 1914. Jaroslav fell on the 23rd and Przemysl +was invested. Russian cavalry rode through the Carpathian passes into +the Hungarian plain, and west of the San patrols penetrated within a +hundred miles of Cracow. In her own interests as well as in those of +her ally, Germany was compelled to throw more of her weight against +the Russian front. The German and Austrian commands were unified under +Hindenburg, and having failed on the north he now tried to stop the +Russians by a blow at their centre in Poland. Here Ruszky was now in +command, while Ivanoff with Brussilov and Dmitrieff as his two +lieutenants controlled the armies in Galicia. + +Like every German general Hindenburg believed in the offensive being +the best form of defence, and like all Germans in the advantage of +waging war in the enemy's country. His plan of attack was a concentric +advance on Warsaw along the three railway lines leading from Thorn, +Kalisch, and Czenstochowa, combined with an effort to cross the +Vistula at Josefow while the Austrians kept step in Galicia, relieved +Przemysl, and recovered Lemberg. There was even a movement southwards +from East Prussia which captured Mlawa, but it was only a raid which +did not hamper the Grand Duke's contemplated counter-offensive. Warsaw +had obvious attractions; Josefow was selected because it was far from +Russia's railway lines but near to Ostrowiec, the terminus of a line +which led from the German frontier; and the object of crossing the +Vistula was to take in the rear the great fortress of Ivangorod lower +down, and then to get behind Warsaw. The Grand Duke had divined these +intentions, while he concealed his own by misleading the Germans into +a belief that he proposed abandoning the Polish salient and retiring +on Brest. His real plan was to stand on the east bank of the Vistula +save for the defence of Warsaw which lies upon the west, and to +counter-attack round the north of the German left wing under the guns +of the great fortress of Novo Georgievsk. Rennenkampf was brought down +to command this movement, while Ruszky took charge of the defence at +Josefow. + +On 10 October Hindenburg's centre moved out from Lodz and on the 15th +the battle was joined all along the Vistula. Warsaw was vigorously +defended by Siberian and Caucasian troops, aided by Japanese guns. The +battle raged from the 16th to the 19th, when the planned surprise from +Novo Georgievsk forced back the German left and threatened the centre +before Warsaw. Ruszky was still more successful with his stratagem at +Josefow. The Germans were suffered to construct their pontoons, cross +the river, and make for the railway between Warsaw and Lublin. Then on +the 21st the Russians came down upon them with a bayonet charge, and +not a man is said to have escaped across the river. Next day the +Russians also crossed at Novo Alexandria lower down, and a general +attack drove the Germans back to Radom on the 25th and thence from +Kielce on 3 November. Threatened by Rennenkampf on the north and +Ruszky on the south, the German centre had to abandon Skierniewíce, +Lowicz, and then Lodz, destroying every vestige of communication as +they withdrew and lavishly sacrificing men in rearguard actions to +protect their stores and their equipment. + +Ironically enough the chief success of Hindenburg's offensive was +achieved by the Austrian subordinates he had come to help. Ivanoff was +a bad substitute for Ruszky, and Dankl temporarily retrieved the +reputation he had lost the previous month. Jaroslav was recovered, +Przemysl was relieved and abundantly revictualled for a second and a +longer siege, and an attack on Sambor bade fair to put the Austrians +once more in Lemberg. But the German defeat in Poland compelled an +Austrian retreat in Galicia. Przemysl was reinvested and the Russians +resumed their march with quickened pace on Cracow. This time they +threatened it first from the north of the Vistula, and on 9 November +their cavalry, pursuing the Germans, was at Miechow, only twenty miles +from Cracow. Moving more slowly through Galicia while Brussilov +occupied the Carpathian passes, Dmitrieff pushed his cavalry into +Wielitza south-east of the city on 6 December, and on the 8th he +fought a successful action in its outskirts. Farther north the +Cossacks had occupied Nieszawa, a few miles from Thorn, on 9 November, +and on the following day a Russian raid across the Silesian frontier +cut the German railway from Posen to Cracow. It was high time that the +Germans turned the weight of their offensive from the Flanders front +and the Channel ports to parrying the Russian menace on their East. + +Austria was in no happier case. Her invasion of Serbia which had +opened the flood-gates of war had been almost submerged in the +torrent, and the punitive expedition she had planned had brought +punishment mainly upon herself, and that not merely at the hands of +Serbia's powerful patron, but at those of the little people who were +to be chastised. The early fighting was of a desultory character, and +Austria's two first-line corps having been withdrawn to meet the +Russians, the Serbs and Montenegrins made a combined effort on 12 +August to invade Bosnia and capture Serajevo. No great progress was +made, and on the 16th the Austrians retaliated with the capture of +Shabatz in the north-west corner of Serbia. But next day the Serbs +routed a large Austrian force in the neighbourhood, and the Crown +Prince Alexander followed up this victory by another on the 18th +against the Austrians on the Jadar, who were seeking, in co-operation +with those at Shabatz, to cut the Serbs off from their base. The +result was that by the 24th the Austrians were practically cleared out +of the country, and Vienna announced that the punitive expedition, +which had cost 40,000 casualties and fifty guns, had accomplished its +object. + +A second attempt to achieve it was, however, provoked by the invasion +of Bosnia with which the Serbs had supplemented their victory, and by +their capture of Semlin in order to stop the Austrian bombardment of +Belgrade. On 8 September the Austrians launched an attack across the +Drina which forms the boundary between Serbia and Bosnia, and the +battle raged till the 17th. Again the Serbs were victorious, though +they made no impression on Serajevo and the Austrians retained a +foothold on the eastern bank of the Drina; and for six weeks Serbia +was left in comparative peace. But at the end of October the entrance +of Turkey into the war and the relief afforded to Austria's troops +farther north by the increasing activity of Germany in Poland and +Galicia encouraged another effort; and under General Potiorek the +Austrians began a more ambitious campaign. The Serbian frontier +constituted a sharp salient which was indefensible against a superior +force, and the Austrians exploited this advantage by extending their +front of attack from Semendria on the Danube right round to Ushitza +beyond the Drina. Their object was to envelop the Serbs and seize, +firstly, Valievo, their advanced base, secondly, Kraguievatz the +Serbian arsenal, and, finally, Nish, to which the Serbian Court and +Government had withdrawn. + +The only chance the Serbs had of success was to shorten their line by +withdrawing to the semicircular mountain ridge which lies south and +south-east of Valievo, and even so their prospects were gloomy. Two +wars had already depleted Serbia's manhood and her munitions, and her +numbers were sadly inferior to the Austrians. But individually her +troops were far better fighters than their opponents, and the Crown +Prince, Marshal Putnik, and General Míshitch, the commander of the 1st +Serbian Army, quite outclassed Potiorek in tactics, strategy, and +knowledge of the terrain. By 10 November the Austrians were in +Valievo, and Potiorek was inclined to rest on his laurels. For a fatal +fortnight he did nothing, and even detached three of his corps to +serve in the Carpathians against the Russians who were there doing +Serbia the service they had done in East Prussia to the Allies on the +Marne. In that interval Greek and other munitions were conveyed in +spite of Bulgar and Turkish intervention to the hard-pressed Serbians; +King Peter, old, blind, and deaf, came from Nish to make a stirring +appeal to his troops; and when on 1-3 December Potiorek once more +advanced to the ridges of Rudnik and Maljen, he encountered a +re-munitioned army, skilfully posted in strong positions and pledged +to death or victory. Victory was its guerdon all along the line; the +Austrian left centre and centre were broken on the 5th; at night their +right was shattered near Ushitza; and on the morrow the whole army was +in retreat, which soon became a rout. There were 80,000 casualties +before, on the 15th, the fugitives were back in their own land across +the Drina, the Danube, and the Save, leaving Belgrade once more in the +hands of the heroic Serbs. + +Austria had, however, acquired a strange new friend in the Turk, who +had thrice besieged Vienna, and with whom she had waged an +intermittent warfare of the Crescent and the Cross for some four +centuries; and the blood-stained hand of Turkey was stretched out to +save its "natural allies"--to quote Bernhardi--at Buda-Pesth and +Potsdam. There was, indeed, a bond of sympathy, for in each of the +enemy capitals a ruling caste oppressed one or more subject +nationalities. Prussia stood for the Junker domination of the German +tribes; Austria, for Teutonic government of Czechs, Slovaks, and +Poles; Hungary, for Magyar dictation to Jugo-Slavs and Rumanes; and +Turkey, for the exploitation or extermination of Armenians, Greeks, +and Arabs. The Young Turk, who had dispossessed Abdul Hamid in 1908, +only differed from the Old in being more efficient and less of a +gentleman, and in seeking his inspiration from Krupp's guns and +Treitschke's philosophy instead of from the Koran. He was a Turk +without the Turk's excuse, and the adventurer Enver, who inaugurated +the rule of the Committee of Union and Progress by assassinating his +rivals, was willing to give Germany control of the Berlin-Baghdad +route in return for a free hand with the subject nationalities of the +Ottoman Empire. Russia was the common obstacle to both ambitions; but, +Russia finally crippled, the Balkan States would become Turco-Teutonic +provinces, and the Near East a German avenue into Asia, while Egypt +might be recovered for the Sultan and made a base for German +penetration of Africa. + +Millions of German money had already been invested in this scheme, and +the Kaiser's versatile piety had assumed a Mohammedan hue in the East. +He had proclaimed himself the friend of every Mohammedan under the +sun, and had carefully refrained from wounding the feelings of the +authors of the Armenian massacres. The defeat of his Turkish friends +in the Balkan Wars had been almost as great a blow to him as to them, +and he had seen in the subsequent discord of the victors a chance of +crushing them all. Rumania, he thought, was tied to his chariot-wheels +by its Hohenzollern king, and Greece by its Hohenzollern queen; and +Bulgaria could be won through its hatred of the successful Serbs. +Serbia conquered, the corridor would be complete; but Serbia could not +be permanently crushed while Russia remained intact, and Turkey would +be a useful ally in the Russian campaign. There were millions of +Mohammedans under Russian rule, and a Turkish invasion of the +Caucasus, even if it did not stimulate insurrection in Russia, would +keep hundreds of thousands of Russian troops from East Prussia, +Poland, or Galicia. + +Apart from the vulgar bribes which affected the Young Turk politicians +there were other motives to move the populace. A Jehad against the +Christian might stir the honest fanatic; well-to-do Turks had invested +some of their savings in two Turkish Dreadnoughts under construction +in England which the British Government had commandeered; and two +German warships, the Goeben and the Breslau, had arrived at the Golden +Horn to impress or to encourage the Ottoman mind. Such were some of +the straws which finally broke the back of sober resistance to the +warlike gamble of Enver and Talaat; but the substantial argument was +the chance which was offered for Turkey to get back some of what her +inveterate Russian enemy had seized in the course of a century and her +inveterate British friend had pocketed as the price of her protection. +On 29 October a horde of Bedouins invaded the Sinai Peninsula while +Turkish torpedo boats raided Odessa, and on 1 November the British +ambassador departed from Constantinople. The two Central Empires had +enlisted their first ally, and the war had taken another stride +towards Armageddon. + + + CHAPTER IV + + THE WAR ON AND BEYOND THE SEAS + +The declaration of war by Great Britain on 4 August converted the +conflict into one unlike any other that had been waged since Napoleon +was sent to St. Helena in 1815; and sea-power was once more revealed +to a somewhat purblind world. There had, indeed, been wars in which +navies had been engaged, and Japan in 1904 had exhibited the latest +model of a naval battle. But Japan only commanded the sea in Far +Eastern waters; and the wars in which Great Britain herself was +engaged since 1815 had displayed her command in limited spheres and at +the expense of enemies who had no pretensions to be her naval rivals. +But in 1914 the second navy in the world seemed by the conduct of +Germany to challenge the first, and for nearly four and a half years +there were hopes and fears of a titanic contest for the command of the +sea. But in fact the challenge was not forthcoming, and from first to +last the command remained in our hands through Germany's default. +There was no Trafalgar because no one came forth to fight, and in the +end the German Navy surrendered without a struggle. + +But while our command of the sea was not disputed in deed by the +Germans, it was disputed in word by domestic critics and denied by +loquacious generals; and the exploits of German submarines, airships, +and aeroplanes lent some colour to the denial and to the assertion +that England had ceased to be an island. Both contentions were the +outcome of inadequate knowledge and worse confusion of thought. +Islands are made by the sea and not by the air; even if the Germans +had secured command of the air, which they did not, that command would +not have given them the advantages which accrue from the command of +the sea. It might please pessimists to believe that England would be +cowed into submission by air-raids, but the most inveterate +scaremongers hesitated to assert that armies with their indispensable +artillery and equipment could be dropped on British soil from the +skies. Belgium and France were far more troubled than we by aircraft; +but it was not aircraft that carried German armies to Brussels and +near to the gates of Paris, and London was saved from the fate of +Louvain by British command of the sea. Nor was that command abolished +or even threatened by submarines, and the fear lest it was came of the +mentality which denies the existence of a power on the ground that it +is not perfect. Command of the sea never has been and never can be +absolute. French privateers had never been more active nor British +losses at sea more acute than after Trafalgar, when no French Navy +ventured out of port; and the destruction of every German Dreadnought +would not have affected by one iota the success of German submarines. + +The command of the sea does not mean immunity from the risks of naval +warfare or from loss by the capture or sinking of merchant vessels. It +does not imply absolute security for British coasts, for British +coasts have been raided in every great war that Britain has waged. It +does not even involve the defeat or destruction of the enemy's naval +forces, or it would be a simple task for any naval Power to deprive us +of the command of the sea by locking its fleets in harbour, and on +that theory the forts of the Dardanelles would have enabled Turkey to +deny the command of the sea to the combined fleets of the world. The +meaning is familiar enough to intelligent students of history. Bacon +sketched it three hundred years ago when he wrote, "He that commands +the sea is at great liberty and may take as much and as little of the +war as he will ... and the wealth of both Indies seems in great part +but an accessory to the command of the seas." "Both Indies" have grown +to-day to include the resources of nearly the whole extra-European +world which the command of the sea placed at the disposal of the +Entente and denied to the Central Empires; and the last great war, +like those against Napoleon, Louis XIV, and Philip II, was decided by +the same indispensable factor in world-power. Others might control for +a time a continent; only those who command the sea can dispose of the +destinies of the world. + +But while an essential factor in world-power, the command of the sea +is not its sum; and the war throughout its course illustrated the +weakness of attack by sea against a well-defended coast. No attempt +was made to land an army on German territory, and complete command of +the Ægean did not avail for the capture of Gallipoli. It could not +turn sea into land nor enable a navy to do an army's work, and command +of the sea while a more extensive is a less intensive kind of power +than command of the land. The nature of the command varies, indeed, +with the solidity of the element in which it is exercised: land is +more solid than water, and water than air; the command of the land is +therefore more complete than command of the sea, and command of the +sea than command of the air; and endless confusion arose from the use +of the same word to describe three different degrees of control. +Victory can be achieved on sea, conquest only on land; and nothing +like victory, let alone conquest, in war has yet been won in the air. +Conquest, however, while it cannot be effected, can be prevented on +sea, as it was at Salamis in 1588, at Trafalgar, and Navarino; for +sea-power, while conclusive for defence, is merely conducive to +offence, and that is why it has ever been a means of liberty rather +than of despotism. Armies are the weapons of autocracy, navies those +of freedom; for peoples do not live upon water, and only armies +command their homes. Command of the sea is a sufficient protection for +an island-empire; to conquer others it needs a superior army, and the +absence of such an army proved the defensive aims of the British +Empire before the war. World domination could only be secured by the +combination of a dominant army with a dominant navy, and hence the +significance of the German naval programme designed at least to +prevent the counteraction of one by the other. + +But while a supreme navy suffices to protect an island empire, it does +not suffice to defend continental states; and the importance of +British sea-power was that it gave us and other oversea peoples the +liberty to take as much or as little part as we chose in a war to +defend states that were threatened on land. The existence of that +facility did not determine the extent to which it might be used by +ourselves or by allies. That would depend upon the size of the armies +we raised and the labour we spent upon their equipment; and we might +have restricted our expeditionary forces to the numbers we sent under +Marlborough against Louis XIV or under Wellington against Napoleon. +But we could not have sent any without the command of the sea; and the +essence of that command is that, firstly, it prevented the enemy from +using his armies to invade our shores, and, secondly, it enabled us to +send whatever forces we liked to whatever sphere of operations was not +commanded by the enemy's armies. Philip II had demonstrated once for +all the emptiness of the invasion scare when he sent a superb military +expedition, the Spanish Armada, across a sea which he did not command; +and the efforts of German submarines failed to affect the transport of +our own and our Allies' troops or seriously to impede their +communications. + +The command of the sea was, in fact, abandoned by the Germans when on +26 July 1914 their fleet was recalled from the Norwegian fiords; and +the cruisers which the outbreak of war found beyond reach of German +territorial waters were in turn and in time destroyed. One +Dreadnought, the Goeben, and a light cruiser, the Breslau, escaped to +play a chequered part in the war. Caught by its outbreak in the +Mediterranean, they attempted to make the Straits, were headed off by +the British, and gained Messina on 5 August. Evading the British Fleet +under circumstances which were held to cast no reflection on the +British commander, and with assistance which it was deemed impolitic +to make public, they pursued their flight eastward, gallantly +assaulted by the smaller and slower Gloucester off Cape Matapan, until +they reached the Dardanelles and took the Turkish Government under +their charge. Out in the Atlantic the swift Karlsruhe caused some +anxiety till she was wrecked in the West Indies, and the Geier was +interned at Honolulu by the United States. A few converted merchantmen +also pursued a brief career as raiders: the Cap Trafalgar was disposed +of in a spirited action by the converted Cunarder Carmania on 14 +September off Brazil; the Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse was sunk by the +Highflyer off Cape Verde Islands on 27 August; and the Spreewald was +captured in the North Atlantic by the Berwick on 12 September. For the +rest, the German mercantile marine was interned in neutral ports or +restricted to Baltic waters, and apart from Von Spee and the +submarines the German flag disappeared from the seas. + +The Germans had realized from the start a vital difference between war +on sea and war on land. The land affords some protection to the weaker +combatant especially on the defensive; the sea gives none. There are +no trenches in the sea, but only graves. It is merciless to the +vanquished, and the casualties in a beaten fleet are total losses; +instead of prisoners, fugitives, and wounded, there is one vast list +of drowned. Ships that are sunk do not return to the battle-line, and +their loss takes long to repair. Years are required to build a +Dreadnought, and years to make a seaman. Armies are easier to create +and more difficult to destroy than fleets, and the sailor's fight is +ever one to a finish, with little chance of escape from the dread +alternative. It is a case of all or nothing; there are no water-tight +compartments in sea-power, no fluctuating spheres of power, no +divided areas in some of which one and in some the other combatant may +be supreme. Apart from land-locked waters the sea is one and +indivisible, and he who has the command, commands it everywhere. The +battle at sea is a battle without a morrow for those who lose; and +from the day when the Germans wisely withdrew into Kiel and +Wilhelmshaven there was little chance that they would come out to +fight to a finish except as a counsel of despair or until they could +by mine or submarine or skilful raid reduce the disparity of force. +That was the purpose of their early naval strategy; it proved +ineffective owing to British skill and caution, and it became hopeless +when it appeared that we could build ships much faster than the +Germans could sink them or build ships themselves; and the Germans +then turned from the task of destroying the British Navy to that of +destroying the commerce on which we depended for subsistence, from the +hope of securing the command of the sea for themselves to that of +turning it into a "no man's land," a desert which no allied or neutral +ship could cross. + +The mine-sowing began the moment war was declared, and on 5 August the +Konigin Luise was sunk in the nefarious act of sowing loose mines in +the North Sea. Fixed mines for coast and harbour defence or minefields +at sea are legitimate means of war, provided that warning is given of +the dangerous area; loose mines are prohibited by international law, +because they can make no distinction in their destruction between +neutrals and belligerents, merchantmen and men-of-war. But the German +flag having practically disappeared from the seas, the Germans paid +little heed to the risks of other people. On 6 August a light cruiser, +the Amphion, struck one of these mines and was sunk, and on 3 +September a gunboat, the Speedy, met with a similar fate. A more +serious loss, though only one man was killed, was that of the +super-Dreadnought Audacious, which struck a mine to the north of +Ireland on 27 October and sank as she was being towed into harbour; +and a mine caused the loss of the Hampshire, with Lord Kitchener on +board, in June 1916. + +The submarine proved, however, the greater danger, and there was +nothing illegal in the sinking of men-of-war or transports. On 5 +September the Pathfinder, a light cruiser, was torpedoed and sunk, and +on the 13th the British retaliated by sinking the German light cruiser +Hela near Heligoland. The warning, however, had not been taken to +heart, and on 22 September the German submarine commander, Otto +Weddigen, successively sank the Aboukir, the Hogue, and the Cressy, +three old but substantial cruisers on patrol duty off the Dutch coast. +The Hogue and the Cressy were lost because they came up to the rescue +and were protected by no screen of destroyers, and 680 officers and +men were drowned. A fourth cruiser, the Hawke, was torpedoed off +Aberdeen on 15 October, and on 1 January 1915 the Formidable, of +15,000 tons, was sunk off Start Point on her way to the Dardanelles, +with a loss of 600 of her crew. The Germans were not, however, immune +in their submarine campaign. H.M.S. Birmingham rammed and sank a +German submarine on 6 August, the Badger did the like on 25 October, +and U18 was sunk on 23 November; Weddigen himself was rammed, with the +loss of his submarine and all on board, later on by the Dreadnought. + +The British losses by mine and submarine created some discontent on +the ground that our naval strategy was defensive rather than +offensive; and military critics, whose notions of naval warfare were +derived from the study of German text-books on the principles of war +on land, continually pressed for a more active policy, and asked why +our superior navy did not treat the German Fleet as the German Army +treated its enemies in France and Belgium. It was forgotten that he +who possesses all must always be on the defensive; there must be +something tangible to attack before there can be an offensive, and +there could have been no Trafalgar had Napoleon kept his fleet in +harbour. The abandonment of the high seas by the German Navy precluded +a naval battle, and the defensive strength of harbour defences which +kept Nelson outside Toulon had so increased as to make it vastly +harder for Jellicoe to penetrate Wilhelmshaven or Kiel. Naval power, +which the war proved to be more than ever effective on sea, was shown +to be more than ever powerless on shore. The mine and the submarine +made the sustained bombardment of land fortifications a dangerous +practice, and moving batteries on shore were more than a match for +ships, because they could not be sunk and could be more easily +repaired or replaced. There were wild dreams of British forces landing +on German coasts, and still wilder alarms about German armies +descending on British shores; but the only landing effected on hostile +territory during the war was at Gallipoli, and it did not encourage a +similar attempt against the better defended lands held by the Germans. +We had to content ourselves with the practical realization in war of +our continual claim in peace that sea-power is an instrument for the +defence of island states rather than one for offence against +continental peoples. Only when and where those peoples wished to be +defended and opened their ports to their allies, was it found possible +to land a relieving force. The British armies which liberated Brussels +had to travel via Boulogne and not Ostend; and the German ships which +sheltered in port had to be routed out by the pressure of Allied arms +on land. + +The naval actions of the war were therefore of the nature of outpost +raids and skirmishes rather than of battles. The first that developed +any serious fighting took place in the Bight of Heligoland on 28 +August. Apparently with the design of inducing the Germans to come +out, a flotilla of submarines under Commodore Keyes was sent close in +to Heligoland, with some destroyers and two light cruisers, the +Arethusa and Fearless, behind them, and more substantial vessels out +of sight in the offing. Presently there appeared a German force of +destroyers and two cruisers, the Ariadne and the Strassburg; they were +driven off mainly by the gallant fighting of the Arethusa; but +thinking there was no further support the Germans then sent out three +heavier cruisers, the Mainz, the Koln, and apparently the Yorck. The +Arethusa and Fearless held their own for two or three hours until +Beatty's battle-cruisers, led by the Lion, came safely through the +German mine-fields and submarines to their assistance. The Lion's +13.5-inch guns soon settled the issue: the Mainz and the Köln were +sunk, while no British unit was lost, and the casualties were 32 +killed and 52 wounded against 300 German prisoners and double that +number of other casualties. The overwhelming effect of heavier gunfire +had been clearly demonstrated, and it was further illustrated on 17 +October by the destruction of four German destroyers off the Dutch +coast by the light cruiser Undaunted accompanied by four British +destroyers; but the next exhibition of naval gun-power was to be at +our expense. + +Among the incidental advantages which the adhesion of Great Britain +brought to the Entente was the intervention of Japan, which, apart +from its alliance with us, had never forgiven Germany the part she +took in depriving Japan of the fruits of her victory over China in +1894, and regarded as a standing offence the naval base which Germany +had established at Tsingtau and the hold she had acquired on North +Pacific islands. On 15 August Japan demanded within eight days the +surrender of the lease of Tsingtau and the evacuation of Far Eastern +waters by German warships. No answer was, of course, returned, but the +German squadron under Von Spee wisely left Tsingtau in anticipation of +its investment by the Japanese. It began on the 27th, and troops were +landed on 2 September: on the 23rd a British contingent arrived from +Wei-hai-wei to co-operate, and gradually the lines of investment and +the heavy artillery were drawn closer. The final assault was fixed for +7 November, but the Germans forestalled it by surrender; there were +3000 prisoners out of an original garrison of 5000, and Germany's last +overseas base, on which she had spent £20,000,000, passed into the +enemy's hands. Australian troops had already occupied without serious +opposition German New Guinea, the Bismarck archipelago, and the +Gilbert and Caroline Islands, while Samoa surrendered to a New Zealand +force, and the Marshall Islands to the Japanese. + +Von Spee's squadron was thus left without a German naval base; but one +of its vessels was to show that there was still a career for a raider, +and the others were to demonstrate the paradox that neutral ports +might be more useful than bases of their own, inasmuch as they could +not be treated like Tsingtau. On fleeing from the Japanese menace Von +Spee had steamed eastwards across the Pacific, but two of his +cruisers, the Königsberg and the Emden, were detached to help the +Germans in East Africa and to raid British commerce in the Indian +Ocean. On 20 September the Königsberg sank H.M.S. Pegasus at Zanzibar, +but failed to give much assistance in the projected attack on Mombasa, +and was presently bottled up in the Rufigi River. The Emden under +Captain Müller had better success. Throughout September and October +she haunted the coasts of India and harried British trade, setting +fire to an oil-tank at Madras, torpedoing a Russian cruiser and a +French destroyer in the roadstead of Penang, and capturing in all some +seventeen British merchantmen. She had, however, lost her own +attendant colliers about 25 October, and a raid on the Cocos or +Keeling islands on 9 November was interrupted by the arrival of H.M.S. +Sydney, which had been warned by wireless, on her way from Australia. +In less than two hours the Sydney's 6-in. guns had battered the Emden +to pieces, and with only 18 casualties had killed or wounded 230 of +the enemy. Müller became an honourable prisoner of war; he had proved +himself the most skilful of German captains and the best of German +gentlemen. + +Meanwhile Von Spee had gained the South American coast and made +himself at home in its friendly ports and islands. He had with him two +sister cruisers, the Scharnhorst and the Gneisenau, each of 11,400 +tons and an armament of eight 8.2-inch guns, and three smaller +cruisers, the Dresden, Leipzig, and Nürnberg, each about the size of +the Emden, from 3200 to 3540 tons, and carrying ten 4.1-inch guns; +none of them had a speed of less than 22 knots. To protect the South +Pacific trade the British Government had in August sent Admiral +Cradock with a somewhat miscellaneous squadron, consisting of the +Canopus, a pre-Dreadnought battleship of nearly 13,000 tons, with +6-inch armour, four 12-inch guns, and a speed of 19 knots; the Good +Hope, a cruiser of 14,000 tons, with two 9.2-inch and sixteen 6-inch +guns, and a speed of 22 knots; the Monmouth of 9800 tons, fourteen +6-inch guns, and the same speed as the Good Hope; the Glasgow of 4800 +tons, with two 6-inch and ten 4-inch guns, and a speed of 25 knots; +and the Otranto, an armed liner. Reinforcements were expected from +home, and possibly from Japan; but the squadrons were not unequally +matched in weight of metal, though the British were handicapped by the +diversity and antiquity of their armament. The balance was, however, +destroyed before the battle, because, as Cradock in the third week of +October made his way north along the Pacific coast, the Canopus +developed defects which necessitated her being left behind for +repairs. + +The squadrons fell in with one another north-west of Coronel late in +the afternoon of 1 November. Cradock had turned south, presumably to +join the Canopus, but Von Spee secured the inestimable advantage of +the in-shore course, and as the sun set it silhouetted the British +ships against the sky while the gathering gloom obscured the Germans. +The fight was really between the two leading cruisers on each side, +the Good Hope and the Monmouth against the Scharnhorst and the +Gneisenau. The Germans got the range first, and the Good Hope's two +9.2-inch guns were soon put out of action in spite of their superior +weight. At 7:50 she blew up, and the Monmouth was a wreck. The +lightly-armoured Glasgow had no option but to use her superior speed +and escape to warn the Canopus. This she did, and the two got safely +round Cape Horn to the Falkland Isles, leaving for the time the +Germans in command of the South Pacific coast. Sixteen hundred and +fifty officers, midshipmen, and men lost their lives with Cradock, and +none were rescued by the Germans. There was hardly a parallel in +British naval history for such a defeat. + +Prompt measures were taken to retrieve it. Lord Fisher had succeeded +Prince Louis of Battenberg at the Admiralty on 30 October, and one of +his first acts was to dispatch on 5 November a squadron under Admiral +Sturdee, comprising the Invincible and Inflexible, and four lighter +cruisers, the Carnarvon, Kent, Cornwall, and Bristol; the Glasgow was +picked up in the South Atlantic, while the Canopus was at Port Stanley +in the Falklands. The Invincible and Inflexible were the two first +battle-cruisers built; each had a tonnage of 17,250, a speed of 27-28 +knots, and eight 12-inch guns which could be fired as a broadside to +right or left; and there would be little chance for Von Spee if he +encountered such a weight of metal. Sturdee reached Port Stanley on 7 +December. Von Spee, who had been refitting at Juan Fernandez, left it +on 15 November, possibly fearing the Japanese approach, and made for +Cape Horn and the Atlantic. His plan was to snap up the Canopus and +the Glasgow, get what he could out of the Falklands, and then proceed +to support the rebellion in South Africa. Early on 8 December he +unsuspectingly approached Port Stanley, not discovering the presence +of Sturdee's squadron until it was too late. He then made off +north-eastwards with the Scharnhorst and the Gneisenau, while his +lighter cruisers turned south-eastwards. The former were sunk in the +afternoon by the two British battle-cruisers and the Carnarvon, while +the latter succumbed in the evening to the Kent, Glasgow, and +Cornwall; only the Dresden escaped, to be sunk in five minutes on 14 +March 1915 at Juan Fernandez by the Kent and the Glasgow. The +Invincible had no casualties, the Inflexible one man killed; the Kent +had four killed and twelve wounded, and the Glasgow nine and four. +About two hundred Germans were saved from drowning, but they did not +include Von Spee. + +Such were the effects upon human life of a disparity of weight of +metal in naval action. No skill could avoid the brutal precision of +mechanical and material superiority. Von Spee had it at Coronel, +Sturdee at the Falklands, and there is no reason to suppose that if +the persons had been exchanged, the result would have been any +different. It is the romance of the past which attributes naval +success mainly to superior seamanship or courage; the "little" Revenge +was the super-Dreadnought of her time, and the victories of the +Elizabethan sea-dogs were as surely won by superior weight of metal as +those of Nelson or to-day. Von Spee and his men fought as bravely and +as skilfully as Cradock and his; and the war for command of the sea +went against the Germans because while the Germans were building +pre-Dreadnoughts and casting 8-inch guns, we were building +Dreadnoughts and casting 10 or 12-inch guns; and while they were +constructing their Dreadnoughts, we were building super-Dreadnoughts +with 13.5 and 15-inch guns. Success in naval warfare goes not so much +to the brave as to those who think ahead in terms of mechanical force. + +The last German cruisers outside harbour were now destroyed, and +barely a raider remained at large, while the British went on gathering +the fruits of their command of the sea by mustering in Europe the +forces of the Empire and acquiring abroad the disjointed German +colonies. Naval strategy was reduced to the dull but arduous task of +blocking the exits from the North Sea and guarding against the furtive +German raids. The battle-fleet was stationed in Scapa Flow, the +cruisers off Rosyth, while little more than a patrol--backed by a +squadron of pre-Dreadnoughts in the Channel--was left to watch the +Straits of Dover and supplement the mine-fields. Both combatants drew +advantage from the narrow front of Germany's outlook towards the sea; +the exits were easier for us to close than Nelson had found the +lengthy coast of France, and no German Fleet slipped across the +Atlantic as Villeneuve did in 1805. On the other hand, the narrow +front was easier to fortify, protect with mine-fields, and defend +against attack. If there was to be a conclusive naval battle, the +field would be in the North Sea, and the only hope of success for the +Germans lay in the dispersion of our battle-fleet. + +This was the object of the German raids on Yarmouth on 3 November, and +on Scarborough, Whitby, and the Hartlepools on 16 December. The former +effected nothing except sowing of some floating mines which +subsequently sank British submarine and two fishing-smacks, while one +of the participating cruisers, the Yorck, struck a German mine and +sank on entering Wilhelmshaven. The December raid was more successful +in its murderous intention of extending the schrecklichkeit practised +in Belgium to civilians on British shores. British delegates had +insisted at The Hague in 1907 on large rights of naval bombardment, +and the Germans expanded the plea that the presence of civilians does +not exempt a fortified town from bombardment into the argument that +the presence of a soldier or even of war-material justifies the +shelling of a crowd of civilians or a watering-place. There was a +cavalry station at Scarborough, a coastguard at Whitby, and some +infantry and a battery at Hartlepool; Scarborough also had a wireless +installation, and Hartlepool its docks, and both were undoubtedly used +for purposes of war. The truth is that war tends to pervade and absorb +the whole energies of the community, and the only legitimate criticism +of German methods is that they pushed to extremes of barbarity +premisses which were commonly admitted and could logically lead in no +other direction. The old restriction of war to a few actual combatants +disappeared as manhood took to universal service, womanhood to +munition-making, and whole nations to war-work, and as the reach of +artillery and aircraft extended the sphere of operations hundreds of +miles behind the battle-lines. Eighteen were killed at Scarborough, +mostly women and children, and 70 were wounded; Whitby had 3 killed +and 2 wounded, but the damage at Hartlepool was serious. Six hundred +houses were damaged or destroyed, 119 persons were killed, over 300 +were wounded, and the mines the Germans scattered sank three steamers +with considerable loss of life. The raiders escaped by the skin of +their teeth in a fog which closed down just as two British +battle-cruisers appeared on the scene of their retreat. That the raid +had been effected at all evoked some protest from a public unaware +that such incidents have always been an inevitable accompaniment of +all our naval wars; and critics declared that we had lost the command +of the sea in the first great war in our history in which not an enemy +landed on English soil except as a prisoner. It was the German plan to +provoke such comment, a feeling of insecurity, and a demand for the +scattering of our Grand Fleet along the coasts for defence in order +that it might be dealt with in detail; but the design was happily +defeated by the restraint of the people and the sense of better +judges. + +The Germans, however, were encouraged by their success to repeat the +attempt once too often, and on 24 January 1915 a more ambitious effort +was made by Admiral Hipper to emulate these raids, or perhaps rather +to lure the British on to mine-fields north of Heligoland which he +extended before he set out. He had with him three of the best German +battle-cruisers, the Derfflinger, Seydlitz, and Moltke, with speeds +ranging from 27 to 25 knots, tonnage from 26,000 to 22,000, and 12 or +11-inch guns; the Blücher of 15,550 tons, 24 knots, and 8.2-inch guns; +six light cruisers and a torpedo flotilla. The Germans rarely if ever +came out without information of their intended movement preceding +them, and Beatty put to sea within an hour of their start. His +flagship was the Lion, 26,350 tons, 29 knots, and eight 13.5-inch +guns, and he had five other battle-cruisers, the Tiger, 28,000 tons, +28 knots, and the same armament as the Lion; the Princess Royal, a +sister ship of the Lion; the New Zealand, 18,800 tons, 25 knots, and +eight 12-inch guns; and the Indomitable, sister to Sturdee's +Invincible and Inflexible. There were also four cruisers of the "town" +class, three light cruisers, and torpedo flotillas. The fight was, +however, mainly between the battle-crusiers. As soon as Hipper heard +of Beatty's approach he turned south-east. Gradually he was +overhauled, each of the leading British cruisers, Lion, Tiger, and +Princess Royal firing salvos into the slower Blücher as they passed on +to tackle the Moltke, Seydlitz, and Derfflinger. The Blücher was +finally reduced to a wreck by the New Zealand and Indomitable, and +then torpedoed by the Meteor; bombs from German aircraft prevented our +boats from rescuing more than 120 survivors from the sinking ship. +Meanwhile the Lion was damaged by a shell and had to fall behind, and +an hour and twenty minutes passed before Beatty could return to the +scene of action; he found that his second in command had broken off +the fight out of respect for the German mine-field, which seems, +however, to have been still thirty or forty miles away. The German +battle-cruisers, which might apparently have been destroyed, thus got +home with a severe battering which incapacitated them for action for +some months. No British ship was lost, and our casualties were about a +score of men. + +The result was disappointing in the escape of the German cruisers, but +it left no doubt about the command of the sea. It was, indeed, being +daily demonstrated by the security of the Channel passage, the muster +of forces from oversea, and the conquest of German colonies. These +were mainly in Africa, and consisted of Togoland, the German +Cameroons, German South-West Africa, and East Africa. The tide of +conquest flowed in this order round Africa from north-west to +south-east, and Togoland, which was also the smallest, was the first +to be subdued. It was about the size of Ireland, and was hemmed in on +all sides, by British sea-power on the south, Nigeria on the west, and +French colonies on the north and east; and converging attacks forced +the handful of German troops to unconditional surrender on 27 August, +The Cameroons were larger than the German Empire in Europe, and the +first attacks, being made with inadequate preparation, were repulsed +in the latter days of August. On 27 September, however, by co- +operation between French troops and two British warships, Duala the +capital was captured and the whole coast-line was seized. + +The conquest of German South-West Africa was a more serious matter, +not only because the Germans were there more numerous and better +organized, but because the task was complicated by the politics of the +Union. It was not a Crown colony subject to the orders of the Imperial +Government; troops could only move at the instance of a responsible +local administration, and the back-veld Boers, led by Hertzog and De +Wet, were strenuously opposed to participation in the war on the +British side. Fortunately, perhaps, the Germans began hostilities by +raiding the frontiers of Cape Colony, and on 18 September the British +retaliated by seizing Luderitz Bay, which, like their other port, +Swakopmund, the Germans had abandoned to concentrate at their inland +capital, Windhoek. On the 26th there was a small British reverse at +Sandfontein, which was followed by the more serious news of Maritz' +rebellion in the Cape. Maritz had fought against the British in the +Boer War and for the Germans against the revolted Hereros; he now held +the ambiguous position of rank in the German Army and command of +British forces, but came down on the German side of the fence. Botha +ordered his arrest, and Maritz, with German assistance in arms and +ammunition, attempted to overrun the north-west of Cape Colony. A +fortnight's campaign in October ended with the dispersal of his +commandos by Colonel Van Deventer. + +Maritz was the stormy petrel of a far more serious disturbance. While +the grant of self-government to the Transvaal and the Orange River +Colony in 1908 had placated the great majority and the better-educated +Boers, tradition and prejudice kept their hold upon the more +conservative minority; and some like Beyers, who had once been +received by the Kaiser, looked to a war with Germany to restore their +ancient independence. On 24 October De Wet seized Heilbronn in the +Orange State, and Beyers Rustenburg in the Transvaal. Botha's appeal +to the loyal Boers met, however, with an effective response, and soon +he had 30,000 men at his disposal. He acted with remarkable swiftness: +on the 27th he dispersed the commandos of Beyers and Kemp, and on 7 +November General Smuts announced that there were but a few scattered +bands of rebels in the Transvaal. De Wet made a longer run by his +elusive heels, but found the motor-transport of his enemies an +insuperable bar to the repetition of his exploits of 1900-2. He had a +slight success at Doornberg on 7 November, when his force amounted to +2000 men; but Botha now came south into the Orange State and +completely defeated De Wet on the 11th to the east of Winburg. De Wet +himself escaped and attempted a junction with Beyers who had fled +south from the Transvaal. But he was gradually driven westward into +the Kalahari desert and overtaken by Colonel Jordaan's motors a +hundred miles west of Mafeking on 1 December, while Beyers was drowned +in trying to cross the Vaal on the 8th. De Wet was once more given his +life, and the other rebels were treated with a lenience which nothing +but its wisdom could excuse. + +The rising put off to another year the conquest of German South-West +Africa. The conquest of East Africa (see Map, p. 249) was postponed +for a longer period by the inherent difficulties of the task and the +imported defects in its management. German East Africa was actually +and potentially by far the most valuable of German oversea +possessions. Twice the size of Germany, it had a population of eight +million natives and five thousand Europeans. Although tropical in its +climate, high ground, and especially the slopes of Kilimanjaro, +provided inhabitable land for white men, and its wealth in forests, +gold and other minerals, pastoral and agricultural facilities was +considerable. There were four excellent ports, and from two of them, +Tanga and the capital, Dar-es-Salaam, railways ran far into the +interior. On the north it was bounded by British East Africa and +Uganda, on the west by the Belgian Congo State, and on the south-west +by British Nyasaland and Northern Rhodesia, while on the south +Portuguese Mozambique provided some means of supply and an ultimate +refuge in defeat. The German forces were greatly superior to those of +the British in East Africa, and the Uganda railway from Mombasa to +Lake Victoria Nyanza running parallel with the frontier was a tempting +object of attack. The Germans took the offensive against the British +north and south-west, without achieving any great success. But only +the arrival of reinforcements from India on 3 September and the +failure of the Konigsberg to co-operate prevented the fall of Mombasa, +and only the inadequacy of the British maps, on which the Germans had +for once to rely, frustrated their attack on the Uganda railway. +Karungu was also besieged on Lake Victoria Nyanza, but relieved by a +couple of British vessels; the invaders of Northern Rhodesia were +beaten back; and a naval force bombarded Dar-es-Salaam and destroyed +the wireless installation. The arrival of a second expeditionary force +from India on 1 November was the prelude to a greater reverse. Landing +at Tanga on the 4th, it was met by a German force, superior in the art +of bush fighting if not in numbers which hurried down from Moschi, and +was compelled to re-embark with a loss of 800 casualties. During the +brief span of their colonial experience the Germans had learnt as much +about colonial warfare as we could teach them after centuries; for +traditions are not an unmixed blessing in the art of war. + + + CHAPTER V + + ESTABLISHING THE WESTERN FRONT + + The Battles Of The Aisne + +Throughout the war there was an undercurrent of criticism against the +dispersion of British forces and dissipation of British energy, and +the briefest history of it cannot avoid a certain amount of +discursiveness. The reason, if not the justification, is the same in +both cases; for happily or unhappily the British Empire is scattered +all over the globe, and unless colonies were to be abandoned to enemy +attacks and the natural forces of native discontents, they had to be +defended in part at least by British troops. Fortunately the task +required but a fraction of the military strength which Germany needed +to hold Alsace-Lorraine in time of peace, and long before the end +Great Britain received from her dominions fourfold the help in Europe +that she had to lend them overseas. The rally to the British flag was +to us one of the most inspiring, and to the Germans one of the most +dispiriting, portents in the war; but it took time to bear its fruits, +and meanwhile the cause of civilization had to rely upon the gallantry +of French armies and the numerically weak British forces fighting on +the Marne and on the Aisne. + +The human eye is ever longing to pierce the veil of the future, but it +was perhaps as well that men could not foresee, as the Allies drove +the Germans across the lower reaches of the Aisne, how long that river +would be reddened with the blood of the contending forces. They +thought that the tide of invasion would recede as fast as it had +advanced, and it was only as the days of German resistance lengthened +into weeks, and the weeks into months of the longest battle in +history, that staffs and armies and peoples began to grasp the awful +potentialities of scientific progress in the art of modern war. The +battle without a morrow had long been the ideal consummation for +victorious strategy, but no one had yet foreseen the battle without an +end and armies without flanks. That sooner or later one or other +combatant would be outflanked had been the universal assumption of the +strategist; but in the autumn of 1914 the combatant forces gradually +extended their fronts in the effort until they rested upon the +frontier of Switzerland and the sea, and the deadlock of a deadly +embrace began which was not effectively broken until the wrestling of +four years wore down the strength of the wrestlers and left the final +decision in the hands of new-comers to the European field of battle. + +The deadlock was no part of the original German plan, but German +forethought during the advance to the Marne had provided entrenchments +in the rear for the event of a retreat, and the natural strength of +the forest of St. Gobain, the Chemin des Dames, and the Argonne as +well as a study of the campaign of 1814 had suggested an obvious line +of defence. It was not, however, expected by the Entente higher +command which proceeded with its frontal attack on the assumption that +the Germans were merely fighting rearguard actions to secure their +further retirement; and it was only when the German front refused to +budge that pressure spread out to the Allied left wing in an attempt +to turn the German right flank, which would have stood more chance of +success had it come a fortnight earlier as a first instead of a second +thought. An even better alternative might have been to revert to +Joffre's original plan, which had failed in August on the Saar, to +thrust forward against the Crown Prince and threaten the left of the +Germans and the communications of their forces in Belgium and northern +France. But it is easier on paper after the event than it was in +action at the time to convert an improvised defensive into a +considered offensive strategy; and the Germans themselves had occasion +during the autumn and the rest of the war to regret that their second +thoughts had not come first. + +The battle of the Aisne began, like that of the Marne, on Sunday, 13 +September. The Germans' retreat had taken them north of the river +except at a few bridgeheads, but the river was deep and its crossings +were all commanded by fire from German batteries concealed on the +slopes rising up from the northern bank. Maunoury's 6th Army attacked +on the left from Compiègne and the Forêt de l'Aigle to Soissons, and +several divisions were got across. From Soissons eastward for fifteen +miles to Pont-Arcy the line of attack was held by the British Army; +the whole of the 4th Division got across near Venizel, and most of the +5th and 3rd Divisions farther east, but the Germans succeeded in +holding the bridge at Condé. The 2nd Division was also only partially +successful in the region of Chavonne, but the whole of the 1st got +across at Pont-Arcy and Bourg. On Monday, Maunoury pressed forward up +the heights, capturing Autrèches and Nouvron, but, like the British on +his right between Vregny and Vailly, he found the German positions +impregnable on the plateau. Haig's First Corps was more successful +farther east; Vendresse and Troyon were captured and the Chemin des +Dames was almost reached. But D'Esperey's 5th French army could make +little impression on the Craonne plateau; Foch's 9th was unable to +force the Suippe to the east of Reims, and Langle's 4th, while it +occupied Souain, was similarly held up in Champagne. + +On the 15th the Germans counter-attacked. Maunoury was driven out of +Nouvron and Autrèches, the British were forced back from Vregny almost +to the river, and the Moroccan troops withdrew on Haig's right flank. +There was a lull on the 16th, and on the 17th Maunoury recovered the +quarries of Autrèches; but east of Reims the 9th Army had fallen back +from the Suippe, and the Prussian Guard had captured Nogent l'Abbesse +and was threatening Foch's connexion with Langle in Champagne. The +18th saw little progress on either side, except along the Oise, where +Maunoury had as early as the 15th begun to outflank the German right. +This success, coupled with the stalemate along the rest of the front, +suggested to Joffre a change of strategy. Numerically the opposing +forces were not unequal, but the Germans had all the advantages of +position. To attack up carefully protected slopes with a river in the +rear and its crossings commanded by the enemy's fire, promised little +hope of success, and threatened disaster in case of failure and +retreat. Accordingly, Joffre, taking some risks by weakening his +centre, began on the 16th to lengthen and strengthen his left by +forming two new armies. Castlenau gave up his command of the 2nd to +Dubail in Lorraine and took over the new 7th, and a 10th was entrusted +to Maud'huy, another of the professors of military history to whom the +French and the Russian armies owed so much of their generalship. By +the 20th Maunoury had swung his left round until it stretched at a +right angle from Compiègne north to the west of Lassigny. Castelnau's +7th continued the line north through Roye to the Albert plateau; and +on the 30th Maud'huy's 10th took up the tale through Arras to Lens. + +But if the impact of equal forces on the Aisne flattened them out +towards the west, it had the same effect in the other direction, +though here it was the Germans who took the offensive in trying to +penetrate Sarrail's flank on the Meuse and thus get behind the whole +front of the Allies. Verdun was the nut to be cracked, but Sarrail had +been extending its defences so as to put the city beyond the reach of +the German howitzers and surrounding it with miles of trenches and +wire-entanglements; and the Germans preferred to attempt another +method than frontal attack. About the 20th four new corps, chiefly of +Württemburgers, appeared in Lorraine, bringing their forces up to +seven against Sarrail's three; and an attack was made on Fort Troyon +on the Meuse which reduced it to a dust-heap but failed to carry the +Germans across the river. A more serious onslaught was made on the +23rd against St. Mihiel, which was captured while the neighbouring +forts of Paroches and the Camp des Romains were destroyed. But again +the Germans were prevented from pushing their advantage, and were left +with no more than a wonderful salient which looked on the map like +Germany putting out its tongue at France and resisted all efforts to +repress this insolence until the closing months of the war. + +Having achieved but a sterile success to the south of Verdun, the +Crown Prince encountered a greater failure to the west. On 3 October +he attacked Sarrail's centre in the forest of the Argonne, seeking to +recapture St. Menehould, the headquarters he had abandoned on 14 +September. His troops were caught in La Grurie wood and so badly +mauled that they temporarily lost Varennes and the main road through +the Argonne to Verdun. Foiled in both these directions, the Germans +revenged themselves by bombarding Reims in the centre and ruining its +cathedral; "the commonest, ugliest stone," wrote a German general, +"placed to mark the burial-place of a German grenadier is a more +glorious and perfect monument than all the cathedrals in Europe put +together." The bombardment did not help them much; Neuvillette, which +they had seized two miles north of Reims, was lost again on 28 +September, and the French also recovered Prunay, the German occupation +of which had driven a wedge between Foch's and Langle's armies. On the +other hand, Berry-au-Bac, where the great road crossed the Aisne and +the French often reported progress, remained in German hands for four +years longer. Both sides were now firmly entrenched, and their armies +were learning that new art of trench warfare which was to tax their +ingenuity, test their endurance, and drain their strength, until years +later this war of positions once more gave place to a war of movement. +The lines had become stabilized, and between Reims and the Alps they +did not alter by half a dozen miles at any point from September 1914 +until September 1918. The question of October was whether and where +they would be fixed between the Aisne and the sea. + +Joffre's outflanking move was promptly countered, if not indeed +anticipated, by the German higher command, and in the first days of +October there was a general drift of German forces towards their right +and the Channel ports. Most and the best of the new levies were sent +into Belgium, and the stoutest troops in the fighting line were +shifted from East to West. Alsace was almost denuded; the Bavarians +were moved from Lorraine towards Lille and Arras, and the Duke of +Württemberg into Belgian Flanders. Von Bulow was sent to face +Castelnau and Maud'huy between the Oise and the Somme, and only Von +Kluck and the Crown Prince with a new general, Von Heeringen, from +Alsace were left to hold the line of the Aisne. Von Moltke was +superseded by Falkenhayn, and a new phase came over German strategy. +The knock-out blow against France had failed, and the little British +Army threatened to grow. France had been the only foe the Germans had +counted in the West, but a new enemy was developing strength, and the +German front was turned to meet the novel danger. + +The British Army made a movement which was sympathetic with this +change and symptomatic of the future course of the war. It was clearly +out of place along the Aisne in trenches which could be held by French +territorials and where its long communications crossed those of three +French armies. It was needed in Flanders close to its bases and to the +Channel ports which the Germans had now resolved to seize in the hope +of cutting or straining the Anglo-French liaison and furthering their +new campaign on land and sea against their gathering British foes. The +idea had occurred to Sir John French before the end of September, and +on the 29th he propounded it to Joffre; Joffre concurred, called up an +8th Army under D'Urbal to support and prolong the extension of the +line into Flanders, and placed Foch in general charge of the +operations north of Noyon. The transport began on 3 October and was +admirably carried out, though some of the ultra-patriotic English +newspapers did their best to help the enemy by their enterprise in +evading the Censor and giving news of the movement to the public; for +if business was business to the profiteer, news was news to its +vendors. + +For a fortnight the British were on the road and out of the fight, +which was left for the most part to Castelnau's 7th and Maud'huy's +10th Armies; and strenuous fighting it was for all-important objects. +There was little profit in a British out-march round the German flank +in Flanders unless the links between it and the Oise could be +maintained, and the Germans were as speedily reinforcing and extending +their right as we were preparing to turn it. At first Castelnau seemed +to be making rapid and substantial progress; he captured Noyon on 21 +September, was pushing on by Lassigny to Roye, and optimistic maps in +the English press depicted the German right being bent back to St. +Quentin and the French outflanking it as far north-east as Le Catelet. +These were not intelligent anticipations. Von Kluck had been +reinforced, and a desperate battle ensued from the 25th to the 28th, +in which Castelnau was driven back from Noyon and Lassigny. This +counter-attack was repulsed with great losses at Quesnoy and Lihons a +little farther north, but Maud'huy was not less heavily engaged north +of the Somme in a several days' struggle for the Albert plateau. The +line established was supposed to run through Combles and Bapaume, and +it was not till long afterwards that the public realized how far it +had sagged to the westwards, or what that sagging meant when the +British had to fight their way up to Bapaume. + +North of that watershed the fronts were fluid, if the scattered bodies +of French Territorials and German cavalry could be said to constitute +a front at all; and there was a strenuous race and struggle to turn +the respective flanks. Neither side, it was soon apparent, would +succeed in that object, and the practical question was at what point +the outflanking contest would reach the coast. The German ambition was +to push their right as far south as the mouth of the Seine, while the +Allies hoped to thrust their left to the north until it joined the +Belgian Army at Antwerp. Maud'huy had entered Arras on 30 September, +and some of his Territorials pushed forward to Lille and Douai. During +the first three days of October he was fighting hard on the eastern +slopes of Vimy Ridge but was compelled to fall back on Arras, while +the Germans occupied Lille and Douai and their cavalry penetrated as +far as Bailleul, Hazebrouck, and Cassel. But the British from the +Aisne were moving up towards their positions on Maud'huy's left, the +Aire-La Bassée Canal being fixed as the point of their junction, and +the 7th Division, with a division of cavalry, had landed at Ostend and +Zeebrugge while the Naval Division was sent to assist in the defence +of Antwerp. The Allied dream of a front along the Scheldt to Antwerp, +barring German access to the sea, seemed on the verge of realization; +but dramatic as the moment was, the tension would have been far more +acute had men grasped what a difference possession of the Belgian +coast was to make in the course of the war. + +Success was missed by the Allies because it had been a more urgent +task to break the German offensive on the Marne than to save the +remnants of Belgian soil and assist the detached Belgian Army; and the +whole of our available force had been sent to the vital spot. +Isolation is always dubious strategy, but there were sound as well as +natural motives behind the decision which led the Belgian Army after +the German occupation of Brussels on 20 August to fall back +north-westwards on Antwerp instead of southwards to join the Allies at +Mons and Charleroi. The isolation did not involve ineffectiveness, and +so far away as the Marne the Allies experienced the benefit of Belgian +fighting at Antwerp. Three successive sorties alarmed the Germans for +the safety of their far-flung right and its communications, and +diverted reserves from their front in France to their rear in Belgium +(see Map, p. 34). The first began on 24 August and drove the Germans +from Malines, while 2000 British marines landed at Ostend. Then the +Belgian right stretched out a hand towards the British and captured +Alost, while the left struck at Cortenburg on the line between +Brussels and Louvain. The communications of the capital were thus +threatened on three sides, and the Germans had to recall at least +three of their corps from France. It was this interference with their +vital plans in France, coupled with the panic produced by the Belgian +advance, which provoked the Germans into their barbarities at Louvain, +Malines, and Termonde. Schrecklichkeit was to deter the contemptible +Belgian Army from spoiling a mighty German success. That was the view +of the German staff, and a soldiery prone as ever to pillage and +rapine, needed little encouragement to extend to civilians, women, and +children the violence which their leaders organized against cathedrals +and cities. + +Panic produces plots in all countries--in the minds of the +panic-stricken, and Germans no doubt believed in the tales of civilian +conspiracies which they used to justify their military crimes. Major +Von Manteuffel ordered the systematic destruction of Louvain, with its +ancient university and magnificent library. The Cathedral and Palais +de Justice at Malines were ruined by bombardment after the Belgian +troops had left it; and Termonde was burnt because a fine was not paid +in time. Massacre, looting, and outrage attained a licence which only +the Germans themselves had equalled during the Thirty Years' War. It +and other orgies were a natural expression of German militarism; for +excessive restraint in one direction provokes relaxation in others, +and the tighter the bond of martial law, the less the respect for +civil codes. The proverbial licence of soldiery is the reaction +against their military discipline. + +The second, called "the great sortie" from Antwerp, nearly coincided +with the battle of the Marne. It began on 9 September: Termonde was +reoccupied, but the main effort was towards Aerschot and Louvain. +Aerschot was recaptured on the 9th, though the fiercest struggle took +place at Weerde between Malines and Brussels. Kessel, just outside +Louvain, was taken on the 10th, but German reinforcements began to +arrive on the 11th, and two days later the Belgians were back in their +positions on the Nethe, their retirement being marked, as before, by a +fresh series of German atrocities. A third sortie induced by +representations of the French higher command and by the impression +that the German forces before Antwerp had been reduced, was planned +for 26-27 September, and some fighting occurred at Alost and Moll. But +by this time the new Germany strategy was at work, and the +"side-shows" of the first phase of the war became the main objectives +of the second. The French Army was fairly secure in its trenches and +the way to Paris was barred. But the approach to the Channel ports was +not yet closed, and Antwerp was on the way to the Belgian coast. It +was a fine city to ransom; its loss might convince the Belgians that +there was no hope for their independence; and historical Germans +bethought themselves of Napoleon's description of Antwerp as a pistol +pointed at England's heart. Its fall would be some consolation for the +lack of a second Sedan, and on 28 September the siege began. + +The Antwerp defences had been, like those of Liège and Namur, designed +by Brialmont, and were begun in 1861. But the rapid growth of the city +and the increasing range of guns made Brialmont's ring of forts, which +was drawn little more than two miles from the walls, useless as a +protection against bombardment, and twenty years later a wider circle +of forts, which was barely completed when war broke out, was begun ten +miles farther out, beyond the Rupel and the Nethe, and extending +almost to Malines. One of the objects of the Belgian sorties had been +to keep this ring intact and prevent the German howitzers from being +brought up within range of the city. But there are only two means by +which forts can be made effective defences; either their artillery +must be equal in range and power to that of the attacking force, or +the attacking force must be prevented by defending troops from +bringing its howitzers within range. Neither of these two conditions +was fulfilled. The Belgian trenches, so far as any had been dug, were +close under this outer ring of forts, and the German 28-cm. howitzers +had an effective range of at least a mile and a half longer than that +of any guns the Belgians could mount. These howitzers had already +disposed of the fortifications of Liège, Namur, and Maubeuge, and it +was only a question of days and hours when they would make a breach in +the outer defences of Antwerp. + +Their fire was concentrated on Forts Waelhem and Wavre, south and east +of Antwerp. Both had been destroyed by 1 October, and the reservoir +near the former, which supplied the city with water, was broken down, +flooding the Belgian trenches north of the Nethe, beyond which they +had now taken refuge. Farther to the left Termonde was seized by +German infantry and the Belgians driven across the Scheldt. On the 2nd +the Government resolved to leave Antwerp, but its departure and the +flight of the civilians were postponed by the arrival of Mr. +Churchill, First Lord of the Admiralty, and first a brigade of Royal +Marines and then two naval brigades of splendid but raw and ill-armed +recruits. They were at once sent out to help the Belgians to defend +their trenches along the north bank of the Nethe against the German +numbers and their more effective shells. On the 5th and following +night both the left and centre of the defence were pierced, the +Germans crossed the Nethe, and began to concentrate their howitzers on +the inner line of ramparts. On the 7th the exodus from the city began +by land and water, and amid heartrending scenes a quarter of a million +people strove to reach the Dutch frontier or safety on the sea. The +Belgian and British troops did their best to hold off the Germans +while the flight proceeded and the city was subject to bombardment. It +was doubtful whether any would get away, for the Germans had at last +begun serious fighting up the Scheldt in order to cut off the retreat +towards Zeebrugge and Ostend. In the narrow gap between the intruding +Germans and the Dutch frontier some were forced across the latter and +interned; others fell into the enemy's hands; and less than a third of +the first Naval Brigade escaped to England. On the 9th the bombardment +ceased, and on the 10th the Germans made their formal entry into a +well-nigh deserted city. They had got their pistol pointed at the +heart of England, but like Napoleon they learnt that it was a pistol +which could only be fired by sea-power. + +Most of the Belgian Army with the remnants of the British forces got +away to the coast through the gap beyond the Scheldt which Von Beseler +had failed to close in time; and it is impossible to say whether the +gallant efforts of the Royal Marines and naval brigades did more to +facilitate this escape than the postponement of the retreat, caused by +their arrival, did to frustrate it. As an end in itself the expedition +for the relief of Antwerp was a failure; but it was designed to +subserve a larger operation, the scope of which has not yet been +revealed. At the time of its dispatch there may still have been hopes +for the success of Joffre's larger strategical scheme of bending back +the German flank in Flanders behind the Scheldt; and obviously, if the +failure of the Germans at the Marne and a successful defence of +Antwerp by the Entente should induce the Dutch to intervene, the +German position in the West would be completely turned. In either case +"other and more powerful considerations," as the Admiralty expressed +it on 17 October, prevented the "large operation" of which the +expedition of the Naval Division had been merely a part, from being +carried out; and the "powerful consideration" may have been the forces +which Germany was massing at Aix and in Belgium to defeat the Entente +strategy in Flanders. + + The Campaigns In Artois + +The fall of Antwerp was as fatal to our scheme of controlling the +Scheldt as Castlenau's and Maud'huy's successful defence between the +Oise and Arras had been to the German project of reaching the mouth of +the Seine; and it still remained to be seen at what point the +expanding pressure upon the opposing flanks would impinge upon the +coast. Neither side had yet reconciled itself to or perhaps conceived +of such a stalemate to their strategy. Rawlinson's 7th Division of +infantry and 3rd of cavalry had not been landed at Zeebrugge and +Ostend on 6 October to defend those ports or even the Yser, and the +fresh German armies advancing through Belgium were not intended to +waste their strength on the ridges in front of Ypres or floods around +Dixmude. The Germans hoped, if not to turn the Entente flank, at least +to seize Dunkirk, Calais, and Boulogne; and Joffre and French were +planning to make La Bassée, Lille, and Menin the pivot of a turning +movement which should liberate Brussels, isolate Von Beseler in +Antwerp, and threaten the rear of the German position along the Aisne. +To render these plans feasible it was necessary that La Bassée and +Lille should be held and that the indefinite German flank in Flanders +should be outreached; and thus the country from Arras northwards to +the coast became the ground on which the autumn campaign in the West +was doomed to be decided. + +Antwerp fell amid a fluid front. On 9 October Maud'huy's 10th Army was +holding up in front of Arras; but his Territorials were falling back +on Lille and its environment as the Belgians retreated to join +Rawlinson at Ostend. French's three corps were on their way to prolong +and establish Maud'huy's left, and an 8th French army under D'Urbal +was designed to fling the line yet farther north. But the Germans were +bent on a similar object, and their masses of cavalry, released from +the front on the Aisne by its settlement into trenches, were keeping +open the country and the issue. The rival armies were like two doors +swinging towards one another on the same hinge; but they were not +wooden or rigid, and the banging together began at the hinge near La +Bassée and extended northwards to the coast in a concussion spread +over several days. On 11 October Smith-Dorrien's 2nd Corps reached the +La Bassée Canal between Aire and Béthune, while Gough's cavalry was +clearing the German patrols out of the forest of Nieppe. On the 12th +he attempted a frontal attack on La Bassée, but found the German +position too strong, and determined to try to wheel round it on the +north. This movement had some success; the 3rd Division drove the +Germans from village to village until on the 17th Aubers and Herlies, +north to north-east of La Bassée, were taken by assault. But the +Germans were simultaneously and in the same way driving in the French +Territorials; on the 13th they occupied Lille, and on the 19th an +Irish brigade which had advanced beyond Herlies to Le Pilly was cut +off and captured. So far as the 2nd Corps was concerned the doors had +banged together. + +Pulteney's 3rd was moving towards collision on the left. It detrained +from St. Omer on the 11th, drove the Germans out of Meteren on the +13th, occupied Bailleul and Armentières and then crossed the Lys, +gaining a line from Le Gheir, north of Armentières, to Bois Grenier by +the 17th. An attempt to clear the right bank farther north failed +against the opposition of the German front from Radinghen to +Frelinghien and thence along the river. Here, too, the way was barred, +but north of the Lys there was as yet no stable control. There were +some French and British cavalry and some weak detachments of infantry; +but Haig's 1st Corps had not yet completed its transport from the +Aisne, Rawlinson's 7th Division was being expanded into a 4th Corps, +and the Belgian Army was painfully making its retreat from Antwerp. On +the 13th Von Beseler was in Ghent, on the 14th in Bruges, and on the +16th in Ostend. The outflanking here was being done by the Germans +with uncomfortable rapidity. On the day that the Germans entered +Ostend, the Belgians were driven out of the forest of Houthulst and +took refuge far behind the Yser. Four French cavalry divisions +recovered the forest on the 17th, but the 7th British Division which +had occupied Roulers on the 13th was driven back to a line south-east +of Ypres running through Zandvoorde, Gheluvelt, and Zonnebeke (see +Map, p. 288). + +D'Urbal's 8th French army now, however, came up to support the +exhausted Belgians and assist in holding the Yser from Dixmude to the +sea, where British warships were assembled to harass the German flank +along the dunes; and Sir John French thought the moment had come for +an offensive wheel round Menin towards the Scheldt. Haig's 1st Corps +was expected shortly to fill the gap between Rawlinson's 4th and +D'Urbal, and Rawlinson was instructed to advance on the 18th, seize +Menin, and then await Haig, who was to move through Ypres on to +Thourout, Bruges, and Ghent. In England it was confidently expected +that the Germans, who had arrived at Ostend on a Friday, would enjoy +but a week-end visit to the seaside resort, and the newspapers were +not more sadly optimistic or ill-informed than headquarters in France. +The orders given on the 18th and 19th could only have been the outcome +of complete ignorance of the strength of the German Army, which was as +much underestimated by the Intelligence Department on the spot as it +was later exaggerated by writers on the campaign. In reality four new +German Corps were already at Brussels or Courtrai mainly from +Württemberg and Bavaria, and although the presence in them of men with +grey beards and boys with none gave rise to some ill-timed +satisfaction in the British press, these Landsturm troops were not to +be despised. Rawlinson moved on Menin on the 19th, but was stopped +three miles away by the German masses coming from Courtrai, and had to +entrench on a line running east of Gheluvelt. On the same day the 1st +Corps detrained at St. Omer and marched towards Ypres. Instead of +advancing on Thourout and beyond, it had to dig itself in on a line of +defence from Rawlinson's left at Zonnebeke to Bixschoote, where the +French began their own and the Belgian front along the Yser to +Nieuport. + +The impact of the opposing forces had flattened them out until they +extended to the coast, and the point at which they reached it remained +fixed for four years to a day. Instead of a brilliant strategical run +round the enemy's flanks to a distant goal in his rear, there was +fated to be a strenuous scrimmage all along the line. It was a +democratic sort of war, depending for its decision upon the stoutness +of the pack rather than on the genius of the individual. The pressure +was differently distributed at different periods during those endless +years; now it was Ypres, now Verdun, then the Somme and the Chemin des +Dames that was selected for the special push; and in time as their +man-power began to fail the Germans laid greater stress on the +concrete of their lines. But the line was never really broken, and no +flank was ever fully turned. It wavered at places and times now in +favour of one side and now in that of the other; but the end only came +when the whole was pushed back by superior weight of numbers, +advancing at an average rate of less than a mile a day. + +The first great trial of strength is associated in British minds with +the first battle of Ypres. The French dwell rather on the equally +strenuous struggle farther south round Arras under Foch. For the line +of battle stretched north from the Albert plateau for a hundred miles, +and we can hardly claim that the boys and the middle-aged men, at whom +some were inclined to scoff, in Flanders were the pick of the German +troops sent into the fray. The glory of the defence consisted rather +in the resistance of better troops to superior numbers backed by a +vast preponderance of artillery. The estimates of the German forces +are still little more than conjectures; and the figures of a million +and a half Germans to half a million French, British, and Belgians, or +of fifty corps to twelve and a half, will probably be corrected when +the German statistics are known. If it is further true that at the +actual points of fighting the disproportion was five to one, we need +no further illustration of the ills which inadequate co-ordination +imposes on an Alliance, and inadequate staff-work and intelligence on +any fighting force. The Allied tactics were probably not so clumsy nor +the German troops so feeble as these thoughtless estimates imply. + +It was not a struggle in which there was much scope for strategy on +either side, because there had been no fixed data on which to base it. +Each combatant had been bent on out-flanking the other before the sea +was reached and success denied; but neither knew from day to day or +hour to hour where his own or the enemy's line would be. It was idle +to plan at headquarters the investment of places which might at the +moment be well behind the lines, or the defence of others which the +enemy might already have passed; and the alleged inexplicable nature +of the German strategy seems to be largely due to an antedating of the +establishment of a line of battle. They might have done better to +concentrate on Arras with a view to breaking the Anglo-French liaison +on the La Bassée Canal and isolating the British Army, than to +distribute their onslaughts over a front of a hundred miles. But the +problem was to outflank a wing which was still in the air, and not to +break a line which was not yet formed; and even if it were in +existence, subsequent experience would have justified the conviction +that success was to be obtained by pressure along an extended front +rather than by concentration on limited sectors like Verdun, or even +the 18-mile front of the battle of the Somme. The struggle which +closed the autumn campaign in the West was not, in fact, a new battle +fought on a preconceived plan, but the final clash of armies seeking +to outmarch each other's flanks in a battle begun on the Marne; and +the popular German advertisement of a new campaign against the Channel +ports and a different enemy than the French was merely a fresh coat of +paint designed to cover a structure that had gone to pieces. + +Apart from the effort to outflank, neither side could therefore have +any definite plan, and neither was able to choose the scene of +conflict. Two years later, when they withdrew to the Hindenburg lines, +the Germans admitted freely enough that the earlier line had been none +of their choice, and it was certainly none of ours. It was, in fact, +imposed upon both the combatants by that same balance of forces which +eventually also imposed upon them, against their will, the deadlock in +the West. On 19 October Sir John French was still hoping that Haig +could outflank the Germans at Ghent, and the presence of the Kaiser on +the coast a few days later suggests that his generals still cherished +the idea of an outmarch rather than a break-through. It was the +British Navy that put the final check on that design, and accident +played its part. Three Brazilian monitors of shallow draught but heavy +armament had been purchased by the Admiralty in August: they could +work inshore even along the shallow waters of the Belgian coast which +precluded counter-attack by submarines, and from 18 to 28 October +their guns swept the Belgian shore for six miles inland and repelled +the onslaught of the German right on Nieuport. Haig's outflanking +project had been rendered equally impossible by the strength of the +German resistance to Rawlinson's move on Menin, and by the 21st both +sides had been pinned down to a ding-dong soldiers' battle all along +the front. Its chronology is as important as its localities, and it is +hard to follow the course of the struggle if the narrative loses +itself in the different threads of the various corps engaged. For all +were fighting at the same time, and the only generalizations possible +are that the struggle tended to concentrate from both wings towards +the apex at Ypres and to culminate in the combat of the last day of +the month. + +This bird's-eye view and lack of information about the details do less +than justice to the crucial battle, which Maud'huy under Foch's +general direction waged against the Germans round Arras and both they +and the French regard as one of the decisive incidents in the war. +Clearly, if Von Buelow succeeded in breaking through towards Doullens +or Béthune there was little to stop his reaching Boulogne or +Abbeville, and the British Army would be first isolated and then +driven into the sea. The struggle