path: root/74728-0.txt

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 74728 ***


  [Illustration: ON VIMY RIDGE, WHERE CANADA WON LAURELS

  The Canadians took the important position of Vimy Ridge on Easter
  Monday, April 9, 1917. They advanced with brilliance, having taken the
  whole system of German front-line trenches between dawn and 6.30 A. M.
  This shows squads of machine gunners operating from shell-craters in
  support of the infantry on the plateau above the ridge.]




  COMPLETE EDITION

  HISTORY OF THE
  WORLD WAR

  An Authentic Narrative of
  The World’s Greatest War

  BY FRANCIS A. MARCH, Ph.D.
  In Collaboration with
  RICHARD J. BEAMISH
  Special War Correspondent
  and Military Analyst

  With an Introduction
  BY GENERAL PEYTON C. MARCH
  Chief of Staff of the United States Army

  With Exclusive Photographs by
  JAMES H. HARE and DONALD THOMPSON
  World-Famed War Photographers
  and with Reproductions from the Official Photographs
  of the United States, Canadian, British,
  French and Italian Governments

  MCMXIX
  LESLIE-JUDGE COMPANY
  NEW YORK




  Copyright, 1918
  FRANCIS A. MARCH

  This history is an original work and is fully protected by the
  copyright laws, including the right of translation. All persons are
  warned against reproducing the text in whole or in part without the
  permission of the publishers.




CONTENTS

VOLUME IV


                                                                    PAGE
  CHAPTER I. CANADA’S PART IN THE GREAT WAR

  BY COL. GEORGE G. NASMITH, C. M. G.

  Enthusiastic Response to the Call to Action--Valcartier
  Camp a Splendid Example of the Driving Power of Sir Sam
  Hughes--Thirty-three Liners Cross the Atlantic with First
  Contingent of Men and Equipments--Largest Convoy
  Ever Gathered Together--At the Front with the Princess
  Pat’s--Red Cross--Financial Aid--Half a Million Soldiers
  Overseas--Mons, the Last Stronghold of the Enemy, Won
  by the Men from Canada--A Record of Glory                            1


  CHAPTER II. THE SECOND BATTLE OF YPRES

  The Canadians in Action--Undismayed by the New Weapon of the
  Enemy--Holding the Line Against Terrific Odds--Men From the
  Dominion Fight Like Veterans                                        34


  CHAPTER III. MURDERS AND MARTYRS

  The Case of Edith Cavell--Nurse Who Befriended the Helpless
  Dies at the Hands of the Germans--Captain Fryatt’s
  Martyrdom--How Germany Sowed the Seeds of Disaster                  45


  CHAPTER IV. ZEPPELIN RAIDS ON FRANCE AND ENGLAND

  First Zeppelin Attack Kills Twenty-eight and Injures
  Forty-four--Part of Germany’s Policy of Frightfulness--Raids
  by German Airplanes on Unfortified Towns--Killing of
  Non-Combatants--The British Lion Awakes--Anti-Aircraft
  Precautions and Protections--Policy of Terrorism Fails              53


  CHAPTER V. RED REVOLUTION IN RUSSIA

  Rasputin, the Mystic--The Cry for Bread--Rise of the Council
  of Workmen’s and Soldiers’ Delegates--Rioting in Petrograd--The
  Threatening Cloud of Disaster--Moderate Policy of the Duma
  Fails--The Fatal Easter Week of 1917--Abdication of the
  Czar--Last Tragic Moments of the Autocrat of All the
  Russias--Grand Duke Issues Declaration Ending Power of Romanovs
  in Russia--Release of Siberian Revolutionists--Free Russia          66


  CHAPTER VI. THE DESCENT TO BOLSHEVISM

  Russia Intoxicated with Freedom--Elihu Root and his
  Mission--Last Brilliant Offensive in Galicia--The Great
  Mutiny in the Army--The Battalion of Death--Kerensky’s
  Skyrocket Career--Kornilov’s Revolt--Loss of Riga--Lenine,
  the Dictator--The Impossible “Peace” of Brest-Litovsk               94


  CHAPTER VII. GERMANY’S OBJECT LESSON TO THE UNITED STATES

  Two Voyages of the Deutschland--U-53 German Submarine Reaches
  Newport and Sinks Five British and Neutral Steamers off
  Nantucket--Rescue of Survivors by United States
  Warships--Anti-German Feeling in America Reaching a Climax         130


  CHAPTER VIII. AMERICA TRANSFORMED BY WAR

  The United States Enters the Conflict--The Efficiency of
  Democracy--Six Months in an American Training Camp Equal to
  Six Years of German Compulsory Service--American Soldiers and
  their Resourcefulness on the Battlefield--Methods of Training
  and their Results--The S. A. T. C.                                 142


  CHAPTER IX. HOW FOOD WON THE WAR

  The American Farmer a Potent Factor in Civilization’s
  Victory--Scientific Studies of Food Production, Distribution
  and Consumption--Hoover Lays Down the Law Regulating
  Wholesalers and Grocers--Getting the Food Across--Feeding
  Armies in the Field                                                167


  CHAPTER X. THE UNITED STATES NAVY IN THE WAR

  Increase from 58,000 Men to Approximately 500,000--Destroyer
  Fleet Arrives in British Waters--“We are Ready Now”--The Hunt
  of the U-Boats--Gunnery that is Unrivalled--Depth Charges and
  Other New Inventions--The U-Boat Menace Removed--Surrender of
  German Under-Sea Navy                                              178


  CHAPTER XI. CHINA JOINS THE FIGHTING DEMOCRACIES

  How the Germans Behaved in China Seventeen Years Before--The
  Whirligig of Time Brings Its Own Revenge--The Far Eastern
  Republic Joins Hands with the Allies--German Propaganda at
  Work--Futile Attempt to Restore the Monarchy--Fear of
  Japan--War--Thousands of Chinese Toil Behind the Battle Lines
  in France--Siam with Its Eight Millions Defies the Germans--End
  of Teuton Influence in the Orient                                  205


  CHAPTER XII. THE DEFEAT AND RECOVERY OF ITALY

  Subtle Socialist Gospel Preached by Enemy Plays Havoc with
  Guileless Italians--Sudden Onslaught of Germans Drives Cadorna’s
  Men from Heights--The Spectacular Retreat that Dismayed the
  World--Glorious Stand of the Italians on the Piave--Rise of Diaz   214




ILLUSTRATIONS

VOLUME IV

                                                                    PAGE

  ON VIMY RIDGE, WHERE CANADA WON LAURELS                 _Frontispiece_

  FIELD-MARSHAL EARL KITCHENER                                         2

  FIELD-MARSHAL SIR JOHN D. FRENCH                                     2

  THE GALLANT DEFENSE OF “HILL 60”                                    14

  “TIME’S UP! OVER YOU GO”                                            22

  FORWARD WITH THE TANKS AGAINST BAPAUME                              26

  THE RED RUINS OF YPRES                                              34

  A FIGHT IN A CLOUD OF GAS                                           42

  NURSE EDITH CAVELL                                                  46

  CAPTAIN CHARLES A. FRYATT                                           46

  GUARDING PARIS FROM THE HUN                                         58

  THE WOMEN’S “BATTALION OF DEATH” IN NATIONAL DANCE                  82

  LANDING AT VLADIVOSTOK                                              94

  THE CARGO SUBMARINE “DEUTSCHLAND”                                  130

  A “SMOKE CURTAIN” VIEWED FROM BEHIND THE SCENES                    182

  “HAIL COLUMBIA”                                                    186

  THREE MESSENGERS OF DESTRUCTION FOR TRIESTE                        214




THE WORLD WAR




CHAPTER I

CANADA’S PART IN THE GREAT WAR

BY COL. GEO. G. NASMITH, C. M. G., TORONTO


When, in August, 1914, war burst suddenly upon a peaceful world like
distant thunder in a cloudless summer sky, Canada, like the rest of the
British Empire, was profoundly startled. She had been a peace-loving,
non-military nation, satisfied to develop her great natural resources,
and live in harmony with her neighbors; taking little interest in
European affairs, Canadians, in fact, were a typical colonial people,
with little knowledge even of the strength of the ties that linked them
to the British Empire.

Upon declaration of war by Great Britain Canada immediately sprang to
arms. The love of country and empire which had been no obvious thing
burst forth in a patriotic fervor as deep as it was spontaneous and
genuine. The call to action was answered with an enthusiasm the like of
which had rarely, if ever, been seen in any British colony.

The Canadian Government called for 20,000 volunteers--enough for a
single division--as Canada’s contribution to the British army. In less
than a month 40,000 men had volunteered, and the Minister of Militia
was compelled to stop the further enrolment of recruits. From the gold
fields of the Yukon, from the slopes of the Rockies on the west to the
surf-beaten shores of the Atlantic on the east; from workshop and mine;
from farm, office and forest, Canada’s sons trooped to the colors.

It will be the everlasting glory of the men of the first Canadian
contingent, that they needed no spur, either of victory or defeat: they
volunteered because they were quick to perceive that the existence of
their Empire was threatened by the action of the most formidable
nation-in-arms that the world had ever seen. They had been stirred by
the deepest emotion of a race--the love of country.

  [Illustration: FIELD-MARSHALL EARL KITCHENER

  British Secretary for War, who built up the British army at the
  beginning of the war.]

  [Illustration: FIELD-MARSHALL SIR JOHN D. FRENCH

  Commander-in-chief of the British forces in France and Belgium from
  the beginning of the war to December, 1915.]

A site for a concentration camp was chosen at Valcartier, nestling
among the blue Laurentian hills, sixteen miles from Quebec, and
convenient to that point of embarkation. Within four days 6,000 men
had arrived at Valcartier; in another week there were 25,000 men. From
centers all over Canada troop trains, each carrying hundreds of embryo
soldiers, sped towards Valcartier and deposited their burdens on the
miles of sidings that had sprung up as though by magic.

The rapid evolution of that wild and wooded river valley into a model
military camp was a great tribute to the engineering skill and energy
of civilians who had never done the like before. One day an army of
woodmen were seen felling trees; the next day the stumps were torn out
and the hollows filled; on the third day long rows of tents in regular
camp formation covered the ground, and on the fourth day they were
occupied by civilian soldiers concentrated upon learning the rudiments
of the art and science of war.

Streets were laid out; miles of water pipes, sunk in machine-made
ditches, were connected to hundreds of taps and shower baths; electric
light was installed; three miles of rifle butts completed, and in two
weeks the camp was practically finished--the finest camp that the first
Canadians were destined to see. The building of Valcartier camp was
characteristic of the driving power, vision and genius of the Minister
of Militia, General Sir Sam Hughes.

Of the 33,000 men assembled at Valcartier, the great majority were
civilians without any previous training in warfare. About 7,000
Canadians had taken part in the South African war, fifteen years
before, and some of these, together with a few ex-regulars who had
seen active service, were formed into the Princess Patricia’s Light
Infantry. Otherwise, with the exception of the 3,000 regulars that
formed the standing army of Canada, the men and most of the officers
were amateurs.

It was therefore a feat that the Canadian people could well afford
to be proud of, that in the great crisis they were able, through
their aggressive Minister of Militia, not only to gather up these
forces so quickly but that they willingly and without delay converted
their industries to the manufacture of all necessary army equipment.
Factories all over the country immediately began turning out vast
quantities of khaki cloth, uniforms, boots, ammunition, harness,
wagons, and the thousand and one articles necessary for an army.

Before the end of September, 1914, the Canadian Expeditionary Force
had been roughly hewn into shape, battalions had been regrouped and
remodeled, officers transferred and re-transferred, intensive training
carried on, and all the necessary equipment assembled. On October 8,
1914, thirty-three Atlantic liners, carrying the contingent of 33,000
men, comprising infantry, artillery, cavalry, engineers, signalers,
medical corps, army service supply and ammunition columns, together
with horses, guns, ammunition, wagons, motor lorries and other
essentials, sailed from Gaspé basin on the Quebec seaboard to the
battlefield of Europe.

It was probably the largest convoy that had ever been gathered
together. This modern armada in three long lines, each line one and
one-half miles apart, led by cruisers and with battleships on the
front, rear and either flank, presented a thrilling spectacle. The
voyage proved uneventful, and on October 14th, the convoy steamed into
Plymouth, receiving an extraordinary ovation by the sober English
people, who seemed temporarily to have gone wild with enthusiasm. Back
of that demonstration was the conviction that blood had proved thicker
than water and that the apparently flimsy ties that bound the colonies
to the empire were bonds that were unbreakable. The German conviction
that the British colonies would fall away and the British Empire
disintegrate upon the outbreak of a great war had proved fallacious.
It was, moreover, a great demonstration of how the much-vaunted German
navy had already been swept from the seas and rendered impotent by the
might of Britain’s fleet.

A few days later the Canadians had settled down on Salisbury Plain in
southern England for the further course of training necessary before
proceeding to France. There, for nearly four months in the cold and
the wet, in the fog and mud, in crowded, dripping tents and under
constantly dripping skies, they carried on and early gave evidence of
their powers of endurance and unquenchable spirit.

Lord Roberts made his last public appearance before this division and
addressing the men said in part: “Three months ago we found ourselves
involved in this war--a war not of our own seeking, but one which those
who have studied Germany’s literature and Germany’s aspirations, knew
was a war which we should inevitably have to deal with sooner or later.
The prompt resolve of Canada to give us such valuable assistance has
touched us deeply....

“We are fighting a nation which looks upon the British Empire as a
barrier to her development, and has in consequence, long contemplated
our overthrow and humiliation. To attain that end she has manufactured
a magnificent fighting machine, and is straining every nerve to gain
victory.... It is only by the most determined efforts that we can
defeat her.”

And this superb German military organization, created by years of
tireless effort, was that which Canadian civilians had volunteered to
fight. Was it any wonder that some of the most able leaders doubted
whether men and officers, no matter how brave and intelligent, could
ever equal the inspired barbarians who, even at that very moment, were
battling with the finest British and French regulars and pressing them
steadily towards Paris?

In a short chapter of this kind attempting to deal with Canada’s part
in the Great War it is obviously impossible to go into detail or give
more than the briefest of historical pictures. Consequently much that
is fascinating can be given but a passing glance: for greater detail
larger works must be consulted. Nevertheless it is well to try and view
in perspective events as they occurred, in order to obtain some idea of
their relative importance.

In February, 1915, the first Canadian division crossed the Channel to
France, and began to obtain front-line experiences in a section of the
line just north of Neuve Chapelle.

While the first division had been going through its course of training
in England a second division had been raised in Canada and arrived in
England shortly after the first left it.

During that period the conflict in Europe had passed through certain
preliminary phases--most of them fortunate for the Allies. The
unexpected holding up of the German armies by the Belgians had
prevented the enemy from gaining the channel ports of Calais and
Boulogne in the first rush. Later on the battle of the Marne had
resulted in the rolling back of the German waves until they had
subsided on a line roughly drawn through Dixmude, Ypres, Armentières,
La Bassée, Lens, and southward to the French border and the trench
phase of warfare had begun.

The British held the section of front between Ypres and La Bassée,
about thirty miles in length, the Germans, unfortunately, occupying all
the higher grounds.

Shortly after the arrival of the Canadian division the British,
concentrating the largest number of guns that had hitherto been
gathered together on the French front, made an attack on the Germans
at Neuve Chapelle. This attack, only partially successful in gains of
terrain, served to teach both belligerents several lessons. It showed
the British the need for huge quantities of high explosives with which
to blast away wire and trenches and, that in an attack, rifle fire, no
matter how accurate, was no match for an unlimited number of machine
guns.

It showed the enemy what could be done with concentrated artillery
fire--a lesson that he availed himself of with deadly effect a few
weeks later.

Though Canadian artillery took part in that bombardment the infantry
was not engaged in the battle of Neuve Chapelle; it received its
baptism of fire, however, under excellent conditions, and after a
month’s experience in trench warfare was taken out of the line for rest.

The division was at that time under the command of a British general
and the staff included several highly trained British staff officers.
Nevertheless the commands were practically all in the hands of
Canadians--lawyers, business men, real-estate agents, newspapermen and
other amateur soldiers, who, in civilian life as militiamen, had spent
more or less time in the study of the theory of warfare. This should
always be kept in mind in view of subsequent events, as well as the
fact that these amateur soldiers were faced by armies whose officers
and men--professionals in the art and science of warfare--regarded
themselves as invincible.

In mid-April the Canadians took over a sector some five thousand yards
long in the Ypres salient. On the left they joined up with French
colonial troops, and on their right with the British. Thus there were
Canadian and French colonial troops side by side.

Toward the end of April the Germans reverted to supreme barbarism and
used poison gas. Undismayed, though suffering terrible losses, the
heroic Canadians fought the second battle of Ypres and held the line in
the face of the most terrific assaults.

When the news of the second battle of Ypres reached Canada her
people were profoundly stirred. The blight of war had at last fallen
heavily, destroyed her first-born, but sorrow was mixed with pride
and exaltation that Canadian men had proved a match for the most
scientifically trained troops in Europe. As fighters Canadians had at
once leaped into front rank. British, Scotch and Irish blood, with
British traditions, had proved greater forces than the scientific
training and philosophic principles of the Huns. It was a glorious
illustration of the axiom “right is greater than might,” which the
German had in his pride reversed to read “might is right.” It was
prophetic of what the final issue of a contest based on such divergent
principles was to be. So in those days Canadian men and women held
their heads higher and carried on their war work with increased
determination, stimulated by the knowledge that they were contending
with an enemy more remorseless and implacable than those terrible
creatures which used to come to them in their childish dreams. It
was felt that, a nation which could scientifically and in cold blood
resort to poison gases--contrary to all accepted agreements of
civilized countries--to gain its object must be fought with all the
determination, resources and skill which it was possible to employ.

Canada’s heart had been steeled. She was now in the war with her last
dollar and her last man if need be. She had begun to realize that
failure in Europe would simply transfer the struggle with the German
fighting hordes to our Atlantic provinces and the eastern American
states.

The famous Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry was originally
composed of soldiers who had actually seen service and were therefore
veterans. Incidentally they were older men and most of them were
married but the call of the Empire was insistent.

In the winter of 1914-15 the British line in Flanders was very thin and
the P. P. C. L. I.’s being a trained regiment was sent over to France
several weeks before the first Canadian division. It soon earned the
name of a regiment of extraordinarily hard-fighting qualities and was
all but wiped out before spring arrived. The immortal story of this
gallant unit must be read in detail if one wishes to obtain any clear
conception of their deeds of valor--of what it is possible for man to
go through and live. However, it was but one regiment whose exploits
were later equalled by other Canadian regiments and it would therefore
be invidious to select any one for special praise. After operating as a
separate regiment for nearly two years and having been recruited from
the regular Canadian depots in England, it became in composition like
other Canadian regiments and was finally incorporated in the third
Canadian division.

  [Illustration: THE GALLANT DEFENSE OF “HILL 60”

  Cut off from their supports, a handful of defenders under a lieutenant
  made a gallant defense of this important position. “Hill 60” will ever
  be famous for the heroic deeds of Princess Patricia’s Light Infantry
  in 1915.]

In the spring of 1915, a Canadian cavalry brigade was formed in France
made up of Strathcona’s Horse, King Edward’s Horse, the Royal Canadian
Dragoons and Canadian Mounted Rifles.

After the second battle of Ypres, the Canadians after resting and
re-organization, were moved to a section of the line near La Bassée.
Here they fought the battle of Festubert--a series of infantry attacks
and artillery bombardments, which gained little ground.

Shortly afterwards they fought the battle of Givenchy, equally futile,
as far as material results were concerned. Both of these battles had
the double object of feeling out the strength of the German line and
of obtaining the Aubers Ridge, should the attacks prove successful.
In both battles the Canadians showed great aptitude for attack, and
tenacity in their hold of captured trenches. They also learned the
difficult lesson that if an objective is passed by the infantry
the latter enter the zone of their own artillery fire and suffer
accordingly.

In September, 1915, the Second Canadian Division arrived in Flanders
and took its place at the side of the First Canadian Division, then
occupying the Ploegsteert section in front of the Messines-Wytschaete
Ridge. The rest of the winter was spent more or less quietly by both
divisions in the usual trench warfare, and battling with mud, water and
weather.

It was here that the Canadians evolved the “trench raid,” a method of
cutting off a section of enemy trench, killing or taking prisoners all
the enemy inhabitants, destroying it and returning with little or no
loss to the attacking party. This method was quickly copied from one
end of the Franco-British line to the other; it proved a most valuable
method of gaining information, and served to keep the troops, during
the long cold winter months, stimulated and keen when otherwise life
would have proved most dull and uninteresting.

The Third Canadian Division was formed in January and February, 1916.
One infantry brigade was composed of regiments which had been acting
as Canadian corps troops, including the Princess Patricia’s Canadian
Light Infantry, and the Royal Canadian Regiment. The second infantry
brigade was made up of six Canadian mounted rifle regiments, which
had comprised part of the cavalry brigade. These two brigades, of the
Third Division, under the command of General Mercer of Toronto, almost
immediately began front-line work.

During this period, the Germans, making desperate efforts extending
over weeks of time, did their utmost to break through the French line
at Verdun and exhaust the French reserves. To offset these objects, a
fourth British army was assembled, which took over still more of the
French line, while a series of British attacks, intended to pin down
the German reserves all along the line, was inaugurated. One of these
developed into a fight for the craters--a terrible struggle at St.
Eloi, where, blasted from their muddy ditches, with rifles and machine
guns choked with mud and water; with communications lost and lack
of artillery support, the men of the Second Canadian Division fought
gamely from April 6th to April 20th, but were forced to yield the
craters and part of their front-line system to the enemy.

Notwithstanding this the men of the Second Canadian Division at St.
Eloi fought quite as nobly as had their brothers of the First Division
just a year before, at the glorious battle of Ypres, a few miles
farther north. But it was a bitter experience. The lesson of failure is
as necessary in the education of a nation as that of success.