for Arras began on the 20th, after +the Germans had secured an initial advantage by seizing Lens, and Von +Buelow was given the Prussian Guard to achieve its capture. The climax +was reached on the 24th in an attempt to take the important railway +junction of Achicourt just south of the city. Arras itself was reduced +almost to ruins by the German bombardment; but Maud'huy's men held +good, and on the 26th were even able to take the offensive. The +Germans were driven out of their most advanced positions, though they +held the Vimy Ridge, and accepting defeat before Arras, transferred +some of their best troops, including the Prussian Guards, farther +north. Possibly this relinquishment was the worst of their tactical +mistakes, but the higher commands on both sides had learnt the cost of +persisting in attempts to break through, and Falkenhayn may well have +thought it best to seek a weaker spot. + +Maud'huy's successful resistance made it possible for Smith-Dorrien's +2nd Corps to hold a line north of the La Bassée Canal, though not the +line on which he had first come up against the Germans advancing from +Lille. That formed a right angle, stretching north-east from Givenchy +to Herlies and then north-west to Fauquissart; but on the 22nd his +right was driven out of Violaines, and the salient had to be evacuated +by withdrawal to a line in front of Givenchy, Festubert, and Neuve +Chapelle. On the 27th Neuve Chapelle was taken by the Germans. A +gallant attack by Indian troops, who had been brought up from +Marseilles to assist Smith-Dorrien's tried and depleted corps, checked +their advance on the 28th and drove them back into Neuve Chapelle; and +another German attack was held before Festubert. Here Sir James +Willcock's Indian Corps had a hard task for the next few days, and a +breach in our lines on 2 November was only repaired by a desperate +charge of the Gurkhas. The winter of northern France was to have more +effect on their physique than German warfare on their moral, and after +a final assault on Givenchy--one of the virgin pivots of the war in +the West--on 7 November, the battle in front of the 2nd Corps subsided +into an artillery duel. The fighting in front of Pulteney's 3rd Corps, +which carried on the line from Smith-Dorrien's left towards Ypres, was +overshadowed by the struggle round that city; but it had enough to do +to maintain the connexion. Its hold on the left bank of the Lys north +of Armentières was strenuously disputed; on the 20th the Germans +seized Le Gheir at the south-east corner of Ploegstreet Wood, but were +immediately driven out. They took it again on the 29th and some +trenches in the wood with no more permanent success, but managed on +the 30th to take and retain St. Yves a little farther north. + +This was part of the Ypres fighting, and downwards from the coast the +surge of battle was also drawn into that maelstrom. The British naval +guns had destroyed the attraction of the dunes, and the Germans turned +towards the inland marshes along the Yser. On the 23rd they crossed it +and advanced to Ramscapelle, but were driven back by the Belgians, +while fourteen unsuccessful attacks were made the following night on +Dixmude, farther south. A more successful attempt was made on the 24th +and 25th on Schoorbakke, and the Germans advanced towards the railway +embankment near Pervyse. The Belgians now bethought themselves of the +expedient their forbears had found effective in the days of William +the Silent and Alexander Farnese. The Yser was dammed at Nieuport, the +sluices were opened above Dixmude, and slowly the river rose above its +banks and spread over the meadow-flats the Germans were striving to +cross. Men were drowned and guns submerged, and presently an +impassable sheet of water protected the Belgians on the railway from +Nieuport to Dixmude. The Germans, however, made two more efforts to +pierce the Belgian line north and south of the inundation. On the 30th +they seized Ramscapelle, but were expelled by the French on the 31st, +and on 7 November a determined attack was made on Dixmude, now +defended by Admiral Ronarc'h and his French marines. It succeeded +after three days' fighting and a heavy bombardment on the 10th. But +Dixmude had, as was natural in a country which had generally feared +attack from France, been built on the eastern bank of the Yser; and +the Germans were never able to debouch across the river (see Map, p. +288). + +The capture of Dixmude coincided with the last attack on Ypres. That +famous battle was but an act in the drama played along the Flanders +front, and it may not have been more decisive and was perhaps less +dramatic than the battle of Arras. But the act extended throughout the +play, and gradually attracted more and more attention. It was a +natural continuation of the outflanking struggle, and there was no +interval between the British attempt to get to Ghent and the German +effort to reach the Channel ports. The two ambitions here clashed in +front of Ypres. Rawlinson's failure before Menin left him facing +south-east, while the expulsion of the Belgians and then the French +Territorials from the Houthulst forest left Haig and the French +contingents facing north-east from Bixschoote to Zonnebeke; the apex +of this Ypres salient was at Becelaere. D'Urbal's 8th Army from +Bixschoote north to Dixmude played a subsidiary part similar to that +of Pulteney's 3rd Corps farther south; but had it not been for the +supports he was able to send to Haig's assistance, the Germans would +assuredly have broken through. + +The attack began from the apex to our right at Zillebeke on the 21st, +and its momentum showed that nothing more than stubborn defence was +possible. The 7th Division bore the brunt of the attack, and Haig's +1st Corps was precluded from a counter-offensive by the need of +detaching supports to the south-east of Ypres, where long stretches of +line were only held by cavalry, and Pulteney was being pressed in +front of Ploegstreet. On the 23rd the Germans made an impetuous +onslaught on Langemarck, but the pressure was relieved by a French +advance on the left and their taking over the line of our 1st +Division, which enabled Haig to move in support of the centre. +Nevertheless the Germans drove it from Becelaere and got into Polygon +Wood. At night on the 25th they struck at Kruseik, between Gheluvelt +and Zandvoorde. There followed a suspicious lull, and on the 29th the +reinforced Germans drove against the centre of the 1st Corps at +Gheluvelt; an initial success was reversed later on in the day, but on +the 30th the attack shifted towards the right at Zandvoorde, and the +1st Division was forced back a mile to Zillebeke, while the 2nd +conformed and the 2nd Cavalry Division was driven from Hollebeke back +to St. Eloi. The Kaiser arrived that day and the crisis on the morrow. +Gheluvelt was the point selected for the blow, and the 1st Division +was thrust back into the woods in front of Hooge, where headquarters +were heavily shelled. The flank of the 7th Division was thus exposed, +and the Royal Scots Fusiliers were wiped out. Fortunately the arrival +of Moussy with part of the 9th French Corps averted further disaster, +though he had to collect regimental cooks and other unarmed men to +help in holding the line. Allenby's cavalry farther south was in +equally desperate straits near Hollebeke, and he was only saved by the +transference of Kavanagh's 7th brigade from the north of Hooge to his +assistance. North of the Ypres-Menin road the German attack had not +been seriously pressed, and it was from this direction that help came +between 2 and 3 p.m., the hour which Sir John French once described as +the most critical in the Ypres battle. The main instrument was the 2nd +Worcesters, who fell upon the German advanced and exposed right, and +retook Gheluvelt by a bayonet charge. This relieved the pressure on +the 7th Division, and by nightfall their positions had been regained. + +But the battle was not yet over. On 1 November the Germans renewed +their attack on Allenby and captured Hollebeke and Messines, and then +in the night Wytschaete. Luckily on that day the French 16th Corps +arrived and recovered Wytschaete. The Germans themselves now needed +reinforcements and time to recover, and for some days there was little +fighting except an unequal artillery duel. On the 6th a German attack +on Zillebeke nearly succeeded, but was eventually repulsed by a charge +of the Household Cavalry. Another pause followed, but the Germans were +bent on one more effort, and the Prussian Guards were brought up from +Arras to make it on the 11th. They charged on the Menin road against +Gheluvelt and drove the 1st Division back into the woods behind; but +then they were held, and counter-attacks recovered most of the lost +positions. The Germans by this time were tired of Ypres, though they +continued for four days longer to struggle for Bixschoote, where +Dubois and his Zouaves put up a splendid and successful defence, and a +few spasmodic attempts were made at Zillebeke and elsewhere between 12 +and 17 November. Then, with the arrival of further French +reinforcements, the Germans desisted, and the line of battle in +Flanders sank into an uneasy winter torpor. The second as well as the +first thoughts of the German command for the campaign of 1914 in the +West had come to nought, or to what was nearly as bad, a stalemate; +and the East was calling with an urgent and distracting voice to other +fields of battle. + + + CHAPTER VI + + THE FIRST WINTER OF THE WAR + +The lull which followed the battle of Ypres was not entirely due to +the winter season or to the Flanders mud, for both sides had other +reasons for quiescence in the West. The Germans had definitely failed +in their original plan of destroying the French armies before the +Russians could intervene, and they were now threatened with the ruin +of their Austrian ally and the invasion of their own Silesian borders. +The steam-roller, which had been moving to and fro across the Polish +plains, seemed to have at last secured a solid impetus in the forward +direction which might conceivably carry it to the Brandenburg Gate by +Christmas. Württemburgers and Bavarians might afford to keep their +eyes fixed on the Channel ports and their troops in Belgium; but the +affections of Prussians were set on their homes in the East, and +Hindenburg was calling for reinforcement more clamantly than the +Western commanders. Defence was for many a month to be the German +strategy in the West, and, in spite of the failure of their higher +ambitions, they had secured a good deal worth defending. Belgium, with +its great mining and other industrial resources, was theirs to relieve +the strain on German labour and raw materials; from the Briey district +in Lorraine they were drawing ores without which they could not long +have continued the war; and the coalfields of northern France were +divided between their owners and the invaders. The strain which the +lack of these resources put upon the industries and shipping of Great +Britain was incalculable, and the inability of the Entente to defend +the French and Belgian frontiers or to expel the invader prolonged the +war for at least a couple of years. + +There were thus compensations for the Germans if they could merely +hold what they had taken from other people; and the Entente on its +side had its reasons for quiescence. French reserves, which were too +late at Charleroi and Sedan, were in time at Arras and Ypres, but our +own were still in the making. A dreadful toll had been taken of the +heroes of Mons, and the original Expeditionary Force had been sadly +depleted. It was a difficulty which time would remedy, for Great +Britain was teeming with recruits in training from every quarter of +the Empire. The response to its need had been almost overwhelming, and +the Government was hard pressed to embody the hundreds of thousands of +volunteers at home and to provide transport for those overseas. At one +moment in September the War Office took the extraordinary step of +checking the rush by refusing all recruits, however fit, who were less +than 5 ft. 6 in. in height; and to arm and equip and train the +accepted was a task which required time and a vast readjustment of +industry. It was not assisted by a business community which took as +its early motto "business as usual," and was mainly alarmed by the +fear of unemployment. But the traditions of peace were potent in other +than Government circles, and history afforded no precedent for the +crisis, nor for the spirit in which it was met by the youth of the +Empire, who feared less for their lives than most of their elders did +for their profits. + +The first source from which the regular forces could be recruited was +the Territorials. They had been formed before the war on the idea that +they were required merely for home defence, and no one had yet thought +of the equivocation that home defence included that of India, Egypt, +Belgium, and France, or offence in Mesopotamia and the Dardanelles. +There was no need for the Government to rely on that quibble, for the +Territorials volunteered almost in mass for foreign service, and the +difficulty was to impress Lord Kitchener with the value of a force +with which his absence in the East had made him unfamiliar. As it was, +some of the best of the regiments, like the London Scottish, put in an +appearance at Ypres, while numbers were sent to Egypt and India to +release for service in Europe the regular forces there. With them came +native Indian regiments, Sikhs, Gurkhas, and Bhopals, whose voluntary +service provided the most touching testimonial to its character that +the British Empire has ever received; for they did not govern +themselves, and it is no small thing to govern others in such a way as +to provoke loyalty unto death. No less moving was the response from +Dominions which were thought by the ill-informed to be straining at +the leash of Imperial domination. The Canadians, having the shortest +route, were the first to come, and on 16 October the advance guard +disembarked at Liverpool. They were followed by scores and then +hundreds of thousands from Australia and New Zealand, and finally from +South Africa, where for the moment the task of suppressing rebellion +and dealing with German South-West Africa kept them at more immediate +duties nearer home. They were all volunteers; for although Canada +adopted conscription in the last year of the war, Australia rejected +the proposal twice, and it was never made in South Africa; and the +splendid colonial troops which covered themselves with glory in the +war contained no conscripts among their numbers. + +During the winter of 1914-15 Great Britain was a vast camp of men from +all quarters of the Empire training for that offensive in the spring +on which men's hopes were set. A saying attributed to Lord Kitchener +passed from mouth to mouth, to the effect that he did not know when +the war would end, but that it would begin in May. Hitherto our forces +engaged had been merely an advance guard of our manpower, and it was a +common anticipation that the Allied offensive would bring the war to a +successful conclusion by the end of 1915. With such hopes President +Poincaré cheered the French troops in their trenches at Christmas, and +in January a semi-official communiqué announced that the French had +broken the German offensive and could break the German defensive +whenever they chose. This pleasing illusion was maintained, not so +much by a censorship of the truth as by incapacity on the part of +those in authority to discern it, and by a natural tendency of the +wish to be father of the thought. German communiqués afforded some +means of correction, but they were universally disbelieved or +discounted as containing an amount of falsehood of which no ally could +be guilty, although, until the last few months of the war, they were +rather less misleading than our own. Nor was it only official news +that was delusive. "The Times," for instance, in January put the total +German "losses" down to date at two million and a quarter; and an +expert historian debited Germany with a "dead loss, perhaps, of little +less than three million by the beginning of April," whereas the +casualties barely reached half that figure, and of the casualties a +vast percentage consisted of slight wounds which did not prevent a +speedy return to the fighting-line. Medical science prolonged the war +by reducing disease and restoring the sick and wounded; and the +military statistician went as far astray in his prophecies of the +exhaustion of Germany's man-power as the economist in his predictions +of its bankruptcy and starvation by blockade. + +Nevertheless the conviction that, whether we or the Germans attacked, +they had double our casualties, comforted the public during the war of +trenches; not merely were we holding our own while our reserves in +training were mounting to millions, but all the time we were thought +to be wearing down the enemy's strength, and his prudent economy in +the use of men and munitions was taken as proof of his poverty in +resources. His real work in those winter months was done behind the +lines in factory and in barracks, and its value was tested and +revealed in the coming campaign, which found the front in the West +almost precisely where it was left to the autumn. Here and there a +village or a line of trenches had been taken, but by different sides, +and the balance was hardly worth counting. A sand-dune was captured +near Nieuport, a trench in front of St. Eloi, and ten days' fighting +round La Bassée, which severely tried the Indian troops, nearly led to +the loss of Givenchy, but quite to the gain of a brickfield. Early in +December the French took the château of Vermelles and improved their +positions at Lihons and Quesnoy, but suffered in January a reverse +north of Vailly. In Champagne they captured Perthes in February and +made some progress in the Argonne; in the Woevre they nibbled at both +sides of the St. Mihiel wedge, while in Alsace they acquired Steinbach +but lost the Hartmannsweilerkopf. But against this balance of gain +must be set a more subtle but comprehensive loss. The contest was not +limited to the occasional bursts of fighting or to the steady +endurance required for holding the trenches amid the discomfort of mud +and water, bombs and shell-fire. It also took the form of incessant +competition in the perfection of surface and underground defences. The +Germans excelled in this art; but even if they had not, the silent +development of the strength of defence would have told in the +defenders' favour when the time came for attack; and it was an +advantage which told all along the line and more than atoned for the +local loss of a trench or position. The truth was that during a +seeming stalemate the Germans made ample provision for holding their +lines in the West while they prepared and dealt a staggering blow at +their formidable foe in the East. + +A week before the Prussian Guard made its final charge at Ypres, +Belgians reported the moving of masses of German troops away to the +East. We have seen that the need was urgent, for Cossacks were already +across the Silesian frontier, and Hindenburg required all the help he +could get for his counter-offensive. He was planning an attack from +Thorn up the Vistula primarily to strike the right flank of the +Russian advance through Poland on Silesia and Cracow, and secondly to +menace Warsaw. The command was entrusted to Mackensen, while Ruszky +withstood the Germans with his right near Plock on the Vistula, his +centre behind the Bzura, and his left stretching out towards Lodz. The +Germans attacked all along the line on 18 November, but Ruszky's left +seemed to afford the easiest prey; it had no natural line of defence, +and Hindenburg's devastation during his retreat in October made the +arrival of reinforcements from Ivanov farther south unlikely. +Nevertheless Mackensen's most impetuous drive was against Ruszky's +centre across the causeway at Piontek; it promised a dramatic success, +and nearly ended in resounding disaster. The Russian centre was broken +and the left thrust back upon Lodz, where it was attacked on three +sides and seemed doomed to destruction. But the wedge was not +sufficiently wide; it merely created a pocket in the Russian line. The +sides held fast and Ruszky began to close the mouth. For three days, +24-26 November, the Germans fought desperately to get out, and at +length the remnant succeeded, owing mainly to the lateness of +reinforcements sent by Rennenkampf at Ruszky's request. Troops, +however, were rapidly being rushed up to Mackensen's help, and on 6 +December the Russian left withdrew from Lodz, the industrial capital +of Poland with half a million inhabitants. The advantage of the +retirement was to straighten the Russian line in face of the +determined effort which Hindenburg was bent on making to secure Warsaw +as a Christmas present for the Kaiser (see Map, p. 146). + +The line selected for defence ran almost due north to south from the +Vistula up the Bzura and its tributary the Rawka to Rawa and thence +across the Pilitza to Opocznow. The territory abandoned was well worth +the security gained on this line, and for three weeks the Germans +stormed against it in vain. A flank attack from the north of the +Vistula was driven back by the Russians at Mlawa, and no better +success attended the German frontal onslaughts at Sochaczew, where the +main road to Warsaw crosses the Bzura, and at Bolimow, where another +crosses the Rawka. The Germans spent their Christmas in the trenches +instead of in the Polish capital, thirty-five miles away. Somewhat +better fortune was experienced by the Hungarian offensive against the +Russians in Galicia, which was part of Hindenburg's plan. Dmitrieff +was almost in the suburbs of Cracow at the beginning of December, but +his left was then threatened by the Hungarian seizure of the Dukla +pass, and he had to retreat to the line of the Dunajec and the Nida +with his flank drawn back to Krosno and Jaslo. Presently the +Hungarians threatened also the Lupkow and Uszok passes farther east; +but reinforcements arrived, Brussilov closed the passes, and +Dmitrieff's left swung forward again. It did not, however, advance +beyond the Biala, and the Russians spent their Christmas as far from +Cracow as the Germans did theirs from Warsaw. + +Winter, however, brought less respite from war on the frozen plains of +Poland than on the sodden soil of Flanders. The first and second +attacks upon Warsaw were followed by a third in January; there was a +winter battle by the Masurian lakes in February, and a fierce struggle +along the Niemen in March; and the Russian offensive across the +Carpathians was only stopped by the German spring campaign. The +Russians, indeed, were doomed to bear the brunt of the war in 1915, at +first with success and afterwards in adversity; for the Germans had +reversed the strategy with which they had begun the war. Then they had +relied on the defensive in the East while they gathered up all their +strength for the crushing of France. That blow having failed, they +were now preparing to drive Russia out of the war, while they trusted +to their line in the West to hold against any efforts to break it. The +change of plan was probably a mistake, though it brought such success +at the moment that volatile critics in England were persuaded that the +original war on the West had been merely a blind for real designs in +the East. At any rate, in the West we had cause to be thankful that +the German attacks were but local, and that the serious offensive +against Verdun did not come until 1916, when we were prepared to +counter it on the Somme. + +Meanwhile there was some excuse for the German choice. There was +safety enough for the moment in France and Flanders, and events +justified Germany's confidence that no Entente attack in 1915 could +seriously disturb the German lines. No such grounds for complacence +existed on her Eastern frontiers. East Prussia was not yet free, and +graver danger threatened the Hungarian ally on which the Prussian +relied only less than he did on himself. Galicia was in Russian hands, +and Russian man-power was thought to be inexhaustible. The menace on +both the Carpathian and the Prussian flanks could only be properly met +by destroying the central position in Poland, and persistence in the +attacks on Warsaw was essential to German strategy in the East. The +frontal attack at the end of January which failed for the third time +was followed by a flanking attack on the Niemen which also failed, and +then by a drive on the southern flank in Galicia which turned the +whole Russian front of 900 miles, led to a wholesale retreat, and +precipitated the greatest set-back the Allies suffered in the war. +Germany failed against the democracies of the West, she succeeded +against a government more autocratic than her own. + +During January the Russian centre in front of Warsaw had been weakened +for the sake of movements against the enemy's extreme flanks, which +were undertaken in response to requests from the Western Powers in +order to divert German reinforcements from France and Flanders. There +was a fresh advance towards the Masurian lakes in East Prussia, and +far to the south Alexeiev captured a Carpathian pass at Kirlibaba. +Mackensen took advantage of this dispersion to organize a strenuous +attack on the Russian lines near the confluence of the Bzura and the +Rawka. It began on the night of 1 February, and the Russians were on +the 2nd and 3rd pressed back from their position on the heights at +Borzymow and Gumin. But two railways from Warsaw ran north and south +of the threatened front, and reinforcements brought up along them +stopped the German advance. It would in any case have been held before +the still stronger lines at Blonie which were the real defences of +Warsaw on the west, and Hindenburg now gave up the frontal attack as +hopeless. It was only, however, to turn to the northern flank and +repeat his attempt of October to pierce the great chain of fortresses +which defended Poland along the line of the Niemen and the Narew from +Kovno to Novo Georgievsk. + +His movement was further provoked by the Russian raid which had +already advanced once more across the border to close on Tilsit, +Insterburg, and Angerburg and well to the west of Lyck. Hindenburg was +ever fertile in surprises on this familiar ground, and on 7 February +his left, commanded by Eichhorn, drove the Russians back along the +railway to Kovno, and within a week had occupied Mariampol. His right +was also well across the frontier, marching on Grodno and Ossowiec. +Superior forces and railway communications accounted for his success, +and one Russian corps met with a disaster. But conditions on the +Russian side of the frontier equalized matters. The Germans occupied +Suwalki and Augustowo, and even crossed the Niemen at Drusskeniki +between Olita and Grodno, while farther north they seized Tauroggen. +But they were unable to cut the Kovno-Warsaw railway which ran but ten +miles east of the Niemen, and Ossowiec farther south successfully +stood a siege. By the middle of March Hindenburg had withdrawn his +left and centre to cover the Prussian frontier. He had suffered +considerably, but his right got off even less lightly. + +It was here that his main strategic objective lay. The thrust against +the Niemen had been simply designed to drive the Russians out of +Prussia and protect the left of the German offensive to the south on +the Narew and Warsaw. Since the German failure in December a Russian +army had been pushing slowly down the right bank of the Vistula in +front of Plock. This movement was checked in February, and the Germans +hoped by an advance from Mlawa to get across the Narew south of +Pultusk. The centre of the Russian defence was at Prasnysz where eight +roads meet, but the defending force was weak, and on 24 February the +Germans captured the town. But the extreme Russian left made a heroic +stand on the ridge between Prasnysz and Ciechanow against Germans in +front and on both sides of them. Their resistance produced a situation +somewhat resembling that at Lodz, for a rapid concentration of Russian +reinforcements swept round to the help of the flank at Ciechanow, +while others attacked the German left at Krasnosielce. The Germans +encircling Ciechanow found themselves encircled at Prasnysz, and as at +Lodz they had to fight desperately for three days to escape. They were +assisted by the rudimentary equipment of the Russian forces; rifles +and ammunition were scarce, bayonets and hand-grenades were none too +plentiful, and some of the privates are even said to have fought with +pitchforks. By such hand-to-hand and bloody warfare the Germans were +driven out of Prasnysz back towards Stegna and Chorzele and their +flank attack on Warsaw foiled. Ruszky's strategy and Russian heroism +had gained one of the most singular victories in the war. + +At the other end of the Russian front, along the Carpathians, politics +were beginning to exert a powerful influence upon strategy. +South-Eastern Europe was reacting to the Serbian successes in +December, and Rumania, like Italy, and with similar Latin feelings, +was negotiating with the Entente about terms of intervention. On 27 +January a loan of five million pounds was arranged by Great Britain, +and while we provided financial inducements Russia dispatched a +sympathetic force to overrun the Bukovina, a country kindred to +Rumania which she might acquire by co-operation. There would be little +risk in joining the war if Russian armies could debouch from the +Carpathians; and the intervention of Rumania would link up the +Serbians with the Russians and envelop unfortunate Hungary on three +sides. But the spring was not yet, and Rumania would wait and see. Her +king was a Hohenzollern, and his people were divided in their +sympathies. If there were Rumanes under Magyar rule across the +Transylvanian Alps, there were also Rumanes under Russian rule across +the river Pruth; and the filching of Bessarabia by Russia in 1878 +still rankled in the Rumanian mind. Bratianu, the Prime Minister, was +a cautious statesman, quite capable of seeing that the occupation of +the Bukovina by the Russians was a political demonstration rather than +a proof of military capacity to burst the Carpathian barrier. But +another argument was thus adduced to show the Prussians the need of +victory in the East unless they wished the defence of their two +existing fronts to be complicated by another in the south. Hungary was +their chief economic, political, and military bastion outside their +own dominions, and the subtle bond between Magyar and Prussian notions +of government, which gave them a common interest in the war, was now +drawn closer by the appointment of Tisza's henchman, Count Burian, as +Foreign Secretary to the Hapsburg Empire. For Tisza, the Hungarian +Premier, was in all but nationality a Prussian Junker, and his +domination depended as much upon a Teutonic victory over the Slavs as +a Teutonic victory did upon the retention of the Hungarian granary and +a bulwark in the south. + +The Carpathians were therefore the key to the future of the war and +history of south-eastern Europe. The Russians had in the autumn +established a solid control of the Galician outlets from the mountain +passes, but had made no serious attempt to achieve the far more +difficult task of securing command of the foothills south of the +range, which alone would enable them to conquer the plains of Hungary. +For a mountain pass is like a river bridge-head; one may often possess +it without being able to debouch. The Austrians experienced that +difficulty in their winter offensive against the Russian flank in +Galicia. They made little progress against Brussilov at the Dukla and +Lupkow passes, but farther east they seized most of the mountain +routes, and Alexeiev was pressed back in Bukovina. Their centre under +Linsingen was, however, held up by the Russians at Hill 992 near +Kosziowa, and all efforts to dislodge the defenders failed. This +defence saved Galicia for the time and prevented the relief of +Przemysl, which otherwise would have been certain. For the Austrian +right succeeded late in February in recovering Czernowitz, Kolomea, +and on 3 March, Stanislau. Reinforcements, however, now reached the +Russians; Stanislau was recaptured, the Austrians lost much of what +they had gained, and on the 22nd Przemysl weakly surrendered. Its fame +as a fortress had been enhanced by its five months' siege since +October, but it did not redound to the credit of its defenders. They +were superior in numbers to the besiegers, were amply provisioned, and +well supplied with heavy artillery and all the munitions of war. Every +sort of blunder seems to have been committed by the commander, who +apparently regarded the siege as a relief from more arduous work in +the field, and capitulated because the repulse of the rescuing +expedition foreboded an increase of inconvenience. + +The surrender liberated the besieging force for operations elsewhere, +and the Russians began a serious effort to surmount the Carpathian +rampart. They got well to the south of the Dukla, made substantial +progress in the centre through the Rostoki pass, and by the middle of +April held the crests for a continuous seventy miles; cavalry +penetrated much farther down the slopes, and the Austrians prepared to +evacuate the Ungvar valley. Reciprocal raids occurred elsewhere on the +Eastern front: the Russians seized and burnt Memel, and the Germans +retaliated by the bombardment of Libau. Despite warnings like that of +"The Times" Petrograd correspondent on 13 April to the effect that the +Germans had not only sent enormous reinforcements to the Carpathians, +but had taken charge of the operations, there was general confidence +in the West in a coming triumphant Russian offensive. Dmitrieff +himself had no suspicion of what was in store until a few days before +the storm broke; and a Panslav society in Petrograd passed and +published abroad a resolution that in view of the victorious progress +of the Russian armies across the Carpathians, the contemplated +intervention of Italy in the war was belated and undesirable. + +The Russian Government cannot have been ignorant of the weakness of +Russian armies, not in man-power, still less in skill or courage, but +in artillery and equipment; but it had no conception of the material +and mechanical force which Germany was prepared to bring to the urgent +task of relieving the pressure on her ally. Nor was it for nothing +that Turkey had been cajoled and bribed into making war. Turkish +generalship and organization were negligible quantities, but Germany +could supply those defects, and Turkish bravery and man-power could be +used as a valuable means of distracting Russia's attention and +diverting forces from the Polish and Galician fronts. This had been +the main purpose of the campaign in the Caucasus which Turkey waged in +the winter. They began by seizing Tabriz in the province of +Azerbaijan, which though nominally Persian had been for some time +occupied partly by Russian and partly by Turkish troops; but the +Russians were first across the Russo-Turkish frontier and captured +Bayazid, Khorasan, and Kuprikeui. These advance-guards were, however, +pushed back by the Turks, whose leader and evil genius, the +half-Polish and German-educated adventurer, Enver, had conceived an +ambitious design of encircling the Russian armies between Sarikamysh +and Ardahan. In December the Turks succeeded in making their arduous +way across the snow-clad mountains, and on 1 January they were in +Ardahan. But the task would have tried the German Army itself in +summer, and Enver had attempted more than he could achieve. His army +corps were successively isolated and defeated in a series of +engagements collectively known as the battle of Sarikamysh, and driven +back across the frontier with heavy losses. Tabriz was reoccupied by +the Russians, though they were not able to follow up their victory by +the capture of Erzerum (see Map, p. 182). + +The other diversion, which the Turks were used to create against the +Entente, was in Egypt. British rule, in spite of the vast benefits it +conferred, was not universally acceptable to the Egyptian people and +still less to Egyptian officials; and chief among those who resented +their restriction to the straight and narrow path of honest +administration was the Khedive Abbas II. He threw in his lot with the +Turks, and was deposed in his absence, while the shadowy Turkish +suzerainty over Egypt was converted into a substantial British +protectorate. Cyprus, which had been in British occupation since 1878, +was annexed at the same time to the British Crown. The Turks had been +deluded by the Germans with hopes of recovering their ancient control +of Egypt, and they at once began their feeble efforts to realize their +ambitions. In November an expedition started from Palestine to cut the +Suez Canal, a main artery of the British Empire, and stir the embers +of Moslem fanaticism in Egypt. It disappeared in the sands of the +intervening desert. Another, better prepared with German assistance, +reached the east bank of the Canal at various points on 2 February, +but miserably failed to effect a crossing; its only success was its +escape, which was partly explained by a sandstorm, and Egypt had rest +until the winter brought the campaigning season round again (see Map, +p. 352). + +The British retort to Egypt and the Caucasus lay in the Persian Gulf +and the Dardanelles. The Persian Gulf had long been a scene of British +trade and political enterprise to which the inertia of its rulers +rendered Persia susceptible; and its position as a possible Russian +outlet to the sea on the flank of our communications with India had +produced some rivalry for Persian favours. The advent of a third comer +in the shape of the Germans, with their plans for a Germanized Turkish +Empire controlling the Berlin-Baghdad route, changed the rivalry into +co-operation; and an attack on the Turks at the head of the Persian +Gulf was an obvious reply to the Turkish campaign in the Caucasus. It +afforded an easy means of employing the native Indian army in the +common cause without the long sea journey to France or the risks +inflicted by northern winters upon sub-tropical races. During the +first half of November detachments of the Indian army sailed up the +Shat-el-Arab, the joint estuary of the Tigris and the Euphrates, +defeated the Turks at Sahil on the 17th, occupied Basra on the 22nd, +and cut off Kurna, which surrendered on 9 December. The local Turks +were weak in numbers and equipment, and distance removed them from the +stimulus of Enver's energy and German organization. It was not until +April 1915 that an effective reaction to the British advance was +attempted. Then the Turks and Arabs concerted a movement against the +whole line stretching round from Ahwaz within the Persian frontier to +Shaiba south-west of Basra. The real attack was on Shaiba, and the +battle lasted from 12 to 15 April. The Turks were completely defeated, +with some 6000 casualties; but the most important effect was to +convert the Arabs into our allies. The advantage was pressed in June, +and on the 3rd Amara was captured seventy-five miles to the north of +Kurna. The way was open for an advance on Baghdad as soon as autumn +made exertion possible in that torrid zone (see Map, p. 177). + +Sir John Nixon's success in the Mesopotamian delta was, however, but a +pin-prick in a distant part compared with the blow that was aimed at +the heart of the Turkish Empire in the Dardanelles; and the merits of +that famous but ill-starred enterprise, and of the strategy which +inspired it, have been one of the most debated questions of the war. +Soldiers and civilians, writers and talkers, and even thinkers were +divided into two camps, Westerners and Easterners, those who believed +that the war could only be won by frontal attack in the West, and +those who discerned a way round to victory in the Near or the Farther +East. Volumes might be, and no doubt will be, written on this +controversy, and its implications have infinite variety. It involved +questions of policy as well as strategy, and therefore raised the +delicate problem of the relations between civil and military +authority. The soldier only deals with armies, and in the field his +voice is properly supreme; but policy may be as far above strategy as +strategy is above tactics; and policy may dictate a strategy which +would not commend itself on military principles. The soldier has +nothing to do with the policy, but policy and diplomacy may or may not +bring fresh allies into the war and fresh armies into the field; and a +strategy which may be unsound on purely military grounds may be +completely justified by political reasons. The diversion of a force +from the main field of operations where it is needed to a more distant +objective, seems suicidal to the general in command; but if, without +provoking disaster on the field it has left, it has the effect of +turning the enemy's flank, detaching his actual or deterring his +potential allies, and inducing neutrals to intervene, it may win a war +although it postpones or risks the success of a campaign. + +On the other hand, it was urged that the fundamental principle of +strategy is to concentrate all available forces where the enemy has +concentrated his, beat him there, and thus win a victory which will +carry with it the desired results in all the subsidiary spheres. +Germany once beaten in the West, it was argued, there would be no need +to trouble about the Balkans or the amateur strategy which looked to +Laibach or Aleppo as the vital spot in the situation. This principle +was erected into a dogma, and dogma is a dangerous impediment to the +art of war. War is an art, and therefore consists in the adaptation of +varying means to conditions which are not constant. Strategy is not, +apart from its mechanical adjuncts, a science in which properties are +fixed, axioms can be assumed, and the results of experiments foretold; +the combination of two armies and a commander-in-chief does not +produce the same uniform result as the combination of two parts of +hydrogen and one of oxygen; and formulae are as irrational in war as +in any other human art. Dogmas deduced from the experience of some +wars are inapplicable to others; and the science of wars between +France and Germany becomes mere imposture when it seeks to dictate +dogma to wars in which the British Empire is involved. The particular +dogma about concentration had three defects: it left the initiative to +the enemy, thus surrendering the advantage, secured by the command of +the sea, of being able to strike in other directions; it assumed that +the enemy could be beaten on that front without disturbance on his +flanks or in his rear; and it abandoned the Near and the Farther East +to any schemes on which the Germans might choose to employ their own +or their allies' subsidiary forces. + +No one, on the other hand, imagined that the Western front could be +denuded of the armies required to maintain it. The question was really +how to use the considerable margin of force between what was essential +for defence and what was needed for a successful offensive. Should it +be employed for frontal attack in the West, or flank attack in the +East? Caution counselled one course, adventure suggested the other. +Surplus force intended for an offensive on the West would be +available, if need arose, for defence; it would not, if it were a +thousand miles away, and our needs in the spring of 1918 seemed to +supply an effective answer to arguments drawn from our later successes +in the Balkans and in Syria. The antithesis is, however, largely a +false one, due to the exigencies of popular debate and the habit of +treating war as an abstract science independent of changing but actual +conditions. No one denies that a diversion of our main effort from +France to Laibach in the winter of 1917 would have been fatal to us in +the spring of 1918, but it is not clear that the thousands of troops +we lost at Loos and the French in Champagne in the autumn of 1915 +might not better have been employed in saving Serbia or forcing the +Dardanelles. + + The Dardanelles + +There was much to be said for the policy, and even the strategy, which +led to the Dardanelles expedition. Flanks had disappeared on the +Western front; the lines extended from the Alps to the sea, and it was +natural that, commanding the sea, we should seek to turn them farther +afield. We had asked Russia to relieve the pressure on our Western +front by using her military force in Prussia and Galicia; and it was +reasonable enough for Russia to ask us to reciprocate and relieve the +Turkish pressure on her flank in the Caucasus by a naval attack on +Turkey. The German Fleet lay snug in port beyond the reach of naval +power: could not our supremacy on the sea find an offensive function +somewhere else? There was, moreover, our own position in Egypt to be +defended; no one proposed evacuation, and the best defence of Egypt +was a blow at the Dardanelles in the direction of Turkey's capital. It +was, in fact, no more a dissipation of forces to send troops to force +the Dardanelles than to send them to hold the Suez Canal, and from the +point of view of policy, which was even more important, the effect of +the expedition might be a concentration of power or Powers against the +Central Empires. Serbia had successfully held the gate of the Balkans +against Austria: Rumania's intervention would extend the lines of +possible attack, Greece inclined in the same direction, and the +forcing of the Dardanelles would assuredly have deterred Bulgaria from +hostile intervention, and almost certainly have decided her to join a +common Balkan move against the Teutons and the Turks. To the war on +the Eastern and Western fronts, which was already a German nightmare, +would be added one on an almost undefended Southern frontier. Austria +could not long resist if Italy also intervened, and the collapse of +the Hapsburg Empire would open up an advance against Germany from the +south which would circumvent the Rhine and the Oder and turn the +gigantic bastion she had constructed in France and Belgium into a +house of cards. Well might the Dardanelles expedition be hailed in the +press as a stroke of strategical genius and associated with Mr. +Churchill's imagination. Easy also is it to understand the +concentrated fear and force which the Germans put into Mackensen's +coming drive in Galicia. + +There is, indeed, less material for censure in the policy of the +Dardanelles expedition than in the Allies' decision to couple with it +a military offensive on the Western front and to divorce the naval and +military efforts in the Aegean. Divided counsels produced divided +efforts. Mr. Churchill, backed up, we are led to infer, by Mr. Lloyd +George, secured his naval expedition; but he failed, until it was too +late, to secure its military complement because the troops were +earmarked for costly and premature attacks on the German lines in +France. Deprived of this assistance, the naval expedition seems to +have relied on the hope of Greek co-operation to the extent of two +army corps, which Venizelos was only prevented from dispatching by the +vigour of the Prussian Queen of Greece and by the veto of the King. +Possibly there was precipitation, for the naval attack did not await +the arrival of the military forces, which were before long on the way, +extorted, it would seem, by impetuous pressure from a reluctant and +unconvinced authority. + +For this purely naval attack on the defences of the Dardanelles there +is little to be said; for no argument of advantage from success can +justify an attempt which is fore-doomed to failure, and history +demonstrated beyond a doubt the strength of modern forts against the +modern battleship. Nor was it in the Dardanelles a test between an +ordinary sea attack and a normal land defence. The strength of the +position attacked was trebled by the forts on both sides of the +channel and by its twist at the Narrows, which enabled the land +batteries to concentrate fire on the attacking fleet from in front as +well as on both flanks. There was no room to manoeuvre in a channel +less than a mile in width, and even when the mine-fields had been +swept, the Turks could send fresh mines down the constant stream, and +discharge torpedoes from hidden tubes along both shores. Against such +formidable defences even the guns of the Queen Elizabeth were an +inadequate attack, and forts that were said to be silenced repeatedly +renewed their bombardment. + +The first stage of the attack began on 19 February; it consisted in +demolishing by concentric fire the outpost fortifications at Kum Kale +and Cape Helles. This proved comparatively simple, and after a week of +bad weather the mine-sweepers were able to clear the channel for four +miles. It was a different matter when the real defences in the Narrows +were attacked early in March. The chief bombardment was from outside +in the Gulf of Saros, where it was hoped that the guns of the Queen +Elizabeth and her consorts would by indirect fire dispose of Chanak +and the other forts. None of them were, however, silenced with the +possible exception of Dardanos, and Turkish howitzers, cunningly +concealed in the scrub along the shore, provided an unpleasant surrise +by hitting the Queen Elizabeth. Nevertheless, it was thought that +enough had been effected to justify an attempt to force the Narrows on +the 18th. Three successive squadrons of British and French ships were +sent up the Straits, but the Turks had only waited till the channel +was full of vessels to release their floating mines and land- +torpedoes. First the French Bouvet, then the Irresistible, and thirdly +the Ocean were struck by mines and sunk, the Bouvet with most of her +crew. Three battleships and 2000 men had been lost in an attack which +did not even reach the entrance to the Narrows; and for six weeks +occasional bombardments hardly concealed the fact that the frustrated +naval attack was awaiting the co-operation of the army to give it some +chance of success. + +More progress was happily made during the winter in still more distant +spheres, although the conquest of German colonies was regarded by the +pure strategist as belonging to the illegitimate and divergent rather +than to the legitimate and subsidiary type of military operation. +Policy may, however, outweigh strategy, and the circumstance that the +victor only retains as the price of peace his conquests, or part of +them, made in war, extenuates if it does not justify divergent +operations. They were divergent enterprises which gave us India, +Canada, and the Cape of Good Hope; and assuredly the defeat of Germany +on the Western front would not alone have brought German colonies +under the sceptre of a League of Nations. Even from the point of view +of a strategy limited to Central Europe these operations had their +value; for they enlisted against the common foe forces which would +certainly not have been employed had we merely stood on the defensive +in the overseas Dominions, and when their work was done in distant +parts these forces gravitated towards the centre with a weight which +would have grown more crushing had resistance been prolonged. Only +surrender by the enemy stayed Allenby's and Marshall's Oriental hosts +in Asia and anticipated the arrival on the Western front of further +aid from Africa. A blow at the heart may be the normal strategy, but +it is not the only nor always the best means of dealing with an +antagonist clad in a breastplate of steel. + +The scene of the least successful of these colonial wars was still +East Africa. The reverse of Tanga in November was followed by another +at Jassin on 19 January, and at the end of the winter the Germans +could claim that their territory was clear of our troops while several +German detachments were in ours; but we had seized the island of Mafia +off the mouth of the Rufigi and declared a blockade of the German East +African coast. On the other side of the continent we made steady +progress in reducing the vast territory of the Cameroons; but the +success of the season was Botha's conquest of German South-West +Africa. The last remnants of the rebellion under Maritz and Kemp were +stamped out at Upington on 3 February, and on 14 January Swakopmund +was captured from the sea. Botha selected that as his base, while +Smuts directed three columns farther south. The first advanced on the +capital Windhoek from Luderitz Bay, the second from Warmbad near the +Orange River, and the third from Kimberley. The second, under Van +Deventer, had the heaviest work, but the fighting was not as a rule +severe. The campaign was a triumph of forethought, strategy, and +organization which left the Germans no choice but a series of +retirements, culminating in the surrender of Windhoek on 12 May, and +the capitulation of the entire remaining German forces at Grootfontein +on 9 July. + +On the sea the Germans had abandoned hope of victory. The balance of +power in our favour, which had been insufficient to relieve Jellicoe +of considerable anxiety, began to increase rapidly with the completion +of the Queen Elizabeth class in April; and Germany turned her +anticipatory gaze towards her submarines. Just as Napoleon's efforts +by means of the Berlin and Milan decrees to ruin us by war on commerce +came after the final collapse of his naval ambitions at Trafalgar, so +Germany's submarine campaign followed upon her recognition of the +hopelessness of her naval situation. On 18 February she proclaimed the +waters round the British Isles a war zone in which enemy merchantmen +would, and neutrals might, be sunk by submarines irrespective of the +risks to non-combatants and neutrals. This was a flagrant violation of +the rules of international law which safeguarded the shipping of +neutrals, and only sanctioned the condemnation of contraband goods in +prize courts, and the destruction of enemy vessels when they could not +be taken into port and provision had been made for the safety of their +crews and passengers. The German submarines were not in a position to +guarantee any of these conditions; and trading on the legal maximum +that no one can be required to do what is impossible, the Germans +claimed immunity from these obligations. + +To this the British Government replied on 1 March with a blockade +which was more humane and more effective, but none the less involved +an autocratic extension of belligerent rights. All oversea trade with +Germany was to be as far as possible intercepted; goods, whether +contraband or not, were at least to be detained; and the right of +search was to be rendered more secure by being exercised in British +ports, to which neutral ships were brought, instead of on the high +seas amid the danger of submarine attack. These measures inflicted no +loss of life and no loss of property that was not contraband. But they +made havoc with the ideas that neutrals were entitled to trade with +both belligerents, and that neither belligerent could intercept +commerce which did not directly serve for military purposes. It was +not, for instance, a breach of neutrality to sell munitions to a +belligerent, though belligerents were entitled to seize them if they +could; and we ourselves bought vast quantities from the United States. +America was, however, deeply attached to that "freedom of the seas" +which enabled neutrals to sell, without interference, goods which were +not contraband, to either belligerent; and our extension of contraband +to cover food supplies gave deep offence. The difficulty arose not +only from the inevitable tendency of law to disappear amid the clash +of arms, but from the modern absorption of all energies, civilian as +well as military, in the warlike operations of the State. The food of +civilians making munitions became a vital element in the conduct of +war, and the distinction between civil and military purposes was lost +in the fusion of all activities for a common end. + +Disquieting as was the course of military operations during the +spring, the diplomatic situation caused even more anxiety; and public +opinion was as impervious to the one as to the other. American +protests against our action on the seas were received with +ill-concealed resentment, popular newspapers adjured the Government to +"stand no nonsense from the United States," President Wilson's name +was hissed by British audiences, and the man in the street seemed bent +on estranging the neutral on whose assistance we were in the end to +rely for victory in the war. It needed all the resources of an +unpopular wisdom and diplomacy to steer between the Scylla of +alienating friends by our blockade and the Charybdis of being, in Mr. +Asquith's words, "strangled in a network of juridical niceties." The +Germans came to our aid with a colossal crime. On 7 May the +passenger-ship Lusitania was torpedoed off the south coast of Ireland +with the loss of 1100 souls, many of them women and children, and some +of them Americans; and the news was hailed in Germany with transports +of delight from ministers of religion and all but an insignificant +section of the people; medals were officially struck to commemorate +the deed. British lives had been lost through Russian action off the +Dogger Bank in 1904 without provoking war, and the sinking of the +Lusitania did not precipitate war between Germany and the United +States. But it eased the friction over our blockade, and gave for the +first time some general American support to the pro-Entente sentiment +which had from the beginning been strong in the New England States. A +moral force was created in reserve which would in time redress the +military disasters which the Entente had yet to encounter. + + + CHAPTER VII + + THE FAILURE OF THE ALLIED OFFENSIVE + +Effective and timely military co-operation had been denied to the +naval attack on the Dardanelles because our available forces had been +mortgaged since January to an allied offensive in the West; and the +gradual recognition of the fact that the naval enterprise could not +succeed without the diversion of troops to that object committed the +Entente to the simultaneous prosecution of two major operations which +could only converge in case of success. This was but one of the +factors in the spring campaign which exhibited Allied strategy at its +worst. Even in the West there was inadequate co-operation, and the +efforts made were both disjointed and premature. We had yet to learn +that alphabet of annihilation without which the art of breaking German +lines could not be mastered; and there still lingered the idea that +isolated attacks on distant and narrow sectors of the front could +rupture the German line and either roll it up or compel a general +retreat. Possibly some such plan might have had some chance of success +had the forces of the Entente been concentrated upon a single effort, +and optimistic critics anticipated a breach to the north of Verdun +which might close or at least threaten the neck of the German bottle +between Metz and Limburg and precipitate a withdrawal from their +carefully prepared positions in northern France and Belgium. But fear +of a German counter-offensive threatening the Channel ports, +difficulties of transport across lines of communication, and defective +unity in ideas and in command condemned the Allied attacks to separate +sectors of the front and spheres of operation; even that general +supervision which Foch had exercised over all the forces engaged in +the October and November battles seems to have disappeared before the +spring, and the French offensive began in the Woevre while the British +attacked the other flank protecting Lille (see Map, p. 79). + +The point selected was Neuve Chapelle, a village at the foot of the +Aubers ridge which guarded La Bassée to the south-west and Lille to +the north-east. The German line there formed a marked salient, and an +attack on the ridge, if completely successful, would shake the +security of Lille, and if but moderately successful would cut off La +Bassée and straighten the line as far as Givenchy. The moral indicated +by the elaborate defences constructed by the Germans during the winter +had been at any rate partially learnt, and the infantry attack on the +morning of 10 March was preceded by an artillery preparation which set +a new standard of destruction and was designed to obliterate trenches, +barbed wire, and machine-gun positions. It was effective over the +greater part of the front attacked, and in the centre and on our right +the Fourth and Indian Corps quickly overcame the dazed and decimated +Germans and pushed beyond Neuve Chapelle to the Bois du Biez and +slopes of the Aubers ridge beyond. But our left had no such fortune in +the north of the village and at the neighbouring Moulin de Piétre. +There, for some inexplicable reason, the defences had hardly been +touched by the artillery preparation, and the 23rd Brigade in +particular suffered dismally as they tore with their hands at the +barbed wire and were shot down by the German machine guns. The +defences unbroken by artillery were impenetrable by human bodies, and +the defenders were also able to enfilade the troops which had got +through farther south and were now attacking the second German line. +The staff-work, too, was deplorable, and reserves were late or went +astray, though it is doubtful whether anything could have retrieved +the initial error which left the German defences intact, impeded the +whole advance, and enabled the enemy to recover and bring up reserves +before the attack was renewed on the two following days. Possibly our +high-explosive had been exhausted. In any case there was nothing to do +but to count and consolidate our gains. A village and a strip of +territory some three miles by one had been secured, and we estimated +the German casualties at 20,000, and they themselves at 12,000; our +own were nearly 13,000. The chief effect was produced on the German +mind by the shock of our artillery: "this," was the childish complaint +of the masters of high-explosive, "is not war, it is murder." But +German annoyance was poor compensation for the shrinking of our +ambitions, and there was cold comfort in the failure of the German +counter-attacks here and at St. Eloi farther north; for the Germans +were merely out for defence in the West and we for a successful +offensive, which had to be tried again. + +The French with their larger forces and greater experience were +perhaps somewhat more fortunate, but their local successes in the +Woevre and Alsace had no more effect upon the general situation. Early +in April a series of attacks, spread over five days and hampered by +snowstorms, gave them the plateau of Les Éparges on the northern side +of the St. Mihiel wedge and enabled them to advance towards Étain on +the road from Verdun to Metz. The importance they attached to these +operations is shown by their claim on 10 April that at Les Éparges the +Germans in two months had had losses amounting to 30,000. Progress was +also made along the southern side of the wedge between St. Mihiel and +Pont-à-Mousson; but although ground was gained as a result of +strenuous combat extending over several weeks, the wedge stood firm; +and the effort to drive it out as a preliminary to the larger +operations contemplated in Lorraine was presently abandoned. In Alsace +Sondernach was taken and an advance was made during April down the +Fecht towards Metzeral and Munster, and the summit of the +Hartmannsweilerkopf was recovered. But the progress never really +disturbed the Germans, and indeed they would probably have viewed +greater success in that divergent sphere with comparative equanimity, +knowing that it would waste an unfriendly country and would not +threaten their main communications or position. + +These operations, combined with the Russian descent of the +Carpathians, were announced in "The Times" of 10 April as "the opening +of the Allied offensive in the summer campaign of 1915." But the +disaster which soon overtook the Russian plans had its effect upon +Allied designs in the West, and induced an attempt to menace the +Germans in a quarter more likely to disturb their concentration on the +East than a campaign against the St. Mihiel wedge or in the mountain +frontiers of Alsace. The tender spot on the West was Lille, with its +concentration of railways and importance as protecting the right flank +of the German front along the Aisne and the left flank of their hold +on the Belgian coast. The Germans learnt, divined, or anticipated the +design, and sought to parry or break the force of the projected blow +by a defensive-offensive against Ypres. The attack was not their real +offensive for 1915, but they developed the habit of distracting +attention from their main objectives by decking out their subsidiary +operations with some new devilry of ingenuity; and just as in 1918 +they bombarded Paris with guns having a range of 75 miles when their +real objective was the British front, so in 1915, when their main +effort was against the Russians, they treated the defenders of Ypres +to their first experiments in poison-gas. They had tried the effect on +the humbler creation some time before, and had indicated their +intentions by accusing their enemies of the practice they had +themselves in mind; but it came as a ghastly surprise to the French +Territorials and British and Canadian troops along the Yser on 22 +April (see Map, p. 288). + +The attack had clearly been planned beforehand, because the +preparation of the chlorine gas, arrangement of the gas-tubes along +the front, and delay for the requisite conditions wind and weather +required time; and the absence of any great concentration of troops +merely showed that, in view of their commitments in the East, the +Germans only sought at Ypres a local and tactical success. It was a +mere accident that the gas attack north-east of the city followed upon +strenuous fighting for Hill 60 at the south-east re-entrant, and the +choice of locality was due to the German knowledge of the facts that +the French regulars had been removed from the Yser and our own heavy +guns from Ypres in order to take part in offensives farther south. The +attack on Hill 60 was begun by us on 17th April, and its object was to +acquire a gun position which commanded the German trenches in the +Hollebeke district. The struggle lasted for five days and was one of +the fiercest local combats in the war; at the end of it we were still +on what was left of a mound of earth. + +The German offensive on the north-eastern front of Ypres was heralded +by a bombardment of the city on the 20th which was designed as a +barrage to cut off communications with the front along the roads which +all ran through Ypres. On the evening of the 22nd the gas attack +developed, and as the clouds of green vapour moved down on the French +Territorials, unprovided with any sort of gas-masks and unprepared for +the terrifying effects of poison en masse, they broke and fled, +exposing the flank of the Canadians on their right from Langemarck to +Grafenstafel. Never did troops make a more heroic debut in war under +more trying conditions. Less affected by the gas than the French +Territorials, the Canadians counter-attacked the German left flank, +temporarily recaptured guns, and stayed the advance. The gaping breach +on their left was partially filled by reinforcements from the 28th +Division on the 23rd, but the Germans were across the canal at Het Sas +and Lizerne, and the Canadians between St. Julien and Grafenstafel +were fighting on three fronts. A second gas attack followed on the +24th, and presently St. Julien had to be abandoned. Reinforcements +were, however, coming up; French regulars brilliantly recaptured +Lizerne and Het Sas and secured the west bank of the canal against a +German advance; and by the 29th the Canadians, who had saved the +situation but had suffered heavily in the effort, were replaced by +British troops. There was still desperate fighting to do for many +days, and the curve of the Ypres salient had been reduced to a narrow +oblong stretching from Ypres to Grafenstafel and the Polygon Wood, and +little more than half in breadth what it was in length. A shortening +of the line was inevitable, and it was effected with great skill and +little loss on 3-4 May. But heavy bombardment continued to take a +dreadful toll of life until a final gas attack on the 24th concluded +the German effort. Crude respirators had been hastily supplied to our +troops and the gas attack was less effective than before, but we were +left with a line which ran in a curve a bare three miles from Ypres, +and + + "an acre sown indeed + With the richest royallest seed + That the earth did e'er suck in." + +But if that soil round Ypres was a tomb of British bodies, it became +the grave of German hopes. The shrunken line was enough, and it +remained unbroken till the war had ceased. The military gain, if any, +lay with the Germans, whose casualties were far less than ours. But +the moral advantage lay with us. It was not quite so clear as is +commonly thought. The use of poison-gas as a weapon of war was not a +German invention; it was suggested by a British chemist to Japan +during the Russo-Japanese War. But chemists have nothing to do with +international law or morality, and responsibility rests with +Governments for their adoption of methods provided by science. Nor is +there any clear moral distinction between asphyxiating shells and gas +emitted from tubes. All war is torture; and, the morality of torture +once admitted, the moral reasons for discrimination between particular +degrees of suffering and efficiency cease to be very convincing. The +moral advantage to us consisted in the heroism which our troops +endured the torture. If they could unprepared withstand the gas +attacks at Ypres, there was nothing of which their manhood need be +afraid; while the Germans were in the humiliating position of one who, +foiled in legitimate combat, had tried to take an unfair advantage and +has failed. Poison-gas was an ill-bred attempt at revenge for what +they called murder at Neuve Chapelle, just as they found consolation +in the sinking of the Lusitania for the ignominous situation of their +High Seas Fleet. + +The offensive at Ypres slackened to meet the Allied attacks elsewhere, +and our troops in the salient at least were not insensible to the fact +that even the Germans had insufficient artillery or high-explosive to +maintain an intense bombardment all along the line. Both the French +and ourselves began on 9 May, and the object was to threaten the +German position in front of Lens and Lille. Lens was protected by a +bulge in the German front which ran round by Grenay, Aix-Noulette, +Notre Dame de Lorette, Ablain, and Carency to the north-west of Arras, +and then south-eastwards by La Targette, Écurie, and Roclincourt. +Between this line and Lens lay the Vimy Ridge, and in front of its +southwestern slopes the Germans had constructed elaborate +fortifications above and underground known as the White Work and the +Labyrinth. For the attack the French had made careful preparations, +and their concentration of eleven hundred guns and almost limitless +shells exceeded in intensity any previous experiment. They were +rewarded by the comparative ease with which their initial successes +were secured. Barbed wire and earthen parapets were blown to pieces +before the infantry attacked and in an hour and a half coveted two and +a half miles. La Targette and the White Work were captured and an +entrance forced into Neuville St. Vaast. Farther north a second attack +was required, and it was not until the 12th that Carency, Ablain, and +the summit of Notre Dame were mastered. The line had been broken, but +the fragments resolved themselves into almost impregnable strongholds; +it took another fortnight before the Souchez sugar-refinery, half a +mile in front of Ablain, fell, and the Labyrinth held out, while +behind these defences rose the Vimy Ridge to defy for another two +years all attacks upon Lens (see Maps, pp. 79, 302). + +The lesson was that of Neuve Chapelle on a larger scale, and all the +more impressive because of the careful preparations made for victory. +The breach of narrow front was useless, because lines were no longer +made of men, but of fortifications which held instead of rolling up, +when broken, and seeking safety in retreat. The simultaneous British +attacks near Neuve Chapelle repeated the French experience and our own +in March. The first was north of Neuve Chapelle towards Fromelles, and +broke down through inadequate artillery preparation; the second, made +on 16 May in front of Richebourg l'Avoué towards the Bois du Biez and +Rue d'Ouvert, was somewhat more successful, and Sir John French wrote +encouragingly about the entire first line of the enemy's trenches +having been captured on a front of 3000 yards with ten machine guns; +but one brigade alone lost 45 officers and 1179 men, and La Bassée and +the Aubers ridge were as forbidding as ever. It was not by victories +of that compass that the Germans would be diverted from their Galician +drive; and the other major operation in the Dardanelles to which the +Entente had been committed gave little better cause for satisfaction. + +The French had naturally refused to divert a single division from +their troops on the Western front, and their contingent consisted of a +detachment of some colonial troops, fusiliers marins, and the Foreign +Legion. The substantial force took longer to collect, and had to be +provided by Britain. Sir Ian Hamilton was placed in command, and he +was given the 29th Division, the Naval Division, a Territorial +Division, and the Australian and New Zealand Divisions serving in +Egypt, which was now considered safe for the summer. The total +amounted to three corps, or 120,000 men. The Turks were directed by +the German general Liman von Sanders, and he expected the landing to +be attempted near Bulair on the flat and narrow isthmus which joined +the Gallipoli Peninsula to the mainland. His expectation is perhaps +the best justification for Sir Ian's selection of other spots, but +there were few that were practicable, and none that did not involve +enormous difficulties, for Liman von Sanders' anticipation of an +attack at Bulair did not preclude some effective precautions against a +landing elsewhere. + +The attempt began on 25 April at six different points. Some way up the +outer or north-western shore of the peninsula the Australian and New +Zealand Army Corps effected a landing at Gaba Tepe, later called Anzac +from the initials of the force. Farther down another was made in front +of the village of Krithia, and the remaining four attempts were on +beaches stretching round the point of the peninsula from Tekke to +Morto Bay. All prospered fairly well except at Sedd-el-Bahr, where a +concentration of Turkish fire kept most of the troops from +disembarking for thirty-two hours, and near Krithia, where on the 26th +a counter-attack drove our forces back into their boats. Zeal carried +the Anzacs nearly to the summit of the hills overlooking the Straits, +and excess of it led to heavy losses in a Turkish counterattack; nor +could the parties of British troops who got within a few hundred yards +of Krithia on the 28th maintain their position, and the result of this +first attempt was to give us possession of the extremity of the +peninsula from a mile above Eski Hissarlik inside the Straits to three +miles above Tekke on the Aegean, and of an exposed ridge of cliffs at +Anzac. A French force had landed at Kum Kale on the Asiatic mainland, +but only to destroy the Turkish batteries there (see Map, p. 107). + +The coup de main had obviously failed, and the struggle for Gallipoli +resolved itself into a costly attack by inferior forces on land +against an almost impregnable position. Never were the difficulties of +invasion by sea more strikingly demonstrated, and it was a misfortune +that the generals who continued throughout the war to distract the +popular mind by depicting a German invasion of England, were not all +sent to study the process in the Dardanelles. In front of our narrow +footholds the Turks, amounting to 200,000 men, held positions rising +to over 700 feet at Achi Baba and Pasha Dagh, and defended by masses +of artillery and machine and elaborate systems of trenches upon which +the big guns from our ships appeared to have little effect. Two +British submarines did gallant work by getting up the Straits under +the mine-fields and disturbing the Turkish communications across the +Sea of Marmara; but there remained land-routes on either shore, and +reserves arrived more quickly on the Turkish than on the British +front. From 6-8 May a second attack was made up the Saghir Dere +towards Krithia and the Kereves Dere towards Achi Baba, while the +Anzacs created as much diversion as possible from Gaba Tepe. But the +bombardment from ships and shore-batteries failed to destroy the +Turkish trenches, and an advance of a thousand yards, which failed to +reach the enemy's main positions, was only achieved at the cost of +casualties amounting by the end of May to more than the losses in +battle during the whole Boer War. A third attack on 4 June reinforced +the lesson that nothing short of an army large enough for a major +operation could master the Dardanelles, and meanwhile an elusive +German submarine was threatening the naval supports. The Goliath had +been sunk by a Turkish torpedo boat on 12 May, and the submarine +disposed of the Triumph on the 26th and the Majestic on the following +day. Silently the Queen Elizabeth and her more important consorts +withdrew to safer waters, and the naval attempt to force the +Dardanelles was gradually transformed into a military siege of the +peninsula. + +The spring offensive of the Allies had gone to pieces everywhere +except in the distant spheres of South Africa and Mesopotamia, while +the German offensive was carrying all before it in Galicia. The first +great disillusionment of the war was at hand, and its promised +beginning in May looked uncommonly like a repetition of the previous +August. Popular discontent focused itself on the lack of munitions, +and especially of high-explosives, which "The Times" military +correspondent declared on 14 May to have been a fatal bar to our +success. "Some truth there was, but brewed and dashed with lies," as +Dryden remarked of Titus Oates' plot. There were other bars as fatal, +the lack of guns, men, and generalship; and the ultimate +responsibility for the shortage rested with those experts, Allied as +well as our own, who thought six Divisions an adequate British force +when the war broke out. For the amount of high-explosive required +depends upon the number of guns and gunners to use it and the length +of line that is held; and experience of South African warfare had led +generals to discount the value of heavy guns and high-explosive and to +magnify that of mobility and mounted men. It was only when trenches +stretching from the Alps to the sea were made impervious by German +wire and concrete to assault that the need for unlimited +high-explosive dawned on the minds of the higher commands. The French +were able, thanks to the protection afforded by the British Navy, to +divert labour from naval construction and repair to the production of +munitions and even to send naval guns to the trenches. But that very +fact added to the paramount claim of the navy in Great Britain for +munitions; and a soldier must have been strangely blind to the debt +the Empire and the Entente owed to the British Navy before he could +urge his own Government to follow the French example. + +The British Cabinet had begun to appreciate the need in September +1914, and on 21 April 1915 Mr. Lloyd George gave in the House of +Commons the rate of our increased output as from 20 in September to 90 +in November, 156 in December, 186 in January, 256 in February, and 388 +in March, and added that the production of high-explosives had been +placed on a footing which relieved us of all anxiety. Even an increase +of 2000 per cent was doubtless inadequate to our needs, and Mr. +Asquith's frequently misquoted denial that our operations had been +hampered by the deficiency, showed that both Ministers had been misled +by their technical advisers. But the French, who fired 300,000 shells +on 9 May, were, in spite of that fact and their greater forces, not +much more successful in front of Lens than we at Neuve Chapelle; and +unlimited explosives did not bring us far on the road to victory until +more than three years after Mr. Lloyd George had been appointed +Minister of Munitions in May 1915 to revolutionize the situation which +had inspired him with such confidence in April. We had more to learn +in the art of war than the manufacture of munitions, and the dream +that a better supply would have enabled us to beat the Germans in the +spring of 1915--without any American troops at all and with a British +Army about a tenth of the effective strength that was in the end +required--was as idle as the German fancy that their similar +superiority should have brought us to our knees in the autumn of 1914. + +The delusion served, however, to shake Mr. Asquith's Government to its +foundations. Lord Kitchener himself, the popular idol for whom the +press had clamoured at the beginning of the war, was deposed from his +shrine in ultra-patriotic hearts because he had devoted himself to the +raising of armies more than to the making of munitions. But the first +offensive in the press, as often happened in the field, fell short of +its objective: Lord Kitchener received the Garter amid the plaudits of +"Punch," and the curious spectacle was exhibited of the most excitable +journal in the realm being publicly burnt on the Stock Exchange by the +nation's most excitable body of citizens. Another incident supervened +upon the munitions outcry; Lord Fisher resigned from the Admiralty on +15 May. He had had notorious differences with Mr. Churchill over the +Dardanelles and other questions; and unable to do without either at +the Admiralty, Mr. Asquith dispensed with both, and covered up the +deficiency by a Coalition. The principal Unionists joined the Cabinet, +and the chief Liberal Jonah was Lord Haldane, who knew a great deal +about Germany and was therefore accused of being pro-German. He also +knew something of science, and might conceivably have been more alive +to the need of munitions than Lord Kitchener. But the nation would not +have tolerated his presence at the War Office, and even resented it on +the Woolsack. He left his seat to successors who did not fill his +place. + +Apart from this concession to popular prejudice, the Coalition was an +advantage from the national though not from the Premier's personal or +party point of view. He would have been wiser in his own interests to +have resigned and left the responsibility to men whose supporters +believed that with a little more energy and foresight the war could be +won in a few months or at most a year. Few had as yet realized that +the struggle was one between mighty nations which only the +perseverance of peoples, and not the merits of Ministers, could +decide; and the inevitable deferment of foolish hopes would sooner or +later have produced a reaction in favour of the retiring Premier and +his party. But it would have been accompanied by a revival of party +warfare which would have undoubtedly weakened national unity and +impaired the prospects of success; and all parties to the +Coalition--Liberal, Unionist, and Labour--were patriotically inspired +when they agreed to share a burden which the wiser among their leaders +foresaw would tax their united strength. + +There was need enough for unity during the summer of 1915 when the +Allied offensive in the West had broken down, little progress was +being made in the Dardanelles, and the Germans were driving the +Russians like chaff before them. The one gleam of light was the +intervention of Italy, which might distract Austrian forces from the +Galician front and in any case meant some accession of strength to the +Allied cause. Italy had already rendered inestimable services to the +Entente by proclaiming that Germany's action was offensive in +character, and therefore dispensed Italy from an obligation to support +her partners in the Triple Alliance; and her neutrality during August +and intervention in May disproved the gibe of the French diplomatist +that she would rush to the rescue of the conqueror. The question +throughout the winter was whether she would complete her breach of the +Triple Alliance by attacking her former Allies. The grievance upon +which diplomacy fixed was the reciprocal compensation which Austria +and Italy had promised each other in case either were forced to +disturb the status quo in the Balkans. Austria pleaded that her +invasion of Serbia involved no permanent disturbance, because no +permanent annexation was intended; to which Baron Sonnino retorted +that Austria had declared, during the Turkish-Italian war, that an +Italian bombardment of the Dardanelles or even the use of searchlights +against the Turkish coast would constitute a breach of the agreement. +In March Baron Burian accepted the principle that compensation was due +to Italy, and discussion arose as to its nature and extent. The +Italian Government pressed its advantage, and demanded not only the +whole of Italia irredenta, that unredeemed territory peopled by +Italians in the Trentino and across the Adriatic, which had been left +under Hapsburg dominion after the wars of Italian liberation, but +practically the whole north-eastern coasts of the Adriatic which were +inhabited by a predominantly Slav population. + +Austria, under German pressure, travelled far on the path of +concession, but no conclusion could be reached that way. For +concessions at the expense of the Jugo-Slavs would not be recognized +by the Entente if it won the war; and if the Central Empires were +successful, they were not likely to regard these promises extracted +from them in their hour of need as more binding than other scraps of +paper. The negotiations were, indeed, no more than a diplomatic method +of forcing the issue and setting a standard for the concessions to be +demanded from the Entente as the price of Italy's intervention. We +could not afford, it was thought, to offer less than Austria, and we +probably underestimated Italy's fears and difficulties. She was really +bound to intervene, because if she stood out, she would lose whichever +side won. There was a triangular duel for the control of the Adriatic; +if the Central Empires were victorious the Adriatic would become a +Teutonic lake; if the Entente succeeded, its north-eastern shores +would become Jugo-Slav. Italy could only avoid that dilemma by +intervention in favour of the winning side, and thus establishing a +claim to share in the fruits of victory. Her ambitions were +considerable: not only did she insist that control of the eastern +shores of the Adriatic was essential to the safety of her own exposed +and harbourless coasts, but she regarded herself as the heir of +Venice, which "once did hold the gorgeous East in fee"; and she hoped +to retain the Greek islands of the Dodecanese which she had seized +during the Turkish War, and to acquire a foothold in Asia Minor and on +the Illyrian coast along the Straits of Otranto. It would not be easy +to harmonize her claims with those of Serbia who was already our ally, +nor those of Greece whose adhesion was expected. But Italy's sword +seemed worth the risk and the price in the spring of 1915, and the +Treaty of London was concluded on 26 April which promised her most of +what she desired, and produced some of the hardest tasks for the +ultimate Congress of Peace. + +The compact was from the first more honoured in the breach than the +observance. Italy undertook to wage war by all means at her disposal +in union with France, Great Britain, and Russia against the Powers at +war with them. But for another year she remained at peace with +Germany. War was, indeed, declared upon Austria on 22 May, but the +union with the Allies was limited almost exclusively to the +prosecution of Italy's territorial