On June 2d and 3d, the Third Canadian Division, which then occupied
part of the line in the Ypres salient, including Hooge and Sanctuary
Wood, was smothered by an artillery bombardment unprecedented in length
and intensity. Trenches melted into irregular heaps of splintered wood,
broken sand bags and mangled bodies. Fighting gallantly the men of this
division fell in large numbers, where they stood. The best infantry
in the world is powerless against avalanches of shells projected
from greatly superior numbers of guns. The Canadian trenches were
obliterated, not captured.

By this time Britain had thoroughly learned her lesson, and now
countless shells and guns were pouring into France from Great Britain
where thousands of factories, new and old, toiled night and day, under
the inspiring energy of Mr. Lloyd George.

On June 13th, in a terrific counter-attack, the Canadians in turn
blasted the Huns from the trenches taken from them a few days before.
The First Canadian Division recaptured and consolidated all the ground
and trench systems that had been lost. Thus ended the second year of
Canadian military operations in the Ypres salient. Each of the three
Canadian divisions had been tried by fire in that terrible region, from
which, it was said, no man ever returned the same as he entered it.
Beneath its torn and rifted surface, thousands of Canadians lie, mute
testimony to the fact that love of liberty is still one of the most
powerful, yet most intangible, things that man is swayed by.

A very distinguished French general, speaking of the part that Canada
was playing in the war, said, “Nothing in the history of the world
has ever been known quite like it. My countrymen are fighting within
fifty miles of Paris, to push back and chastise a vile and leprous
race, which has violated the chastity of beautiful France, but the
Australians at the Dardanelles and the Canadians at Ypres, fought with
supreme and absolute devotion for what to many must have seemed simple
abstractions, and that nation which will support for an abstraction the
horror of this war of all wars will ever hold the highest place in the
records of human valor.”

The Fourth Canadian Division reached the Ypres region in August, 1916,
just as the other three Canadian divisions were leaving for the Somme
battlefield farther south. For a while it occupied part of the line
near Kemmel, but soon followed the other divisions to the Somme, there
to complete the Canadian corps.

It may be stated here that though a fifth Canadian division was
formed and thoroughly trained in England, it never reached France.
Canada until the passing of the Military Service Act on July 6, 1917,
depended solely on voluntary enlistment. Up to that time Canada, with
a population of less than 9,000,000 had recruited 525,000 men by
voluntary methods. Of this number 356,986 had actually gone overseas.
Voluntary methods at last, however, failed to supply drafts in
sufficient numbers to keep up the strength of the depleted reserves
in England, and in consequence conscription was decided upon. By this
means, 56,000 men were drafted in Canada before the war ended. In
the meantime, through heavy fighting the demand for drafts became so
insistent that the Fifth Canadian Division in England had to be broken
up to reinforce the exhausted fighting divisions in France.

It would be an incomplete summary of Canada’s part in the war that did
not mention some of the men who have been responsible for the success
of Canadian arms. It is obviously impossible to mention all of those
responsible; it is even harder to select a few. But looking backward
one sees two figures that stand forth from all the rest--General Sir
Sam Hughes in Canada, and General Sir Arthur Currie, commander of the
Canadian corps.

To General Sir Sam Hughes must be given the credit of having foreseen
war with Germany and making such preparations as were possible in a
democracy like Canada. He it was of all others who galvanized Canada
into action; he it was whose enthusiasm and driving power were so
contagious that they affected not only his subordinates but the country
at large.

  [Illustration: _Official Canadian War Records._

  “TIME’S UP! OVER YOU GO!”

  The word comes from the officer, watch in hand, “Time’s up! Over you
  go!” and instantly the men from the Dominion begin to climb out of the
  trench. The picture shows the departure of the first of the three or
  more lines or “waves” that moves forward over “No Man’s Land” against
  the enemy trenches.]

Sir Sam Hughes will be remembered for the building of Valcartier camp
and the dispatch of the first Canadian contingent. But he did things of
just as great importance. It was he who sought and obtained for Canada
huge orders for munitions from Great Britain and thereby made it
possible for Canada to weather the financial depression, pay her own
war expenditures and emerge from the war in better financial shape than
she was when the war broke out. It was easy to build up a business once
established but the chief credit must go to the man who established it.

Sir Sam Hughes was also responsible for the selection of the officers
who went overseas with the first Canadian contingent. Among those
officers who subsequently became divisional commanders were General Sir
Arthur Currie, General Sir Richard Turner, General Sir David Watson,
Generals Lipsett, Mercer and Hughes.

Of those generals, Sir Arthur Currie through sheer ability ultimately
became commander of the Canadian corps. This big, quiet man, whose
consideration, prudence and brilliancy had won the absolute confidence
of Canadian officers and men alike, welded the Canadian corps into a
fighting force of incomparable effectiveness--a force which was set
the most difficult tasks and, as events proved, not in vain.

When Canada entered the war she had a permanent force of 8,000
men. When hostilities ceased on November 11, 1918, Canada had sent
overseas 418,980 soldiers. In addition to this about 15,000 men had
joined the British Royal Air Service, several hundred physicians and
veterinarians, as well as 200 nurses, had been supplied to the British
army, while many hundreds of university men had received commissions in
the imperial army and navy.

In September, October and November, 1916, the Canadian corps of four
divisions, which had been welded by General Byng and General Currie
into an exceedingly efficient fighting machine, took its part in the
battle of the Somme--a battle in which the British army assumed the
heaviest share of the fighting and casualties, and shifted the greatest
burden of the struggle from the shoulders of the French to their own.
The British army had grown vastly in power and efficiency and in
growing had taken over more and more of the line from the French.

The battle of the Somme was long and involved. The Franco-British
forces were everywhere victorious and by hard and continuous fighting
forced the Hun back to the famous Hindenburg line. It was in this
battle that the tanks, evolved by the British, were used for the
first time, and played a most important part in breaking down wire
entanglements and rounding up the machine-gun nests. The part played in
this battle by the Canadian corps was conspicuous, and it especially
distinguished itself by the capture of Courcelette. Although the
battles which the Canadian corps took part in subsequently were almost
invariably both successful and important, they can be merely mentioned
here. The Canadian corps, now known everywhere to consist of shock
troops second to none on the western front, was frequently used as the
spearhead with which to pierce particularly tough parts of the enemy
defenses.

On April 9th to 13th, 1917, the Canadian corps, with some British
support, captured Vimy Ridge, a point which had hitherto proved
invulnerable. When a year later, the Germans, north and south, swept
the British line to one side in gigantic thrusts they were unable to
disturb this key point, Vimy Ridge, which served as an anchor to the
sagging line. The Canadian corps was engaged at Arleux and Fresnoy
in April and May and was effective in the operations around Lens in
June. Again on August 15th, it was engaged at Hill 70 and fought
with conspicuous success in that toughest, most difficult, and most
heart-breaking of all battles--Passchendaele.

In 1918, the Canadian Cavalry Brigade won distinction in the German
offensive of March and April. On August 12, 1918, the Canadian corps
was engaged in the brilliantly successful battle of Amiens, which
completely upset the German offensive plan. On August 26th to 28th the
Canadians captured Monchy-le-Preux, and, in one of the hammer blows
which Foch rained on the German front, were given the most difficult
piece of the whole line to pierce--the Queant-Drocourt line. This
section of the famous Hindenburg line was considered by the enemy to be
absolutely impregnable, but was captured by the Canadians on September
3d and 4th. With this line outflanked a vast German retreat began,
which ended on November 11th with the signing of the armistice.

  [Illustration:© _Western Newspaper Union._ _British Official Photo_

  FORWARD WITH THE TANKS AGAINST BAPAUME

  This picture gives an excellent idea of the method of combined tank
  and infantry attack. Behind a low ridge among artillery positions they
  are forming their line. A company falls in behind one of the waddling
  monsters that will break a way for it through all obstacles, while on
  both sides of the road other detachments await the arrival of the tank
  they are to accompany.]

To the Canadians fell the honors of breaking through the first
Hindenburg line by the capture of Cambrai, on October 1st to 9th. They
also took Douai on October 19th, and Dena on October 20th. On October
26th to November 2d they had the signal honor of capturing Valenciennes
thereby being the first troops to break through the fourth and last
Hindenburg line.

It surely was a curious coincidence that Mons, from which the original
British army--the best trained, it is said, that has taken the field
since the time of Caesar--began its retreat in 1914, should have been
the town which Canadian civilians were destined to recapture. The war
began for the professional British army--the Contemptibles--when it
began its retreat from Mons in 1914; the war ended for the British army
at the very same town four years and three months later, when on the
day the armistice was signed the men from Canada re-entered it. Was it
coincidence, or was it fate?

During the war Canadian troops had sustained 211,000 casualties,
152,000 had been wounded and more than 50,000 had made the supreme
sacrifice. Put into different language this means that the number of
Canadians killed was just a little greater than the total number of
infantrymen in their corps of four divisions.

The extent of the work involved in the care of the wounded and sick
of the Canadians overseas may be gathered from the fact that Canada
equipped and sent across the Atlantic, 7 general hospitals, 10
stationary hospitals, 16 field ambulances, 3 sanitary sections, 4
casualty clearing stations and advanced and base depots of medical
stores: The personnel of these medical units consisted of 1,612
officers, 1,994 nursing sisters and 12,382 of other ranks, or a total
of about 16,000. This will give some conception of the importance of
the task involved in the caring for the sick and wounded of about
90,000 fighting troops, some 60,000 auxiliary troops behind the lines
and the reserve depots in England.

  [Illustration: FROM THE VOSGES MOUNTAINS TO YPRES

  Map showing the Northeastern frontiers of France, and neutral Belgium
  through which the German armies poured in 1914. The battle line held
  straight from Belfort to Verdun, with the exception of the St. Mihiel
  salient. Above Verdun the line veered to the west, north of Rheims,
  making a wide curve toward St. Quentin and Arras and bending back to
  Ypres, held by the Canadians throughout the war.]

The work of the Canadian Red Cross Society included the building and
equipping of auxiliary hospitals to those of the Canadian Army Medical
Corps; providing of extra and emergency stores of all kinds, recreation
huts, ambulances and lorries, drugs, serums and surgical equipment
calculated to make hospitals more efficient; the looking after the
comfort of patients in hospitals providing recreation and entertainment
to the wounded, and dispatching regularly to every Canadian prisoner
parcels of food, as well as clothes, books and other necessaries: The
Canadian Red Cross expended on goods for prisoners in 1917 nearly
$600,000.

In all the Canadian Red Cross distributed since the beginning of the
war to November 23, 1918, $7,631,100.

The approximate total of voluntary contributions from Canada for war
purposes was over $90,000,000.

The following figures, quoted from tables issued by the Department of
Public Information at Ottawa, show the exports in certain Canadian
commodities, having a direct bearing on the war for the last three
fiscal years before the war (1912-13-14), and for the last fiscal year
(1918); and illustrates the increase, during this period, in the value
of these articles exported:


VALUES

                                     Average for
                                    1912-1913-1914         1918

  Foodstuffs                         $143,133,374      $617,515,690
  Clothing, metals, leather, etc.      45,822,717       215,873,357
                                     ------------      ------------
      Total                          $188,956,091      $833,389,047

As practically all of the increase of food and other materials went
to Great Britain, France and Italy, the extent of Canada’s effort in
upholding the allied cause is clearly evident and was by no means a
small one.

The trade of Canada for 1914 was one billion dollars; for the fiscal
year of 1917-18 it was two and one-half billion dollars.

Approximately 60,000,000 shells were made in Canada during the war.
Shortly after the outbreak of hostilities a shell committee was formed
in Canada to really act as an agent for the British war office in
placing contracts. The first shells were shipped in December, 1914,
and by the end of May, 1915, approximately 400 establishments were
manufacturing shells in Canada. By November, 1915, orders had been
placed by the Imperial Government to the value of $300,000,000, and an
Imperial Munitions Board, replacing the shell committee, was formed,
directly responsible to the Imperial Ministry of Munitions.

During the war period Canada purchased from her bank savings
$1,669,381,000 of Canadian war loans.

Estimates of expenditures for the fiscal year ending March 31, 1919,
demonstrated the thoroughness with which Canada went to war. They
follow:

                             Expenditure     Expenditure      Total
                              in Canada.      Overseas.    Expenditures.

  Pay of 110,000 troops in
   Canada and 290,000 in
   England and France.        $50,187,500    $70,312,500    $120,500,000

  Assigned pay, overseas
   troops                      54,000,000       ........      54,000,000

  Separation allowances        21,750,000      6,000,000      27,750,000

  Rations, Canada, 50
   cents per day; England,
   38½ cents per day           20,075,000     21,000,000      41,075,000

  Clothing and necessaries     19,080,000       ........      19,080,000

  Outfit allowances,
   officers and nurses          1,000,000        700,000       1,700,000

  Equipment including
   harness, vehicles,
   tents, blankets, but
   not rifles, machine
   guns, etc.                  20,000,000       ........      20,000,000

  Ordnance services              ........      1,800,000       1,800,000

  Medical services              5,000,000       ........       5,000,000

  Ammunition                    5,000,000       ........       5,000,000

  Machine guns                  2,000,000       ........       2,000,000

  Ocean transport               4,612,500       ........       4,612,500

  Railway transport            11,062,500        450,000      11,512,500

  Forage                          450,000       ........         450,000

  Veterinary service,
   remounts                      ........      3,000,000       3,000,000

  Engineer works, housing       2,750,000      1,250,000       4,000,000

  Civilian employees            2,920,000        750,000       3,670,000

  Sundries, including
   recruiting, censors,
   customs dues, etc.           3,000,000       ........       3,000,000

  Overseas printing and
   stationery                    ........        300,000         300,000

  General expenses overseas      ........      1,800,000       1,800,000

  Maintenance of troops
   in France as 9_s._ 4_d._
   each per day                  ........    115,000,000     115,000,000

                             ------------   ------------    ------------

  Total                      $217,887,500   $225,162,500    $443,050,000




CHAPTER II

THE SECOND BATTLE OF YPRES


First to feel the effects of German terrorism through poison gas were
the gallant Canadian troops on the afternoon of April 22, 1915, at
Ypres, Belgium. Gas had been used by the Germans previously to this,
but they were mere experimental clouds directed against Belgian troops.

Before the battle, the English and Canadians held a line from
Broodseinde to half a mile north of St. Julien on the crest of the
Grafenstafel Ridge. The French prolonged the line to Steenstraate
on the Yperlee Canal. The Germans originally planned the attack for
Tuesday, April 20th, but with satanic ingenuity the offensive was
postponed until between 4 and 5 o’clock on the afternoon of Thursday,
the 22d. During the morning the wind blew steadily from the north and
the scientists attached to the German Field Headquarters predicted
that the strong wind would continue at least twelve hours longer.

  [Illustration: © _International News Service._

  THE RED RUINS OF YPRES

  Ypres, the British soldiers’ “Wipers,” was the scene of much of the
  bloodiest fighting of the war. Three great battles were fought for its
  possession. The photograph shows what was once the market place.]

The Canadian division held a line extending about five miles from the
Ypres-Roulers Railway to the Ypres-Poelcapelle road. The division
consisted of three infantry brigades, in addition to the artillery
brigades. Upon this unsuspecting body of men the poison fumes were
projected by means of pipes and force pumps. The immediate consequences
were that the asphyxiating gas of great intensity rendered immediately
helpless thousands of men. The same gas attack that was projected upon
the Canadians also fell with murderous effect upon the French. The
consequences were that the French division on the left of the Canadians
gave way and the Third brigade of the Canadian division, so far as
the left was concerned, was “up in the air,” to use the phrase of its
commanding officer.

It became necessary for Brigadier-General Turner, commanding the Third
brigade, to throw back his left flank southward to protect his rear.
This caused great confusion, and the enemy, advancing rapidly, took a
number of guns and many prisoners, penetrating to the village of St.
Julien, two miles in the rear of the original French trenches. The
Canadians fought heroically, although greatly outnumbered and pounded
by artillery that inflicted tremendous losses. The Germans, as they
came through the gas clouds, were protected by masks moistened with a
solution containing bi-carbonate of soda.

The tactics of General Turner offset the numerical superiority of the
enemy, and prevented a disastrous rout. General Currie, commanding
the Second brigade of Canadians, repeated this successful maneuver
when he flung his left flank southward and, presenting two fronts to
the enemy, held his line of trenches from Thursday at 5 o’clock until
Sunday afternoon. The reason the trenches were held no longer than
Sunday afternoon was that they had been obliterated by heavy artillery
fire. The Germans finally succeeded in capturing a line, the forward
point of which was the village of St. Julien. Reinforcements under
General Alderson had come up by this time and the enemy’s advance was
suddenly checked. Enemy attacks upon the line running from Ypres to
Passchendaele completely broke down under the withering fire of the
reinforced and re-formed artillery and infantry brigades. The record
officer of the Canadians makes this comment of the detailed fighting:

The story of the second battle of Ypres is the story of how the
Canadian division, enormously outnumbered--for they had in front of
them at least four divisions, supported by immensely heavy artillery,
with a gap still existing, though reduced, in their lines, and with
dispositions made hurriedly under the stimulus of critical danger,
fought through the day and through the night, and then through another
day and night; fought under their officers until, as happened to so
many, those perished gloriously, and then fought from the impulsion of
sheer valor because they came from fighting stock.

The enemy, of course, was aware--whether fully or not may perhaps be
doubted--of the advantage his breach in the line had given him, and
immediately began to push a formidable series of attacks upon the whole
of the newly-formed Canadian salient. The attack was everywhere fierce,
but developed with particular intensity at this moment upon the apex of
the newly-formed line, running in the direction of St. Julien.

It has already been stated that some British guns were taken in a
wood comparatively early in the evening of the 22d. In the course
of that night, and under the heaviest machine-gun fire, this wood
was assaulted by the Canadian Scottish, Sixteenth battalion of the
Third brigade, and the Tenth battalion of the Second brigade which
was intercepted for this purpose on its way to a reserve trench. The
battalions were respectively commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Leckie and
Lieutenant-Colonel Boyle, and after a most fierce struggle in the light
of a misty moon they took the position at the point of the bayonet. At
midnight the Second battalion, under Colonel Watson, and the Toronto
regiment, Queen’s Own, Third battalion under Lieutenant-Colonel Rennie,
both of the First brigade, brought up much-needed reinforcement, and
though not actually engaged in the assault, were in reserve.

All through the following days and nights these battalions shared the
fortunes and misfortunes of the Third brigade. An officer who took
part in the attack describes how the men about him fell under the fire
of the machine guns, which, in his phrase, played upon them, “like a
watering pot.” He added quite simply “I wrote my own life off.” But the
line never wavered. When one man fell another took his place, and with
a final shout the survivors of the two battalions flung themselves into
the wood.

The German garrison was completely demoralized, and the impetuous
advance of the Canadians did not cease until they reached the far side
of the wood and intrenched themselves there in the position so dearly
gained. They had, however, the disappointment of finding that the guns
had been blown up by the enemy, and later on in the same night a most
formidable concentration of artillery fire, sweeping the wood as a
tropical storm sweeps the leaves from a forest, made it impossible for
them to hold the position for which they had sacrificed so much.

The fighting continued without intermission all through the night,
and, to those who observed the indications that the attack was being
pushed with ever-growing strength, it hardly seemed possible that the
Canadians, fighting in positions so difficult to defend and so little
the subject of deliberate choice, could maintain their resistance for
any long period. At 6 A. M. on Friday it became apparent that the left
was becoming more and more involved, and a powerful German attempt to
outflank it developed rapidly. The consequences, if it had been broken
or outflanked, need not be insisted upon. They were not merely local.

  [Illustration: THE TOWN OF YPRES IS FULL OF MEMORIES FOR THE
  CANADIANS]

It was there decided, formidable as the attempt undoubtedly was, to
try and give relief by a counter-attack upon the first line of German
trenches, now far, far advanced from those originally occupied by the
French. This was carried out by the Ontario First and Fourth battalions
of the First brigade, under Brigadier-General Mercer, acting in
combination with a British brigade.

It is safe to say that the youngest private in the rank, as he set his
teeth for the advance, knew the task in front of him, and the youngest
subaltern knew all that rested upon its success. It did not seem that
any human being could live in the shower of shot and shell which began
to play upon the advancing troops. They suffered terrible casualties.
For a short time every other man seemed to fall, but the attack was
pressed ever closer and closer.

The Fourth Canadian battalion at one moment came under a particularly
withering fire. For a moment--not more--it wavered. Its most gallant
commanding officer, Lieutenant-Colonel Burchill, carrying, after an
old fashion, a light cane, coolly and cheerfully rallied his men and,
at the very moment when his example had infected them, fell dead at
the head of his battalion. With a hoarse cry of anger they sprang
forward (for, indeed they loved him), as if to avenge his death. The
astonishing attack which followed--pushed home in the face of direct
frontal fire made in broad daylight by battalions whose names should
live forever in the memories of soldiers--was carried to the front line
of the German trenches. After a hand-to-hand struggle the last German
who resisted was bayoneted, and the trench was won.

  [Illustration: © _Underwood and Underwood._

  A FIGHT IN A CLOUD OF GAS

  The Germans had sent over gas and in this spot it lingered. Then the
  infantry advanced and here, amid the British wire entanglements, the
  foes meet. Both sides in gas masks, they struggle amid the poisonous
  vapor, and when the bayonet fails they fight, like the pair in the
  foreground, to bring death by tearing away their opponent’s mask.]

The measure of this success may be taken when it is pointed out that
this trench represented in the German advance the apex in the breach
which the enemy had made in the original line of the Allies, and that
it was two and a half miles south of that line. This charge, made by
men who looked death indifferently in the face (for no man who took
part in it could think that he was likely to live) saved, and that
was much, the Canadian left. But it did more. Up to the point where
the assailants conquered, or died, it secured and maintained during
the most critical moment of all the integrity of the allied line. For
the trench was not only taken, it was held thereafter against all
comers, and in the teeth of every conceivable projectile, until the
night of Sunday, the 25th, when all that remained of the war-broken but
victorious battalion was relieved by fresh troops.




CHAPTER III

MURDERS AND MARTYRS


Many examples might be cited to show that the Central empires were dead
to the humanities. There were apparently no limits to the brutality of
the German war-makers. Among the outstanding deeds of the Teutons that
sickened the world was the killing of Miss Edith Cavell, an English
nurse working in Belgian hospitals.

A shudder of horror circled the world when announcement was formally
made that this splendid woman was sentenced to death and murdered by a
German firing squad at two o’clock on the morning of October 12, 1915.

The killing of this gentle-natured, brave woman typified to the world
Germany’s essentially brutal militarism. It placed the German military
command in a niche of dishonor unique in all history.

The specific charge against Miss Cavell was that she had helped English
and French soldiers and Belgian young male civilians to cross the
border into Holland. The direct evidence against her was in the form of
letters intercepted by the Germans in which some of these soldiers and
civilians writing from England thanked her for the aid she had given to
them.

Upon the farcical trial that resulted in the predetermined sentence of
death, Miss Cavell courageously and freely admitted her assistance in
the specified cases of escape. When she was asked why she did it, she
declared her fear that if she had not done so the men would have been
shot by the Germans. Her testimony was given in a clear conversational
tone that betrayed no nervousness and her entire bearing was such as to
win the sympathy of everyone except her stony-hearted judges.

The German officers in command at Brussels made it impossible for Miss
Cavell to see counsel before the trial, and a number of able lawyers
who were solicited to undertake her defense declined to do so
because of their fear of the Germans.

  [Illustration: NURSE EDITH CAVELL

  A victim of German savagery. An English lady whose life had been
  devoted to works of mercy, was shot after summary trial, at Brussels
  on October 11, 1915, for helping British and Belgian fugitives.]

  [Illustration: © _Underwood and Underwood, N. Y._

  CAPTAIN CHARLES A. FRYATT

  The martyred British Merchant-Marine Captain, who was executed by the
  Germans because his ship attempted to sink a German submarine which
  attacked her.]

Sentence was imposed upon her at five o’clock on the afternoon of
October 11th. In accordance with its terms, she was taken from her
cell and placed against a blank wall at two o’clock the following
morning--the darkness of the hour vying with the blackness of the
deed. Mr. Gahan, the English clergyman connected with the prison, was
permitted to see her a short time before her murder. He gave her Holy
Communion at ten o’clock on the night of October 11th. To him she
declared she was happy in her contemplation of death; that she had no
regret for what she had done; and that she was glad to die for her
country.

Brand Whitlock, American Minister to Belgium, and Hugh Gibson,
Secretary of the Legation, did all that was humanly possible to avert
the crime, but without avail. They were told that, “the Emperor himself
could not intervene.”

Defending the murder, Dr. Alfred Zimmermann, German Under-Secretary for
Foreign Affairs, callously disposed of the matter thus:

“I see from the English and American press that the shooting of an
Englishwoman and the condemnation of several other women in Brussels
for treason has caused a sensation, and capital against us is being
made out of the fact. It is undoubtedly a terrible thing that the
woman has been executed; but consider what would happen to a state,
particularly in war, if it left crimes aimed at the safety of its
armies to go unpunished because committed by women. No criminal code
in the world--least of all the laws of war--makes such a distinction;
and the feminine sex has but one preference, according to legal usages,
namely, that women in a delicate condition may not be executed.
Otherwise man and woman are equal before the law, and only the degree
of guilt makes a difference in the sentence for the crime and its
consequences.”

In reply to Dr. Zimmermann, statesmen throughout the civilized world
declared that it was not merely a political mistake, not merely a
national blunder, to kill Miss Cavell, but that it was a crime
unjustified by the facts. These statements were entirely outside of the
humanitarian aspect of the case; outside of the promptings of manhood
to show clemency toward a woman whose actions had been inspired by the
loftiest sympathies and emotions.

Monuments to Edith Cavell were reared in widely scattered communities.
A mountain was named in her honor. Her murder multiplied enlistments
and fed the fires of patriotism throughout the Allied countries. In the
end, Germany lost heavily. The Teutons aimed to strike terror into the
hearts of men and women. They only succeeded in arousing a righteous
anger that ultimately destroyed the Imperial government.

Another instance equally flagrant of the utter callousness of the men
who at that time ruled Germany, was the murder of Captain Fryatt, a
gallant British seaman, who had dared to attack the pirates of the
under-seas.

Captain Charles Fryatt was the master of the steamship Brussels, a
merchant vessel owned by the Great Eastern Railway. It was captured by
the Germans on June 23, 1916. Captain Fryatt was taken to Zeebrugge.
A court-martial went through the motions of a trial at Bruges on July
27th. The charge against Captain Fryatt was that of attempting to ram
the German submarine U-33.

Mute testimony against Captain Fryatt was a gold watch found upon his
person. This carried an inscription testifying that the watch had been
presented by the mayor and people of Harwich in recognition of the
Captain’s bravery in attempting to ram a submarine, and his successful
escape when the U-boat called upon him to surrender.

The prisoners who were captured with Captain were sent to the prison
camp at Ruhlaben, but Captain Fryatt was condemned to death as a
“franc-tireur.” The news of the murder was sent to the world through a
German communiqué dated July 28th. It stated:

  The accused was condemned to death because, although he was not a
  member of a combatant force, he made an attempt on the afternoon
  of March 20, 1915, to ram the German submarine U-33 near the Maas
  lightship. The accused, as well as the first officer and the chief
  engineer of the steamer, received at the time from the British
  Admiralty a gold watch as a reward of his brave conduct on that
  occasion, and his action was mentioned with praise in the House of
  Commons.

  On the occasion in question, disregarding the U-boat’s signal to stop
  and show his national flag, he turned at a critical moment at high
  speed on the submarine, which escaped the steamer by a few meters
  only by immediately diving. He confessed that in so doing he had
  acted in accordance with the instructions of the Admiralty.

  One of the many nefarious franc-tireur proceedings of the British
  merchant marine against our war vessels has thus found a belated but
  merited expiation.

This brutal action by Germany coming after the murder of Edith Cavell
created intense indignation throughout the world. It ranked with the
poison gas at Ypres, the Lusitania, the Belgian atrocities, the killing
of Edith Cavell and the unrestricted submarine sinkings, as a factor in
arousing the democratic peoples of the world to a fighting pitch.

The world will not soon forget these martyrs to a splendid cause; and
it will be many a long year before the stain on the German peoples who
tolerated these crimes can be wiped out.

Germany sowed its seeds of destruction in the wind that bore the fumes
of poison gas, and in the ruthless brutality that decreed the sinking
of the Lusitania and the murders of Edith Cavell and Captain Fryatt.

It reaped the whirlwind in the world-wide wrath that brought America
into the war, and that visited disgrace and defeat upon the German
Empire.




CHAPTER IV

ZEPPELIN RAIDS ON FRANCE AND ENGLAND


The idea of warfare in the air has been a dream of romancers from
a period long before Jules Verne. Indeed, balloons were used for
observation purposes in the eighteenth century by the French armies.
The crude balloon of that period, in a more developed form, was used
in the Franco-Prussian War, and during the siege of Paris by its
assistance communication was kept up between Paris and the outside
world. Realizing its possibilities inventors had been trying to develop
a balloon which could be propelled against the wind and so guided that
explosives could be dropped upon a hostile army. Partially successful
dirigible balloons have been occasionally exhibited for a number of
years.

The idea of such a balloon took a strong hold upon the imagination of
the German army staff long before the Great War, and Count Ferdinand
Zeppelin gave the best years of his life to its development. From
the beginning he met with great difficulties. His first ships proved
mechanical failures, and after these difficulties were overcome he met
with a series of accidents which almost put an end to his efforts.
By popular subscription, and by government support, he was able to
continue, and when the war began Germany had thirty-five dirigible
balloons of the Zeppelin and other types, many of them as much as 490
feet long.

The Zeppelin balloon, called the Zeppelin from the name of its
inventor, was practically a vast ship, capable of carrying a load of
about fifteen thousand pounds. It would carry a crew of twenty men or
more, fuel for the engines, provisions, a wireless installation, and
armament with ammunition. For a journey of twenty hours such a vessel
would need at least seven thousand pounds of fuel. It would probably
be able to carry about two tons of explosives. These Zeppelins could
travel great distances. Before the war one of them flew from Lake
Constance to Berlin, a continuous flight of about one thousand miles,
in thirty-one hours.

These great aerial warships were given a thorough trial by the Germans.
They disliked to admit that they had made a costly mistake in adding
them to their armament. It soon turned out, however, that the Zeppelins
were practically useless in battle. Whatever they could do, either for
scouting purposes or in dropping explosives behind the enemy’s lines,
could be better done by the airplane. The French and the English, who
before the war had decided that the airplane was the more important
weapon, were right. But the Germans did not give up their costly toy so
easily, and they determined to use it in the bombardment of cities and
districts situated far away from the German line, in dropping bombs,
not upon fortifications, or armed camps where they might meet with
resistance, but upon peaceful non-belligerents in the streets of great
unfortified cities.

It was their policy of frightfulness once again. And once again they
had made a mistake. The varied expeditions of the Zeppelin airships
sent from Germany to bombard Paris, or to cross the Channel and, after
dropping bombs on seaside resorts to wander over the city of London in
the hope of spreading destruction there, did little real damage and
their net effects, from a military point of view, were practically nil.

The first Zeppelin raid upon England took place on January 19, 1915.
The Zeppelins passed over the cities of Yarmouth, Cromer, Sherringham
and King’s Lynn. On this expedition there were two Zeppelins. They
reached the coast of Norfolk about 8:30 in the evening and then steered
northwest across the country toward King’s Lynn, dropping bombs as they
went. In these towns there were no military stations and the damage
suffered was very slight. Nine persons were killed, all civilians. This
raid was followed by many others, which at first usually wasted their
ammunition, dropping their bombs on small country towns or in empty
fields.

On the 31st of May an expedition reached London and killed six persons
in the east end. The result of this raid was to stir the English to
intense indignation. Mobs gathered in the London streets, and persons
suspected of being Germans, or with German sympathies, were attacked.
Other raids followed, none of them doing serious military damage, but
usually killing or wounding innocent non-combatants. The stupid policy
of secrecy which they maintained during the first year of the war
unfortunately permitted great exaggeration of the real damages which
they had suffered.

During the first year, according to Mr. Balfour, in eighteen Zeppelin
raids there were only seventy-one civilian adults and eighteen children
killed, one hundred and eighty-nine civilian adults and thirty-one
children wounded. No soldier or sailor was killed and only seven
wounded.

In France similar attacks had been made on Paris and Calais. On the
20th of March two Zeppelins dropped bombs on Paris, but Paris, unlike
London, was a fortified city, and the sky soldiers were driven off by
the anti-aircraft guns. The French also devised an efficient method of
defense. On the appearance of an airship great searchlights flashed
into the air and the enemy was made at once a target, not only for
the guns of all the forts, but also for airplane attack. In order to
attack successfully a Zeppelin it was necessary that an airplane should
attain a position above the enemy. For an airplane to rise to such a
height time was required, as the airplane rises slowly. The French,
therefore, devised a scheme by which two or more airplanes were kept
constantly circling at a very great height above the city. Relays were
formed which relieved each other at regular intervals. When an airship
approached it would therefore be compelled in the first place to pass
through the fire of the guns on the great forts, and then would find in
the air above airplanes in waiting. The Germans, therefore, practically
gave up attacks upon Paris. They were dangerous.

  [Illustration: GUARDING PARIS FROM THE HUN

  Observation post fitted with instruments for gauging the height and
  speed of enemy aircraft, a giant searchlight, a listening post and a
  “75” gun installed on the outskirts of Paris.]

London, practically unarmed, seemed to them an easy mark. But the
British Lion was now awake. The English had been taken by surprise.
They attempted at first, in an unorganized way, to protect their city,
and, though occasionally successful in destroying an airship through
the gallantry of some individual hero, they soon found that their
defense must be organized, and Admiral Sir Percy Scott was entrusted
with the task. Regulations were introduced whose object was to darken
London. Lights were extinguished on the streets and screened on the
waterfront. Illumination for advertising purposes was forbidden;
windows were covered, so that London became at night a mass of gloom.
The Zeppelins, compelled to fly at a very great height, because of
anti-aircraft guns, were blinded. As in Paris airplanes were constantly
kept on the alert and searchlights and anti-airship guns placed at
every convenient point.

The suggestion was made that the English should undertake reprisals,
but the suggestion was strongly opposed on the ground that the
British should not be a “party to a line of conduct condemned by every
right-thinking man of every civilized nation.”

The effect of the English improved defenses was soon obvious, when the
German expeditions began to lose airship after airship. Under the new
régime, when such an attack was signaled, the whole city immediately
received warning and the sky was swept by dozens of searchlights. Safe
retreats were ready for those who cared to use them, but ordinarily the
whole population rushed out to watch the spectacle. Airplanes would
dash at the incoming foe; the searchlights would be switched off and
the guns be silent to avoid hindering the aviators. Then would come the
attack and Zeppelin after Zeppelin would be seen falling, a great mass
of flames, while their companions would hurry back across the Channel.
Even there they would not be safe, for many an airship was brought down
on English fields, or on the waters of the sea.

The Germans, however, did not confine their policy of frightfulness
in the air to the performances of their Zeppelins. Before the
Zeppelins had crossed the Channel their airplanes had visited England.
On Christmas Day, 1914, an airplane attacked Dover, doing, however,
no damage. Other airplanes also visited the British Isles from time
to time, dropping bombs, and as the Germans began to lose faith in
the efficacy of their Zeppelin fleets they began more and more to
substitute airplanes for their airships.

On some of these expeditions much more damage was done than had ever
been done by the Zeppelins. The airplane expedition grew serious in the
year 1917; between May 23d and June 16th of that year there were five
such aerial attacks. The airplanes could not only move with greater
speed but with better direction. An attack on May 25th resulted in the
killing of seventy-six persons and the injuring of one hundred and
seventy-four, the principal victims being women and children. This was
at the town of Folkestone on the southeast coast. In this attack there
were about sixteen airplanes, and the time of the attack was not more
than three minutes. Scarcely any part of Folkestone escaped injury. The
attack was methodically organized. Four separate squadrons passed over
the city, following each other at short intervals. It was impossible
to tell when the attack would end, and people in shelters or cellars
were kept waiting for hours without being able to feel certain that the
danger had passed.

It is probable that one of the motives of these raids was to keep at
home fleets of English airplanes which might be more useful on the
front. Indeed, many Englishmen, alarmed by the damage, urged such
a policy, but the good sense of the English leaders prevented such
a mistake from being made. Pitiful as must have been the suffering
in individual cases, the whole of the damage caused by the German
frightfulness was but a trifle as compared with the usefulness of
the English air-fleets when directly sent against the German armies.
Nevertheless, every squadron of German airplanes sent to England
was attacked by British aviators, and in those attacks the Germans
suffered many losses.

The worst raid of all those made was one on June 13th, which was
directed upon the city of London. On that occasion ninety-seven persons
were killed and four hundred and thirty-seven wounded. These airplane
operations differed from the Zeppelin expeditions in being carried on
in the daytime, and this raid took place while the schools were in
session and large numbers of people were in the street. Only one of
the attacking airplanes was brought down. The raiding machines were of
a new type, about three times the size of the ordinary machine, and
there were twenty-two such machines in the squadron. The battle in the
air was a striking spectacle and in spite of the danger was watched
by millions of the population. The raiders were easily seen and their
flight seemed like a flight of swallows as they dived and swerved
through the air.

The raids on England were not the only raids conducted by the Germans
during the war. Paris suffered, but as soon as the warning sounded, the
sky over the city was alive with defense airplanes. An attack on the
French capital took place on the 27th of July and began about midnight.
The German airmen, however, never got further than a suburban section
of the city, and their bombardment caused but little damage. In one of
the suburbs, however, a German flyer dropped four bombs on a Red Cross
Hospital, killing two doctors, a chemist and a male nurse, and injuring
a number of patients. The raider was flying low and the distinguishing
marks of the hospital were plainly apparent.

Almost every day during the bitter fighting of 1918, reports came in
that Allied hospitals had been bombed by German raiders. Attacks on
hospitals were, of course, strictly forbidden by the Hague Convention,
and they caused bitter indignation. Such attacks were of a piece
with those upon hospital ships which were made from time to time.
From the very beginning of the war the Germans could not understand
the psychology of the people of the Allied countries. They were not
fighting slaves, ready to cower under the lash, but with free people,
ready to fight for liberty and roused to fury by lawlessness.




CHAPTER V

RED REVOLUTION IN RUSSIA


The Russian Revolution was not a sudden movement of the people. Long
before the war it had raised its head. The Duma itself came into
existence as one of its fruits; but when the war began all parties
joined in patriotic support of the Russian armies and laid aside for
the time their cherished grievances. The war was immensely popular.
Slavonic nationalism turned against Austria-Hungary and Germany who
were bent upon crushing the Slavonic sister state, Serbia. The Liberal
elements saw in Germany the stronghold of reaction and of militarism,
and trusted that its downfall would be followed by that of Russian
autocracy. But so glaring was the incapacity of the old régime, that a
union was formed during the war by all the Liberal parties. This group
united on the single aim of pushing on the war, and silently preparing
for the moment when the catastrophe to Czarism was to come.

This was long before the revolution. But a conviction of the necessity
of immediate change gradually came to all. The Czar himself brought
matters to an issue. His vacillation, his appointment of ministers who
were not only reactionary, but were suspected of being German tools,
were too much for even honest supporters of the Imperial régime. Some
of these reactionaries, it is true, were easily driven from power. In
1915 Sukhomlinov and Maklakov were overthrown by the influence of the
army and the Duma. But in 1916 the parasites came to life again. M.
Boris Stuermer became Prime Minister, and appointed as Minister of the
Interior the notorious Protopopov. On November 14, 1916, Miliukov, the
leader of the Constitutional Democrats, or Cadet Party, attacked the
Premier in one of the fiercest speeches ever made in the Russian Duma.
Stuermer was compelled to resign, but his successor, M. Trepov, though
an honest man with high ambitions, was forced to retain Protopopov at
the Interior. For a moment there was calm. But it was the calm before
the storm.

The Russian Revolution, now recognized as the most bloody revolution
in history, began with the assassination of a single man. This man was
Gregory Novikh, known throughout the world under the name of Rasputin.
A Siberian peasant by birth, immoral, filthy in person, untrained in
mind, he had early received the nickname of Rasputin, which means
“ne’er-do-well,” on account of his habits. A drunkard, and a libertine
always, he posed as a sort of saint and miracle worker, let his hair
grow long, and tramped about the world barefoot.

Rasputin had left his district of Tobolsk and at Moscow had started a
new cult, where mystical séances were mingled with debauchery. Through
Madame Verubova he had been introduced to the Empress herself. He
became the friend of Count Witte, of Stuermer, and Protopopov was his
tool. Rumor credited him with exercising an extraordinary influence
upon the Czarina, and through her upon the Czar. This influence was
thought to be responsible for many of the Czar’s unpopular policies.
In times of great public agitation the wildest rumors are easily taken
for truth and the absurd legends which were easily associated with his
name were greedily accepted by people of every rank. The influence
of Rasputin over the Imperial family was denied again and again. It
has been said from authoritative sources that the Czar did not know
him by sight, and that the Czarina knew him only as a superstitious
and neurotic woman might know some fortune teller or other charlatan.
Nevertheless the credulous public believed him to be the evil spirit
of the Imperial circle, and every false move, every unpopular act, was
ascribed to his baneful influence. But such a career could not last
long, and the end became a tragedy.

Several times Rasputin had been attacked, but had escaped. At last, on
the 29th of December, 1916, Prince Yusapov, a young man of wealth and
position, invited him to dine with him at his own home. The Prince came
for him in his own car. Entering the dining-room, they found there the
Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovitch. M. Purishkevitch, a member of the Duma,
had acted as chauffeur, and he followed him in. The three told him that
he was to die and he was handed a pistol that he might kill himself;
instead of doing so, he shot at the Grand Duke, but missed, and then
was shot in turn by his captors. The noise attracted the attention of
the police who inquired what had happened. “I have just killed a dog,”
was the reply.

His body was taken in an automobile to the Neva River, a hole cut in
the ice, and weighted with stones, it was dropped into the waters.
On the next day his executioners notified the police of what they
had done, and the news was announced at the Imperial Theatre, whose
audience went wild with enthusiasm, and sang the National Hymn. No
legal action was ever taken against Rasputin’s executioners. His body
was recovered and given honorable burial. The Czarina, according to
report, following the coffin to the grave. And so disappeared from the
Imperial Court one evil force.

But his tool, Alexander Protopopov, still survived. Protopopov was an
extraordinary man. In 1916 he had visited England and France and made
a splendid impression. His speeches, full of fire and patriotism, were
regarded as the best made by any deputation that had come from Russia.
But on his return to Petrograd he fell completely into the hands of the
Court party. He became associated with Rasputin, and his wild talk and
restless conduct suggested to many that his mind had become affected.

After the death of Rasputin, the meeting of the Duma, which should
have taken place on January 25, 1917, was postponed for a month. The
censorship was drawn tighter, the members of the secret police were
greatly increased, and a deliberate endeavor, under the direction of
Protopopov was made to encourage an abortive revolution, so that its
overthrow might establish the reactionaries in power. But the attempt
failed.

During January and February the people were calm. No one wanted
revolution then. On February 9th, the labor members of the War Industry
Committee were arrested. This was regarded as plainly provocative,
and M. Miliukov wrote appeals to the people for patience. These were
suppressed, but no disturbance ensued. A British Commission, then on
a visit to Russia, reported that there was no danger of revolution.
But the people were hungry. Speakers in the Duma discussed the food
problem. It became harder and harder to procure bread, and little that
was practical seemed to be done to improve the situation, though in
some parts of the country there were large surplus stocks. On March 8th
crowds gathered around the bakery shops, and looted several of them.
The next day the crowds in the streets increased. Groups of Cossacks
rode here and there, fraternizing with the people. They, too, were
hungry. In the afternoon two workmen were arrested for disorder by
the police. A band of Cossacks freed them. Street speakers began to
appear here and there, and crowds gathered to listen to their fiery
denunciations of the government.