ambitions, and the forces employed +hardly produced effects to correspond with the facts that the +population of Italy was almost equal to that of France and that the +bulk of the Austrian armies were involved in the struggle with Russia. +Italy had, indeed, peculiar disadvantages; she was more divided in +mind about the war than any of the great protagonists, and the +splendid qualities of her Bersaglieri and Alpini were not shared by +all her troops. Her war strength was put at a million men, and she +still had to cope with Turkish forces in Tripoli which only +surrendered at the end of the war as a condition of the armistice +concluded between Great Britain and Turkey. She was further hampered +by lack of coal and inadequate industrial equipment, and her northern +frontier had been so drawn in the Alps as to give Austria every +advantage of the passes both for offence and defence. To these +drawbacks were added a defective strategy dictated by political +idiosyncrasies. The capture of Trieste rather than the defeat of the +enemy was made the great objective of the campaign. It had the +advantage that it might not involve German troops in its defence, and +the defect that it was a divergent operation which even if successful +would have no material influence on the general course of the war. +Soon, too, it became evident that Trieste was not likely to fall until +Austria was defeated on other fields or fell into impotence through +domestic disruption (see Map, p. 298). + +The campaign began with scattered Italian offensives all along the +northern frontier, designed to wrest from the Austrians their control +of the Alpine heights and passes, and to secure the flank of the main +attack across the Isonzo towards Trieste. Slight successes were gained +at various points, and the enemy was pressed back almost to the head +of Lake Garda. But no serious impression was made on his positions +except along the lower reaches of the Isonzo. Here the west bank from +Tolmino down to Monfalcone and the sea fell into Italian hands. +Gradisca was captured on 10 June and the river was crossed at +different points. On the 20th the Italians announced their firm +establishment on the slopes of Monte Nero above Tolmino and Caporetto, +and on 26 July a similar success on Monte San Michele and Monte dei +Sei Busi farther south near Gorizia. On 4 August they were even said +to be making progress on the Carso to the south-east. But all these +gains were illusory. Gorizia itself remained in Austrian hands for +another year, the heights east of it were not mastered until 1917, and +neither Tolmino nor the Carso fell to the Italians until the war had +been lost and won. There was nothing here to disturb the Austrian +concentration of effort against their Russian foes or to call for +German assistance to their Austrian allies. Italy did, however, on 20 +August declare war upon Turkey, with which she had not yet made a +definitive peace since the outbreak of hostilities in 1911; and it was +even announced that she would send an expedition to the Eastern +Mediterranean. This was taken to mean a descent upon Adalia in Asia +Minor, where Italy desired to stake out her claims in the expectation +of an early dissolution of the Turkish Empire. But the Turks showed +unexpected signs of animation under German stimulants, and the +"eastern Mediterranean" expedition was reduced to the nearer and more +practical exploit of seizing Avlona which there were not even Turkish +troops to defend. Italy was not alone to blame, for the first use the +Serbs made of Italy's committal to the Entente cause was to dash +across to the Adriatic coast where their rival claims conflicted. + +The Gallipoli campaign therefore dragged its weary length along +throughout the torrid heat of summer without an Italian diversion, +serving mainly as a demonstration of practical though ineffective +sympathy with our Russian allies. Another attack on Krithia, launched +on 28 June, gave us control of the Saghir Dere and led to considerable +Turkish losses in the counter-attacks which Enver, defying Liman's +wiser advice, had ordered; and the French under Gouraud made a +corresponding advance on the eastern shore of the peninsula. Gouraud +received a wound which required the amputation of his leg and his +retirement to France, where he later rendered more brilliant and far +more effective service. On 12 July yet another effort was made to +capture Krithia without substantial success; and the much-tried armies +on that forbidding and barren field then sat down to await the +reinforcements demanded and the new plan which was maturing for the +solution of the problem. + +Stagnation also set in along the Western front, and the summer +campaign was marked by as little movement as the winter. An attack was +made in the Argonne on 20 June more in the interests of the Crown +Prince's reputation than in those of strategy; and the advance which +attained the depth of a mile was reduced by counter-attacks on 14 July +to 400 yards. Another at Hooge in front of Ypres on 30 July was marked +by the first employment in battle of one of our new divisions +recruited since the war began, and on the German side by the use of +liquid fire. It was successful in making an awkward dent in our line, +but again a counterattack on 9 August restored the situation. That, +however, was one which suited the Germans, for they were simply out to +hold their lines in the West, while behind those lines they +commandeered French and Belgian labour and worked French and Belgian +mines to eke out their own munitions of war and supply the needs of +their campaign on the other side of Europe. Towards stopping that our +checks to their local attacks in the West and offensive operations of +our own did nothing. Important and sweeping French successes continued +to be announced from time to time in the press, and occasionally +positions were captured and retained, as at Buval near Souchez, +Hébuterne, and Quenneviéres. The Germans, too, failed in their attacks +on Les Éparges, while the French succeeded in capturing Metzeral in +Alsace. But the great offensive in Artois had subsided into stubborn +hand-to-hand fighting in the Labyrinth, which was as costly as a +first-class battle without producing its results. + +So spring passed into summer and the days began to wane, with the +Germans reaping the fruits of their foresight and preparations in the +East, while we pinned our faith to the silver lining of the clouds and +looked day by day for that offensive which was to relieve our +hard-pressed Allies but did not come. The truth was hidden from the +public eye, and possibly with prudence; for there are times in which +without illusions the weight of gloom would be intolerable. The +difficulty is that illusion also dims the sense of danger and of duty; +our belated provision for war was still retarded by strikes, +profiteering, and perversity, and the King's example of total +abstinence failed to prevent the nation from spending more on drink in +war than in peace. An imperfectly educated people is slow to grasp a +novel situation; and it was only by stealth and caution that it could +be led along the path of preparation for the part we had to play by +national service, national thrift, and national control. + + + CHAPTER VIII + + THE DEFEAT OF RUSSIA + +THE winter, spring, and summer which had passed with so little change +on the other fronts, owed their lack of decisive movement not to the +comforting delusion of the French official communiqué that Germany's +offensive had been broken and her defensive could be broken whenever +it was thought desirable, but to the fact that she had reversed her +strategy, and reached the conclusion that Russia could be defeated +more easily than France. Russia, indeed, had almost limitless +man-power, but the war had already shown the importance of munitions, +and Germany quickly learnt the lesson. Russia was ill-equipped with +munitions and the industrial facilities for their manufacture; nor +could the want be supplied by her allies, since, apart from their own +needs, their communications with Russia were circuitous, uncertain, +and inadequate. The Murmansk railway was not complete, the route to +Archangel was icebound from November to May, and the single rail +across Siberia was further hampered by indolence and corruption on the +part of the railway workers and their staff. Russia was the most +isolated of the Allies, and the attempt to open a shorter connexion by +a naval attack on the Dardanelles had been frustrated. Without +assistance from the West, Russia would be beaten, and without it she +could not recover. There were good reasons for the policy which led +Germany, during the winter and behind an unpenetrated veil of secrecy, +to concentrate her energies upon the production of guns and munitions +for the Eastern front. + +The strategical position of Russia was no more sound than the state of +her armaments. She occupied a vast salient, the southern flank of +which was the Carpathians. They formed a substantial protection, since +the passes afforded poor facilities for transporting the mass of +artillery on which Germany relied for success in her attack. But the +safety of the flank depended upon the integrity of the front, and a +successful German drive in Galicia would expose the entire position of +the Russian armies in Poland. The two reasons subsequently given for +the dismissal of the Grand Duke Nicholas from the supreme command +were, firstly, that he had in the autumn advanced too precipitately +into Silesia, and secondly, that in the spring he exhausted his +strength in trying to pierce the Carpathians and thus left his front +on the Dunajec too weak to resist Mackensen's furious onslaught. But +it is doubtful whether any strategic correctitude could have saved the +Russian armies from the effects of German superior armaments. The +Germans were playing for high stakes, nothing less than the +destruction of Russia's offensive capacity; but they were justified in +their game by the cards they held in their hand. + +The attack began on 28 April with a forward move on Dmitrieff's left +at Gorlice. The pressure compelled him to weaken his centre along the +Biala in front of Ciezkowice. Then on 1 May Mackensen's vast volume of +fire burst forth; over 700,000 shells are said to have fallen upon the +Russian position, and their defences were blown out of existence. +Under cover of this fire, to which the Russians could make little +reply, the Biala was crossed, Ciezkowice and Gorlice were captured, +and Dmitrieff's line was broken; on the 2nd his army was in full +retreat to the Wisloka, twenty miles back in his rear, where no +trenches had been dug, and there was little hope of checking the +Germans. Nevertheless a heroic stand was here made for five days by +Caucasian and other reinforcements. On the 7th Mackensen forced a +crossing at Jaslo, and next day he pursued his advantage by seizing +two bridgeheads across the Wistok farther on, one at Fryslak to the +north and the other at Rymanow to the south. Brussilov's army along +the Carpathian foothills at Dukla had to beat a precipitate retreat +and lost heavily; it was nearly severed from Dmitrieff's centre. But a +counterattack from Sanok in the south and a stand by the Russians at +Dembica towards the north procured a slight respite, and by the 14th +the bulk of the Russian armies were across the San with their right at +Jaroslav, their left at Kosziowa, their centre at Przemysl, and their +forces in Poland conforming to the retirement. + +The latter part of the retreat had been of a more orderly character +and began to follow a plan, but the plan involved a great deal more +than the surrender of Galicia between the San and the Dunajec. +Mackensen's force was overpowering, and the German design was not to +lengthen the line by compelling a Russian retreat to the San; it only +fell short of complete success because the Russian armies had not so +far been isolated and destroyed, but there was still the likelihood of +their being driven back until the whole of Galicia was recovered and +Poland lost. For the rest of the month Mackensen's huge machine of +destruction was moving forward to the second stage of its journey on +the San. Its progress was delayed by Russian counter-attacks on the +Austrians under Von Woyrsch in Poland and on Mackensen's other wing +which was advancing from the Carpathians on to the Dniester. But by +the 18th Kosziowa had fallen and the Germans had seized the line of +the San from Sieniawa to Jaroslav. Przemysl had not been further +fortified by the Russians since its capture; it would clearly meet the +same fate as Antwerp from the German howitzers unless the Russian +armies in the field could keep the German artillery at a distance. +They could only delay matters until the stores and material were +removed from the fortress. It was now a salient threatened with +encirclement on the north and south. Russian counter-attacks at +Sieniawa and Mosciska relieved the pressure for some days, but before +the end of May Mackensen's howitzers were at work, and Przemysl was +evacuated by the Russians on 1 June. + +On the same day Stryj fell to Von Linsingen and on 7 June he forced +the Dniester at Zurawno. But he had advanced too far ahead of his +communications and reserves, and on the 8th Brussilov drove him back +over the Dniester with severe losses. The Dniester was indeed the +scene of stubborn fighting for many days, and on the 18th the Russian +Government announced that the enemy had lost between 120,000 and +150,000 men in their efforts to cross it on a front of forty miles. +But the Russian stand on the Dniester only left it to Mackensen's +centre and left to turn the Grodek position and ensure the fall of +Lemberg. By 20 June the Russian communications north of the Galician +capital were severed by a battle at Rawa Ruska, and on the 22nd, after +nine months' Russian occupation, it once more fell into Austrian +hands. The Russians had not done much to commend their cause to the +inhabitants during their stay; the opportunity was seized for +proselytizing in the interests of the Orthodox Church, and Sczeptycki +the Archbishop of Lemberg, a member of the Uniate Church which had +made terms with Roman Catholicism, was treated with a harshness +compared with which the indignities inflicted by the Germans upon +Cardinal Mercier of Malines were trivial; he was interned in a Russian +monastery and deprived of all religious rites save those which were to +him heretical. + +The fall of Lemberg was followed by the loss of the Dniester line as +far as Halicz, and all beyond it including the Bukovina, and the +Russians fell back behind the Gnilia Lipa, where Ivanov prolonged a +stubborn resistance. But the aims of the Germans in Galicia had been +achieved with the capture of Lemberg except in so far as the remnants +of the Russian armies remained intact. The city formed a formidable +bastion for defence because of its ample lines of communication with +the south and west, and inadequate lines to the north and east. A +farther German advance across the Russian frontier in that direction +would be an eccentric movement, and the front of attack was +accordingly swung round from east to north, where the Russian position +in Poland had been outflanked. The reconquest of Galicia produced +fruits enough in the restoration of Austrian and Hungarian confidence +and the repression of pro-Entente tendencies in the Balkans. But it +was only a part of the most ambitious and successful campaign the +Germans fought in the war. May and June were but the prelude to +greater successes in July, August, and September. + +The heaviest blows were to be struck in the Polish centre, but +diversions had already been made on the extreme German left in the +north. Libau had fallen on 9 May, and during that and the following +month the German armies under Von Buelow overran the duchy of Courland +as far as Windau on the coast and Shavli half-way to Riga. This +movement was regarded with comparative indifference as being a +divergent operation calculated at worst to do no more than distract +Russian forces from more critical points. But it was in keeping with a +German design considered grandiose until it nearly succeeded. The bulk +of Russia's forces were concentrated in the Polish triangle of which +the apex was at Warsaw, the base ran from Kovno by Brest-Litovsk to +the Galician frontier, the north-western side in front of the railway +from Kovno to Warsaw, and the southern in front of that from Warsaw to +Lublin, Cholm, Kovel, Rovno, and Kiev. The German plan was not merely +to squeeze the Russians out of the triangle by pressure on the sides +and intercept as much of their forces as possible, but also to +outflank the whole position by striking behind the base from the north +at Vilna; and a naval attack on Riga was part of the projected +operations. + +The Galician drive had furnished the territorial means for the attack +on the southern side of the Polish triangle; and although Ivanov was +farther pushed back from the Gnilia Lipa to the Strypa and thence +almost to the Sereth, this Eastern advance became irrelevant to the +main strategic design, and German reinforcements were collecting +mostly under Gallwitz, Scholtz, and Von Eichhorn along the Narew and +the Niemen for an onslaught on the north-western side of the triangle. +The Austrian Prince Leopold's forces which fronted Warsaw on the Bzura +at the apex were comparatively weak, and were only intended to gather +the fruits of the real fighting done by the Germans on the flanks. The +Germans rode roughshod enough over Austrian susceptibilities when +efficiency required it; but they atoned for the brusqueness by +conceding a large share in the spectacular aspects of triumph; and +just as the Austrians entered Lemberg first and not its real conqueror +Mackensen, so Prince Leopold was cast for the part of the victor of +Warsaw. But first of all the Galician armies had to face north to take +their allotted share in the scheme by driving the Russians back across +the railway between Lublin and Kovel. + +Within a few days of the fall of Lemberg they had crossed the Russian +frontier, turning the Vistula and advancing in two columns, one under +the Archduke Joseph towards Krasnik on the road to Lublin, and the +other farther east under Mackensen towards Krasnostav on the way to +Cholm. The Russian army in Poland west of the Vistula had gradually to +conform to the retreating line and fall back in a north-easterly +direction towards the river. By 2 July the Archduke was in Krasnik, +but here he was checked by the Russian position defending the railway +line; on the 5th the Russians, who had been reinforced, +counter-attacked, and in a battle lasting till the 9th drove the +Austrians back. Similarly Mackensen found himself held up between +Zamosc and Krasnostav, and for a week the struggle for the Lublin- +Cholm railway resolved itself into an artillery duel. The attack was +resumed on the 16th simultaneously with Von Gallwitz's movement +against the other side of the triangle. The Archduke failed after ten +assaults to carry the Russian position in front of him at Wilkolaz, +but Mackensen was more successful at Krasnostav. He enveloped the +Russian right, drove it beyond Krasnostav, and was soon within +striking distance of the railway. + +Meanwhile, to the north Gallwitz had forced the Russians from Prasnysz +towards the Narew on the 14th, and crossed it himself on the 23rd +between Pultusk and Rozhan as well as between Ostrolenka and Lomza; +and by the 25th he was on the banks of the Bug, within twenty miles of +the railway connecting Warsaw with Petrograd. The great line of +fortresses along the Narew were now exposed to bombardment by German +howitzers; the Russians in front of Warsaw withdrew from their winter +defences along the Rawka and Bzura to the inner lines of Blonie; and +south of Warsaw they retired from Opatow, then from Radom, and then to +the great fortress of Ivangorod on the Vistula. Even that was now +threatened by Mackensen's advance to the Lublin line in its rear. It +was broken on the 29th, and on the 30th the Germans were in Lublin and +Cholm. Warsaw was doomed, and, indeed, the Grand Duke Nicholas had as +early as the 15th decided upon its evacuation. The fighting along the +Lublin-Cholm line, and the strenuous resistance the Russians offered +on the 26th to Gallwitz's renewed attacks on the Narew, were intended +not to save Warsaw, but the armies defending and the stores within it. +On 4 August the troops abandoned the Blonie lines and marched through +the city, blowing up the bridges across the Vistula. Next day Prince +Leopold made his triumphal entry, and the first year of the war closed +on the Eastern front with an event of greater significance even than +that which the Kaiser attached to it. To him the capture of Warsaw was +a resounding tribute to the success of German arms: to future +generations the import of the Russian departure will doubtless be the +term it set to Russian rule in Poland, and it may be deemed one of the +ironies of history that Hohenzollern autocracy should have been made +the instrument to wreck the Russian domination. In spite of themselves +the Germans assisted to achieve the common purposes of the great war +of liberation. + +Russian autocracy was indeed stricken to death by its own inherent +maladies nearer home than Poland. Shallow democrats in the West were +deploring the lack of prevision and provision exhibited by their +democratic Governments, but no democracy endured a tithe of the +sufferings inflicted upon Russian soldiers by the blindness, +incompetence, and corruption of the bureaucratic Tsardom. Confident in +the successes which the heroism of its troops had won over the +discordant forces of the Hapsburg Empire and those which Germany could +spare from the Western front, it had neglected to perform any of the +promises it had made to conciliate the inhabitants of Poland and +Galicia, and had even failed to take the commonest military +precautions to safeguard its victories. Nothing had been done in +Galicia to put the captured Przemysl into a state of defence, and even +the bridge across the San had not been repaired to provide a direct +line of supply to the front on the Dunajec. Offers of skilled labour +from other countries to improve the inefficient service of Russian +railways and the inept direction of industries and munition factories +were ignored. The business organization of Russia had been managed +mainly by Germans before the war; too much of it was left in their +hands after war began, with the result that the Putilov munition +works, for instance, were reduced to half-time by German control; and +there was no one to take the place of those who departed. Russian +generals were among the most skilful of strategists, and men like +Ruszky, Alexeiev, Brussilov, and others would have been invincible had +Russia's man-power been competently equipped. As it was, every sort of +provision was neglected; the artillery of one army was limited to two +shells a day; a whole division had on one occasion to face an attack +without a rifle among them, and troops were put into trenches relying +for weapons on those which fell from the hands of their dead or +wounded comrades. These were the organized atrocities of autocratic +bureaucracy, and it was little wonder that in time they bred in the +breasts of Russian soldiers a fiercer resentment against their rulers +who betrayed them than against the enemy whom they fought. + +The retreat which followed the fall of Warsaw was sympathetically +represented as a masterly operation, and the failure of the Germans to +envelop and isolate the Russian armies as proof of the breakdown of +their strategy. But all retreats in the war, with the exception of the +Turks' before Allenby, were similarly described in the appropriate +quarters. It was the common characteristic of the victors that they +could not win decisive battles in the sense of earlier wars, and of +the vanquished that they evaded the expected Sedans and Waterloos. +Even the Germans with all their initial advantages of preparation and +surprise could not break the Allied armies in their first offensive on +the West, and the same inability dogged their still more rapid +footsteps in the East. It is a consequence of the reliance of modern +armies on the mechanical force of artillery to which the Germans were +especially addicted; for while 16-inch howitzers could pulverise any +position, they could not pursue with the speed required to encircle +and capture armies in the field. Hence salients, which when viewed in +the light of older conditions seemed traps which could not be eluded, +were in practice evaded because, with Allenby's one exception, cavalry +failed to atone for the slower movement of the more powerful arm of +artillery. There was nothing therefore miraculous in the Russian +escape, and the strategy of the Grand Duke was hardly so brilliant as +it was represented. At the beginning of the war Alexeiev, then +Ivanov's chief of staff, is said to have counselled a Russian retreat +like those which lured Charles XII and Napoleon to their doom; but the +temptations of Austrian weakness and German concentration on the West +and the plight of France and Belgium led to the adoption of other +advice and the premature invasion of Prussia, Galicia, and Hungary; +and in August 1915 it was too late for a voluntary and innocuous +retreat. The safety of the majority had to be bought at a heavy price +in casualties, in loss of guns and material, in suffering for the +troops and civilians, and in national dejection. What might have been +cheerfully done by choice was despondently done by compulsion. + +The evacuation of Warsaw was the first step in the withdrawal from the +apex of the Polish triangle which it was hoped the resistance of the +sides would enable the Russians to complete without disaster; and a +large garrison with adequate guns and ammunition was left at Novo +Georgievsk to impede the German advance and hamper communications with +their front. The greatest menace was on the north-west along the Narew +and beyond in Courland where Von Buelow was preparing to strike behind +the base of the triangle. On 10 August Von Scholtz breached the line +of fortresses by storming Lomza, but Kovno was a much more critical +point. It was the angle of the base, and its fall would not only +threaten the base running south to Brest-Litovsk and all the Russian +armies west of that line, but would greatly facilitate Von Buelow's +sweep round beyond it and Vilna. The bombardment began on the day that +Warsaw fell. Kovno was expected to hold out at least to the end of the +month, but it fell on the 17th, and the general in command was +subsequently sentenced to fifteen years' hard labour for his +inadequate defence and absence from his post of duty. On the following +day Von Gallwitz cut the line between Kovno and Brest at Bielsk, and +on the 19th Novo Georgievsk fell to the howitzers of Von Beseler, the +expert of Antwerp. Ossowiec, which had stood so well against the +earlier German invasions, followed on the 23rd, and Von Beseler was +brought up to give the coup de grâce to Brest. Its loss was perhaps +inevitable after the fall of Kovno, but it completed the destruction +of the base of the triangle and involved the withdrawal of the whole +Russian line beyond the Pripet marshes which would break its +continuity; and there was cold comfort in the fact that Ewarts got +away with most of his troops and stores and that a Russian mine, +exploded two days after their departure, destroyed a thousand Germans +and set a precedent for similar machinations on their part when they +retreated in the West. + +Fortresses now toppled down like ninepins. On the 26th Augustowo was +evacuated and Bialystok captured. On the 27th Olita was abandoned and +on 2 September Grodno. The Germans thus gained the whole line from +Kovno to Brest, and things were going no better in the south. The fall +of Lemberg had given the German right a position far to the east of +their left, and Mackensen advancing from Lublin and Cholm had driven +the Russians across the Bug at Wlodawa before Brest-Litovsk was taken. +The marshes of Pripet were at their driest in August, and Mackensen +encountered few obstacles as he pressed on from Brest to Kobrin and +thence to Pinsk along the rail to Moscow. In Galicia Ivanov was pushed +back to the Strypa and then the Sereth, and on the upper reaches of +those rivers Brody was captured and two of the Volhynian fortresses, +Dubno and Lutsk. Rovno itself was threatened, and with it the southern +stretch of that lateral railway from Riga to Lemberg on which the +Germans had set their hearts. + +But the most ominous German advance was far to the north, where Von +Buelow was profiting by the fall of Kovno, marching on Mitau and Riga, +and threatening both to cut the railway between Vilna and Petrograd +and confine the Russian retreat to congested and narrow lines of +communication along which they could not escape. This northern advance +was accompanied by a naval offensive in the Baltic, designed to seize +Riga and turn the line of the Dvina on which the Russians hoped to +stand in the last resort. Fortunately this part of the campaign broke +down before matters had reached their worst on land. It looked like a +naval operation planned, or at least attempted, by soldiers +professionally incapable of grasping the elementary principles of +naval or amphibious warfare. After an unsuccessful attack on the +southern inlet to the Gulf of Riga on 10 August, the Germans during a +thick fog on the 17th sought to land troops at Pernau in large +flat-bottomed barges without having secured command of the sea; and +the entire landing-force was captured or destroyed. Simultaneously +the Russian Fleet engaged the Germans, who had eight destroyers and +two cruisers sunk or put out of action; the only Russian vessel lost +was an old gunboat. The Dvina lines were not to be turned by strategy +like this, and Russia was henceforth free from naval interference +until her sailors played her false. + +Von Buelow was still, however, to be reckoned with, and he was the +substantial danger. On 28 August he began his movement against the +Dvina, which would, if successful, cut off all the Russian armies from +direct communication with Petrograd. The blow was struck at +Friedrichstadt, where the river is crossed by the only practicable +road between Riga and Jacobstadt, but the design was to turn the whole +front as far as Dvinsk; and Von Buelow held out to his troops the +alluring prospect of winter quarters in Riga and a march on Petrograd +in the spring. On 3 September the left bank was cleared for some +miles, but all attempts to cross were frustrated. The out-march on the +extreme German left had failed, and the critical point moved south +towards Vilna. The danger here was serious enough, for the depletion +of the Russian forces and length of their line had left a gap between +Dvinsk and Vilna, and into this gap the Germans thrust a huge cavalry +force which more nearly turned the Russian line than any other +movement in the campaign. + +The way was prepared by the great ten-days' battle of Meiszagola. The +unexpectedly rapid fall of Kovno and Grodno had enabled the Germans to +threaten the envelopment of Ewarts' army both on the south and the +north, on the Niemen towards Mosty and Lida and farther north towards +Vilna. The struggle for Vilna was decided at Meiszagola, a village +about fifteen miles north-west of the old Lithuanian capital. It was +captured on 12 September, and masses of German cavalry swept round +from Vilkomir towards Sventsiany and crossed the Petrograd railway to +outflank the retreating Russian troops. The evacuation of Vilna began +on the 13th, and two days later the menace from the German cavalry +became more apparent. Fresh divisions were apparently brought up from +Courland with 140 guns; on the 16th they were at Vidzy and on the 17th +at Vileika, nearly seventy miles due east of Vilna and in the rear of +the Russians escaping thence. They were thus also close to Molodetchno +on the railway along which Ewarts was falling back from Skidel, Mosty, +and Lida; and control of that junction would have put two Russian +armies at their mercy. + +Just in time Ruszky was restored to the command of the northern group +of Russian armies, and the victor of Rawa Ruska and Prasnysz was not +doomed now to break his uniform record of success. The situation was +not unlike that at Prasnysz, and it was relieved in a similar way by a +Russian counter-offensive from Dvinsk against the flank of the German +cavalry. Vidzy was recaptured on the 20th, and farther south the +pressure slackened along the Vilna-Vileika railway; Smorgon was +retaken by a brilliant bayonet charge on the 21st. The door had been +kept from closing on Russian armies seeking to escape from the salient +between Lida and Molodetchno, while the Germans were squeezed out of +that which they had made to the north. They were driven out of +Vileika, and gradually the lines were straightened and stabilized so +as to run almost due south from Dvinsk by Postavy, Lake Narotch, and +Smorgon. Other factors than Ruszky's brilliant strategy contributed to +this dramatic defeat of the final German effort of the campaign to +annihilate the Russian forces. The Germans had lost in men and impetus +during their long advance. Superb though their organization was, +lengthening lines of communication across a country ill-supplied with +roads and railways, and the necessity of guarding against a hostile +population told upon their armies in the fighting-line. The heaviest +blow will spend itself in time against an elusive foe, and the longest +arm will find the limit of its reach. The Germans had not planned a +march on Moscow, but they had hoped to overrun the Russian armies and +occupy the winter quarters of their choice. These were denied them on +the Dvina, and they had not secured the coveted Riga-Rovno line. + +They were indeed left farther from it in the south than in the north. +Their defeat east of Vilna enabled Ewarts to escape from the +encirclement threatened by the advance from Kovno and Grodno; and +although he had to leave Lida and was subsequently pushed behind the +junction of Baranowitchi, thus surrendering to the Germans the control +of the railway from Vilna to that point, it remained in Russian hands +to Rovno. Mackensen was unable to advance from Pinsk, which he +occupied on 16 September, to the railway at Luninetz, while Ivanov +reacted successfully against the German attacks along the Kovel-Sarny +line and recovered a good deal of the ground lost in the Volhynian +triangle and eastern extremity of Galicia. Mackensen's army may have +been weakened by calls from the north and from the south for a +campaign which was already planned but not yet suspected; at any rate +it was too weak to achieve its objectives, the capture of Sarny, +Rovno, and Tarnopol, which would have completed the hold of the +Germans on the Vilna-Kovno line and given them a base for a farther +advance in the spring on Odessa and for the isolation of Rumania. On 7 +September, as Mackensen's forces were moving on Rovno and the Sereth +at Tarnopol and Trembowla, Ivanov counter-attacked from Rovno and +Brussilov and Lechitzky on the Sereth. By the 9th the two latter had +captured 17,000 prisoners and a considerable number of guns; and +Ivanov followed up this success by retaking Lutsk and Dubno by the +23rd. Kovel was even threatened, but the pressure was not maintained. +Sarny, Rovno, and Tarnopol were saved, but Lutsk and Dubno reverted to +the Germans, and the line in the east was stabilized with the +Volhynian triangle and the railway from Vilna to Rovno divided between +the antagonists. + +The success of Ruszky in the north and of Ivanov in the south in +setting a term to the terrifying sweep of the German advance produced +a temporary optimism in Russia comparable with that which followed the +victory on the Marne; and in neither case did the Allies realize the +extent of the advantage gained by the Germans or foresee the years +that would pass before the loss could be recovered. The Grand Duke +Nicholas was relieved of his command and sent to take over that in the +Caucasus. He was succeeded by the Tsar himself, who was unlikely to +interfere with the military measures of Alexeiev, his chief of staff; +and the Duma seconded the Tsar's attempt to express the determination +of the Russian peoples to withstand the Germans until victory was +secured. Nevertheless, the profound effects of the Russian defeat +could not be removed by any laudable efforts at keeping up +appearances. It was a resounding disaster which condemned Europe to +three more years of war, and Russia to a convulsion which would +permanently alter the whole course of her history and position in the +world. Miliukov raised in the Duma the question of responsible +government, and if the debacle of 1915 was slower than Sedan in +producing the downfall of the system to which it was due, it was not +because the disaster was less, but because Russia was a less organized +country than France, and her illiterate population reacted more slowly +than the French. + + The Russian Front + +At the moment the best face was put on affairs; and although one +correspondent was allowed to report that the heart of the Russian +people had grown cold to the Allies who had watched their misfortunes +without raising a finger in the shape of a serious offensive to help, +public opinion was fed on the comfort in which a facile optimism is so +fertile. German casualties were multiplied at will, despondent diaries +of individual German officers killed or captured were given unlimited +publicity, and roseate pictures were painted of the colossal drain of +man-power involved in winter trench-warfare in Russia and in holding +vast tracts of hostile country. It was assumed that the Germans would +suffer more than the Russians, although again and again whole Russian +battalions in those trenches were wiped out by German artillery and +machine guns to which the Russians had not the wherewithal to reply +except with fresh masses of human flesh; and little was said of the +millions of Russian prisoners and civilians who were put to far more +effective use in making munitions and producing food for their enemies +than they ever had been for Russia or themselves, and without whose +labour Germany's man-power would have been exhausted one or two years +before the end of the war. It was considered a triumph that the +Germans had not reached Petrograd or Moscow, but it might have been +well if they had. They had, however, no such ambitions. Just as the +reconquest of Galicia had been mainly designed as providing the base +for a flank attack upon Russia, so the conquest of Poland was to be +used as providing protection for Germany against Russian interference +with her plans in the Balkans. Sofia and Constantinople opened up more +alluring prospects and a path that led farther than Moscow or +Petrograd; and while public opinion in England and France was dreaming +of a repetition of 1812, public opinion in Germany was feasting on +visions of Cairo, Baghdad, and Teheran, and the possibility of evading +the British blockade through outlets to the Indian Ocean. + +All eyes that could see were turned to the Dardanelles. There British +troops were making the one serious counter-offensive to the German +attack on Russia, and success would redeem the Russian failure and +foil the hopes the Germans were building upon their victory. The +immediate future of the Balkans, the Black Sea, and Asia Minor, and it +might be the more distant future of Egypt and the East, hung upon the +issue at Gallipoli. During July the reinforcements for which Sir Ian +Hamilton had asked were gathering in Egypt and in Gallipoli; and on 6 +August the new plan of attack was begun. There were to be four +distinct items; a feint was to be made of landing north of Bulair, the +attack on Krithia was to be renewed in order to hold the Turkish +troops there and draw others in that direction, and a similar advance +was planned for the Anzacs with a similar motive, but also to +co-operate with the real and fresh offensive. This took the form of a +landing at Suvla Bay, the extreme north-westerly point of the +peninsula between Anzac and Bulair. The diversions were reasonably +successful, as successful, indeed, as previous attacks had been in +those localities when they were the principal efforts. The chief of +them was a threefold advance north-east, east, and south-east from +Anzac Cove on Sari Bair with its highest point at Koja-Chemen. +Conspicuous gallantry was shown in the three days' fighting; and +while, as earlier at Krithia, the summits defied the greatest valour, +enough progress was made in these subsidiary attacks to justify the +hope of general success if the principal effort at Suvla Bay went well +(see Map, p. 107). + +It began without any great mishap, and General Stopford's 9th Corps +was successfully landed on the shores of Suvla Bay during the night of +6-7 August and deployed next morning in the plain without serious +resistance. The surprise had been effected, but it would be useless +unless the attack was pressed with energy and without delay. Yet +torpor crept over the enterprise during that torrid afternoon; many of +the troops were in action for the first time in their lives, and, +understanding that water was obtainable from the lake close by, they +had drained their water-bottles by eight o'clock in the morning. A +thunderstorm mended matters a little, and Chocolate Hill was carried +on the right. But all next day an inferior Turkish force, assisted by +a planned or accidental conflagration of the scrub, managed by skilful +use of a screen of sharpshooters to hold up our advance all along the +line. Sir Ian Hamilton himself arrived that night and strove by +persuasion to infuse some energy into the attack. But by the 9th it +was already too late, for the Turks had had time to bring up +reinforcements, and an attack on the Anafarta ridge on the 10th was +repulsed. Five days later General Stopford relinquished the command of +the 9th Corps, to which he had been somewhat reluctantly appointed by +Lord Kitchener, and the 29th Division was brought up from Cape Helles +to renew the attack on 21 August. It might have succeeded had it been +originally employed in place of the inexperienced troops; but by this +time there could be nothing but a frontal attack on a watchful foe, +and it ended like the similar efforts in May and June. Some ground was +gained, contact was established with the Anzacs, and a continuous line +of six miles was secured from the north of Suvla Bay to the south of +Anzac Cove. But before the Turks could be expelled from the peninsula +and a passage cleared through the Dardanelles there would be a long +and weary struggle, in which progress would be as slow and beset by as +many obstacles as it was on the Western front. Russia was to obtain no +relief that way; as a counter-offensive to the German campaign of +1915, the attack on the Dardanelles had failed; and the failure +produced a deeper impression upon the Balkans than if the attempt had +never been made. The way was clear for the next move of German +diplomacy and war. + + + CHAPTER IX + + THE CLIMAX OF GERMAN SUCCESS + +No one's eyes had been more keenly trained on the Dardanelles +operations during the spring and summer than those of Ferdinand, King +and Tsar of Bulgaria. Descended from Orleanist Bourbons on the +mother's side and from the house of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha on the father's, +he was purely Prussian in his realpolitik, and observed no principle +in his conduct save that of aggrandizement for his adopted country and +himself. The treaty of Bukarest in 1913 had given them both a common +and a legitimate grievance, and the great war was welcomed in Bulgaria +as an opportunity for revenge. The means would be the assistance +Bulgaria might render to the victor, and who that might be was a +matter of indifference if he possessed the essential qualifications of +victory and insensibility to the feelings of Bulgaria's neighbours and +to the sanctity of scraps of paper. This was a defect in the Entente +from Ferdinand's point of view. Bulgaria could with difficulty be +satisfied except by Serbian sacrifices which the Entente was loath to +make. The Central Empires had no scruples on that point; but Bulgaria +also wanted something from Rumania, Turkey, and Greece, and Turkey was +an ally, Rumania a neutral whom it was not wise to offend, and Greece +had as its queen a sister of the Kaiser who was distinctly her +husband's better half. + + The Balkans + +Serbia alone, however, had received by the Treaty of Bukarest enough +territory claimed by Bulgaria to provide a sufficient inducement for +Bulgaria's intervention in the war, once she was persuaded that a +victory of the Central Empires would place it at their disposal. +Efforts were made by the Entente during the summer to counteract this +attraction by inducing Serbia to reconsider her annexations in +Macedonia. But her successes in the autumn of 1914 had stiffened her +attitude, and in any case she could not be expected to make that +comprehensive surrender of Macedonia which the Central Empires were +quite prepared to promise Bulgaria. The decisive factor in the +diplomatic situation was, however, the progress of German arms and +prospects of German victory; for it was only the victor who would have +any favours to bestow, and the course of the war in the summer +convinced the Bulgarian Government that Germany was the horse on which +prudent people should put their money. On 17 July a secret treaty was +concluded guaranteeing Bulgaria in return for intervention the whole +of Macedonia possessed by Serbia as well as an extension of Bulgaria's +frontiers at Serbia's expense farther north. Bulgaria was also allowed +to extort a separate price from Turkey in the shape of a strip of land +along the Maritza controlling that river and Adrianople. An even more +sinister concession to Bulgarian exorbitance was that of Epirus, a +district assigned to Albania in 1913 but populated by Greeks who had +revolted and claimed incorporation in Greece. This Prussian +complaisance was doubtless due to the fact that Venizelos, who had +resigned owing to Constantine's opposition to his policy, had at the +Greek general election in June secured nearly a two to one majority in +the Greek Chamber. Greece could not be allowed the benefit of a +Prussian queen when it chose Venizelos as Prime Minister. + +The bond had been signed between the Central Empires and their +Bulgarian taskmaster; but the doctrine of rebus sic stantibus was as +well understood in Bulgaria as in Prussia, and the treaty would have +remained a scrap of paper had Russia expelled the German invaders or +Britain broken the barrier at the Dardanlles. As it was, nothing +occurred in August or September to weaken Bulgaria's fidelity to the +secret compact. The failure of the attack at Suvla Bay was followed by +the futile routine of trench warfare; an equally barren result +threatened the long-prepared attacks in Artois and Champagne; and, +Russia having more than enough to do in reorganizing her shaken +armies, the Central Empires were free to turn their attention +southwards. Success in the Balkans was not this time to be staked on +Austrian control, and Mackensen, whose armies in Galicia were nearest +to the scene, was naturally selected to repeat in Serbia the triumphs +of his Galician drive. The task would be all the easier because Serbia +was a country small compared with Russia, and would, moreover, be +distracted by the coming Bulgarian stab in the back. Her Government, +conscious of this danger, had, indeed, wished to anticipate it by a +frontal attack on Bulgaria; but her offensive was vetoed by the +Entente. Possibly it was a case in which moral scruples unduly +weighted the scales against military advantage. There was no real +doubt about Bulgaria's intentions, and she would have had no grounds +for complaint had Serbia attacked before Mackensen was prepared for +his part in the joint assassination. The real doubt concerned the +attitude of Greece. She was bound by treaty to assist Serbia in that +case, and Venizelos would assuredly do his best to fulfil the bond. +But the obligation would not arise if Serbia were the aggressor, and +Venizelos would be powerless. The fault of the Entente, if it was a +fault, lay in the failure to act on the presumption that Constantine +would prove as false to international obligation as his imperial +brother-in-law when he invaded Belgium, and in the assumption that the +difference between Serbian aggression and defence would involve the +difference between Greece being an ally and a neutral. + +The diplomatic crisis grew to a climax as Mackensen's forces reached +the northern bank of the Danube, for the arrest of the German +offensive in Russia was not entirely due to German difficulties or +Russian valour and strategy, and by the middle of August German +divisions were already being diverted from the Russian front. In the +middle of September Bulgaria concluded her compact with Turkey, and on +the 19th Mackensen's batteries opened their bombardment of Belgrade. +On the 21st Venizelos asked the Western Allies for 150,000 troops, +which were promised on the 24th, and on the 23rd Bulgaria ordered a +general mobilization and Greece retorted in kind. Bulgaria proclaimed +her intention to observe neutrality, and when on the 27th Serbia +requested the consent of the Allies to an offensive, it was refused. +Entente diplomatists at Sofia were still under the impression that +Bulgarian intervention could be avoided, and a vigorous protest by the +leaders of all the Opposition parties in the Sobranje against the +Government's policy gave some colour to their views. But by 10 October +it became known that many German officers were busy in consultation +with the Bulgarian Staff; on the 3rd Russia required Bulgaria to break +with the Teutonic Powers, and on the 5th herself broke off diplomatic +relations. A week later the Bulgarian Army invaded Serbia and the +Bulgarian Government declared war. Mackensen had crossed the Danube on +the 7th and taken Belgrade on the 9th. On the 19th an imperial +manifesto was issued from Petrograd denouncing Bulgaria's treason to +the Slav cause and leaving the fate of the traitor to the "just +punishment of God." It was assuredly not to be inflicted by the +Government whose designs on Constantinople had been the principal +obstacle to the success of Entente diplomacy in the Balkans. Bulgaria +did, indeed, betray the Slav to the Teuton, but no Balkan State could +view with equanimity the prospect of being ground to powder between +the upper and nether millstone of Russia on the Danube and on the +Dardanelles. + +Nor was Bulgaria the only traitor responsible for the Serbian tragedy. +On 5 October Venizelos announced to the Greek Chamber in no uncertain +terms the intention of his ministry to draw the sword on Serbia's side +if Bulgaria attacked. The following day he was summoned to the palace +and told that Constantine disapproved; he resigned in the afternoon, +and the Chamber compromised its future and its country's by supporting +an alternative ministry under Zaimis, which proclaimed its neutrality +and refused on 11 October the assistance for which Serbia asked under +the terms of their alliance. Russia was willing but unable to help, +and large threats and insignificant demonstrations against the +Bulgarian coast were all she could contribute to the protection of the +little State in whose interests she had entered the war. The burden +fell on the Western Powers who had never contemplated it, and they +were divided in mind. British ships wrought effective destruction upon +the Bulgarian depots and communications along the Aegean coast; but +bombardment there was of little use to Serbia, and the British General +Staff pronounced against an expedition to Salonika. Sir Edward Carson +resigned as a protest against this inaction, while Delcassé resigned +in France because Briand was more adventurous. Briand carried his +point, succeeded Viviani as Premier, and committed both Powers to the +Salonika policy. Italy stood aloof; her antagonism to Serbia and +Greece made her ever averse from an offensive against Bulgaria. + +The Salonika expedition, which consisted at first of troops +transferred from Gallipoli, came too late and was too weak to effect +more than a part of its purpose. It would have been more effective had +the Allies consented to the Serbian proposal for an attack on +Bulgaria; for in that case the Serbian armies would have been aligned +along the Bulgarian frontier with their right within reach from +Salonika. As it was, they faced north towards Mackensen, and the +Bulgarian offensive towards Uskub took the Serbians in the rear, cut +their communications with Salonika down the Vardar, and eventually +forced a retreat into the Albanian mountains. Serbia would in any case +have been overrun, and Mackensen's conquest of its northern half would +have been more rapid than it was. But the Serbian armies might have +remained intact and given a good account of themselves against both +their enemies in the mountain fastnesses of the south with their +retreat secured to Salonika, instead of being split into two and most +of them driven, to escape as best they could with frightful mortality +along impossible tracks towards the Adriatic. + +War and disease had reduced the Serbian armies before the campaign +began to some 200,000 men, and their enemies brought at least double +that number against them. The Serbians were, moreover, constrained by +the counsels of the Allies to preserve what they could of their forces +as a nucleus for future resistance, and thus to stand only so long as +retreat remained open. Threatened on three sides by superior numbers, +they were in an untenable position and had a well-nigh impossible +task; and only skill, endurance, and courage brought the remnants out +of the death-trap laid by collusion between the Central Empires and +Bulgaria. The campaign was for the Serbians simply a series of +rearguard actions encouraged at first by the delusive hope that the +Allies might yet be in time. They might have been, had they been +numerous enough. The French from Cape Helles came first, landed at +Salonika on 5-7 October, and by the 27th had occupied the valley of +the Vardar as far north as Krivolak. They also seized the commanding +heights of Kara Hodjali north-east of the river, and repulsed the +Bulgarian attempts to drive them off in the first week of November; +while to the west they stretched out a hand towards the Serbians +defending the Babuna Pass. With adequate forces they could have pushed +beyond Veles to Uskub, broken the wedge which the Bulgarians had +driven in between them and the Serbians, restored the line of the +Vardar, and secured the Serbian retreat. + +It was this Bulgarian stab in the back which made havoc of the Serbian +defence. Mackensen made slow progress at first, partly because he had +no wish to drive the Serbians south until the Bulgars had cut off +their retreat down the Vardar. Belgrade did not fall until three weeks +after the bombardment had opened; but with the intervention of the +Bulgarian armies all along the bare Serbian flank, events moved with +tragic rapidity. On 17 October the Salonika line was pierced at +Vrania, Veles fell on the 20th, and Uskub on the 21st. By the 26th +Mackensen and the Bulgarians had effected a junction in the north and +cleared the Danube route into the Balkans. Nish fell on 5 November +after three days' fierce fighting, and the Constantinople railway thus +passed into enemy hands. In the north-west the Austrians were pressing +on from Ushitza down by the Montenegrin frontier towards Mitrovitza, +threatening to crush the Serbians on the Kossovo plateau between them +and the Bulgars. To save the main Serbian force and keep open a +retreat through Albania, a stand had to be made at Katchanik against +the Bulgars advancing north from Uskub. It was successful to that +extent, and when at one moment the Serbs temporarily broke the +Bulgarian front, a junction seemed possible with the French advance +from Veles. But both Allies were too weak for the solid Bulgarian +wedge. The Serbs had to fall back from Kossovo and the French to their +entrenched camp at Kavadar. A still narrower chance intervened between +the French and the Serbs who were fighting at the Babuna Pass to bar +the way to Prilep and Monastir, and at one time the French flung out +their left to within ten miles of the Serbian position. But their own +communications were threatened all down the narrow line of the Vardar, +and they were hopelessly outnumbered by the Bulgarian forces. Retreat +was the common misfortune and necessity. Prilep fell on 16 November; +and farther north, as the Serbians retreated into Montenegro and +Albania, the Austrians occupied Novi Bazar on 20 November, and +Mitrovitza and Prishtina on the 23rd. On the 28th the Germans +announced that "with the flight of the scanty remnants of the Serbian +army into the Albanian mountains our main operations are closed." + +There was something still for the Bulgars to do. Pursuing the Serbians +in retreat from the Babuna Pass they reached the Greek frontier and +cut the railway between Salonika and Monastir at Kenali on 29 +November, and on 5 December occupied Monastir itself. The Greek +frontier was a feeble protection, and the French at Kavadar were +threatened with encirclement on their left. Kavadar had to be +evacuated and a retreat secured by hard fighting at Demir Kapu. +Simultaneously the British holding the front towards Lake Doiran were +severely attacked, and on 6-7 December had 1300 casualties and lost 8 +guns. But the enemy failed to cut off the retreat, and by the 12th +both the French and British forces were on Greek territory fortifying +a magnificent position which stretched from the mouth of the Vardar +round to the Gulf of Orphano and enclosed the Chalchidice peninsula. +Strong measures had to be taken to ensure the safety of Salonika with +its cosmopolitan population, and the enemy hoped for its fall in +January. But there was great reluctance to attack lines which were +daily growing more formidable and were held by troops that were being +gradually reinforced. Bulgarian ambition was also restrained by German +counsels, for even Constantine and his new and pusillanimous premier, +Skouloudis, might resent the occupation of Salonika by their +hereditary rivals, and the Kaiser trusted more to family and +diplomatic influence at Athens than to Bulgarian valour. The Germans +themselves were more intent on consolidating the Berlin-Constantinople +corridor and their hold upon the Turks than on Salonika, which fell +within the Austrian sphere of influence, and might thus, if taken, +become an apple of discord between its captors. + +Austria had to content herself with dominion along the eastern shores +of the Adriatic. The conquest of Serbia had left Montenegro an +unprotected oasis surrounded by enemy territory; and Italy, which +alone might have defended the Black Mountain, was unable or +disinclined to make the effort. Lovtchen fell on 10 January, and the +Austrians occupied Cettinje three days later. The Germans announced +the unconditional surrender of the country, and some sort of +capitulation was made by some sort of Montenegrins. But King Nicholas +escaped to Italy and thence to France, while the greater part of his +army made their way south to Scutari to join the Serbians who had +retreated to the Adriatic coast. An Italian force marched up from +Avlona to Durazzo to protect them, and Essad Pasha, a pro-Entente +Albanian who had established a principality of his own on the fall of +the Prince of Wied, rendered useful assistance. Eventually about +130,000 Serbian troops were transported to safety across the Adriatic, +while the Serbian Government was provided with a home at Corfu in +spite of the protests of the Greek administration. Save for neutral +Greece and Rumania, the Italian foothold at Avlona and ours at +Gallipoli, the whole of the Balkans had passed into the enemy's hands; +for Essad's rule was as brief as it was circumscribed, and the +Italians withdrew from Durazzo as the Austrians advanced to the +southern frontier of Albania, and menaced Greek territory far beyond +the reach of protection from Salonika. + +While Greece and Rumania seemed to depend for their existence upon the +forbearance of the Central Empires, our foothold in Gallipoli was even +more precarious, and the first use the Germans made of their corridor +to Constantinople was to furnish the Turks with howitzers designed to +blow our forces off the peninsula. In October Sir Charles Monro had +been sent out to take over the command from Sir Ian Hamilton and +report on the situation. His report, which, owing to the singular +relations then existing between someone in the Government and the +press, was known to selected journalists within a few hours of its +reception in London, was in favour of evacuation. The Cabinet was not +prepared to accept that decision without further advice, and +dispatched Lord Kitchener to make a survey of the political and +military situation in the Ægean on the spot. He confirmed Monro's +opinion; and in spite of the damage to our reputation and the losses +which it was thought such an operation would inevitably involve, +orders were given for a complete withdrawal from the Gallipoli +Peninsula. + +Some of the forces had already been transferred to Salonika, and the +evacuation was to be completed in two stages, the first at Suvla Bay +and Anzac and the last at Cape Helles. Success depended upon weather +suitable for embarkation and skill in organizing transport and +concealing our intentions from the enemy. No one dared to hope for so +complete a co-operation of these factors as that which characterized +the enterprise on 18-19 December. The weather was ideal in spite of +the season, an attack from Cape Helles diverted the attention of the +Turks, and the whole force at Suvla Bay and Anzac was embarked during +two successive nights with only a single casualty. Marvellous as this +success appeared, its repetition at Cape Helles on 7-8 January was +even more extraordinary, although a Turkish attack on the 7th +threatened to develop into that rearguard action which had been +considered almost inevitable. But it was a mere incident in trench +warfare, and they were as blind to our real intentions at Cape Helles +as they had been three weeks before at Suvla Bay and Anzac--unless, +indeed, with true Oriental passivity, they were content to see us +leave their land in peace and had no mind to seek a triumph of +destruction which would inure to the benefit of their uncongenial +allies. + +The brilliant success of the withdrawal from the Dardanelles provided +some solace for the failure of the campaign, but did nothing to +relieve from responsibility those who had designed its inception and +directed its earlier course; and a Commission, which was appointed in +the following summer, produced on 8th March 1917 an interim report +which threw a vivid but partial and biased light not only on the +Dardanelles campaign, but on the governmental organization which was +responsible for the failures as well as the successes of the British +Empire during the greater part of the war. Both were largely the +outcome of that autocracy in war with which popular sentiment and the +popular press had invested Lord Kitchener. It swallowed up everything +else: the Cabinet left the war to the War Council and the War Council +to a triumvirate consisting of Mr. Asquith, Lord Kitchener, and Mr. +Churchill; but of these the greatest was Lord Kitchener. +"All-powerful, imperturbable, and reserved," said Mr. Churchill, "he +dominated absolutely our counsels at this time.... He was the sole +mouthpiece of War Office opinion in the War Council.... When he gave a +decision it was invariably accepted as final." He occupied, in the +words of the Report, "a position such as has probably never been held +by any previous Secretary of State for War," though it cannot compare +with the elder Pitt's in 1757-61. Oriental experience had not improved +his qualifications for the post; secretiveness, testified the +Secretary of the War Council, made him reluctant to communicate +military information even to his colleagues on the Council; the +General Staff sank into insignificance, and the regulations +prescribing the duties of its Chief were treated as non-existent. Mr. +Churchill was debarred from a similar dictatorship at the Admiralty +mainly because he was not a seaman and had Lord Fisher as his +professional mentor; while Mr. Asquith busied himself with keeping the +peace between his two obtrusive colleagues, neither of whom expressed +the considered views of the Services they represented. + +Thus the Dardanelles campaign was less an active expression of policy +or strategy than the passive result of conflicting influences and +opinions. As early as November 1914 Mr. Churchill had suggested an +attack there or elsewhere on the Turkish coast as a means of +protecting Egypt, but the idea was not seriously considered until on 2 +January 1915 an urgent request was received from Russia for some +diversion to relieve the Turkish pressure in the Caucasus. There was a +corresponding need to deter Bulgaria from casting in her lot with the +Central Empires, and on 13 January the War Council resolved upon the +"preparation" of a naval attack on the Dardanelles. Its members were +in some doubt as to what was meant by their resolution. Lord Fisher +was averse from the scheme because he preferred another sphere of +action, possibly the Baltic or Zeebrugge, with which Jellicoe's mind +was also occupied; and he hoped that preparation did not involve +execution. Lord Kitchener warmly supported the idea of a naval attack, +but most of his colleagues assumed that the operation would +automatically become amphibious and involve the army as well; at any +rate this impression was clearly stamped on their' minds after the +purely naval attack had failed. Lord Kitchener, however, was strongly +opposed to military cooperation; a great advantage of a purely naval +attack was, he thought, that it could be abandoned at any moment, and +he maintained that he had no troops to spare. Meanwhile Russia +enthusiastically welcomed the notion, France concurred, and Mr. +Churchill had secured an uncertain amount of naval backing for an +expedition, the nature of which was not defined. But Lord Fisher grew +more pronounced in his opposition, and when on 28 January the War +Council proceeded from preparation to execution, he accepted the +decision with a reluctance that nearly drove him to resign. + +No sooner, however, had the War Council decided on a purely naval +expedition than it found itself involved in an amphibious enterprise. +"We drifted," said the Director of Military Operations, "into the big +military attack"; and on 16 February it was resolved to send out the +29th Division and to reinforce it with troops from Egypt. The naval +bombardment did not begin till three days later, and therefore it was +no naval failure that produced this resolution; it was rather an +unconscious reversion to the Council's original idea which had been +dropped out of deference to Lord Kitchener. The same influence delayed +the execution of the plan of 16 February: the 29th Division was to +have started on the 22nd, but on the 20th it was countermanded by Lord +Kitchener. Animated discussions ensued at the War Council on the 24th +and 26th, but Lord Kitchener could not overcome his anxieties on the +score of home defence and the Western front, and the Council yielded +to his pressure. It was not till 10 March that the ill-success of the +naval attack, advices from officers on the spot, and reassurances +about the situation nearer home overcame the reluctance to dispatch +the 29th division and other forces under Sir Ian Hamilton. Lord +Kitchener now desired haste, and complained that 14 April, the date +suggested by Hamilton, would be too late for the military attack. It +was not found practicable until the 25th, and according to Enver Pasha +the delay enabled the Turks thoroughly to fortify the Peninsula and to +equip it with over 200 Austrian Skoda guns. Enver's further statement +that the navy could have got through unaided, although it agreed with +Mr. Churchill's opinion, is more doubtful. Out of the sixteen vessels +employed to force the Dardanelles by 23 March, seven had been sunk or +otherwise put out of action. + +The same hesitation that characterized the inception of the military +attack marked its prosecution, and forces which might have been +adequate at an earlier stage were insufficient to break down the +defences which delay enabled the Turks to organize. Nevertheless the +enterprise might have succeeded but for errors of judgment in its +execution, notably at Suvla Bay; and success would have buried in +oblivion the mistakes of the campaign and its initiation just as it +has done similar miscalculations in scores of precedents in history. +There were, moreover, vital causes of failure which could not be +canvassed at the time or even alleged in mitigation by the Commission +of Inquiry; and the publication of its report on 8 March 1917, without +the evidence on which it was based or reference to these other causes, +was a masterpiece of political strategy designed to concentrate the +odium of failure on those who were only responsible in part and to +preclude their return to political power. Of these hidden causes there +were two in particular: one the possibly justifiable refusal of Greece +to lend her army to the scheme when a comparatively small military +force might have been sufficient, and the other the far more culpable +failure of Russia to co-operate with the 100,000 troops which were to +have been landed at Midia and would have either found the northern +approaches to Constantinople almost undefended or have diverted enough +Turkish forces from the Dardanelles to give the southern attack a +reasonable prospect of success. As it was, the British Empire had to +content itself with the idea that 120,000 military casualties, apart +from the French and the naval losses--which might have bought the +downfall of Turkey, shortened the war by a year at least, and saved a +greater number of lives--had the minor effect of immobilizing 300,000 +Turks and facilitating the defence of Egypt and the conquest of +Mesopotamia and Syria. + +The failure of the larger hope was a blow to the "Easterners" who +discerned in the Dardanelles the strategic key to victory in the war +and expected to turn the argument against divergent operations by +pointing to a converging advance from the Balkans upon the Central +Empires. But the "Westerners," who maintained that the war could be +won and could only be won in France and Belgium, were not much happier +at the end of 1915. The British and French commands alike had +subordinated the Dardanelles and Salonika expeditions to the needs of +an autumn offensive on the West; and the argument between the two +schools of thought is narrowed down, so far as the autumn of 1915 is +concerned, to the question whether the troops we lost in September and +October at Loos and in Champagne might not have been more effectively +employed at the Dardanelles or Salonika. That they were not needed for +defence in the West is obvious, since the line was held in spite of +their loss. They were, in fact, mortgaged to an offensive which +produced less strategical effect than the casualties in the East; for +without the Salonika expedition, at least, Greece would have fallen +completely under German dominion, and our control of the Ægean and our +communications with Egypt would have been seriously imperilled. The +controversy was an idle one so far as it was conducted on abstract +principles, because war is an art in which success depends upon +changing conditions which dictate one sort of strategy at one time and +another at another. There were times when neglect of the West would +have been fatal; there were others at which neglect of the East was +almost as disastrous, and the autumn of 1915 belonged to the latter +rather than to the former category. Neglect of the East would, indeed, +have been not merely excusable but an imperative duty, had the +situation in the West been what it was in the autumn of 1914 or spring +of 1918. But there was no such necessity in September 1915: troops +were not then withheld from the East to defend our lines in the West +against a German offensive, but to take the offensive ourselves; and +illusory hopes of success were based upon the known inferiority of +German numbers in France due to their concentration in Russia. + +The Entente advantage in bayonets on the Western front was between +three and four to two, and it also had the ampler reserves. Sir John +French commanded nearly a million men and General Joffre more than +double that number, while our advantage in guns and munitions was not +less marked; an almost unlimited supply of shells had been accumulated +during the summer, and the new Creusot howitzers outdid the monsters +from Essen and Skoda. Thirty fresh miles of French front had been +taken over by the British, but it was not continuous. Plumer's Second +and Haig's First armies still held the line from Ypres to south of La +Bassée, but D'Urbal's Tenth French army intervened between Haig and +the new Third British army which stretched from Arras to the Somme. It +was not, however, along the British front but in Champagne that the +main attack was planned. The objective was Vouziers, and the design +was to break the German communications from east to west along the +Aisne and thus compel an extensive retreat from the angle of the +German front on the Oise and the Somme. If the subsidiary attack on +the British front also succeeded, the Germans would suffer disaster +and be compelled to evacuate much of the ground they held in France +(see Map, p. 67). + +A desultory bombardment of the whole front had begun early in the +month, and on the 23rd a more intense fire, designed to obliterate the +first line of German defences, opened from La Bassée to Arras and in +Champagne. On the 25th the infantry attacked in high hopes and high +spirits: for months, declared Joffre in his order of the day, we had +been increasing our strength and our resources while the enemy had +been consuming his, and the hour had come for victory. The striking +force was Langle de Cary's Fourth Army, and the front of attack ran +for fifteen miles from Auberive to Massiges. The bombardment had been +effective and the élan of French, and particularly Marchand's colonial +troops, carried most of the German first and parts of their second +line of defence, and thousands of prisoners and scores of guns fell +into their hands. But victory was not in this Western warfare of the +twentieth century won in a day, and the morrow of a successful attack, +which used to be fatal to the defeated, was now more trying to the +victors. Instead of their well-protected lines they had to lie in the +open or in the blasted trenches of the enemy, and from thence to +attack a second and a third line of defences not less strong than the +first, but less battered by bombardment. The second French effort, +made on the 29th, was less successful than the first; some more +prisoners and guns were taken, and a breach was made in the second +line, but it was too narrow for the cavalry to penetrate. A third +French attack on 6 October secured the village and Butte de Tahure +which commanded the Bazancourt-Challerange railway, the first of the +lateral lines of communication which it had been the object of the +campaign to break; and later in the month the French made some local +progress in other parts of the front. But on 30 October German +counter-attacks, which had failed elsewhere, succeeded in recapturing +the Butte de Tahure and recovering the use of the railway; and while +the French had advanced on a front of fifteen miles to a depth of two +and a half in places, the net result of the great attack was to leave +them without appreciable advantage save in the disputable respect of +greater German losses and the withdrawal of some divisions from the +Russian front. + +The subsidiary attacks between Ypres to Arras produced the same +general kind of result. They extended almost continuously all along +the line, but except to the north and south of Lens do not appear to +have been designed to do more than prevent the opposing troops from +being sent to reinforce the defence against the main offensive. For +this purpose they were perhaps needlessly aggressive, for each +resulted in the capture of ground which could not be held, and the +forces engaged in these local enterprises were badly needed to clinch +the nearly successful major operation. Later on in the war it was +found that enemy troops could be contained along the line without such +numerous and expensive precautionary attacks, and possibly these were +really intended not so much to contain the enemy as to test his line +with the idea of finding some weak spot which might be pierced. None +of them succeeded to that extent, though Bellewarde was temporarily +taken in front of Ypres, Le Bridoux redoubt in front of Bois Grenier, +the slopes of the Aubers ridge, and some trenches near La Bassée. The +last operation, if more force had been put into it, might have secured +La Bassée and done more to convert the battle of Loos into a +substantial victory than could ever have been achieved by a series of +local successes farther north. + +That battle was the principal British effort, and it only fell short +of a real victory because the reserves were not on the spot to follow +up the initial success which might almost seem to have surprised the +higher command. The front extended from the La Bassée Canal to the +outskirts of Lens, and as in Champagne the attack on 25 September was +preceded by an intense bombardment which destroyed the first German +trenches and wire-entanglements. Nearly everywhere the advance was at +first successful. The Hohenzollern redoubt was captured, the Lens-La +Bassée road was crossed, and even Haisnes and Hulluch reached. But the +greatest success was farthest south, where the village of Loos was +rushed by the 15th Division and then Hill 70. Even there the +Highlanders would not stop, but went on impetuously as far as the Cité +St. Auguste, well outflanking Lens and past the hindmost of the German +lines. This was all by 9.30 a.m., within four hours of the first +attack. But there were no reserves at hand to consolidate the victory +and hold up the German counter-attacks. There were plenty miles away +in the rear, retained by Sir John French because along the extended +line of attack from Ypres to Lens it was not known where they would +most be needed; and even when the need was clear, interrupted +telephones and defective staff-work caused confusion and delay. +Eventually the 11th Corps fresh from England and to fighting was +marched eight miles and put into the battle line without sufficient +food or water. Gradually our troops were pushed back from Hill 70, +across the Lens-La Bassée road, and out of the Hohenzollern redoubt. +The line was restored to some extent by the Guards on the 27th, and +Loos remained firmly in our hands; but a great opportunity had been +lost, and the great stroke of the 15th Division had not been turned +into a great advance. Lens had been almost in our grasp, and with it a +lever to loosen the German hold on Lille (see Map, p. 79). + +The fault was partly due to the fact that D'Urbal's simultaneous +offensive south of Lens had fallen short of the Vimy Ridge and left +our right flank almost in the air in front of Grenay where the two +lines joined. D'Urbal's army was, like our own, greatly superior in +numbers to the Germans opposite, seventeen to nine Divisions, and the +French artillery preparation for the attack on 25 September was +equally elaborate. Unhappily the French offensive did not begin till +one o'clock, three hours after the Highlanders had swarmed over Hill +70 and into Cité St. Auguste; and when it did begin, its left, where +it joined the British right, was held up in front of Souchez till the +following day, and the Germans used the interval to recover from the +staggering blow they had received at Loos. On the 26th the French were +more successful. Souchez, most of the Givenchy Wood, La Folie farm, +and Thelus were captured, and on the 28th they made some progress up +the Vimy slopes. The impression of success exceeded the reality, and a +historian writing some months afterwards declared that by the 29th +"the Vimy Heights had been won": it required a considerable Canadian +victory a year and a half later to give much substance to this claim, +and most of the ground secured in September 1915, including the +Givenchy Wood, La Folie, and Thelus, was found to be in German hands +when the line from Lens to Arras was taken over by British troops. + +Attacks and counter-attacks, particularly round the Hohenzollern +redoubt, during October led to little but slaughter, and the line in +the West relapsed into winter stability and stagnation where they had +been a year before with changes which only a large-scale map revealed. +There had been at least 120,000 French casualties and more than 50,000 +British; each side claimed that the enemy's losses far exceeded its +own, and there was probably little to choose. A fortnight's battle in +the West cost the Allies as much as nine months in the Dardanelles, +though in the former it was the French and in the latter the British +who bore the brunt. The optimism of the civilians with regard to the +Dardanelles was capped by the optimism of the soldiers on the Western +front; and neither was in a position to throw stones at the strategy +of the other. Mr. Churchill disappeared from the Admiralty in May and +from the Cabinet in October, and Sir John French lost his command of +the British forces in December. His ostensible cheerfulness had been +useful in the early days of shock and stress; but the part had been +somewhat overdone in public and underdone in private, and it was +becoming clearer, though not yet sufficiently clear, that brilliant +cavalry generalship was not the quality most required to control the +gigantic machinery of a modern army. Nevertheless, the criticisms that +were levelled against the ineptitude and mental inelasticity of the +generals and the staff of the old army overshot the mark. No one +ventured to bring such a charge against the staff-work of the French, +and yet the French had been no more successful in Champagne than we +had been in Artois. The truth was that no generalship could have given +the Entente victory over the Germans in 1915. The war was constantly +and correctly described as a soldiers' war or a war of nations, but +the meaning of the description was not fully realized. The Entente had +to deal with a mighty people, splendidly organized and equipped for +war, and against that colossal force mere generalship was like a sort +of legerdemain pitted against an avalanche. The only power that could +cope with the Germans was that of people similarly determined and +equally trained and organized, and the only way in which they could be +defeated was by exhaustion. Individual skill in modern politics and +war tells mainly in matters of personal rivalry; it is our +aristocratic quality which breaks its head in vain against the stolid +mass of democratic forces. The single people in the long run beats the +single man, and the community of nations overcomes the rebel State. + +So far the rebel had succeeded because he took the world by storm and +by surprise. The Germans in 1915 had played a skilful game and won. +They had calculated that their line in the West could be held by +inferior forces against any attacks the Entente could launch against +it, while they broke the strength of Russia and overran the Balkans; +and their calculations proved correct. It is conceivable that they +might have done better to concentrate in 1915 as in 1914 against the +Western Powers, but it is more probable that here, too, they were wise +in their military conceit. The offensive that had failed in 1914 when +British forces were a hundred thousand without munitions to +correspond, would hardly have succeeded when they had grown to a +million; and neglect of the East might well have meant invasion by +Russia, the collapse of Austria, Czecho-Slovak and Jugo-Slav revolts, +the defeat of Turkey, and the intervention of Rumania and Bulgaria on +the Entente side. More could hardly have been achieved by Germany with +the resources at her disposal; but she had not won the war. She had +won a respite from defeat, as she was to do again in 1916 and in 1917, +and her successes enabled her to postpone the reckoning from 1916 to +1918. But it was a fatal reprieve which she only used to weave her +winding-sheet; and her efforts to snatch a German peace out of the +transient balance of power, which her victories had set up, involved +her in that fight to a finish with civilization which made her an +outcast in disgrace as well as in defeat. + + + CHAPTER X + + THE SECOND WINTER OF THE WAR + +The failure of the Entente offensives in the Dardanelles and in France +had at last convinced the public of the truth of Lord Kitchener's +prophecy, that the war would be long if it was to result in a German +defeat. Obstinate optimists had in 1914 believed in a victory before +the first Christmas, while more reasonable critics hoped for one by +the end of the following year. When the second Christmas came round +the date of triumph had been postponed for another year or two, and +few expected that it would arrive much before the end of the three +years' term Lord Kitchener had suggested, or come at all unless +greater efforts were made than had hitherto been the case. The +magnificent response to the call for voluntary enlistment in 1914 had +confirmed the traditional English view in favour of volunteers; +between two and three million men had been raised by this method, +either as members of the new army or as Territorials who freely +surrendered their privilege of being called upon to serve for home +defence alone; and it was but slowly that the nation was constrained +to abandon the voluntary principle for that system of conscription +which savoured so strongly of the militarism we were out to fight. But +the Russian disasters and the failure of our offensives in the spring +warned the Government of the advisability of at least preparing for +other measures, and an Act had been passed for a national registration +on 15 August of all males between the ages of 15 and 65. The autumn +confirmed the foreboding of spring, and on 5 October Lord Derby +undertook on behalf of the Government a recruiting campaign by which +those who had not enlisted were induced to do so on the condition that +they would not be compelled to serve before those who had feebler +claims to exemption. + +This campaign failed to produce the comprehensive results required, +and at Christmas the Government took the plunge of proposing +conscription for all unmarried men under the age of forty-two who were +physically fit, and whose enlistment was not precluded by the national +importance of their occupation or the onerous nature of their domestic +liabilities. Even this measure of conscription was found inadequate by +the following spring, and in May 1916 the exemption of married men was +cancelled, and a general system of conscription on the continental +model was introduced. Both measures were passed by large majorities, +and encountered no organized opposition in the country. A few hundreds +of conscientious objectors preferred to be treated as criminals rather +than contribute in any way to the shedding of blood even in the +defence of their country and themselves; and only the baser among +their fellow-men attributed to them any worse motive than impractical +idealism. The example of the mother-country was subsequently followed, +with more liberal exemptions, by New Zealand and the Dominion of +Canada; but Australia, which had long enjoyed compulsory military +service for home defence, and was the only country in which the issue +had to be submitted to a referendum, twice rejected the extension of +the principle of compulsion to service outside the borders of the +Commonwealth. The Channel Islands, which also had compulsion for their +own insular defence, were equally loath to expand the idea, and +Ireland was for political and some logical reasons exempted from the +scope of the British Act; the Home Rule Bill had been placed on the +statute-book, though its operation had been suspended, and it was +thought as politic to allow her as it was to allow the Dominions to +make her own decision. + +In other matters than conscription Great Britain was slowly and +reluctantly constrained to follow the German lead until the whole +country became a controlled establishment; and a series of Defence of +the Realm Acts deprived Englishmen of nearly all those liberties which +they had regarded for centuries as proofs of their superior wisdom, +but were now found to be merely the accidents of their past insular +security. Freedom of the press, of speech, and even of private +correspondence was subjected to censorship, and there was not in the +whole range of our indictments against foreign autocracy one charge +which might not with some colour be brought against ourselves. Fear +entered once more into the English mind, and fear produced its +invariable results, until precedents for what was done in the +twentieth century had to be sought in the worst days of the Star +Chamber, Titus Oates, and Judge Jeffreys. Once more, when the panic +reached its height during the spring of 1918, British subjects were +deprived of liberty without due process of law and by arbitrary +tribunals sitting behind closed doors; once more we reverted to the +old maxim of Roman law and the everlasting plea of despots, salus +populi suprema lex, and learnt to practise ourselves the precepts we +scorned in others. Liberty and even law were found to be luxuries in +which war made us too poor to indulge. Truth itself was made +tongue-tied to authority and became the handmaid of the State. To save +ourselves and the world from barbarism we had to descend to the +barbarous level of our foes, and poison-gas and the killing and +starvation of women and children were developed into effective methods +of warfare. It was all done in the name of humanity; for to shorten +the war was the humanest course, and the shortest way was that of the +greatest destruction. The means of destruction were developed at a +prodigious rate, and England became a vast laboratory of death. War +for the time was our only industry, and all who could be spared from +the actual work of killing were pressed into the task of providing the +weapons, the food, and the education for those on more active service. + +Germany set the pace both in efficiency and in cruelty, and her +success in 1915 convinced her that she could defy the moral scruples +of mankind with impunity. Nothing save verbal protests had followed +the sinking of the Lusitania, and even those had led Mr. Bryan, +President Wilson's Secretary of State, to resign for fear lest they +might prove too strong. That crime was accordingly succeeded by +others, and further American lives were lost by the torpedoing of the +Arabic on 19 August, the Ancona on 7 November, and the Persia on 30 +December. The unneutral conduct of Dr. Dumba, the Austro-Hungarian +ambassador in the United States, did, however, precipitate a demand +for his recall; and American relations grew far more strained with +Austria than with her more powerful and pernicious partner. For the +moment President Wilson seemed more concerned with Great Britain's +disrespect for American trade than with Germany's disrespect for +American lives, and put forward a claim to be regarded as the champion +of neutrality which contrasted oddly with his inaction a year before +when Belgian neutrality was at stake. No one, however, could boast of +consistency during the war, and President Wilson atoned for his +earlier tenderness towards neutral rights by fathering in the end a +league of nations which would abolish neutrality altogether. No doubt, +his somewhat censorious protests against the British blockade and the +methods of its enforcement were primarily intended for domestic +consumption, and even then their effect was severely discounted by the +growing tale of German outrage; the world at large was in no mood to +listen to the laments of profiteers when its ears were tingling with +the story of Edith Cavell's execution. She was an English nurse in +Belgium who had tended with impartiality German and Belgian wounded; +but she had facilitated the escape of some of the latter, and the +Germans allowed no feeling of chivalry or humanity to interfere with +the barbarous logic of their martial law. On 12 October, in spite of +the efforts of American diplomacy and the horror of the civilized +world, she was shot by order of a German court martial confirmed by +the German military governor of Belgium. There were many heroines in +the war, but none achieved a surer fame, because no one's fate +exhibited in a clearer light the spirit with which humanity was at +grips. + +It was to the credit of humanity that this single outrage produced a +greater horror than the German Zeppelin campaign, which reached its +height in the winter and affected a large proportion of the civilian +population. It was an extension of the policy of the Scarborough +raids, and while it could be justified on the ambiguous and +contradictory provisions of The Hague Convention, which exposed to the +risk of bombardment any locality containing soldiers, munitions, or +material for war, or means for military transport, its object was +mainly to terrorize the civilian population; and the Zeppelin, in +particular, was an engine of war which could not discriminate between +legitimate and other objects of attack. This disability also applied +to the aeroplane, and there was something very childish in the +persistent assumptions that Entente air-raids were not only +exclusively aimed at, but invariably successful in achieving military +damage--even when the French boasted of having on 22 September +dropped thirty bombs on the King of Württemburg's palace at +Stuttgart--and that the Germans always projected civilian destruction +and never succeeded in effecting anything else. It was part of that +delirium of wartime psychology, which induces all belligerents to +believe that no one but an enemy ever commits atrocities, and no one +but an ally is capable of virtue. + +The possibility of air-raids had long been foreseen, and as early as +the first October of the war the lights of London had been dimmed. The +first attempt by Zeppelins was made on Norfolk on 19 January 1915 +without any loss of life or appreciable loss of property. More damage +was done to property by a second raid on 14 April directed against the +Tyne, and four more were made in April on various parts along the East +Coast. On 10 May a woman was killed and some houses demolished at +Southend, and on the 31st the Zeppelins first reached London to the +great delight of the German people. The East and North-east coasts +were repeatedly raided in June, and by the end of the first year of +war, 89 civilians had been killed and 220 injured, while possibly half +a dozen Zeppelins had suffered destruction in the various theatres of +war. One was destroyed by Lieutenant Warneford's monoplane in Belgium +on 7 June, but none fell victims to anti-aircraft defences in +England. The raids became more serious as the nights grew darker: on 7 +September 20 were killed and 86 injured in London, and on 13 October +56 were killed and 114 injured. Bad weather produced a respite in +November and December, but on 31 January 1916 the north Midlands had +67 killed and 117 injured, and in March and April similar casualties +attended raids on the Lowlands of Scotland and the East Coast from +Yorkshire to Kent. France suffered as well as England, but the Germans +took a peculiar pleasure in the English raids, because they thought +Zeppelins were the only means of bringing home to the English people +the realities of war. + +Air-raids were, however, one of the horrors of war rather than a means +of achieving victory, and the military importance of aircraft never +attained proportions corresponding to the space the subject occupied +in the public press and the popular mind. They did not affect the +duration of the war by a single day, and throughout the winter of +1915-16 it seemed to increase in horror without any other sort of +progression on land or water. There was no naval action because +Germany kept her fleet in harbour, and relied upon mines and +submarines to wear down not so much the naval strength as the economic +resources of the Allies. Occasionally a cruiser or smaller vessel was +lost, and one pre-Dreadnought battleship, the Edward VII. But German +successes were mostly scored against merchant vessels and similar +craft; and our activities in the Balkans, coupled with the facilities +afforded by the Aegean to submarines, made the Eastern Mediterranean a +favourite scene for their operations. By the end of 1915 over a +thousand vessels, Allied and neutral, of one sort or another, had been +put out of action by mines and submarines; but the fact that few of +them had any fighting value concealed the importance of their economic +loss from the eyes of the public if not of the Government itself. A +more legitimate and romantic form of depredation was the cruise of the +Moewe, a disguised auxiliary cruiser, which succeeded in January and +February 1916 in capturing fifteen British merchantmen in the +Atlantic, and returned safe to Kiel with prisoners and booty. The +absence of German commerce made British retaliation impossible except +in the Baltic, where our submarines had some remarkable successes +until Sweden closed the entrance by mining her territorial waters. She +was within her rights in doing so, but the effect of her action was to +give German commerce in the Baltic a security which was lacking to the +commerce of the world outside, because Holland and Denmark shrank from +following Sweden's example. Mr. Balfour pointed out the unfriendly +nature of Sweden's action, but Russia was particularly averse from +adding Sweden to her enemies at that juncture, and remonstrances were +in vain. + +On land the most active spheres of operation were in winter naturally +in the tropical or sub-tropical regions. The East African campaign +still hung fire owing to various causes, principally perhaps because +of doubts and possibly disputes whether it belonged primarily to the +sphere of purely British, Indian, or South African activity, and could +best be fought with the different kinds of troops those various +Governments had at their disposal. The earlier operations had been +undertaken mainly by troops from India, and for a year longer there +was little but border fighting until in March 1916 General Smuts +arrived with South African forces to begin the serious work of +conquest. The principal work of the winter was the reduction of the +Cameroons. Considerable progress had been made by June in overrunning +this vast territory, half as large again as the German Empire in +Europe: the French had occupied Lome from the south, while the +British, after some checks on the Nigerian frontier, had advanced to +Ngaundere. The rainy season then set in, and operations were suspended +until October. The Germans had transferred their capital to Yaunde, +which was made the objective of converging attacks by British, French, +and Belgian columns from north, east, and south. The British reached +it on 1 January 1916, but the movements had been admirably timed, and +the French came three days later. Only isolated posts in distant +localities remained, and the last of them fell on 18 February. + + Mesopotamia + +From Egypt the Turks had been diverted, since their defeat in February +1915, by the attack on the Dardanelles; but the German advance in the +Balkans had synchronized with attempts to disturb us on the western +borders of Egypt by German and Turkish intrigues with the Senussi +federation of Moslem tribes, and in Tripoli, which the Italians had +never succeeded in completely subjugating. Trouble began to threaten +in November 1915, and the frontier post at Sollum was withdrawn to +Mersa Matruh, the terminus of a railway line from Alexandria. The Arab +attacks began on 13 December and increased in strength until the +middle of January 1916; but with their inferior equipment and means of +communication they had little chance of success and were easily beaten +off with considerable losses, which led to dissension among the Arab +forces and then to their dissipation. They were finally defeated at +Agagia on 26 February, and Sollum was regained on 14 March. There was +no further trouble on the western frontier of Egypt, and a +repercussion of the Senussi discontent far south in Darfur was +satisfactorily suppressed by a detachment of the Egyptian Army which +occupied El Fasher on 22 May. East of the Suez Canal there were only +raids in which we were generally successful, except for the loss of +Katia on 23 April; in retaliation El Arish was destroyed by +bombardment from British monitors on 18 May. + +In Egypt we stood and were still to stand for another year upon the +defensive; but farther east in Mesopotamia we were slipping into an +adventurous and chequered offensive which grew insensibly after the +manner of the Dardanelles campaign. Our original operations at the +head of the Persian Gulf had, indeed, unlike the attack on Gallipoli, +been defensive in their purpose; but the distinction between the two +easily disappears in military operations, and the Germans were only +more logical militarists than other people when they openly avowed +that offence was the best means of defence. British dominion in India +and in Egypt had grown upon that principle, and it grew in much the +same way in Mesopotamia. The security of our control of the Persian +Gulf required, we discovered, the occupation of Basra; the defence of +Basra demanded an advance to Kurna, and from Kurna we had proceeded in +June to Amara. There we realized that our left flank might be turned +at Nasiriyeh, and having got both Amara and Nasiriyeh, one on the +Tigris and the other at the junction of the Euphrates with the +Shatt-el-Hai (which links the Euphrates with the Tigris at Kut), we +concluded that our position would be improved if, by seizing Kut, we +could bar a Turkish advance down either the Tigris or the +Shatt-el-Hai. The logic was sound enough for those who had the means +to enforce it; and in spite of the torrid heat, the river route and +our gun-boats enabled us to master Nasiriyeh on 25 July. Early in +August began the advance up the Tigris from Amara to Kut, whither the +Turks had retired. They had been well taught by their German +instructors, and their position astride the river was well entrenched. +But Townshend's attack was skilfully planned; feinting on the Turkish +right on 27 September, he outflanked and drove in their left on the +28th, and at the end of a long day disposed of the Turkish +reinforcements and entered Kut on the 29th. + +The campaigning season was only about to begin; the Turks had decamped +in disorganization towards Baghdad; and the temptation to follow +proved irresistible. When so much had been done with such ease, it +seemed to be flying in the face of Providence not to make a dash for +Baghdad and seize the end of that railway-route on which the Germans +were beginning to work with such energy from the other direction in +the Balkans. If it led from Berlin to Baghdad, might it not also lead +from Baghdad to Berlin? There was assuredly a touch of fantastic +imagination in the transformation which first came over and then +overcame our strategy in the East, and we found that the transition +from defence to offence was slight compared with the change from a +sound to a speculative offensive. Kut might be essential to the +defence of the delta, but if Baghdad was needed for the protection of +Kut, there was no limit east of the Bosporus to which the line and the +logic of defence might not be pushed. The argument might have been +sound, had it reposed on a firmer foundation of force. But the impetus +and the organization which had carried us to Kut would be spent before +we reached Baghdad; and arrangements for transport, commissariat, and +medical aid, which might have served for the lesser needs and the +shorter lines of communication, broke down in utter confusion under +the demands of the larger ambition which they had not been planned to +fulfil. We had but 13,000 bayonets, two-thirds of whom were Indian +troops, while the Turks could call up reserves many times that number; +and our men were worn with ten months' incessant campaigning under a +tropical sun. General Townshend protested against the adventure, but +was overruled by Sir John Nixon and the Commander-in-chief in India. + +Within a week from the fall of Kut the advance on Baghdad began, and +at Azizie half-way between the two, the Turks were routed again as +they had been at Kut. By 12 November, Townshend was in front of +Ctesiphon, about twenty-four miles from Baghdad. Here the Turks were +strongly entrenched. Their right was protected by the Mahmudiyeh Canal +which ran from the Tigris to the Euphrates, and their main position +consisted of two strongly fortified lines on the eastern bank of the +Tigris. Townshend's attack on the 22nd resembled his attack on Kut, +and after hard fighting the first line was carried. But the second was +the real Turkish defence, and our wearied and smaller forces could not +cope with the continuous stream of Turkish reinforcements. The Turks +lost heavily in their counterattacks on the 23rd, but they could +afford to do so, while we could only succeed by a speedy and +inexpensive victory which the strength of the Turkish position and +reinforcements forbade. The gamble had failed, and the only thing to +do was to cut the loss and retreat as well as we could. No proper +provision had been made for such an eventuality, and the horrors of +that retirement reflected grave discredit on those responsible for the +campaign. Hard pressed by the pursuing Turks, our diminished force was +back at Kut on 3 December, where in a few days it was surrounded by +the enemy now under the command of the German Marshal von der Goltz. + +The Germans had not been idle on the flanks of this bid for Baghdad, +and their intrigues in Persia led to a revolt of the gendarmerie, +which was officered by Swedes, and to the seizure by the pro-German +insurgents of Kum, Hamadan, and other towns in central Persia. +Fortunately this move was countered by prompt action on the part of +Russia. Teheran was occupied by Russian forces by the end of November, +Kum and Hamadan by 11 December, and a pro-Entente Government was +established. The German route through Persia towards Afghanistan was +blocked for the time; but pro-German forces at Kermanshah impeded a +Russian march to the relief of Kut, where a fresh Turkish division +from Gallipoli arrived on 23 December and a vigorous effort was made +to carry the place by assault. It failed, and the Turks sat down to a +blockade, while farther south they constructed formidable obstacles to +the advance of the relieving forces coming up the river. Their +position was selected with considerable skill at Sanna-i-Yat on a +narrow strip of land between the Suweicha marshes and the river, while +between it and Kut there was established the strongly-fortified Es +Sinn line. The depth of these defences was nearly twenty-five miles, +and the task of carrying the successive lines would tax anything but a +relieving force far greater than that which was attempting it. + +Sir John Nixon had been succeeded by Sir Percy Lake, but the advancing +force was under the immediate command of General Aylmer. On 21 January +he failed to carry the first of the lines at Umm-el-Hanna, although it +was announced in Parliament that British forces had reached the last +position at Es Sinn; and it was not till 7-8 March that Aylmer made a +bold attempt at once to turn the Sanna-i-Yat defences and relieve Kut +by a surprise attack on the right bank of the river. Everything +depended once more upon initial success, for length of communications +and lack of supplies made continuous pressure impossible; and the +Turks were ready and their defences strong. Aylmer was no more +fortunate at Es Sinn than Townshend at Ctesiphon, and the command was +taken by General Gorringe. He reverted on 5 April to the lines on the +left bank at Umm-el-Hanna. They were carried, and twelve hours later +the further line at Felahiyeh. Keary's Lahore division had been +equally successful on the right bank; but a flood caused by the +melting snows on the Armenian hills interposed to bar the way to the +relief of Kut. A final attempt was made on the 23rd across the +water-logged land in front of Sanna-i-Yat; but advance was impossible +along the narrow causeway which alone gave foothold for the troops, +and on the 29th Townshend's force in Kut, consisting of 2000 British +and 6000 Indian troops, surrendered after a siege of nearly five +months. + +After Gallipoli, Mesopotamia. Until March 1918 our reverses in these +two "side-shows" were counted our worst disasters in the war, and to +the electorally-heated imagination of Mr. Lloyd George they appeared +even later as the sum and substance of British achievement before he +became Prime Minister. In the case of Kut the responsibility rested +mainly with the Indian Government, to which also was due our brilliant +recovery in the East when Lord Chelmsford, Sir Charles Monro, and Sir +Stanley Maude--all appointed in 1916--had time to retrieve the +mistakes of their predecessors in the Viceroyalty, Command-in-chief of +the Indian Army, and command of the Mesopotamian forces. Meanwhile, it +was fortunate for the prestige of the Entente in the East that +Russia's collapse in Europe appeared to have no effect upon the vigour +of her action in the middle East. The Grand Duke Nicholas, who had +been transferred to the command in the Caucasus, found an admirable +chief of staff in General Yudenitch, and between them they brought off +a stroke against Turkey which was more sensational than the Turks' +success at Kut and Gallipoli. + +Erzerum was reckoned the strongest fortress in the Turkish Empire, but +amid the distractions of the Dardanelles and Mesopotamian campaigns it +had escaped proper attention from the Turks and their German experts, +and the Grand Duke profited by the fact that Turkish troops, relieved +from the pressure at Gallipoli, were sent to Kut and not to the +Caucasus. Moreover, the ordinary line of communication with Erzerum by +the sea and Trebizond had been cut by the Russian destruction of +Turkish shipping, and transport by land was almost as difficult as it +was between the head of the Persian Gulf and Kut. The Russian +communications were better, but theirs was an adventurous enterprise +across mountain passes under the arctic conditions of midwinter; and +few people had any inkling of its inception when Yudenitch began to +move on 11 January. By the 16th he was at Kuprikeui where the road +crosses the Araxes, and in a two days' battle he broke the Turkish +army, driving its remnants south towards Mush and clearing the way to +Erzerum. Time was required to bring up the heavy guns, but early in +February the forts on Deve Boyun were under bombardment, and another +Russian army advancing from the north down the valley of the Kara Su +defeated a Turkish division and captured Kara Gubek on the 12th and +Tafta on the 14th. From the south the Russians were also crossing the +Palantuken Dagh, and the fate of Erzerum was sealed. Its evacuation +was completed early on the 16th, and a few hours later the Cossacks +rode into the city. To the south the Russian left entered Mush and +Bitlis, gaining the northern shores of Lake Van, while their right +slowly pushed along the Black Sea coast in the direction of Trebizond. +In Persia, too, the Russians occupied Kermanshah and descended the +pass to Khanikin and the Mesopotamian plain; but it was an adventurous +body of cavalry rather than a substantial military force which joined +hands with the British on the Tigris some weeks after the fall of Kut. +The Russians had to some extent redeemed their failure in Europe, but +others they had not been able to save. + + The Caucasus + +In Europe their defence was materially assisted by the British and +French attacks in Artois and Champagne and by the needs of Mackensen's +offensive in the Balkans. To both areas troops were diverted from the +German front in Russia, and the centre was especially denuded. No +advantage was, however, taken of this weakness, partly because of +Russia's general debility and partly because what efforts she could +afford were required for the defence of the Dvina and for the +sympathetic activity of Ivanov in Galicia, which was the nearest +approach Russia could make to intervention in the Balkans. The German +attack on the line of the Dvina was not merely intended to fend off a +Russian attack in the centre; it had also the positive aim of securing +Riga and comfortable winter quarters for the German army in the north. +Riga, however, was not an easy nut to crack; its flank was defended by +the sea, immediately south of it were marshes across which only +causeways ran, and to the east stretched the formidable obstacle of +the Dvina. Roads and rails for the most part crossed it at Dvinsk, and +the southern approaches to Dvinsk itself lay through land and water as +intricately mixed as in the Masurian mazes of East Prussia. But on +Dvinsk the German attack was concentrated, and after a preliminary +failure on 25 September a week's bombardment and assault began on 3 +October. The siege guns which had been so fatal at Kovno and elsewhere +were brought up against a minor fortress and failed. Ruszky was in +command, and he took care to keep the howitzers out of range of the +city by an arc of far-flung trenches which the numerous scattered +lakes saved from outflanking. Illukst was at one time taken by the +Germans but found of little value for the larger purpose; and German +prisoners complained that Dvinsk, which they failed to take, had cost +them more than all the greater fortresses they had captured. In the +third week of October Hindenburg transferred his efforts back to Riga, +where he met with little better success. He got as far as Olai on the +direct route from Mitau, and even secured a foothold on Dahlen Island +in the river south-east of Riga; but these successes profited him no +more than the capture of Illukst. On 7 November the Russians +recaptured Olai, and on the 10th, with the help of their fleet, drove +back the Germans, who had advanced along the coast, beyond Shlock and +Kemmern and Kish, extending their lines to Ragassem and Kalnzem. In +the same month a similar Russian counter-offensive recaptured Illutsk +and pushed the Germans farther away from Dvinsk (see Map, p. 274). + +Far to the south below the Pripet marshes which divided the Russian +front into two, the Germans and the Russians under Brussilov engaged +in thrust and counter-thrust along the Styr which caused Czartorysk to +change hands again and again, and earned for these operations the +nickname of "the Poliesian quadrille"; and the fluctuations on the +Strypa were equally indecisive. But the situation in the Balkans +suggested the need for something less ambiguous nearer the Rumanian +frontier if Rumanian neutrality was to be preserved; and the objective +selected for Ivanov's new offensive was Czernowitz the capital of the +Bukovina. The attack began on 24 December, and the struggle lasted for +over three weeks. Containing battles were fought along the Strypa and +the Styr, and Czartorysk passed once more into Russian hands and Kolki +was added to their gains. But the main object was not attained. The +Russians seized the heights between Toporoutz and Rarancze and threw +some shells into Czernowitz, but they failed to capture the crucial +point at Uscieczko on the Dniester. Mackensen and five divisions had, +however, to be diverted from the Balkans, and Russia's offensive in +the Bukovina helped to conceal her designs on Erzerum. Rumania was +saved from descending on the wrong side of the fence; but her natural +reluctance to abandon her perch prohibited that Russian attack on +Bulgaria through Rumanian territory which might otherwise have been +made, but would probably have failed and would in any case have come +too late to relieve the Serbian disaster. + +The winter of 1915-16 thus passed with little to relieve the gloom. +Erzerum had balanced Kut, and the Cameroons had ceased to be a German +land. But these were trifles compared to the gigantic clash of arms in +Europe, and here the Germans had done more than in their first year's +fighting. Russia had been dealt a far more staggering blow than France +in 1914, and Serbia and Montenegro had fared worse than Belgium, while +in both East and West our counter-offensives had been ineffectual. +The Germans naturally thought they had won the war; they had merely +reached the climax of their success, and that climax did not +constitute a victory. The Allies' heads were "bloody but unbowed," and +they were still the masters of their fate. The sea was theirs and all +that therein lay; some of them were only in process of mobilizing +their resources; and the moral factor in war which, like the mills of +God grinds slowly but grinds exceeding small, required patience for +its full development. Meanwhile the German military machine had done +no more than establish a balance of power which was to be tilted in +one direction by the Russian Revolution and then in the other by +American intervention. + + + CHAPTER XI + + THE SECOND GERMAN OFFENSIVE IN THE WEST + +It was a commonplace of the old diplomacy that the most effective way +to deceive a rival diplomatist was to tell him the truth, and similar +conditions enabled the Germans to delude the British public if not the +British Government, so general was the conviction that the Germans +would not or could not say anything that was not false. This +simple-minded attitude towards our enemies made it easy for them to +combine virtue with efficiency, and German statesmen were at times +singularly candid in the estimates they published of the situation. +One of these truthful pictures was drawn by the German Chancellor in +December 1915 when he pointed out that it was not in Germany's +thoughts or interests to seek further conquests for her arms: the more +territory they conquered, the thinner would be their lines and the +greater the difficulty of maintaining them. But patriotic imagination +detected behind this apparent frankness a design to conquer Egypt and +India, or at least to dominate the Persian Gulf, and averted attention +from the probability that it implied a desire to substitute a solid +decision in the West for territorial speculation in the East. Nothing, +indeed, was more certain than that Germany, having temporarily freed +herself and her allies from danger in the East, would recall her +attention to these enemies in the West by whose defeat alone could she +hope to win the war; and before the end of 1915 there were rumours of +the transport of German guns and troops from the East to the Western +front. + +It was also reasonably certain that the new offensive would not follow +the lines of the old, and that, whatever form it took, it would not be +a repetition of the attempt to outmarch the Allied left and crush a +British force which had grown from a hundred thousand to over a +million bayonets. Time was also to show that no subsequent German +offensive could hope to achieve the kind of success that had been +missed on the Marne. The German ambition had in 1914 been to +annihilate the French and British armies and dictate a victorious +peace. In 1916 such a triumph was out of the question. In spite of her +victories, Germany had been reduced to the defensive, and her future +offensives were merely means to prolong her defence, to anticipate and +frustrate the attacks of her enemies, and wring an advantageous peace +out of the defeat of their attempts to drive her from the territorial +conquests she had made. The height of her expectations was to show +that her fronts were impregnable East and West, and that the Allies +could not compel, but could only purchase German evacuation of the +occupied ground by accepting the surrender of such tracts and other +terms as Germany chose to concede. She was really in the position she +pretended to have been before the war broke out of having to attack in +order to maintain what she held; and if she began, it would not be for +the purpose of breaking and enveloping the Allied armies, but to +preclude their offensive and improve and strengthen her own position. +She was, in fact, beleaguered, her attacks were really sallies, and +her hope was to keep the besiegers at such a distance that they could +make no impression upon the heart of her economic and military +situation. + +The battles of Verdun therefore bear no resemblance to the Western +campaign of 1914 or the Eastern campaign of 1915. They were limited to +a narrow area, and involved but a fraction of the German forces, while +the bulk even of those in the West was distributed along the other +sectors of the front. They were fought partly to deprive the French of +what the Germans regarded as a "sally-port" into Germany, and partly +to anticipate in detail that general pressure on all fronts which the +Germans dreaded as the Allied strategy for 1916. At last, they feared, +there was really co-ordination in the Entente, and there might be such +a synchronizing of its offensives that Germany, in spite of her +interior lines, would be unable to transfer the weight of her forces +from one threatened point to another. Her strategy in the spring was +to forestall this comprehensive danger. By an attack on Verdun in +February the French and the British might be provoked into a premature +movement before their allies were ready; Italy's threatened advance +might be paralysed by a thrust at its flank in May; and both Western +dangers might thus be parried before Russia was ready to move once +more in the summer. The excellence of Germany's transport organization +would enable her, in spite of her numerical inferiority, to bring +adequate if not superior forces to repel attacks which depended for +success upon their being simultaneous. + +It was, however, incumbent on Germany to prevent her defensive +offensives from combining the major costs of an offensive with the +minor advantages produced by a defence; and economy in the waste of +man-power was becoming urgent. Hence her attacks must be on a more +limited front than those of the Allies in September, and resistance +must be overcome rather by artillery than by infantry charges. The +guns were to do at Verdun what they had achieved on the Dunajec, but +there is little to show that the Germans expected to repeat in France +their drives of the year before in Galicia and in Poland. The Entente +lines in France were stronger and less thinly held than the longer +lines in the East, and while they might be pushed back from a salient +like Verdun, it was not imagined that they could be broken and rolled +up as they might have been in 1914. Eighteen months of war had set +limits to German ambition which were admitted in counsel and +conversation though not allowed to appear in print; and the strategy +of 1916 was not one which the Germans would have chosen had their +choice been free, but the best they could devise under the conditions +imposed upon them by their situation. It was not until Russia had +completely collapsed that they recovered for the moment in the spring +of 1918 that freedom from fear on the Eastern front which enabled them +to resume the action with which they started the war and put all their +strength into a final and real offensive in the West. + +While throughout the winter the Allies were congratulating themselves +upon the inferiority of German shelling in the West and innocently +vaunting a superior expenditure of ammunition, which made no more +impression on the German lines than the enemy's shelling did on ours, +the Germans were reserving their fire and accumulating shells for more +effective use; and in addition to their artillery, they had recovered +the advantage in respect of aircraft. Hitherto we had done better than +the Germans in the fighting, as distinguished from the raiding, in the +air, not so much because our machines were better and certainly not +because they were more numerous, but because in the air youthful +ingenuity and daring had its chance unfettered by the restraining and +depressing hand of regimental mediocrity; and where machine-made +discipline was at a discount, youth and enterprise were at a premium. +This general rule was subject to exceptions caused by the ding-dong +race of scientific invention, and for the moment the Germans had in +their Fokker an aeroplane of decisive superiority. They began to +appear in increasing numbers above and behind our lines, and to secure +some of those advantages in reconnaisance which transferred to +aircraft in this war the functions performed in earlier wars by +cavalry. The Germans were able to concentrate at Verdun with their +minds easier about the rest of their front when their aircraft could +detect any signs of an approaching offensive elsewhere. + +They also succeeded in concealing their own intentions; for while +there were premonitory symptoms which had given some French officers +an inkling of what was coming, adequate preparations had not been made +for the storm at Verdun, and attention had been distracted by German +feints at other points of the line. These attacks were made on both +the British and French sectors. The taking and retaking of +Hartmannsweilerkopf went on with a frequency that was all the more +confusing because each side only published its successes. On 28 +January the Germans made a successful attack on the French near Frise +on the Somme and pushed back their lines towards Braye on a two-mile +front; but they were less fortunate in their simultaneous effort +against Carnoy, where the British had just taken over that part of the +front previously held by the 10th French Army and extending thence to +the north of Arras. Probably the Germans imagined that this extension +had weakened our lines at Ypres; and on 8 February they began a +bombardment which developed into a fierce struggle for Hooge and The +Bluff on the Ypres-Commines Canal. The ground lost was mostly +recovered by counter-attacks on 2 and 27 March and 3 April, but it +could not all be held against further German attacks later in the +month. Similarly some gains on the Vimy Ridge in the middle of May +were lost again on the 21st, and early in June the Germans thrust us +back behind Hooge. But these attacks and others along the front were +merely feints designed to conceal the German preparations against +Verdun, and to prevent the Allied forces from concentrating on its +defence after the plan had been revealed. + +Verdun was selected for attack because its proximity to the German +frontier made it dangerous in the hands of the enemy, and also made it +easier for the Germans to concentrate on its attack the masses of +artillery with which they proposed to do the fighting, while its +salience hampered the French lines of communication. There were three +lines of defence. The outermost ran in an arc nine miles from Verdun +round in front of Malancourt, Béthincourt, Forges, Brabant, Ornes, +Fromezey, and Fresnes; the second was some three miles nearer in, and +the third ran by Bras, Douaumont, Vaux, and Eix. The danger consisted +in the facts that the outer lines were thinly held by Territorials and +the inner lines had not been properly fortified; for the French, +unequalled in the élan of attack, never developed that patient and +meticulous preparation for defence which stood the Germans in good +stead, and always found it easier to visualize attacks than to +materialize defences. Verdun, having survived the epidemic so fatal to +fortresses in 1914, was treated as immune from serious danger in 1916. +If, therefore, the Germans could batter to pieces the first position, +the rest might easily fall, and they came dangerously near to +fulfilling their hopes of reaching Verdun in four days. + +At seven o'clock on the morning of Monday, 21 February, there burst +forth on the centre of the front a heavier bombardment than any before +experienced. The French defences were obliterated, and five hours +later the Germans walked into possession. A counter-attack checked +their progress in the afternoon, and the flanks of the French centre +held out at Brabant and Herbebois throughout that day and the next. +But the depression in the centre created a salient on either side, and +the French could only fight desperate rearguard actions while the line +was straightened out; by Wednesday morning they were back on a line +running due east from Samogneux. But the German pressure on the centre +was renewed and the French were pressed back to Beaumont and the Bois +des Fosses. Ornes on the east and Samogneux on the west had to be +abandoned, and on the 24th the Germans were threatening the centre of +the last of the French lines of defence at Louvemont and Hill 347. +Only a desperate rally enabled the French to keep their front intact +while their left was withdrawn from Champneuville and Talou hill to +Vacherauville and the Poivre hill, and their right from Bezonvaux and +the Bois des Caurières to the Douaumont plateau. On the 25th the +Germans launched what they thought was their final attack in the +battle for Verdun, and before nightfall the news was telegraphed to +Berlin that Fort Douaumont, the key of the last line of defence, had +fallen. + +It was a natural but unrealized anticipation. Eighteen German +divisions were pitted against the worn and weary remnants of the +original French defenders, and the Brandenburgers had captured the +fort. But its ruins were merely a detail in the Douaumont position. To +the east the French held the redoubt and to the west the village of +Douaumont; and instead of carrying the plateau the Germans had been +checked on its summit. Their other main attack had fared even worse on +the Poivre hill to the west; and although Louvemont and Hill 347 had +been carried in the centre, the fifth day of the battle closed with +the Germans behind instead of beyond the real defences of the city +they had hoped to reach in four. On that day, too, Pétain arrived to +take over the command, and he was followed by reinforcements. On the +morrow a furious counter-attack drove the Germans out of the greater +part of Fort Douaumont and back to the northern edge of the plateau, +and the crisis of the first surprise had passed. The battle continued, +but the fact that it spread eastwards round to Eix and Manheulles +showed that the concentrated thrust at the centre had failed; and the +shortening of the French curve round by Fromezey, Étain, Buzy, and +Fresnes to a straight line running from Vaux to Les Éparges +strengthened rather than weakened the defence. + +The Germans now shifted their ground of attack from the east to the +west of the Meuse, and on 2 March a four days' bombardment began of +the Malancourt-Forges line. They sought to conceal their change of +plan by renewing the struggle for Douaumont, but on 6 March they drove +the French from Forges and Regnéville back to their real defences on +the ridge behind, of which the Mort Homme (Hill 295) was the crest, +and Hills 304 and 265 its western and eastern supports. Their first +attack was on the eastern sector of this front, and by nightfall they +had gained Hill 265 and penetrated into the Bois des Corbeaux which +stretched between it and Mort Homme. The struggle continued throughout +the 7th and 8th, but on the 9th-11th the Germans varied it by +reverting to the east bank of the Meuse and making a costly but +unsuccessful attempt to outflank Douaumont by capturing Vaux, Damloup, +Eix, and Manheulles. This diversion did not slacken the pressure on +the west bank of the Meuse, and the French were forced back from the +Bois des Corbeaux to the Bois de Cumières; on 14 March the Germans +made a great bid for Mort Homme, and Berlin announced its capture. But +they had only taken its north-eastern slopes, and on the 17th they +sought a fresh approach from the west by means of a converging attack +from Avocourt and Malancourt on Hill 304. The bombardment lasted until +the 20th, when the Germans forced their way through Avocourt wood. +They were driven back by a counter-attack on the 29th, but Malancourt +fell on the 31st, and the French further withdrew from Haucourt. On 2 +April the Germans also succeeded in driving an awkward wedge into the +Bois de la Caillette between Vaux and Douaumont, but Mangin thrust it +back on the following day. + +There was yet another struggle for Mort Homme. On 7 April the French +had evacuated their salient at Béthincourt and re-formed their front +on a straight line running just north of Mort Homme. On the 9th the +Germans, having failed in their local attacks, attempted a general +movement against the whole front west of the Meuse. The battle raged +for three days, and at one time the Germans penetrated into Cumières; +but they were driven back by the French artillery, and the general +assault, in spite of its carnage, produced no greater gain for the +Germans than a ravine on the edge of the Poivre hill. From that date +the first battle of Verdun died away amid local efforts along the +lines east and west of the Meuse. But the Germans were still +obstinately wedded to their scheme of exhausting France before the +time came for a general Allied offensive; and they felt that they +could not cut their losses and acquiesce in the blow to their prestige +and to the credit of the Crown Prince. A respite, however was needed +for the reorganization of the command and the re-formation of the +armies shattered in the fruitless attacks and it was not until 3 May +that the Germans were ready to begin the second battle of Verdun. + +This time it opened on the west bank of the Meuse, and Mort Homme was +as before the obstacle and the objective. After two days' bombardment +the Germans gained some trenches north of Hill 304, and on the 7th +they attacked it on three sides and compelled the French to abandon +the crest. This reduced Mort Homme to a difficult salient, and after a +few days' lull the Germans gained the summit on 21 May by an +expenditure of man-power out of all proportion to the value of the +result. By the 24th they had secured what was left of Cumières at a +similar cost, and the French line ran straight from Avocourt in front +of Esnes and Chattancourt to the Meuse. On the east bank the onslaught +was no less furious, and on 7 May the Germans drove the French out of +Douaumont fort and down the road towards Fleury. Mangin recovered the +greater part of Douaumont on the 22nd, but German reinforcements took +it again on the 24th, and on the 25th pushed on by Haudromont wood and +Thiaumont farm, outflanking Vaux on the west. Further progress was +made in the following days, and on 1 June the fall of Damloup +uncovered the eastern flank of the Vaux position. The fort itself made +a marvellous resistance under Major Raynal, and held out till the 6th. + +There was a lull for four days, but on the 11th the struggle +recommenced with the Germans only four miles from Verdun. It raged +chiefly on the slopes of Froideterre and round the village of Fleury +close by, and the climax came on the 23rd. On that day the Germans got +into Fleury and were driven out; on the 24th they were in again, but +on the 30th the French recovered Thiaumont and neutralized the German +advantage. On the morrow the Western front was aflame with the battle +of the Somme. Verdun had done its work and taken its wages. The +struggle flickered on; Fleury changed hands again in July and August, +and so did Thiaumont. But the attack had lost its vital importance and +the decisive scene had shifted to the west where the Germans and not +the French were on the defensive. Pétain and then Nivelle, who +succeeded him in April, had held the fort till the appointed time; and +their heroic troops had made their name and that of Verdun a +possession for ever. Falkenhayn, who had taken Moltke's place as chief +of the German Staff and was responsible for the German strategy at +Verdun, was removed to another sphere of activity; but the Germans +themselves were right when they attributed failure less to their own +defects than to the valour of their foes. These, they exclaimed, were +not the French they had met at Sedan in 1870. They were not. Then, +they were the soldiers of an Emperor who went to war with the cry "to +Berlin" on their lips. Now, they were the soldiers of a democratic +Republic fighting for home and freedom, a fragment of the eternal soul +of France. + + The Attack On Verdun + +The central act of the German offensive thus closed with defeat at +Verdun; there were two others, one fought in the Alps and the other on +the sea. The Italian campaigns were never more than subsidiary +operations in the war, for it was not until 27 August 1916 that Italy +declared war on Germany, and the number of German divisions on the +Italian front was never more than six. Even to Austria Russia was the +dangerous foe, and Italian strategy threatened at worst no more than +the temporary loss of Trieste, a trifle compared with that of Galicia. +For the difficulties of the terrain, jealousy between Italians and +Jugo-Slavs, and Italy's lack of the industrial means for equipping a +sufficiently formidable army, put it beyond her power to threaten any +vital spot in the Hapsburg dominions. Italy, moreover, had not entered +the war with the same motives or same unanimity as the other Powers, +and her army at the front was not the same embodiment of national +strength and spirit. The Austrian offensive in May was therefore due +rather to the temptations held out by the weakness of the Italian +flank than to any urgent necessity of defence against the projected +Italian advance. Nevertheless the Italian plains were always +seductive, and it would obviously be convenient to dispose of the +Italian threat before Austria had again to face the serious menace of +Russian invasion; and an attack on the Asiago plateau was Austria's +natural contribution to the general German plan of anticipating in +detail the combined Entente offensive (see Map, p. 298). + +The first year of the Austro-Italian war had seen no real impression +made on Austria's mountain defences, and even in the valley of the +Isonzo Gorizia still forbade an Italian advance on Trieste. The +Italian line was the worst possible for defence, and it depended for +its security upon the fact that the bulk of the Austrian forces were +involved in Russia and in the Balkans. The front was on the Isonzo, +but a flank of over 200 miles invited a thrust down one of the various +passes towards Venice which, if successful, would cause the whole +front to collapse like a pack of cards; and marvellous though the +feats of Italian valour and mechanical ingenuity had been in the +mountain fighting throughout the winter, they had not wrested the +passes from Austria's hands. The attack was preceded by a bombardment +which began on 14 May, and the scene selected lay on a line drawn from +Trent to Venice through the Sette Communi, Posina, and Pasubio. The +flanks held fairly firm, but the centre gave way, and on the 20th-24th +the line was withdrawn on the left to Posina and Pasubio. Things were +no better in the Sette Communi on the right, but west of Pasubio the +Italians stopped the Austrian advance in the pass of Buole on 30 May. +On the same day, however, they had to evacuate Arsiero and Asiago, +south of the Sette Communi. But by now Cadorna had got his +reinforcements, and on 3 June he announced that the Austrian offensive +was checked. The attack was, however, renewed on the 13th, and the +Austrians advanced to within four miles of Valstagna and the railway +running down the Brenta valley to Padua. They got no farther, and +before the end of June Cadorna began his counter-offensive. By that +time the thoughts of the Austrians and most of their troops were +elsewhere; and just as the German campaign at Verdun was ruined by the +Entente offensive on the Somme, the Austrian advance from the Trentino +was stopped by the Russian attack in the East. In the first week of +June Brussilov had gone through the Austrian lines like brown paper at +Lutsk and Dubno. + +The third German offensive was on the sea, but no operation in the war +remains more obscure with regard to its motives, conduct, and +importance than the battle of Jutland; a century passed before +Nelson's tactics at Trafalgar were made clear, and a long period may +have to elapse before there is any solution of the problems +surrounding the great naval battle of modern times. The British +admiral in command has expressed his considered opinion that the +meeting of the German and British fleets on 30 May was an accident; +but assuredly it was not by accident that the whole naval forces of +Germany were on that day outside their accustomed harbours, and they +could not have been brought into action against their own consent. +There was some motive in that unusual appearance, and the motives of +strategy are to be found in the conditions of policy. That Germany +needed a victory in 1916 is obvious from her persistence, despite the +gravest losses, in the Verdun campaign; but if she needed one over +France, she needed one yet more sorely over Britain; and if it was +worth while losing one or two hundred thousand men at Verdun, it was +worth while taking considerable risks at sea on the chance of +frustrating British participation in the coming offensive on the +Somme. + +Deliverance from the nightmare of a combined Entente offensive was but +a part of the fruits which would follow from a German victory at sea. +It would probably decide the issue of the war at a single blow. +Germany had, of course, known all along that the Entente depended +absolutely for success upon Great Britain's command of the sea; but it +was not easy to shake that command, and so long as there seemed a +prospect of winning the war by other means, the frightful risks of a +naval battle would be avoided. By the spring of 1916 those other means +were receding beyond the region of hope or possibility. Russia was +repairing her arms; Great Britain was making stupendous preparations; +France had withstood the shock of Verdun; and the hopes which Germany +built on discontent in Ireland, her intrigues with Irish prisoners of +war, and the escapades of Sir Roger Casement, crumbled after the +insurrection which broke out in Dublin in April. The autumn promised a +sere and yellow leaf to the German High Command. Nor did this darkened +European vista exhaust the clouds on the horizon. After the torpedoing +of the Sussex on 24 March President Wilson had extorted from the +German Government a pledge not to sink without warning merchant +vessels found inside or outside the war zone which the Germans had +proclaimed in February, and had refused to accept the condition they +sought to attach to the pledge, that he would require corresponding +pledges from Great Britain to observe the "freedom of the seas." +Tirpitz had been dismissed to give verisimilitude to Germany's new +virtue; but she had no intention of keeping her pledge any longer than +was convenient, or abandoning any reasonable prospect of bringing us +to our knees by a submarine campaign, and she knew that its effective +extension would provoke American intervention. Such intervention +would, however, be negligible if in the meantime Britain's Fleet had +been crippled and her control of the sea undermined. + +A successful naval battle might therefore not only impair British +participation but preclude that of the United States. Otherwise the +two together would dissipate any lingering German hopes of victory; +and the imminence of the danger counselled the taking of risks which +had hitherto been eschewed. But the results of a naval defeat are not +risked if they are likely to prove fatal, unless there is some chance +of success; and Germany had some grounds for hope under both these +heads. A fleet which flees is little better than no fleet at all, and +for two years Germany had put up with British command of the seas. The +destruction of her battle-fleet would no doubt depress her people, +but it would not seriously interfere with her submarine campaign, and +on land the war would go on as it had done. Still, the existence of +the German Fleet was a factor in the moral of the German people; and +the Government would not have risked it without some hopes of at least +a partial success. The hopes depended partly on the skill of the new +commander, Von Scheer, and partly on his too-well justified belief +that the Germans possessed better shells, better armour, better +searchlights, and more accurate range-tests than the British Navy. The +guns were also ranged for elevation up to 30 deg., whereas the British +elevation was only 15 or 20; and the difference was fatal to some of +our battle-cruisers. The conclusion seems to have been that an +adventure was worth while, and that if the weather conditions were +wisely selected, it was feasible to fight a naval battle on the +principle of limited liability, breaking it off if and when the losses +incurred exceeded the value of the results obtained. Clearly, for +instance, if the German battle-fleet could engage the British +battle-cruisers without itself being engaged by the British +battle-fleet, the event might justify moderate expectations. + +On the morning of 31 May the German High Seas Fleet set out on its +"northern enterprise." What the German Government meant by that phrase +has never been revealed. It has been inferred that a concentration of +naval and military force against Russia was planned to anticipate +Brussilov's coming offensive, but there were no signs of that movement +on land, and the Germans had enough to do with Verdun and their lines +elsewhere in France without committing themselves to another adventure +in Russia; while the idea of a raid on the shipping between England +and Norway seems an inadequate explanation of the force sent out. On +the other hand, if the design was to cripple the British Navy, the +opportune moment had been lost, for the adverse balance against the +German Fleet had been enormously increased since the war broke out. In +the autumn of 1914 occasional breakdowns in the machinery of British +super-Dreadnoughts, accidents like the torpedoing of the Audacious, +and the inadequacy of dock-accommodation had made uneasy the minds of +men who dwelt upon these contingencies and made no allowance for +similar mishaps to the enemy. But even they were reassured when in +April 1915 British construction far outstripped any German +possibilities; and as time went on the race grew ever more unequal. It +is true that France ceased to partake in the competition, leaving this +silent struggle of the workshop and the dockyard to Great Britain; and +the chance of a battle in the Baltic had to be abandoned because no +Allied battleships could be relied upon to reinforce the North Sea +Fleet. But Britain's margin was ample enough, and at the battle of +Jutland her weight of metal was as two to one. The Germans, however, +had advantages of their own, particularly in a delaying fuse which +caused their shells to explode after penetrating the enemy's armour +instead of before. Their capital ships were also better armoured, and +rarely sank when struck by shells or torpedoes. This was also true of +the British battleships, and none were sunk on either side except the +old German Pommern; but the British battle-cruisers fared badly. The +German marksmanship was also better during the earlier stages of the +battle, though inferior later on; and they had in Von Scheer an +admiral of conspicuous ability. + +The accident of the battle arose from the fact that the British Fleet +was simultaneously on 31 May engaged in one of its periodical sweeps +through the North Sea. It had already turned back towards its northern +bases when at 2.20 p.m. enemy vessels were signalled to the east. +Beatty, who had under his orders the four "Cats," Queen Mary, Princess +Royal, Lion, and Tiger, together with two other battle-cruisers, the +Indefatigable and New Zealand, and the four biggest and newest +battleships, Barham, Warspite, Valiant, and Malaya (the Queen +Elizabeth herself was undergoing repairs at Rosyth), at once turned +back south-eastwards to cut off the enemy from his retreat along the +Jutland coast. The enemy vessels were Hipper's cruisers, and they also +turned south to fall back on their battle-fleet, at whose proximity +Beatty can only have guessed. At 3.48 the action began with Hipper's +battle-cruisers, Derfflinger, Lutzow, Moltke, Seydlitz, and Van der +Thann; none of them carried heavier than 12-in. guns, while Beatty's +"Cats" had 13.5-inch and his Queen Elizabeths 15-inch guns. A +light-cruiser attack against our line was crumpled up by corresponding +vessels, but the bigger German ships escaped fatal damage from our +heavier fire (it took hours to dispose of the enemy at the Falklands), +and by 4.42 they were in sight of their battle-fleet. + +Beatty's business was now to turn and draw the Germans northwards into +Jellicoe's jaws, but the turning in face of the German battle-fleet +was a critical manoeuvre. Beatty's battleships were north-west on his +starboard quarter, and as his battle-cruisers turned they masked the +Queen Elizabeths' fire while exposing themselves to the concentrated +attention of the German Fleet. A high-angle shell fell on the thinly +protected deck of the Queen Mary; she blew up and sank in a few +seconds. Another fell down the ammunition shaft of the Indefatigable +with the same appalling result. Beatty was not deflected from his +course; possibly no other could have been taken. The rest of his +cruisers got round without mishap, and the brunt of the fighting now +passed to Evan-Thomas's Queen Elizabeths, who stalled off the whole +German Fleet as both forces steamed north in Jellicoe's direction. It +was probably during this stage that most of the damage was done to the +German Fleet. The Lutzow and the Pommern were sunk; the battleship +Konig was so battered that her forecastle was only 61/2 feet above water +when she struggled into port; and the Seydlitz and the Derfflinger +were in little better case. + +At 5.56 Beatty sighted Jellicoe's battleships at five miles' distance +on his port bow. His task was now to cross the front of the German +line, head it off east and southwards, and afford Jellicoe room for +deployment between Beatty himself and Evan-Thomas. For reasons of +tactics and prudence Jellicoe deployed on his port wing, i.e., towards +the east, This took him away from the Germans, but tended to cut them +off from their base. The deployment was skilfully executed, though +Admiral Hood and his battle-cruiser the Invincible, while taking +position in front of Beatty, suffered the fate of the Queen Mary and +Indefatigable; and the British Fleet soon formed a single line curving +round east and south-eastwards like a net into which the Germans were +being drawn. The crisis had arrived, and German naval power seemed on +the verge of extinction. But the weather came to assist Von Scheer's +tactical skill. He turned with less misfortune than had attended +Beatty's similar manoeuvre two hours earlier, and set himself to fight +a magnificent rearguard action and extricate his fleet as best he +could. Fortunately for him the visibility grew steadily worse, and +with it the range of fire diminished. This deprived Jellicoe of the +advantage of his heavier guns, and indeed reduced the range of +gun-fire to that of torpedoes. Here Von Scheer discovered his chance, +and it was upon torpedo attacks that he relied for the defence of his +fleet. Jellicoe, with his superior speed, could have closed had he +deemed it wise. But he thought of what hung on the fate of the fleet +he commanded, and shrank from exposing his battleships to the risk of +torpedo destruction. His dilemma was acute: gun-fire was very +effective at 18,000 yards, the torpedo began to be so at 10,000. Our +cue was to fight between the two; but low visibility hid the German +ships outside torpedo range, while within it fifty lucky German +torpedoes might have sent every British Dreadnought to the bottom and +decided the war in Germany's favour. On the other hand, we might have +sunk every German ship and conceivably ended the war in 1917. War is +an experimental science; but this experiment was never made, and no +one can say what the result would have been if it had. Beatty wished +to make it, Jellicoe refrained. + +So the fight went on, the mist hiding the Germans at longer range and +their torpedo attacks deterring us from a closer encounter. At 7.5 +Jellicoe attempted to close on the Germans by turning three points to +starboard. Von Scheer replied with a torpedo attack, and to avoid it +some of our ships turned four, and some of them six, points to port. +Seizing the opportunity, Von Scheer made off to the west, helped by +the mist and by his own smoke screen; and shortly the Germans were +lost to sight. Night closed in with the British Fleet between the +Germans and their base at Wilhelmshaven hoping to complete their work +on a glorious First of June. Jellicoe and Beatty agreed that to +continue the battle in darkness amid torpedo-craft and submarines was +impossible, and Von Scheer had other designs in view. It was a night +of excursions and alarms with many destroyer actions. When dawn broke +the Germans were not to be seen. Cut off from direct access to +Wilhelmshaven, Von Scheer had turned from south-west round to north +and then east, and had got his ships one by one past the rear of the +British line into harbour. His escape is the mystery of the battle: +throughout the night his starboard ships were continually barging into +vessels on our port, but no news of these encounters reached the +commander-in-chief. Till nearly noon Jellicoe watched for a fleet that +never appeared, and then made his way back to his base, a victor +baulked of the ostensible fruits of his victory. The disappointment +was made worse by the ineptitude of the Admiralty and the ignorance of +the press, which emphasized our losses without explaining the +significance of our success. Besides the three battle-cruisers we +lost three armoured cruisers, Defence, Black Prince, and Warrior of +13,000 or more tons apiece, and eight destroyers, while the +super-Dreadnought Marlborough was badly holed and the Warspite was put +out of action. The German looses in destroyers may have been equal or +greater, but in cruisers they were considerably less. The Government +was foolish enough to deny the loss of the Lutzow and admit it a few +days later. But our own estimates were not conspicuous for their +accuracy; and the German official account published on 16 June and +long regarded as "a tissue of careful falsifications," was admitted +after the armistice to have been substantially correct. + +The public in both countries were indeed egregiously wrong in their +judgment because they were completely ignorant of naval warfare, and +measured success at sea by mathematical equations just as they +measured progress on land by miles. It was only the navies engaged +that knew the truth, and they had inadequate means of making their +knowledge known. British sailors were loath to admit even among +themselves the defects in their vessels, gunnery, and leadership which +the battle revealed; but they made less a secret of Von Scheer's +skill. He had with a smaller force inflicted greater damage on his +enemy, and he had snatched his fleet from the jaws of destruction. He +was no doubt favoured by the weather, and he turned to the best +advantage his facilities of defence; for the enemy in retreat can use +his torpedoes with greater effect than his pursuer, can tempt him into +minefields and submarine traps, and conceal himself by smoke-screens. +German Dreadnoughts had, moreover, been built for defence in home +waters and not for keeping the seas. Space, which was used to +strengthen their armour, had in our capital ships to serve the needs +of offence, speed, and comfort; and subsequent inspection at Scapa +Flow showed that the German High Seas Fleet was not designed to +provide its crews with living room for more than seventy-two hours +without recourse to port. + +But all these advantages and Von Scheer's skill could not reverse the +verdict in that trial of strength, and our qualms about the battle of +Jutland were a just nemesis on our inveterate habit of judging by +material tests. The decisive factor in war is not the material but the +moral effect; and while the German Fleet was not destroyed at the +battle of Jutland, its moral was hopelessly shattered. Few of the +German sailors who had been in a naval battle had hitherto returned to +tell the tale, and those who went out in the High Seas Fleet on 31 May +had been taught to believe in its invincibility. But, said a German +officer, "the way we were utterly crushed from the moment your battle +fleet came into action took the heart out of them. Another hour of +daylight would have finished it," while only three men in Jellicoe's +main battle fleet were wounded. Der Tag had come with a vengeance, and +from that day every attempt to take out the German Fleet to battle +produced a mutiny or the threat of one. + +The third enemy offensive had come to greater grief than the other +two; and the battle of Jutland had justified the earlier German +strategy which kept the German Fleet safe in harbour while it kept our +own in British waters and faint hearts on tenterhooks. Germany's naval +power had now gone with the moral of its crews, though the ghost of it +haunted for two and a half years longer the timid minds of our +materialists on shore, and retained on this side of the Channel +hundreds of thousands of troops needed for offence or defence in +France and Flanders. The German Fleet had never, however, been a +predominant factor in the war, and it was with a different proposition +that the Entente had to deal when at last its turn came to take the +offensive and make a real attempt to break the German lines. + + + CHAPTER XII + + THE ALLIED COUNTER-OFFENSIVE + +In spite of the disasters she had suffered in 1915 and of her winter +campaigns in Galicia and the Caucasus, Russia was the first of the +Allies to take the offensive in 1916. She was, indeed, engaged in +attacking at some point or other along her vast and various fronts +from December till April. In February she again attempted to seize the +important bridgehead across the Dniester at Usciesko and carried it on +22 March. Four days before that she had initiated another offensive on +the shores of Lake Narotch, and in April she was pressing on +Trebizond. The Lake Narotch operation was possibly designed to +frustrate a German attack on Riga, and it was only that preventive +success that was achieved. It is true that the first and second German +lines were carried after artillery preparation by the Russian +infantry. But the scanty Russian artillery behaved like a travelling +circus; having done its business, it packed up and removed to seek +another opening. The Germans discovered the move, blasted the Russian +trenches, and on 28-29 April recovered more than they had lost. The +campaign in Armenia was more successful, and on 18 April Trebizond +passed securely into Russian hands, giving her a shorter route across +the Black Sea and a better base for future operations in Asia Minor +(see Maps, pp. 146, 182). + +These, however, were minor operations compared with the offensive for +which Brussilov was preparing in May as the Russian contribution to +the combined attack on the Central Empires. It was not timed to take +place until the end of June. But the Austrian pressure on Italy from +the Trentino seems to have forced an acceleration which the German +attack on Verdun failed to extort from the Western Allies; and on 3 +June a bombardment began on the whole of the Russian front from the +Pripet marshes southwards to the Rumanian border. Ivanov had been +recalled to headquarters and the line was under Brussilov, with four +generals--Kaledin, Sakharoff, Scherbachev, and Lechitsky--to command +his various army-groups. Opposed to them were four Austrian generals +and the German Bothmer, who held the front from Zalocze on the upper +Sereth to the Dniester. From Kolki northwards the Pripet swamps made +progress difficult, and Bothmer offered a stubborn resistance on the +Strypa. But in the Volhynian triangle and the Bukovina the attack +achieved a surprising success. The infantry advance began on the 4th +and by noon the Austrian front was completely broken. In two days the +Russians advanced more than twenty miles, and on the 6th they entered +Lutsk, the Archduke Joseph Ferdinand's headquarters, capturing +enormous booty and many thousands of prisoners. On both sides the +breach was widened; to the north Rojitche and to the south Dubno both +fell on the 8th, and the Volhynian triangle passed completely into +Russian hands. Their triumph continued for another week: their salient +was deepened by a further advance to Zaturtsky and Svidniki, within +twenty-five miles of Kovel, and broadened by the fall of Kolki to the +north and Demidovka and Kozin to the south. In less than a fortnight +Kaledin and Sakharoff had covered fifty miles and taken 70,000 +prisoners. + +Scherbachev was less successful against Bothmer in front of Tarnopol; +but his left wing carried Buczacz, farther south, and crossed the +Strypa, while beyond the Dniester Lechitsky outdid Kaledin's success +at Lutsk. Forcing the passage of the Dniester near Okna on that same +4th of June, he broke the Austrian front and drove one half of it west +to Horodenka and the other half south-east towards Czernowitz. The +latter portion was now an isolated and disorganized fragment of the +Austrian army which could do nothing but escape across the Pruth and +the Carpathians leaving Lechitsky to overrun the Bukovina. On the 17th +the Russians entered Czernowitz, its capital, and six days later they +reached Kimpolung, its most southerly town. Other columns swept west +to Sniatyn and Kuty, and by the 23rd the whole of the province had +been conquered. The Austrians were in no position to impose a pause +upon the frontier of Galicia, and Kolomea fell on the 29th. Tlumacz +followed on the 30th and Bothmer's right was seriously threatened. +Gathering some German reinforcements he counter-attacked on 2 July, +recovered Tlumacz, and checked Lechitsky's right, though his left +continued its advance along the Carpathian foothills and captured +Delatyn on 8 July, thus cutting the railway to Marmaros Sziget. The +Dniester and the Pruth were now flooded with July rains, and a month +elapsed before Lechitsky could resume his march. + +Other causes had checked the Russians farther north. Brussilov's +offensive may have been merely a vast reconnaissance in force, but its +astonishing success had stirred the Germans to prompt action. Ewarts +was beginning an attack on the important junction of Baranovitchi +north of the Pripet marshes, and presently the line of battle spread +down the Shchara and along the Oginski canal. If he succeeded like +Brussilov, Brest-Litovsk might be caught between two fires with dire +results to the whole German front in Russia and future in the Balkans. +It was a peril to which the German prospects at Verdun and forebodings +on the Somme were secondary considerations; and both the Western +allies profited from Brussilov's campaign. One German corps was +hurried from Verdun to Kovel in six days, and others followed at a +less exhausting speed. Austrians also came from the Tyrol and the +Balkans, and Ludendorff was sent to restore confidence in the command. +Kovel was the southern key to Brest-Litovsk; the northern flank could +look after itself since Ewarts was making little progress, and Bothmer +had barred the way for the time to the other essential points at +Lemberg and Stanislau. But Kovel was in serious danger, for the +Russians had penetrated to Lokatchi due south of that fortress; and it +was for its defence that Ludendorff organized the Austrian +counter-offensive in the latter half of June. + +Kovel was saved. The Russian line was pressed back from Lokatchi to +Zaturtsky, from Svidniki to Rojitche, and behind the Stokhod. But the +counter-offensive was spent by the end of the month, and early in July +the Russians resumed their advance. North of the Pripet Ewarts was no +more successful than he had been in June; German divisions were made +of sterner stuff than the Austrian, and Hindenburg knew well enough +what was at stake. After heavy losses the Russian attack died away +without appreciable gain of ground, and north of the Pripet at least +the enemy line was secure. Nor, even south of it, was Brussilov able +to do much more than straighten his own, bringing it forward to the +point reached by his salient in front of Lutsk. This, however, +involved some danger to Lemberg and effected the fall of Stanislau +farther south. The chief obstacle was Bothmer in the centre, on whose +stubborn resistance the Germans prided themselves although most of his +troops were Austrian; and he occupied most of the Russian attention +for the rest of the campaign. But the most striking advance was made +in the north of Brussilov's command, where summer had dried the +low-lying ground south of the Pripet marshes. Here General Lesch, +whose Third Russian Army had been brought down from north of the +Pripet, broke the Austrian line on the Styr between Kolki and +Rafalovka on 4-5 July, and in four days reached the Stokhod. He even +crossed it at points, but failed to carry it in its entirety so as to +threaten the northern defences of Kovel. + +The main offensive was launched in Galicia, doubtless with a view to +its reaction upon the attitude of Rumania; and here Bothmer was +menaced by Sakharoff in the north and Lechitsky in the south. To +disconcert the northern attack the Germans had planned a +counter-offensive on the 18th, but Sakharoff got his blow in first +three days before. Forcing the Austrians across the Styr in front of +Dubno, he advanced along its tributary the Lipa, captured Mikhailovka +and Bludov, and then swinging south occupied Berestechko and +threatened Brody on the 20th. It was entered after a week's fighting +on the 28th. Thence he struck south towards the railway from Krasne to +Tarnopol which supplied Bothmer's left, while Bothmer's right was +being simultaneously threatened by Lechitsky now that the floods on +the Dniester had subsided. On 7 August he recaptured Tlumacz and +reached the Dniester near Nijniow; on the 10th he forced his way into +Stanislau, while Scherbachev attacked on the north bank of the +Dniester. Almost outflanked on the north by Sakharoff and on the south +by Scherbachev and Lechitsky, Bothmer had at length to retreat to the +Zlota Lipa with his right in front of Halicz, his centre at Brzezany, +and his left at Zborov. He was vigorously attacked by Scherbachev, and +his right was pushed back on both banks of the Dniester as far as +Halicz until it stood upon the Narajovka. But the centre stood firm +against Scherbachev's great effort of the 29th, though Potutory was +taken and Brzezany reduced to a salient; and the fighting of September +and October failed to modify the position anywhere except far south in +the Carpathians, where Lechitsky secured Mount Kapul and the +Jablonitza and Kirlibaba passes, and advanced as far west as Huta. + +This movement was in sympathy with the Rumanian declaration of war on +27 August, and spoilt the Russian chances of a successful +concentration against Bothmer. Russia was not sufficiently furnished +with munitions or trained men to provide for two great efforts on that +front, and her summer campaign had failed of complete success largely +because of the services it rendered to her allies. No fewer than +sixteen divisions were withdrawn, between June and September, by the +Germans from the Western front and one from the Balkans to meet +Brussilov's offensive, and they included some of the best of the +Prussian Guards. Austria diverted seven divisions from Italy, and even +the Turks sent two. The offensive had cost the Central Empires +something like a million casualties, many of them Czecho-Slovak and +Jugo-Slav prisoners, who deserted willingly enough and in time did +valiant service in strange lands to the cause of the Entente and of +their own national independence. But the value of Russia's last great +effort in the war was not limited to the front on which it was made. +It was an excellent, though almost solitary, example of the advantages +of co-ordinated strategy between the Allies, and what progress was +made on the Somme, in Italy, and in Macedonia in 1916 was partly due +to Russian valour on other fronts. + +The British Empire, however, had eyes in the summer of that year for +little except its own offensive in the West. It was mainly a British +affair, for the German attack on Verdun had succeeded to the extent of +making impossible both an independent French offensive and an +equivalent French contribution to the joint campaign on the Somme. +Like other realities of the war, this fact was hidden from the public, +and hopes ran high. The failures of the autumn were recognized as due +to their being premature and made on narrow fronts. We had learnt our +lesson; there was a new general in command; in guns and munitions we +had outstripped the Germans; our men were no longer raw recruits, and +we had millions of them; and, unlike Germany, we had no alternative +front to exact its toll like the Russian. The one doubt that was +harboured rather than expressed related to leadership. Lord Kitchener +had lost his life in the Hampshire, sunk by a mine off the west coast +of the Orkneys, on 6 June. But Sir William Robertson, his chief of +Staff, had acquired a great repute as an organizer, and the question +was whether the officers in the field would exhibit qualities of +intellect comparable with his administrative capacity or with the +valour of their men. + +Apart from the urgent need of relieving the pressure on Verdun, a +British offensive was due as a contribution to the common task; and +the front on which it would be made did not offer a great variety of +choice. Whatever attractions other localities may have held out +yielded to the Somme, where the French and British lines met by +Maricourt, and an advance side by side was the nearest approach the +Allies had yet made to unity of command or even of design. The +combined effort was to be concentrated on a single front of +twenty-five miles from Gommecourt, half-way between Albert and Arras, +to Fay, five miles above Chaulnes. If it achieved the success that was +hoped, it would roll up the German line north towards the Belgian +coast and render untenable in the south and east the great salient of +the German front. The retreat which the Germans effected to the +Hindenburg lines in the spring of 1917 was the least that was expected +from the summer offensive of the year before. But Germans are seldom +idle, and for months they had been silently and unobserved preparing +to counter the vast storm of explosives about to break on their +trenches. That wire-entanglements however extensive, and trenches +however intricate, could be obliterated had been proved, and the +Germans were ready with their prophylactic on the ground that was +chosen for attack. The rolling downs of the Bapaume ridge offered +natural attractions to an army sick of the water-logged flats of +Flanders, but they also afforded the Germans depth and scope for their +vast underground chambers which no artillery could destroy; and these +defences more than any other single cause defeated the British thrust +at Gommecourt and Serre. + + The Battle Of The Somme + +This was officially described as a subsidiary operation, yet upon the +assistance it rendered to the main attack farther south depended the +whole nature and course of the campaign. Had that thrust eastward +towards Bapaume been successful, the Germans facing the Somme would +have been taken in the rear, and the painful and costly climb up the +slopes to Bapaume, which lasted throughout the summer and autumn, +would have been achieved in a couple of days. Places like Pozières, +well towards the goal, were indeed given as our objectives for the +first day of the battle of the Somme. It began on 1 July. Since the +middle of June there had been an intermittent bombardment of the +German lines which grew in intensity and extent from the 24th. The +attack had been entrusted to the British Fourth Army, under Sir Henry +Rawlinson and the French Sixth under Fayolle. It was expected by the +Germans between Albert and Arras, though not along the Somme, and +their artillery preparation took off some of the edge of our attack. +The troops advanced with the utmost dash and determination, and +detachments got far ahead of the line into Pendant copse, Thiepval, +the Schwaben redoubt, and even the outskirts of Grandcourt. But few of +them got back when they found that the line as a whole had held, and +the losses of these troops in the fire to the left and the right and +in front of them made up the bulk of the British casualties on that +day. + +Farther south they fared better. The outskirts of La Boisselle and +Fricourt were reached; Mametz was taken, and also Montauban by the +most striking advance of the day. On our right the French, whose +attack had been planned by Foch, had the advantage of a surprise. +North of the Somme they reached the edge of Hardecourt and Curlu; +south of it they captured Dompierre, Becquincourt, Bussu, and Fay, and +with these villages 6000 prisoners. The advance was greatest the +farthest it was removed from where the Germans had prepared their +resistance; complete success south of the Somme dwindled away to +complete failure at Serre. That northern attack was not renewed, but +from Ovillers south and eastwards the advantage was stubbornly pressed +on the 2nd. Fricourt fell and its surrounding defences, while the +French took Frise, Curlu, and Herbecourt. It was clear, however, that +the German line had not, and could not be broken in the sense which +the public at least attached to the word. A first or even a second and +third line of trenches might be taken, but there was an indefinite +series behind, and the progress was so slow that anything like a +thrust right through the German defences and rout of the German forces +was out of the question. It was not until the 5th that La Boiselle in +the first German line was mastered, and farther east the initial +success of the British was checked by a line of woods which required +weeks to clear. On the 7th we took Contalmaison, but were driven out +of most of it by a counter-attack. It finally fell on the 10th, but +Ovillers held out till the 16th. The woods to the right offered a no +less stubborn resistance. Bernafay wood was, indeed, gained on the +4th, but the German flanks in Mametz wood to the west and Trônes wood +to the east were only driven in at the cost of five days' ferocious +fighting from the 8th to the 13th. The French encountered similar +opposition north of the Somme, but south of it they were more +fortunate. On the 4th and 5th they extended their gains on their right +by the capture of most of Estrées and Belloy, and after disposing of +German counter-attacks leapt forward on the 9th past Flaucourt to +Biaches, a mile from Péronne. + +On 14 July the second stage of the battle of the Somme began with an +attack before dawn. It was the national fête-day of France, but the +attack was made on the British front from Contalmaison to Trônes wood. +The objectives were the wood and two villages of Bazentin, High wood +(the Bois des Foureaux), Longueval, and Delville wood, while Trônes +wood still remained to be completely cleared. The day was one of the +most successful in the four and a half months' battle, and the dash of +the British troops carried them as far as all their objectives. +Bazentin-le-Grand and