On March 11th, General Khabalov, military Governor of the city, issued
a proclamation announcing that the police had orders to disperse all
crowds, and that any workman who did not return to work on Monday
morning would be sent to the trenches. The main streets of the city
were cleared and guarded by the police and soldiery. The crowds were
enormous, and disorderly, and more than two hundred of the rioters were
killed. Yet it seemed as if the government had the situation in a firm
grasp, though an ominous incident was that the Pavlovsk regiment on
being ordered to fire upon the mob, mutinied and had to be ordered to
their quarters.

Meantime Rodzianko, the President of the Duma, had telegraphed to the
Czar:

  Situation serious. Anarchy reigns in Capital. Government is
  paralyzed. Transport food and fuel supplies are utterly disorganized.
  General discontent is growing. Disorderly firing is going on in
  streets. Various companies of soldiers are shooting at each other. It
  is absolutely necessary to invest someone, who enjoys the confidence
  of the people with powers to form a new government. No time must
  be lost, and delay may be fatal. I pray to God that in this hour
  responsibility may not fall on the wearer of the crown.

The Prime Minister, Prince Golitzin, acting under power which he had
received from the Czar, prorogued the Duma. But the Duma refused to be
prorogued. Its President, Rodzianko, holding in his hand the order for
dissolution, announced that the Duma was now the sole constitutional
authority of Russia.

During the night following, the soldiers at the Capital, and the
Socialists, decided upon their course. The soldiers determined that
they would not fire upon their civilian brothers. The Socialists
planned an alternative scheme of government.

On March the 12th, the city was taken possession of by a mob. The
Preo Crajenski Guards refused to fire upon the crowd. The Volynsky
regiment, sent to coerce them, joined in the mutiny. Followed by the
mob, the two regiments seized the Arsenal. A force of 25,000 soldiers
was in the revolt. At 11 A. M., the Courts of Law were set on fire and
the fortress of SS. Peter and Paul was seized. The police, fighting
desperately, were hunted from their quarters, their papers destroyed
and the prisoners, political and criminal, released from the jails.

  [Illustration: CAPITAL OF THE NEW REPUBLIC OF RUSSIA]

During the day the Duma kept in constant session, awaiting the Emperor,
who did not come. Telegram after telegram was sent him, each more
urgent. There is reason to believe that these telegrams never reached
the Czar. When information finally did come to him it was too late.
Meantime the Duma appointed an executive committee. Their names were
Rodzianko, Nekrasov, Konovalov, Dmitrikov, Lvov, Rjenski, Karaulov,
Miliukov, Schledlovski, Shulgin, Tcheidze and Kerensky. The workmen
and soldiers also formed a committee, which undertook to influence the
troops now pouring into Petrograd. But the center of the revolution
was still the Duma, and crowds gathered to listen to its speeches. In
the evening Protopopov surrendered to the Russian guards, but General
Khabalov still occupied the Admiralty building with such forces as were
faithful.

On March 13th it became evident that the army in the field was
accepting the authority of the provisional government. The Duma
committee was composed mainly of men of moderate political views.
They moved slowly, fearing on the one hand the Reactionaries who
still preserved their loyalty to the Czar, and on the other hand the
Council of Labor, with its extreme views, and its influence with the
troops. The siege of the Admiralty building was ended by the surrender
of General Khabalov. The police, however, were still keeping up a
desultory resistance, but the mob were hunting them like wild beasts.
On Wednesday, the 14th of March, the revolution was over.

The Executive Committee of the Duma and the Council of the Workmen’s
and Soldiers’ Delegates, now universally known as the Soviet, were
working in harmony. Every hour proclamations were issued, some of them
foolish, some of them, it is thought, inspired by German agents, and
some of them wise and patriotic. One of the most unfortunate of these
proclamations was one to the army directing that “the orders of the
War Committee must be obeyed, saving only on those occasions when they
shall contravene the orders and regulations of the labor deputies and
military delegates.” This same proclamation abolished saluting for
private soldiers off duty. It was the beginning of the destruction of
the Russian military power. The proclamation of the Duma committee
itself was admirable:

  CITIZENS:

  The Provisional Executive Committee of the Duma, with the aid and
  support of the garrison of the capital and its inhabitants, has now
  triumphed over the baneful forces of the old régime in such a manner
  as to enable it to proceed to the more stable organization of the
  executive power. With this object, the Provisional Committee will
  name ministers of the first national cabinet men whose past public
  activity assures them the confidence of the country.

  The new cabinet will adopt the following principles as the basis of
  its policy:

  1. An immediate amnesty for all political and religious offenses,
  including military revolts, acts of terrorism, and agrarian crimes.

  2. Freedom of speech, of the press, of associations and labor
  organizations, and the freedom to strike; with an extension of
  these liberties to officials and troops, in so far as military and
  technical conditions permit.

  3. The abolition of social, religious, and racial restrictions and
  privileges.

  4. Immediate preparation for the summoning of a Constituent Assembly,
  which, with universal suffrage as a basis, shall establish the
  governmental régime and the constitution of the country.

  5. The substitution for the police of a national militia, with
  elective heads and subject to the self-governing bodies.

  6. Communal elections to be carried out on the basis of universal
  suffrage.

  7. The troops that have taken part in the revolutionary movement
  shall not be disarmed, but they are not to leave Petrograd.

  8. While strict military discipline must be maintained on active
  service, all restrictions upon soldiers in the enjoyment of social
  rights granted to other citizens are to be abolished.

Meantime the Emperor, “the Little Father,” at first thoroughly
incredulous of the gravity of the situation, had at last become
alarmed. He appointed General Ivanov Commander-in-Chief of the army,
and ordered him to proceed to Petrograd at the head of a division
of loyal troops. General Ivanov set out, but his train was held up
at Tsarskoe-Selo, and he returned to Pskov. The Czar himself then
started for the city, but he, too, was held up at the little station
of Bologoi, where workmen had pulled up the track, and he returned to
Pskov.

He sent for Ruzsky and declared that he was ready to yield to the Duma
and grant a responsible ministry. Ruzsky advised him to get in touch
with Rodzianko, and as a result of a telephone communication with
Rodzianko and with several of his trusted generals, it became clear
that there was no other course than abdication. Guchkov and Shulgin,
messengers from the Duma, arrived on the evening of March 15th, and
found the Emperor alone, except for his aide-de-camp, Count Fredericks.

“What do you want me to do?” he asked.

“You must abdicate,” Guchkov told him, “in favor of your son, with the
Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovitch as Regent.”

The Emperor sat for a long time silent. “I cannot be separated from my
boy,” he said. “I will hand the throne to my brother.” Taking a sheet
of paper he wrote as follows:

  By the Grace of God, We, Nicholas II, Emperor of all the Russias, to
  all our faithful subjects:

  In the course of a great struggle against a foreign enemy, who has
  been endeavoring for three years to enslave our country, it has
  pleased God to send Russia a further bitter trial. Internal troubles
  have threatened to compromise the progress of the war. The destinies
  of Russia, the honor of her heroic army, the happiness of her people,
  and the whole future of our beloved country demand that at all costs
  victory shall be won. The enemy is making his last efforts, and
  the moment is near when our gallant troops, in concert with their
  glorious Allies, will finally overthrow him.

  In these days of crisis we have considered that our nation needs the
  closest union of all its forces for the attainment of victory. In
  agreement with the Imperial Duma, we have recognized that for the
  good of our land we should abdicate the throne of the Russian state
  and lay down the supreme power.

  Not wishing to separate ourselves from our beloved son, we bequeath
  our heritage to our brother, the Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovitch,
  with our blessing upon the future of the Russian throne. We bequeath
  it to him with the charge to govern in full unison with the national
  representatives who may sit in the legislature, and to take his
  inviolable oath to them in the name of our well-beloved country.

  We call upon all faithful sons of our land to fulfil this sacred and
  patriotic duty in obeying their Emperor at this painful moment of
  national trial, and to aid him, together with the representatives of
  the nation, to lead the Russian people in the way of prosperity and
  glory.

  May God help Russia.

So ended the reign of Nicholas the Second, Czar of all the Russias.
The news of the Czar’s abdication spread over the world with great
rapidity, and was received by the Allies with mixed feelings. The Czar
had been scrupulously loyal to the alliance. He was a man of high
personal character, and his sympathies on the whole, liberal; but he
was a weak man in a position in which even a strong man might have
failed. He was easily influenced, especially by his wife. Warned again
and again of the danger before him, he constantly promised improvement,
only to fail in keeping his promises. He deeply loved his wife, and
yielded continually to her unwise advice.

The Empress Alexandra Feodorovna is but another instance of a devoted
queen who dethroned her consort. She believed in Divine Right and
looked with suspicion upon popular leaders. Her one object in life was
to hand on the Russian crown to her son, with no atom of its power
diminished. She surrounded herself and her husband with scoundrels and
charlatans.

  [Illustration: © _Underwood and Underwood, N. Y._

  THE WOMEN’S “BATTALION OF DEATH” IN NATIONAL DANCE

  A unique outgrowth of the Russian revolution was this organization of
  women, which came into prominence at the beginning of the break-up of
  the Russian front.]

On the whole, the feeling among the Allies was one of relief. There was
a general distrust of the influences which had been surrounding the
Czar. The patriotism of the Grand Duke Michael was well known, and a
government conducted by him was sure to be a great improvement. But
it was not to be. Before the news of the abdication reached Petrograd
a new ministry had been formed by the Duma. Miliukov announced their
names and explained their credentials. The Prime Minister was Prince
George Lvov. Miliukov was Minister of Foreign Affairs, Guchkov Minister
of War and Marine, Kerensky, a new name in the government, Minister of
Justice. The ministry included representatives of every party of the
left and centre.

Miliukov declared that their credentials came from the Russian
revolution: “We shall not fight for the sake of power. To be in power
is not a reward or pleasure but a sacrifice. As soon as we are told
that the sacrifice is no longer needed, we shall give up our places
with gratitude for the opportunity which has been accorded us.”

He concluded by informing his hearers that the despot who had brought
Russia to the brink of ruin would either abdicate of his free will, or
be deposed. He added that the Grand Duke Michael would be appointed
Regent.

This announcement at once produced an explosion. A ministry of
moderates and a continuance of the Imperial government under a regency
stirred the delegates of the workmen and soldiers to revolt. For a time
it seemed as if the new government would disappear in the horrors of
mob rule. But Kerensky saved the situation. Making his way into the
meeting of the Soviet he burst into an impassioned speech.

“Comrades!” he cried, “I have been appointed Minister of Justice. No
one is a more ardent Republican than I, but we must bide our time.
Nothing can come to its full growth at once. We shall have our Republic
but we must first win the war. The need of the moment is organization
and discipline and that need will not wait.”

His eloquence carried the day. The Soviet passed a resolution
supporting the provisional government with only fifteen dissenting
votes. But it had been made clear that the people did not approve
of the regency, and on the night of the 15th of March, Prince Lvov,
Kerensky and other leaders of the Duma sought out the Grand Duke
Michael and informed him of the situation. The Grand Duke yielded to
the people, and on Friday, March the 16th, issued a declaration which
ended the power of the Romanovs in Russia:

  I am firmly resolved to accept the supreme power only if this should
  be the desire of our great people, who must, by means of a plebiscite
  through their representatives in the Constituent Assembly, establish
  the form of government and the new fundamental laws of the Russian
  state. Invoking God’s blessing, I, therefore, request all citizens of
  Russia to obey the provisional government, set up on the initiative
  of the Duma, and invested with plenary powers, until within as short
  a time as possible the Constituent Assembly elected on a basis of
  equal, universal and secret suffrage, shall enforce the will of the
  nation regarding the future form of the constitution.

With this declaration the sacred monarchy had disappeared. In one week
the people had come to their own and Russia was free. But what the form
of new government was to replace the old régime was still the question.
There were two rival theories as to the principles to be followed, one
that of the Moderates, the other of the Extremists. The Moderates,
who controlled the provisional government, were practical men. They
realized that Russia was at war and that efficient administration was
the great need.

The Extremists of the Soviet were a different type of men. They were
profoundly ignorant of all practical questions of government; their
creed was socialism. The Socialistic party in Russia may be divided
into three different groups. The first, the Social Revolutionary party,
came into prominence in Russia about 1900. It was composed of followers
of the Russian Lavrov who believed in the socialist state, but a state
which should not be a tyrant overriding the individual. Liberty was his
watchword and he made his appeal not only to the workmen in the shops
but with a special force to the peasant. He did not preach class war
in the ordinary sense, and believed in the value of national life. To
this party belonged Kerensky, more and more becoming the leader of the
revolutionary movement.

The second group of the Socialist party were the Bolsheviki. This
group were followers of the German Karl Marx. The revolution which
they sought was essentially a class revolution. To the Bolsheviki the
fate of their country mattered not at all. They were eager for peace
on any terms. The only war in which they were interested was a class
war; they recognized no political boundaries. The leader of this group
was Vladimir Iljetch Uljanov, who, under his pen name of Lenine, was
already widely known and who had now obtained the opportunity which he
had long desired.

The third group were the Mensheviki. The Mensheviki believed in the
importance of the working classes, but they did not ignore other
classes. They were willing to use existing forms of government to carry
out the reforms they desired. They saw that the Allied cause was their
own cause, the cause of the workman as well as the intellectual.

The Soviet contained representatives of these three groups. It did not
represent Russia, but it was in Petrograd and could exert its influence
directly upon the government.

The attitude of the provisional government toward the Imperial family
was at first not unkindly. The Czar and the Czarina were escorted to
the Alexandrovsky Palace in Tsarskoe-Selo. The Czar for a time lived
quietly as plain Nicholas Romanov. The Czarina and her children were
very ill with measles, the case of the little Prince being complicated
by the breaking out of an old wound in his foot. The Grand Duchess
Tatiana was in a serious condition and oxygen had been administered.
As his family improved in health the Czar amused himself by strolls
in the palace yard, and even by shoveling snow. Later on Nicholas
was transferred to Tobolsk, Siberia, and then, in May, 1918, to
Yekaterinberg. His wife and his daughter Marie accompanied him to the
latter place, while Alexis and his other three daughters remained in
Tobolsk. On July 20th a Russian government dispatch announced his
assassination. It read as follows:

  At the first session of the Central Executive Committee, elected by
  the Fifth Congress of the Councils, a message was made public that
  had been received by direct wire from the Ural Regional Council,
  concerning the shooting of the ex-Czar, Nicholas Romanov. Recently
  Yekaterinberg, the Capital of the Red Urals, was seriously threatened
  by the approach of Czecho-Slovak bands, and a counter-revolutionary
  conspiracy was discovered, which had as its object the wresting of
  the ex-Czar from the hands of the Council’s authority. In view of
  this fact the President of the Ural Regional Council decided to shoot
  the ex-Czar, and the decision was carried out on July 16th.

The wife and the son of Nicholas Romanov had been sent to a place of
security. In a detailed account of the execution, published in Berlin,
it appeared that the Czar had been awakened at five o’clock in the
morning, and informed that he was to be executed in two hours. He spent
some time with a priest in his bedroom and wrote several letters.
According to this account, when the patrol came to take him out for
execution he was found in a state of collapse. His last words, uttered
just before the executioners fired, are reported to have been “Spare my
wife and my innocent and unhappy children. May my blood preserve Russia
from ruin.”

The Russian press, including the Socialist papers, condemned the
execution as a cruel and unnecessary act. The charges of conspiracy
were utterly unproven, and were merely an excuse. The Central Executive
Committee, however, accepted the decision of the Ural Regional Soviet
as being regular, and a decree by the Bolshevist Government declared
all the property of the former Emperor, his wife, his mother and all
the members of the Imperial house, forfeit to the Soviet Republic.

Meantime the provisional government, which had taken power on the 16th
of March, seemed as if it might succeed. Miliukov, whose announcement
of the Regency had made him unpopular, declared for a Republic. The
great army commanders for the most part accepted the revolution.
The Grand Duke Nicholas was removed from his command and the other
Grand Dukes were ordered not to leave Petrograd. Alexeiev became
commander-in-chief; Ruzsky had the northern group of armies, Brusilov
the southern; Kornilov was in command of Petrograd, and the central
group was put under the command of Lechitsky. Reports came that
discipline was improving everywhere on the front.

The plans of the government, too, met with general approval. Their
policy was announced by Prince Lvov. “The new government considers it
its duty to make known to the world that the object of free Russia
is not to dominate other nations and forcibly to take away their
territory. The object of independent Russia is a permanent peace and
the right of all nations to determine their own destiny.”

Kerensky, in inspiring speeches, encouraged the country to war, and
declared against a separate peace. The new government announced that
Poland was to receive complete independence, with a right to determine
its own form of government, and its relation, if any, to Russia. In
Finland the Governor, Sein, was removed. A Liberal was appointed
Governor and the Finnish Diet was convened. A manifesto was issued
on March 21st, completely restoring the Finnish constitution. To the
Armenians Kerensky expressed himself as in favor of an autonomous
government for them, under Russia’s protection, and on March 25th,
absolute equality of the Jews was proclaimed by the new government. A
number of Jews were made officers in the army, and two Jewish advocates
were appointed members of the Russian Senate and of the Supreme Court.
On April 4th full religious liberty was proclaimed, and on the same
date the Prime Minister promised a delegation of women that women would
be given the right to vote.

These acts caused a general subsidence of unrest, and public good
feeling was increased by the return of the political exiles and
prisoners from Siberia. A full hundred thousand of such prisoners were
released, and their progress across Siberia to Russia was one grand
triumphal march.

The most celebrated of these political prisoners were two women,
Catherine Breshkovskaya and Marie Spiridonova. Catherine Breshkovskaya
was known as the grandmother of the revolution. Forty-four years of
her life were spent in exile. When she reached Petrograd she was met
at the railroad depot by a military band, and carried in procession
through the streets. Equally popular was Marie Spiridonova, who, though
still young, had suffered martyrdom. She had been tortured with cruelty
that is unprintable. Her face had been disfigured for life. The agents
who had inflicted the torture were assassinated by the revolutionists.

It was a great day for Russia, and the outlook seemed full of promise.




CHAPTER VI

THE DESCENT TO BOLSHEVISM


The hopes entertained for the new Republic of Russia were doomed to
disappointment. For a short time, under the leadership of Lvov, the
Russians marched along the path of true democracy. But the pace became
too rapid.

The government prospered in Petrograd, and the economic organization
of the country proceeded with great speed. An eight-hour day was
introduced in the capital and in many other cities throughout the
republic. The fever of organization spread even to the peasants. They
formed a Council of Peasants’ Deputies, modeled after the Council
of Workmen and Soldiers. On the 13th of April, 1917, came the first
meeting of the All-Russia Congress of Soviets, and with it a revival
of the differences of opinion which ultimately were to destroy the
government. The great majority were for war, but the minority, led
by Lenine and the Bolsheviki element, demanded an immediate peace.
They declared that the enemies of the Revolution were not the Central
Powers, but the capitalists in all countries, and not least the
Provisional Government of Russia.

  [Illustration: _Photo by Donald C. Thompson._

  LANDING AT VLADIVOSTOK

  Japanese troops and members of the Red Cross on the way to Siberia to
  aid the Czecho-Slovaks in their brave resistance to Bolshevism.]

Some clew to the meaning of the Bolsheviki movement in Russia is
to be found in the life of Lenine, its leading spirit. It has been
charged that he was the tool of the German Government. He undoubtedly
received facilities from the German Government to return to Russia
from Switzerland immediately after the Revolution in March. His whole
career, however, suggests that he was not a tool, but a fanatic.

He was born in Simbirsk, in Central Russia, in the year 1870. Lenine
was only one of the several aliases that he had found it necessary
to adopt at various times. He was of good family, and received his
education at the Petrograd University. From the very beginning he took
an active interest in the political and social problems of the day. In
1887 his brother, A. Uljanov, was arrested, and after a secret trial
condemned to death and hanged as a participant in a plot to wreck the
imperial train carrying Alexander III. Lenine was also arrested, but
was released on account of a lack of evidence. At this time the Russian
Socialistic movement was still in its infancy.

Lenine spent his Sundays in a circle of uneducated workmen, explaining
to them the elements of socialistic economics. Along with this
propaganda work he studied deeply the economic phases of Russian
life, being especially interested in its working and peasant classes.
He wrote several books on the subject, which are still accepted as
valuable representatives of Russian economic literature. Because of his
socialistic activities, Lenine was compelled to leave Russia on several
occasions, when he lived in Switzerland, France and Austria. From these
countries he directed the work of one of the groups of the Social
Democratic party, and became an important leader.

In the General Russian Socialistic Convention, held in 1903, this group
made a definite stand for its program and policies. This was the time
when the word “Bolsheviki” was coined, meaning the “majority,” who had
voted in accord with Lenine’s proposals. Lenine believed in the seizure
of political power by means of violent revolution and in establishing
a proletarian government. After the Revolution of 1905, the Lenine
faction dwindled and it seemed as if Bolshevism was destined to die
out. But in 1911, with the awakening of a new spirit in the political
and social life of Russia, a new impetus was given to the activities
of the Bolsheviki. The first Socialist daily paper, _Pravda_, (“the
Truth,”) was one of their efforts. In 1913 the Bolsheviki sent six
representatives to the Duma.

At the outbreak of the war Lenine was in Cracow. Like other
revolutionary leaders he was compelled to live in exile. He went
to Switzerland where he remained until the news of the successful
revolution caused his return to Russia. On his arrival in Petrograd he
gathered together his followers and began the agitation in favor of the
Bolshevist program and of peace.

The first sign of the conflict between the Provisional Government
and the Soviet arose in connection with the joint note sent to the
Allies by the Provisional Government on May 1st. This note was signed
by Foreign Secretary Miliukov. It declared, among other things, that
the Provisional Government would “maintain a strict regard for its
engagements with the Allies of Russia.”

The document aroused strong disapproval among many members of the
Council of the Soviet, and serious anti-government demonstrations
occurred in Petrograd on May 3rd and 4th. These demonstrations were
directed distinctly against Miliukov. Detachments of soldiers and
workmen gathered in front of the headquarters of the Provisional
Government, carrying banners, with inscriptions “Down with Miliukov!
Down with the Provisional Government!” Miliukov appealed to the crowd
for confidence, and his words were greeted with hearty cheering.

The Soviet Council ultimately voted confidence in the Government by
a narrow margin of 35 in a total of 2500. But the agitation against
the Government persisted, and on May 16th Miliukov resigned. General
Kornilov, Commander of the Petrograd Garrison, and Guchkov, Minister of
War, finding their control of the army weakened by the interference of
the Soviet Council, also resigned.

The situation became critical. As a result of this agitation a new
coalition government was formed. Prince Lvov remained Prime Minister.
Terestchenko became Foreign Minister. Most significant of all, Kerensky
became the Minister of War. The new Government issued a new declaration
of policy, promising a firm support of the war with Germany, and an
effort to call together at the earliest possible date a Constituent
Assembly to deal with questions of land and of finance. This manifesto
was received coldly by the Soviets and their press.

It was at this time that Allies sent special missions to Russia to
aid the Russian Government in forwarding the fight against the common
enemy. The American mission to Russia was headed by Elihu Root, former
Secretary of State.

It was most cordially received, and housed in the former Winter Palace
of the Czar. On June 15th the American Ambassador, David R. Francis,
presented the Root mission to the Council of Ministers in the Marinsky
Palace, and Mr. Root made an eloquent address, declaring the sympathy
of the American Republic with the new Russian Democracy. He declared
that the liberty of both nations was in danger. “The armed forces of
military autocracy are at the gates of Russia and the Allies. The
triumph of German arms will mean the death of liberty in Russia. No
enemy is at the gates of America, but America has come to realize that
the triumph of German arms means the death of Liberty in the world.”

At Moscow Mr. Root addressed representatives of the Zemstvo and the
local Council of the Workmen and Soldiers. He was warmly applauded,
and on motion of the Mayor a telegram was sent to President Wilson,
thanking him for sending the Root Commission to Russia. The Root
Mission returned to the United States early in August, and reported to
Washington August 12th. At a public reception given by the citizens of
New York, Senator Root expressed supreme confidence in the stability of
the Revolution.

On July 1st, inspired by Kerensky, and under the personal leadership of
General Kornilov, the Russian army began an offensive in Galicia. It
first met with complete success, capturing Halicz, and sweeping forward
close to Dolina in the Carpathian foothills. Then under a very slight
hostile German pressure, the Russian armies, immediately to the north
and south of Kornilov’s army, broke and ran. This action was directly
traced to orders subversive of discipline, emanating from the Petrograd
Soviet. Kornilov’s army was compelled to retire, and by July 21st was
in full retreat from Galicia.

The Russian mutiny spread. Regiments refused to fight or to obey their
officers.

One of the most picturesque episodes of this phase of the war was the
formation of a woman’s regiment, known as the “Command of Death,” which
was reviewed at Petrograd June 21st, by Minister of War, Kerensky. In
front of the barracks assigned to this regiment a visitor found posted
at the gate a little blue-eyed sentry in a soldier’s khaki blouse,
short breeches, green forage cap, ordinary woman’s black stockings
and neat shoes. The sentry was Mareya Skridlov, daughter of Admiral
Skridlov, former commander of the Baltic fleet and Minister of Marines.
In the courtyard three hundred girls were drilling, mostly between 18
and 25 years old, of good physique and many of them pretty. They wore
their hair short or had their heads entirely shaved. They were drilling
under the instruction of a male sergeant of the Volynsky regiment, and
marched to an exaggerated goose step.

The girl commander, Lieutenant Buitchkarev, explained that most of
the recruits were from the higher educational academies, with a few
peasants, factory girls and servants. Some married women were accepted,
but none who had children. The Battalion of Death distinguished itself
on the field, setting an example of courage to the mutinous regiments
during the retreat of Brusilov.

With the army thus demoralized the Russian Revolution encountered a
perilous period toward the end of July, 1917, and civil war or anarchy
seemed almost at hand, when out of the depths of the national spirit
there arose a new revolution to save the situation and to maintain
order. The country was everywhere the scene of riotous disturbances.
Anarchists, radicals, and monarchists seemed to be working hand-in-hand
to precipitate a reign of terror, when once more Kerensky saved the
situation. On July 20th, it was announced that the Premier, Prince
Lvov, had resigned, and that Alexander Kerensky had been appointed
Premier, but would also retain his portfolio as Minister of War.

A new government was quickly formed. Kerensky was made practical
Dictator, and his government received the complete endorsement of a
joint Congress of the Soviets and the Council of peasant delegates.
Kerensky acted with the utmost vigor. Orders were given to fire on
deserters and warrants issued for the arrest of revolutionary agitators
whoever they might be. Rear-Admiral Verdervski, commander of the Baltic
fleet, was seized for communicating a secret government telegram to
sailors’ committees. Agitators from the Soviet were arrested, charged
with inciting the Peterhof troops against the Federal government. On
July 22d, the following resolution was passed by the joint Congress:

  Recognizing that the country is menaced by a military debacle on the
  front and by anarchy at home, it is resolved:

  1. That the country and the revolution are in danger.

  2. That the Provisional Government is proclaimed the Government of
  National Safety.

  3. That unlimited powers are accorded the Government for
  re-establishing the organization and discipline of the army for
  a fight to a finish against the enemies of public order, and for
  the realization of the whole program embodied in the governmental
  program just announced.

The re-organization of the Councils of the All-Russia, and Workmen’s
and Peasants’ Organizations on the 23rd, issued a ringing address
to the army denouncing its mutinous spirit and warning it of
the inevitable result. The Provisional Government also issued
a proclamation on July 22nd, charging that the disorders were
precipitated to bring about a counter-revolution by the enemies of the
country. But the army was demoralized. It disregarded discipline and
refused to recognize military rule. A general retreat followed. The
Germans and Austrians steadily advanced through Galicia and crossed the
frontier before the Russian armies could be forced to make a stand.

The death penalty for treason or mutiny was restored in the army
on July 25th, when Kerensky threatened to resign unless this was
done. On that same date the government authorized the Minister of
the Interior to suspend the publication of periodicals that incite
to insubordination or disobedience to orders given by the military
authorities. By July 28th the situation had become more hopeful. On
that day General Ruzsky, formerly commander-in-chief of the northern
armies of Russia, and General Gurko, ex-commander on the Russian
southwestern front, were summoned to Petrograd. Each had retired on
account of the interference of the Council of Workmen and Soldiers’
delegates. Their return to the service was a hopeful sign. The Soviet
also passed by an overwhelming majority a resolution censuring Lenine,
and demanding that he should be publicly tried. Charges had been made
that Lenine and his associates were working under German direction and
financed by Germans. On August 2nd, Kornilov became Commander-in-Chief
of the Russian army. A disagreement in the Cabinet led to its
re-organization. In the new Cabinet appeared again representatives
of the Constitutional Democratic party. Conditions began to show
improvement from this time forth.

An extraordinary National Council met at Moscow August 26th, 1917.
This conference consisted of 2,500 delegates representing the Duma,
the Soviets, the Zemstvos, and indeed all organized Russia. Kerensky
opened the conference in a speech of great length in which he reviewed
the general situation, declaring that the destructive period of the
Revolution had passed and that the time had come to consolidate its
conquests.

Perhaps the most important address before the Council was that made by
General Kornilov, Commander-in-Chief of the army. General Kornilov was
received with prolonged cheers, which in the light of his subsequent
action were especially significant. General Kornilov described with
much detail the disorganization and insubordination in the army, and
continued:

“We are implacably fighting anarchy in the army. Undoubtedly it will
finally be repressed, but the danger of fresh debacles is weighing
constantly on the country. The situation on the front is bad. We have
lost the whole of Galicia, the whole of Bukowina, and all the fruits
of our recent victories. If Russia wishes to be saved the army must
be regenerated at any cost.” General Kornilov then outlined the most
important of the reform measures which he recommended, and concluded:
“I believe that the genius and the reason of the Russian people will
save the country. I believe in a brilliant future for our army. I
believe its ancient glory will be restored.”

General Kaledines, leader of the Don Cossacks, mounted the tribune and
read a resolution passed by the Cossacks demanding the continuation
of the war until complete victory was attained. He defied the extreme
Radicals. “Who saved you from the Bolsheviki on the 14th of July?” he
asked contemptuously. “We Cossacks have been free men. We are not made
drunk by our new-found liberties and are unblinded by party or program.
We tell you plainly and categorically, ‘Remove yourselves from the
place which you have neither the ability nor the courage to fill, and
let better men than yourselves step in, or take the consequences of
your folly.’”

The conference took no definite action, being invested with no
authority, but it served to bring out clearly the line of cleavage
between the Radical or Socialistic element represented by Kerensky and
the Conservatives represented by the Generals of the army.

Immediately on the heels of the Moscow conference an important German
advance was made in the direction of Riga, the most important Russian
Baltic port. In spite of a vigorous defense the Germans captured the
city.

The loss of Riga intensified the political excitement in Russia, and
produced a profound crisis. A wave of unrest spread throughout the
country. The Grand Duke Michael, and the Grand Duke Paul with their
families, were arrested on a charge of conspiracy. The Provisional
Government was charged with responsibility of the collapse of the army.

It was on September 9th, that the storm broke, and General Kornilov,
the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian armies, raised the flag of revolt
against the Provisional Government. The details of the revolt are as
follows:

At one o’clock Saturday afternoon, Deputy Lvov, of the Duma,
called upon Premier Kerensky, and declared that he had come as the
representative of General Kornilov to demand the surrender of all
power into Kornilov’s hands. M. Lvov said that this demand did not
emanate from Kornilov only but was supported by an organization of
Duma members, Moscow industrial interests, and other conservatives.
This group, said M. Lvov, did not object to Kerensky personally,
but demanded that he transfer the Portfolio of War to M. Savinkov,
assistant Minister of War, who all along had supported Kornilov.

“If you agree,” M. Lvov added, “we invite you to come to headquarters
and meet General Kornilov, giving you a solemn guarantee that you will
not be arrested.”

Premier Kerensky replied that he could not believe Kornilov to be
guilty of such an act of treason, and that he would communicate with
him directly. In an exchange of telegrams Kornilov confirmed fully to
the Premier his demands. Kerensky promptly placed Lvov under arrest,
denounced Kornilov as a traitor and deposed him from his position as
Commander-in-Chief, General Klembovsky being appointed in his place.
General Kornilov responded to the order of dismissal by moving an army
against the Capital.

Martial law was declared in Moscow and in Petrograd. Kerensky assumed
the functions of Commander-in-Chief and took military measures to
defend Petrograd and resist the rebels. On the 12th it was clear
that the Kornilov revolt had failed to receive the expected support.
Kornilov advanced toward Petrograd, and occupied Jotchina, thirty miles
southwest of the Capital, but there was no bloodshed. On the night of
the 13th, General Alexeiev demanded Kornilov’s unconditional surrender,
and the revolt collapsed. Kornilov was arrested and the Provisional
Government reconstituted on stronger lines.

After the so-called Kornilov revolt, the Russian Revolution assumed a
form which might almost be called stable. A democratic congress met
at Moscow, September 27th, and adopted a resolution providing for a
preliminary parliament to consist of 231 members, of whom 110 were to
represent the Zemstvos and the towns. The congress refused its sanction
to a coalition cabinet in which the Constitutional Democrats should
participate, but Kerensky practically defied the congress, and named
a coalition cabinet, in which several portfolios were held by members
of the Constitutional Democratic Party. The new government issued a
statement declaring that it had three principal aims: to raise the
fighting power of the army and navy; to bring order to the country by
fighting anarchy; to call the Constituent Assembly as soon as possible.
The Constituent Assembly was called to assemble in December. It was to
consist of 732 delegates to be elected by popular vote.

Meantime agitation against the Coalition Government continued. On
November 1st, the Premier issued a statement through the Associated
Press, to all the newspapers of the Entente, which conveyed the
information that he almost despaired of restoring civil law in the
distracted country. He said that he felt that help was needed urgently
and that Russia asked it as her right. “Russia has fought consistently
since the beginning,” he said. “She saved France and England from
disaster early in the war. She is worn out by the strain and claims as
her right that the Allies now shoulder the burden.”

On November 7th, an armed insurrection against the Coalition Government
and Premier Kerensky was precipitated by the Bolsheviki faction.
The revolt was headed by Leon Trotzky, President of the Central
Executive Committee of the Petrograd Council, with Nicholas Lenine,
the Bolsheviki leader. The Revolutionists seized the offices of the
telephone and telegraph companies and occupied the state bank and
the Marie Palace where the preliminary Parliament had been sitting.
The garrison at Petrograd espoused the cause of the Bolsheviki and
complete control was seized with comparatively little fighting. The
Government troops were quickly overpowered, except at the Winter
Palace, whose chief guardians were the Woman’s Battalion, and the
Military Cadets. The Woman’s Battalion fought bravely, and suffered
terribly, and with the Military Cadets who also remained true, held the
Palace for several hours. The Bolsheviki brought up armored cars and
the cruiser Aurora, and turned the guns of the Fortress of SS. Peter
and Paul upon the Palace before its defenders would surrender.

That evening the Revolutionary Committee issued a characteristic
proclamation, denouncing the government of Kerensky as opposed to the
government and the people, and calling upon the soldiers in the army to
arrest their officers if they did not at once join the Revolution. They
announced the following program:

  First: The offer of an immediate democratic peace.

  Second: The immediate handing over of large proportional lands to the
  peasants.

  Third: The transmission of all authority to the Council of Workmen’s
  and Soldiers’ Delegates.

  Fourth: The honest convocation of the Constitutional Assembly.

At a meeting of the Council Trotzky declared that the Government
no longer existed, and introduced Lenine as an old comrade whom he
welcomed back. Lenine was received with prolonged cheers, and said:
“Now we have a Revolution. The peasants and workmen control the
Government. This is only a preliminary step toward a similar revolution
everywhere.”

Proclamation after proclamation came from the new Government. In one
of them it was stated “M. Kerensky has taken flight, and all military
bodies have been empowered to take all possible measures to arrest
Kerensky and bring him back to Petrograd. All complicity with Kerensky
will be dealt with as high treason.”

A Bolsheviki Cabinet was named. The Premier was Nicholas Lenine; the
Foreign Minister, Leon Trotzky. The other Cabinet members were all
Bolsheviki, including Bibenko, a Kronstadt sailor, of the Committee on
War and Marine, and Shliapnikov, a laborer, who was Minister of Labor.
Lenine’s personality has already been described. Trotzky, the chief aid
of Lenine’s rebellion, had been living in New York City three months
before the Czar was overthrown, but he had previously been expelled
from Germany, France, Switzerland and Spain. His real name was Leber
Braunstein, and he was born in the Russian Government of Kherson, near
the Black Sea.

When the insurrection occurred, Kerensky succeeded in escaping from
Petrograd, and persuaded about two thousand Cossacks, several hundred
Military Cadets, and a contingent of Artillery, to fight under his
banner. He advanced toward Petrograd, but his forces were greatly
outnumbered by the Bolsheviki. At Tsarskoe-Selo a battle took place,
the Kerensky troops met defeat, and its leader saved himself by flight.

At Moscow the entire city passed into the control of the Bolsheviki
but not without severe fighting in which more than three thousand
people were slain. On the collapse of the Kerensky government
conditions throughout Russia became chaotic. Ukraine declared its
independence, and Finland also severed its connection with Russia.
General Kaledines declared against the Bolsheviki, and organized an
army to save the country. Siberia, Bessarabia, Lithuania, the Caucasus
and other districts declared their complete independence of the Central
Government.

The Bolsheviki, in control at Petrograd, opened negotiations with
the Central Powers for an armistice along the entire front from the
Baltic to Asia Minor, and on December 17th, such an armistice went
into effect. Meanwhile they began negotiations for a treaty of peace.
General Dukholin, the Commander-in-Chief on November 20th, was ordered
by Lenine to propose the armistice. To this request he made no reply,
and on November 21st, he was deposed and Ensign Krylenko was appointed
the new Commander-in-Chief. General Dukholin was subsequently
murdered, by being thrown from a train after the Bolsheviki seized the
general headquarters.

Trotzky sent a note to the representatives of neutral powers in
Petrograd, informing them of his proposal for an armistice, and
stating, “The consummation of an immediate peace is demanded in all
countries, both belligerent and neutral. The Russian Government counts
on the firm support of workmen in all countries in this struggle for
peace.” Lenine, however, declared that Russia did not contemplate a
separate peace with Germany, and that the Russian Government, before
agreeing to an armistice, would communicate with the Allies and make
a certain proposal to the imperialistic governments of France and
England, rejection of which would place them in open opposition to the
wishes of their own people.

A period of turmoil followed. In the meantime elections for the
Constituent Assembly were held. The result in Petrograd was announced
as 272,000 votes for the Bolsheviki, 211,000 for the Constitutional
Democrats, and 116,000 for the Social Revolutionaries, showing
that the Bolsheviki failed to attain a majority. Notwithstanding
the prevailing chaos, the Lenine-Trotzky Government persisted in
negotiations for an armistice, and it was arranged that the first
conference be held at the German headquarters at Brest-Litovsk.

The Russian delegates were Kaminev, whose real name was Rosenfelt,
a well known Bolshevist leader; Sokolnikov, a sailor; Bithenko, a
soldier, and Mstislasky, who had formerly been librarian to the General
Staff, but who was now a strong Socialist. Representatives were present
of Germany, Austria-Hungary, Turkey and Bulgaria.

After many interchanges of opinion a suspension of hostilities for
ten days was authorized, to be utilized in bringing to a conclusion
negotiations for an armistice. On December 7th it was announced from
Petrograd that for the first time since the war not a shot was fired on
the Russian front. Foreign Secretary Trotzky, on the 6th of December,
notified the allied embassies in Petrograd of these negotiations
and added that the armistice would be signed only on condition that
the troops should not be transferred from one front to another. He
announced that negotiations had been suspended to accord the Allied
Governments opportunity to define their attitude toward the peace
negotiation; that is, their willingness or refusal to participate in
negotiations for an armistice and peace. In case of refusal they must
declare clearly and definitely before all mankind the aims for which
the peoples of Europe had been called to shed their blood during the
fourth year of the war.

No official replies were made to this note. On December 7th, Generals
Kaledines and Kornilov raised the standard of revolt, but reports
indicated that the Bolsheviki were extending their control over all
Russia. A meeting of the Constituent Assembly took place on December
11th. Less than 50 of the 600 delegates attended. Meanwhile the
negotiations for an armistice continued. On December 16th an agreement
was reached and an armistice signed, to continue from December 17th
to January 14th, 1918.

  [Illustration: RUSSIA’S GREAT RAILWAY LINK BETWEEN VLADIVOSTOK AND THE
  ARCTIC OCEAN]

Within the first month in which the Bolsheviki conducted the government
numerous edicts of a revolutionary character were issued. Class titles,
distinctions and privileges were abolished; the corporate property of
nobles, merchants and burgesses was to be handed over to the state,
as was all church property, lands, money and precious stones; and
religious instruction was to cease in the schools. Strikes were in
progress everywhere, and disorder was rampant.

Kornilov, Terestchenko and other associates of Kerensky, were
imprisoned in the Fortress of SS. Peter and Paul; the Cadet Party was
outlawed by decree and the houses of its leaders raided. On January
8, 1918, it was announced that the Bolsheviki had determined that all
loans and Treasury bonds held by foreign subjects, abroad or in Russia,
were repudiated.

During this period the Bolsheviki’s Foreign Secretary astonished
the world by making public the secret treaties between Russia and
Foreign Governments in the early years of the war. These treaties
dealt with the proposed annexation by Russia of the Dardanelles,
Constantinople and certain areas in Asia Minor; with the French claim
on Alsace-Lorraine and the left bank of the Rhine; with offers to
Greece, for the purpose of inducing her to assist Serbia; with plans to
alter her Western boundaries, with the British and Russian control of
Persia; and with Italy’s desire to annex certain Austrian territories.
These treaties had been seized upon the Bolsheviki assumption of power,
and were now repudiated by the new Government.

During the period of the armistice Lenine began his move for a separate
peace, in spite of the formal protests of the Allied representatives at
Petrograd.

The first sitting took place on Saturday, December 22, 1917. Among
the delegates were Dr. Richard von Kühlmann, Foreign Minister, and
General Hoffman, of Germany; Count Czernin, Foreign Minister of
Austria-Hungary; Minister Kopov, of Bulgaria; Nesimy Bey, former
Foreign Minister of Turkey, and a large delegation from Russia,
composed of Bolshevist leaders. Dr. von Kühlmann was chosen as the
presiding officer and made the opening speech. The Russian peace
demands and the German counter-proposals were then read, and considered.

The German proposals proved unacceptable to Russia, and a second
session of the peace conference was held at Brest-Litovsk on January
10, 1918. Trotzky himself attended this meeting as one of the
representatives from Russia, and there was also a representative from
Ukraine, which had declared its independence, and was allowed to join
the conference. General Hoffman protested strongly against the Russian
endeavor to make appeals of a revolutionary character to the German
troops.

The armistice having expired, it was agreed it should be continued
to February 12th. After a long and acrimonious debate the Conference
broke up in a clash over the evacuation of the Russian provinces. On
January 24th it was announced that the Russian delegates to the peace
conference had unanimously decided to reject the German terms. They
stated that when they asked Germany’s final terms General Hoffman of
the German delegation had replied by opening a map and pointing out a
line from the shores of the Gulf of Finland to the east of the Moon
Sound Islands, to Valk, to the west of Minsk, to Brest-Litovsk, thus
eliminating Courland and all the Baltic provinces.

  [Illustration: RUSSIA AS PARTITIONED BY THE BREST-LITOVSK TREATY]

Asked the terms of the Central Powers in regard to the territory south
of Brest-Litovsk General Hoffman replied that was a question which they
would discuss only with Ukraine. M. Kaminev asked: “Supposing we do not
agree to such condition, what are you going to do?”

General Hoffman’s answer was, “Within a week we would occupy Reval.”

On January 27th, Trotzky made his report to the Soviets at Petrograd.
After a thorough explanation of the peace debates, he declared that
the Government of the Soviets could not sign such a peace. It was then
decided to demobilize the Russian army and withdraw from the war.