le Petit and the wood were taken; aided by an +unwonted cavalry charge which raised delusive hopes of breaking +through, a great advance was made to High wood; and the Germans were +driven out of most of Longueval and the Delville wood. But it was more +difficult to retain these conquests; the advanced positions were +exposed to enfilading German fire, and counter-attacks drove us back +at various points and made the retention of others a matter of +desperate conflict for weeks. High wood had to be completely +evacuated; for Delville wood the South Africans, and the troops which +relieved them on the 20th, had to struggle for thirteen days, and it +was not wholly cleared for another month. Much of what was credited to +the 14th of July had to be retaken in detailed fighting spread over +many days. + +On the 16th, however, the fall of Ovillers prepared the way for an +attack on Pozières, which was finally captured with the help of the +Australians on the 26th, and the taking of Waterlot farm on our right +opened up an advance on Guillemont. Much of High wood was recovered on +the 20th. On that day the French pushed east of Hardecourt and seized +a section of the Combles-Clery railway, while farther south they +secured the German defences from Barleux to Vermandovillers. On the +27th the last German outpost in Longueval was taken, and on 4 August +the Australians began their advance from Pozières to Mouquet farm and +the windmill which commanded the summit of the Bapaume ridge. The +ground was contested inch by inch, and it took many weary days to win. +Villages and woods all along the front were only captured by +fragments, and most of the fragments were lost again more than once +before they finally passed into our hands. Well into September there +were bits of Delville wood and High wood still in German possession, +and a concerted attack of 18 August was a failure except for the +seizure of Leipzig redoubt. On the 12th, however, and again on the +16th, the French improved their position north of the Somme and got +close to Maurepas, of which they completed the capture on the 24th. + +September was a better month for both the Allies. There was a general +attack on the 3rd, when Guillemont, which had been disputed for six +weeks, was carried at length, and the French rushed Le Forest, Cléry, +and the German lines up to the outskirts of Combles. Two days later +the British got into Leuze wood between Guillemont and Combles, and +captured Falfemont farm to the south, while a new French army extended +the line of battle below Chaulnes and took Chilly and Soyécourt; on +the 6th they pushed their advance both north and south of the Somme, +taking above the river L'Hôpital farm and Anderlu and Marrières woods, +and below it parts of Vermandovillers and Berny. The German +counter-attacks were unusually unsuccessful, and on 9 September Ginchy +was carried by the Irish regiments which had helped to take +Guillemont. It looked as though the Allies were at least getting into +their stride, or the wasting struggle was beginning to tell on the +German reserves and resistance. Over two months had been spent in +securing objectives marked down for the first day or two of the +battle; but with the fall of Guillemont the last fragment of the +German second position had fallen into our hands, their third was more +or less improvised, we had a new weapon in reserve, and were half-way +from our original lines to Bapaume. Farther afield Rumania had +declared war, and Brussilov was still drawing German troops from West +to East. + +The third stage of the battle therefore opened with hopes which even +the experience of the second had not been able to quench. Gough's +Fifth Army had since early in July been formed as an independent +command to the left of Rawlinson's Fourth, and its right comprised the +1st Canadian Corps which was to attack Courcelette. The other points +of the German third line of defence were Martinpuich, Flers, +Lesboeufs, and Morval. Martinpuich was the objective of a Scottish +division of the New Army, Flers that of the New Zealanders, Lesboeufs +and Morval those of the Guards and another division of the old +Regulars. Behind the British lines were collected twenty-four "Tanks," +which were to precede them in the attack and prove by this first +experiment their value as a weapon of war. On the 14th a brigade of +Gough's army stormed the Hohenzollern trench and a redoubt called by +the Germans a wunderwerk; apart from this success, the attack diverted +German attention from the real offensive, which began on the 15th with +an intense bombardment. The Tanks spread terror and devastation among +the German lines and the results of the day for once exceeded all +expectations. Courcelette fell to the Canadians, Martinpuich to the +Scots, Flers to the New Zealanders. High wood was at last enveloped in +this advance, and Delville wood passed by the division of the New Army +which pushed from Ginchy towards Lesboeufs. That effort on our right +was, however, hampered by the Germans in the Quadrilateral and +Bouleaux wood to the east of Ginchy, and the Guards were unable to +carry out the most important tactical part of the day's work by +carrying Lesboeufs and Morval. + +The French had no such accumulation of gains on the 15th, but they +conquered a larger area between the 13th and 18th. They began on the +13th with the bold capture of Bouchavesnes right across the great road +from Péronne to Bapaume, and supplemented it by taking Le Priez farm +on the flank of Combles. On the 17th they completed their work in +Berny and Vermandovillers south of the Somme, and on the 18th added +Deniécourt. On that day the British at last mastered the Quadrilateral +east of Ginchy, and thus prepared for the great success which attended +the next general attack on the 25th. It was the best day of the whole +campaign. Lesboeufs and Morval fell on the north of Combles, while the +French took Rancourt on the south-east, and away to the west Gough's +army made the surprising seizure of Thiepval. Further fruits were +gathered on the morrow; Gueudecourt, which had been taken but +abandoned on the 25th, was recovered; the French who had then failed +against Frégicourt now took it; and Combles was the prize of their +joint success. Then the weather broke; and the Germans, who had +already begun to prepare their Hindenburg lines far away in their +rear, were enabled to cling to the Bapaume salient until they had +taken all the precautions for an orderly and inexpensive retreat. + +The rest of the Somme campaign was an affair of local details until +Gough's Fifth Army intervened on a larger scale. Eaucourt l'Abbaye was +taken on 1 October, lost on the 2nd, and retaken on the 3rd. Le Sars +was captured on the 7th, the Stuff and Regina redoubts, between it and +Thiepval, on the 21st; and progress was made north towards the Butte +de Warlencourt and north-east towards Le Transloy. The French captured +Sailly and Saillisel to the east of Morval and pushed far into the St. +Pierre Vaast wood and towards Moislains, while south of the Somme they +took Ablaincourt, Le Pressoir, Fresnes, Villers-Carbonnel, and +Barleux, and seized the west bank of the river opposite Eterpigny +above Péronne. On 9 November the weather improved, and though the +October rains had made transport almost impossible across the mangled +soil of the battlefield on the Somme, the conditions were not so bad +north of Thiepval, where our advance had been stayed on 1 July. The +situation at Beaumont-Hamel was also changed for the better by the +fact that the German stronghold was now a pronounced salient enfiladed +by our fire from the captured Hohenzollern, Schwaben, Stuff, and +Regina redoubts. But that advantage was less felt farther north at +Serre, and there the left wing of our attack on 13 November was no +more successful than it had been on 1 July. Better fortune attended +our effort between Serre and Beaumont-Hamel, but the farthest advance +of the day was that of a New Army division on the extreme right of the +attacking line. St. Pierre Divion fell almost at once, and our troops +advanced on the southern heights of the Ancre to the Hansa trench +half-way to Grandcourt. + +The task of the centre was to take the fortress of Beaumont-Hamel, +including the forked ravine to the south which required a prolonged +and desperate struggle. The work was done by Highland Territorials +before the early November sunset; and meanwhile the Naval Division on +their right drove the Germans out of their first two lines on the +northern bank of the Ancre towards Beaucourt. One battalion penetrated +almost to the village, but was held up in a perilous position owing to +the resistance of a strong German redoubt on its flank and almost in +its rear. It stood its ground throughout the day, and at night the +surrender of the German redoubt to a couple of tanks opened the way +for a general attack on Beaucourt on the 14th. It was stormed by the +battalion which had been waiting outside it since the previous +morning. German counter-attacks on the 15th were repulsed, and on the +17th a further advance was made to the Bois d'Hollande north of +Grandcourt, while Canadians from the Regina trench established +themselves near its western outskirts. Another avenue towards Bapaume +had been opened up, but winter postponed any further advance, and the +Somme campaign had come to an end. + +It had proved a sort of inverted Verdun, and the comfort we had +derived from that successful defence was now extracted by the Germans +from their defence of Bapaume. The parallel was not exact, because +while the German gains at Verdun narrowed down to a point, ours on the +Somme expanded in a circle. Yet the arguments were substantially the +same: the French at Verdun were willing to sell any number of acres +for armies, and the Germans professed an equal content on the Somme. +Each side contended in turn that the offensive was the more costly +form of warfare, and then repudiated the contention when it came to +attack itself; and there was not a great deal to choose between them +so far as logic was concerned. It is also clear that the Germans would +have been at least as successful at Verdun as we were on the Somme but +for the relief afforded by counter-offensives elsewhere, and that we +should have profited no more from the Somme than the Germans did from +Verdun had our Somme campaign been interrupted by German offensives on +other fronts. Nor was there much to choose in the way of casualties: +our estimate of the German losses as approximating 600,000 was a +reasonable guess, but our own casualties were well over 400,000. The +French losses were lighter, but the two together cannot have been less +than the German. The Germans on the Somme, like the French at Verdun, +withdrew divisions to refit before they were hopelessly broken; but +what was considered wisdom in the French was reckoned weakness in the +Germans and the Prussian Guards, whose return to Berlin, concealed in +furniture-vans to hide their pitiable plight, was graphically +described in the English press by an imaginative American journalist, +were really sent as a contribution to that immense effort in the East +by which, in spite of the Somme campaign, Germany first closed the +gaps in the crumbling Austrian front and then overran Rumania. + +There was thus a good deal of justice in the German comparison between +Verdun and the Somme. The fallacy lay in the facts that our offensive +was not brought to a stand by a German counter-attack but by the +advent of winter, that the moves elsewhere in the West were the French +ripostes at Verdun in October and December and not German +counter-offensives, and that their campaign in Rumania, in spite of +its painful success, had no effect upon the vital situation in the +West. That episode was against us, but the tendencies were in our +favour; our losses might equal the German, but equal attrition would +leave us paramount in the end, barring collapse on the part of a +principal ally. It was the fundamental situation which led to the +German proposals for peace at Christmas, and the superficial +impression which provoked the simultaneous fall of the Asquith +Government. + +So, too, there was something superficial and unjust in the lay +criticism of Sir Douglas Haig's generalship. "Tactics of the Stone +Age," was Mr. Lloyd George's later comment, which should not have been +made in public at the expense of a general for whose retention in the +command he was himself responsible. Even Foch controlled the group of +French armies which co-operated with us on the Somme without producing +results of a different character; and it is idle to compare the +achievements of the generalissimo of 1918 with those of the British +commander on the Somme in 1916. Haig controlled the British forces in +France and Flanders, but he had no jurisdiction beyond a mere fragment +of the thousands of miles of front on which the war was waged. Neither +he nor any other Entente general therefore enjoyed the strategical +opportunities of a Falkenhayn, Hindenburg, or Ludendorff, who could +direct their blows east or west as they pleased; and responsibility +for the strategical conduct of the war rested not with the Entente +generals but with the heterogeneous Governments which employed them. +Each commander had to work in his own compartment and could not escape +its limitations. Nor was the diversity merely one of military +commands; there was also the Navy, upon which the whole Allied +strategy hung, to be considered; and not only in the Entente, but in +each of its several Governments there was, and there could be, no such +unity of direction as was possible in the militarist Central Empires. + +There was also something naive in the popular clamour for a general as +a Deus ex machina. For, in spite of apparent exceptions, the tendency +of the transition from heroic to democratic ages is to transfer both +in war and in politics the decisive influence from the individual to +the mass, from the protagonist to the private; and modern warfare, +with its complexity and its science, has become mainly a matter of +mechanics. Its hero is the mob, and its generals fight far away in the +rear of the line of battle; even the telescope has given place to the +telephone. Individual valour counts for little compared with accurate +range-tests and spotting by waves of sound. Man has mastered nature +only to become more dependent upon his servants, and the vast +machinery which the modern general controls envelops him in its toils. +He reaches his goal in a motor, and the race is won by the best +machine. Generalship was but one of a vast number of factors which +gave us control of the Bapaume Ridge but also prevented the Somme +campaign from saving Rumania or spoiling the German defence against +Russia. + +The battle of the Somme did not, however, quite exhaust the Entente +offensive for 1916. As it died down amid the autumn rains, the French +struck back at Verdun on 24 October. Here Nivelle, who had taken over +the command from Pétain in April, entrusted the attack to Mangin. The +Germans were not taken by surprise, but they were unprepared for the +strength of the blow, and from Fleury to Fort Douaumont positions +which had taken the Germans months to win were recovered within a few +hours. On the right the struggle was more protracted, but on 2 +November Fort Vaux and on the 3rd the villages of Vaux and Damloup +were regained. A greater success followed on 15 December. The attack +extended from Vacherauville on the Meuse to Bezonvaux on the east, and +all along the line the French won their objectives. Besides +Vacherauville they retook Poivre hill, Haudromont wood, and Louvemont +on the left, captured Chambrettes farm and Caurières wood in the +centre, and seized Hardaumont wood and Bezonvaux on their right. +Towards the north-east the Germans had almost been thrust back to the +line from which they started in February, though to the north they +still retained some ground, and the French counter-offensive did not +extend to the west of the Meuse. It was a characteristic exaggeration +of the press to represent these gains as a complete reconquest of all +that the Germans had won in the spring; but enough had been done to +give the Germans unpleasant anticipations for 1917 and to counsel them +to draw in their horns in the material sense of retreat from their +threatened position on the Somme and in the metaphorical sense of +seeking peace (see Map, p. 194). + +Italy, too, had been making her contribution to the Allied offensive +during these months. Brussilov's onslaught in June had trod on the +tail on* the Austrian invasion from the Trentino, and it was patriotic +pride which led an Italian journal to describe Cadorna's recovery as +the quickest and greatest reaction of the war. Italy's allies at least +were not surprised when during the latter half of June her armies +regained the ground evacuated by the Austrians in a skilful retreat, +including Posina, Monte Cimone, Arsiero, Asiago, and the whole of the +Sette Communi. Having thus protected his flank, Cadorna reverted to +his frontal attack along the Isonzo and on the Carso. The Austrians +still held nearly the whole of the east bank of the river and Oslavia +and Podgora on the west bank in front of Gorizia. Gorizia itself was +protected by two mountain strongholds, Sabatino to the north and San +Michele to the south. Early in August Cadorna had completed his +transfer of guns and troops from the Trentino front, and on the 4th he +feinted an attack across the Isonzo at Monfalcone. On the 6th a heavy +bombardment battered the whole front from Mount Sabatino to Mount San +Michele; both the key-positions were taken by assault in a battle +which lasted two days, and on the 9th Gorizia fell. During the next +few days the advance was pushed across the Doberdo plateau, south of +Gorizia, and beyond the Vallone on to the western end of the +forbidding and formidable Carso. By the 15th the Italian line ran from +Tivoli, north-east of Gorizia, down the river Vertoibizza, across the +Vippacco and along the Carso east of Nad Logem, Opacchiasella, and +Villanova. No such victory had yet been won by unaided Italian troops +against their hereditary foes, and it did much to stimulate Italian +confidence and enthusiasm for the war. Some further progress on the +Carso was made during the autumn, and great Italian victories were +announced in September, October, and November; but the Italians were +never within measurable distance of capturing the key of the Carso at +the Hermada, and Trieste was a very distant prospect until other +causes had brought about the collapse of the Hapsburg Empire. When at +the end of August Italy at last declared war on Germany, the course of +the war remained unaffected, and greater store was set on the +simultaneous intervention of the kindred Latin people of Rumanias (see +Map, p. 298). + + + CHAPTER XIII + + THE BALKANS AND POLITICAL REACTIONS + +The combined offensive of the Allies in 1916 was not limited to the +Russian, French, and Italian fronts, and there is a diplomatic story +that when the battle of the Somme seemed unlikely to produce the +fruits expected from it, pressure was put by one or more Western +Powers upon Rumania to intervene. The story was denied in the +interests of those Powers, and an alternative tale was told of a +sinister plot, engineered by the Russian Prime Minister, Stuermer, by +which Rumania was lured into the war in order that her defeat might +pave the way for her partition between the Hapsburg and Russian +Empires, Wallachia going to the one and Moldavia to the other. Both +explanations were relics of the suspicion engendered by the diplomacy +of the old regime rather than serious contributions to historical +truth; and, while the conduct of the masters and tyros of political +strategy was not calculated to render these fables incredible, there +were other circumstances more intimately connected with Rumania to +account for her action. After all, neither side was in August 1916 in +a position to dictate to neutrals; and the Rumanian Army counted for +too much in the delicate balance for any belligerent Power to invite +its hostility by undue pressure. The decision was Rumania's own, and +it was not unnatural. She had been on the eve of intervention more +than a year before, but German successes in 1915 had constrained her +to caution. By August 1916 it was clear that the Central Empires could +hope for no more than a negotiated peace, and Rumania had claims which +would only enter into the negotiation if she took part in the war. + +Natural affinities left no doubt as to the side she would choose. Her +old king Carol, who had died on 10 October 1914, was a Hohenzollern, +though of the elder and Catholic line; but his successor was bred a +Rumanian and a constitutional monarch. There was also a pro-German and +anti-democratic party, led by Carp and Marghiloman and supported by +the landlords, which harped upon Rumania's grievances against Russia +and placed Bessarabia in the scales against Transylvania. But the +Rumanes across the Pruth were few compared with the four millions +across the Carpathians, and the hardships they shared with the +Russians at the hands of the Tsardom irked them less than those +injuries which the Magyars knew so well how to inflict on subject +nationalities under the cloak of equal rights and liberties. The +claims which Rumania might hope to enforce against a defeated Hapsburg +Empire would increase her population by more than 50 per cent and make +her territorially compact, while the gains she could get from Russia +would be less extensive and less homogeneous, and would leave her with +still more straggling frontiers. The cause was fairly clear; the +occasion was provided by the failure of the Germans at Verdun, the +success of Brussilov, the apparent likelihood of Turkey's collapse +before the Russian advance in Asia Minor, and the promise of an +Entente offensive from Salonika. + +Turkey, indeed, had exhausted the credit she had won at Gallipoli and +Kut. She had not been able to convert the capture of Kut into an +advance down the Tigris; and on 19-20 May Gorringe had taken the key +to the Es Sinn position and cleared the south bank by an advance +towards the Shatt-el-Hai which would a month earlier have effected +Townshend's relief. Summer, indeed, procured a respite from British +attacks, but not from Russian progress in Asia Minor. On 15 July +Yudenitch captured Baiburt, and Erzinghian on the 25th (see Map, p. +182). A counter-offensive, which led to the temporary loss of Bitlis +and Mush, was nullified by a Russian thrust at Rayat on 25 August, and +Bitlis and Mush were recovered. Asia Minor seemed to be slipping from +Turkey's grasp, and her hold on Arabia was still more precarious. The +Arabs had never been patient subjects of the Sultan, and the +progressive vagaries of Young Turk infidels shocked the fidelity of +the orthodox people of Mecca. On 9 June its Grand Sherif proclaimed +Arab independence, occupied Jeddah, took Yambo, laid siege to Medina, +cut the Hedjaz railway, and was joined by tribes farther south who +captured Kandifah. An ineffectual Turkish effort to cope with this +rebellion postponed another projected attack on Egypt, and when it was +made in August it was crushed at Romani on the 3rd and 4th and the +Turkish retreat was turned into a rout. + +Greece remained the most dubious factor in the Balkan situation. There +was no doubt where her interests lay, for the only two allies of the +Central Empires were Turkey and Bulgaria, one the ancient tyrant, and +the other the modern rival, of the Greeks. But Greece was divided in +mind between her faith in a brilliant future and her fear of German +success. Her king, with his Prussian queen and marshal's baton, was +interested in the success of the German Army and of the principle of +royal autocracy; and his wishes made him doubt the prospects of her +foes. Apart from the Court and official influence, he was given a hold +on his people by the fame which had been fathered on him in the Balkan +Wars of 1912-13 and the fable that he was another Constantine the +Great. So far his doubts seemed to have more justification than the +faith of Venizelos; and Greece had in return for her security put up +with an unconstitutional government and the shame of her broken +Serbian treaty. But the strain which Constantine put upon the patience +of his people reached the breaking-point in 1916. In May, acting under +his orders, Greek troops admitted the Bulgars into Forts Rupel and +Dragotin, the keys of the Struma Valley. Popular protests were made at +Salonika, where Constantine's writ did not run; and the Entente +retorted with a pacific blockade in June. But in spite of a shuffle of +ministers, the Court held on its pro-German way and did whatever it +could, by secret communications with Berlin and facilities for German +submarines, to hamper the Entente preparations for an offensive from +Salonika. + +Early in August Sarrail, who was now commander-in-chief, ordered a +French attack on Doiran, and Doldjeli was taken. Probably this was no +more than a feint, for the real design was farther west, where the +Serbians under Prince Alexander were looking forward to Monastir. +Their offensive was anticipated by the Bulgars, who after some +pourparlers with Rumania, were induced or constrained by their German +masters to attack on the 17th. In the west Florina and Banitza were +seized on Greek territory, and on the east the whole of new Greece, +including Seres, Kavalla, and Demirhissar, as far as the Struma; the +Greek garrisons surrendered and were sent to Germany as the Kaiser's +guests (see Map, p. 151). + +This was the last straw for the better part of Greece. Venizelos +addressed a mass meeting of protest at Athens on the 27th, and on the +30th a revolution broke out at Salonika under Colonel Zimbrakakis, the +Venizelist deputy for Seres. Regiments were enrolled for service +against Bulgaria, and one of them set out for the front on 22 +September. On the 24th a similar movement swept over Crete; Mytilene, +Samos, and Chios and smaller Greek islands followed suit; and +Venizelos left Athens to form with Admiral Condouriotes and General +Danglis a provisional government of insurgent Greece at Salonika. It +was grudgingly recognized by the Entente and at once declared war on +Bulgaria. The mainland, south-west of Salonika, however, remained +under Constantine's control, and added to its hostility to the Entente +a murderous vendetta against the Venizelists. The militarist party +engaged in the curious campaign of forming leagues of reservists to +oppose a war which would involve their call to the colours, and a +succession of embarrassed phantoms was established in office to enable +the king to evade the demands of the Allies. They increased in +severity from the surrender of the fleet to that of the army's +batteries and then to its disbandment; but they were backed by +inadequate force and bungling diplomacy. On 1 December detachments of +Allied troops, landed at the Piraeus, were driven back with bloodshed, +and well into the new year the King continued to defy the Entente and +push Greece deeper into anarchy. On its side the Entente wished to +avoid a civil war, which would be almost worse than united enmity, +because it would preclude a naval blockade; but the principal cause of +its blunders was its own divided counsels. France and Great Britain +were stoutly Venizelist; but the Tsar had personal reasons for +dreading revolutions, particularly one against his cousin, and Italy +had no liking for that greater Greece which was represented by +Venizelos, might become a rival in the eastern Mediterranean, and +would certainly reclaim the Dodecanese from its Italian masters. + + The Rumanian Campaign + +Amid these scenes of Hellenic turmoil Sarrail strove to prosecute his +offensive in aid of Rumania. The die had been cast by the northern +kingdom on 27 August, and on the 28th Rumanian troops poured over the +Carpathian passes into Transylvania. This direction of Rumanian +strategy was severely criticized because it did not suit our Balkan +plans. Bulgaria was the foe we had in view, and Rumania, it was said, +should have launched her armies across the Danube in an effort to cut +the corridor and join hands with Sarrail. The criticism was unjust for +other reasons than the fact that in the treaty signed on 16 August it +was stipulated that the principal aim of Rumanian action should be in +the direction of Buda-Pesth. Sarrail's objective was Monastir, an +eccentric route to Sofia or the Danube, and the British troops along +the Struma were not cast for the part of an advance towards Rumania. +Bulgaria, moreover, was not yet Rumania's enemy, and had shown signs +of remaining neutral. Nor is a strategical motive ever an adequate +reason for making war; there must be a political justification, and +the grounds for Rumania's intervention was the injury suffered by the +Rumanian population in Hungary and Transylvania. She had no quarrel +with Bulgaria on the score of national rights; indeed, it was rather +she who ruled over Bulgars in the Dobrudja, and a Rumanian war could +only be defended in principle as a crusade to redeem the Rumania +irredenta north of the Carpathians. Even had it been her business to +pull the chestnuts out of the fire for the Entente, it might be urged +that she did her part in opening the door for a Russian attack on +Bulgaria. In 1915 the Russian reason for non-fulfilment of the threats +of punishment for Bulgarian treason to the Slav cause had been the +obstacle of Rumanian territory. That was now removed; and a Russian +advance through the Dobrudja would not only have saved Rumania from +Mackensen's envelopment, but have given effect to Russia's menace +against Bulgaria, facilitated Sarrail's operations, cut the corridor, +and isolated Turkey. Of all the strategic failures in the war none was +more tragic than this which was imposed upon Russia, partly by her +internal weakness and partly by her divergent ambitions in Asia Minor. +The Rumanian advance across the Carpathians would have been sound +enough strategically as well as politically, had it been properly +supported by her huge but unreliable neighbour. + +The Central Empires were preparing but unprepared, and the Rumanian +attack prospered brilliantly at first. Apart from the political +object, there was the strategic purpose of improving Rumania's +defences. Her own frontier--over 700 miles in length--was even worse +than Italy's because of its circular configuration; the enemy, with +the interior lines, military railways, and easier approaches to the +passes, could strike from the centre at any one or more of a dozen +alternative points and could shift his attack from one to another +flank in a fraction of the time it would take Rumania to transport her +forces to meet it. She had no lateral lines for her northern frontier, +and of the vertical lines only two went up to the passes. If, however, +she could reach the Maros, she would not only straighten her line and +shorten it by half, but deprive her enemies of their railway and other +strategic advantages. On that line she might hope to resist the +Teutonic counter-offensive and protect her territory, which would have +been left defenceless if her armies had gone south to invade Bulgaria. +For a fortnight all went well; the enemy troops in Transylvania were +few, inferior, and unreliable, and one Czech battalion went over to +the invaders. By 10 September Kronstadt and Orsova had been taken, +Hermannstadt evacuated, and Hatszeg was in danger; at points the +Rumanians had advanced some fifty miles, and the Maros line seemed +almost in their grasp. + +The appearance was delusive. Germany declared war on 28 August, Turkey +on the 30th, and Bulgaria on 1 September. But the real danger did not +come from Bulgaria, and it would have been at least as serious if +Rumania had invited attack by declaring war on Bulgaria herself, and +thus exceeding the requirements of the treaty of 16 August. It came +from Germany, and was as little foreseen by Rumania's critics as by +her Government. That Germany should have divisions to spare for +another Balkan campaign after Verdun, and while the battle of the +Somme and Brussilov's offensive were at their height, amazed the +Entente Powers, and was, indeed, quite inconsistent with the versions +of those campaigns to which they had given currency. Yet it was true: +besides an Alpine corps of Bavarians, Germany sent no fewer than eight +divisions to the Carpathians, and put Von Falkenhayn at their head. +She also sent a lavish supply of guns, munitions, and aeroplanes to +which Rumania had not the wherewithal to reply. The promised Russian +supplies fell short, eaten up perhaps by Brussilov's requirements, and +partly, it was said, surreptitiously withheld in the interest of +Stuermer's treacherous design of a separate peace with Germany at +Rumania's expense. The first blow was struck by Mackensen, whose rapid +concentration of the German forces south of the Danube had not been +disturbed by the promised offensive from Salonika. The treaty had +fixed it for 20 August, but Sarrail's plans were betrayed by two of +his officers and conveyed through a Spanish diplomatist to the enemy; +possibly this was the cause of the Bulgar attack on the 17th, and +Sarrail did not move until 7 September. He did, however, detain the +three Bulgarian armies on the Salonika front, and Mackensen only had +the help of the fourth, which had all along watched the Rumanian +frontier. + +On 1 September his forces invaded the Dobrudja and seized Dobritch, +Balchik, and Kavarna on the coast. On the 5th they captured Turtukai +on the Danube with an infantry division and a hundred guns. Silistria +farther down the river was thereupon evacuated, and on the 16th +Mackensen stood on the line Rasova-Kobadinu-Tuzla, a dozen miles from +the important railway running from Bukarest across the Tchernavoda +bridge to Constanza; Tchernavoda was the only bridge across the Danube +in the Balkans, and Constanza was Rumania's only Black Sea port. Here +the stipulated Russian three divisions, composed partly of Serbs who +had escaped into Rumania in 1915 and of Jugo-Slavs taken prisoners by +the Russians from the Austrian forces, came to Rumania's assistance; +and Mackensen was not only held, but driven back some fifteen miles. +Falkenhayn, north of the Carpathians, disposed of greater strength, +and during the latter half of September the Rumanians were steadily +driven out of their conquests. A great feat of the Bavarian Alpine +Corps was the capture on the 26th of the Roterturm Pass in the rear of +the First Rumanian Army; elsewhere the retreat was carried out with +skill, valour, and comparatively slight losses, and Falkenhayn found +it no easy task to break the Carpathian barrier despite the advantages +he possessed in every kind of equipment and in the experience of his +men. But for the paralysis which overcame the Russian effort in the +Carpathians he would have had the tables turned upon him, for no +advance would have been possible against the Rumanian frontier had his +flank been seriously threatened by the Russians from Jablonitza to the +Borgo. Indeed, with a little more energy on the part of the Russian +Government the Central Empires might have encountered in Transylvania +a greater disaster than had yet befallen them. The Russian excuse was +that their liabilities to Rumania involved an awkward extension of +their front, yet it was Russia which had put most pressure on Rumania +to intervene; and no account was taken of the huge extension of the +Teutonic front achieved by that intervention, nor of the fate which +Russia might have suffered if Falkenhayn and Mackensen had +concentrated in the north the forces they led against Rumania. The +relief which Russia secured thereby almost seems to support the +sinister view of Stuermer's policy. + +It was not until 10 October that the northern Rumanian armies were +forced back to the Moldavian border; and all Falkenhayn's efforts to +debouch from the central passes towards Bukarest were defeated by +Rumanian valour. Nor was he more successful against Moldavia, and +November arrived with its promise of snow to block the mountain-routes +before he had advanced more than four miles into Rumanian territory. +Mackensen, too, was held up in the Dobrudja, and a month's inactivity +was only relieved by rival raids across the Danube. But by 20 October +he had received reinforcements in the shape of two Turkish divisions +and one German. The Russo-Rumanian line was broken, and on the 21st +the railway between Constanza and Tchernavoda. Constanza was abandoned +on the 22nd, its stores of oil and wheat being burned, and on the 25th +a span of the great bridge at Tchernavoda was blown up by the +retreating Rumanians, while the Russians hastily withdrew thirty-five +miles to Babadagh. Here on 1 November Sakharov arrived to take the +command with several new divisions, for Alexeiev did his best to +redeem the failings of his Government, and a counter-offensive was +begun. On the 9th Sakharov recaptured Hirsova, and by the 15th he had +advanced to within seven miles of Mackensen's lines defending the +Constanza railway. But he was too late, for the Rumanian defence which +had held north and south in the central zone was crumbling fast in the +western salient. + +Having failed along the direct route to Bukarest, Falkenhayn now +concentrated his efforts on the passes west of the Törzburg; but he +had little success in October. Two columns which crossed the mountains +east of the Roterturm Pass and made for Salatrucul were flung back +with heavy losses on the 18th, and Falkenhayn transferred his main +attack to the Vulcan Pass still farther west. But he kept up his +pressure from the Roterturm down the Aluta valley in order to detain +there the Rumanian reinforcements which the extension of Lechitsky's +line into Moldavia had released for service in the West; and in the +first week of November his troops were threatening Rymnik. But south +of the Vulcan they had come to grief at Targul Jiu, where on 27 +October General Dragalina, with inferior numbers and artillery, won +the most brilliant success of the campaign. Unfortunately he died of +his wounds on 9 November, and with fresh reinforcements and guns the +Germans under Falkenhayn's eyes resumed their advance on the 10th. +Their progress was stubbornly contested, but on the 21st they entered +Craiova on the main Rumanian railway, thus cutting off the western +part of Rumania from the capital and isolating the army defending +Orsova and Turnu Severin. Presently it was surrounded, but for nearly +three weeks of gallant effort and romantic adventure it eluded its +fate and only surrendered at Caracalu on 7 December after the fall of +Bukarest. + +Craiova was bad enough, but almost worse was to follow; for on 23 +November Mackensen succeeded in forcing the passage of the Danube +beween Samovit and Sistovo, and by the 27th he effected a junction +with Falkenhayn's armies which had swung east and were now across the +Aluta advancing on Bukarest. The Rumanians' flanks were thus both +turned by the crossing of the mountain passes and of the Danube, and +they had no option but a rapid retreat to a line where those flanks +held firm. That line did not cover the capital, and its elaborate +forts would have been merely a trap for the Rumanian army. +Nevertheless, a brave and skilful attempt was made to save it by a +manoeuvre battle, and hopes were entertained in allied countries that +Rumania was about to repeat the success of the Marne. The success +could only come later when Averescu had flanks as secure as Joffre's. +Still a wedge was for the moment driven between Mackensen and +Falkenhayn's centre, and the movement might have succeeded had the +reserves been up to time. Bukarest fell on the 5th, and for the rest +of the year the Germans continued their progress eastwards until the +Russo-Rumanian forces were able to stand on a line formed by the +Danube, the Sereth, and the Putna ascending to the Oitos Pass. +Sakharov had been forced to withdraw from the Dobrudja, and all that +was left of Rumania was its Moldavian province, less than one-third of +the kingdom, with its capital near the Russian frontier at Jassy. + +Sarrail's campaign in the south provided inadequate compensation. The +part assigned to the British contingents under General Milne, which +had taken over the front from the Vardar eastwards past Doiran and +down the Struma to the sea, was the somewhat thankless one of pinning +the Bulgars to that sector and preventing them from reinforcing the +threatened line in the west. The various British attacks on villages +east of the Struma, such as Nevolien, Jenikoi, Prosenik, and +Barakli-Djuma, were thus merely raids, and the ground gained was soon +evacuated for tactical or sanitary reasons. The serious offensive was +towards Monastir, and the lion's part was played by the Serbian army +with assistance from the French and a moderate Russian contingent; +Italians from Avlona also fought occasionally. The Bulgarian offensive +from Monastir in August had penetrated far into Greek territory, +patrols even reaching Kailar, and it threatened, indeed, to turn +Sarrail's left wing by an advance to the shores of the Gulf of +Salonika when Sarrail began his attack on 7 September. The first +serious fighting took place to the west of Lake Ostrovo, where on the +14th the Serbians captured Ekshisu. On the 20th they stormed Mount +Kaymakchalan and recovered a footing on Serbian territory, while the +French and Russians drove the Bulgars out of Florina. On the 29th, +after furious Bulgarian counter-attacks, the Serbian general Mishitch +descended the mountains towards the bend of the Tcherna river, and +turning the left flank of the Bulgar-Germanic army forced it back to +the lines at Kenali beyond the Greek frontier. These had been selected +by Mackensen and strongly fortified, and a frontal attack by the +French and Russians on 14 October broke down (see Map, p. 151). + +Better success attended the Serbian efforts to turn the enemy flank. +By 5 October they had secured the crossing of the Tcherna at Brod, and +slowly they pushed across it. Bad weather delayed them for a month, +but by 15 November Mishitch had mastered the river bend from Iven to +Bukri; and, thus outflanked on their left, the enemy yielded to the +Franco-Russian attacks on Kenali and retreated to the Bistritza, four +miles from Monastir. On the 16th and 17th the Serbians again attacked +on the mountains in the Tcherna bend, carried the Bulgar positions, +and by the 19th had reached Dobromir and Makovo whence they threatened +the line of retreat from Monastir to Prilep. On that day the Germans +and Bulgars moved out of and the Allies into Monastir. Their position +was further improved before the end of the year, and it is said that +had Mishitch been allowed the use of reserves, Prilep would also have +fallen and Monastir been spared the annoying bombardment which it +suffered at intervals for nearly two years. For its capture marked the +limit of Entente success in that sphere until the closing months of +the war. The campaign had not been fruitless, for Greece had been +saved as a brand from the burning, and presently did her part in the +Allied cause. But the Balkan corridor had been expanded by the +Rumanian disaster into a solid block, and revolution in Russia soon +put an end to all threats from the north. The hopes that were built on +Salonika were destined to remain in abeyance until events in September +1918 justified the faith of those who refused to abandon the Balkans. + +The Rumanian disaster was, however, a severe trial to the confidence +and the patience of public opinion. Some critics held that the war had +been lost in that campaign; but it was a worthier sentiment than +pessimism that gave edge to popular feeling against the Government. +Official optimism had not concealed the indecisiveness of the Somme, +and few had the vision to discern the deferred dividends which accrued +as a bonus to other ministers in the spring. But disappointment with +the achievements on the Somme was not so bitter as resentment at the +failure in Rumania. Was friendship with the Entente doomed always to +be fatal to little peoples? One more trusting nation had gone the way +of Belgium, Serbia, and Montenegro, and the blow to our self-respect +was keenly felt. The public had little knowledge of the real +responsibility, but where knowledge is rare suspicion is rife; and a +vicarious victim is always required when the actual culprit is out of +reach. Englishmen could exact no responsibility for whatever befell in +the war except from their own responsible Government; and few paused +to reflect that if Russia could not protect her immediate neighbour, +England and France could not save a State from which they were +completely cut off both by land and sea. Nor was it open for those who +knew the facts to make public comment on the conduct of an ally, and +compulsory silence on the part of truth made all the more audible the +malicious tongue of slander. Belgium may have been our affair, but the +Balkans were that of Russia; and not the wildest of Jingoes before the +war had dreamt of British forces protecting Rumania. It was indeed the +very distance of the danger that induced and enabled us to indulge in +recrimination against the Government; for when eighteen months later a +greater and far more preventable disaster threatened us nearer home, +public sense rose superior to the temptation and temper of 1916, and +instead of attacking ministers the nation bent its undivided and +uncomplaining energies to the task of supporting and helping them out +of their dilemma. + +In the autumn of the Rumanian reverse there was no peril so imminent +in the West as to impose unity upon public opinion, the press, or +aspiring politicians. The advance on the Somme had been slow, but it +was the Germans who were in retreat; the German Navy had been +demoralized at Jutland; and Germany's only retaliation had been the +judicial murder of Captain Fryatt on 27 July on a charge of having +defended himself against a submarine. Nine-tenths of Germany's last +and greatest colony had been overrun, and German forces oversea +reduced to hiding in unhealthy swamps in a corner of East Africa; +while across the Sinai desert and up the banks of the Tigris were +creeping those railways which were to lead to the conquest of Syria +and Mesopotamia. Two German raids in the dark on the Channel flotilla +and the recrudescence of German submarine activity had, indeed, +provoked some criticism of the Admiralty, and the substitution of +Jellicoe for Sir Henry Jackson as First Sea Lord had been already +decided. But the menace of the Zeppelins, which had earlier stirred +indignation in breasts unmoved by dangers at the front, had been met +when on 2 and 23 September, 1 October, and 27 November successive +raiders were destroyed with all their crews by incendiary bullets from +aeroplanes; and the Zeppelin had ceased to worry the public mind. The +aircraft policy of the Government had been vindicated by a judicial +committee in the summer, and the German mechanical superiority in the +air which was foreshadowed by the advent of the Fokker had not +survived the subsequent improvements in British construction; while +the exploits of Captain Ball put those of every German airman into the +shade. + +Impatience and pinpricks were, indeed, the causes of popular +irritation, rather than any such crisis as those of the autumn of 1914 +or the spring of 1918. Such irritants are, however, apt to provoke +more resentment and provide more scope for recrimination than the +stunning blows of national disaster; and in the autumn of 1916 the +people felt less need of restraint than in the more perilous moments +of the war. The discontent was not due to any particular causes, nor +was it confined to any particular country. It was a malaise produced +by the fact that the war was lasting longer and costing more than +people had expected, and by popular reluctance to believe that Britons +could not have beaten the Germans sooner but for the feebleness of +their leaders. The public needed a stimulant other than that which +mere prudence could provide; and catch-penny journals, having hunted +in vain for a dictator, found at least a victim in the Cabinet of +twenty-three. It was not an ideal body for prompt decision, and its +chief seemed almost as slow at times to take action that was necessary +as he was to commit the irretrievable blunders urged on him by his +journalistic mentors, who thought the wisdom of a step immaterial +provided it was taken at once. He had other qualities which +disqualified him for popular favour in a time of popular passion. He +was not emotional, and did not respond to the varying moods of the +hour with the versatility demanded by the experts in daily sensation. +He belonged to an older school of politicians who suffered, like our +armies in the field, from the newer and possibly more scientific +methods of their foes. He was scrupulous in his observance of accepted +rules of conduct, and the charge which was pressed against him most +was that of excessive loyalty. He did not intrigue against his +colleagues for newspaper support, nor publicly criticize his +Government's commanders in the field. He put what success his Cabinet +achieved to its common credit, and took the chief responsibility for +its failures himself. He was staid in adversity but slow in +advertisement, and he did not figure in the cinema. + +Mr. Lloyd George was the antithesis of his former leader, a Celt of +the Celts, with all their amazing emotion, versatility, and intuition. +There is a true story, which has even found its way into French +literature, of how the Welshmen were stirred to defeat an +all-conquering New Zealand football team by the strains of the "Land +of my Fathers." That was the sort of tonic the British public found in +Mr. Lloyd George, and it would not have been so much to their taste at +a less emotional time. He was the very embodiment of an emotion that +was not overburdened with scruples, and of an impulse which hardly +troubled to think. He imported the temperament and the methods of the +religious revivalist into the practice of politics, and he enlisted +strange allies when he found a vehicle for his patriotic fervour in +the language of the prize-ring. He prided himself on his aptitude for +political strategy, and professed a sympathy with the mind of the man +in the street which was keener even than that of Lord Northcliffe. His +views were always short-sighted, and he had the most superficial +knowledge of the deeper problems of war and politics. Before the war +broke out he had complained that we were building Dreadnoughts against +a phantom; in August 1914 he estimated our daily expenditure of +three-quarters of a million as a diminishing figure; in the following +April he was as much in the dark as Mr. Asquith himself about +munitions, and denied that conscription would assist our success in +the war. According to one of his colleagues, he was the only member of +his Cabinet who favoured British participation in the Pacifist +Conference of Stockholm; in the November before the great German +offensive in the West he quoted with approval a plea for concentration +at Laibach; and the views he expressed on the Salonika expedition +varied with the fortunes of war and the fluctuations of popular +favour. His remark after the armistice that we had achieved nothing in +the time of his predecessor except two defeats at the hands of the +Turks, was an epitome of his own intellectual limitations; and the +intensity of his convictions was discounted by the infirmity of his +principles. + +There were, however, substantial reasons for the supplanting of Mr. +Asquith by Mr. Lloyd George. Political failings like these and lapses +like the Marconi scandal might well be forgiven the man who could get +on with the war, or at least persuade the people of its progress. The +man in the street really believed that after the change of government +the war would soon be won, and subscribed with enthusiasm to a +"victory" loan calculated to finance a triumph in eight months. Cooler +observers discerned a solid advantage in a Prime Minister who could +minister at once to the public demands in the rival spheres of speech +and action, who could appease with words the popular clamour for the +moon and yet be guided by others into the mundane paths of practical +common sense. There was at the moment an abnormal dislocation between +public opinion and actual possibilities. The harsh amalgam of +democratic politics and war seemed to demand an adaptable Premier; he +was ex-officio and par excellence the pivotal man, and circumstances +required a liberal amount of lubrication and elasticity to ease the +friction and avert a fracture. + +The genesis of the movement which led to the Cabinet crisis of the +first week in December remains obscure, and the transference of power +was effected within the camarilla itself without so much as a +reference to the House of Commons and still less to the electorate. +The old system of Cabinet Government and collective responsibility +disappeared, and while ministers multiplied until they numbered +ninety, there was little connexion or cohesion between the endless +departments. They were all subject, however, to the control of the new +War Cabinet, which soon consisted, like the old War Committee, of +seven members. The old body of twenty-three was reduced to less than a +third its size for the purposes of supreme direction and deliberation, +and increased to twice its numbers for those of departmental +execution. The higher functions were still reserved for the +much-abused politicians; three of them had been members of the old War +Committee, and all of them, with the exception of General Smuts who +was recruited in June, had been members of the old Cabinet. So-called +business men were, however, admitted to departmental duties, though +the most striking successes were achieved by two ministers of academic +training, Mr. H. A. L. Fisher, President of the Board of Education, +and Mr. R. E. Prothero, President of the Board of Agriculture. Both +Navy and Army were entrusted to civilians for political reasons, +though one retired in July 1917, when the submarine campaign had +reached its zenith, and the other as a result of the German offensive +in March 1918. Deliberation had been the foible of the Asquith regime; +the characteristic of his successor's was the speed of its +versatility. The War Cabinet's agenda resembled nothing so much as a +railway time-table with ten minutes allowed on an average for the +decision of each supremely important question reserved for its +discussion; and departmental changes recurred with a rapidity which +was reminiscent of French governments in times of peace. + +These bureaucratic revolutions were, however, faithful reflections of +the restlessness which overcame peoples in all belligerent countries +as the war lengthened and produced its logical trend towards anarchy; +for civilization cannot resist an unlimited strain put on it by its +negation, and there were symptoms of social dissolution throughout the +world in the later stages of the war. In Germany they were suppressed +for the time by a powerful government and delusions fostered by the +success of the Rumanian campaign; and the nation was stirred to a +levée-en-masse for national service, supplemented by labour or slave +raids in the occupied territories. But even in Germany the Chancellor +spoke of the need of peace, and was tottering to his fall. A greater +ruin was creeping towards the Russian Government, and in France a +series of stormy secret sessions in the Chamber left M. Briand with +the task of reconstructing his Government and reorganizing the high +command. Joffre was succeeded by Nivelle, and Briand himself was +driven from office four months later. In Austria a more violent fate +overtook the Premier, Count Sturgkh, who was murdered on 27 October, +and his successor Koerber was compelled to resign on 13 December. +Three weeks earlier the old Emperor Francis Joseph, who had ascended +the throne in the midst of the revolutions of 1848, passed away in +time to escape the greater desolation which threatened his empire. His +successor and great-nephew Charles could give no better security to +his ministries. Koerber was followed by Spitzmueller, and he, after a +few days by Clam-Martinitz, a Bohemian noble. Tisza's henchman Count +Burian gave way as Foreign Minister to the anti-Magyar Czernin, though +Tisza himself maintained his despotic sway in Hungary until his murder +in 1918. + +This holocaust of European reputations did not extend across the +Atlantic to the neutral United States, where President Wilson, who had +only been chosen by a minority vote owing to the split between Taft +and Roosevelt in 1912, secured re-election by a narrow majority in a +straight fight with Mr. Hughes, the Republican candidate. Discerning +critics rejoiced at the issue of the contest; for apart from the +merits of the candidates, nothing could have been worse than a +practical interregnum during the coming crisis in the history of the +United States and of the world. Yet an interregnum there would have +been, if Mr. Wilson had been defeated; for he would still by the +American Constitution have remained in office till March, and as the +head of a vanquished party he would have had no moral authority to +deal with the German pleas for peace or their unrestricted campaign of +submarine war. The peace manoeuvre began with a letter which the +Kaiser wrote to his Chancellor at the end of October; it was made +public by the latter's speech in the Reichstag on 12 December. The +Allies were simply invited in the interests of humanity to discuss +terms at a conference with their conquering but magnanimous foe. On +the 18th President Wilson addressed an independent inquiry about their +aims to both groups of belligerents. The Allies replied to Germany on +the 30th and to President Wilson on 10 January, intimating that there +could be no peace without the reparation, restitution, and guarantees +which Germany was as yet determined to refuse. + +The attitude of the Allies astonished no one but the Germans. On 11 +January their Government issued a note to neutrals, and on the 12th +the Kaiser a proclamation to his people. Mr. Balfour also discussed +the situation in a persuasive dispatch to the United States. But the +most illuminating comment was made in private and came from humbler +quarters. A party of interned German officers in the Engadine were +eagerly awaiting the news of the Allied reply to the German offer. +When it arrived they could not conceal their amazement and chagrin; +some of them even burst into tears, and one remarked jetzt ist alles +verloren. While the Government of Great Britain was being dismissed +for having accomplished nothing in the war, intelligent Germans were +bemoaning that all was lost. + + + CHAPTER XIV + + THE TURN OF THE TIDE + +The German presentiment of disaster was justified by events in the +spring of 1917, and the new British Government seemed to have come in +on a flowing tide. In spite of the gloomy picture of the situation +which Mr. Lloyd George had drawn for his chief in December, confidence +in a speedy victory animated the appeal of his ministry for further +financial support; and in most of the spheres of war the first quarter +of 1917 saw the reaping of harvests sown by other hands. The deferred +dividends on the Somme campaign were paid, and the Germans fell back +from hundreds of square miles of French territory. Mesopotamia was +conquered as the result of the patient labours of Sir Charles Monro +and the brilliant strategy of Sir Stanley Maude, who had been +appointed in August 1916. The meagre German holding in East Africa was +further reduced; and even distressful Rumania put a stop to the German +advance. + +Security for the Rumanian forces could not, however, be found short of +the Sereth, which would give them a straight line with the Russian +frontier protected by the impassable delta of the Danube on their +left, and a flank in the Carpathians on their right; and from the fall +of Bukarest to the end of December Averescu the Rumanian commander, +and Presan his chief of staff, retreated to this line fighting +rearguard battles on the way. The most stubborn of these was a four +days' conflict at Rimnic Sarat in the centre on 22-26 December, after +which Mackensen entered the town on the 27th. Sakharov conformed to +this retreat in the Dobrudja; on 4 January Macin, the last place east +and south of the Danube, was evacuated, and on the 5th Braila on the +opposite bank south of the Sereth and Danube confluence. On the 23rd +the Bulgarians, taking advantage of the unprecedented frost, crossed +the marshes at Tulcea, but were annihilated by the Rumanians on the +northern bank, and remained content for the rest with the defensive. +The same wintry conditions put an end to fighting at the other +extremity of the line in the Carpathian passes, but in the centre +Mackensen seized Focsani on the 8th and occupied the bank of the +Sereth. That line had originally been fortified against the Russians, +and it faced in the wrong direction; but the position was strong, and +when on the 19th Mackensen sought to force it he was repulsed in a +costly encounter. Russian reinforcements which might have saved +Wallachia came in time to protect Moldavia; and the war-worn Rumanian +army was retired to refit, the defence of the Sereth being left to the +Russians. The Germans made the most of their booty in Wallachia, which +suffered the fate of Belgium and of Serbia; though the stores of grain +had been burnt and the Rumanian oil-wells put out of action for many +months. In one respect Rumania was less fortunate than the other +little nations: in his fanatical hatred of Russia, Carp rejoiced in +her ally's defeat--albeit that country was his own--and Marghiloman +remained in Bukarest to curry favour with its conquerors, and +ultimately to become for a brief and discreditable period the Premier +whom the Germans imposed on Rumania after the Treaty of Bukarest. +Meanwhile the patriotic parties rallied round the ministry at Jassy +and formed a Coalition Government. + +The defence of Rumania now seemed to occupy all the energy Russia +could spare from her domestic preoccupations. In January there was a +sound strategical effort to divert German attention from the south by +a counter-offensive from Riga, and an advance of some four miles was +made to Kalnzem. But the Germans soon recovered most of the ground; +and elsewhere the front was quiescent. There was no repetition of the +great blow at Erzerum of January 1916, and in Persia Baratov's small +but adventurous force was driven back by the Turks from Khanikin to +Hamadan, and the resistance to Turco-Teutonic invasion and intrigue +was left more and more to British effort. Co-operation seemed +impossible to synchronize in the East; one partner retreated whenever +the other advanced. While therefore the Russians halted in Asia Minor +and withdrew in Persia, Sir Stanley Maude was gathering his forces for +a spring on Baghdad. Gorringe had already in May 1916 advanced some +way up the right bank of the Tigris towards Kut; but summer forbade +active operations, and Maude had been duly impressed by the force +which previous experiences in Mesopotamia had given to the adage about +more haste and less speed. The autumn was spent in careful study and +preparation, which would preclude a repetition of the retreat from +Ctesiphon and the fall of Kut (see Map, p. 177). + +By 12 December he was ready to attack. The Turks still held the +Sanna-i-Yat positions on the left bank of the Tigris, but on the right +they had been pushed back to a line running across the angle from the +Tigris at Magasis towards its southern tributary the Shatt-el-Hai. The +Turks under their German taskmasters had not been idle, and this +angle, as well as the extension of the Turkish line along the +Shatt-el-Hai and their secondary defences on the right bank of the +Tigris above Kut, had been well protected by trenches and wire +entanglements. The breaking down of these obstacles required stubborn +fighting as well as skilful tactics, but the only alternative was to +penetrate the Sanna-i-Yat positions and they had proved impregnable in +the spring. A serious attempt had, however, to be made at Sanna-i-Yat +in order to detain there a serious Turkish force; and while Marshall +pushed his way through on the right bank, Cobbe was kept hammering on +the left. On the 13th crossings of the Shatt-el-Hai were effected at +Atab and Basrugiyeh some eight miles from Kut, and Marshall advanced +on both banks to Kalah-Hadji-Fahan. On the 18th he reached a point on +the Tigris just below Kut in the Khadairi bend. Rain and floods then +impeded our advance for a month, but the Khadairi bend was gradually +cleared of the Turks, and most of their positions in the angle of the +Tigris and Shatt-el-Hai were taken. On 10 February Marshall pushed on +beyond the Shatt-el-Hai, reached the right bank of the Tigris above +the Shumran bend, and by the 16th forced the Turks in the Dahra bend +across the river. + +The Turks had now been driven off the right bank below, in front of, +and far above Kut, but they held the left bank as far down as +Sanna-i-Yat, and Maude's task was to find a way across. He chose the +Shumran bend, but diverted the attention of the Turks by thrusting at +Sanna-i-Yat from 17 to 22 February. On the 22nd he also made feints to +cross at Magasis and Kut, but on the 23rd the real attack was made at +Shumran. Troops were ferried across and a bridge built before evening, +and on the 24th the Turks were driven back on to their lines of +communication between Baghdad and Kut. Meanwhile Cobbe had forced six +enemy lines at Sanna-i-Yat and then found the remainder deserted. The +Turks were in full retreat towards Baghdad, and Cobbe entered Kut +unopposed. The pursuit was taken up by Marshall, who reached Azizieh +in four days. There he halted till 5 March to prepare for his final +advance. On the 6th he passed deserted trenches at Ctesiphon, and on +the 7th reached the Diala. For two days the Turks disputed the +passage, but a force, transported to the right bank of the Tigris, +enfiladed their position on the Diala and captured their trenches at +Shawa Khan on the 9th. Our forces on both sides of the river entered +Baghdad on the 11th, thus concluding a model campaign which reflected +glory alike on the British and Indian troops engaged and on their +commanders, and raised British prestige in the East higher than it had +been before the fall of Kut. + +The work of our armies in Egypt was less sensational, but it was +making solid progress and laying firm foundations during the autumn of +1916. The Grand Sherif of Mecca was proclaimed king of the Hedjaz, and +he was a thorn in the side of the Turks. Their defeat at Romani had +been followed by the steady construction of a railway eastward across +the desert from Kantara, and on 20 December El Arish was captured, +while on the 23rd the Turks who had fled south-east to Magdhaba were +there surrounded and forced to surrender. The success was repeated at +Rafa on the Palestine frontier a fortnight later, and presently the +whole Sinai peninsula was cleared of the enemy forces (see Map, p. +352). Early in February a final blow was struck on the western +frontiers of Egypt at the Senussi, and Egypt was converted from an +enemy objective into a fruitful basis of operations against the +Turkish Empire. Whatever might be said for frontal attacks in the west +of Europe, ways round were proved to be the shortest in the East, and +the failure of the direct blow at Turkey's heart in the Dardanelles +was redeemed by success along the circuitous routes through Egypt and +Mesopotamia. + +Among the other forgotten achievements of the first two and a half +years of the war was the completion, chiefly by British arms, of the +establishment in the African continent of Entente and mainly British +supremacy. For even before the Turks had been driven from the +frontiers of Egypt the Germans had been expelled from all the +important parts of East Africa. The progress had been slow and not +very creditable to our earlier efforts, which failed through an +underestimate of the German strength, and particularly of the skill +and resource of the German commander Von Lettow-Vorbeck. But it was +sound as well as inevitable strategy to make sure of what we had by +suppressing rebellion in the South African Union and then securing its +frontiers by the conquest of its German neighbour before proceeding to +concentrate forces for an offensive against an isolated German +stronghold which could not threaten any essential interest nor affect +the main struggle for victory in the war. The case against divergent +operations was strongest of all against the East African campaign; and +it would have been criminal folly for the sake of amour propre or +imperial expansion to diminish our safeguards against a German victory +in the West, or weaken the defence of our threatened communications +with Egypt and India. Von Lettow-Vorbeck had forces enough to hold his +own, but he never even attempted the conquest of British East Africa +or the Belgian Congo, and the most nervous anticipation could not +picture him as a serious danger to other dominions. + + The Conquest Of East Africa + +He was therefore left very much to himself until the South African +Union, having set its own house in order and secured its frontiers by +expelling German rule from the southern part of the continent, was +able to lend its military power and its generalship to the task of +reducing the Germans in East Africa. It was formidable enough, not so +much from the opposition of man as because of the obstacles nature +placed in the way. A tropical climate, torrential rains which played +havoc with transport, the tzetze-fly which slew beasts of burden in +hundreds of thousands, impenetrable forests, impassable swamps, +immense mountain masses, and an area almost as large as Central +Europe, provided a problem as vast as that of the great Boer War, and +more difficult of solution but for the fact that Von Lettow-Vorbeck's +forces could not be compared with those of our past antagonists and +present allies. Still they were far more dangerous than any we had +encountered in our normal wars against native races; for they had been +trained by German officers, experts with machine guns and the other +scientific equipment of civilized conflict; and three ships at least +had eluded the blockade and relieved Von Lettow-Vorbeck's most +pressing need of munitions; and he had selected his coloured troops +from the hardiest and most bellicose of the native tribes. With their +help he had kept the German colony intact until 1916, and even held at +Taveta an angle of British East Africa. + +Smith-Dorrien had been selected for the command in the autumn of 1915, +but ill-health prevented him from taking it up, and in February 1916 +General Smuts arrived at Mombasa to conduct the campaign. Experience +had made us shy of enforced landings from the sea; and rejecting the +idea of seizing as bases Tanga or Dar-es-Salaam, which would have +given him shorter lines of communication with the Cape, Smuts adopted +the more circuitous route by the railway from Mombasa, with the design +of forcing the gap below Kilimanjaro and driving the Germans +southwards, while British and Belgian subsidiary forces impinged upon +the enemy's flank from the Lakes, the Congo State, and Nyasa in the +west. His advance began on 5 March and Taveta was occupied on the +10th. A frontal attack on the pass between Kilimanjaro and the Pare +mountains savoured rather of British than Boer methods, and Smuts +preferred to send Van Deventer round the north of Kilimanjaro to turn +the German position from Longido and cut off their escape. Van +Deventer was successful, and at Moschi blocked the Germans' retreat +westwards; they managed, however, to slip away south-eastwards by Lake +Jipe, but the Kilimanjaro massif had been cleared, and Smuts +established his headquarters at Moschi. His force was now arranged in +three divisions, the first under Hoskins, the second under Van +Deventer, and the third under Brits; the first consisted of British +and Indian troops, the two others of South African. The plan was to +strike with the second division from Moschi towards Kondoa Irangi and +thence at the German central railway, while the first and third +cleared the Pare and Usambara mountains and the coast, and then +marched on Handeni and threatened the central railway on a parallel +line to Van Deventer's attack. Van Deventer's second division marched +with almost incredible speed. He started from Aruscha on 1 April, and +by the 19th had driven the Germans from Kondoa Irangi, more than a +hundred miles away. In May and June the other divisions cleared the +Pave and Usambara mountains, reached Handeni and Kangata, and with +naval assistance occupied Tanga, Pangani, Sadani Bay, and Bagamoyo in +July and August almost without opposition. Von Lettow-Vorbeck had +transferred the bulk of his troops south and then westwards up the +central railway to bar Van Deventer's progress; and in the process he +had been forced to abandon the north-eastern quarter of the colony. No +small part of the north-western province of Ruanda had been lost as +well: the Belgians had occupied Kigali and the British had driven the +Germans from their shore of Lake Victoria Nyanza. + +The rapidity and divergence of these attacks, which were admirably +timed, distracted Von Lettow-Vorbeck's strategy, and in spite of his +interior lines he was unable to offer successful resistance. No sooner +did he send troops to bar Smuts' advance from Kangata into the Nguru +hills than Van Deventer struck west, south, and south-east from Kondoa +Irangi. To the west he took Singida, thus getting behind the Germans +on Lake Tanganyika; to the south and south-east he got astride the +central railway by 14 July and pushed down it eastwards to Kilossa, +which he reached on 22 August. He was now almost due south the Nguru +hills, whence Smuts, attacking from the north, had driven the Germans +before the middle of August. This converging advance made Mrogoro the +only line of retreat, and Smuts planned a complicated outflanking +movement to intercept it. They escaped by a track unknown to our +forces on the 26th, and prepared to stand south of the central railway +in the Ulunguru hills. Smuts was too quick for them, but they repelled +a badly-timed attack at Kissaki on 6 September. Their retreat had, +however, made the coast untenable: on 3 September the capital +Dar-es-Salaam surrendered, and all the remaining ports before the end +of the month. Van Deventer, too, had pressed south to the Ruaha on the +10th, the Belgians occupied Tabora on the 19th, and General Northey, +advancing from Nyasa in the south-west, had reached Iringa before the +end of August, while some Portuguese troops crossed the Rovuma river, +the frontier between German East Africa and Mozambique, and made a +pretence of marching north. By the end of September the great German +colony had been conquered save for the unhealthy south-eastern corner, +where only the Mahenge plateau provided a decent habitation for white +troops. + +The campaign had, however, tried the health and endurance of our +forces, and three months' respite was now taken for recuperation and +reinforcement before the final task of eradicating the Germans from +the remnants of their territory. The great difficulty was that, apart +from the Mahenge plateau, they were not rooted to any spot, and their +elusiveness was illustrated by the fact that the Tabora garrison +evaded the encircling forces and joined Von Lettow-Vorbeck at Mahenge. +The campaign reopened on 1 January 1917, and consisted of a converging +attack on Mahenge by Hoskins from Kilwa on the coast, by Northey from +Lupembe, by Van Deventer from Iringa, and by Beves and subsidiary +forces from north of the Rufigi. Smuts was summoned on the 29th to +England to take part in the imperial conference, and Hoskins succeeded +to the chief command. Unprecedented rains impeded our operations; +progress became slow, and remained so after Van Deventer replaced +Hoskins at the end of May. Not till October was Mahenge occupied by +the Belgians. On 26 November half of the German forces under Von +Lettow-Vorbeck's lieutenant Tafel were forced to surrender between +Mahenge and the Rovuma; but Von Lettow himself escaped across the +frontier with sufficient troops to terrorize the Portuguese and +maintain himself in their territory until the end of the war. + +The victor in the East African campaign came in 1917 to a Europe where +victory seemed also on the way, for the early spring saw the only +German retreat of moment until the war was near its end. The battles +of the previous September had convinced the Germans that their line +upon the Somme was barely tenable, and they had employed the winter +pause to perfect the shorter and better line upon which they had begun +to work at Michaelmas. Possibly it was to frustrate these preparations +that Haig reopened his campaign so early as he did. On 11 January, the +day on which the Allies answered President Wilson's note, British +troops began to nibble at the point of the salient on the Ancre which +had been created by the battle of the Somme. It was a modest sort of +offensive; for it was no part of the Allies' combined plan of +operations, which had been settled in conference during November, to +launch a first-class attack across the devastated battlefield of the +Somme. That wasted area was as effective a barrier as a chain of Alps +to military pressure, and the Germans were thus left free to withdraw +from their salient without much risk of disaster. They did not +contemplate any serious stand, and until the Allies were ready to +strike at the flanks of their position the Germans could afford to +retreat at a pace which was not seriously hustled by our advance. They +showed as much promptitude, foresight, and skill in retirement as they +had done in their advance; they suffered few casualties and had no +appreciable loss in guns or prisoners. + +The details of the movement were therefore of little moment, and owed +the attention they attracted to the habit of measuring progress in war +by miles marked on a map. It was the end of January before the +preliminary operation of clearing the Beaumont-Hamel spur was +completed, and the apparently substantial advance began with the fall +of Grandcourt on 7 February. A more ambitious attack on Miraumont from +the south of the Ancre was somewhat disconcerted on the 17th by a +German bombardment of our troops as they assembled, although the night +was dark and misty; for even in France the Germans found spies to work +for them, and a number of executions for treachery failed to prevent +knowledge of our plans from occasionally reaching the enemy. A week +later the German retreat extended, and Warlencourt, Pys, Miraumont, +and Serre were evacuated. Again the Germans stopped for a time to +breathe, and it was not till 10 March that Irles, a bare mile from +Miraumont, was abandoned. By that time the Germans had only rearguards +and patrols left either north or south of the Somme, and when on the +17th a general Allied advance was ordered it encountered little +resistance. The area of the German withdrawal had spread over a front +of a hundred miles from Arras in the north to Soissons in the south. +On that day British troops occupied Bapaume, while the French, whose +line we had taken over as far as the river Avre, proceeded to liberate +scores of villages between it and the Aisne. On that day, too, by one +of the apparent illogicalities of French politics, M. Briand's +Cabinet, which had held office for the unusual period of eighteen +months, resigned. + +The German tide rolled sullenly and slowly back for another fortnight. +Péronne, Nesle, and Chaulnes fell on the 18th, Chauny and Ham on the +19th, and on the 20th French cavalry were within five miles of St. +Quentin. By the end of March the British line ran from a mile in front +of Arras to the Havrincourt wood, some seven miles from Cambrai, and +thence southwards to Savy, less than two miles from St. Quentin. +Thence the French line ran to Moy on the Sambre canal, behind La Fère, +which the Germans had flooded, and through the lower forest of St. +Gobain to the plateau north-east of Soissons. The German resistance +had gradually stiffened, and there was a good deal of local fighting +in the first week of April while the Allies were testing the strength +of the positions behind which the Germans had taken shelter. We called +them the Hindenburg lines, and believed that the Germans had so named +them to give them a nominal invincibility which they did not possess +in fact. In Germany they were known as the Siegfried lines, a name +which properly only applied to the sector between Cambrai and La Fère +which was also protected by the St. Quentin canal. That was the front +of the new German position; its flanks rested on the Vimy Ridge to the +north, and on the St. Gobain forest and the Chemin des Dames to the +south. It was a better and shorter line than that which the battles of +1914 had left to the combatants without much choice on either side, +and the Germans were right enough in claiming that the Hindenburg +lines were selected by themselves. Their retreat thereto was not, +however, a matter of choice except in so far as they preferred it to +the disaster which would otherwise have overtaken them in their more +exposed positions. As a retreat the movement could hardly have been +more successfully carried out; but the military distinction was marred +by moral disgrace. For destruction was pushed to the venomous length +of maiming for years the orchards of the peasantry in the abandoned +territory. The crime may have been no more than a characteristic +expression of militarist malevolence and stupidity; but it may also +have been calculated to bar the path to peace by agreement and to +force on the German people the choice, as a Junker expressed it later, +between victory and hell. + +The success of the German withdrawal discounted our spring offensive, +not because any attack was designed on the Somme, but because the +Hindenburg lines and the desert before them gave that part of the +German front a security which enabled the German higher command to +divert reserves from its defence to that of the threatened wings. Here +preparations had been begun by both the French and the British before +the German retreat, and it had barely reached its limit when on Easter +Monday, 9 April, Haig attacked along the Vimy Ridge and in front of +Arras. Since 21 March a steady bombardment had been destroying the +German wire defences and harassing their back areas, and in the first +days of April it rose to the pitch which portended an attack in force. +Since the battle of Loos in September 1915 our front had sagged a +little, and points like the Double Crassier had been recovered by the +Germans. So, too, the French capture of the Vimy heights, which had +been announced in May that year, proved something of a fairy tale, and +in April 1917 our line ran barely east of Souchez, Neuville, and the +Labyrinth. It was held by Allenby's Third Army, which joined Gough's +Fifth just south of Arras, and by Horne's First, which extended +Allenby's left from Lens northwards to La Bassee. The Germans had +three lines of defences for their advanced positions, and then behind +them the famous switch line which hinged upon the Siegfried line at +Quéant and ran northwards to Drocourt, whence quarries and slag-heaps +linked it on to Lens (see Maps, pp. 79, 302). This line had not been +finished at the beginning of April, and hopes were no doubt +entertained that complete success in the battle of Arras, reinforced +by Nivelle's contemplated offensive on the Chemin des Dames, would +break these incomplete defences and thus turn the whole of the +Hindenburg lines. + +At dawn on Easter Monday the British guns broke out with a bombardment +which marked another stage in the growing intensity of artillery fire, +and obliterated the first and then the second German line of trenches +along a front of some twelve miles. To the north the Canadians under +Sir Julian Byng carried the crest of the Vimy Ridge, and by nine +o'clock had mastered it all except at a couple of points. Farther +south troops that were mainly Scottish captured Le Folie farm, Blangy, +and Tilloy-lez-Mofflaines, while a fortress known as the Harp, and +more formidable than any on the Somme, was seized by a number of +Tanks. The greatest advance of the day was made due east of Arras, +where the second and third German lines were taken and Feuchy, Athies, +and Fampoux were captured. On the morrow the Canadians completed their +hold on the Vimy Ridge, and Farbus was taken just below it. On the +11th the important position of Monchy, which outflanked the end of the +Siegfried line, was carried after a fierce struggle; and on the 12th +and the following days the salient we had created was widened north +and south of Monchy. The capture of Wancourt and Heninel broke off +another fragment of the Siegfried line, while to the north our advance +spread up to the gates of Lens; the villages of Bailleul, Willerval, +Vimy, Givenchy-en-Gohelle, Angres, and Lievin, with the Double +Crassier and several of the suburbs of Lens, fell into our hands. The +Germans appeared to have nothing left but the unfinished +Drocourt-Quéant switch line between them and a real disaster. + +The battle of Arras was the most successful the British had fought on +the Western front since the Germans had stabilized their defences. Our +bombardment was heavier than the enemy's, and was far more effective +against his wire entanglements and trenches than it had ever been +before; and the new method of locating hostile batteries by tests of +sound enabled our gunners to put many of them out of action. Nor +throughout the war was there a finer achievement than the Canadian +capture of the Vimy Ridge or the British five-mile advance in a few +hours to Fampoux. The German losses in men and guns also exceeded any +that the British had yet inflicted in a similar period; in the first +three days of the battle some 12,000 prisoners and 150 guns were +taken. The battle did not succeed in converting the war from one of +positions into one of movement; but if the Vimy position could be so +completely demolished in two or three days, there seemed little +prospect of permanence for any German stronghold in France, and a few +repetitions of the battle of Arras bade fair to make an end of the +Hindenburg lines and of the German occupation of French territory. +April along the Western front in 1917 wore a fair promise of spring. + +Nor was it without its hopes in other spheres. Maude's conquest of +Baghdad produced other fruits in the East, including a welcome change +in the situation in Persia. The fall of Kut in the April before had +enabled the Turks to turn against the Russians and drive Baratov's +adventurous force back from Khanikin into the mountains and even east +of Hamadan; but Maude's advance cut the Turks off from their base at +Baghdad and threatened their line of retreat to Mosul. The Turks were +in a trap: Baratov resumed his advance from the north-east, while +Maude pushed up from the south-west: Khanikin was the trap-door, and +Halil, the Turkish commander, made skilful efforts to keep it open. A +strong screen of rearguards held up the Russians at the Piatak pass, +while other troops reinforced from Mosul barred Maude's advance at +Deli Abbas and on the Jebel Hamrin range. By the end of March the bulk +of Halil's forces were through, and Maude had to content himself with +linking up with the Russians at Kizil Robat and driving the Turks from +the Diala after their troops in Persia had escaped. Their junction +with those from Mosul enabled Halil to resume the offensive, but his +counter-attack was repulsed on 11-12 April, and Maude proceeded to +extend his defences far to the north and west of Baghdad. Feluja on +the Euphrates had already been occupied in March, and the Turks driven +up the river to Ramadie; and on 23 April Maude completed his advance +up the Tigris by the capture of Samara, where the section of the +railway running north from Baghdad came to an end. Hundreds of miles +separated it from the other railhead at Nisibin, and with his front +pushed out on the rivers to eighty miles from Baghdad, and with the +Russians in touch with his right and holding the route into Persia, +Maude might well rest for the summer content with the security of his +conquests. He had done single-handed what had been planned for a joint +Anglo-Russian campaign, with Russia taking the lion's share (see Map, +p. 177*). + +In the spring of that year it looked, indeed, as though the British +Empire alone was making any headway against the enemy Powers. Even on +the cosmopolitan Salonika front offensive action was left to British +troops, and at no time during the war did any but troops of the +British Empire partake in the defence of its dominions and +protectorates. These were all safe enough by the middle of April 1917, +and those that were within reach of the enemy were being used as bases +for attack upon his forces. Maude, with his army based upon India had +now blocked the southern route into Persia, and Sir Archibald Murray +was advancing into Palestine. The capture of Rafa on the frontier was +followed on 28 February by that of Khan Yunus, five miles within the +Turkish border, and the Turks under their German general Kressenstein +withdrew to Gaza. There, on 26 March, they were attacked by Sir +Charles Dobell, of Cameroon fame, with three infantry and two mounted +divisions, including a number of Anzacs. The design was to surround +and capture the Turkish forces in Gaza, and the only chance of success +lay in the suddenness of the blow and its surprise. For Dobell's base +was distant, his men had to drink water brought from Egypt, and in +spite of the railway he had not at the front stores, equipment, or +troops for a lengthy struggle, while the Turks could bring up superior +reinforcements. A sea fog robbed him of two hours' precious time; and +although the Wady Ghuzze and other defences of Gaza were taken and a +force of Anzacs actually got behind Gaza and were fighting in its +northern outskirts at sunset, night fell with the task unfinished and +the British divisions out of touch on their various fronts. A +retirement was accordingly ordered, and on the morrow Kressenstein +counter-attacked. He was driven back with considerable losses, and +although Dobell had failed to take Gaza he had reached the Wady Ghuzze +and secured the means of bringing his railhead right up to the front +of battle. With a few weeks' respite for reinforcement and +reorganization, April might yet see the British well on the way to +Jerusalem; for Arras was not intended to stand alone, and in every +sphere of war the Allies had planned a simultaneous offensive (*see +Map, p. 352*). + +But if hope was bright in the East, it was pallid compared with the +certainty of ultimate triumph which blazed from the West across the +Atlantic; for on the 5th of that April of promise the great Republic, +with a man-power, wealth, and potential force far exceeding those of +any other of Germany's foes, entered the war against her and made her +defeat unavoidable save by the suicide of her European antagonists. It +was not a sudden decision, for a people with such varied spiritual +homes as the American, spread over so vast a territory, and looking +some eastward across the Atlantic and others westward across the +Pacific, but all far removed from European politics and cherishing an +inherited aloofness from the Old World and a rooted antipathy to +imperialisms of every sort, could not easily see with one eye or +achieve unanimity in favour of a vast adventure to break with their +past and unite their fortunes with those of the Old World they had +left behind. We were accustomed to fighting in Europe against +overweening power; the United States had taken their stand on a +splendid isolation. Their first president had warned them against +entangling alliances, and their fifth had erected into the Monroe +Doctrine the principle of abstention from European quarrels. For a +century that principle had been the pole-star of American foreign +policy; no other people had such a wrench to make from their moorings +before they could enter the war, and no other people can understand +what it cost the Americans to cut themselves adrift from their haven +of democratic pacifism in order to fight for the freedom of another +world. + +But Fate was too strong for schismatic tradition, and the two worlds +had merged into one. The shrinking of space and expansion of mind was +abolishing East and West, and the two hemispheres had become one +exchange and mart of commodities and ideas. They could not continue to +revolve on diverse political axes, and neither was safe without the +other's concurrence. To the German cry of weltmacht must sooner or +later respond the American cry of weltrecht; for the war was a civil +war of mankind, and upon its issue would hang the future of human +government. Intervention was inevitable, not so much because the +Kaiser had said he would stand no nonsense from America as because, if +America was to stand no nonsense from him after victory, she would +have to turn the New World into an armed camp like the Old and run the +same race to ruin. The old peace and isolation were in any case gone, +and the choice was between war for the time, with the prospect of +permanent peace on the one hand, and peace for the time, with the +permanent prospect of war on the other. There was no other way, and +Germany forced the American people to realize their dilemma. + +President Wilson had seen it earlier than the majority of his +fellow-countrymen; but for a statesman a vision of the truth is an +insufficient ground for acting upon it. He is bound, indeed, not to +act upon it until he can carry with him the State he governs; +otherwise he ceases to be a statesman and sinks or rises into the +missionary. The zealot is ever ready to break his weapon upon the +obstacle he wishes to remove, but the statesman who destroys national +unity in his zeal for war does not help to win it; and American +intervention was both useless and impossible until the President could +act with his people behind him. Nor, as official head of the State, +could he play the irresponsible part of an advocate; if he believed +war to be inevitable in his country's interests, it was for him to +convince the people not by argument, but by his conduct of American +affairs. Idealism entered more largely into his policy than that of +most statesmen, but it was bound to American mentality and national +interests; for ideals which do not affect national interests do not +appeal to the majority in any nation, and the lawlessness which +trampled on Belgian neutrality made less impression across the +Atlantic than that which destroyed American lives and property. + +A subsidiary cause of delay in American intervention was the +absorption of the United States in the presidential contest of 1916, +but President Wilson's re-election in November gave him a freer hand +than was possessed by any other democratic statesman. No American +president is ever elected for a third term of office, and Mr. Wilson +had no need to keep his eye on his prospects for 1920. He must, +indeed, secure the assent of Congress before war could be declared, +but in both Houses his party had secured a majority in November. The +decisive step was not, however, taken by President Wilson, but by the +German Government, and America was as much forced into war in 1917 as +we were in 1914; and in both cases it was their view of military +necessity which drove the Germans into political suicide. They could +not, they thought in 1914, cope with Russia until they had first +beaten France, and they could not beat France in time unless they +trampled a way through Belgium. So in the early days of 1917, not +foreseeing the fortune which the Russian revolution was to bring them, +they saw no prospect of victory save through the ruin of England by +means of their submarines. The Eastern and Western fronts were too +strong for a successful offensive against either, the military +situation was growing desperate, and their offers of peace had been +scorned; the war went on in their despite, and their real offensive +for 1917 was the submarine campaign. It was adopted because there was +no opening on land and no hope of success in a naval battle; and its +adoption justified those who held that the remedy was worse than the +disease and that unrestricted submarine warfare would bring the United +States into the war before it drove Great Britain out. + +As late as 22 January, President Wilson, while depicting the sort of +peace which would commend itself to the American people, disavowed any +intention of helping to secure it by force of arms. But on the 31st +Germany revoked her promise given on 4 May 1916 that vessels other +than warships would not be sunk without warning, and announced her +resolve forthwith to wage submarine war without any restriction. Later +on Herr Bethmann-Hollweg stated that the promise had only been given +because Germany's preparations were incomplete, and was revoked as +soon as they were ready. The President's answer was prompt: on 3 +February the German ambassador was given his passports and Mr. Gerard +was recalled from Berlin. But the invitation to other neutrals to +follow the President's lead was declined on this side of the Atlantic. +Switzerland, without any seaboard, was not concerned with submarine +warfare, and other neutrals were too much under the influence of +German blandishments or terror to risk war in defence of their rights; +they preferred to abandon their sailings to British ports. + +At first the President contemplated no more than an armed neutrality, +and proposed to equip all American mercantile vessels for +self-defence. But the sinking of American ships and loss of American +lives began to rouse popular anger; sailings stopped at the ports, the +railways became congested with goods seeking outlet, and the remotest +inland districts felt the effects of the German campaign. In March, +too, the Russian revolution removed a stumbling-block to co-operation +with the Entente, for American public opinion had always been +sensitive to the iniquity of the old regime in Russia. At length the +President summoned a special session of Congress, and on 2 April +recommended a declaration of war. It was adopted in the Senate on the +4th by 82 votes to 6, and by the House of Representatives on the 5th +by 373 to 50. Of the ultimate issue of the war there could now be no +doubt. Time would be needed for the United States to mobilize its +resources and train its armies, and the extent to which they might be +required would depend upon the course of events in Europe. But the +Americans were not a people to turn back having put their hand to the +plough, and with their forces fully deployed they would alone be more +than a match for the German Empire. Victory might be delayed, but its +advent was assured, and the first fortnight of April saw the hopes of +the Allies rise higher than since the war began. + + + CHAPTER XV + + HOPE DEFERRED + +Among the events which gave so brilliant a promise to the spring of +1917, not the least was the revolution in Russia. From the first, +indeed, there was anxiety about the effect which so great a change in +the midst of war would have upon the military efficiency of our ally. +But that had suffered under the old regime, and the failure to capture +Lemberg in the summer of 1916, distracted as the Central Empires were +by the Somme and Italian campaigns, followed by the more discreditable +failure to protect Rumania in the autumn, raised serious doubts of the +competence of the imperial bureaucracy. Its honesty also fell under +grave suspicion. Sazonov, the Foreign Minister, had been dismissed in +August, and Stuermer became Prime Minister. A fierce indictment of his +conduct by Miliukov in the Duma led to his retirement in November, and +an honest Conservative, Trepov, succeeded. But Stuermer retained his +power at Court as Imperial Chamberlain, and a renegade from the +Liberal party, Protopopov, was introduced into the Ministry and +exercised therein a growing and sinister influence. Winter saw the +Russian Government turning its back on its Liberal professions, +proroguing the Duma, prohibiting the meetings of town councils and +Zemstvos, provoking a revolution in order to suppress it and +re-establish the old despotism on its ruins, and apparently casting +wistful glances back at its old alliance with the German champions of +autocracy. The Tsar himself was a firm friend of the Entente, but the +same could not be said of the Tsaritsa nor of the reactionary and +disreputable influences to which she extended her patronage. If +therefore there were risks to the Entente cause in a Russian +revolution, there were also perils in its postponement; and it might +well be thought that a Liberal Russia would be bound more closely and +logically to the Western Powers than autocracy ever could be. A +revolution would at least clarify the issue between the combatants and +give a more solid basis of political principle to the Entente. + +The overture was a strange and squalid tragedy. Noxious weeds grew in +the shadow of the Oriental despotism of the Russian Court, and for +years the Government had been at the mercy of a religious impostor and +libertine called Rasputin. The trouble, remarked a Russian General, +was not that Rasputin was a wizard, but that the Court laboured under +the superstitions of a Russian peasant; and Rasputin, who had some +mesmeric power, used it to gratify his avarice, immorality, and taste +for intrigue at the expense of Russian politics and society. At last, +on 29 December, he was doomed by a conclave of Grand Dukes, Princes, +and politicians who informed the police of what had been done. The +deed was enthusiastically celebrated next evening by the audience at +the Imperial Theatre singing the national anthem; but the body was +buried at Tsarkoe Selo in a silver coffin, while the Metropolitan said +mass, the Tsar and Protopopov acted as pall-bearers, and the Tsaritsa +as one of the chief mourners. The last days of the old regime in +France, with their Cagliostro and the Diamond Necklace, produced +nothing so redolent of corruption or so suggestive of impending +dissolution. + +Rasputin was a symptom, not a cause, and the dark forces in Russia +were not eradicated by his removal. Rather they were roused to further +action, and on 8 January Trepov gave place to Prince Golitzin, a mere +agent of obstruction, while Protopopov proceeded with his measures to +provoke disorder. The Duma was prorogued and machine guns made in +England were diverted from the front to dominate the capital. The +Russian revolution was, in fact, as much forced upon the Russian +people as war was forced upon ourselves and America. Le peuple, wrote +Sully three centuries ago, ne se soulève jamais par envie d'attaquer, +mais par impatience de souffrir; and in Russia even hunger and +Protopopov barely provoked the people to action. The revolution +occurred not so much because they rose, as because the bureaucracy +fell, and it was not so much a change from one government to another +as a general cessation of all government through comprehensive +inaction. The Petrograd mob did not storm a Bastille like that of +Paris in 1789; it merely paraded the streets and declined to disperse +or work, and the act of revolution was simply the refusal of the +soldiers to fire. It was not the new wine of liberty, but the opium of +lethargy that possessed the popular mind, and relaxation loosened all +the fibres of the Russian State. Action came later with the Bolshevik +reconstruction, but for the time dissolution was the order of the +day--a dissolution that was due less to the activity of destroyers +than to the decay of the body politic; and the over-government of +Russia by bureaucracy and police precipitated a violent reaction +towards no government at all. + +The Russian revolution was not therefore planned, and its origin and +progress can hardly be seen in acts. The Rasputin affair was a +vendetta of society which revealed its moral disintegration, but more +than two months passed before the Government collapsed. The first +disorder took the form of the looting of bakers' shops on 8 March by +disappointed food-queues, but a more ominous and comprehensive symptom +was the abstention from work. Characteristically it was not an +organized strike; the idle throng seemed to have no definite objects, +and the question was not whether it would achieve them, but whether +the soldiers would obey orders and fire upon the mob. On the 9th the +chief newspapers ceased to appear; on the 10th the trams stopped +running; on the 11th a company of the Pavlovsk regiment mutinied when +told to fire, and the President of the Duma, Rodzianko, telegraphed to +the Tsar that anarchy reigned in the capital, the Government was +paralysed, and the transport, food, and fuel supplies were utterly +disorganized. Golitzin thereupon again prorogued the Duma; but, like +the French National Assembly in 1789, it refused to disperse, and +declared itself the sole repository of constitutional authority. On +the 12th Household troops improved upon the example of the Pavlovsk +regiment, and shot their more unpopular officers when ordered to fire +on the people. Other regiments sent to suppress the mutiny joined it +and seized the arsenal. Then the fortress of SS. Peter and Paul +surrendered, and the police were hunted down. The Duma now appointed +an executive committee of its members to act as a provisional +government, while, outside, an unauthorized committee of soldiers and +workmen was created, for the original Duma had been purged by imperial +rescript and represented chiefly the upper and middle classes. On the +13th news came that Moscow had accepted the revolution, and it was +clear that the Army would offer no resistance, although the Tsar had +appointed Ivanov commander-in-chief in order to suppress the +insurrection. Ruszky and Brussilov signified their adhesion to the +popular cause, and Ivanov failed to reach the capital. The Tsar +followed him, but was stopped at Pskov on the 14th. There on the +15th--the modern Ides of March--the modern Russian Tsar or Caesar was +constrained to abdicate. + +On that day the Duma Coalition Ministry was announced; the Premier was +Prince Lvov, Miliukov took charge of Foreign Affairs, Gutchkov of War +and the Marine, and Kerensky, a Socialist, of Justice. Ministers were +in favour of a regency, but the Soviet--a Russian word which +originally meant no more than Council--of Soldiers' and Workmen's +Delegates demanded a republic. Kerensky, however, persuaded it to +support the Provisional Government by an enormous majority and the +revolution appeared to have produced a government. But even in orderly +countries enormous majorities secured in moments of emotion are apt to +be evanescent, and the Provisional Government had an uneasy lease of +life for just two months. The Duma had not made the revolution, and +the middle classes for which it stood were weak in numbers and +prestige. The vast mass of the Russian people consisted of peasants +who were illiterate and unorganized, and cared for little but the +land. The urban proletariat, not having been educated by the +Government, had partially educated itself in the abstract socialism of +Karl Marx, Lavrov, and Tolstoy. The Extremists followed Marx and were +called Social Democrats; but they had themselves split into two +sections, the Bolsheviks or Maximalists and the Mensheviks or +Minimalists; the former wanted a dictatorship of the proletariat, a +complete inversion of the Tsardom consisting in the substitution of +the tyranny of the bottom for the tyranny of the top, while the +Mensheviks were willing to recognize the claims of other classes than +the proletariat. More moderate, though still socialists, were the +followers of Lavrov, who called themselves Social Revolutionaries and +found a leader in Kerensky. The middle classes and intelligentsia +formed the bulk of the Cadet party led by Miliukov and were +predominant in the Duma and the Provisional Government. In the Soviet +power gradually passed farther and farther to the left, from Social +Revolutionaries to Mensheviks and from Mensheviks to Bolsheviks under +the leadership of Lenin, whose return from exile in Switzerland was +facilitated for its own purposes by the German Government. + +All parties in the Soviet were, however, agreed in their anxiety for +peace, the destruction of imperialism and bureaucracy, and the +reconstruction of Russia on a socialistic basis; and they concurred +with the peasants in their demand for the extirpation of landlordism. +The emancipation of the serfs by Alexander II in 1861 had done little +more than substitute economic for legal slavery; for the emancipated +peasants were only given as proprietors the refuse of the land they +had tilled as serfs, and for it they had to pay tribute calculated +upon the value of their labour when applied to the richer soil of +their lords. Freedom therefore meant unavoidable penury, but the +demand of the peasants was not so much to evade their dues to the +State as to secure the richer land which would enable them to meet +their obligations. It was here that they sought their indemnities and +their annexations, not in the acquisition of foreign territory +hundreds of miles beyond their ken. Of Belgium and Serbia they knew +nothing, and all they knew of the war was that it meant ghastly +losses, fighting with pitchforks against poison gas and machine guns +for them, and for their masters the fruits of victory. What domestic +progress Russia had made in the past had been the outcome of her +defeats; success in war had always been followed by reaction. +Constantinople--Tsargrad as it was called by the Russians--had no +charms for the proletariat. They wanted peace, some of them because +national wars divided the forces of international Socialism and +postponed the war of classes, but most in order that they might +consolidate their revolution and garner its ripe and refreshing fruit. +They did not, however, desire a separate peace with the enemy, and +Austria's offer of 15 April was declined, because a separate peace +would be disadvantageous to them. What they wanted was a general peace +which would give each nation what it possessed before and each +proletariat a good deal more; and the design took form in the Congress +of Stockholm in June. + +Meanwhile discipline disappeared in Russia, and even in her armies the +Soviet insisted that there should be no death-penalty, and that +military orders, except on the field of battle, should proceed from a +democratic committee. They knew that Russian autocracy had rested on +bayonets and only fell with the failure of that support: whosoever +controlled the Army would be master of Russia, and with a correct +instinct the Bolsheviks set to work to convert the soldiers and +seamen. It was easy work preaching peace, plenty, and indolence to the +peasants at the front; and the relaxation which reduced the production +of Russian industries by 40 per cent diminished still more the +efficiency of the Russian Army. The Provisional Government struggled +in vain against the disintegration, but its efforts were frustrated by +the Congress of Soviets which began to sit in April, fell more and +more under Lenin's influence, and resisted on principle all measures +to retain or re-establish authority. On 13 May, Gutchkov, the Minister +for War, resigned, and Miliukov followed. On the 16th the Provisional +Government was succeeded by another Coalition more socialist in its +complexion. Lvov remained its nominal head, but Tchernov, a social +revolutionary, and two Mensheviks became Ministers, and Kerensky took +Gutchkov's place at the Ministry of War. He did his best by his +fervour and eloquence to reanimate the army, for he believed that only +the success of Russian arms could guarantee the orderly progress of +the revolution. But Alexeiev retired in June, the Congress of Soviets +resolved that the Duma should be disbanded, and the view was +sedulously propagated that it was wrong to fight fellow Socialists in +the German Army and that the approaching Stockholm Conference would +compel the bourgeois and imperialist governments to make peace without +any further bloodshed. + +Still Kerensky achieved some success with his impassioned appeals, and +Brussilov, who had become commander-in-chief, reported that the army +was recovering its moral. The Government determined to gamble on the +chance of a successful offensive. It had, indeed, no other means of +checking the growth of disorder, and an attack on the front was not +entirely hopeless. Both the Germans and Austrians had depleted their +Eastern forces to provide against dangers elsewhere, and there were +still sound elements like the Cossacks in the Russian Army. It was +skimmed for the purpose of all the cream of its regiments, and the +scene of action was laid where Brussilov's advance had pressed +farthest forward in 1916. Lemberg was to be outflanked on the south by +a movement from a line reaching from Zborow across the Dniester to the +foothills of the Carpathians. Three armies were employed, Erdelli's +Eleventh to the north, then Tcheremisov's Seventh reaching to the +Dniester, and south of it Kornilov's Eighth. Kerensky orated in khaki, +and Gutchkov served as an officer in the field. The artillery +preparation began on 29 June, and on 1 July the troops advanced from +their trenches. For a time they carried all before them, and +revolutionary Russia bade fair to repeat the success of Brussilov's +offensive in 1916. Tcheremisov's Seventh Army took Koniuchy on the 1st +and Potutory on the 2nd, and captured 18,000 prisoners. Erdelli's +Eleventh was more successful in attracting the bulk of the enemy +reserves than in making progress; but the diversion gave Kornilov's +Eighth a chance of which it made brilliant use. It attacked on the 8th +and took half a dozen villages south of the Dniester, driving the +Austrians back across its tributaries, the Lukwa and the Lomnica. On +the 10th Halicz fell before a combined advance of Tcheremisov north +and Kornilov south of the Dniester, and on the morrow Kalusz was +captured well on the way to Lemberg's vital connexions at Stryj. Then +the weather broke and the strength of the Russian armies turned into +water. There were no reserves with the spirit of those who fell in +this rapid advance, and Erdelli had failed to inspire the Eleventh +Army with Kornilov's dash. On the 16th Lenin brought off his Bolshevik +insurrection at Petrograd, but more fatal was the infection which +spread through Erdelli's troops. It was on them that the weight of the +German counter-attack fell on the 19th, and they simply wilted before +it. There was no great force in the German blow, which was merely +designed to relieve the pressure of Kornilov's advance; but Russian +troops refused to fight, and ran away trampling underfoot and killing +officers who strove to stem the rout. By the 20th German patrols were +in Tarnopol, which the Russians had held since August 1914, and in a +fortnight they were across the Russian frontier as far south as the +borders of Bukovina (see Map, p. 146). The Seventh and Eighth Armies +had to conform to this retreat, but they offered some stubborn +resistance and were brought off in good order. Czernowitz fell on 3 +August, and the only solid obstacle to the enemy advance in the East +was the little Rumanian Army which had looked to this summer for its +revenge on the invader and the recovery of its capital and Wallachia. + +The Rumanian Army had during the winter been refitted and equipped +with a considerable store of munitions, and its offensive was planned +to follow closely on the heels of the Russian in Galicia, But the +Russians were out of Tarnopol before, in the last week of July, +Averescu began his advance from south of the Oitoz Pass towards Kezdi +Vasarhely; and the Russian Fourth Army under Scherbachev, which was to +co-operate on Averescu's right, was deeply infected with revolutionary +disorder. Nevertheless Averescu broke the enemy front, took 2000 +prisoners on the first day, and on 28 July was ten miles ahead of his +original line. Then Mackensen counter-attacked farther south at +Focsani, while Scherbachev's regiments began to desert and the +Russians in the Bukovina were being steadily driven back. On 6 and 7 +August Mackensen forced the Russo-Rumanian line back from the Putna to +the Susitza, taking over 3000 prisoners in three days and also pushing +on towards Okna and Marasesti. In three days more the number of +prisoners increased to 7000, the key to the defence of the Moldavian +mountains was threatened at Adjudul, and the Court prepared to leave +Jassy and take refuge in Russian territory. On the 14th Rumanian +troops replaced the Russians in front of Okna in the Trotus valley and +counterattacked with vigour. But the decisive battle was fought +farther south, where Mackensen, advancing from Focsani, was seeking to +cross the Sereth in the direction of Marasesti and Tecuciu. It was the +most heroic of Rumania's struggles. Deprived of all but a fragment of +her territory and her manhood, and abandoned by the only ally within +reach, she had to face perhaps the ablest of German generals and over +a dozen fresh divisions thrown into the battle; and almost hourly +during the three days' fighting a fresh detachment of Russians +deserted. Yet Rumania triumphed at the battle of Marasesti, and by the +19th the crisis had passed. The attack then shifted to Okna, where the +Second Rumanian Army emulated the achievements of the First at +Marasesti. Sporadic fighting went on into September, but Rumania had +defended herself and saved South Russia for the time. On the 18th the +Germans even withdrew from Husiatyn, an Austrian town on the Galician +frontier: they had already abandoned the south for a safer adventure +against the unaided Russians at Riga (see Map, p. 229). + + The Baltic Campaigns + +This northern campaign resembled autumn manoeuvres, and was mainly +intended to test the value of the new tactics which Germany proposed +to use next spring against a more serious foe. It was more realistic +to experiment upon Russians than among themselves, and Von Hutier was +selected to make the demonstration. The advance began in the last days +of August, and on 1 September Von Hutier forced the passage of the +Dvina at Uexküll, eighteen miles above Riga, which the Russians +abandoned on the following day. Friedrichstadt fell next, and the +Russians retired from Jacobstadt on the 21st. The Germans were now +across the Dvina on a front of seventy miles, and pushed on towards +Wenden, meeting with occasional resistance. But their next experiment +was at the expense of the Russian Navy, which was even more +demoralized than the Army, and had murdered its officers wholesale. On +12 October the Germans landed a force on the island of Oesel, and +within a week had overrun that and the other islands at the mouth of +the Gulf of Riga. On the 21st they crossed to the mainland, +disembarking a force at Verder opposite Moen Island. There was little +to hinder a march on Petrograd, had there been any sufficient +inducement. But Petrograd in the hands of the Bolsheviks was worth +more to the Germans than in their own; for a German occupation of the +capital would have sterilized its miasmic influence over the rest of +Russia, and the Germans had only advanced so far in order to get into +touch with Finland and establish pro-German governments among the +little nationalities of the Baltic littoral. They had, moreover, to +economize their shrinking manpower, and their reserves were being +called off from all the Eastern fronts to more urgent tasks elsewhere, +leaving Russia to stew in its own disintegration. + +Disaster had done nothing to check the distraction of Russian domestic +politics. The Cadets had most of them resigned in July owing to the +Government's complaisance towards the Ukrainian demand for +independence; and Kerensky succeeded Lvov as Premier on the 22nd, +while Kornilov took Brussilov's place as commander-in-chief on 1 +August. But while Kerensky shed his right wing, he gained no support +from the left. The Bolsheviks would not forgive him his offensive in +July, nor the success with which he had suppressed the Leninite +rising; and a great conference at Moscow on 25 August representing +every shade of Russian disorganization produced some agreement on +formulas but none on action. Early in September Kerensky came to the +conclusion that a dictatorship was the only cure, and gave Kornilov +the impression that the latter should fill the part. Another Bolshevik +insurrection was brewing in Petrograd, and on the 7th Kornilov +prepared to crush it, sending Krymov forward to Gatchina within twenty +miles of the capital. Kerensky now took fright at the bugbear of a +military restoration, denounced Kornilov as a traitor, and threw +himself on the support of the Soviets. The cry that the revolution was +in danger ruined Kornilov's chances; his surrender was arranged by +Alexeiev's mediation, while Krymov committed suicide. + +Such were Russian politics during the week in which the Germans +overran the Dvina. A republic was proclaimed on the 15th, and the +government entrusted to a council of five with Kerensky at its head. +It lived no longer than its numerous predecessors in the revolution. +Kerensky was rash enough to renew his breach with the Bolsheviks who +had helped him to ruin Kornilov, and in November they rent the man of +words. Trotzky organized the blow. There was little that was Russian +about this Jew, whose real name was Leo Braunstein, although he was +born in Odessa; but he possessed some practical capacity. Having +secured election as president of the Petrograd Soviet, he had created +a military revolutionary committee and a body of Red Guards, and on 5 +November summoned the Petrograd garrison to place itself under its +direction. Kerensky sought to defend his Government, but most of his +forces went over to the Bolsheviks, and on the 7th he fled from the +city. He attempted to return at the head of some dubious troops, but +they were scattered by the Red Guards at Tsarskoe Selo on the 13th and +Kerensky disappeared. What there was left of government in Russia +passed into the hands of a self-constituted council of People's +Commissioners with Lenin as its president and Trotzky its Foreign +Minister; and on the 21st the council found a commander-in-chief in +one Ensign Krilenko. His business was to offer an armistice to the +Germans as a preliminary to suing for peace. + +Russia had gone out of the war much faster than America came in. Early +in May a flotilla of destroyers joined the British Fleet, and on 26 +June the first division landed in France. But it needed six months' +training, and a year would pass before the weight of American +reinforcements would make much material difference to the Western +front. That year was bound to try the Western Allies to the utmost, +and the interval between the disappearance of Russia and the arrival +of the United States as an effective combatant, gave the Germans the +chance of reversing the decision which they felt had gone against them +before the end of 1916. They regarded the Russian revolution as a +miracle wrought in their favour; but it was only by degrees that they +realized the extent of their apparent good fortune and proceeded both +to use and to abuse it. From the first, however, the revolution +changed for the worse the situation on every front, and enemy troops, +released from fear of Russia, began to appear in the West, on the +Isonzo, in Mesopotamia, in Palestine, and in the Balkans. The middle +of treacherous April saw the tide checked that had been flowing so +strongly since the year began. + +The disappointment was not, however, entirely due to the gradual +elimination of Russia, for that misfortune did not fall with much +weight on the Western front until many months had passed, and +depression there had its causes nearer home. Commenting on the British +success at the battle of Arras, an Italian journal optimistically +asked its readers what would be the plight of the Central Empires when +real military Powers got to work, since so much had been achieved by +the semi-civilians of the British Empire. Hopes also ran high in +France. Nivelle, the new commander-in-chief, had conceived an +ambitious plan of crushing the Germans on a front of fifty miles +between the plateau north-east of Soissons and the river Suippe in +Champagne; and this offensive, coupled with the British pressure in +front of Arras, was to clear the Germans out of the greater part of +occupied France. Nivelle proposed to repeat on a vastly extended scale +his triumphs of the previous autumn at Verdun, and he made no secret +to his Government of his confidence that Laon would fall as a result +of the first day's fighting. Neither Haig nor Pétain had much faith in +the possibility of the plan, but Nivelle had persuaded Ribot's +Ministry, which had succeeded Briand's in March, and French +expectations were raised to a giddy height. There were three main +objectives: to clear the Chemin des Dames, to master the Moronvillers +massif and other heights north and east of Reims, and to thrust +between these two great bastions along the road to Laon. Each was an +objective greater than that achieved in the battle of Arras, and all +were attempted at once (*see Map, p. 67*). + +The artillery preparation began on 6 April and the infantry attack on +Monday the 16th, a week after that on the Vimy Ridge. The battle was +not easy to follow, because the French were very reserved about their +reverses, and the maps gave an erroneous impression of the line from +which the attack started and that on which it ended. The French were +commonly thought to be holding both banks of the Aisne all the way +from Soissons to Berry-au-Bac, whereas in reality they had never +recovered from their retreat in January 1915 to the south bank between +Missy and Chavotine. Nor, except at Troyon, were they near the Chemin +des Dames; and not only had the river to be crossed, but the +formidable slopes, which the Germans had beeen meticulously fortifying +for two and a half years, to be surmounted. The results of the first +day's onslaught fell lamentably short of the extravagant +anticipations. The banks of the Aisne were cleared, some progress was +made up the slopes, and from Troyon, where the original line was +nearly on the ridge, an advance was made along it. But on the whole +the Germans maintained their grip on the Chemin des Dames. Nor was +fortune much kinder in the gap between it and the heights east of +Reims. The French Tanks, here first employed, were disappointing, and +Loivre was the only gain. The 17th was spent in beating off +counter-attacks west of Reims, while the French offensive spread east +to Moronvillers. Here the same tale had to be told; gallantry carried +various points of importance, but a month's fighting failed to give +the French complete control of their first day's objectives. West of +Reims on the 18th and following days Nanteuil, Vailly, Laffaux, Aizy, +Jouy, Ostel, and Bray were captured by Mangin, but they were all below +the Chemin des Dames, and April came to an end with the road to Laon +as impassable as ever. Fresh attempts were made in May; Craonne was +taken on the 4th, and the California plateau to the north of it and +Chevreux in the plain to the east were seized on the 6th and held +against counter-attacks, while east of Reims Auberive had fallen, and +by the 20th the whole summit of the Moronvillers massif was said to +have been secured. + +The impression that the Chemin des Dames had been conquered was not +removed until it really was gained by Pétain five months later; but +there was contrast enough between the promises and the achievement to +produce the deepest depression in France. On 28 April Pétain was +appointed chief of staff and on 15 May commander-in-chief in +succession to Nivelle, while Foch became chief of staff. Little was +wisely revealed abroad of French despondency or the effect of the +disappointment on the moral of the army. But French journals began to +clamour for unity of command of all the forces in France under a +French generalissimo, pour épargner du sang Français, as one of them +expressed it; and prudence constrained the higher command to revert to +those limited objectives which Nivelle had abandoned. Joffre was sent +to the United States to place the situation before the +sister-republic; and but for American intervention France would have +been nearer a peace of compromise in May 1917 than at any previous +date in the war. The second battle of the Aisne gave rise to that +miasma of défaitisme, associated with the names of Bolo and Caillaux, +which enfeebled the spirit and effort of France until they were +revived by Clémenceau's vigorous stimulants. + +Haig was also laid under an obligation to relieve the pressure and +gloom by prolonging his Arras offensive and seeking to extract more +from his victory than it would yield; and the second phase of that +battle was fought under a shadow and under constraint. But if it +resulted in serious losses, it brought some additions to our gains of +ground. On 23 April Gavrelle and Guémappe were captured after +desperate fighting; and on the 28th an advance was made at Arleux and +Oppy. On 3 May the Canadians took Fresnoy, and the Australians +trenches at Bullecourt, but the Germans kept up a series of stubborn +counter-attacks, especially at Fresnoy, Roeulx, and Bullecourt, and +Fresnoy was lost on the 8th. On the 14th we completed our capture of +Roeulx, and on the 17th that of Bullecourt. The fighting died down, +towards the end of May, and the scene was shifted farther north in +June to the Messines-Wytschaete Ridge. During the month of the battle +of Arras we had taken over 20,000 prisoners, and the French claimed +more on the Aisne. We had also bitten into the Hindenburg "line." But +that line had not been broken, mainly because it was not a line, +having instead of none a breadth of several miles; and, apart from the +important Vimy Ridge, the German position had not been greatly shaken. +The warfare was one of attrition, and the true test was that of +wastage, which can only be used when the losses on both sides are +exactly known. There was evidence that the Germans were feeling the +strain, but so was the Entente, and the influx of troops from the +Eastern front, which began in April and was felt in the Arras battle, +would more than compensate for the excess (if any) in German losses. +It was also clear by this time that the Germans had gained another +great advantage. They might lose the war, but they would lose it in +France, and the Fatherland would not suffer the destruction and +desolation which it had inflicted on all its foes except the British +Empire and the United States. The Germans were wisely bent on fighting +to a finish where Hindenburg had fixed his lines; they were beaten +there, but snatched immunity from ruin for German soil out of their +defeat. Nivelle's failure in April 1917 combined with the Russian +collapse to preclude an Entente repetition of the German invasion of +August 1914; and Lord Curzon's mental vision of Gurkhas encamping in +Berlin was destined to remain a dream. + +The breakdown of Russia and of the French campaign paralysed other +offensives than those on the Western front, and a sympathetic inertia +spread to the Balkans. At the end of February Sarrail had told his +commanders that he intended attacking all along the line at Salonika +in the first week of April as his contribution to the comprehensive +Allied advance. But local operations in March, which succeeded in +linking up the Italians east of Avlona with Sarrail's left, did not +lead up to the expected climax. The offensive was postponed until 24 +April, and then it was only British troops that were sent into serious +action. The desired economy of French blood was effected by a French +commander-in-chief at the cost of general failure. A frontal attack by +General Milne's forces was ordered on the central position at Doiran; +considerable losses were incurred, and gains were secured that made no +essential difference to the situation. West of the Vardar and in front +of Monastir no advance was attempted; but on 8 May Milne was told to +repeat his effort, which had similar results to those of his first; +and Sarrail was presently superseded by Franchet d'Esperey. + +Nevertheless the Russian revolution had one beneficial effect upon the +Balkan situation. It removed one of the two influences which had +protected Constantine and enabled him to counterwork Entente policy +and strategy in the Near East. The other was neutralized by connivance +in Italy's proclamation of a protectorate over Albania on 3 June; and +with this compensation she was induced to remove her ban on Venizelos +and to risk that greater Greece, which with a free hand that statesman +bade fair to achieve. France was whole-hearted in supporting him. The +chief islands had one by one rallied to his cause in the spring, and +by the end of May he had 60,000 troops at his disposal. On 11 June M. +Jonnart arrived at Athens as plenipotentiary for the Entente to insist +on Constantine's abdication. Troops were moved down into Thessaly; the +Isthmus of Corinth was seized, and warships anchored off the Piraeus. +Constantine had no choice, and under compulsion nominated his second +son Alexander as his successor. On the 13th he left Athens for Lugano, +and on the 21st Venizelos arrived from Salonika and formed a +government. The German agents were expelled, and the Greek people were +reconciled to the violence of the proceedings by the substantial +consolation of the raising of the blockade. Less happy was the effect +of the Russian revolution in Asia Minor. All idea of an advance from +Trebizond and Erzingian came to an end, and the projected campaign +which was to have given the Russians Mosul while Maude advanced to +Baghdad was abandoned. On 30 April the Turks announced that the enemy +had evacuated Mush. In May they left the Dialah, and in July retreated +from Khanikin into Persia, leaving the British right wing in the air. +Gradually they abandoned Persia to the principle of self-determination +and to the Turks, and Armenia to fresh experiments in massacre. Even +on the Salonika front Sarrail suffered from the retiring habits of his +Russian troops, and at Gaza Murray felt the force of Turkish divisions +released from Russian fronts. There were at least six divisions to +oppose him when he renewed his attack after three weeks' interval on +17th April. His communications had been greatly improved and the +railway brought up to Deir-el-Belah, but so too had the Turkish +defences, and there was little to say for a frontal attack by inferior +forces without the chance of surprise. The political demand for an +Egyptian contribution to the combined Allied offensive seems, however, +to have been inexorable, and Sir Charles Dobell was committed to an +enterprise not unlike our attacks in Gallipoli. Some initial success +was won on the 17th, and the ground gained was prepared on the 18th +for a final effort on the following day. Samson Ridge near the coast +was taken, but Ali Muntar defied all our efforts, and counter-attacks +deprived us of much of the ground that was won. Seven thousand men had +been lost, and Turkish reinforcements were still arriving. Gaza could +not be taken by frontal attack without greatly superior forces; and +the British had to look for success to another general and a different +strategy, and to postpone from Easter to Christmas their Christian +celebrations in Jerusalem. The brightness of dawn in the East was +clouded, and the flowers of hope that bloomed in the spring drooped in +the Syrian summer and in the furnace of war in the West. + + + CHAPTER XVI + + THE BALANCE OF POWER + +THE breakdown of the strategical offensive of the Entente in the +spring of 1917 was almost complete. Russia had gone her own way to +military insignificance, France had failed in her far-reaching design +of crushing the German front on the Aisne, Haig's victory at the +battle of Arras secured merely a tactical advantage, the offensive +from Salonika never started, and that from Egypt was held up at the +gates of Palestine. In the absence of a combined General Staff for the +Entente, it required months of individual thought and interchange of +views to elaborate any alternative scheme and to readjust national +forces for its execution; and the campaigning season would assuredly +close before effect could be given to a fresh plan of campaign. The +new Governments in England and France showed no greater foresight than +the old, and had made no further progress towards a single strategical +mind. Indeed, for the rest of 1917 divergence seemed to grow, and +there was no such combined operation as the Somme campaign of 1916. +Activity travelled away from the point of liaison, and each ally +concentrated its attention more and more on its own particular front. +Italy as usual had eyes only for Trieste and Albania, France turned +from the Somme and the Oise to the Aisne and Verdun, and England's +effort came north towards the Belgian coast. This divergence resulted +from the changed view of the military situation imposed upon the +Entente by Nivelle's failure. He had believed that the time had come +for ambitious objectives; Haig had demurred and clung to the idea of +operations limited in their scope like that of the Somme; and Pétain +accepted that view when he succeeded Nivelle. There might, of course, +have been limited offensives on the upper Somme and the Oise where the +two armies joined; but it was here that the Siegfried line most firmly +barred the way, and when towards the end of the year a new tactic had +been evolved to surmount that barrier, it was applied prematurely and +without French co-operation. The unity of the Entente did not extend +to community of ideas or simultaneous experiment; and novelties which +might have been overwhelming if tried in unison all along the line +only achieved a partial success when adopted by one of the Allies on a +limited front. + +Given, however, the impossibility of another combined strategical plan +for 1917, there were urgent motives and sound reasons for the +extension of Haig's offensive northwards from Arras to the coast. If +it were successful beyond expectation, it would achieve all that +Nivelle had hoped to do by a frontal attack, and would compel a +general German retreat by turning the enemy's flank as Joffre had +tried to turn it in October 1914. But short of such extravagant +anticipations it might materially help to win the war by defeating the +real German offensive for 1917. That was not a campaign on land at +all, but on sea by means of the submarine, and the chief basis of +operations was the Belgian coast. Submarines emerged from other lairs, +but the German command of the Belgian coast shortened their distance +from their objectives by hundreds of miles and correspondingly +lengthened their range of operations. Bruges was their headquarters; +situated inland, but connected by canal with Zeebrugge and Ostend, it +afforded a base immune from any attack save those of aircraft, and +Bruges was the real objective of our Flanders campaign. Incidentally, +too, the Belgian coast provided harbours whence light German surface +craft made occasional raids on British coasts, commerce, and +communications, and also for those aeroplane attacks which became a +serious nuisance as the year wore on. Apart from these considerations +the German hold on Flanders was the bastion of their whole position +west of the Meuse; and, but for the natural feelings of Paris, a more +strenuous attempt might well have been made earlier in the war to +deprive the enemy of its advantages. Obviously in the summer of 1917, +if the two Allies were to be left to their own devices, there was none +which suited us better than the Flanders campaign, and the official +American commentator opined that it held out more fruitful prospects +than the battle of the Somme. The drawback was that campaigning in +Flanders depended upon the weather: a rainy season turned its flats +into seas of mud, and the third quarter of 1917 was one of the wettest +on record. + +A preliminary obstacle to be overcome was the Messines-Wytschaete +Ridge which dominated Ypres and the whole of the line from which an +offensive in Flanders could start. Preparations to deal with it had +been in progress since early in the year, and heavy guns had also been +mounted on our positions near Nieuport. The plan indeed had been in +Haig's mind since November 1916, and even earlier than that Sir +Herbert Plumer had been training the Second Army for its task; it had +had no serious fighting since the second battle of Ypres in April +1916, the battle of the Somme having been fought by the Fourth and +Fifth, and that of Arras by the First and Third. The victory, however, +was to be largely a triumph of engineering science. For nearly a year +and a half tunnelling had been in progress under the ridge, and at +dawn on 7 June nineteen huge mines were exploded beneath the enemy's +lines in the greatest artificial eruption that had ever shattered the +earth's crust. Ten days' surface bombardment had already obliterated +much of the German defences, and it says something for the German +moral that any resistance was offered at all when our troops advanced +over the ruins of the soil. Messines was cleared by New Zealanders by +7 a.m., Wytschaete fell by noon before Ulstermen and Irish +Nationalists fighting side by side, and Welshmen captured Oosttaverne +a few hours later. The battle could not have have been better staged +to exhibit the co-operation of the British Empire and of mechanical +science and human valour. A few days later Australians pushed on to +Gapaard and La Potterie in the direction of Warneton, and the Germans +withdrew from all their positions in the salient. The danger to Ypres +which had threatened for over two years and a half and had cost so +much in British blood, had at last been exorcised, and from being an +almost forlorn hope of defence the Ypres salient became the base of a +promising advance (see Map, p. 288). + +Yet the operation hardly equalled in positive achievement its +spectacular advertisement. Months, if not years, of meticulous +preparation in a sector that had not been seriously disturbed by +fighting since 1915 had produced an advance of from two to three miles +on a front of less than ten. It was a tactical victory of the most +limited character; and the strategical value of the ridge was greatly +exaggerated. It had never enabled the Germans to master the Ypres +salient, and as the autumn showed, its conquest made no serious gap in +the strength of the German defences. Neither on the Belgian coast nor +on the Lys which protected Lille did the German line budge one inch in +three months' strenuous fighting; and the salient created by that +campaign between the coast and the Lys melted like wax in the furnace +of the German offensive ten months later. Plumer's success might, +however, have led to better things but for the untoward circumstances +which hampered the Flanders campaign from the start. One of these was +its initial delay; seven weeks elapsed before the conquest of the +ridge was followed up, and the causes are still obscure. Probably they +were political. Belgium, notwithstanding her passion for liberation, +cannot have desired the rest of her soil to be restored in the +condition of the Wytschaete ridge--a horror of desolation unfit for +man or even for nature's growths; and there seemed little prospect of +driving the Germans out except by a succession of ruinous tactical +victories. Germany, moreover, was playing up to the Stockholm +Conference and suggesting restoration without the accompaniment of +ruin; and it was clear that if the Entente was to liberate Belgium, it +must be done by other methods and at a lesser cost than the total +destruction of her soil. + +Preparations for other than limited tactical gains were made during +June and July. The Third Army under Byng, who had succeeded Allenby, +was put in charge of the whole British line from Arras southwards, and +Rawlinson's Fourth and Gough's Fifth Armies were brought up to the +coast and Ypres respectively, while a French army under Anthoine was +located between Gough's and the Belgians on the Yser. The Germans were +alarmed by Rawlinson's appearance on the coast, and anticipated a +possible attack in that sector by delivering a defensive blow on 10 +July against the bridgehead we held north-east of the Yser between +Nieuport and the coast. We were apparently not prepared: two +battalions were wiped out, part of the bridgehead was lost, and +Rawlinson's Fourth Army remained a more or less passive spectator of +the subsequent campaign. Its own chance of making a thrust had gone, +and it waited in vain for the thrust elsewhere to turn the gate the +Germans had barred between the Yser floods and the sea. + +This reverse did not tend to expedite the campaign, and when it was +finally launched on 31 July the weather interposed a third and fatal +impediment. The first attack was successful enough. The French under +Anthoine took Het Saas, Steenstrat, and Bixschoote; on their right +Gough's Fifth seized Pilckem, St. Julien, Frezenberg, Verlorenhoek, +Westhoek, and Hooge, the banks of the Steenbeck and the woods on the +Menin road; and below that blood-stained highway Plumer's Second took +Klein Zillebeke, Hollebeke, and Basse Ville on the Lys. It was, +however, Von Arnim's plan to hold his front lines lightly and rely +upon counter-attacks, and before the end of the day we had lost St. +Julien, the north-east bank of the Steenbeck, and Westhoek. The key of +the German position on the Menin road also remained in Von Arnim's +hands, and no means had been found of dealing with his new and +effective "pill-boxes." These were concrete huts with walls three feet +thick, so sunk in the ground that their existence, or at least their +importance, had escaped observation. They were too solid for Tanks to +charge or for field guns to batter, and too small for accurate +shelling by heavy artillery. Yet, crammed with machine guns and +skilfully écheloned in the fighting zone, they presented a fatal bar +to the rapid advance on which the success of our plan of campaign +depended. Even so, it was not Von Arnim's skill and resource that +finally ruined our prospects. Before night fell on the 31st the rain +descended in torrents. For four days it continued, and even when it +ceased it was followed by darkness worthier of November than of +August. The field of battle was turned into a maze of lakes and bogs +with endless shell-holes filled and hidden by the muddy water. The +bombardment had broken the banks and dammed the streams, and rivers, +instead of flowing, overflowed. Tanks became useless, and for men and +animals there was as much risk of being drowned as shot. + +The Germans were not immune from the weather; their counter-attacks +were impeded, and their low-lying pillboxes were often traps for death +by drowning. But enforced stagnation inevitably helps the defence, +especially when time is the essence of success for the attack. Troops +were pouring back from the Russian front; winter was coming to +postpone until the spring any hopes of a drier soil, and the land lay +low in Belgium all the way beyond the puny ridge of Passchendaele. It +would have been wiser to accept the facts of the situation; but +bull-dog tenacity has its defects, and that national totem is more +remarkable for its persistence than for its discernment. On 3 August +we regained St. Julien, on the 10th Westhoek, and on the 16th resumed +the general movement. It made little appreciable progress on the right +or in the centre, but on the left the French advanced from the Yser +canal towards the Martjevaart, and our men took Wijdendrift and +Langemarck. For the rest of the month it rained, and it was not till +20 September that the conditions were considered good enough for an +attempt on the limited objectives to which our ambition was now +reduced. It achieved better success than on 16 August, and the advance +made along both sides of the Menin road was through difficult woods; +but it nowhere exceeded a mile, the fighting was fearfully costly, and +Veldhoek and Zevencote were the only two hamlets gained. On the 26th +Haig struck again with similar results: Zonnebeke was captured, the +woods cleared up to the outskirts of Reutel, and another advance made +on the Menin road. + +Fierce German counter-attacks were repulsed during the next few days, +and on 4 October our offensive was resumed. Once more the weather +played us false, but without the usual effect, and substantial +progress was made all along the front. Part of Poelcapelle was taken, +Grafenstafel fell into our hands, at Broodeseinde the Australians got +a footing on the Passchendaele ridge, Reutel was captured, and +Polderhoek château, the hinge of the German position, was stormed +--only to be lost and retaken more than once before it was finally +left in German possession. The next attack was designed to broaden our +salient to the north between the Yser and the Houthulst Forest. It was +fixed for 9 October, and rain fell as usual on the 7th and 8th. But +once more it failed to stop our advance. The French and the British +left between them captured St. Janshoek, Mangelaare, Veldhoek, +Koekuit, and the remains ol Poelcapelle, and the Canadians made a +further advance on the Passchendaele ridge by way of Nieuemolen and +Keerselaarhoek. Another attack on 12 October was countermanded because +of the rain, but the painful progress was resumed on 22-26 October. On +the 27th the Belgians and French pushed on as far as the Blankaart +Lake and the Houthulst Forest, taking Luyghem, Merckem, Kippe, and +Aschoop, and on the 30th the Canadians forced their way into the +outskirts of Passchendaele. Its capture was completed on 6 November +and supplemented in the following days by an advance a few hundred +yards along the road towards Staden. + + The Battles In Flanders + +At last the agony came to an end. The campaign was a monument of +endurance on the part of the troops engaged, and of obstinacy on the +part of their commanders. The misrepresentation of the results +achieved in the published communiqués provoked remonstrances from +officers in the field, and apparent indifference to the losses +involved roused the anger of the Australians--and other +troops--against their generals. Among his own men Sir Hubert Gough +lost more repute in the Flanders campaign than he did in his later +retreat from St. Quentin. It was the costliest of all British +advances, and cut the sorriest figure in respect of its strategical +results. We had advanced somewhat less than five miles in over three +months, and had gained a ridge about fifty feet higher than our +original line at Ypres. The strategical gains were negligible, and as +an incident in the war of attrition, the campaign cost us far more +than it did the Germans. They could hardly have desired a better +prelude to their coming offensive on the West than this wastage of +first-class British troops. Aided by the weather, Von Arnim had +succeeded in his design of yielding the minimum of ground for the +maximum of British losses, and the Flanders campaign was to us what +Verdun had been to the Germans. + +There was a more satisfactory proportion of gains to losses in the +more limited operations which characterized Pétain's substitution for +Nivelle as French commander-in-chief. After Nivelle's comprehensive +disappointment on the Chemin des Dames and Moronvillers heights in +April, Pétain restricted the field of his attacks and took ample time +to prepare them. It was not until August that the first was launched, +and for a sphere of action Pétain reverted once more to Verdun. The +victories of October and December 1916 were commonly represented as +having recovered all that the Germans had won in the spring of that +year; in fact they were confined to the right bank of the Meuse. No +attempt had been made to wrest from the enemy his gains to the left of +the river; and his line ran in August 1917 precisely where it had run +twelve months before, a German gain at the Col de Pommerieux on 28 +June having been recovered by the French on 17 July. Pétain was, +however, a past-master in the art of limited offensives; his aims were +less ambitious than those which Nivelle or even Haig had set before +themselves, but he achieved them with scientific precision and without +the devastating losses which had attended the larger and less +successful projects. The terrain he selected was less affected by the +vagaries of the weather, and either he was better served by his +meteorological experts or was singularly favoured by fortune. His main +object was not the tactical gains he secured, but the restoration of +the confidence of French soldiers in their offensive capacity which +had been severely shaken in April. During June and July they had been +mainly engaged in repelling German attacks on the Chemin des Dames, +though Gouraud, who succeeded Anthoine in the Champagne command, +secured some valuable local gains on the Moronvillers heights. + +The attack at Verdun was entrusted to Guillaumat, and his bombardment +began on 17 August. The Germans anticipated an offensive on the left +bank of the Meuse, but not the extension which Guillaumat had planned +on the right bank as well. The weather was as fair at Verdun as it was +foul in Flanders, and while Haig's men floundered in seas of mud, the +worst against which Pétain's had to contend was clouds of dust. Their +artillery had destroyed the German defences on Mort Homme, and when +the infantry advanced on the 20th they carried it, the Avocourt wood, +the Bois de Cumières, and the Bois des Corbeaux, in a few hours with +little loss. Simultaneously on the right bank of the river they +captured Talou Hill, Champneuville, Mormont farm, and part of the Bois +des Fosses. On the following day the Cote de l'Oie and Regnéville fell +on the left bank, and Samogneux on the right. On the 24th the French +took Camard wood and Hill 304 and advanced to the south bank of the +Forges brook, which remained their line until the American attack in +October 1918, while further progress was made east of the Meuse on the +25th until the outskirts of Beaumont were reached. A fortnight later +another slight advance was made between Beaumont and Ornes, and on +both banks of the Meuse the line was at length restored to almost its +position before the great German offensive of 21 February 1916. But +Brabant-sur-Meuse, Haumont, Beaumont, and Ornes remained in German +hands, and no attempt had been made to recover the line the French had +then held on the road to Étain (see Map, p. 194). Verdun might now +have been thought quite secure but for the fact that equal success on +the Chemin des Dames in October did not save it from the Germans seven +months later. + +This second of Pétain's limited offensives was carried out by Maistre +and led to a more extended German retirement. But the attack was only +on a four miles' front eastward from Laffaux in the angle made by the +German retreat in the spring between the Forest of St. Gobain and the +Chemin des Dames (see Map, p. 67). It was preceded by a week's intense +bombardment which, as at Verdun, destroyed the German defences; and +although it was made in fog and rain the high ground did not suffer +like Flanders from the effects, and the French attack was immediately +and completely successful. Allemant, Vaudesson, Malmaison, and +Chavignon, with 8000 prisoners, were taken on 23 October, and by the +27th the French had captured Pinon, Pargny, and Filain, and pressed +through the Pinon forest to the banks of the Ailette and the Oise and +Aisne canal. This advance turned the line which the Germans still held +on the Chemin des Dames, and they found it untenable. On 2 November +they withdrew down the slopes to the north bank of the Ailette, and +the French occupied without resistance Courteçon, Cerny, Allies, and +Chevreux, which they had vainly with thousands of casualties +endeavoured to seize in April and May. The Chemin des Dames was now +really won, and the contrast was pointed between the two methods and +their success. Pétain's more limited offensive secured the greater +strategical gains. But the French rather forgot the ease with which +they finally won the Chemin des Dames in the losses their earlier +efforts had cost them, and were to lose it once more because they +thought it impregnable. + +In spite of experience the Entente was slow in learning not to +underestimate the military resourcefulness of the Germans, and +Pétain's victories, coupled with the failure of the Germans to react, +provoked a jubilation which was not justified. To the German Higher +Command the loss of a few square miles at Verdun and the Chemin des +Dames was a mere matter of detail compared with the ambitious strategy +it now had in mind. Situated as the Germans were between two fronts, +they were quicker to grasp the significance of events in the East than +were Western Powers; and the collapse of Russia had already inspired +Ludendorff with the idea and hopes of a final and victorious offensive +on the West in the spring of 1918. It must come soon, or the advent of +American armies would make it too late. Even the French and British +forces were serious enough, and an obvious preliminary would be to +weaken the enemy line in France by a diversion. The Germans knew +enough about Italy to be confident that a staggering blow would not be +difficult to deal, and that if it were dealt it would compel France +and Great Britain to go to the rescue of their distressful ally. Italy +had all along been inviting some such blow by her concentration on +Trieste, a divergent quest after booty which led away from the enemy's +vital parts; for the Adriatic was already closed to the Central +Empires by the French and British fleets, and the fall of Trieste, +however gratifying it might be to Irredentists--though Trieste had +never belonged to Italy or Italian rulers--would have no appreciable +effect upon the issue of the war. That quest, moreover, left the +Italian flank, upon which its front entirely depended, exposed at +Caporetto. It was not, indeed, probable that the Italians would have +advanced very far had they set their faces towards Vienna; but if +their front had faced in that direction, they would not have provoked +the disastrous collapse of their whole campaign in the last week of +October 1917. Hitherto Russia had prevented the Central Empires from +seizing the opportunity which Italy offered; but the triumph of +Bolshevism removed that protection and also supplied the Germans with +political means for advancing their military ends. Not a few Italian +troops had succumbed to propaganda, and when the crisis came they +imitated Russian examples in a way which provoked Cadorna--in a +censored message--to speak of their "naked treason." + +The valour which other Italian troops had shown during the summer and +their success on the Bainsizza plateau had not prepared Italy or her +Allies for so great a reversal of fortune in the autumn. The attempt +after the fall of Gorizia in August 1916 to force a way to Trieste had +been checked by the formidable bastion of Mount Hermada, and in May +1917 Cadorna turned to the other great obstacle to his eastward +advance, the Selva di Ternova with its peaks M. San Gabriele and M. +San Daniele, which dominated the valley of the Vippacco and the +railway to Trieste running along it. But these peaks could not be +taken by a frontal attack, and an effort was made to outflank them +from the north by seizing the Bainsizza plateau and the Chiapovano +valley behind it. A week from 14 May was spent in the preliminary +operation of extending the Italian hold over the east bank of the +Isonzo above and below Plava, and in seizing the westerly edge of the +Bainsizza plateau with its two peaks, M. Kuk and M. Vodice. This +advance over difficult country required great endurance and valour, +but it fell short of anticipations, and on the 23rd Cadorna struck +another blow in the direction of the Hermada. Hudi Log, Jamiano, +Flondar, and San Giovanni were captured, and for a moment a footing +was gained in Kostanjevica and on the lower slopes of Hermada; but an +Austrian counter-attack on 5 June recovered Flondar and drove the +Italians off the Hermada. + +It was clear that Italy unaided could not achieve even the limited +objective of Trieste on which she had set her heart, and in July +Cadorna appealed for help to Great Britain and France. The former sent +and the latter promised some batteries of artillery, but no infantry +could be spared in view of our commitment to the Flanders campaign and +of French caution after the failure on the Chemin des Dames; and in +August Cadorna resumed his attack alone. It was dictated by political +rather than military motives; for there was discontent in Italy which +the most rigorous censorship could not conceal, and the reference in +the Pope's peace note of August to "useless slaughter" evoked serious +echoes in a public mind which found inadequate compensation for the +meagre and costly results of the Italian campaign in its splendid +advertisement by the Italian Government. Italy needed a victory, and +Cadorna achieved enough to keep up the illusion of triumphant +progress. The bombardment began on 18 August and the infantry attack +on the 19th over an extended front of thirty miles from Lom to the +north of the Bainsizza plateau to the Hermada and the shores of the +Adriatic. Most of the Bainsizza plateau was overrun, Monte Santo at +its southern extremity was captured, and the Italians recovered a +footing on the Hermada. A terrific and bloody battle was waged early +in September for the key-position at M. San Gabriele, but heavy +Austrian reinforcements from Russia prevented the Italians from +mastering the crest. On the 5th they were again driven back from the +Hermada and San Giovanni, while away in the north they failed to take +the heights of Lom. This held up their further advance across the +Bainsizza plateau, and its eastern half, containing peaks a thousand +feet higher than any the Italians had conquered, remained in Austrian +hands. No real progress had been made, the partial occupation of the +Bainsizza plateau proved useless, the losses had been tremendous, and +at the end of September Cadorna reported that his main operations were +at an end. Eleven of the sixteen British batteries were recalled, the +French were countermanded, and the ball was left at Ludendorff's feet. + +He had begun his preparations in August when Otto von Buelow was +transferred from the West to the Italian front and given an army +composed of six German and seven Austrian divisions. The control of +the campaign was taken over by the German Higher Command, and the +troops had been trained in the new tactics which were tried by Von +Hutier at Riga in the first week in September and were to be used to +more serious purpose at Caporetto in October and on the Western front +in 1918. Time was of the essence of Ludendorff's strategy; he could +not afford, with the American peril in prospect, to prolong the war by +fighting in trenches and merely defending the Hindenburg lines. Nor +could he even afford that deliberate method of progress favoured by +Haig and Pétain, which consisted in rapid advances on limited fronts +to limited objectives, or in snail-like movements over wider areas. +The strategy which by intense bombardment drove the enemy back a mile +or two at the cost of so devastating the ground as to make one's own +advance impossible for weeks, could not achieve a decision within the +time at Ludendorff's disposal. Some means must be found of reviving +the war of movement and repeating in a more decisive form the German +march of August 1914. The bombardment of devastation must therefore be +sacrificed in the interests of the pursuing troops, and its place be +taken by gas shells; and the enemy line must be broken by the +superiority of picked battalions and greater concentration of machine +guns and other portable weapons. The line once broken, the advantage +must be followed up by a series of fresh divisions passing through and +beyond the others like successive waves, maintaining the continuity of +the flowing tide. The Eastern front was used as a training ground for +these new tactics, which served Ludendorff better than any advance +into Russia could have done; and they came as a complete surprise at +Caporetto. + +That was not, indeed, particularly good terrain for the experiment, +and in order to hoodwink the Italians more effectively Von Buelow did +not select for his attack any sector indicated by the principal +Austrian lines of communication. But these defects of Alpine country +were counterbalanced by the weak moral of the troops opposed to him. +One symptom of Italian instability had been outbreaks during the +summer at Turin in which soldiers had fraternized with the rioters, +and the mutinous regiments were sent as a penance to that sector of +the front which Von Buelow was well-informed enough to select for his +offensive. But the nervousness was general: Italians had never yet met +German troops in battle, save perhaps in small encounters with +diminutive units in Macedonia, and some consternation was created +when, about the middle of October, it was ascertained that there were +German divisions on the Italian front; and presently popular +imagination magnified Von Buelow's thirteen divisions into the +combined weight of the Central Empires, with Mackensen at its head as +a bogey-man. That was at least a more acceptable explanation than the +real one of the disaster which overtook the Italian Army. But it is +impossible to gauge with any exactness the extent or effect of German +intrigue and Bolshevist propaganda upon the Italian situation. +Bolshevist envoys had been received with open arms at Turin, and +Orlando, then Minister of the Interior, had refrained on principle +from hampering their activities. More singular was the coincidence of +Von Buelow's offensive with a Parliamentary crisis which precipitated +the fall of the Boselli Ministry. + +The German attack began on 24 October amid rain and snow, which never +deterred the Germans, and on this occasion even assisted them by +increasing the element of surprise. The infected front of the Second +Army between Zaga and Auzza broke with such celerity that by dawn of +the 25th Von Buelow's men had crossed the Isonzo, scaled Mount +Matajur, 5000 feet high, and were pouring across the Italian frontier; +and the gains of twenty-nine months were lost in as many hours. +Elsewhere Italian troops fought with splendid determination, and the +garrison of M. Nero held out for days and died to a man, while their +comrades at Caporetto greeted the enemy with white flags, and reserves +withheld their assistance. Gallantry to the left and right availed +nothing against poltroonery in the centre: the Bainsizza plateau was +lost, and the Third Army on the Carso was in dire peril of being cut +off from its retreat. Nothing but retreat, and perhaps not even that, +was open to the other armies, with the Second in the centre fleeing +like a rabble and Von Buelow threatening the left and right in the +rear. On the 27th Cividale, on the 28th Gorizia, and on the 29th +Udine, twelve miles within the Italian frontier, fell, and Von Buelow +had taken 100,000 prisoners and 700 guns. The Third Army escaped by +the skin of its teeth, the excellence of its discipline, and the +sacrifice of its rearguards and 500 guns at the crossing of the +Tagliamento at Latisana on 1 November. Then the rain came down, and no +believer in Jupiter Pluvius as a German god could maintain that that +river had been turned into a roaring torrent in the interests of the +German pursuit. + +The Tagliamento could, however, be easily turned from the north, and +the Italian retreat continued across the Livenza and the Piave where +Cadorna stood on 10 November. The Adige farther south was considered +by many to be Italy's real strategic frontier, but the abandonment of +the Piave would surrender Venice to the enemy, and Venice was Italy's +one naval base in the northern Adriatic. It must be retained, or the +Italian Fleet would have to withdraw to Brindisi and leave the +Adriatic and Italy's eastern coast open to incursion from Pola. But if +the Piave was to be held, the German threat to turn it by a descent +from the Alps down either side of the Brenta valley must be defeated; +and it was here that the Caporetto campaign was fought to a standstill +in November and December. Fortunately Ludendorff had not been prepared +for the magnitude of his own success, and Von Buelow's thirteen +divisions had not been cast for the part of destroying the Italian +armies. Their object had been twofold, firstly to compel France and +Great Britain to weaken their front by sending aid to Italy, and +secondly, to secure plunder in the shape of guns, munitions, and +corn-growing territory. The Kaiser boasted that his armies had been +set up for some time by this Italian success, and Italy's two Allies +had no choice but to send divisions to her assistance, the French +under Fayolle and the British under Plumer. With that the Germans were +content, and although the Austrians continued their efforts to force +the Piave and turn its flank down the Brenta valley, Von Buelow's six +German divisions took little part in the fighting and were soon with +their general sent back to the Western front. + +No light task remained for the shattered Italian armies, for the +Austrians had been greatly reinvigorated by their success, and +continual reinforcements were arriving from the Russian front. Italy +had never been a match unaided for her hereditary foes, and the +prospect of British and French assistance was needed to stem the +torrent of invasion descending from the mountains. The Italians fought +well, and politically the nation pulled itself together; but one by +one the Austrians captured in November the heights between the Piave +and the Brenta which protected the Venetian plain, and it was not +until 4 December that the French and British were able to relieve the +pressure by taking up their respective quarters on the two cardinal +positions of M. Grappa and the Montello. Even so the Austrian advance +continued, while a bridgehead was secured across the Piave at Zenson. +After a four days' battle on 11-15 December the Austrians reached the +limits of their invasion at M. Asolone and M. Tomba on the east, and +M. Melago on the west, of the Brenta valley; and before the end of the +year the Italians were recovering slopes on M. Asolone and the French +those of M. Tomba, while the bridgehead at Zenson was destroyed. +Fighting went on well into 1918 without much material change in the +situation until Austria was called upon to take her part in the final +enemy onslaught in June. Nevertheless the Central Empires had achieved +the most brilliant of their strategical triumphs. At slight cost to +themselves they had bitten deep into Italian territory, taken a +quarter of a million prisoners, 1800 guns, and vast quantities of +munitions and stores, and had imposed a greatly increased strain upon +the Allies who alone stood between them and victory on that Western +front which Ludendorff had selected for the final test of war. + + + CHAPTER XVII + + THE EVE OF THE FINAL STRUGGLE + +Two gleams of light, one of them quickly dimmed and the other distant, +relieved the gloom of the last winter of the war. As the Flanders +offensive subsided in the mud, Haig was preparing another blow by a +different hand in a drier land; and he, too, was working to find an +escape from trench-warfare on lines not unlike those of Ludendorff. +Both were dissatisfied with the obstacles which intense bombardment, +used for initial success, placed in the way of its prosecution; but by +one of the ironies of the war, while Ludendorff now relied on the +superiority of his human material, Haig looked for success to the +greater ingenuity of mechanical contrivance expressed in Tanks. They +were under a cloud in Flanders because they could not advance upon mud +and water; but on higher ground their improved efficiency and numbers +might be used to some effect. The plan adopted contemplated a narrow +front but an ambitious objective. It was to break the Hindenburg lines +at their nodal point in front of Cambrai. If successful it would +disorganize the whole German scheme of defence in the West, and would +in any case tend to divert the Germans from their Italian campaign. +The objective was not Cambrai itself, but to break through the +Hindenburg lines as far as Bourlon and beyond, and then to take them +in reverse from Bourlon westwards and northwards to the Sensée and the +Scarpe. In other words, it appeared to be an experiment in tactics +which might with good fortune develop into a strategical means of +achieving from the south of Douai and Lille what the Flanders campaign +had failed to secure to the north of them. The German line was thin, +and, had it been made of the stuff of the Italian line at Caporetto, +Haig might have repeated Ludendorff's unexpected success. There was a +third and more sinister explanation of the battle of Cambrai, that it +was a practical attempt to answer the gibes in which the Prime +Minister had indulged at the tactics of the British Army. + +The task was entrusted to the Third Army which had seen little +fighting since the battle of Arras died down in the spring, and had +been under Sir Julian Byng since Allenby's transference to Egypt. The +attack began on 20 November; there was no preliminary bombardment to +cut up the ground over which the Tanks, infantry, and cavalry were to +advance, and a single gun gave the signal for the start amid a +favouring fog and behind a supplementary barrage of smoke which hid +the advance from the German guns. The Tanks broke through the wire +entanglements and destroyed the nests of machine guns, while the +infantry marched forward in their track. By nightfall they had made at +points greater progress than on any previous day in the war. +Havrincourt, Graincourt, and Anneux--four and a half miles from the +morning's front--fell on the left; Ribecourt, Marcoing, Neuf wood, +Noyelles, and Masnières in the centre; and La Vacquerie, Bonavis, and +Lateau wood on the right. The flies in the ointment of success were a +check in front of Flesquières and a serious lack of foresight on the +Scheldt canal, where the single bridge was broken at Masnières and the +cavalry were held up on a front of several miles. But for the former, +Byng might have mastered the vital Bourlon position, and but for the +latter have crossed the canal in force, broken the last of the German +lines, and taken Rumilly, Crèvecoeur, and possibly Cambrai. For the +Germans had been completely surprised and needed two days to bring up +any adequate reinforcements. The advance continued at a slower pace on +the 21st. Flesquières was taken and then Cantaing and +Fontaine-Notre-Dame; but the bid for Bourlon developed into a costly, +stubborn, and indecisive struggle for five days while the Germans were +being steadily reinforced. + +On the right Byng pushed out to Banteux, but the end of our advance on +the 29th left us with a rectangular block of territory loosely +attached to our original front. The German lines had been breached, +but once more it was shown that lines of concrete and wire +fortifications do not roll up like lines of mere human material +without an amount of pressure which our forces did not permit of +applying. The new Government had been at least as deaf as the old to +Haig's demands for men, though the use that had been made of reserves +in Flanders justified some caution and economy in the supply; and for +the success of his major operation Haig had to rely on troops which +were too few and had been imperfectly trained. Meanwhile Von Marwitz, +the German commander, admitting the British victory, announced his +intention of wiping it out, and gathered sixteen fresh divisions to +effect his purpose on the 30th. There was ample warning all along the +front, but we had not grasped the significance of Von Hutier's tactics +at Riga or Von Buelow's at Caporetto, nor had our commanders dreamt +that the Germans without our Tanks could follow the example we had +just set ourselves and attack without a warning bombardment. Their +method was as unexpected as our own, and where it was applied against +our right it was almost as successful. From Bonavis south to +Vendhuille all our gains were lost, and within an hour and a half the +Germans had pierced the line we had held since April and captured +Gonnelieu, Villers-Guislain, and Gouzeaucourt. Gouzeaucourt was +retaken later in the day, and at Bourlon, where the new tactics were +not employed, the gallantry of our troops retained the position. More +ground was also recovered next day on our right, and the German +counterattack seemed to have been exhausted. But it had left us with +an untenable front, and on 4-7 December Haig withdrew from Bourlon and +Marcoing to the Flesquières ridge. Out of sixty square miles and +fourteen villages captured we retained but sixteen and three +respectively, while the Germans had secured seven square miles and two +villages held by us before the battle began. The fact that our gains +included a seven-mile stretch of the Siegfried line made no +appreciable difference to the future course of the war; and we even +failed to learn the lesson of our failure. The innate British +conservatism, which was counteracted in politics by a democratic +suffrage, retained its unchecked supremacy in the British Army; and +the German tactics which had robbed us of our gains at Cambrai came no +less as a surprise to rob us four months later of things that were +much more serious. + + The Battles Of Arras And Cambrai + +The light of Byng's success soon died away and left the gloom to be +illumined by a far-off flicker in the East. Even here the effects of +the Russian collapse dogged or rather prevented our steps and barred +our advance from Baghdad; and without Russian co-operation Maude had +to think rather of safeguarding his conquests against Falkenhayn's +projects from Aleppo than of striking farther from his narrow base +into the almost limitless enemy country. On 29 September he pushed +forward his defences on the Euphrates by seizing Ramadie and +encircling and compelling the surrender of the entire Turkish force. +In October he occupied the positions abandoned by the Russians up to +the Persian frontier, and early in November drove the Turks out of +Tekrit towards Mosul. After destroying the Turkish base we retired; +there was now no enemy either on the Tigris or the Euphrates within a +hundred miles of Baghdad, and Maude's work had been rounded off. He +died suddenly of cholera on the 18th, leaving a reputation second to +none in the British Army. His successor, Sir William Marshall, carried +on his work by forcing the Turks east of the Tigris back into the +Jebel Hamrin mountains in December and then in March 1918, driving +them up the Euphrates out of Hit and Khan Baghdadie to within 250 +miles of Aleppo. In May he turned to the Tigris, retook Tekrit, +expelled the Turks from Jebel Hamrin, Kifri, and Kirkuk, and forced +them back across the Lesser Zab to within 90 miles of Mosul. But by +that time the public had little attention to spare for Mesopotamia, +the Turks had recovered the whole of the Russian conquests in Asia +Minor, and had occupied the Caucasus right across to the Caspian Sea. +Marshall's efforts had to be diverted north-east to bar the enemy's +way through Persia towards India; and the advance on Aleppo was left +to the army of Egypt (see Maps, pp. 177, 352). + +Allenby succeeded to its command in June 1917, and had the summer in +which to prepare his plans. Frontal attacks on Gaza had failed with +too serious losses in March and April for their repetition to be +risked, especially in view of the care which had since been taken to +add to the Turkish forces and to the strength of their defences; and +Allenby discovered the key of the Turkish position at Beersheba, +nearly thirty miles south-east of Gaza. It was captured on 31 October +with the efficient help of the Imperial Camel Corps, and on 2 November +the enemy was distracted by a second blow on our extreme left which +resulted in the taking of Sheikh Hasan and the outflanking of Gaza +between it and the sea. The whole line between Beersheba and Gaza had, +however, been elaborately fortified, and it required a week's +strenuous fighting to reduce it. Then on 6-7 November our left +advanced once more upon Gaza only to find it practically undefended; +and by nightfall on the 7th Allenby had pushed ten miles along the +coast beyond Gaza. The advance was now rapid in this direction. On the +9th we occupied Ascalon; on the 14th the Turks were driven from the +junction where the branch line to Jerusalem joins the main line +running down the coastal plain, and the Holy City was cut off from +rail-communication with the Turkish base; and on the 16th Jaffa was +captured. Allenby then swung round towards the east to threaten +Jerusalem from the north, while his right wing pushed up beyond Hebron +along the hills of Judæa. He wished to avoid battle near the city, and +the Turks made a determined stand to the north-west of it on the Nebi +Samwil ridge. By 9 December their resistance was overcome, and +Jerusalem was threatened from the north-west by our left and from the +south-east by our right. It surrendered on that day, and Allenby made +a quiet official entrance on the 11th. He had succeeded where Richard +Coeur-de-Lion had failed; Jerusalem, which for 730 years had been in +Mohammedan hands, under first the Saracens and then the Turks, passed +under Christian control; and there seemed better ground in the +twentieth than in the sixteenth century for the Elizabethan's exalted +question to his compatriots, "Are we not set upon Mount Zion to give +light to all the world?" + +The light was somewhat slow to penetrate elsewhere. Even in Palestine +it took Allenby months to substantiate his position. By the end of +December he had pushed across the El Auja north of Jaffa and taken +Ramah, Beitunia, and Bireh, nine miles north of Jerusalem; but Jericho +did not fall until 21 February, and little impression was made during +the spring upon Mount Ephraim, where the Turks barred the road to +Shechem, or on their positions east of the Jordan, although the Turks +were increasingly harassed by Arab raids upon the railway leading to +Maan and the Hedjaz. Es Salt was captured on 1 May, but succumbed to +counter-attacks in which some British guns were captured. The heat of +summer put an end to active operations, while the Turkish recovery at +the expense of Russia and the German victories in Europe counselled +caution, and helped to postpone till the autumn the full fruition of +Allenby's strategy. He and Maude had nevertheless made our Eastern +campaign the brightest pages in the sombre history of the war in 1917, +and the fall of Baghdad and Jerusalem contributed not a little to the +collapse of Turkey, which hastened that of the Central Empires. They +were not divergent operations because they converged towards the +centre, and weakness at the extremities affected the heart of the +Turkish Empire. Germany would not have succumbed when she did but for +the fate which had overtaken her allies elsewhere than on the Western +front. But it was a far cry from these contributory operations to that +policy of concentrating on "the vital junction of Muslimieh" which +commended itself to excitable critics, and would have left our Western +front at the mercy of the most formidable onslaught it ever had to +face. + +We needed all the comfort we could extract from our Eastern campaigns; +for, with a gigantic German offensive threatening the West in 1918, we +could be none too sure that we had dealt satisfactorily with the only +serious offensive the Germans had undertaken against us in 1917. That +had been their unlimited submarine warfare, which had reached its +greatest fury in April, when 25 per cent of the vessels leaving +British ports failed to return, but continued through, out the year to +sap our strength like an open ulcer. The general public knew little of +the truth, and was not competent to measure the value of such facts as +were placed before it. The Germans' claim to have sunk 9 1/2 million +tons in the first year of unrestricted warfare was regarded as +preposterous, but Sir Eric Geddes himself assessed the British loss at +6 millions.