Final sessions of the peace congress were resumed at Brest-Litovsk,
January 29th; a peace treaty was made between the Central Powers and
the Ukraine, and the Bolsheviki yielded to the German demands without
signing a treaty. Meanwhile the Russian Constituent Assembly which met
at Petrograd on January 19th, was dissolved on January 20th, by the
Bolsheviki Council.

Disorders continued throughout all Russia and counter-revolutionary
movements were started at many places. On February 18th, the day
when the armistice agreement between Russia and the Central Powers
expired, German forces began a new invasion of Russia. The next day
the Bolshevist Government issued a statement, announcing that Russia
would be compelled to sign a peace. The German advance went on rapidly,
and many important Russian cities were occupied. On February 24th, the
Bolshevist Government announced that peace terms had been accepted, and
a treaty was signed at Brest-Litovsk on March 3rd.

On March 14th the All-Russia Council of Soviets voted to ratify the
treaty, after an all-night sitting. Lenine pronounced himself in
favor of accepting the German terms; Trotzky stood for war, but did
not attend the meetings of the Council. Lenine defended the step
by pointing out that the country was completely unable to offer
resistance, and that peace was indispensable for the completion of the
social war in Russia.

  [Illustration: GENERAL MAP OF THE BALTIC SEA

  With the collapse of Russia German forces advanced from Riga, along
  the Gulf of Finland occupying Reval and threatening Petrograd.]

The new treaty dispossessed Russia of territories amounting to nearly
one-quarter of the area of European Russia, and inhabited by one-third
of Russia’s total population. Trotzky resigned on account of his
opposition to the treaty and was succeeded by M. Tchitcherin. He
became Chairman of the Petrograd Labor Commune. The treaty between
Russia and the Central Powers was formally denounced by the Premiers
and Foreign Ministers of Great Britain, France, and Italy, and was not
recognized by the Allied nations.

A final revocation of its provisions by both sides did not put an end
to the military operations of the Central Powers in Russia, nor did
the Russians cease to make feeble and sporadic attempts at resistance.
Germany was forced to keep large bodies of troops along the Russian
front, but formally Russia’s part in the war had come to an end.




CHAPTER VII

GERMANY’S OBJECT LESSON TO THE UNITED STATES


During the first two years of the war many Americans, especially those
in the West, observed the great events which were happening with great
interest, no doubt, but with a feeling of detachment. The war was a
long way off. The Atlantic Ocean separated Europe from America, and it
seemed almost absurd to think that the Great War could ever affect us.

In the year 1916, however, two events happened which seemed to bring
the war to our door. The first was the arrival at Baltimore, on July
9th, of the Deutschland, a German submarine of great size, built
entirely for commercial purposes, and the second was the appearance,
on the 7th of October, of a German war submarine in the harbor at
Newport, Rhode Island, and its exploit on the following day when
it sunk a number of British and neutral vessels just outside the
three-mile line on the Atlantic coast.

  [Illustration: _© G. V. Buck, Washington, D. C._

  THE CARGO SUBMARINE “DEUTSCHLAND”

  Shortly before the United States entered the war, Germany sent over a
  merchant submarine with a cargo of dye stuffs and drugs, an implied
  threat which was later realized in the U-boat attacks on the American
  coast.]

The performances of these two vessels were equally suggestive, but the
popular feeling with regard to what they had done was very divergent.
The voyage of the Deutschland roused the widest admiration but the
action of the U-53 stirred up the deepest indignation. Yet the voyages
of each showed with equal clearness that, however much America might
consider herself separated from the Great War, the new scientific
invention, the submarine, had annihilated space, and America, too, was
now but a neighbor of the nations at war.

The voyage of the Deutschland was a romance in itself. It was commanded
by Captain Paul Koenig, a German officer of the old school. He had
been captain of the Schleswig of the North German Lloyd, and of other
big liners. When the power of the British fleet drove German commerce
from the seas, he had found himself without a job, and, as he phrased
it, “was drifting about the country like a derelict.” One day, in
September, 1915, he was asked to meet Herr Alfred Lohmann, an agent of
the North German Lloyd Line, and surprised by an offer to navigate a
submarine cargo ship from Germany to America. Captain Koenig, who seems
to have been in every way an admirable personage, at once consented. He
has told us the story of his trip in his interesting book called “The
Voyage of the Deutschland.”

The Deutschland itself was three hundred feet long, thirty feet wide,
and carried one thousand tons of cargo and a crew of twenty-nine men.
It cost a half a million dollars, but paid for itself in the first
trip. According to Captain Koenig the voyage on the whole seems to
have been most enjoyable. He understood his boat well and had watched
its construction. Before setting out on his voyage he carefully
trained his crew, and experimented with the Deutschland until he was
thoroughly familiar with all its peculiarities. The cargo was composed
of dye stuffs, and the ship was well supplied with provisions and
comforts. In his description of the trip he lays most emphasis upon the
discomfort resulting from heavy weather and from storms. He was able
to avoid all danger from hostile ships by the very simple process of
diving. No English ship approached him closely as he was always able to
see them from a distance, usually observing their course by means of
their smoke.

One of his liveliest adventures, however, occurred when attempting to
submerge suddenly during a heavy sea on the appearance of a destroyer.
The destroyer apparently never observed the Deutschland, but in the
endeavor to dive quickly the submarine practically stood on its
head, and dived down into the mud, where it found itself held fast.
Captain Koenig however was equal to the emergency, and by balancing
and trimming the tanks he finally restored the center of gravity and
released his boat.

A considerable portion of his trip was passed upon the surface as he
only submerged when there was suspicion of danger. According to his
story his men kept always in the highest spirits. They had plenty of
music, and doubtless appreciated the extraordinary nature of their
voyage.

An amusing incident during the trip was the attempt to camouflage his
ship by a framework, made of canvas and so constructed as to give
the outline of a steamer. One day a hostile steamer appeared in the
distance and Captain Koenig proceeded to test his disguise. After great
difficulties, especially in connection with the production of smoke, he
finally had the whole construction fairly at work. The steamer, which
had been peacefully going its way, on seeing the new ship suddenly
changed her course and steered directly toward the Deutschland. It
evidently took the Deutschland for some kind of a wreck and was
hurrying to give it assistance. Captain Koenig at once pulled off his
super-structure and revealed himself as a submarine, and the strange
vessel veered about and hurried off as fast as it could.

On the arrival of the Deutschland in America Captain Koenig and his
crew found their difficulties over. All arrangements had been made by
representatives of the North German Lloyd for their safety and comfort.
As they ran up Chesapeake Bay they were greeted by the whistles of
the neutral steamers that they passed. The moving-picture companies
immortalized the crew and they were treated with the utmost hospitality.

The Allied governments protested that the Deutschland was really a war
vessel and on the 12th of July a commission of three American naval
officers was sent down from Washington to make an investigation. The
investigation showed the Deutschland was absolutely unarmed and the
American Government decided not to interfere.

The position of the Allies was that a submarine, even though without
guns or torpedoes, was practically a vessel of war from its very
nature, and for it to pretend to be a merchant vessel was as if some
great German man-of-war should dismount its guns and pass them over to
some tender and then undertake to visit an American port. They argued
that if the submarine would come out from harbor it might be easily
fitted with detachable torpedo tubes, and become as dangerous as any
U-boat. Even without arms it might easily sink an unarmed merchant
vessel by ramming. But the United States was not convinced, and
American citizens rather admired the genial captain.

His return was almost as uneventful as his voyage out. At the
very beginning he had trouble in not being able to rise after an
experimental dive. This misadventure was caused by a plug of mud which
had stopped up the opening of the manometer. But the difficulty was
overcome, and he was able to pass under water between the British ships
which were on the lookout. His return home was a triumph. Hundreds
of thousands of people gathered along the banks of the Weser, filled
with the greatest enthusiasm. Poems were written in his honor and his
appearance was everywhere greeted with enthusiastic applause. The
Germans felt sure that through the Deutschland and similar boats they
had broken the British blockade.

Captain Koenig made a second voyage, landing at New London,
Connecticut, on November 1st, where he took on a cargo of rubber,
nickel and other valuable commodities. On November 16th, in attempting
to get away to sea, he met with a collision with the tug T. A. Scott,
Jr., and had to return to New London for repairs. He concluded his
voyage, however, without difficulty. In spite of his success the
Germans did not make any very great attempt to develop a fleet of
submarine cargo boats. It was commonly reported that at least one
sister vessel was either captured by the British or was lost at sea,
and in the latter years of the war the gradual entrance of America into
the conflict of course prevented any further developments of this form
of trade.

The other German act which brought home to Americans the possibilities
of the submarine, the visit of the U-53, was a very different sort of
matter. U-53 was a German submarine of the largest type. On October
7, 1916, it made a sudden appearance at Newport, and its captain,
Lieutenant-Captain Hans Rose, was entertained as if he were a welcome
guest. He sent a letter to the German Ambassador at Washington and
received visitors in his beautiful boat. The U-53 was a war submarine,
two hundred and thirteen feet long, with two deck guns and four torpedo
tubes. It had been engaged in the war against Allied commerce in the
Mediterranean. Captain Rose paid formal visits to Rear-Admiral Austin
Knight, Commander of the United States Second Naval District, stationed
at Newport, and Rear-Admiral Albert Gleaves, Commander of the American
destroyer flotilla at that place, and then set out secretly to his
destination.

On the next day the news came in that the U-53 had sunk five merchant
vessels. These were the Strathdene, which was torpedoed; the West
Point, a British freighter, also torpedoed; the Stephano, a passenger
liner between New York and Halifax, which the submarine attempted
to sink by opening its sea valves but was finally torpedoed; the
Blommersdijk, a Dutch freighter, and the Christian Knudsen, a Norwegian
boat. The American steamer Kansan was also stopped, but allowed to
proceed. When the submarine began its work wireless signals soon told
what was happening, and Admiral Knight, with the Newport destroyer
flotilla, hurried to the rescue. These destroyers picked up two hundred
and sixteen men and acted with such promptness that not a single life
was lost.

The action of the U-53 produced intense excitement in America. The
newspapers were filled with editorial denunciation, and the people
were roused to indignation. The American Government apparently took
the ground that the Germans were acting according to law and according
to their promise to America. They had given warning in each case and
allowed the crews of the vessels which they sunk to take to their
boats. This was believed to be a fulfilment of their pledge “not to
sink merchant vessels without warning and without saving human lives,
unless the ship attempts to escape or offers resistance.”

The general feeling, however, of American public opinion, was that it
was a brutal act. In the case of the Stephano there were ninety-four
passengers. These, together with the crew, were placed adrift in boats
at eight o’clock in the evening, in a rough sea sixty miles away from
the nearest land. If the American destroyer fleet had not rushed to the
rescue it is extremely likely that a great many of these boats would
never have reached land. The German Government did not save these human
lives. It was the American navy which did that. But, technicalities
aside, the pride of the American people was wounded. They could not
tolerate a situation in which American men-of-war should stand idly
by and watch a submarine in a leisurely manner sink ships engaged in
American trade whose passengers and crews contained many American
citizens.

It was another one of those foolish things that Germans were constantly
doing, which gave them no appreciable military advantage, but stirred
up against them the sentiment of the world. The Germans perhaps were
anxious to show the power of the submarines, and to give America an
object lesson in that power. They wished to make plain that they could
destroy overseas trade, and that if the United States should endeavor
to send troops across the water they would be able to sink those troops.

The Germans probably never seriously contemplated a blockade of the
American coast. The U-53 returned to its base and the danger was ended.
American commerce went peacefully on, and the net result of the German
audacity was in the increase of bitterness in the popular feeling
toward the German methods.




CHAPTER VIII

AMERICA TRANSFORMED BY WAR


When Germany threw down the gauge of battle to the civilized world,
the German High Command calculated that the long, rigorous and
thorough military training to which every male German had submitted,
would make a military force invincible in the field. The High Command
believed that a nation so trained would carve out victory after victory
and would end the World War before any nation could train its men
sufficiently to check the Teutonic rush.

To that theory was opposed the democratic conception that the free
nations of earth could train their young men intensively for six months
and send these vigorous free men into the field to win the final
decision over the hosts of autocracy.

These antagonistic theories were tried out to a finish in the World
War and the theory of democracy, developed in the training camps of
America, Canada, Australia, Britain, France and Italy, triumphed.
Especially in the training camps of America was the German theory
disproved. There within six months the best fighting troops on earth
were developed and trained in the most modern of war-time practices.
Everything that Germany could devise found its answer in American
ingenuity, American endurance and American skill.

The entrance of America into the tremendous conflict on April 6,
1917, was followed immediately by the mobilization of the entire
nation. Business and industry of every character were represented
in the Council of National Defense which acted as a great central
functioning organization for all industries and agencies connected with
the prosecution of the war. Executives of rare talent commanding high
salaries tendered their services freely to the government. These were
the “dollar a year men” whose productive genius was to bear fruit in
the clothing, arming, provisioning, munitioning and transportation of
four million men and the conquest of Germany by a veritable avalanche
of war material.

Out of the ranks of business and science came Hurley, Schwab, Piez,
Coonley to drive forward a record-breaking shipbuilding program,
Stettinus to speed up the manufacture of munitions, John W. Ryan to
coordinate and accelerate the manufacture of airplanes, Vance C.
McCormick and Dr. Alonzo E. Taylor to solve the problems of the War
Trade Board, Hoover to multiply food production, to conserve food
supplies and to place the army and citizenry of America upon food
rations while maintaining the morale of the Allies through scientific
food distribution and a host of other patriotic civilians who put the
resources of the nation behind the military and naval forces opposed
to Germany. Every available loom was put at work to make cloth for the
army and the navy, the leather market was drained of its supplies to
shoe our forces with wear adapted to the drastic requirements of modern
warfare.

German capital invested in American plants was placed under the
jurisdiction of A. Mitchell Palmer as Alien Property Custodian. German
ships were seized and transformed into American transports. Physicians
over military age set a glorious example of patriotic devotion by
their enlistment in thousands. Lawyers and citizens generally in the
same category as to age entered the office of the Judge Advocate
General or the ranks of the Four Minute Men or the American Protective
League which rendered great service to the country in exposing German
propaganda and in placing would-be slackers in military service.
Bankers led the mighty Liberty Loan and War Savings Stamp drives and
unselfishly placed the resources of their institutions at the service
of the government.

Women and children rallied to the flag with an intensity of purpose,
sacrifice and effort that demonstrated how completely was the heart of
America in the war. Work in shops, fields, hospitals, Red Cross work
rooms and elsewhere was cheerfully and enthusiastically performed and
the sacrifices of food rationing, higher prices, lightless nights,
gasolineless Sundays, diminished steam railway and trolley service were
accepted with a multitude of minor inconveniences without a murmur.
Congress had a free hand in making appropriations. The country approved
without a minute’s hesitation bills for taxation that in other days
would have brought ruin to the political party proposing them. Billions
were voted to departments where hundreds of thousands had been the rule.

The true temper of the American people was carefully hidden from the
German people by the German newspapers acting under instructions from
the Imperial Government. Instead of the truth, false reports were
printed in the newspapers of Berlin and elsewhere that the passage
of the American conscription law had been followed by rioting and
rebellion in many places and that fully fifty per cent of the American
people was opposed to the declaration of war. The fact that the
selective service act passed in May, 1917, was accepted by everybody
in this country as a wholly equitable and satisfactory law did not
permeate into Germany until the first American Expeditionary Force had
actually landed in France.

  [Illustration: THE UNITED STATES AN ARMED CAMP]

America’s fighting power was demonstrated conclusively to the
Germanic intellect at Seicheprey, Bouresches Wood, Belleau Wood,
Château-Thierry, and in the Forest of the Argonne. Especially was it
demonstrated when it came to fighting in small units, or in individual
fighting. The highly disciplined and highly trained German soldiers
were absolutely unfitted to cope with Americans, Canadians and
Australians when it came to matching individual against individual, or
small group against small group.

This was shown in the wild reaches of the Forest of the Argonne. There
the machine-gun nests of the Germans were isolated and demolished
speedily. Small parties of Germans were stalked and run down by the
relentless Americans. On the other hand, the Germans could make no
headway against the American troops operating in the Forest. The
famous “Lost Battalion” of the 308th United States Infantry penetrated
so far in advance of its supports that it was cut off for four days
without food, water or supplies of munitions in the Argonne. The enemy
had cut its line of communication and was enforced both in front and in
the rear. Yet the lost battalion, comprising two companies armed with
rifles and the French automatic rifle known as the Chauchat gun, called
by the doughboys “Sho Sho,” held out against the best the overpowering
forces of the Germans could send against them, and were ultimately
rescued from their dangerous position.

The training of the Americans was also in modern efficiency that
made America prominent in the world of industry. The reduction of
the German salient at St. Mihiel was an object lesson to the Germans
in American methods. General Pershing commanding that operation in
person, assembled the newspaper correspondents the day before the
drive. Maps were shown, giving the extent and locale of the attack. The
correspondents were invited to follow the American troops and a time
schedule for the advance was given to the various corps commanders.

In that operation, 152 square miles of territory and 72 villages were
captured outright. For the reduction of the German defenses and for the
creeping barrage preceding the American advance, more than 1,500,000
shells were fired by the artillery. Approximately 100,000 detail maps
and 40,000 photographs prepared largely from aerial observations, were
issued for the guidance of the artillery and the infantry. These maps
and photographs detailed all the natural and artificial defenses of
the entire salient. More than 5,000 miles of telephone wire was laid
by American engineers immediately preceding the attack, and as the
Americans advanced on the morning of the battle, September 12, 1918,
6,000 telephone instruments were connected with this wire. Ten thousand
men were engaged in operating the hastily constructed telephone system;
3,000 carrier pigeons supplemented this work.

During the battle American airplanes swept the skies clear of enemy
aircraft and signalled instructions to the artillery, besides attacking
the moving infantry, artillery and supply trains of the enemy. So sure
were the Americans of their success that moving-picture operators
took more than 10,000 feet of moving-picture film showing the rout of
the Germans. Four thousand eight hundred trucks carried food, men and
munitions into the lines. Miles of American railroads, both of standard
and narrow gauge, carrying American-made equipment, assisted in the
transportation of men and supplies. Hospital facilities including 35
hospital trains, 16,000 beds in the advanced sector, and 55,000 other
beds back of the fighting line, were prepared. Less than ten per cent
of this hospital equipment was used.

As the direct consequence of this preparation, which far outstripped
anything that any other nation had attempted in a similar offensive,
the Americans with a remarkably small casualty list took 15,188
prisoners, 111 guns, many of them of large calibre, immense quantities
of munitions and other supplies, and inflicted heavy death losses upon
the fleeing Germans.

Two selective service laws operated as manhood conscription. The first
of these took men between the ages of twenty-one and thirty-one years
inclusive. June 5, 1917, was fixed as registration day. The total
number enrolled was 9,586,508. The first selective army drawn from this
number was 625,000 men.

The second selective service legislation embraced all citizens between
the ages of 18 and 45 inclusive, not included in the first draft. Over
13,000,000 men enrolled on September 12, 1918.

The grand total of registrants in both drafts was 23,456,021. Youths
who had not completed their 19th year were set apart in a group to be
called last and men between thirty-six and forty-five were also put
in a deferred class. The government’s plan was to have approximately
5,000,000 men under arms before the summer of 1919. The German
armistice on November 11th found 4,000,000 men actually under arms and
an assignment of 250,000 made to the training camps.

A most important factor in the training plans of the United States was
that incorporated in the organization of the Students’ Army Training
Corps, by which 359 American colleges and universities were taken over
by the Government and 150,000 young men entered these institutions
for the purpose of becoming trained soldiers. The following are the
conditions under which the S. A. T. C. was organized:

The War Department undertook to furnish officers, uniforms, rifles,
and equipment, and to assign the student to military duty, after a
few months, either at an officers’ training camp or in some technical
school, or in a regular army cantonment with troops as a private,
according to the degree of aptitude shown on the college campus.

At the same time a circular letter to the Presidents of colleges
arranged for a contract under which the Government became responsible
for the expense of the housing, subsistence, and instruction of the
students. The preliminary arrangement contained this provision, among
others:

  The per diem rate of $1 for subsistence and housing is to govern
  temporarily, pending examination of the conditions in the individual
  institution and a careful working out of the costs involved. The
  amount so fixed is calculated from the experience of this committee
  during the last five months in contracting with over 100 collegiate
  institutions for the housing and subsistence of over 100,000
  soldiers in the National Army Training Detachment. This experience
  indicates that the average cost of housing is 15 to 20 cents per day;
  subsistence, (army ration or equivalent,) 70 to 80 cents per day. The
  tuition charge is based on the regular per diem tuition charge of the
  institution in the year 1917-18.

A permanent contract was arranged later under these governing
principles:

  The basis of payment will be reimbursement for actual and necessary
  costs to the institutions for the services rendered to the Government
  in the maintenance and instruction of the soldiers with the stated
  limitation as to cost of instruction. Contract price will be arrived
  at by agreement after careful study of the conditions in each case,
  in conference with authorities of the institution.

  The War Department will have authority to specify and control the
  courses of instruction to be given by the institution.

  The entity and power for usefulness of the institutions will be
  safeguarded so that when the contract ends the institutions shall be
  in condition to resume their functions of general education.

  The teaching force will be preserved so far as practicable, and this
  matter so treated that its members shall feel that in changing to the
  special intensive work desired by the Government they are rendering a
  vital and greatly needed service.

  The Government will ask from the institutions a specific service;
  that is, the housing, subsistence, and instruction along specified
  lines of a certain number of student soldiers. There will be no
  interference with the freedom of the institution in conducting other
  courses in the usual way.

  The contract will be for a fixed term, probably nine months, subject
  to renewal for a further period on reasonable notice, on terms to be
  agreed upon and subject to cancellation on similar terms.