[Footnote: The total British loss in the war was 7,731,212 +tons. France came next with 900,000 tons. ] Mr. Lloyd George revealed +the fact that we had sunk five German submarines on 17 November, but +not the fact that our total bag for December barely exceeded that +figure; and on the 13th the First Lord of the Admiralty corrected the +optimism of the Premier's figure by declaring that the Germans were +building submarines faster than they lost them, while we were losing +shipping faster than we built it. He was somewhat more cheerful in his +estimate of the situation on 1 February 1918, but on 5 March had to +deplore a falling-off in our construction, partly at any rate due to +the depletion of man-power in that industry. Some consolation was +found in the fact that the proportion of our losses to our total +shipping did not greatly exceed that in the last ten years of the +Napoleonic wars; but the comparison was illusory, because we were far +more dependent upon oversea supplies in 1917 than in 1812, though so +far as food was concerned the dependence was greatly relieved in 1918 +by the efforts of the Board of Agriculture. A source of greater pride, +if not of satisfaction, was the fact that our domestic shortage was +due less to the sinking of our ships by German submarines, than to +their diversion to the service of our Allies. Not only had the British +Navy to defend all the coasts of the Entente by bottling up the German +High Seas Fleet, but our mercantile marine had to provide for most of +the Allies' transport and provisioning; whereas in the Napoleonic wars +we had for long no allies to maintain and could concentrate upon our +own requirements. The unparalleled strain of the war was due to the +unparalleled extent to which the British Empire placed its resources +at the disposal of less fortunate countries; and fortunately for +Powers, which later on complained of American interference, the United +States seemed bent in 1918 on bettering our example. + +Other incidents of naval warfare than the German submarine campaign +added to the public discomposure. On 17 October two German cruisers +sank two British destroyers and nine convoyed Norwegian merchant ships +between the Shetlands and the Norwegian coast; on 12 December +somewhere in the North Sea four German destroyers sank five neutral +vessels, four British armed trawlers, and also one of the two British +destroyers accompanying them, the other being disabled, while two +British trawlers and two neutral vessels were also sunk off the Tyne; +and on the 23rd, three British destroyers were mined or torpedoed off +the Dutch coast. On the 26th it was announced that Sir Rosslyn Wemyss +had succeeded Jellicoe as First Sea Lord, and other changes were made +at the Admiralty. But the unpleasant incidents continued. On 14 +January 1918 Yarmouth was, after a long immunity from such attacks, +once more bombarded by enemy destroyers; on 15 February a British +trawler and seven drifters were sunk by similar means in the Straits +of Dover; and on the 24th the safe return was announced of the German +raider Wolf after a cruise in which she had sunk eleven vessels in the +Indian and Pacific Oceans. The extension of submarine warfare to the +sinking of hospital ships was more shocking as an exhibition of +barbarity than alarming as a proof of naval efficiency, and may even +have been designed as a desperate measure to commit Germany beyond +recall to the alternative of victory or irredeemable ruin. As an +outrage against international morality it was only exceeded by the +torpedoing on 6 June of a Dutch vessel on which British delegates were +to have gone to The Hague to discuss with Germans the mutual +amelioration of the lot of prisoners of war. + +Side by side with this brutality at sea there developed a similar +offensive in the air. The Zeppelin menace had been almost exorcised in +the autumn of 1916 by the effectiveness of explosive bullets fired +from aeroplanes which ignited the gas-bags. But on 28 November a +solitary aeroplane dropped six bombs on London in full daylight, and +thus gave ample warning of what might follow. No adequate steps were, +however, taken to meet the danger until in the spring and summer of +1917 it was brought home in a more emphatic form. On 25 May German +aeroplanes which had been diverted from their London objective by +atmospheric conditions, caused 250 casualties and nearly inflicted +serious military damage at Folkestone; and on 13 June the Germans +effected their most successful raid by appearing over London shortly +before noon and killing 157 and wounding 432 men, women, and children. +The object was avowed in the German press by one of the leaders of the +expedition to be the demoralization of the civilian population. Its +success was due to the lack of counter-preparations; and when the +experiment was repeated on 7 July four of the raiders were brought +down and the casualties were reduced to 59 killed and 193 injured. +After August the daylight aeroplane raids were discontinued, but only +to be resumed in moonlight, and on 4 September 11 persons were killed +and 62 injured in a London raid at night. These became almost nightly +affairs at the end of the month; and while no single aeroplane raid at +night caused anything like the loss of life inflicted on 13 June or 7 +July, they were sufficiently distracting, though it pleased the +patriotic press to pretend that only immigrant aliens, East-End Jews, +or at least the poorest of native Britons, sought safety in flight +from the risks they involved. + +The raids were repeated at irregular intervals, owing to atmospheric +conditions, throughout the winter until Whitsunday 19 May, when 44 +were killed and 179 injured. Generally they occurred when the moon was +nearly full, but on 6 December there was one when it was in its last +quarter and on 18 December another when it was only four days old, and +on 7 March 20 were killed and 55 injured in a raid on a moonless +night. On 19 October these aeroplane raids were varied by a raid on a +moonless night by Zeppelins which shut off their engines and drifted +across London with a north-west wind, dropping only three bombs but +killing 27 and injuring 53 persons. Six of the raiders failed to get +home, and this was the last of the Zeppelin so far as London was +concerned, though Zeppelin raids were made as late as 12 and 13 March +on the north-east coast. Reprisals were adopted as a policy by the +British Government in the autumn of 1917, and great store was set upon +them in some quarters. But in spite of the vigour with which they were +carried out along the Rhine, there is no reason to suppose that our +aeroplane raids achieved any greater military effect than that which +we had always denied to German raids on England. They certainly did +not succeed in curing the Germans of their raiding propensities. That +was effected by our improvements in defence, notably in our +antiaircraft bullets and "aprons" suspended from balloons; and after +Whitsunday, 1918, the Germans concentrated on the French, although +they had shown fewer qualms about reprisals. Nor did our supremacy in +the air produce the effects which many anticipated on the field of +battle. Italian superiority with that arm was of little use at +Caporetto, and our superiority did not materially further our advance +in Flanders in the autumn of 1917 or retard the German offensive at +St. Quentin in the spring of 1918. Aircraft were indispensable as eyes +for an army, and to a lesser extent for a navy; but as an independent +force they were as limited in their effectiveness as is artillery or +cavalry without the fundamental infantry. + +The obvious stalemate which marked the situation during the first half +of the fourth year of the war imposed upon the belligerents a +reconsideration of the political and military means of bringing it to +an end. Dissatisfaction was naturally more apparent in Germany during +the spring and summer and in Entente countries during the autumn of +1917; and in July the Reichstag passed its famous resolution against +annexations and indemnities. Its idea of peace was that Germany should +forgo annexations, and the Entente its claims to indemnities; but the +chief anxiety of the Reichstag was to make capital for the cause of +constitutional reform out of the dissatisfaction with Germany's +military situation, and that was immediately improved by the collapse +of the last Russian offensive. Bethmann-Hollweg fell for failing to +control the Reichstag, but his successor Michaelis was a mere Prussian +bureaucrat who only accepted the Reichstag resolution "as he +understood it," and the fate of Russia soon made it clear that his +understanding of "no annexations and no indemnities" did not preclude +the "liberation" of large parts of Russia and their subjection to +German influence, nor the insistence upon "guarantees" which would +reduce Belgium and Serbia to a similar plight. The Vatican followed +the German lead with a peace note in August which revealed no clear +distinction between its and the German point of view; and in October, +amid subdued celebrations of the fourth centenary of Luther's +Ninety-Five Theses, Count Hertling succeeded Michaelis as Imperial +Chancellor and became the first Roman Catholic minister-president of +Prussia since the Reformation. + +There was, indeed, a fundamental unity in this apparently discordant +combination between the Protestant and the Ultramontane; for the +Hohenzollern State and the Roman Catholic Church were both systems +organized on that principle of autocracy which was more and more +coming out as the underlying issue of the war, and it coincided with +the fitness of things that the answer to the Vatican note was returned +by the President of the United States. There was, in fact, no basis of +accommodation, and any desire for it in Germany disappeared with the +temporary improvement in her military prospects. When the failure of +our campaign in Flanders was coupled with the Italian disaster at +Caporetto and the Bolshevik revolution in Russia, the Reichstag +resolution was spurned, constitutional reform was smothered, and the +Junkers under Ludendorff's able leadership girded themselves for a +final quest of peace by victory with illimitable annexations and +indemnities. The Kaiser foreshadowed the coming offensive in the West +by proclaiming that the only way to peace was one hewn through the +ranks of those who would not make it. + +In spite of this brave show, the Entente exhibited a truer confidence +by expressing its dissatisfaction not in the form of seeking a +compromise with the enemy, but in criticism of the conduct of the war. +There had, indeed, been some political hesitation at the time of the +Stockholm Conference in the summer when the Russian revolutionists +invited socialists of all countries to consider a peace without +annexations or indemnities. Even Mr. Lloyd George was subsequently +said by his Labour colleague in the Cabinet to have contemplated +British participation; and there were legitimate grounds for anxiety +lest the officially countenanced if not inspired presence of German +socialists at Stockholm might not give them a political advantage over +unrepresented Entente countries. But the danger passed away as gleams +of returning prosperity in the autumn revealed once more the true +mentality of the German Government and exposed the insincerity of its +pacific professions; and precipitate pacifism only revealed itself in +Great Britain in a cautiously worded but dangerously doubting letter +by Lord Lansdowne, published in the "Daily Telegraph" on 29 November. +Once more President Wilson expressed, in his message of 4 December, +the real mind of Germany's most sober and serious enemies. He branded +German autocracy as "a thing without conscience or honour or capacity +for covenanted peace," and declared that peace could only come "when +the German people have spokesmen whose word we can believe, and when +those spokesmen are ready in the name of their people to accept the +common judgment of the nations as to what shall henceforth be the +bases of law and of covenant for the life of the world." Our +conception of those bases was elaborated in a memorandum adopted by +the Labour party later in the month which was substantially accepted +by Mr. Lloyd George, after consultation with Mr. Asquith, Viscount +Grey, and representatives of the Dominions, on 5 January 1918; and +then three days later President Wilson defined the famous Fourteen +Points which ultimately became the basis of the peace. + +There was more heartburning over the conduct of the war. In France, M. +Ribot's Government fell in September and was reconstituted under M. +Painlevé. It succumbed in November to the effects of Caporetto, and +France, like Italy, had to find a new Prime Minister. Her choice fell +upon M. Clémenceau, a vigorous veteran of seventy-six. His supreme +quality was an audacity from which friends as well as foes +occasionally suffered, and his great service was the war he waged upon +the half-hearted and the double-minded of his compatriots. England +escaped a change of Ministry, but not without misgivings or the +sacrifice of subordinates on account of a situation for which +Ministers were equally if not more to blame. There were sweeping +changes at the Admiralty, and the mutterings of a Press campaign +against Sir William Robertson and Sir Douglas Haig, for which the +Prime Minister had given some ground, if not the signal, by his +reference to the tactics of the Stone Age. The ultimate cause of his +embarrassment lay in the extravagant anticipations he had encouraged +of the results to follow from his own accession to power. He had +attributed the responsibility for earlier failures to end the war to +his predecessors, and on his own line of argument he was himself +responsible for the ill-success of 1917. In both cases the reasoning +was absurd, and individual Ministers counted for little in the titanic +conflict of forces. Mr. Lloyd George suffered from the Russian +revolution, but he had a windfall in American intervention; the +"Victory Loan" of January would not have saved the Entente from grave +financial difficulties had it not been for American assistance; and +the war seemed at least as far from an end after a year of the new +administration as it seemed when Mr. Lloyd George came in on a promise +of speedy success. + +Nor was his preparation for the coming crisis marked by greater +foresight than the measures of his predecessors. That it was coming in +the spring was sufficiently obvious in the autumn; intelligent +outsiders predicted in November that there would be a great German +offensive in the West, and even drew attention to the unmistakable +design of the Germans to weaken our front in France by the Italian +diversion. Yet no serious steps were taken to strengthen that front in +time. The Prime Minister announced in December that the Russian +collapse and Italian defeat imposed fresh obligations on Great +Britain, but his legislative proposals for increasing our man-power +were postponed till the following session and were quite inadequate in +their scope. Meanwhile the British front which was doomed to attack +was being weakened by being extended from St. Quentin to Barisis in +order to shorten and therefore strengthen the French front which was +not the German objective. Steps were, indeed, taken to establish an +Allied military council at Versailles; but the unity was more apparent +than real, and the council had no authority over the individual +governments or their staffs, and each continued to feel responsible +and anxious mainly, if not exclusively, for its own particular front. +Matters did not improve in the early months of 1918. In January Sir +Henry Wilson, our military representative at Versailles, reported his +opinion that the impending German offensive would be launched against +the British front between St. Quentin and Cambrai. He failed to +persuade his French colleagues, and if he convinced his own +Government, it failed to act upon his advice. Possibly it felt bound +to abide by the collective view, if any was expressed, by the +Versailles Council; in that case the collective Council proved less +sagacious than the British representative, and on 16 February it was +announced that Sir William Robertson had resigned. + +Meanwhile, American preparations were being delayed by an exceptional +winter and by the inherent and enormous difficulty of converting a +vast community inured to peace to the organized purposes of war. In +spite of invidious comparisons by super-patriots between British sloth +and Transatlantic promptitude, America took four times as many months +as the British had taken weeks to put a hundred thousand men into the +firing-line; and the Germans were transferring divisions very much +faster from the Eastern to the Western front. The Bolsheviks had +relieved them of all anxiety on that score. Immediately after their +coup d'etat on 7 November they had issued an invitation to all +belligerents to negotiate for peace. The Germans naturally accepted, +and on 29 November Count Hertling announced in the Reichstag their +readiness to treat. On 3 December Krilenko obtained the surrender at +Mohilev of the Russian General Staff, and Dukhonin, his predecessor, +was barbarously murdered, though Kornilov escaped. On the 5th an +armistice was signed to last till the 17th, and on the 15th a truce +for another month. Cossack rebellions under Kaledin and Kornilov broke +out on the Don and under Dutoff in the Urals; and Scherbachev +collected a mixed anti-Bolshevik force on the borders of the Ukraine. +But peace negotiations began between the Germans and Bolsheviks at +Brest-Litovsk on the 22nd. The plausible German Foreign Secretary, Von +Kühlmann, presided, and Austria was represented by Count Czernin. On +the 25th, which was Christmas Day for the Germans but not by the +unreformed Russian calendar, Von Kühlmann announced Germany's adhesion +to the Russian programme of no annexations and no indemnities on +condition that the Entente accepted the same principle; and an +adjournment was made until 4 January to wait for its reply. + +Before it was received Germany declared that Poland, Lithuania, +Courland, and parts of Esthonia and Livonia--i.e. the conquered +provinces of Russia--had already expressed their "self-determination" +in favour of separation from Russia and protection by Germany; and on +2 January Trotzky indignantly denounced these "hypocritical peace +proposals." On the 10th, however, he consented to reopen the +discussions at Brest without reference to the Entente, and to +recognize the independent status of the Ukraine. He was not yet +prepared to accept the German terms, and after the forcible +suppression of the Constituent Assembly, which had been elected in the +autumn and endeavoured to meet at Petrograd on 18 January, he accused +the Germans of demanding "a most monstrous annexation." He was still +relying on the result of Bolshevik propaganda in Germany, and the +strikes which broke out at the end of the month and the prohibition of +the Vorwärts showed that it was not without effect. But their +suppression by the Government deprived him of his only weapon, and on +10 February he announced that, while the Bolsheviks refused to sign an +unjust peace, the state of war was ended between Germany and Russia. +This chaotic suggestion did not commend itself to the Germans, and +they took prompt measures to bring Trotzky to a less ambiguous frame +of mind. On the 18th they occupied Dvinsk and Lutsk, and before the +end of the month they were in Hapsal, Dorpat, Reval, Pskov, and Minsk, +and within striking distance of Petrograd (see Map, p. 274). On the +24th the Bolsheviks intimated their willingness to accept the new +German terms, far more severe than their original proposals, which +included the abandonment of the whole of the Baltic Provinces, Poland, +Lithuania, and the Ukraine, and the surrender of Armenia and the +Caucasus to the Turks. Peace was signed on these conditions on 2 +March, and confirmed by a majority of more than two to one at a +congress of Soviets at Moscow on the 14th. + +Shameful as this surrender was, the Bolsheviks found some compensation +in the domestic triumphs of their party and their creed. Cossack +resistance succumbed to their arms and propaganda. Alexeiev, who had +succeeded Kaledin in the command of the Cossack forces, was defeated +on 13 February; Kaledin committed suicide; and Bolshevik authority +spread to the Black Sea, the Caucasus, and all across Siberia. Germany +hastened to make a German peace with Finland and the Ukraine, which +attempted to sow as many seeds of discord as was possible; but the +bourgeois parties with whom they treated had but a slender hold on the +countries they professed to represent, and Finland and the Ukraine +were soon involved in civil wars in which their Governments were only +able to make headway against the Bolshevik Red Guards by the help of +German troops. The anarchy suited the Germans except in so far as it +detained German forces from the West and impeded those supplies they +sought from the Ukraine and farther afield; and by the middle of March +they were in Odessa and pushing their outposts and their intrigues +towards the Caucasus, the Caspian, and Central Asia. The most pitiable +situation was that of Rumania, threatened as she was by the Bolsheviks +on account of her monarchy and social order, and by the Central +Empires on account of her alliance with the Entente. Completely cut +off from those allies, she was compelled in March to sign the +humiliating Treaty of Bukarest, which surrendered the Dobrudja, the +Carpathian passes, and her supplies of corn and oil to the enemy, +while leaving Mackensen in control of her capital and the greater part +of the kingdom. + +There have been few disasters in modern history comparable with the +fall of Russia, and none which shows more vividly that the strength of +a State depends not upon the vastness of its territory, the size of +its armies, or the skill of its diplomacy, but upon the moral, the +education, and contentment of its people. Of all the causes of German +success in the war and of suffering to the world at large and little +nations in particular, none was more potent than the blindness of +Russian governments which had refused in the past to set their house +in order, and by reform in time to prepare their people for the storm. +Russia herself suffered most, but all her allies felt in different +degrees the effects of her collapse, and in the spring of 1918 it was +to put the general cause of civilization to its severest test upon the +Western front. The perilous situation in which the Entente stood in +March was due to other reasons than the conduct of the British War +Cabinet, but there was a grim irony in its somewhat novel publication +of an official advertisement and report of its preparations for +victory on the eve of the greatest defeat encountered by British arms +during the war. + + + CHAPTER XVIII + + THE LAST GERMAN OFFENSIVE + +More than two years before the war concluded a junior officer from the +front remarked that he could not say when, but knew where, it would +end, and that was not far from our existing lines in France and +Flanders. As time wore on and the limitations of strategy under modern +conditions grew clearer, the war assumed more and more the aspect of a +single battle varying in its intensity from season to season and place +to place, but constant in its continuity and in its absorption of the +principal forces of the main belligerents. The unity of control +culminating in unity of command which marked the closing stages of the +war was therefore not so much a brilliant improvisation on the part of +any general or statesman as the inevitable result of the history of +the war; and the misfortunes of the Entente did more than its +foresight to bring that consummation to pass. In the main it was due +to the gradual weakening and then the collapse of Russia, which first +involved the ruin of Serbia and Rumania and the wrecking of our Balkan +plans, and finally dissolved the Eastern front. There could have been +no unity of command had Russia remained our predominant military +partner; and even in the West it never comprised the Italian Army, +which retained its independence of action or inaction until the end of +the war. But in 1918 the Italian front sank into a subordination +almost as marked as the Russian, and the war that counted grew to a +climax where it had started between the Alps and the Belgian coast. +There were concentrated the French and British armies which Germany +must beat before she could win peace; and there came in the American +hosts which turned the scale against her. + +With or without unity of command, the two million American troops +which ultimately crossed the Atlantic would have given us the victory; +and the view that the war was won by unity of command is as +superficial as the view that the battle of St. Quentin was lost by the +lack of it. That battle was lost because the Versailles Council, +acting on the advice of its French rather than its British members, +misjudged the direction of the coming German offensive and misplaced +the reserves at its disposal. Unless, which may be the case, Foch was +at variance with his French colleagues on this point, his appointment +as generalissimo at any earlier stage would not have affected the +results of these mistakes. Unity of command might, indeed, have led to +an even more extensive weakening of the threatened British front in +order to make absolutely secure that French front which the French +were convinced was the German objective, and a demand was made for a +further British extension beyond Barisis, but was successfully +resisted at the Versailles Council before the unity of command had +been established. That does not absolve the British Cabinet from its +complicity in the blunder. It was equally responsible to the British +people for British lives whether it was acting on its own initiative +or on the mistaken advice of an ally; and there were also sins of +omission of its own. Not only had it been advised by Sir Henry Wilson +that the German offensive would come on the British front, but it had +been warned that if it came where it was anticipated, that front, thin +as it was, could not be expected to hold unless reinforcements, for +which repeated requests were made, were dispatched. Remonstrances fell +on deaf ears, although there were nearly 300,000 troops available in +England. Mr. Lloyd George afterwards called them first-class troops, +and congratulated himself and the country on the fact that they were +transported to France within a fortnight after the damage had been +done. For this, the most culpable Cabinet failure in the war, others +besides the Cabinet were to blame; and it must be ascribed ultimately +to the national sins of intellectual sloth and ignorance. Those +hundreds of thousands of troops, shown to be superfluous in England by +their subsequent dispatch to France, were kept at home because persons +in authority believed they were needed to do the work of the British +Navy and defend our shores against a German invasion. Throughout the +war loquacious generals, who were not employed at the front, harped at +home on that alarm, supremely ignorant of and indifferent to the +unbroken experience of the world and the teaching of naval history, +that military invasion across an uncommanded sea is an utter +impossibility. But there was no one to teach the War Cabinet this +elementary truth, and least of all could it be taught by the eminent +lawyer and the able railway director whom Mr. Lloyd George +successively appointed to the Admiralty to represent the ripest naval +wisdom of mankind. It remained for the nation to pay the cost. + +The great attack was launched at dawn on Thursday, 21 March, precisely +against that sector of the British front indicated by Sir Henry Wilson +two months before; and Gough's Fifth Army, which held it lightly with +fourteen divisions against forty, was doomed to defeat by the failure +of both the British and the French Governments to provide adequate +reserves which existed in abundance both in England and in the rear of +the French line, and by the fact that Haig was more anxious about his +shallow front in Flanders and Pétain about his in Champagne than +either was about the Somme. Generally speaking, the British front grew +thinner from north to south until between the Somme and the Oise Gough +had less than a bayonet a yard; and Ludendorff knew it. He also made +skilful use of the advantage which the possession of the interior +lines gave him in the St. Quentin-St. Gobain salient. He could mass +his troops in that angle without revealing which side he meant to +attack, and thus neutralize that observation which superiority in +aircraft gave his antagonists. It was not so much that he brought up +his forces at night and concealed them in woods, which are leafless in +March, as that the bodily eye of the airmen failed to discern his +intentions. He had other incidental advantages: that laborious +spade-work which characterized the German Army was not a +distinguishing feature of either the British or the French; and both +the trenches we took over south of St. Quentin and our own to the +north of it left a good deal to be desired in their defensive +strength, while the great bridgehead under construction to protect the +Somme south of Péronne had not been completed. The Allied advance had +been slow, but since 1916 a confident conviction possessed the Allied +armies that they would only move in a forward direction. Ludendorff +was also able to withdraw his six divisions and many Austrian +batteries from the Italian front, assured that no Italian offensive +need be feared; and his tactics came as a surprise in spite of the +practical warnings given at Caporetto and Cambrai. They were based not +so much upon superiority of numbers as upon superiority of the +selected troops to the average of the forces opposed; and success +depended less upon the weight than upon the sharpness of the weapon +used for the blow. Hindenburg liked a hammer; Ludendorff chose an axe +with which to cleave the enemy front. When it was cleft, inferior +metal might be used to widen the gap between the French and British +armies and drive the latter to the coast while the former was being +crushed. + +The German offensive was facilitated by the abnormally dry season, +which reduced the strength of the water-defences of the British right, +and a dense fog favoured the attack on our forward positions. The +Germans got their infantry across the Oise canal north of La Fère +without being noticed, and many of our outposts were surrounded before +it was known that the attack had begun, although a brief bombardment +by gas and other shells had drenched our line and areas miles behind +it all along the front (see Map, p. 338). The forward zone resisted +heroically, but by noon the Germans were through it west of La Fère +and were in our battle-zone north of St. Quentin at Ronssoy. Between +these two extremes of Gough's front they reached in the afternoon +Maissemy, north of St. Quentin, and the line Essigny-Benay south of +it. Farther north less progress had been made against Byng's Third +Army, but the Germans had reached St. Leger in their effort to thrust +a wedge between Arras and Cambrai, and many villages had been +captured. The prospect was gloomy for the morrow, since, although the +Germans had already used sixty-four divisions they were prepared to +throw in fresh ones each succeeding day, and it would be several days +before reinforcements could reach the Somme either from our reserves +in Flanders or the French reserves in Champagne. + +The Germans made comparatively little headway on the 22nd against the +Third Army; but Gough's last reserves were thrown in without stopping +the German advance on our right, and the meagre French division which +Fayolle was able to send across the Oise could not dam the torrent. At +night the enemy had penetrated our third defensive position, and Gough +ordered a retreat to the unfinished bridgehead on the Somme. Byng's +right had to conform to this movement, which did not stop east of the +Somme; for on the 23rd the Germans had crossed the river south-east of +Ham, more than a dozen miles from their starting-point, and the +Péronne bridgehead had to be abandoned. Even on the west bank Gough's +right was thus endangered, and his left was threatened by a German +attempt to break a gap north of Péronne between his army and Byng's +Third. This effort on the Somme, where it runs due west from Péronne +to Amiens, now became the chief and most promising objective of the +German strategy. The link between our two armies was extremely +fragile, and misunderstandings arose between the two staffs. +Fortunately the worst disaster was averted by Byng's timely withdrawal +from Monchy, which disconcerted and postponed the German attack on +Arras. + +On Sunday the 24th the task of the British was threefold--to stem +with French assistance the German advance on our right between the +Somme and the Oise, to hold the line of the river from Ham northwards +to Péronne, and to repel the German thrust between the Third and Fifth +Armies north of the river bend. They were partially successful in the +first two tasks, but north of the Somme the Germans got into Combles +and the Third Army had to make a big retreat, surrendering Bapaume and +nearly all the painful gains of the 1916 Somme campaign. The Germans +renewed the attack with great energy on the 25th, and the British were +unable to hold them up on their improvised lines. Before night they +were ordered to take their stand on the old Ancre defences. This +movement exposed the left flank of Gough's forces on the Somme; his +front had also been driven in by German attacks across the river, +while his right had been forced back beyond Guiscard, Noyon, and +Nesle. Fissures began to appear on the broken front; there was +something very like a gap between the French and British near Roye, +and another between Byng's Fourth and Fifth Corps across the Ancre, +besides that between his and Gough's armies. Byng was the first to +re-establish his line, partly because reinforcements from the north +reached him first. Early on the 26th the Germans had broken through +our old line between Beaumont-Hamel and Hébuterne and taken +Colincamps, where they had not been since 1914; but in the afternoon +they were driven out again, and the recovery was permanent. Here at +least the German advance had reached its limit, and there was some +significance in the fact that here on that afternoon the British +whippet Tanks first appeared in battle. + +Gough was not so happy. He had begun to collect a miscellaneous force, +like that which stopped the final German thrust at Ypres on 31 October +1914, consisting of all sorts of combatant and non-combatant details, +to check the German rush on the Somme; but threats on his left, right, +and front compelled him to retreat to a line running south from Bray +and behind that held by the French before the battle of the Somme. +Still the Germans advanced towards Montdidier, seeking to break +through between Gough's right and the French, who had been driven off +south-west of Roye. But the worst of the danger was north on the +Somme, where Byng's orders were misunderstood and his extreme right, +instead of holding the line Albert-Bray to protect Gough's left, fell +back five miles to Sailly-le-Sec. The result was that on the 27th the +Germans were able to cross the Somme behind Gough's left at Chipilly +and compel his retreat to a line running from Bouzencourt S.E. to +Rosières. There Gough's centre stoutly maintained itself during the +day; but to the south the Germans drove the French out of Lassigny and +Montdidier and seemed in a fair way to break the liaison between the +Allies, while north of the Somme the Germans had got into Albert and +Aveluy wood. + +Nevertheless the clouds were beginning to lighten. The violence of the +German attack was exhausting to the attackers; their communications +now lay across the devastated area, and rain soon came to clog their +movements. Their front of attack was, moreover, being steadily +narrowed from fifty to twenty miles. The French had forced the Germans +to leave the Oise after Noyon, and while their advance continued it +did so with a lengthening flank no longer protected by the river. +Unless Von Hutier to the south or Von Buelow to the north could break +these containing and solidifying barriers, the front of the German +attack would be reduced to a hopeless point before it got to Amiens. +The attempt was naturally made against Arras by Von Buelow's +comparatively unwearied army, and on the 28th he resumed his +frustrated attack of the 23rd. This time the Germans had no fog to +help them, and their troops assembling for the attack were decimated +by our artillery. Nowhere did they succeed in piercing the battle +zone, and a second attack in the afternoon fared no better. This was +the decisive failure of the German offensive, and north of the Somme +our front was now secure. South of it the Germans made some further +progress on that day. The Rosières salient had to be abandoned to the +Germans pushing south of it across the Somme, and a retreat made to +the angle of the Luce and Avre rivers. Fayolle also was driven back to +the Avre, but by counter-attacks north and south of Montdidier he +prevented the enemy from debouching from that city. + +The situation continued grave and the fighting severe for the next few +days, but retreat and pursuit had merged into a battle on a line with +take as well as give. The French front was extended up to the Luce and +an extemporized Fourth Army replaced the weary remnants of the Fifth. +More important was the appointment of Foch as commander-in-chief on +the 25th after a conference at Doullens between Haig and Pétain, Lord +Milner and Clémenceau, though it cannot have had much effect upon the +operations which checked the German advance by the end of March. On 4 +April Von Hutier made a final attempt to reach Amiens, and drove the +Allies out of the angle of the Luce and Avre and from the west bank of +the latter back to a line running west of Castel, Mailly-Raineval, +Sauvillers, Cantigny, and Mesnil St. Georges. But farther the Germans +could not advance either north or south of the Somme, though away to +the east the French had to evacuate the sharp salient between the Oise +from La Fère to Chauny and the St. Gobain forest, and to fall back +behind the Aillette. The first act in the great German offensive had +failed in its strategical object of breaking the Allied line, but it +had achieved incomparably more than any Allied offensive in the war; +and the only advances to compare with it were the German invasion of +France and Belgium in 1914 and of Russia in 1915. The Germans claimed +by 4 April 90,000 prisoners and 1300 guns, and the Fifth Army had been +practically destroyed. It was the most formidable offensive in the +history of the world, and four times as many divisions were launched +against the British in March 1918 as against the French at Verdun in +1916. + +But it did not exhaust the German effort. There were other acts to +follow, and the second opened on 9 April, immediately after the +curtain had been rung down on the first. No second offensive could, +however, approach in magnitude the original plan. The Germans excelled +in forethought and in methodical preparation for which ample time was +needed. They had had it in the winter, and had staked their hopes upon +the success of their throw in March. Now they had to improvise, and +their second thoughts were second best. There were, indeed, signs of +indecision in Ludendorff's later moves. Possibly he regarded the +Flanders offensive in April and the attack on the Chemin des Dames in +May as diversions merely intended to draw reserves away from the +Amiens front and facilitate a resumption of his original design with +better chance of success. Certainly those offensives were begun with +limited forces, and probably succeeded beyond his expectations. But +the attack on the Amiens front was never seriously resumed in spite of +the success of Ludendorff's diversions; and the remainder of the +campaign, so far as German initiative was concerned, resolved itself +after April into an effort to repeat with more success against the +French Army offensives which had failed to dispose of the British. +There can hardly have been much hope in Ludendorff's mind of decisive +victory in a strategy which after April left the British front almost +immune from attack, while American reinforcements were pouring in at +the rate of hundreds of thousands a month. But the responsibility of +continuing the war under such conditions and deluding the German +people with false confidence was so serious that no admission is +likely to be forthcoming yet awhile of the real intentions and +thoughts of the German General Staff during the summer of 1918. The +truth no doubt is that Ludendorff had only a choice between a +confession of failure which was bound to ruin the Government and the +class he represented, and a desperate effort to make what he could out +of the military situation; and he preferred gambling, so long as he +had anything with which to play, to an immediate confession of +bankruptcy. + +For a time he had the luck which lures the gambler on, and the scene +of his second act was skilfully chosen. Before 21 March Haig had kept +his line better manned north than south of Arras, and the reasons +which made him anxious for the defence of his northern sector +counselled Ludendorff to attack it when the defeat of the Fifth Army +had compelled the British commander to divert ten divisions from the +north and supply their place with the weary survivors of the battle of +St. Quentin. He had little room to spare between his front and the +sea, and a break-through, far less extensive than that which had been +effected in March, would give the Germans the coast of the Straits of +Dover, enable them to bombard the Kentish shore, hamper the port of +London, and perhaps reach it with long-range guns like those with +which they had occasionally bombarded Paris since 23 March. These +annoyances would have been serious; but the British public paid itself +a very bad compliment when it seemed to assume that the distant +bombardment of London would have an effect upon the war +disproportionate to that of Paris; and the notion that an impetus +which carried the Germans to Calais would transport them across the +Channel was merely another illustration of the comprehensive popular +ignorance of the meaning of sea-power. Nieuport or Dunkirk might have +taken the place of Bruges as a submarine base without greatly +enhancing the success of that campaign; and Haig chose rightly when, +having to weaken his northern front, he risked a sector north instead +of south of La Bassée and the Vimy Ridge. Defeat to the north of those +points, even though it cost us the coast as far as Calais, would not +entail retreat from the Artois hills between Arras and Gris Nez or +threaten our liaison with the French which had been Ludendorff's first +objective. The material comments on the value of his second thoughts +were that the Germans might have had the Channel ports for the asking +in 1914 but did not think them worth it, and that in April 1918 +Ludendorff employed but nine divisions in his initial effort to break +through. Probably his real ambition was merely to shorten his line +and, in view of the possible resumption of his offensive in front of +Amiens, to provide against a British counter-attack on the sensitive +German position along the Belgian coast. + +Anticipating some such attack, Haig had deemed it wise to relieve the +two Portuguese divisions which held part of the front between the Lys +and La Bassée of their arduous responsibility; but he could only +replace them by weary British divisions, and the change had only been +half effected when, on 9 April, Ludendorff s attack began after the +usual bombardment with gas and high-explosive on the 8th. The +Portuguese broke fairly soon, the British flanks on either side were +turned, and the whole centre had gone in a few hours. By night the +Germans had captured Fleurbaix, Laventie, Neuve Chapelle, Richebourg, +and Lacouture, and were on the Lys from Bac St. Maur almost as far as +Lestrem. But the key-position at Givenchy was splendidly held by the +55th Division, which set a permanent limit to the German success and +prevented it from obtaining anything like the dimensions of the March +offensive. It continued, however, to develop on the north. On the 10th +Bois Grenier fell, Armentières was evacuated, and the Germans poured +across the Lys, taking Estaires, Steenwerck, and Ploegstreet and +threatening the Messines ridge. That, too, followed on the 11th, while +farther south the Germans secured Neuf Berquin and Lestrem. On the +12th they got into Merris and Merville and advanced to the La Bassée +canal, threatening to cross it and outflank Béthune on the north-west. +Here, however, they were held up in front of Robecq, between the canal +and the forest of Nieppe, and turned to exploit their advantage +farther north. Their advance here was slower, but by the 16th they had +mastered Wytschaete, Wulverghem, Neuve Eglise, Bailleul, and Meteren, +and were facing the line of hills running from Mt. Kemmel to the Mt. +des Cats. + +British and French reinforcements were now arriving in considerable +numbers, and Ludendorff would have been prudent to rest on his +laurels. He had made a pronounced bulge in our line, had diverted +forces from other sectors of the defence, and compelled us to evacuate +our dearly-purchased gains of the Flanders campaign in the preceding +autumn. On the other hand, he had lengthened instead of shortening his +own line, he had achieved no strategical object, and his troops were +left in a salient which invited attack. Unless he could win the +heights from Mt. Kemmel to Mt. des Cats, which commanded the country +to the coast, he would be in a worse situation for defence than he was +before. He was thus driven to prolong the effort, pour fresh divisions +into the battle, and convert a diversion into a major operation. +Doubtless popular visions of the Channel ports and the bombardment of +London reinforced the sounder military reasons for persistence. There +were three obvious lines of attack--on the Belgian front north of +Ypres, on the Kemmel range, now held partly by French troops, and on +Béthune. The first was defeated on the 17th by a brilliant Belgian +resistance, and the third was repulsed on the 18th before Hinges and +at Givenchy; but the second was longer delayed and more stubbornly +pushed. + +The effort began with an intense bombardment on the 25th, and a few +hours later the Germans had captured the village and hill of Kemmel; +our forces were driven back to a line running in front of Dickebusch +lake, La Clytte, the Scherpenberg, and Locre. Mt. Kemmel had been +regarded as the key to the position, and it looked as though the range +would fall. But Kemmel was an isolated height, and the Germans were +beaten in the valleys which separated it from the Scherpenberg. Their +attacks reached a climax on the 29th, and after some partial success +were everywhere defeated. Local fighting continued spasmodically till +late in May, but it was clear that Ludendorff's second offensive had +come to an end like his first. Its extension had also ruined the +chance of successfully resuming the attack in front of Amiens. On 23 +April the Germans attacked just south of the Somme and captured +Villers-Bretonneux, but it was promptly retaken on the following day; +and in the struggle along that line in May we advanced as well as +improved our position. The Germans had fought their last offensive +against the British front and had failed; and when after a four weeks' +pause they resumed their attacks, they were directed against the +French. + +During the interval the British public had time to reflect upon the +disaster and its effects. They were brought home by a new military +service Bill extending the liability to all men under fifty-one and +bringing Ireland within its scope. Panic had as much to do with these +proposals as forethought. The raising of the military age was +calculated to weaken our industrial more than to strengthen our +military power; and the extension to Ireland handed that country over +to Sinn Fein and necessitated the diversion thither of large British +forces, which might otherwise have been sent to the front, without +producing a single Irish conscript. The proposal was, indeed, so +foolish that its authors made no attempt to carry it out. Wiser was +the speedy dispatch to France of 300,000 superfluous troops who had +been kept in England by nothing better than an ignorant fear of +invasion. But it was the amazing rapidity with which the United States +responded to Mr. Lloyd George's anxious appeals that saved the +Government from the effects of its own blunders and reduced its +military service Act to a measure for the infliction of gratuitous +hardship. In April nearly 120,000 American troops landed in Europe, +over 220,000 in May, and 275,000 in June. On 2 July President Wilson +announced that over a million had sailed; that number was doubled +before the summer ended, and in July General Smuts was anticipating +the possible presence in France of an American army as large as the +British and French combined. + +The need for so colossal a force did not arise, but in April the +position of his Government as well as the military situation agitated +the Prime Minister and gave wildness to his words as well as to his +actions. Apart from the casualties, we had lost 1000 guns, 4000 +machine guns, 200,000 rifles, 70,000 tons of ammunition, and 250 +million rounds of small ammunition, and 200 tanks. Circumstances wore +a different complexion from the roseate hues of the early months of +1917, and Mr. Lloyd George could not escape the kind of blame he had +heaped upon his predecessors. He sought to evade it in his speech at +the reassembling of Parliament on the 9th by shifting the +responsibility for the disaster partly on to M. Clémenceau as the +principal author of the unfortunate extension of the British line, and +partly on to the commander of the Fifth Army. The latter at least +could not reply, and the unfairness of the attack provoked much +ill-feeling in the army and elsewhere; it found expression in a letter +from Major-General Maurice, lately Director of Military Operations, +which was published on 7 May and challenged the accuracy of +ministerial statements. His charges were so serious that the +Government at once proposed a judicial inquiry. Mr. Asquith committed +the tactical error of moving instead for a parliamentary committee. +The Government naturally treated his motion as a vote of censure, and +escaped all investigation on the ostensible plea that it preferred a +different method from that proposed by Mr. Asquith. The House of +Commons by 293 to 106 votes expressed its apparent satisfaction with +that "ex parte statement from the Prime Minister himself" which "The +Times"--then his strongest supporter in the Press--had the day before +said could not dispose of a charge which "unless and until it is +impartially investigated and disproved, will profoundly shake the +public confidence in every statement made from the Treasury Bench." It +was not, however, with the honour of ministers that the House was +mainly concerned. Members were in that mood, which occurs at times in +every nation's history, in which questions of morals seem irrelevant +or unimportant; and what they wanted was not the truth but a plausible +excuse for shirking inquiry and refusing to add a political to the +military crisis. Conscious of their own responsibility for the +Government, they were impatient of any discussion which might reveal +unpleasant facts to their constituents or military information to the +enemy. + +It is difficult also not to trace a political motive, if not in the +attacks on Zeebrugge and Ostend, at least in the contrast between the +enormous publicity they received and the silence which shrouded the +more normal but not less important or heroic work of the British Navy. +The plans, indeed, had been prepared and sanctioned by Jellicoe before +he left office some months earlier; but many plans have long to wait +the ministerial word, and the naval operations of 23 April were as +timely for political as for military reasons. The military objective +was to block the submarine and destroyer exits from Zeebrugge and +Ostend, both of which were connected by canals with Bruges; and an +operation of that kind against the elaborately fortified Belgian coast +required favourable weather conditions as well as the highest courage. +The plan at Ostend was simply to sink ships in the waterway; at +Zeebrugge there were also to be diversions in the form of a landing on +the protecting mole and the blowing up of the viaduct which connected +it with the shore. Success was only possible if mist and smoke-clouds +added to the concealment of night, and those conditions depended upon +the wind. They seemed favourable on the night of 22-23 April, but a +quarter of an hour before the Vindictive reached the mole, a +south-west breeze dispersed the smoke-clouds and precipitated a +torrent of shell-fire from the German batteries. In spite of it the +landing party got on to the mole and systematically destroyed its +works, while a submarine loaded with explosives was run under the +viaduct and exploded. Meanwhile, the blocking ships were sunk at the +mouth of the canal, and the survivors of their crews were picked up +and got away in the Vindictive and her consorts. At Ostend the +blocking ships had to sink outside the centre of the waterway; but the +effort was repeated with better success by the Vindictive on the night +of 9-10 May. Even Count Reventlow described these affairs as "damned +plucky," but added that they were nothing more. The further attacks on +the Belgian coast which were commonly expected did not come, and the +operations had no appreciable effect upon the land campaign. But they +hampered the German submarine campaign to some extent; and if they +demonstrated once more that sea-power is limited to the sea, they also +showed that on the sea German power had become a negligible quantity. +That fact was, indeed, being proved in a more effective though less +heroic fashion, by the safe transport of hundreds of thousands of +American troops across the Atlantic; but possibly public opinion +needed the more spectacular demonstration, and it certainly showed +that the spirit of British seamen was unaffected by the tremors of +politicians. + +Politicians appeared, indeed, to be more nervous after the crisis had +passed than they were before it arose, although their alarms did not +greatly affect the incurable sang-froid of the British public; and the +way in which the middle-aged shouldered the unnecessary burdens +imposed upon them by the improvidence of their Government, was as +exemplary as the eagerness with which youth had volunteered early in +the war. Their acceptance of the new obligations had its value in +stimulating America to dispatch her hundreds of thousands of troops +more fit for active service; and few, if any, of the elderly English +recruits saw any fighting. Ludendorff's plans had already gone astray +when he failed in March and April to break the liaison between the +French and British armies; and his subsequent operations were +ineffective attempts to prepare the ground for a final offensive which +he was never allowed to begin. It would have been doomed to miscarry +in any case, for his preliminaries exhausted the forces intended for +the final effort, and the battles in Flanders had enhanced the failure +of his original design. He took four weeks to prepare for a second +subsidiary operation, and hoped to achieve a better success against +the French than he had against the British. He had the advantage of +taking them unawares, and on the eve of his offensive a French journal +proclaimed that it would be another blow at the British front because +the Germans knew that the French line was impregnable. Popular opinion +in France had attributed German success at St. Quentin and in Flanders +to British incompetence or cowardice, and British troops had even been +hissed in the streets of Paris. The attack on the Chemin des Dames was +to modify this opinion, although some tactless Frenchmen announced +that reserves sent up to the British sector, which alone stood its +ground, were going "au secours des Anglais." + +Ludendorff's object was to widen his front towards Paris, for the lure +of the capital had already diverted him from his original plan of +breaking the liaison between the French and British armies in front of +Amiens. That Paris was his objective in May, and not the diversion of +troops from the critical junction with a view to resuming that attack, +seems clear from the fact that his next blow in June was struck +between Montdidier and Noyon. The Chemin des Dames would have been +impregnable if properly held, but Ludendorff s information was not at +fault, and the possession of the interior lines gave him the same +advantage as in March of striking either right against the British or +left against the French. He struck early on 27 May and achieved the +most rapid advance of the war on the Western front. The line from +Soissons to Reims was held by only eight divisions, four French and +four British--one of these in reserve--and in a few hours the French +had lost all their gains since October 1914 and were back again behind +the Aisne. The British divisions, although they had been sent there to +recruit after their hard work in March and April, made a better fight, +and maintained themselves in their second positions all the day. But +the French retreat had uncovered the British left flank, and in the +evening they had to withdraw to the Aisne. By that time the French +were nearer the Vesle than the Aisne, and on the 28th they were driven +well south of the latter river. On the 29th the Germans broadened +their front by taking Soissons, and on the 30th the apex of the +salient they had made had reached the Marne between Château-Thierry +and Dormans. For three days they had advanced at the rate of ten miles +a day, capturing some 40,000 prisoners and 400 guns. From that date +the pace slackened. The Germans did not attempt to cross the Marne, +but endeavoured to widen their salient by pushing east behind Reims +and west across the Soissons-Château-Thierry road. They had little +success in the former direction, but in the latter they gradually +pressed back the French to an irregular line which ran from Fontenoy +on the Aisne southwards along the Savières river across the Ourcq, and +then turned eastwards down the Clignon and reached the Marne below +Château-Thierry. American troops, who had on the 27th marked their +advent into battle by capturing and holding Cantigny, a critical point +on the Montdidier front, now took up an equally crucial position +south-west of Château-Therry and drove the Germans back on 4-5 June, +while on the 6th British troops recaptured Bligny south-west of Reims. + +The French themselves defeated on the 5th a German attempt to cross +the Oise at Lagache south of Noyon, which was intended to link up the +German offensive on the Aisne with their next attack farther west. +This was launched on the 9th between Montdidier and Noyon, and its +purpose was to push southwards and envelop the French defences and +forces in the forests of Compiègne and Villers-Cotterets which had +stopped the German westward advance on Paris between the Aisne and the +Marne. It was a dangerous threat, but this time Foch was prepared. The +attack was, indeed, a matter of common anticipation, and its adoption +suggested that Ludendorff was getting to the end of his expedients. +The Americans at Cantigny set a western, and the French success at +Lagache an eastern limit to its front; and thus confined it advanced +no more than six miles in four days. The French left stood firm and a +brilliant counter-attack by Mangin on the German right flank between +Rubescourt and St. Maur on the 11th determined its failure, although +Foch was compelled to evacuate the salient which the German advance +had created in the French line east of the Oise between Ribecourt and +Mt. de Choisy. Hoping that this attack had diverted French forces from +the defence of the forest of Villers-Cotterets, the Germans then +renewed their push along the Aisne, but were promptly checked; and no +better success attended their effort on the 18th to encircle Reims +still farther east. + +For the moment German trust in success had to repose upon the +secondary efforts of her Austrian ally on the Piave, although no +German troops could now be spared to give much substance to the +expectation. That front had been quiescent since the winter, but a +good deal had been done to strengthen it, and the Italians were +doubtless well advised to stand behind their lines rather than risk an +offensive until Austria was practically hors de combat. Austria +herself had little stomach for the fight. Her domestic situation was +deplorable; parliamentary government had been suspended; and nearly +half the population of the Empire was in veiled or open revolt. +Hundreds of thousands of Czecho-Slovaks and Jugo-Slavs had joined the +enemy, and some were stiffening the Piave front. But German demands +were inexorable, and it was hoped that German tactics would supply the +place of German troops. There were two battles in the offensive which +began on 15 June, one in the mountains, the object of which was to +turn the whole Italian front on the Piave, and the other a frontal +attack across that river between the Montello, the pivot of the +mountain and river fronts, and the sea. The first was the more +promising, but achieved the less success. That front was partly held +by French and British troops, and the insignificant advance which the +Austrians made on the 15th was stopped on the following day. The +attack on the Piave was at first more fortunate; a good deal of the +Montello was taken, a serious impression was made on the Italian right +wing at San Donà di Piave, and fourteen new bridges and nearly 100,000 +Austrian troops were thrown across the river. Fortune came to the +rescue of the Italians, and torrents of rain flooded the Piave and +broke ten of the Austrian bridges. On the 18th the counter-attack +began, and by a brilliant dash of soldiers and sailors the Austrian +left was turned on the 21st. On the 22nd a general retreat across the +river was ordered; it was skilfully carried out, and the Austrians +escaped with singularly slight losses considering their precarious +position. Their offensive had been an utter failure, but Diaz did not +think it prudent to follow up his success with an advance across the +river. + +The Austrian misadventure was a meagre morsel with which to fill the +gap between the latest German offensives and the crowning mercy for +which the German public had been led to look; and as the precious +summer weeks flew by uneasiness must have filled any German minds that +were capable of discerning the realities of the situation. But the +wish is father to most men's thoughts, and unpleasant facts which were +not concealed by the censor were sedulously ignored or explained away. +"Foch's reserves" became a jesting synonym on German lips for +something which did not exist, and it was the daily exercise of +journalistic wisdom to show that American armies which could not swim +or fly would be prevented by German submarines from crossing the +Atlantic. Ludendorff was not so blind, and had he been a patriotic +statesman instead of a Junker general he would have sought to make +terms while he might do so with advantage. But it is the nemesis of +militarism that it never can make a peace which is tolerable to its +enemies, and Ludendorff had no choice but to persist with an offensive +which had become a desperate gamble. His efforts since the end of May +had profited him little; he had used up most of the divisions intended +for a final resumption of his attack on the Franco-British liaison; +and after more than a month's delay he could only launch his last bolt +against an eccentric and subsidiary objective. Foiled in front of +Amiens and Paris, he turned to Reims; but there was nothing in the +previous history of the war on the Western front to suggest that, even +were his last offensive as successful as his first, it would bring him +within measurable distance of the victory he needed. The Marne might +be crossed and the railway to Nancy and Verdun cut, as they had been +in 1914, but the further advance for which he could hope from his +attack on Reims would bring him no nearer to Paris, to breaking the +Entente connexion, or to damming that fatal flow of American +reinforcements which was providing Foch with as many reserves a month +as Germany could recruit in a year. + +The fateful attack began at 4 a.m. on 15 July after four hours of +artillery preparation. Its object was to encircle the Montagne de +Reims, the chief bastion of the line of communications between Paris +and the eastern front on the Meuse, and to extend the German hold on +the Marne from Dormans as far as Châlons. There were two converging +attacks, one on the twenty-six miles of front which Gouraud held east +of Reims between Prunay and Massiges, and the other on a twenty-two +mile line south-west of Reims between Vrigny and Fossoy on the Marne +above Château-Thierry. For each attack Ludendorff used fifteen +divisions, with others in reserve. On both fronts he found Foch +prepared to counter the tactics which had been so successful in the +earlier stages of the offensive. The first line was lightly held, and +the Germans were shaken by a skilfully arranged bombardment as they +crossed the zone between it and the real French defences. Upon these +in Champagne they made no impression whatever. Prunay, Prosnes, +Auberive, and Tahure were yielded at first, but recovered by +counter-attacks; the French lost no guns, and their casualties were +insignificant. Gouraud more than anyone else had frustrated +Ludendorff's last offensive. South-west of Reims the Germans were +rather more successful. They pushed across the Marne to a depth of +some three miles between Mezy and Dormans, and in three days advanced +up it past Châtillon towards Épernay as far as Rueil. Similar progress +was made eastwards on the line between the Marne and Vrigny. But the +gate-posts were firmly held at Fossoy with American assistance, and at +Vrigny with that of the British and Italian divisions which under +Berthelot did some of their best fighting in the war. By the evening +of the 17th the Entente forces were successfully counter-attacking all +along the line, and at dawn on the 18th Foch delivered the blow which +converted the German advance into a retreat, and began a triumphal +progress which did not stop until four months later the enemy sued for +peace. + + + CHAPTER XIX + + THE VICTORY OF THE ENTENTE + +There were a few people in England who had some inkling on 18 July +that it might prove a turning-point in history. Foch's simple piety +had led him into what was almost an indiscretion; he had asked for the +special prayers of the faithful, the request had spread to conventual +schools in England, and by the 16th it was guessed by those who knew +the fact that a special effort was in contemplation. But his great +counter-attack owed its importance to what had gone before and what +was to follow; and victory was due to more complex and comprehensive +causes than the valour of the troops engaged upon the Marne or even +the strategy of Foch. Greater efforts were made at other times on both +sides than during the last fortnight of July 1918, and the destruction +of the salient the Germans had made since 27 May was merely the last +ounce which turned the balance of power and the scales of victory. +There were many ounces in the total weight, and the pride of each +belligerent points to the different contributions which it made. To +the Americans their divisions at Château-Thierry seem the decisive +factor, to the French it was Foch's genius. The British point to the +fact that the greatest weight of German force was still in front of +Amiens and not on the Marne, and an Italian prince has declared that +it was Italy who won the war on 24 October; while Ludendorff has +maintained that American troops counted for little, and that the +crucial factor was the revolutionary propaganda which had begun to +undermine the moral of German troops as early as 1916. None of these +partial explanations contain more than an element of truth, and a more +comprehensive view is suggested by the likeness of Germany to the +"one-hoss shay" of Oliver Wendell Holmes' ballad, a vehicle so +skilfully compacted of durable materials that each part lasted exactly +as long as every other, and that the whole eventually crumbled into a +heap of dust in a single moment. German resources were vastly inferior +to those which were slowly mobilized against her, but she organized +them with such skill that they resisted the wear and tear of the war +for a period to which some observers could discern no end. The +strength of materials is, however, limited, and no organization can +make them last for ever. The German armies began to give on 18 July, +and the decay went on increasing because she had not the means with +which to make repairs. The wonder is not that the machine broke down, +but that it bore so great a strain for so prolonged a time. The +Germans could not command success because they defied the conscience +of mankind, but from the military point of view they certainly +deserved it. + +In spite of Ludendorff's attempt, natural in a Junker, to debit +revolution with his failure, it was American reinforcements which +turned the scale. Few of them were as yet in the battle line, and +there was no great disparity between the opposing forces on the front. +But the mobilized strength of the Allies was growing to three times +that of their enemies. Foch had an inexhaustible reservoir which +enabled him to take risks which Ludendorff could not afford, and gave +him a freedom of action which no Entente general had yet possessed. +The extent of his command and his resources released him from the +bonds of limited offensives. He could crush the German salient on the +Marne without prejudicing the prospects of his plans at Amiens and +Arras, in Champagne or at Verdun; and fear imposed on Ludendorff the +dire alternative of weakening his powers of resistance to future +attacks elsewhere, or starving his immediate defence. His plans for +resuming the offensive at Amiens had already been ruined by the drain +of his attacks on the Aisne and on the Marne; and his defensive +prospects on the Amiens front were now to be jeopardized in the effort +to avoid disaster in the salient he had rashly made along the Marne. +For, except on the assumption that Foch was unable to attack on the +western flank of that salient between Soissons and Château-Thierry, +the German thrust deeper across the Marne was a wild adventure (see +Map, p. 362). + +Foch, however, had made his plan and his preparations. Concealed by +the forests of Compiègne and Villers-Cotterets, he had assembled in +the angle between the Oise and Marne reserves of which the Germans +denied the existence. From the Aisne near Fontenoy southwards to the +Ourcq Mangin commanded an army containing the pick of French colonial +troops; and thence to the Marne Degoutte had another which included +five American divisions. Before them ran the German flank weakly +guarding the line of communications with the German front on the +Marne. Led by a vast fleet of French "mosquito" Tanks something like +the British "whippets," the French early on the 18th broke through the +German defences on a front of twenty-seven miles and advanced from two +to five miles towards the Soissons-Château-Thierry road. [Footnote: +An error made in the British réchauffée of the French official news +represented Mangin as having advanced eight miles on the 18th to the +Crise on a stretch of five miles east of Buzancy. It was a mistake of +nord-öuest for nord-est which was never corrected, and has got into +most of the summaries and histories of the war, although it makes the +subsequent French fighting in that area unintelligible. The history of +the German evacuation of the salient would have been very different +had the French got east of Buzancy on the 18th. As a matter of fact, +it took them eleven days to secure the territory credited to them by +this error on the 18th.] Mangin reached the Montagne de Paris within +two miles of Soissons, and Berzy-le-Sec on the banks of the Crise, +while south of the Ourcq Dégoutte got to Neuilly St. Front and the +Americans captured Courchamps, Torcy, and Belleau. Sixteen thousand +prisoners and fifty guns were captured, but there was nothing like a +German rout. They stubbornly defended their main line of +communications for days until the bulk of their forces could get away; +and they evacuated the salient slowly and in good order. There was, of +course, no further hope for them south of the Marne, and by the 20th +they had regained the northern bank without very serious loss; it was +not till the 22nd that the Allies crossed the river in pursuit. On the +21st the Germans had abandoned Château-Thierry and the Soissons road +as far as the Ourcq, but north of that river they held the road for a +week, and Buzancy was not captured till the 29th. By the 23rd +Berthelot was making progress on the other side of the salient, and +the German centre had to relinquish the forest of Fère and Oulchy on +the 25th. On the 31st the Americans drove in their centre at Seringes, +and on 2 August the French forced their way into Soissons. By the 3rd +the Germans had been driven across the Vesle and the salient had been +flattened out. + +Even the best of the critics in the French press had little idea of +what was to follow. The Germans' latest offensive had been foiled, and +they had lost the more adventurous part of their gains in May; but +Foch's success was regarded as merely a promising detail, and men +discussed the locality of Rupprecht's counter-attack. But the signs of +the times did not point in that direction. On 4 July Americans and +Australians fighting side by side had captured Hamel below the Somme. +On the 19th the British had recaptured Meteren at the apex of the +German salient across the Lys, and Merris fell on the 30th. On the +23rd the French between Amiens and Montdidier had advanced two miles +on a four-mile front and captured Mailly-Raineval, Sauvillers, and +Aubvillers in the Avre valley; and on 4 August the Germans withdrew +from all their ground to the west of that river. Two days later they +attacked and recovered some of the ground they had recently lost near +Morlancourt. Both the withdrawal and the attack were signs of nervous +anticipation, but neither broke the force of the blow which Haig +struck on 8 August on a twenty-mile front from Morlancourt to La +Neuville on the Avre. The troops were mostly British under Rawlinson +with a French army under Débeney cooperating on his right. Their +success first opened the eyes of the public to the change in the +situation on the front, and on Ludendorff's own testimony deprived him +of his last vestige of hope. It was no weak flank that was attacked, +but the sector of the front that was most strongly held by German +armies. The drive was straight along the great road from Amiens to St. +Quentin on which the Germans had made their westward thrust in March; +and the first day saw them seven miles back at Framerville. To the +south they lost Moreuil, Mezières, Demuin, Cayeux, and Caix, and to +the north Morcourt, Cerisy, and Chipilly, while 7000 prisoners and 100 +guns had been taken by 3 p.m. On the 9th those totals had risen to +24,000 prisoners and over 200 guns, while the British continued their +advance to Rosières and Lihons, and the French to Arvillers and +Beaufort. Nor was that all; for south of Débeney, Humbert interposed +with another attack between Montdidier and the Oise. By the 11th the +Germans had lost to the French most of their gains in the June +offensive, and to the British further ground between Albert and the +Somme. + +On that day the German line ran in front of Bray, Chaulnes, Roye, and +Lassigny to Ribecourt on the Oise. They had brought up reinforcements +to make a stand on that shortened front, and they stubbornly contested +the French advance on the Lassigny massif. But its capture was +completed by the 15th, and the number of prisoners had risen to 33,000 +and of captured guns to over 600. The Germans were also being pushed +out of their salient on the Lys, where Merville fell on the 19th; and +Mangin was forcing his way forward in the angle of the Aisne and the +Oise between Soissons and Noyon. But the next great blow was struck +north of the Somme by Byng between Albert and Arras. The Germans +sought to evade its force by a timely retreat across the Ancre, and +there was no such rapid advance as marked the first day of Rawlinson's +offensive south of the Somme. But it was less interrupted, and day by +day some progress was made. Byng's attack on the 21st was along a +ten-mile front north of the Ancre, and the first day gave him +Beaucourt, Achiet-le-Petit, Bucquoy, Courcelles, and Moyenneville. On +the 22nd he extended his attack from Albert to the Somme and advanced +two miles to a line between Albert and Bray. On the 23rd his left was +advanced another couple of miles to Boiry, Ervillers, Bihucourt, and +Irles, while on his right the Australians captured Bray. The German +centre at Thiepval was thus outflanked on both sides; it gave way on +the 24th, and Byng pushed on to the outskirts of Bapaume. Bapaume held +out for five days longer while Byng pushed his right forward along the +Somme towards Péronne, and extended his left attack northwards beyond +the Scarpe. + +Byng's addition to the pressure the Germans had to bear from north of +the Scarpe to south of the Oise imposed upon them a retreat as +extensive as that of March and April 1917; but now they could not make +it at their leisure. On the 27th they had to abandon the line south of +the Somme on which they had stood since the 15th, when they recovered +stability after Rawlinson's offensive. Roye was relinquished that day +and Chaulnes and Nesle on the 28th. Noyon followed on the 29th, partly +in sympathy with the northern withdrawal and partly owing to Humbert's +pressure on the north-western bank of the Oise, but also because it +had been outflanked to the south by Mangin's advance between the Oise +and the Aisne. Beginning on the 17th with an attack on a ten-mile +front between Tracy-le-Val and Vingre he had steadily pushed on until +by the 23rd his left flank held the Oise as far as its junction with +the Ailette and his front faced the latter canalized river as far as +Guny. By the 29th he was across the Ailette and threatening to turn +the whole German position south of the Somme at Chauny. Bapaume fell +on the same day as Noyon, and it soon became clear that the Somme +would not protect the Germans any more than it had done the British in +March. For on the 31st the Australians stormed Mount St. Quentin the +bulwark of Péronne, and Péronne itself fell into their hands on 1 +September. Simultaneously Byng's army pressed forward from Bapaume to +the Canal du Nord which runs north from Péronne. + +But this after all was ground we had held for a year in 1917-18, and +the Hindenburg lines might serve the Germans as well in 1918-19. More +significant of the coming debacle was the