The story of the life of the American army behind the lines in France
would fill a volume. The hospitality of the French people had something
pathetic in it. They were expecting miracles of their new Allies. They
were war sick. Nearly all of them had lost some father, or brother, or
husband, and here came these big, hearty, joyous soldiers, full of
ardor and confident of victory. It put a new spirit into all France.
Their reception when they first landed was a scene of such fervor
and enthusiasm as had never been known before and probably will not
be known again. Soon the American soldier, in his khaki, with his
wide-brimmed soft hat, became a common sight.

The villagers put up bunting, calico signs, flags and had stocks of
American canned goods to show in their shop windows. The children, when
bold, played with the American soldiers, and the children that were
more shy ventured to go up and touch an American soldier’s leg. Very
old peasant ladies put on their Sunday black, and went out walking,
and in some mysterious way talking with American soldiers. The village
Mayors turned out and made speeches, utterly incomprehensible to the
American soldiers.

The engineering, building and machinery works the Americans put up
were astonishing. Gangs of workers went over in thousands; many of
these were college men. They dug and toiled as efficiently as any
laborer. One American Major told with glee how a party of these
young workers arrived straight from America at 3.30 P. M. and started
digging at 5 A. M. next morning, “and they liked it, it tickled them
to death.” Many of these draftees, in fact, were sick and tired of
inaction in ports before their departure from America, and they
welcomed work in France as if it were some great game.

Perhaps the biggest work of all the Americans performed was a certain
aviation camp and school. In a few months it was completed, and it
was the biggest of its kind in the world. The number of airplanes
used merely for training was in itself remarkable. The flying men--or
boys--who had, of course, already been broken-in in America, did an
additional course in France, and when they left the aviation camp they
were absolutely ready for air-fighting at the front. This was the
finishing school. The aviators went through eight distinct courses in
the school. They were perfected in flying, in observation, in bombing,
in machine-gun firing. On even a cloudy and windy day the air overhead
buzzed with these young American flyers, all getting into the pink of
condition to do their stunts at the front. They lived in the camp, and
it required moving heaven and earth for one of them to get leave to go
even to the nearest little quiet old town.

  [Illustration: THE SECRETARY OF WAR’S OFFICIAL CHART

  This reproduction of Secretary Baker’s chart, which hung in his office
  at Washington, illustrates graphically Germany’s success and failure
  in the war.]

An impression of complete businesslike determination was what one got
when visiting the Americans in France. A discipline even stricter than
that which applied in British and French troops was in force. In towns,
officers, for instance, were not allowed out after 9 P. M. Some towns
where subalterns discovered the wine of the country were instantly put
“out of bounds.” No officer, on any pretext whatsoever, was allowed to
go to Paris except on official business. From the camps they were not
even allowed to go to the neighboring towns.

  [Illustration: SHOWING GERMANY’S ROAD TO DEFEAT

  Austria’s fluctuations are indicated, as well as the morale, military
  position, political and food conditions and undersea enterprises of
  Germany.]

The postal censors who read the letters of the American Expeditionary
Force were required to know forty-seven languages! Of these languages,
the two least used were Chinese and German.

The announcement of the organization of the first American Field Army
was contained in the following dispatch from France, August 11, 1918:

“The first American field army has been organized. It is under the
direct command of General John J. Pershing, Commander-in-Chief of the
American forces. The corps commanders thus far announced are Major
Generals Liggett, Bullard, Bundy, Read, and Wright.

“The creation of the first field army is the first step toward the
co-ordination of all the American forces in France. This does not
mean the immediate withdrawal from the British and French commands of
all American units, and it is probable that divisions will be used
on the French and British fronts for weeks yet. It is understood,
however, that the policy of organizing other armies will be carried out
steadily.”

This announcement marked a milestone in the military effort of the
United States. When the American troops first arrived in France, they
were associated in small units with the French to get primary training
with the armies then in the field.

Gradually regiments began to function under French division commanders.
Then American divisions were formed and trained under French corps
commanders. Next, American corps began to operate under French army
commanders. Finally, the first American army was created, because
enough divisions and corps had been graduated from the school of
experience.

An American division numbers 30,000 men, and a corps consists of six
divisions, two of which play the part of reserves. With auxiliary
troops, air squadrons, tank sections, heavy artillery, and other
branches, a corps numbers from 225,000 to 250,000 men.

The following were the general officers temporarily assigned to command
the first five corps:

First corps--Major General Hunter Liggett.

Second corps--Major General Robert L. Bullard.

Third corps--Major General William M. Wright.

Fourth corps--Major General George W. Read.

Fifth corps--Major General Omar Bundy.

Seven divisions and one separate regiment of American troops
participated in the counter-offensive between Château-Thierry and
Soissons and in resisting the German attack in the Champagne, it was
officially stated on July 20. The 42nd, or “Rainbow” Division, composed
of National Guard troops from twenty-six States and the District of
Columbia, including the New York 69th Infantry, now designated as the
165th Infantry, took part in the fighting in the Champagne east of
Rheims. The six other divisions were associated with the French in the
counter-offensive between Château-Thierry and Soissons. These divisions
were the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th of the Regular Army, the 26th National
Guard Division, composed of troops from the six New England States,
and the 28th, composed of the Pennsylvania National Guard. Marines
were included in this number. The separate regiment that fought in the
Champagne was a negro unit attached to the new 93rd Division, composed
entirely of negro troops. It was also announced that the 77th Division
was “in the line near Lunéville” and was “operating as a division,
complete under its own commander.”

The 42nd Division had the distinction, General March announced on
August 3d, of defeating the 4th Division of the crack Prussian Guards,
professional soldiers of the German standing army, who had never before
failed. General March also disclosed the fact that another American
division had been sent into that part of the Rheims salient where the
Germans showed resistance. This was the 32nd Division. “The American
divisions in the Rheims salient,” General March said, “have now been
put in contiguously and are actually getting together as an American
force. Southeast of Fère-en-Tardenois our 1st Corps is operating, with
General Liggett in actual command.”

The organization of twelve new divisions was announced by General
March, Chief of Staff, in statements made on July 24th and July
31st. These divisions were numerically designated from 9 to 20, and
organized at Camps Devens, Meade, Sheridan, Custer, Funston, Lewis,
Logan, Kearny, Beauregard, Travis, Dodge, and Sevier. Each division
had two infantry regiments of the regular army as nucleus, the other
elements being made up of drafted men. The new divisions moved into the
designated camps as the divisions already trained there moved out.

The composition of an American division is as follows:

Two brigades of infantry, each consisting of two regiments of infantry
and one machine-gun battalion.

One brigade of artillery, consisting of three regiments of field
artillery, and one trench mortar battery.

One regiment of engineers.

One field signal battalion.

The following trains: Headquarters and military police, sanitary,
supply, engineer, and ammunition.

The following division units: Headquarters troop and one machine-gun
battalion.

A general order of the War Department providing for the consolidation
of all branches of the army into one army to be known as the “United
States Army” was promulgated by General March on August 7th. The text
of the order read:

  1. This country has but one army--the United States Army. It includes
  all the land forces in the service of the United States. Those
  forces, however raised, lose their identity in that of the United
  States Army. Distinctive appellations, such as the Regular Army,
  Reserve Corps, National Army, and National Guard, heretofore employed
  in administration command, will be discontinued, and the single term,
  the United States Army, will be exclusively used.

  2. Orders having reference to the United States Army as divided in
  separate and component forces of distinct origin, or assuming or
  contemplating such a division, are to that extent revoked.

  3. The insignia now prescribed for the Regular Army shall hereafter
  be worn by the United States Army.

  4. All effective commissions purporting to be, and described therein,
  as commissions in the Regular Army, National Guard, National Army,
  or the Reserve Corps, shall hereafter be held to be, and regarded
  as commissions in the United States Army--permanent, provisional,
  or temporary, as fixed by the conditions of their issue; and all
  such commissions are hereby amended accordingly. Hereafter during
  the period of the existing emergency all commissions of officers
  shall be in the United States Army and in staff corps, departments,
  and arms of the service thereof, and shall, as the law may provide,
  be permanent, for a term, or for the period of the emergency. And
  hereafter during the period of the existing emergency provisional
  and temporary appointments in the grade of Second Lieutenant and
  temporary promotions in the Regular Army and appointments in the
  Reserve Corps will be discontinued.

  5. While the number of commissions in each grade and each staff
  corps, department, and arm of the service shall be kept within the
  limits fixed by law, officers shall be assigned without reference
  to the term of their commissions solely in the interest of the
  service; and officers and enlisted men will be transferred from one
  organization to another as the interests of the service may require.

  6. Except as otherwise provided by law, promotion in the United
  States Army shall be by selection. Permanent promotions in the
  Regular Army will continue to be made as prescribed by law.




CHAPTER IX

HOW FOOD WON THE WAR


Food won the war. Without the American farmer the Entente Allies
must have capitulated. Wheat, beef, corn, foods of every variety,
hermetically sealed in tins, were thrown into the scales on the side
of the Entente Allies in sufficient quantities to tip the balance
toward the side of civilization and against autocracy. Late in the
fall of 1918 when victory was assured to America and the Allies, there
was received this message of appreciation from General Pershing to
the farmers of America, through Carl Vrooman, Assistant Secretary of
Agriculture:

                                      AMERICAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCES,
                             Office of the Commander-in-Chief, France,
                                                       October 16, 1918.

  Honorable CARL VROOMAN, _Assistant Secretary of Agriculture_:

  DEAR MR. VROOMAN:--Will you please convey to farmers of America our
  profound appreciation of their patriotic services to the country and
  to the allied armies in the field. They have furnished their full
  quota of fighting men; they have bought largely of Liberty Bonds; and
  they have increased their production of food crops both last year and
  this by over a thousand million bushels above normal production. Food
  is of vital military necessity for us and for our Allies, and from
  the day of our entry into the war America’s armies of food producers
  have rendered invaluable service to the Allied cause by supporting
  the soldiers at the front through their devoted and splendidly
  successful work in the fields and furrows at home.

                                          Very sincerely,
                                                       JOHN J. PERSHING.

This tribute to the men and women on the farms of America from the
head of the American forces in France is fit recognition of the
important part played by American food producers in the war. It was
early recognized by all the belligerent powers that final victory
was a question of national morale and national endurance. Morale
could not be maintained without food. The bread lines in Petrograd
gave birth to the revolution, and Russian famine was the mother of
Russian terrorism. German men and women, starved of fats and sweets,
deteriorated so rapidly that the crime ratio both in towns and country
districts mounted appallingly. Conditions in Austria-Hungary were even
worse. Acute distress arising from threatening famine was very largely
instrumental in driving Bulgaria out of the war.

On the other hand, Germany’s greatest reliance for a victorious
decision lay in the U-boat blockade of Great Britain, France and
Italy. Though some depredations came to these countries, the submarine
blockade never fully materialized and with its failure Germany’s hopes
faded and died.

The Entente Allies and the United States were fortunate in securing
Herbert C. Hoover to administer food distribution throughout their
lands and to stimulate food production by the farmers of the United
States. After his signal success in the administration of the Belgian
Relief Commission, Mr. Hoover became the unanimous choice of the Allies
for the victualing of the militant and civilian populations after
America’s entrance into the World War. His work divided itself into
three heads:

First, stimulation of food production.

Second, elimination of food wastage in the homes and public eating
places of the country.

Third, education of food dealers and the public in the use of foods
that were substitutes for wheat, rye, pork, beef and sugar.

After long and acrimonious debates in Congress, Mr. Hoover, as Federal
Food Administrator, was clothed with extraordinary powers enabling him
to fulfil the purposes for which he was appointed. The ability with
which he and his associates performed their work was demonstrated in
the complete débâcle of Bulgaria, Turkey, Austria-Hungary and Germany.
These countries were starved out quite as truly as they were fought
out. The concrete evidence of the Food Administration’s success is
shown in the subjoined table which indicates the increase over normal
in exporting of foodstuffs by the United States since it became the
food reservoir for the world on account of the war.

TOTAL EXPORTS

                             3-year pre-war    1916-17         1917-18
                               average       fiscal year    fiscal year

  Total beef products, lbs.   186,375,372    405,427,417     565,462,445
  Total pork products, lbs.   996,230,627  1,498,302,713   1,691,437,435
  Total dairy products, lbs.   26,037,790    351,958,336     590,798,274
  Total vegetable oils, lbs.  332,430,537    206,708,490     151,029,893
  Total grains, bushels       183,777,331    395,140,238  [A]349,123,235
  Total sugar, pounds         621,745,507  3,084,390,281   2,149,787,050

                                          July, 1917, to  July, 1918, to
                                          Sept. 30. 1917  Sept. 30. 1918

  Total beef products, lbs.                   93,962,477     171,986,147
  Total pork products, lbs.                  196,256,750     540,946,324
  Total dairy products, lbs.                 130,071,165     161,245,029
  Total vegetable oils, lbs.                  27,719,553      26,026,701
  Total grains, bushels                       66,383,084     121,668,823
  Total sugar, pounds                      1,108,559,519   1,065,398,247

  [A] Wheat harvest 1917-18 was 200,217,333 bushels below the average of
      the three previous years.

Upon the same subject Mr. Hoover himself after the harvest of 1918 said:

  It is now possible to summarize the shipments of foodstuffs from the
  United States to the allied countries during the fiscal year just
  closed--practically the last harvest year. These amounts include all
  shipments to allied countries for their and our armies, the civilian
  population, the Belgian relief, and the Red Cross. The figures
  indicate the measure of effort of the American people in support of
  allied food supplies.

  The total value of these food shipments, which were in the
  main purchased through, or with the collaboration of the Food
  Administration, amounted to, roundly, $1,400,000,000 during the
  fiscal year.

  The shipments of meats and fats (including meat products, dairy
  products, vegetable oils, etc.) to allied destinations were as
  follows:

                                   POUNDS

  Fiscal year 1916-17           2,166,500,000
  Fiscal year 1917-18           3,011,100,000
                               --------------
    Increase                      844,600,000

  Our slaughterable animals at the beginning of the last fiscal year
  were not appreciably larger in number than the year before; and
  particularly in hogs, there were probably less. The increase in
  shipments is due to conservation and the extra weight of animals
  added by our farmers.

  The full effect of these efforts began to bear their best results
  in the last half of the fiscal year, when the exports to the Allies
  were 2,133,100,000 pounds, as against 1,266,500,000 pounds in the
  same period of the year before. This compares with an average of
  801,000,000 pounds of total exports for the same half years of the
  three-year pre-war period.

  In cereals and cereal products reduced to terms of cereal bushels,
  our shipments to allied destinations have been:

                                   BUSHELS

  Fiscal year 1916-17            259,900,000
  Fiscal year 1917-18            340,800,000
                                ------------
    Increase                      80,900,000

  Of these cereals our shipments of the prime breadstuffs in the fiscal
  year 1917-18 to allied destinations were: Wheat, 131,000,000 bushels
  and rye 13,900,000 bushels, a total of 144,900,000 bushels.

  The exports to allied destinations during the fiscal year 1916-17
  were: Wheat, 135,100,000 bushels and rye 2,300,000 bushels, a total
  of 137,400,000 bushels. In addition, some 10,000,000 bushels of 1917
  wheat are now in port for allied destinations or en route thereto.
  The total shipments to allied countries from our last harvest of
  wheat will be, therefore, about 141,000,000 bushels, or a total of
  154,900,000 bushels of prime breadstuffs.

  In addition to this we have shipped some 10,000,000 bushels to
  neutrals dependent upon us and we have received some imports from
  other quarters. A large part of the other cereals exported has also
  gone into war bread.

  It is interesting to note that since the urgent request of the
  Allied Food Controllers early in the year for a further shipment of
  75,000,000 bushels from our 1917 wheat than originally planned, we
  shall have shipped to Europe, or have en route, nearly 85,000,000
  bushels. At the time of this request our surplus was already more
  than exhausted.

  This accomplishment of our people in this matter stands out even more
  clearly if we bear in mind that we had available in the fiscal year
  1916-17 from net carry over and a surplus over our normal consumption
  about 200,000,000 bushels of wheat which we were able to export that
  year without trenching on our home loaf. This last year, however,
  owing to the large failure of the 1917 wheat crop we had available
  from net carry over and production and imports only just about
  our normal consumption. Therefore our wheat shipments to allied
  destinations represent approximately savings from our own wheat bread.

  These figures, however, do not fully convey the volume of the effort
  and sacrifice made during the past year by the whole American people.
  Despite the magnificent effort of our agricultural population in
  planting a much increased acreage in 1917, not only was there a very
  large failure in wheat, but also the corn failed to mature properly,
  and corn is our dominant crop.

  We calculate that the total nutritional production of the country for
  the fiscal year just closed was between seven per cent and nine per
  cent below the average of the three previous years, our nutritional
  surplus for export in those years being about the same amount as the
  shrinkage last year. Therefore the consumption and waste in food have
  been greatly reduced in every direction during the year.

  I am sure that the millions of our people, agricultural as well as
  urban, who have contributed to these results, should feel a very
  definite satisfaction that, in a year of universal food shortage in
  the Northern Hemisphere, all of these people joined together against
  Germany have come through into sight of the coming harvest not only
  with health and strength fully maintained, but with only temporary
  periods of hardship. The European Allies have been compelled to
  sacrifice more than our own people, but we have not failed to load
  every steamer since the delays of the storm months of last winter.

  Our contributions to this end could not have been accomplished
  without effort and sacrifice, and it is a matter for further
  satisfaction, that it had been accomplished voluntarily and
  individually. It is difficult to distinguish between various sections
  of our people--the homes, public eating places, food trades, urban or
  agricultural populations--in assessing credit for these results, but
  no one will deny the dominant part of the American woman.

But the work of the Food Administration did not come to an end with the
close of the war. Insistent cries for food came from the members of the
defeated Teutonic alliance, as well as from the suffering Allied and
neutral nations. To meet those demands, Mr. Hoover sailed for Europe to
organize the food relief of the needy nations. The State Department,
explaining his mission, stated that as the first measure of assistance
to Belgium it was necessary to increase immediately the volume of
foodstuffs formerly supplied, so as to physically rehabilitate this
under-nourished population. The relief commission during the four years
of war sent to the 10,000,000 people in the occupied area over 600
cargoes of food, comprising 120,000,000 bushels of breadstuffs and over
3,000,000,000 pounds of other foodstuffs besides 20,000,000 garments,
the whole representing an expenditure of nearly $600,000,000. The
support of the commission came from the Belgian, British, French and
American governments, together with public charity. In addition to this
some $350,000,000 worth of native produce was financed internally in
Belgium by the relief organization.

The second portion of Mr. Hoover’s mission was to organize and
determine the need of foodstuffs to the liberated populations in
Southern Europe--the Czecho-Slovaks, the Jugo-Slavs, and Serbians,
Roumanians and others.

To meet the conditions in Europe following the armistice of November
11, 1918, the employment service of the United States set to work
laying far-reaching plans for meeting the problem of world food
shortage.

Abnormal drought during the summer of 1918 seriously injured the
Belgian, Italian and French harvests, and appeals to the United States
for help were made.

And the appeals were not in vain. America took from her granaries
the cereals needed to stave off European famine. Germany was cared
for as well as those nations who had been associated in arms with
the United States. The demands after the war were greater than they
had been during the conflict but the nation that had fed the allies
of civilization in war time performed the task of feeding the world,
friend and foe alike, when peace at length came upon the earth.




CHAPTER X

THE UNITED STATES NAVY IN THE WAR


Long before war was declared the United States Government had been
engaged in preparation. It had realized that unrestricted submarine
warfare was sure to lead to war, and though for a time it was
preserving what it was pleased to call “an armed neutrality” the
President doubtless was well aware what such an “armed neutrality”
would lead to. Merchant ships were being armed for protection against
the submarine, and crews from the Navy assigned to work the guns. The
first collision was sure to mean an active state of war. The Naval
Department, therefore, was working at full speed, getting the Navy
ready for active service as soon as war should be declared.

Secretary Daniels made every effort to obtain the crews that were
necessary to man the new ships which were being fully commissioned
with the greatest possible speed and called upon newspapers all through
the country to do their utmost to stimulate enlistment.

On March 26th President Wilson issued an order increasing the enlisted
strength of the United States Marine Corps to 17,400 men, the limit
allowed under the law. On March 29th a hundred and three ensigns were
graduated from the Naval Academy three months ahead of their time, and
on April 6th, as soon as war was declared, the Navy was mobilized.

Within a few minutes after Secretary Daniels had signed the order for
this purpose one hundred code messages were sent out from the office of
Admiral W. S. Benson, Chief of Naval Operations, which placed the Navy
on a war basis, and put into the control of the Navy Department the
naval militia of all the states as well as the Naval Reserves and the
Coast Guard Service. In the Naval Militia were about 584 officers, and
7,933 men. These were at once assembled and assigned to coast patrol
service. All of the ships that were in active commission in the Navy
were already ready for duty. But there were reserve battleships and
reserve destroyers, besides ships which had been out of commission
which had to be manned as quickly as possible.

At the beginning of the war there were 361 vessels ready for service,
including twelve first-line battleships, twenty-five second-line
battleships, nine armored cruisers, twenty-four other cruisers, seven
monitors, fifty destroyers, sixteen coast torpedo vessels, seventeen
torpedo boats, forty-four submarines, eight tenders to torpedo boats,
twenty-eight gunboats, four transports, four supply ships, one hospital
ship, twenty-one fuel ships, fourteen converted yachts, forty-nine
tugs, and twenty-eight minor vessels. There were about seventy thousand
regularly enlisted men, besides eight thousand five hundred members of
the naval militia. Many yachts together with their volunteer crews had
been offered to the government by patriotic citizens.

For the complete mobilization of the Navy, as it then stood, 99,809
regularly enlisted men and 45,870 reserves were necessary. About
twenty-seven thousand of these were needed for coast defense, and
twelve thousand at the various shore stations. Retired officers were
called out, and assigned to duty which would permit officers on the
active list to be employed in sea duty. The Navy therefore still lacked
thirty-five thousand men to bring it up to its full authorized strength
at the beginning, but after the declaration of war an active recruiting
campaign brought volunteers by thousands. The service was a popular one
and recruits were easily obtained.