success of Horne's First +Army, which now intervened and extended the line of Byng's attack. +Already Canadian and British troops, by the capture of Vis-en-Artois +on the 27th, Boiry on the 28th, and Haucourt on the 30th, had seized +ground which the Germans had held since 1914; and on 2 September in +one of the outstanding actions of the campaign Canadian and British +troops broke the Drocourt-Quéant line on a front of six miles between +Étaing and Cagnicourt. On that day the British army fired 943,857 +shells. No single engagement caused greater depression in Germany, but +the impression was somewhat fallacious; for behind this sector of the +Hindenburg lines were waterways which were even worse obstacles to our +tanks, and although the Canadians pressed on to L'Écluse, Écourt, and +Rumancourt, they were hemmed in on their left by the Sensée and in +front by the Canal du Nord, which protected Douai to the north and +Cambrai to the east. The advance here was checked for some weeks, but +it went steadily on along other fronts. The salient on the Lys was +melting away: Bailleul fell on 30 August, Mount Kemmel on the 31st, +and Ploegstreet wood on 4 September. Lens was evacuated on the 3rd. +South-west of Cambrai the British were approaching their old lines, +and east of the Somme the Germans were retreating to St. Quentin. On +the 6th the French took Ham and Chauny, and on the 9th they were once +more across the Crozat canal. Mangin was pushing his way towards the +St. Gobain massif, and French and American troops were driving the +Germans back from the Vesle across the Aisne. It looked as though +winter might come with the line of battle much where it was before the +German offensive began in March. + +But the latter half of September gave a novel aspect to affairs. A +great deal, no doubt, was due to Foch and the unity of command; but +that unity did not extend to the East nor account for the debacle of +Bulgaria and Turkey. It was, however, partly responsible for the +extension of our offensive in France beyond the limits of the year +before and for the timing of the American attack in the Woevre. In the +hour of his Allies' need President Wilson had consented to the +brigading of American with French and British troops, and to the +employment of American divisions as supports for French and British +generals. But with the American Army growing equal in size to the +French and the British and acquiring an independent skill in war, +there could be no hesitation about an American command on an equal +footing with the armies of Haig and Pétain; and to the Americans under +General Pershing had been allotted the right wing of the Allied front, +the British forming the left and the French the centre. Some critics +talked of Pershing's armies being used as the spear-head of an +invasion of Germany through Lorraine; but this would have been an +eccentric operation, and there were obvious reasons for restoring +Lorraine, if possible, to France undevastated by war. North rather +than east was the natural direction for an American advance, and in +either case an indispensable preliminary was to eliminate that strange +wedge at St. Mihiel which the Germans had held since September 1914. +The task would also be a useful apprenticeship for an independent +American command. The attack was made on both sides of the salient on +12 September, but the principal drive was from the south on a twelve +miles' front between Bouconville and Regnieville. Part of the +defending force was Austrian, but the whole salient collapsed under +the blow; 15,000 prisoners and 200 guns were captured, and a new front +was formed on a straight line from Fresnes to Pont-à-Mousson. The +strategic purpose was to free the American flank and communications in +view of a bigger offensive northwards, and on the 15th Austria and +Germany began their overtures for peace, to which President Wilson at +once returned an unsympathetic reply. + +Anticipations as well as achievements counselled that diplomatic move, +and Austria in particular had reason to fear developments on other +fronts than the French. The Balkans had been quiescent during the +summer, although the Greeks had on 30 May given an earnest of a better +future by a victory at Skra di Legen, west of the Vardar, in which +they captured 1500 Bulgarian and German prisoners, and on 18 June the +fall of the pro-German Radoslavoff Ministry indicated that Ferdinand +wished to present a less Teutonic appearance to the world. Italy, too, +in pursuance of her assumed protectorate over Albania, thought in July +that the time had come to assert herself, and with the assistance of +some French troops began an advance towards Elbasan. The Austrians +were taken by surprise, Berat was captured, and the country overrun as +far as the Semeni and beyond the Devoli. The effort was not apparently +serious; in August the Austrians returned to the attack, recaptured +Berat, and drove the Italians back to their starting-point in a +retreat boldly described in an Italian official pronouncement as of no +military importance. It helped to discourage Italy from taking an +active part in the coming offensive against Bulgaria, but political +motives were the principal reason for quiescence. Italy had a +tenderness for Bulgaria arising out of her antipathy to Jugo-Slavs and +Greeks, and while proclaiming that Austria must be totally destroyed, +she exclaimed against the wickedness and folly of imposing on Bulgaria +a second Peace of Brest-Litovsk (see Map, p. 151). + +The success of the Balkan campaign did not, however, suffer much from +the lack of Italian push. Franchet d'Esperey was commander-in-chief, +and he was ably seconded by the Serbian Marshal Mishitch. The Serbian +Army was the spear-head of the attack, and it had with it an equally +eager and effective force of Jugo-Slavs; with them cooperated the +French on the west of the Vardar, while east of it were the Greeks and +the British with the arduous and somewhat thankless task of facing the +impregnable Demir Kapu defile and Belashitza range. The offensive +began on 15 September, and the main attack was on the Dobropolie ridge +in the angle between the Tcherna and Vardar rivers. On the first day +the Bulgarian line was broken on a front of sixteen miles, an advance +was made of five, and 4000 prisoners and 30 guns were taken. On the +morrow the front widened to twenty-two miles, and the advance +increased to twelve; and within a week the Serbians had cleared the +angle between the rivers and crossed the Tcherna on their left and the +Vardar above Demir Kapu on their right. This cut the main Bulgarian +communications with Prilep on the west and Doiran on the east, and +compelled a general retreat along a hundred miles of front. On the +23rd the French occupied Prilep; on the 25th the Serbians captured +Veles and Ishtip and pressed on towards Uskub, while their cavalry +were at Kotchana almost on the Bulgarian frontier. The British, whose +first attacks had been checked, had actually crossed the border at +Kosturino on the road between Doiran and Strumnitza. Bulgaria had put +her whole trust in the strength of her front, and with it she +collapsed. An armistice was requested on the 25th, and Franchet +d'Esperey's terms were accepted on the 30th. It was the most dramatic +overthrow in the war, and within a fortnight the whole situation in +the Balkans was transformed. The Serbians were bitterly disappointed +at having to stay their avenging hands when almost at the gates of +Sofia; but the elimination of Bulgaria made the recovery of their +country a triumphal procession varied by the occasional defeat of +Austrian rearguards. On 12 October they and their allies occupied +Nish, and a week later they had reached the Danube. Nor was Serbia +alone concerned. Austria had relied upon the Bulgarian buckler, and +when it crumpled her entire hold not only on the Balkans but over her +own Jugo-Slav subjects in Bosnia, Dalmatia, and Carinthia was relaxed. +A general uprising of Jugo-Slavs in favour of union under the Serbian +crown more than doubled the size of that kingdom which Austria had +begun the war to crush. + +Nor did this exhaust the effects of Bulgaria's capitulation. The terms +of the armistice included the Allied occupation of Bulgarian railways, +and this brought their military front up to the borders of Rumania on +the north and of Turkey on the south. Presently Marghiloman's +Ministry, which the Germans had imposed at Bukarest, fell, and Rumania +prepared to resume her part in the war. Bulgaria, too, was willing to +revive her quarrel with Turkey. The famous corridor had disappeared, +and Turkey was an isolated unit. It was no wonder that the +"Easterners" looked up again, and the Prime Minister's henchmen in the +press began to tell stories about his single-handed and far-sighted +championship of an Eastern campaign as the solution of the problem of +the war. But the collapse of the Balkan front was ultimately due to +the collapse of its German foundation. Berlin journalists talked of +the German troops which would soon bring back Bulgaria to her senses +and to the Teutonic fold. But they were mortgaged to the Western +front, and instead of a German expedition to assist her under +Mackensen, Turkey was faced with ruin at the hands of Allenby. + +His blow had followed swiftly on that of Franchet d'Esperey, and four +days after the Balkan campaign had opened, British forces began the +battle which was to prove the most perfect operation of the war. +Preparations had been in progress during the summer, and little had +been done to modify the British line running a dozen or fifteen miles +north of Jericho, Jerusalem, and Jaffa to the sea. A Turkish +counter-attack on 13 July had even met with some initial success; but +the Turks had been unable to maintain their strength, the Germans +could not assist them, the Arabs were perpetually harassing them along +the Hedjaz railway, and what reserves they had were sent on a wild +goose chase for the recovery of Turkish dominion in Caucasia and +Persia and along the shores of the Caspian. The pursuit was rendered +attractive by Russian impotence and anarchy: Armenia was regained and +subjected to a final and more extensive massacre than ever; Northern +Persia was overrun, and even the long and adventurous arms which the +British Empire stretched out in August from Mesopotamia and India to +the southern and eastern shores of the Caspian failed to save Baku +from the combined efforts of Turkish troops and Bolshevik treachery on +14 September. But Allenby, the luckiest of British generals, brought +down these airy Turkish castles with a single blow. He had been +largely reinforced from India, which mobilized during the war nearly a +million men and bore the chief burden of the Palestine and +Mesopotamian campaigns; he had got a magnificent force of cavalry, and +with it the terrain and open fighting wherein to exhibit a model of +that traditional strategy from which the glory on European +battlefields had departed for ever. + +On 19 September his infantry drove the Turks from a sixteen-mile line +between Rafat and the sea back a dozen miles to the railway junction +at Tul Keram, while his cavalry burst through to the right towards the +gap south-east of Mount Carmel and the plain of Esdraelon. It was a +rare ride: on the morrow they were forty miles north and north-east +at El Afuleh, Nazareth, and Beisan; and then wheeling south-east they +cut off the retreat of nearly the whole of the Turkish forces. On the +22nd Allenby reported that 25,000 prisoners and 200 guns had been +taken and counted, and that the Seventh and Eighth Turkish armies had +virtually ceased to exist. The Fourth was pursued across the Jordan, +and mostly mopped up between its pursuers and the Arabs to the east. +On the 25th we were round the Lake of Galilee, and the number of +prisoners had risen to 45,000 and of captured guns to nearly 300. +There was nothing left to stop our advance, which was joined by some +French battalions, while the Arabs kept pace on the other side of the +Jordan. On the 28th we effected a junction with them at Deraa, and +Damascus fell on the 30th. On 6 October cavalry, advancing between +Mts. Lebanon and Hermon, seized Zahleh and Rayak between Damascus and +Beyrut, which the French occupied on the 7th, while the British took +Sidon. On the 9th we were at Baalbek, on the 13th at Tripolis, and on +the 15th at Homs. On the 26th Aleppo fell, and on the 28th we reached +Muslimieh, that junction on the Baghdad railway on which longing eyes +had been cast as the nodal point in the conflict of German and other +ambitions in the East. + +Allenby played the leading part in Turkey's destruction, partly +because Marshall's attention in Mesopotamia had been distracted +towards the Caspian. But in October he resumed his interrupted march +up the Tigris: on the 25th his troops captured Kirkuk and forced the +passage of the Lesser Zab; and on the 28th they took Kalat Shergat, +and after a six days' battle forced the Turkish army on the Tigris to +surrender. Turkey had taken a lot more beating than Bulgaria, but the +end was the same. On 30 October an armistice was signed, which +permitted the Allies to occupy the forts on the Dardanelles and +Bosporus and make free use of the Straits. Marshall entered Mosul, and +presently British ships commanded the Black Sea and British troops +were holding a line across Caucasia to the Caspian and connecting with +the chain of forces established between Krasnovodsk and India. An end +was thus put to Germany's dreams of a Teutonic-Turco-Turanian avenue +into the heart of Asia, but the search for an eastern front in Russia +against the Central Empires was elusive. For the Bolsheviks, in spite +of the murder of Count Mirbach the German ambassador at Moscow on 6 +July, grew ever more friendly to the Prussians, and the Entente had to +go to Vladivostock for a basis of operations, and rely largely upon +the romantic achievements of the Czecho-Slovak prisoners who had +enlisted in the Russian armies and refused to lay down their arms at +the Peace of Brest-Litovsk. At first the Bolsheviks promised them a +passage via Siberia to the Western front, but then, like Pharaoh +hardened their hearts and refused to let the infant nation go. +Thereupon the Czecho-Slovaks set up for themselves, seized the +Siberian railway from the Bolsheviks, and after much hardship and +fighting established contact with the motley Entente forces advancing +from Vladivostock. With their assistance an anti-Bolshevik government, +of which Admiral Koltchak afterwards made himself master, was set up +in Siberia, while Entente forces, mostly British, were sent to +Archangel and the Murmansk coast to prevent the Germans establishing +their authority there as they had done in the Baltic provinces +"liberated" by the Peace of Brest-Litovsk. + + The Conquest Of Syria + +But this Eastern front, which as late as August was regarded in high +but civilian quarters as indispensable to the Allied success, failed +to pierce the protection which the Bolsheviks gave to Germany or to +penetrate farther west than the Urals; and Germany had after all to be +beaten by professional strategists on the Western front. There was +little fault to be found with their progress, and while Bulgaria, +Turkey, and Austria were collapsing in the East, the Germans were +being steadily driven towards disaster on a widening field of battle +in the West. Simultaneously with Pershing's destruction of the St. +Mihiel salient the British were thrusting the Germans back to the +Hindenburg lines between Cambrai and St. Quentin, and Mangin was +pushing forward towards the forest of St. Gobain. The Germans +attempted to stand at Épehy, but on 18-19 September they were driven +back with the loss of 11,750 prisoners and 100 guns; and from the 27th +to the 30th was fought the first phase of the battle for Cambrai and +St. Quentin, in which the British First, Third, and Fourth armies took +26,500 prisoners and 340 guns apart from the gains of the French. The +object was to complete the breach of the Hindenburg lines on the +strength of which public opinion in Germany was stayed; and it was a +critical operation. The lines themselves were reinforced by the Canal +du Nord protecting Cambrai and the Scheldt-St. Quentin canal between +Cambrai and St. Quentin. + +The southern sector in front of the Fourth Army was the more strongly +fortified, and an intense bombardment began on the night of 26-27 +September which continued till the 29th. This tended to divert +attention from the First and Third armies, which on the 27th forced +the Canal du Nord south of Moeuvres and then spread fanwise along the +eastern bank. By the end of the day they were more than half-way from +the Canal du Nord to Cambrai, and on the 28th the advance was +continued across the Scheldt canal at Marcoing and broadened from +Palluel on the north to Gouzeaucourt on the south. On the 29th the +Fourth Army began its attack on the canal to the north of St. Quentin. +It was well supported by several American divisions, and the great +episode of the day was the capture of Bellenglise by troops who +crossed the canal equipped with life-belts, mats, and rafts. East of +Bellenglise, Lehaucourt and Magny were also stormed, and north of it +Nauroy and Bellicourt. Meanwhile the Third Army captured Masnières and +penetrated into the western outskirts of Cambrai while the Canadians +threatened to outflank it on the north. On the 30th the Germans had to +withdraw their centre at Villers Guislain and Gonnelieu, while the +Fourth Army extended its gains southwards by the capture of Thorigny; +and, thus menaced, the Germans had to abandon St. Quentin to the +French on 1 October. On that day, too, New Zealanders and British +troops took Crèvecoeur and Rumilly south of Cambrai, and the Canadians +Blécourt to the north of it. The Hindenburg line, apart from its +tottering supports, had gone at the moment when Bulgaria was +capitulating; and on the same 30 September Count Hertling and all his +Secretaries of State resigned. + +The British victory, while the critical movement on the Western front, +was but one of the four operations which Foch had concerted with Haig +in the middle of September. The other three were a Belgian attack at +Ypres, an American advance on the Meuse, and a French offensive in +close connexion with it in Champagne and the Argonne. The Belgian +attack was an agreeable surprise, and nothing did more to illumine the +change from 1917 than the contrast between its rapid success and the +painful crawl of Gough's campaign. The cause was that which also +accounted for the Germans' failure elsewhere; they had not the forces +to sustain their vast and crumbling front, and they attempted to hold +the line in Belgium with no more than five divisions. The attack began +on 28 September on a twenty-three mile front, and in one day 50 per +cent more ground was covered than had been gained in three months the +year before. The whole of Houthulst forest, which then had hardly been +touched, was taken at a stroke; and on the 29th Dixmude fell and the +Belgians were across the Roulers-Menin road. As a consequence of this +and of Haig's advance the Germans had to evacuate the rest of the Lys +salient and draw back their front towards Lille and Douai. Armentières +was recovered on 3 October, La Bassée and the Aubers ridge were +abandoned without a struggle, and the Germans surrendered the +remaining section of the Drocourt-Quéant line, withdrawing to the +Douai, Haute Deule, and Sensée canals which protected Lille and Douai. + +The French and Americans had a sterner task in the Argonne and on the +Meuse, for here was the pivot of the Germans' whole position in the +conquered territory. A possible retirement to the Meuse had been +contemplated in 1917, and in September 1918 the Germans would have +been glad to surrender everything west of it in return for safety on +that line; hence their withdrawals and feeble resistance in Flanders. +But the Meuse from Verdun to Mezières was an indispensable flank for +any German front in Belgium; it had now become more to the Germans +than even that, for it was the only shield behind which their armies +could escape disaster and get back to Germany at all. Whatever else +might have to go, this flank must hold; if it gave, the Germans would +have to capitulate or suffer the wholesale destruction of their +forces. Hence the stubbornness of the defence the Americans +encountered; the terrain gave it every advantage with which art could +supplement nature; and a singular and serious breakdown of their +commissariat added to the difficulties under which American troops +fought with intrepid skill. + +The attack was launched on 26 September. The American front ran for +seventeen miles from Forges on the Meuse, eight miles north of Verdun, +to the centre of the Argonne, whence the French extended it to +Auberive on the Suippe. Pershing's First Army advanced an average +depth of seven miles and captured Varennes, Montfaucon,--for long the +Crown Prince's headquarters,--Nantillois, and Dannevoux. Gouraud's +progress was less rapid but better sustained. His greatest advance was +only three miles, but it extended along a wider front and developed +during the following days, while the Americans were held up by +defective organization. Somme-Py and Manre were taken on the 28th, +while on Gouraud's left Berthelot began to move from Reims, and +farther west Mangin pursued the Germans across the Aisne. Progress +along the whole French front continued in October; Gouraud's right +pressed on to a level with, and then in advance of, the American left +towards Challerange and Grandpré; his centre advanced towards +Machault, and on his left Berthelot took Loivre, Brimont, and forced +the passages of the Suippe at Bertricourt and Bazancourt, and of the +Aisne at Berry-au-Bac. The Moronvillers massif was thus outflanked, +and by the middle of the month the Germans were evacuating the whole +of their ground south of the Aisne. This retreat, coupled with the +French advance east of St. Quentin, endangered the great apex of the +German front in the St. Gobain forest, and by the 10th its abandonment +was begun. On the 11th the Chemin des Dames was relinquished, on the +13th the French were in La Fère and Laon, and the Germans were +retreating to the line of the Serre. + +Nevertheless, the advance of the right wing of the Allied front had +not quite come up to expectations. The prolonged maintenance of the +German bastion in the Argonne and on the Meuse enabled their centre to +withdraw more or less at its leisure and thus avoid the colossal Sedan +with which it was threatened; and, the French centre having been cast +for a part subsidiary to those of the two wings, the brunt of the +fighting fell upon the British, whose advance was not so fatal as +similar progress would have been on the other wing. They were greatly +assisted by American divisions serving with the Third and Fourth +armies, by the Belgians and French on their left, and by the French on +their right; but the check to the American advance enabled the +Germans--unfortunately for them, as it turned out--to transfer +reinforcements from the Meuse to Cambrai and Valenciennes. + +Cambrai did not therefore fall until another series of actions had +been fought in the first nine days of October. The Scheldt canal to +the north of it had proved a formidable obstacle, and Haig determined +to press the attack from the south, where the Fourth Army had prepared +the way on 29 September by destroying the Hindenburg line at +Bellicourt and Bellenglise. On 3 October Rawlinson attacked again +between Le Catelet and Sequehart and captured those villages, Gouy, +Ramicourt, and the Beaurevoir-Fonsomme line. On the 4th and 5th +further progress was made by the taking of Beaurevoir and Montbrehain, +while north of Le Catelet the Germans were driven from their positions +east of the canal, which were occupied by the Third Army. On the 8th +the final phase in the battle for Cambrai began. The chief fighting +was on the line secured on the 3rd. An American division captured +Brancourt and Prémont, and British divisions Serain, Villers-Outreaux, +and Malincourt north-east of Le Catelet. New Zealanders south of +Cambrai took Lesdain and Esnes, and three British divisions +Serainvillers, Forenville, and Niergnies, penetrating the southern +outskirts of Cambrai, while to the north of it Canadians captured +Ramillies, crossed the canal at Point d'Aire and entered the city on +that side. During the night the whole of it fell into our hands; the +Germans were driven back in disorder to within two miles of Le Cateau; +and Bohain was reached ten miles east of Bellicourt and a similar +distance south-west of Le Cateau. By the 10th the advance had been +carried to the line of the Selle river, on which the Germans made +another stand, while farther south the French pushing east of St. +Quentin, cleared the Oise-Sambre canal as far north as Bernot. On the +10th Le Cateau fell, and by the 13th the British had gained the west +bank of the Selle as far north as Haspres. + +A great wedge had thus been thrust into the German line, leaving +pronounced salients to the north of it round Lille and Douai, and to +the south-east of it between the Oise and the Aisne. It was the policy +of the Entente to eschew the destruction which fighting in cities +involved, and it was particularly desirable to compel the Germans to +retreat from Lille and its industrial neighbourhood by threats of +encirclement rather than by frontal attack. To complete the process +begun on the south, the advance in the north was now resumed; and on +14 October Belgian forces with a French army under Dégoutte and the +British Second Army under Plumer attacked the whole front in Flanders +between Dixmude and the Lys at Comines. Their success was even more +striking than it had been on 28 September; the Belgians and French +carried Courtemarck, Roulers, and Iseghem, while the British pushed +along the north bank of the Lys until on the 16th they held it as far +as Harlebeke, farther east than Ostend and even than Bruges. On the +15th the Belgians captured Thourout and the British Menin, crossing +the Lys at various points and taking Comines on the 16th. The effect +of this advance was to precipitate a comprehensive German retreat both +north and south. The coveted Belgian coast had at last to be +abandoned: Ostend fell on the 17th, Zeebrugge and Bruges on the 19th, +and by the 21st the Germans were twenty miles from the sea, striving +to stand on the Lys canal in front of Ghent. To the south the +withdrawal was no less complete: both Lille and Douai were entered on +the 17th; Tourcoing and Roubaix soon followed; and by the 21st our +Second and Fifth armies had advanced to the Scheldt on a front of +twenty miles, forming nearly a straight line with the First, Third, +and Fourth on the Selle. + +There the battle had been renewed on the 17th, as soon as our +advancing lines of communication had been sufficiently repaired to +bear the strain. The attack was made south of Le Cateau by the Fourth +Army, employing British and American troops in co-operation with +Débeney's French armies on our right. The country was difficult and +the fighting stiff, but by nightfall on the 19th the Germans had been +driven across the Oise and Sambre canal at all points south of +Catillon, and on the 20th the Third and part of the First armies took +up the struggle on the Selle north of Le Cateau. Here again it was +severe, especially at Neuvilly, Solesmes, and Haspres, but the whole +of the Selle positions on both banks were secured, while north-east of +its junction with the Scheldt the First Army had occupied Denain. On +the 23rd a combined attack was made by the Fourth and Third armies, +though progress was limited to the front north of the bend of the +Sambre at Ors. Between that point and a few miles south of +Valenciennes our troops advanced six miles up to the outskirts of the +forest of Mormal and Le Quesnoy in spite of the intervening streams +which had been swollen by rain, of the wooded country, and of the +stubborn resistance of the Germans. These battles of the Selle between +17-25 October yielded to British armies alone 21,000 prisoners and 450 +guns, and on the 26th Ludendorff resigned. Meanwhile the French were +gradually squeezing the Germans out of their salient between the Oise +and the Aisne back upon the Serre. Chalandry and Grandlup, near that +river, were occupied on the 22nd, and east of the Aisne some progress +was made in the Argonne by the capture of Olizy and Termes on the +15th; but till nearly the end of October the Americans west of the +Meuse were held up by their commissariat difficulties, though east of +it they had captured Brabant and Consenvoye and pushed forward their +line to a level with that on the western bank. + +It was only on the Meuse and on the Lys that the enemy front showed +the last vestiges of stability at the end of October. The surrender of +Bulgaria had been followed by that of Turkey, and Austria was on the +verge of collapse. Her hold on the Balkans had gone, her southern +provinces were rising in sympathy with the Serbian and Jugo-Slav +advance, in the north the Czecho-Slovaks were preparing to join, and +even Hungary was refusing to supply the starving capital with food. +Unless Italy struck quickly, Fiume and Trieste and the whole +north-eastern Adriatic coast would pass into the hands of the +insurgents. The moment had come to forestall the Jugo-Slavs and +deliver a blow which might overthrow the Hapsburg Empire before it +collapsed of itself. Since the repulse of the Austrian offensive on +the Piave in June, the Italian front had remained quiescent during the +critical months of the war, though picked Italian divisions had done +good fighting with the French at Reims, and the Italians in Albania +had pursued the Austrian forces after they had been beaten by the +Serbs and French and abandoned by the Bulgars. On the night of 23-24 +October the Tenth Italian Army, consisting of two British and two +Italian divisions commanded by Lord Cavan, attacked the island of +Grave di Papadopoli in the Piave and completed its conquest on the +25th and 26th. Simultaneously Giardino's Italians with a French +division attacked in the region of Mt. Grappa, but retired to their +original position after taking a number of prisoners. On the 25th they +were more successful, capturing Mt. Pertica and repulsing Austrian +counter-attacks on the 26th. On the 27th the decisive movement began +with Cavan's crossing of the Piave, and on the same day the Austrian +Government requested Sweden to transmit to President Wilson an offer +which was equivalent to surrender. At the front the Austrians +continued to counter-attack very heavily at Mt. Pertica; but on the +Piave they completely collapsed, and the breach of their line on the +27th was followed by a disorderly flight. The booty was colossal, the +heterogeneous troops of the moribund Hapsburg Empire surrendered +wholesale, and on 3 November their dying government submitted to the +terms of an armistice imposed by General Diaz. On that day Italians +landed at Trieste, where insurgents had taken over the government on +31 October; but an Austrian Dreadnought at Pola which had hoisted the +Croat revolutionary flag was sunk by the daring act of two Italian +officers. + +Germany now stood alone, and any defence she might otherwise have made +on her frontiers was hopelessly compromised by the position of her +armies on their far-flung line in France and Belgium. Nemesis for the +invasion of Belgium had at last overtaken the invader. The problem of +withdrawing in safety was rendered insoluble by the battles of the +first week in November and the consequent convergence of the Allies on +Germany's remaining lines of communication. The decisive blows were +delivered right and left by the American and British wings. Towards +the end of October the Americans had surmounted their difficulties of +transport and organization, and were breaking down the German +resistance, which had been weakened by the transfer of troops to the +British front, between Grandpré and the Meuse. On 1 November the +German line was broken and the Americans advanced three or four miles. +On the 2nd they doubled that distance and were in Buzancy; on the 3rd +they repeated their success, while the French on their left cleared +the Argonne and reached Le Chesne. German resistance also broke down +on the east bank of the Meuse, and the Americans made for Montmédy. +But their advance was most rapid on the west bank, where on the 7th +they leapt forward to Sedan. The Germans were thus deprived of their +great lateral line connecting the eastern and western sectors of their +front, and were driven back against the barrier of the Ardennes; and a +great French offensive into Lorraine was being prepared under Mangin. +This provision somewhat weakened the less essential advance of the +French in the centre between the Aisne and the Oise, but the progress +of the American wing left the Germans no option but retreat in the +centre, and three French armies under Débeney, Mangin, and Guillaumat +were rapidly converging upon Hirson. The remains of the Hunding +position were taken on 5 November, and Marle and Guise were captured +farther north-west. Vervins, Montcornet, and Réthel fell on the 6th. +Hirson and Mezières were reached and the Belgian frontier crossed on +the 9th. On the 10th the Italians entered Rocroi, and on the morning +of the 11th the Allies were converging on Namur. + +This rapid pursuit of the German centre had been made possible by the +coup de grâce given to the German armies in the battle of the Sambre. +Haig regarded the capture of Valenciennes as an essential preliminary, +and on 1-2 November corps of the First and Third armies attacked a +six-mile front to the south of the town. The line of the Rhonelle was +forced and Valenciennes fell on the 2nd. The line of the Scheldt was +thus turned, and besides falling back in front towards the forest of +Mormal the Germans had to begin evacuating the Tournai bend of the +river. But the decisive blow was still to come. It was delivered on 4 +November by the First, Third, and Fourth armies on a thirty-mile +front, between Valenciennes and Oisy on the Sambre, which was +continued by Débeney's army southwards to the neighbourhood of Guise. +In Haig's restrained language a great victory was won which definitely +broke the enemy's resistance. Nineteen thousand prisoners were taken +on the British front and 5000 on the French. On the first day +Landrecies and Le Quesnoy fell and half the forest of Mormal was +overrun; and the remaining operations consisted of a pursuit. On the +7th Bavai was captured, and Condé during the following night; on the +8th our troops were twelve miles east of Landrecies in Avesnes and on +the outskirts of Maubeuge, which fell on the 9th. On that day also +Tournai was occupied, and the Second Army crossing the Scheldt on a +wide fronting reached Renaix. On the 10th they were close to Ath and +to Grammont, and early on the 11th Canadians captured Mons. + + Foch's Campaign + +The British Army ended the war on the Western front where it had begun +to fight, and at 11 a.m. on that day the struggle ceased from end to +end of the fighting line in accordance with an armistice signed six +hours before. Its terms were severe, the immediate evacuation of all +the conquered territory and withdrawal behind the Rhine, leaving the +whole left bank and all the important bridgeheads open to Allied +occupation, and a neutral zone on the right bank; the repatriation of +all the transported inhabitants and Allied prisoners of war; the +quashing of the treaties of Brest-Litovsk and Bukarest, and the +withdrawal of all German troops from territories formerly belonging to +Russia, Rumania, and Turkey; the surrender of thousands of guns, +locomotives, aeroplanes, of all submarines fit for sea, and of the +better part of the German Navy. The Germans had no choice: their +armies were in flight along roads choked with transport towards an +ever narrowing exit, and they could only escape if given time, which +they could only obtain by surrender. They yielded to avoid a Sedan +which would have destroyed their armies as a fighting force. But they +gained one at least of the objects for which they had fought. The +Fatherland was saved from the abomination of desolation which the +Germans had spread far and wide in their enemies' homes; and except +for a corner in East Prussia and another in Alsace, German soil had +remained immune from invasion. + +The surrender might have had the saving grace of common sense had it +not been delayed so long; but it required the imminence of military +destruction and an intimation from President Wilson that peace could +not be concluded with those who had made the war, to provoke that +revolution which competent observers had from the beginning declared +to be an inevitable result of a German defeat. It was precipitated by +an order to the German Fleet to go out and fight. That again had been +anticipated as a counsel of despair, but few foresaw that the order +would be disobeyed. The German genius for organization had tried the +strength of its human material beyond the limits of endurance. The +crews mutinied, and the spirit of revolt spread in the first week of +November to Kiel and other ports, and thence throughout the whole of +Germany. Every German throne, grand-ducal or royal, toppled into the +dust, and on the 9th the Kaiser abdicated, fleeing like the Crown +Prince to Holland, and leaving it to a government of Socialists to +sign the terms of surrender. With the imperial crown went that +imperial creation, the German Navy; and the crowning humiliation was +its peaceful transference to Scapa Flow on 21 November, to be scuttled +by its crews on 21 June 1919. Navies had gone in the past to the +bottom, beaten and wrecked like the Spanish Armada, or battered to +pieces and sunk as at Trafalgar; but never yet had Britain's sea-power +led home a captive fleet without a fight. The curtain rang down on a +fitting scene, a proof beyond all precedent of British command of the +sea, and a yet more solemn demonstration that the ultimate factor in +war consists in a people's spirit and not in its iron shards. + + + CHAPTER XX + + THE FOUNDATIONS OF PEACE + +Destruction is easier and more rapid than construction, and it needs a +wiser man and a longer labour to make peace than war. War begins with +the first blow, but peace is not made when the fighting stops; and +months were to pass in the troubled twilight between the two, with +millions of men under arms, with budgets more suggestive of war than +peace and men's thoughts more attuned to a contentious past than +prepared for a peaceful future. The first act of the British +Government was, indeed, to transfer hostilities from its foes abroad +to those at home, and to rout its domestic enemies at a general +election. The Parliament elected in 1910 had, after limiting its +existence to five years, extended it during the war to eight; and the +argument for an election and a fresh mandate for the Peace Conference +would have been irresistible had any Ally followed our example, had +the Government during the contest given any indication of the terms of +peace it contemplated, and had the British delegates not been hampered +rather than helped by the foolish concessions which ministers made to +popular clamour for the Kaiser's execution and for Germany's payment +of the total cost of the war. There could, indeed, be little +discussion on the platform, because on principles all parties were +substantially agreed, and details were matters for the Conference; and +the election was fought to defeat opposition, not to the Government's +policy, but to its personnel. In this the Coalition was triumphantly +successful: three-quarters of the new members had accepted its coupon, +and of the remainder the largest party consisted of seventy Sinn +Feiners who were in prison or at least pledged not to attend the +House. The Labour group returned some fifty strong, but Mr. Asquith's +followers were reduced to thirty. This result was, however, a triumph +of political strategy manipulating a very transient emotion, the +evanescence of which was shown in a series of bye-elections before the +Conference reached its critical points. It was well for British +influence in the councils of the Allies that it did not depend upon +the vagaries of popular votes, and it would have been well for the +repute of British statesmen if they had not had the occasion or the +temptation to indulge in the hectic misrepresentation and profligate +promises of which their electioneering speeches were full. + +The weight which the various Allies exerted at the Conference depended +upon the services they had rendered to the common cause and the force +they had at their disposal. At the conclusion of the armistice the +British Empire, in addition to its overwhelming naval preponderance, +had over half a million men in arms more than any other belligerent. +Its total military forces, including Dominion and Indian troops and +garrisons abroad, amounted to 5,680,247 men; France had 5,075,000; the +United States, 3,707,000; Italy, 3,420,000; Germany about 4,500,000; +Austria, 2,230,000; while Bulgaria had had at the end of September +half a million, and Turkey at the end of October some 400,000. Great +Britain and France had also been fighting since the beginning of the +war, while Italy had joined in May 1915, and the United States in +April 1917. On the other hand, all the European Powers had reached, if +not passed, their meridian of strength, whereas the United States +could with a corresponding effort raise her forces to over ten +millions. Potentially she was the most powerful of the associated +nations, and only the existence of the British fleet brought any rival +up to anything like equality. Together the United States and the +British Empire were irresistible; and so long as they were agreed, any +concessions they might make to others would be due, not to fear, but +to their sense of justice, desire for peace, and consideration for the +susceptibilities of others. The responsibility for the issue of the +Conference rested therefore upon them to a very special degree; and in +spite of unspeakably foolish and ignorant chatter in reactionary +quarters, it was an inestimable advantage that the British Empire +could look to the United States and President Wilson to bear most of +the odium of insisting upon sound principles and telling unpalatable +truths. America was in the better position to play the part of the +candid friend, because she had no territorial ambitions to serve and +no axe to grind save that of peaceful competition in the arts of +industry and commerce; and if European allies occasionally grumbled at +American interference, the reply was obvious that they should have won +the war without waiting for or depending on American intervention. + +In spite of a somewhat weak pretence to public diplomacy, the secret +history of the Conference is not likely to be known to this +generation; but its decisions were promptly published, and the +attitude of the various Powers to the principal problems with which +they had to deal was easily discerned. President Wilson had made a +personal survey of the ground by a visit to Europe, unprecedented in +the history of the Presidential office, in December, before the +Conference opened at Versailles on 18 January 1919. It was largely +owing to his presence and prestige that in the forefront of the +programme and performance of the Conference stood a plan for an +international organization for the future avoidance of war, settlement +of disputes, and regulation of labour conditions. The idea of a League +of Nations had made rapid progress as the war increased in extent, +intensity, and horror. At Christmas 1917 the British Government, at +the instigation of Lord Robert Cecil and General Smuts, had appointed +a committee to explore the subject, and it had reported in the +following summer in favour of a scheme in which the main stress was +laid upon the avoidance of war. The French Government had also +appointed a commission which likewise reported favourably in the +summer of 1918: the principal difference between the two was that the +French commission advocated the establishment of an organized standing +international army. President Wilson preferred to proceed by means of +more informal discussions with committees not appointed by his +government; and the American stress was laid rather on the +organization of an international council and tribunal. The fruitful +idea of a mandatory system was first publicly advocated by General +Smuts. + +Lord Robert Cecil was charged with the principal share in +accommodating such divergences as existed between the various +governments on the matter, and remarkable progress was made, which +resulted in President Wilson's production before the Conference, on 14 +February, of a Covenant embodying the scheme for a future League of +Nations. It was subjected to a good deal of criticism, and +party-spirit in America sought to make capital out of the proposed +abandonment of the self-sufficient isolation of the United States and +the subordination of the Monroe Doctrine to the interests of the world +and the common judgment of mankind. In Great Britain there were also +those who preferred the guarantee of a predominant British navy to the +security of any scrap of paper, and somewhat ignored the fact that the +war had been fought to establish the sanctity of international +obligations. In France, with her vivid recollection of painful +experience, there was similarly a tendency to make the most of our +military victory and to base the stability of peace upon the +establishment of military predominance and the possession of conquests +guaranteed by a permanent anti-German alliance. Italy was frankly out +for all she could get irrespective of the principles of nationality +and self-determination. A rigorous censorship, not merely of news from +other countries, but of serious and moderate Italian books on history +and politics, had combined with an ingenuous self-esteem to produce +the popular conviction that Italy had been the main factor in the +victory of the Entente, and that the Conference was therefore bound to +concede whatever rewards she might demand in return for her services. +She contended that her sentiment for Dalmatia was as sincere as that +of the French for Alsace-Lorraine, and ignored the difference made by +the fact that Dalmatia was peopled with Jugo-Slavs. Italy therefore +had little sympathy with the Fourteen Points which at President +Wilson's instigation had been accepted as the basis of the armistice +and the principles of peace. Finally, Japan had a special grievance in +the reluctance of the United States to accept the maxim of racial +equality and a special interest in the acquisition of Chinese +territory; and prejudice against her racial claim prejudiced the +Aliies' defence of Chinese territorial integrity. + +These were some of the fundamental difficulties of the Conference +which could only be settled in part by self-restraint and compromise. +Much had to be left over to the patient labours of the future League +of Nations in an atmosphere less charged than the Conference with the +passion of war; and it gradually became evident that, instead of the +League of Nations depending upon the excellence of the peace it was to +guarantee, the permanence of the peace would depend upon the capacity +of the League of Nations to remedy its imperfections. The League +emerged as the cardinal factor in the situation which was to make the +vital difference between the work of the Conference of 1919 and that +of the Congresses of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. +Reflection tended, moreover, to mitigate some of the objections to the +Covenant, though various of its details were modified in response to +criticism. Public opinion in the United States rallied to the argument +that America would be stultifying herself if, after entering the war +to win it and make the world safe for democracy, she refused to +participate in the only means of making the peace tolerable and +permanent; and it was recognized that the Monroe Doctrine was not so +much being superseded as expanded from America to cover all the world. +British reliance on sea-power was likewise somewhat impressed by the +determination of the United States, if the League of Nations failed, +to build a navy at least equal to our own, and by the recognition of +the fact that the maintenance of even a two-Power standard would +consequently involve us in a race for naval armaments more severe than +that before the war and pregnant with an even greater disaster to the +cause of civilization. French opinion, too, was gradually modified by +the realization that Great Britain and the United States could not be +expected to sanction a militarist settlement resembling in its spirit +and its motives the German terms of 1871, or to guarantee a peace of +which their people disapproved; and a halting trust in a League of +Nations was fortified by a more specific guarantee of protection by +Great Britain and the United States against an unprovoked attack by +Germany. Italy, the youngest of the Great Powers among the Allies, the +least mature in its political wisdom, and the most subject before the +war to the influence of German realpolitik, carried her obstruction to +the point of temporarily leaving the Conference in April; but her +delegates returned on finding that the rest of the Allies were +prepared to make peace without her participation. + +Apart from these conflicts of point of view, the Conference had +infinite trouble to deal with territories which had been conquered and +peoples which had been liberated from autocratic yokes. The problem of +races and lands in Africa and in the former Turkish Empire which were +admittedly unfit for self-government had been simplified by the happy +thought of the mandatory system which again depended for its efficacy +upon the idea of a League of Nations. It had long been the claim of +the British Empire, that so far as it was an empire and not a league +of free States, it was a power held in trust and wielded not for the +benefit of the Government, but of the governed. It was now proposed to +formulate and expand this idea by treating these conquered lands not +as the freeholds of the conqueror, but as lands to be held of the +League of Nations by a mandate, for the execution of which the +mandatory would be responsible to the common judgment of the nations. +There was some objection to the proposal on the ground of national +pride and resentment at the idea of being held responsible; but a +juster appreciation led to the reflections that irresponsibility was a +Prussian ideal of government, that a better cause for national pride +arose from the general confidence in a nation's integrity implied in +the conferment of the mandate, and that only those whose deeds were +evil need fear the intrusion of international light upon their methods +of administration. To be able to do what one liked with one's own was +a baser ambition than to satisfy the conscience of mankind that one +was making the best use of the talents with which one had been +entrusted; and the general approbation with which the idea of mandates +was received testified better than other proceedings in the Conference +to the growth of a sense of common responsibility for the welfare of +mankind. In this way the administration of German colonies in Africa +was to be entrusted to Great Britain, France, and the Union of South +Africa; Pacific Islands to Japan, Australia, and New Zealand; +Mesopotamia and Palestine to Great Britain, Syria to France, and parts +of Asia Minor to Italy and Greece. + +More difficult was the self- or other determination of those parts of +Europe which had escaped the iron hand of the three great Empires of +Germany, Austria, and Russia. Alsace-Lorraine would revert by common +consent to France, which was also given the Saar district for a term +of years, not as a conquest but as a means of recovering the vast +stores of coal and iron of which the Germans had robbed the French +during their occupation. Belgium claimed a small strip on her frontier +inhabited mainly by Belgian people; the self-determination which +Bismarck had promised the Danes in Schleswig in 1864 was at last +accorded them; and Heligoland was dismantled. The principal +difficulties lay on Germany's eastern frontier, where the racial +mixture between Germans and Poles was complicated by Poland's claim to +a port and access to the sea, and by the fact that the cession of +Dantzig and the Vistula to Poland would sever Germany from East +Prussia, which was German in population and had been under German rule +since 1524. Dantzig had been part of the Polish kingdom down to the +first partition of 1772, but like other towns in Poland it had for +centuries been inhabited and municipally governed mainly by Germans +and Jews. For Poland was a kingdom which prolonged feudal conditions +into the eighteenth century; it was a nation of serfs and landlords, +and its commerce and industry, and therefore its towns, had been left +for German and Jewish immigrants to develop. The corridor to the sea +with most of Posen was eventually given to Poland, while parts of East +Prussia and Upper Silesia were subjected to plebiscites which promised +a similar result; but, like other territorial arrangements in central +and eastern Europe, it was a settlement which could never prove +satisfactory until racial antagonisms were modified by good +government, and it became possible for different nationalities to live +together in a State in Europe with as little sense of injustice and +exploitation as immigrants in the United States of America. + +As some offset to these losses of alien subjects, Germany hoped for an +increase of population by the accession of German Austria (including +the Tyrol) and the German fringes of Bohemia. The mountain ranges +which ringed in Bohemia to the east, north, and west had, however, +always been her boundaries, and were too natural a frontier to be +surrendered by the new State of Czecho-Slovakia, the future +independence of which had been recognized in 1918 as a testimony to +the services rendered to the Entente by the Czecho-Slovak troops in +Siberia and Russia; while conflicting views in German Austria, +combined with the reluctance of France to see Germany aggrandized, +postponed this reunion of German-speaking peoples, and left German +Austria the weakest of the central European States into which the +Hapsburg Empire dissolved. Hungary became entirely independent, but +was shorn of her Rumanian, Serb, and Croat appanages. Rumanian troops +held Transylvania, most of the Bukovina, and a slice of Hungary. +Croatia and Carniola, like Bosnia, Herzegovina, and the previously +independent Montenegro had already combined with Serbia to form a +great Jugo-Slav kingdom stretching from north of Laibach to the south +of Monastir, and from the Adriatic to the Danube. The Trentino, +Trieste, and Pola had been occupied by Italy, but the future of +Dalmatia, Fiume, and the islands in the Adriatic was the greatest bone +of contention at the Conference, and their disposal was almost +indefinitely postponed. + +The gravest of all the problems which confronted the victorious Powers +arose in connexion with their former ally, Russia, whose condition +presented almost as many obstacles to peace as it had done to the +successful prosecution of war. There was, however, one countervailing +advantage of incalculable value. Had the imperialist Tsardom emerged +triumphant from the struggle, the reactionary forces at the Conference +would have been enormously strengthened; little would probably have +been heard of the independence of Poland; Constantinople would have +fallen into Russian hands; the Balkans and Asia Minor would have +become, in fact if not in name, Russian protectorates; and there would +have been found little scope for self-determination along the shores +of the Baltic or in Eastern Europe. The great war of liberation would +probably have resulted merely in the substitution of Russia for +Germany as a greater menace to the independence of little nations and +to the peace of the world. Nevertheless, the problems imposed upon the +Conference by warring factions in Russia proper, by discordant races +emancipated from Russian domination and pursuing their own conflicting +ambitions, and by the folly of the Allies themselves in ignoring the +principle impressed upon them since 1917, that it was legitimate to +assist Russians against the Germans but not against one another, were +harassing enough. The half-hearted, disingenuous, and misguided +military efforts made by the Allies in Russia introduced alien +irritants into the domestic situation and prolonged that painful +process of internal evolution which could alone produce a satisfactory +solution in a stable Russian government. If the responsible Allied +statesmen had studied the history of previous attempts to impose +particular governments on independent peoples by the force of arms, +they would have been even more reluctant to attempt a repetition of +the experiment in Russia. As it was, their efforts were hampered by +their own subjects and Allies. The United States stood aloof; French +soldiers and sailors refused to fight against Bolsheviks at Odessa; +Italy did nothing; and the burden of an unwise policy was left to +Great Britain, where not even the systematic manipulation of news from +Russia in the interests of intervention could induce public opinion to +condone more than perfunctory help to the cause of restoration. + +The fairest guise this policy could assume was defence of the +principle of self-determination, and the assumption was maintained +that the Russian people were opposed to the Soviet government. There +would have been better ground for assisting Finns, Letts, Esthonians, +and Ukrainians against Bolshevik imperialism; but it was to Koltchak, +Denikin, and their north Russian friends, rather than to the little +peoples that help was sent, and a powerful motive in the +discrimination was the pledge of the Russian conservatives to resume +responsibility for Russia's debts to her Allies, particularly France, +which the Bolsheviks had repudiated. Whatever success might attend +this policy would not be due to its wisdom, and events were to show +that the British Government misjudged the Russian situation in 1919 as +much as European monarchies did that of the French Republic in 1793. +The crimes and follies committed by the Soviet and the Jacobin +governments were equally repulsive, but they did not make foreign +intervention in either case a sound or successful policy; and the +Allies would have been wiser to confine their military action to the +defence of the nascent States which had asserted their independence of +Russia and claimed the right of self-determination. The clearest case +was that of Finland, which had always since its acquisition by Russia +in the eighteenth century protested against its loss of independence. +In Esthonia and Latvia, which had passed under the Russian yoke during +the same period, the native movement was complicated by the class +ambitions of the German barons; and there was a confused triangular +struggle between German, Russian, and native influences, in which the +interests and the principles of the Conference obviously lay on the +side of the native party. The situation was more obscure in Lithuania. +It had been bound by a personal union of its sovereign with Poland +since 1370 and by a legislative union since 1569. There had been no +conquest on either side any more than there had been in the personal +and legislative unions of England and Scotland in 1603 and 1707; and +the problem was rather one for domestic arrangement than for decision +by the Conference. The Ukraine, on the other hand, had first been +conquered by Poland and then seized by Russia during the successive +partitions of Poland; and it required the constraint of a superior +authority to check the predatory claims of both those Powers to their +dubious inheritance. + +The prospect of dealing successfully with the manifold problems which +confronted the Conference depended to a large extent upon the order in +which they were tackled. Manifestly they could not be handled +simultaneously, and the first thing to do was to lay down the +principles not only of the peace, but of its future adjustment and +modification by establishing a League of Nations. When that Covenant +had been provisionally accepted by the Conference in February, the +next step was to settle with Germany; for no provisions for general +peace or the security of new nations could be satisfactory until +Germany was bound by material and moral guarantees to accept and to +respect them. It was therefore both a logical and a practical +necessity which constrained the Conference, after enunciating the +principles of peace in the Covenant, to deal next with their +application to Germany. + +The terms were eventually settled in April and presented to the German +delegation, which had been invited to Versailles for the purpose, on 7 +May. The conditions were harsh, in parts vindictive, and in others +manifestly inconsistent with any natural interpretation of the +Fourteen Points which all the belligerents had accepted as the basis +of the armistice and consequent peace; and they were not such as any +Power could be expected to sign without an effort to get them amended +before peace was concluded or a mental reservation to procure their +modification as soon as might be thereafter. The German delegates, +with Count Brockdorff-Rantzau at their head, did their best to expose +the inconsistencies between the Allies' professions and their +performance, and to secure a reconsideration of the more distasteful +terms. An elaborate protest and counterproposals were delivered early +in June and promptly answered by the Allies. A few minor points were +conceded, but the terms as a whole were maintained, with an intimation +that unless they were accepted at once as they stood, the Allies would +draw the sword again. Count Brockdorff-Rantzau thereupon resigned, and +Scheidemann's government fell on 20 June. He was succeeded as Prime +Minister by Herr Bauer, and Herr Müller was sent to replace +Brockdorff-Rantzau at Versailles with a mandate to sign the dictated +peace. It was signed by Germany and by all her enemies, with the +exception of China, on 28 June, five years to a day since the murder +at Serajevo; and early in July it was ratified by a two to one vote of +the German Assembly at Weimar and by the German President Ebert. + +The Treaty, which filled a volume of over four hundred pages, had no +precedent for its importance or its bulk. It was an epitome of the +affairs of the world, and its predecessors, the Treaties of Utrecht +and Paris, which ushered in peace early in the eighteenth and +nineteenth centuries, were miniature in comparison. The German terms +were an unsatisfactory and comparatively unimportant part of the +Treaty except in so far as they bound Germany to accept the principles +for which the Allies had fought the war and upon which they were +determined that the future government of the world should rest. They +were, indeed, not so much a pact of peace as a punishment of war; and +an idealistic scheme of government by consent started by imposing on +the weaker party conditions with which it could not but violently +disagree. Millions of Germans in Alsace-Lorraine, Bohemia, Poland, and +East Prussia were transferred to alien domination; millions of others +in German Austria were denied the right of self-determination in the +form of union with Germany; cities like Dantzig and Memel, which were +admittedly German, were severed from Germany on the grounds that +neighbouring districts were not, and that the economic interests of +foreign States required the severance; and where German lines of +communication crossed those of the Allies and their friends, the +German lines were cut in order to provide what was regarded as an +indispensable continuity for those of their rivals. These and like +provisions were due to Allied distrust of Germany and lack of +confidence in the efficacy of their own principles. For if the League +of Nations succeeded in establishing that freedom of intercourse at +which it professed to aim, there would be no need for this transfer of +control or for the enforcement of access to the sea at the expense of +the principle of self-determination; and these arbitrary arrangements +on Germany's eastern frontier were the counterpart of the special +alliance of Great Britain and the United States to afford France a +protection which the League of Nations did not immediately or +adequately provide. The judgment of posterity, which rarely coincides +with that of the parties to a dispute or to a treaty, is likely to +agree with the declaration of General Smuts, after signing the Treaty, +that real peace would not be found in it so much as in the machinery +it created for its own amendment, and in the spirit which would in +time tone down the passions and products of war. + +But that hope would have been vain without the crushing of Prussian +militarism, and the best justification of the terms imposed upon +Germany is that they sealed the defeat of that spirit and annulled its +works in the past since the days of Frederick the Great. Here at least +the Allies worked with a will and without susceptibilities to +conciliate. The German army was reduced to an internal police force of +a hundred thousand men, and meticulous care was taken to prevent the +evasion of this exiguous limit. Her fleet was restricted to six +battleships, six light cruisers, twelve destroyers, and twelve +torpedo-boats; and she was denied submarines and air-forces +altogether. Conscription--despite the war-time plea of our own +conscriptionists that it had nothing to do with militarism--was +abolished as the head and front of Germany's offence; and her +armaments and munitions were limited to diminutive proportions. Much +of what Germany had won by the mailed fist--Alsace-Lorraine, Posen, +and West Prussia--was taken away, while the presumptive Belgian lands +of Eupen and Malmedy, the indubitably German Saar district, Danish +Schleswig, and disputed territories in Upper Silesia and East Prussia +were reserved for determination by plebiscites held under the auspices +of the League of Nations. But the purely German lands which had been +conquered by Prussia's sword, Holstein, Hanover, Westphalia, most of +Silesia, and half of Saxony, were left where the sword had brought +them, presumably on the ground that popular acquiescence had condoned +the barbarous arbitrament of war. Reparation was to supplement +restitution: ton for ton the shipping sunk by submarines was to be +made good out of existing German tonnage and future construction; and +two thousand million pounds were to be paid in two years as a first +instalment towards the repair of damage done by the German army in +Belgium, France, and elsewhere. German colonies were held forfeit on +the double but discrepant counts of the fortune of war and the failure +of Germany to govern them according to the standard professed by all +and practised by some of the Allies. The gain to their inhabitants +consisted to no small extent in the fact that they were to be +administered by mandatories whose responsibility was to be enforced by +an annual report to the League of Nations. Finally, Germany was +required to acquiesce in whatever conditions the victors might impose +on her defeated Allies, and to surrender for trial whomsoever of her +nationals the Conference might select to charge with crime in their +conduct of the war. + +In earlier times a treaty of peace was commonly styled a treaty of +peace and amity, and the whilom belligerents swore eternal friendship +to date from the ratification. Here there was no pretence to amity, +and the terms of peace were penalties imposed upon a prisoner at the +bar. The justice in the peace was criminal justice, justice ad hoc +rather than impartial equity. Other nations than Germany had waged +wars of aggression; and if the breach of 1914 was a crime, the jury +which adjudged it so had criminal records of their own. Even the +British Empire and the United States had not attained their vast +proportions or acquired their subject populations by the force of +argument or in self-defence. There was no law against aggression in +1914; all nations were responsible more or less for its non-existence, +and all except Belgium had themselves as well as Germany to thank for +what they suffered in consequence. These, however, were precisely the +reasons for making a law which was lacking and a peace for which there +was no precedent. It was Germany who had taken advantage of the +weakness of international law and done most to prevent its growth; and +it was fitting that Germany should pay a corresponding penalty. There +is a wholesome prejudice against retrospective legislation, but the +benefit cannot be claimed by those who obstructed the legislation +because they wanted to pursue the conduct which it would have made +criminal. Occasions arise which imperatively require the creation of +precedents, and the time had surely come in 1919 to enforce the +principle that States must observe a moral code in their relations +with one another, and to assert the responsibility of governments to +that code by imposing penalties for its breach. For that the Allies +had contended throughout the war, and the repudiation of that issue by +the Germans was no ground for their immunity after their defeat. + +Their claims were not, indeed, consistent. If there was no +international code to which they could be held responsible, there was +none to prevent the Allies from crying vae victis and using their +victory as the Germans had hoped to use theirs. Their delegates first +pleaded the absence of this code in order to absolve their former +rulers, and then urged its existence to escape from punishment +themselves. It was a specious plea that their revolution had acquitted +the German people of the crimes of the German Government; but even +more pregnant for the future welfare of mankind than insistence upon +the responsibility of governments to their people was insistence upon +the responsibility of peoples for their government. If the government +of Germany was a criminal government, the fault could only be charged +against the German people; and it is only when peoples realize that +they will have to pay for the sins of the rulers they choose or +tolerate that there can be any security in a democratic age for decent +conduct in the relations of governments to one another. For fifty +years the German people had been content to profit from the +aggressiveness of their government, releasing it from responsibility +to domestic opinion and denying its responsibility to any other +tribunal. That negligence on the part of the Germans to guarantee the +respectability of their State cost the world thirty million casualties +and thirty thousand million pounds; and the debt to humanity could not +be discharged by simply dismissing the agent who had incurred it. +Germany herself could not undo the harm she had done nor restore the +more precious losses she had caused. Repentance was something, and +good conduct would lighten the burden she had to bear and shorten the +term of her isolation. But judgment could not be evaded; and the +majority of the German people showed good sense in their acceptance of +the terms and in the rapidity with which the treaty was ratified. + +From German affairs the Conference turned to those of Austria, +Bulgaria, and Turkey, the minor importance of which was indicated by +the departure from Versailles of the principal delegates who had +determined the Covenant of the League and the terms of the treaty with +Germany. President Wilson returned to America to secure the reluctant +consent of the Senate to the settlement he had made; Mr. Lloyd George +came back to England to the less arduous task of obtaining +parliamentary sanction for those parts of the treaty which required +it; and the further work of the Conference was left to the foreign +ministers and other experts rather than to Prime Ministers, though M. +Clémenceau remained to preside, and the Italian affairs in dispute +were vital enough to require the presence of a full Italian +delegation. These were concerned with the liquidation of the Hapsburg +Empire, but not with that fragment of it to which Austria had been +reduced by the recognition of Czecho-Slovakian independence, the +transference of Galicia to Poland, and the union of Croats and +Slovenes under the Serbian crown. Deprived of German support by the +German treaty, this little Austria was but a suppliant at the +Conference, and its efforts were mainly bent towards reducing its +share in the liabilities of the Empire of which it had once formed +part. Hapsburg Government was defunct, and it was difficult to +apportion its liabilities fairly among those who acquired its assets; +for some of them, like the Czechoslovaks and Jugo-Slavs, had +exonerated themselves from complicity for Hapsburg malfeasance by +rebelling against their government and fighting for the Entente. The +problem was complicated by a further revolution in Hungary where a +Soviet Government was established, and Bela Kun endeavoured to rule +after the manner of Lenin. The Russian Bolsheviks were, however, +unable to help their Hungarian pupils, in spite of the hesitancy shown +by the Allies in dealing with the situation; and early in August Bela +Kun's government fell before domestic reaction and the advance of the +Rumanian army, which occupied Buda-Pesth. At last Rumania had her +revenge, and it required energetic protests on the part of Versailles +to induce her to recognize its restraining authority, refrain from +reprisals, and regard the spoils of war as the common assets of the +Allies instead of her own particular booty. She had ample compensation +in the settlement through the redemption of Rumanes not only from the +Hapsburg-Magyar yoke but from that Russian yoke in Bessarabia which +had dulled her ardour for the anti-Hapsburg cause. + +These diversions delayed until September the presentation by the +Allies of their final terms to the Austrian Republic. Its territories +were reduced to the limits of Austrian lands before the Hapsburg +Empire was created four hundred years ago by the Emperors Charles V +and Ferdinand I; parts even of their inheritance were lost, though the +ecclesiastical lands like Salzburg acquired during the Napoleonic +secularization were retained, and the future of Klagenfurt was +reserved for plebiscitary determination. Instead of an Empire Austria +became the fragment of a nation, divorced from the rest of the German +people by the fears of the Entente, required like Germany to forswear +conscription, denied all access to the sea, and left with regard to +the size of its territories and weakness of its frontiers in much the +same situation as the Serbia she had attacked in 1914. Protest was as +idle as delay, and the treaty which was presented on 2 September was +signed on the 10th. + +Nine days later Bulgaria learnt her fate, and the draft treaty +presented to her delegates at Versailles on 19 September condemned her +to pay an indemnity of ninety millions, to reduce her army to 20,000, +and to lose the town and district of Strumnitza and the whole of her +Ægean coast. Strumnitza was given to Serbia, but the Ægean coast was +reserved for disposal with the rest of Thrace and the remains of the +Turkish empire. Bulgaria herself received a fraction of Turkish +territory on the river Maritza, and her frontiers with Rumania were +left unchanged. In the Balkans, as elsewhere, the Allies applied the +principle of self-determination only to conquered countries; none but +an Ally was allowed the privilege of retaining Irelands in subjection, +and in the Balkans at least the victory of the Entente increased the +populations under alien rule. Guarantees respecting the rights of +minorities were, indeed, imposed on the lesser States, but they would +have been more effective and less invidious, had the greater Powers +subjected themselves to the rule they made for others. + +The Conference found it easier to dispose of its enemies' lands than +to compose the rivalries of its friends; and the blunders of Italy's +statesmen combined with the blindness of public opinion to reduce her +to a position of almost pathetic isolation. Signor Orlando's +abandonment of the Conference in April failed to shake the resistance +of the Allies to her extravagant expectations, and on 20 June, by a +remarkable vote of 229 to 80 in the Italian Chamber, his government +was driven from office. Not only in Italy but in Allied countries, +Italian communities abstained from celebrating the peace with Germany, +and grave indeed would have been the difficulties of the Conference if +the conclusion of that treaty had depended upon Italy's signature. +There was friction amounting to bloodshed between French and Italians +at Fiume, and an Albanian rising against the protectorate which Italy +had proclaimed. Her resolve to establish Italian domination along the +eastern coasts of the Adriatic evoked opposition from all the native +populations, who strongly appealed to the sympathies and principles of +the Allies; and her dependence upon them for the necessaries of +commerce and industry made defiance an impossible policy. Gradually +her new government under Signor Nitti sought to withdraw from an +untenable position; but D'Annunzio's raid on Fiume in September once +more inflamed popular passion, and Dalmatia, the islands in the +Adriatic, Albania, Epirus, and the Dodecanese were apples of discord +between Italy and the Balkan States which distracted the Allies +throughout the summer and autumn. + +The settlement was also delayed by the enormous difficulty of +liquidating the Ottoman Empire and the reluctance of the United States +to accept the obligation of mandates in Europe or Asia. The curious +spectacle was afforded of the two great branches of the Anglo-Saxon +race indulging in a rivalry of retirement and endeavouring to saddle +each other with fresh acquisitions of territory; and between them +Armenia was almost abandoned once more to the Turks and the Kurds. +France was less retiring in Syria, the inhabitants of which were +believed to prefer to French rule any one of three alternatives, Arab +independence, a mandate for the United States, or one for Great +Britain; and the anxiety of great Powers to leave countries where +their presence was wanted was only equalled by their determination to +stay where it was not. French soreness over the lack of appreciation +shown by the Syrian people was increased by an independent arrangement +between Great Britain and Persia which gave us as complete a control +over Persian administration as we possessed in Egypt during the +eighties; and it was somewhat pertinently asked why Persia should be +allowed to dispose of her government in this way, while Austria was +sternly forbidden to unite with Germany without the consent of the +League of Nations. The sovereignty of Persia had, however, been +recognized at Versailles, and the League could not entrust a mandate +for its government to any other State. It was therefore left for +Persia to secure assistance in its administration by private treaty +dictated by Lord Curzon and traditional views about India, Russia, and +the Persian Gulf. Our patronage of Koltchak's government prevented him +from making any protest. + +Russia remained the sphinx of the situation, and the obscurity of her +future darkened the counsels of Versailles. Early in the war the +Entente had acquiesced in all the imperialist pretensions of the +Tsardom to Constantinople, the Dardanelles, and Asia Minor; and even +after the Revolution the web of the old diplomacy entangled the feet +of the Allies. Fear of Bolshevism threw them on to the side of +Restoration, and Restoration at the hands of Koltchak and Denikin +implied a revival of the Russian Empire at the expense of independent +fringes. The Ukraine, Lithuania, Esthonia, and Latvia, and even Poland +and Finland, looked askance at such a policy, and naturally could not +be brought into a crusade to carry it out. The straightforward line to +take would have been to recognize these emancipated States on the +principle of self-determination and limit our action to their defence. +Hatred and haste had, however, betrayed the Allies into armed +intervention in the domestic politics of Russia proper, and committed +them to supporting a cause which had doubtful chances of success and, +if successful, might produce greater embarrassment for them than +defeat. From success they were saved by Koltchak's failure. Having +mastered Siberia and made a brave show of descending on Bolshevist +Russia from the Urals in the spring, he was routed in July and August +and driven back to Omsk, while Bolshevist forces rose up in his rear. +His defeat ruined our plans in North Russia, and at last convinced the +Allies of their folly in seeking to impose a government on the Russian +people; and evacuation became the order of the day. In South Russia +Denikin, unassisted by foreign legions, met with more native support +and greater success. The Bolsheviks were driven from the shores of the +Black Sea, and the Ukraine recovered Kiev. Students of Russian history +drew interesting parallels with the Russian Time of Troubles in the +seventeenth century, but rather neglected the fact that they lasted +thirty years; and the foundations laid at Versailles had long to wait +before the temple of peace was erected upon them in Russia. + +The Allies themselves were slow to ratify the terms they dictated to +others, and months passed after the German ratification before its +example of promptness was followed by the Entente. The British Empire +had to await the separate decisions of all its Dominions; and the +Senate of the United States was led, by the fact that a majority in it +was politically opposed to the President, to make an even greater use +than was customary of its constitutional powers of obstruction in +foreign policy. Italy ratified the treaty on 7 October; Great Britain, +her four Dominions having assented by 2 October, ratified on the 10th, +and France on the 12th. But the Adriatic and the Baltic, Russia and +the Balkans, Turkey and Syria, still defied a settlement and delayed +the peace; and the Powers at Versailles discovered that their apparent +omnipotence was impotent for many purposes. Not one of their peoples +was willing to go to war to enforce the decisions of the Conference, +and the submission of Germany removed the one possible exception to +this rule. Almost against its own will the Conference was compelled to +act on its own principles and find other methods than those of +military force to settle the problems with which it was faced; and +this situation provided ample scope for diplomatic recalcitrance and +delay. The advantage was that practice was thus acquired in the +exercise of such economic and other peine forte et dure as the League +of Nations would in future have to use to reduce its unruly members to +order. Proceedings at Versailles therefore took less and less the +character of a conclusion to the war and more and more that of an +endless introduction to a new era. The work of a temporary Conference +to settle terms of peace was merging into that of a permanent League +of Nations for maintaining it; and the world happily got into its +international habits while its individual governments and legislatures +were still debating whether they would fit. Just as before the war the +appearance of peace was deceptive, so the clouds of a storm that was +passed obscured the clearing sky, and filled the weather-prophets of +the platform and the press with a gloom which the people declined +instinctively to share. There were indeed symptoms that we, like our +forefathers a century ago, were destined to tread the downward path +from Waterloo to Peter-loo. The ties of nationality and the stimulus +of patriotism weakened; the home-fires which kept brightly burning in +the war threatened to end in smoke through dissensions over coal, and +men reverted to their ancient anarchy of class and craft. Mr. Lloyd +George's House of Commons, which owed its existence to past events and +to a passing mood, soon forfeited the confidence of a fickle public, +and the impotence to which it was reduced left the country prone to +the temptations and a prey to the turbulence of direct and +unrepresentative action. In the absence of effective opposition and +incentive in Parliament nothing constitutional appeared to move the +Government, and an evil example was set when a few hundred soldiers in +January demanded in Whitehall and obtained their prompt +demobilization. The Premier himself, who had been on Pisgah in +September 1914, descended to a lower level and a dusty arena in his +general election speeches; and animosities which had been concentrated +on the Huns were dissipated in domestic directions. + +Distance alone will lend discernment to the view, and only time will +reveal the ascent of man during the five great years of war. There +will be much backsliding to measure and record, and the intense +agitation of war brought out the worst in the bad as well as the best +in the good. Much that came to the top was scum, while often the salt +of the earth went under. Treason blotted the pages illumined by +heroism, and profiteering tarnished peoples redeemed by the devotion +of their sons. Wastefulness and corruption ran riot even in government +circles, while hundreds of thousands of humble men and women +voluntarily stinted and starved themselves beyond the rigid +requirements of the law. Lip-service was paid to the principle of +equality in sacrifice, and some efforts were made to enforce it. But +they failed to remove the inexorable inequalities of human fate, and +the war which brought death and distress to millions, brought to +others ease and honours, wealth and fame. These are the common +property of wars; and if men did more evil in this than in any +preceding conflict, it was not because they were worse than their +forefathers, but because the war was more comprehensive and they had +ampler means of working ill. Even the cruelty with which it was waged +by the Germans created horror mainly because they sinned against the +higher standards of modern times, and because their cruelty found more +scientific and effective methods of expression. + +All the nations which fought believed in the justice of their cause +and fought as a rule with a courage which belied the alleged +degeneracy of the human race. None of the Powers save Russia fell +short of their previous fame. France strove at Verdun with a fortitude +in adversity unequalled in her annals. German discipline and +determination would have evoked unstinted praise but for the cause in +which those qualities were displayed. Belgium exhibited a national +spirit new in her history, and Serbian heroism was a revelation which +earned for the southern Slavs the greatest relative gains in the war. +The people of the United States became a nation of crusaders moved by +motives at least as high as those which inspired the hearers of Peter +the Hermit, Urban II, or St. Bernard; and the British Empire eclipsed +its own and all other records. History tells of many a shining example +of ancient valour in individuals and in the elect; but here we had +heroism in the mass and courage in the common man. Human memory +recalls no parallel to that uprising of the spirit which led five +million Britons to fight as volunteers for the honour of their country +and the liberty of other lands; despite its shortcomings the +Conference of Versailles achieved higher ideals than those attained by +any preceding congress of peace; and if during the war for its common +weal the world paid, in flesh and in spirit, a price greater than that +ever paid before, it purchased a larger heritage of hope and laid a +surer foundation for its faith. + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's A Short History of the Great War, by A. F. 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