One of the first phases of the mobilization was the organization of a
large fleet of mosquito craft to patrol the Atlantic Coast, and keep on
the watch for submarines. Many of these boats had been private yachts,
and hundreds of young men volunteered from the colleges and schools of
the country for this work. Many boat builders submitted proposals to
construct small boats for this kind of patrol duty, and on March 31st a
coast patrol fleet was organized by the Government under the command
of Captain Henry B. Wilson.

  [Illustration: MAP OF THE UNITED STATES SHOWING THE IMMENSE LENGTH OF
  COAST-LINE TO BE DEFENDED]

The Navy took possession immediately on the declaration of war of all
wireless stations in the United States dismantling all that could not
be useful to the Government. War zones were established along the whole
coast-line of the United States, making a series of local barred zones
extending from the larger harbors in American waters all along the
line. These harbors were barred at night to entering vessels in order
to guard against surprise by German submarines. Contracts were awarded
for the construction of twenty-four destroyers even before war was
declared, and many more were already under construction.

  [Illustration: © _Underwood and Underwood, N. Y._

  A “SMOKE CURTAIN” VIEWED FROM BEHIND THE SCENES

  The U. S. battleship Wyoming pours out from her funnels the heavy
  opaque smoke screen which is designed to lie low on the water and
  prevent observation by the enemy.]

The growth of the Navy in one year may give some idea of the efficiency
of the Navy Department. In April, 1917, the regular Navy contained
4,366 officers and 64,680 men. In April, 1918, it contained 7,798
officers and 192,385 men. In the Marine Corps in 1917 there were 426
officers and 13,266 men. In one year this was increased to 1,389
officers and 38,629 men. In the organization of the Naval Reserves,
naval volunteers and coast guards there were in 1917, 24,569 men; in
1918, 98,319 men, and 11,477 officers.

While personnel of the Navy was thus expanding the United States
battle fleet had grown to more than twice the size of the fleet before
the war. When war was declared there were under construction 123 new
naval vessels. These were completed and contracts made for 949 new
vessels. Among the ships completed are fifteen battleships, six battle
cruisers, seven scout cruisers, twenty-seven destroyers, and sixty-one
submarines. About eight hundred craft were taken over and converted
into transports, patrol service boats, submarine chasers, mine sweepers
and mine layers.

The Government also seized 109 German ships which had been interned in
American ports. The Germans had attempted to damage these ships so that
they would be useless, but they were all repaired, and carried American
troops and supplies in great quantities to France.

As the fleet grew the training of the necessary officers and crews
was conducted on a grand scale. Naval camps were established at
various points. The main ones were those at Philadelphia, (League
Island); Newport, Rhode Island; Cape May, New Jersey; Charleston,
South Carolina; Pensacola, Florida; Key West, Florida; Mare Island,
California; Puget Sound, Washington; Hingham, Massachusetts; Norfolk,
Virginia; New Orleans, San Diego, New York Navy Yard, Great Lakes,
Illinois; Pelham, New York; Hampton Roads, Virginia; and Gulfport,
Mississippi. Schools in gunnery and engineering were established and
thousands of gunners and engineers were trained, not only for the Navy
but for the armed merchant vessels.

The training of gun crews by target practice was a feature of this
work. Long before the war began systematic training of this kind
had been done, but mainly in connection with the big guns, and
great efficiency had been obtained by the steady practice. With the
introduction of the submarine, it became necessary to pay special
attention to the training of the crews of guns of smaller calibre, and
it was not long before the officers of our Navy were congratulating
themselves on the efficiency of their men. It is not easy to hit so
small a mark as the periscope of a submarine, but it could be done and
many times was done.

Twenty-eight days after the declaration of war a fleet of United States
destroyers under the command of Admiral William S. Sims reported for
service at a British port.

The American destroyer squadron arrived at Queenstown after a voyage
without incident. The water front was lined with an excited crowd
carrying small American flags, which cheered the destroyers from the
time they were first seen until they reached the dock. They cheered
again when Admiral Sims went ashore to greet the British senior officer
who had come to welcome the Americans. It was a most informal function.
After the usual handshakes the British Commander congratulated the
Americans on their safe voyage and then asked:

“When will you be ready for business?”

“We can start at once,” was the prompt reply of Admiral Sims.

This rather took the breath away from the British Commander and he said
he had not expected the Americans to begin work so soon after their
long voyage. Later after a short tour of the destroyers he admitted
that the American tars looked prepared.

“Yes,” said the American Commander, “we made preparations on the way
over. That is why we are ready.”

  [Illustration: “HAIL COLUMBIA”

  England greets the first American destroyer squadron to arrive in
  European waters after the United States entered the war. The British
  admiral asked Admiral Sims, who was in command, how long he needed to
  refit and get ready for action. He replied “We are ready now.”]

Everything on board the destroyers was in excellent condition. The
only thing lacking was heavier clothing. The American uniforms were too
light for the cool weather which is common in the English waters. This
condition, however, was quickly remedied, and the American ships at
once put out to sea all in splendid condition and filled with the same
enthusiasm that the Marines showed later at Château-Thierry.

“They are certainly a fine body of men, and what’s more, their craft
looked just as fit,” declared the British Commander.

One of the American destroyers, even before the American fleet had
arrived at Queenstown, had begun war duty. It had picked up and
escorted through the danger zone one of the largest of the Atlantic
liners. The passengers on board the liner sent the Commander of the
destroyer the following message:

  British passengers on board a steamer, bound for a British port,
  under the protection of an American destroyer, send their hearty
  greetings to her Commander and her officers and crew, and desire
  to express their keen appreciation of this practical co-operation
  between the government and people of the United States and the
  British Empire, who are now fighting together for the freedom of the
  seas.

Moving pictures were taken by the official British Government
photographer as the American flotilla came into the harbor, and sailors
who received shore leave were plied with English hospitality. The
streets of Queenstown were decorated with the Stars and Stripes. As
soon as American residents in England learned that American warships
were to cross the Atlantic they held a conference to provide recreation
buildings, containing sleeping, eating, and recreation accommodations
for the comfort of the American sailors. The destroyer flotilla was the
first contribution of American military power to the Entente Alliance
against Germany.

Admiral Sims is one of the most energetic and efficient of American
Naval officers and to him as much as to any other man is due the
efficiency of the American Navy. During the period just before the
Spanish-American War Lieutenant Sims was Naval Attaché at Paris, and
rendered invaluable services in buying ships and supplies for the
Navy. In 1900 he was assigned to duty on the Battleship Kentucky, then
stationed in the Orient. In 1902 he was ordered to the Navy Department
and placed in charge of the Office of Naval Practice, where he remained
for seven years and devoted his attention to the improvement of the
Navy in gunnery. During that time he made constant trips to England
to consult with English experts in gunnery and ordnance, and became
intimately acquainted with Sir Percy Scott, who had been knighted and
made Rear-Admiral for the improvements he had introduced in connection
with the gunnery of the British warships. In 1909 he was made Commander
of the Battleship Minnesota, and in 1911 was a member of the college
staff at the Naval War College. In 1913 he was made Commander of the
torpedo flotilla of the Atlantic fleet and in 1916 assigned to command
the Dreadnought Nevada. In 1916 he was President of the Naval War
College. He was made Rear-Admiral in 1916 and Vice-Admiral in 1917 and
assigned to the command of all American war vessels abroad.

Immediately upon their arrival the American vessels began operation in
the submarine zone. Admiral Beatty then addressed the following message
to Admiral Henry T. Mayo of the United States Atlantic Fleet:

  The Grand Fleet rejoices that the Atlantic fleet will now share in
  preserving the liberties of the world and in maintaining the chivalry
  of the sea.

Admiral Mayo replied:

  The United States Atlantic Fleet appreciates the message from the
  British fleet and welcomes opportunities for work with the British
  fleet for the freedom of the seas.

It may also be noted, as a fact which is not without significance, that
the losses by submarine which had reached their highest mark in the
last week in April began from that time steadily to diminish.

One of the main duties of the Navy was to convoy transports and
supplies across the Atlantic. This was done with the assistance of
Allied vessels with remarkable success. For a long period it seemed
as if the U-boats would not be able to penetrate through the Allied
convoy, but during 1918 four transports were torpedoed. The first was
the Tuscania which was sunk in February off the north coast of Ireland,
with 1,912 officers and men of the Michigan and Wisconsin guardsmen, of
whom 204 were lost. The Oronsa, which was torpedoed in April, contained
250 men and all were saved except three of the crew. The Moldavia
came next with five hundred troops, of whom fifty-five were lost. On
September 6th the troopship Persic with 2,800 American soldiers was
torpedoed but American destroyers rescued all on board, and the Persic,
which was prevented from sinking by its water-tight bulkheads, was
afterwards beached.

Several American ships, including the troop transport Mount Vernon,
were torpedoed on return trips and a number of the men of their crews
were lost, and several naval vessels were lost, including the destroyer
Jacob Jones, and the patrol vessel Alcedo. The Cassin was torpedoed,
but reached port under its own steam and later returned to service.

In September and October three more American transports were added
to the list of American losses. On September 26th the United States
steamer Tampa was torpedoed and sank with all on board, losing 118 men.
On September 30th the Ticonderoga was also torpedoed, eleven Naval
officers and 102 enlisted men being lost.

In addition to these submarine losses several ships and a number of
men were lost through collision. The United States steamer Westgate
was sunk in a collision with the steamer American on October 7th, with
the loss of seven men. On October 9th the United States destroyer
Shaw lost fifteen men in a collision, though she later succeeded in
reaching port. On October 11th the American steamer Otranto was sunk in
a collision with the British liner Cashmere. Of seven hundred American
soldiers who were on board 365 were lost. At this time about three
thousand anti-submarine craft were in operation day and night around
the British Isles, and about five thousand working in the open sea.
This was what made it possible for the Allies to win the war.

Inasmuch as the illegal use of the submarine by Germany brought America
into the war it was extremely appropriate that she should take an
active part in the suppression of the submarine menace. The methods
which were used in fighting the submarines differed much in different
cases. The action of the government in arming merchantmen and in
providing them with trained gun crews did much to lower the number of
such ships sunk by the U-boats.

The submarine, which had formerly been able to stop the unarmed
merchantman and sink him at leisure, after a few combats with an armed
merchantman began to be very wary and to depend almost entirely upon
his torpedoes. It was not always easy for the submarine to get in a
position where her torpedo would be effective, and the merchantman was
carefully directed, if attacked, to pursue a zig-zag irregular course,
and at the same time endeavor to hamper the submarine by shooting as
near her periscope as possible.

Along the sea coasts and at certain points in the English Channel
great nets were used effectively. Submarines, however, toward the end
of the war were made sufficiently large to be able to force their way
through these nets, and net-cutting devices were also used by them with
considerable effect. The best way to destroy the submarines seemed to
be in a direct attack by flotillas or destroyers.

By the end of the war the whole process of sinking or destroying
submarines had been thoroughly organized. Practically every portion
of the seas near Great Britain and France was carefully watched and
the appearance of a submarine immediately reported. As the submarine
would only travel at a certain well-understood speed during a given
time, it was possible to calculate, after the locality of one was
known, about how far from that point it would be found at any later
period. Destroyers were therefore sent circling around the point
where the submarine had been discovered, enlarging their distance
from the center every hour. In the course of time the submarine would
be compelled to come up for air, and then, if luck were with the
destroyer, it might find its foe before it was seen itself. Having
discovered the submarine the destroyer immediately endeavored to ram,
dropping depth bombs at the point where they supposed the enemy to be.

These bombs were so constructed that at a certain depth in the water
they would explode, and the force of the explosion was so great that
even if they did not strike the submarine they would be sure to damage
it seriously, sometimes throwing the submarine to the surface partly
out of water, and at other times driving her to come to the surface
herself ready to surrender.

In many cases it was not necessary to use the depth bomb at all. The
gunners on board the destroyers had become extraordinarily expert,
and though a shot might destroy the periscope of a submarine without
doing much damage, most submarines carrying extra periscopes to use
if necessary, yet it was soon found that it was possible by the use of
plunging shells to do effective damage. Plunging shells are somewhat
similar in their operation to bombs. Such a shell falling just short of
a periscope and fused to burst both on contact and at a certain depth
was extremely likely to do damage.

In the pursuit of the U-boat the airplane was also extremely effective.
These were sent out to patrol large districts near the Allied coast,
and also, in some cases, from ships themselves. It is possible in
certain weather conditions for the observer on an airplane to detect
a submarine even when it is submerged and the airplane can not only
attack the submarine by dropping depth bombs, but it can signal at
once the location of the enemy to the hurrying destroyers. Indeed, as
the submarine warfare proceeded the main difficulty of the Allies was
to locate the submarines. Many ingenious devices were used for this
purpose, and many of the English vessels had listening attachments
under water which were intended to make it possible to hear a
submarine as it moved. These, however, do not seem to have been very
effective. The submarine itself seems at times to have been fitted out
in a similar way and to have thus been able to hear the sound of an
approaching ship.

Many thrilling reports of naval actions against German submarines were
given out officially by the British admiralty from time to time. In
most of these cases the submarine was both rammed and attacked by depth
bombs. In nearly all of them the only proof of success was the oil and
air bubbles which came to the surface.

One interesting encounter was that in which a British submarine sighted
a German U-boat, while both were on the surface. The British submarine
dived and later was able to pick up the enemy through the periscope and
discharge a torpedo in such a way as to destroy the German vessel. When
the British submarine arose it found a patch of oil in which Germans
were swimming.

Ordinarily, however, a submarine was of little service in a fight
against another for the radius of sight from a periscope is so short
that it is practically blind so far as another periscope is concerned.
This blindness of the submarine was taken advantage of by the Allies in
every possible way.

Merchant ships were camouflaged, that is painted in such a way that
they could not be easily distinguished at a distance. In the great
convoys ships were often hidden by great masses of smoke to prevent a
submarine from finding an easy mark. At night all lights were put out
or else so shaded as not to be seen by the enemy. The result of these
methods was the gradual destruction of the U-boat menace.

In the summer of 1918, while occasionally some ship was lost, the
production of new ships was much greater than those that were sunk.
During the month of June it was announced that the completion of new
tonnage by the Allies had outstripped the losses by thousands of tons.
During this period the United States had attained its full stride in
building ships, airplanes and ordnance.

Archibald Hurd, the English naval expert, said: “When the war is over
the nation will form some conception of the debt which we owe the
American navy for the manner in which it has co-operated, not only in
connection with the convoy system, but in fighting the submarines. If
the naval position is improving today, as it is, it is due to the fact
that the British and American fleets are working in closest accord,
supported by an immense body of skilled workers on both sides of the
Atlantic, who are turning out destroyers and other craft for dealing
with the submarine, as well as mines and bombs. Some of the finest
battleships of the United States navy are now associated with the
British Grand fleet. They are not only splendid fighting ships but they
are well officered and manned.”

On May 13, 1918, in appreciation of some remarks which had been made
by Sir Eric Geddes, First Lord of the British Admiralty, Josephus
Daniels, the American Secretary of the Navy, addressed a letter to him
in the following terms:

“Your reference to the splendid spirit of co-operation between the
navies of our countries, and your warm praise of the officers and men
of our navy, have been most grateful to me and to all Americans. The
brightest spot in the tragedy of this war is this mutual appreciation
of the men in the naval service. Our officers who have returned confirm
the statements of Admiral Sims of the courtesies and kindness shown in
every way by the admiralty and the officers of the British fleet. I had
hoped to have the pleasure of visiting Great Britain and of personally
expressing this feeling of mutual working together, but the task here
of making ready more and more units for the fleet is a very serious
one, and my duty chains me here. The order in all the navy is ‘Full
speed ahead’ in the construction of destroyers and other craft, and
the whole service is keyed up to press this program forward. Therefore
I shall not have the pleasure, until this program shall materialize,
of a personal acquaintance and a conference which would be of such
interest and value.”

Sir Eric Geddes replied: “I am exceedingly grateful for your letter. As
you know we, all of us here, have great admiration for your officers
and men, and for the splendid help they are giving in European
waters. Further, we find Admiral Sims invaluable in council and in
co-operation. I fully appreciate how onerous your office must be and
much though I regret that you do not see your way to visiting this
country in the near future, I hope we may some day have the pleasure of
welcoming you here.”

Sir Eric afterward himself visited the United States and his visit was
made the occasion of a general expression of the high regard which the
United States felt for the splendid assistance which the great British
navy had rendered in convoying its armies across the seas.

From August, 1914, to September, 1918, German submarines sank 7,157,088
deadweight tons of shipping in excess of the tonnage turned out in
that period by the allied and neutral nations. That total does not
represent the depletion of the fleets at the command of the allied and
neutral nations, however, as 3,795,000 deadweight tons of enemy ships
were seized in the meantime. Actually, the allied and neutral nations
on September 1, 1918, had only 3,362,088 less tons of shipping in
operation than in August, 1914.

These details of the shipping situation were issued by the United
States Shipping Board along with figures to show that, with American
and allied yards under full headway, Europe’s danger of being starved
by the German submarine was apparently at an end. The United States
took the lead of all nations in shipbuilding.

In all, the allied and neutral nations lost 21,404,913 deadweight
tons of shipping since the beginning of the war, showing that Germany
maintained an average destruction of about 445,000 deadweight tons
monthly. During the latter months, however, the sinkings fell
considerably below the average, and allied construction passed
destruction for the first time in May, 1918.

The losses of the allied and neutral shipping in August, 1918, amounted
to 327,676 gross tonnage, of which 176,401 was British and 151,275
allied and neutral, as compared with the adjusted figures for July of
323,772, and 182,524 and 141,248, respectively. British losses from
all causes during August were 10,887 tons higher than in June, which
was the lowest month since the introduction of unrestricted submarine
warfare.

An official statement of the United States Shipping Board, issued
September 21, 1918, set forth the following facts:

  STATUS OF WORLD TONNAGE, SEPTEMBER 1, 1918

  (Germany and Austria excluded)

                                                              Deadweight
                                                                  Tons

  Total losses (allied and neutral) August, 1914-September
    1, 1918                                                   21,404,913

  Total construction (allied and neutral) August,
    1914-September 1, 1918                                    14,247,825

  Total enemy tonnage captured (to end of 1917)                3,795,000

  Excess of losses over gains                                  3,362,088

  Estimated normal increase in world’s tonnage if
    war had not occurred (based on rate of increase,
    1905-1914)                                                14,700,000

  Net deficit due to war                                      18,062,088

  In August, deliveries to the Shipping Board and other sea-going
  construction in the United States for private parties passed allied
  and neutral destruction for that month. The figures:

                                               Gross
                                           (Actual Tons)

  Deliveries to the Shipping Board               244,121
  Other construction over 1,000 gross             16,918
                                                --------
      Total                                      261,039

  Losses (allied and neutral)                    259,400
  America alone surpassed losses for month by      1,630

  NOTE.--World’s merchant tonnage, as of June 30, 1914, totaled
  49,089,552 gross tons, or, roughly, 73,634,328 deadweight tons.
  (Lloyd’s Register.)

The climax to Germany’s piratical submarine adventure took place
a few days after the armistice, when a mournful procession of
shamefaced-looking U-boats sailed between lines of English cruisers to
be handed over to the tender mercies of the Allied governments.




CHAPTER XI

CHINA JOINS THE FIGHTING DEMOCRACIES


The circumstances connected with the entrance of the Republic of China
into the World War were as follows: On February 4, 1917, the American
Minister, Dr. Reinsch, requested the Chinese Government to follow the
United States in protesting against the German use of the submarine
against neutral ships. On February 9th Pekin made such a protest to
Germany, and declared its intention of severing diplomatic relations if
the protest were ineffectual. The immediate answer of Germany was to
torpedo the French ship Atlas in the Mediterranean on which were over
seven hundred Chinese laborers. On March 10th the Chinese Parliament
empowered the government to break with Germany. On the same afternoon a
reply was received from the German Government to the Chinese protest,
of a very mild character. The reply produced a great deal of surprise
in China.

A Chinese statesman made this comment on the German change of attitude:
“The troops under Count Waldersee leaving Germany for the relief of
Pekin were instructed by the War Lord to grant no quarter to the
Chinese. On the other hand, the latter were to be so disciplined that
they would never dare look a German in the face again. The whirligig
of time brings its own revenge, and today, after the lapse of scarcely
seventeen years, we hear the _Vossische Zeitung_ commenting on the
diplomatic rupture between China and Germany, lamenting that even so
weak a state as the Far Eastern Republic dares look defiantly at the
German nation.”

The breaking off of relations with Germany led to trouble between the
President of the Republic and the Premier. The Premier desired to break
off relations without consulting Parliament. The President insisted
that Parliament should be consulted, which was actually done. The next
move was to declare war, but here the Chinese statesmen hesitated, and
their hesitation arose through their feeling toward Japan.

They sympathized with the Allies, but to Chinese eyes Japan had stood
for all that Germany, as depicted by its worst enemies, stood for. The
Japanese Government was professing friendliness to China, but that
profession the Chinese could not reconcile with Japan’s action in
the Chino-Japanese War, and on many other occasions since that war.
In Chinese hearts there was a strong feeling of distrust, fear and
hatred for their Japanese neighbor. There were other reasons also why
they hesitated to declare war. Indeed the devotion to peace, which is
deep-rooted in the nation, would be a sufficient reason in itself.

Moreover, China, like other neutral nations, was a strong center
for German propaganda. German consuls and diplomatic officers, who
were scholars in Chinese literature and philosophy, and who also had
sufficient funds to entertain Chinese officials as they liked to be
entertained, were actively endeavoring to influence Chinese statesmen.

The Chinese Government, however, was determined to declare war, and
to secure support the Chinese Premier summoned a council of military
governors to consider the question. The majority of the conference
agreed with the Premier, but a vigorous opposition began to develop. On
May 7th the President sent a formal request to Parliament to approve of
a declaration of war. Parliament delayed and was threatened by a mob.
The Premier was accused of having instigated the riot and support began
to gather for Parliament, and an attack was made on the Premier as
being willing to sell China.

Day by day the differences between the militants and democrats became
more bitter. The question of war was almost lost in the differences of
opinion as to the comparative powers of Parliament and the Executive.
A demand was made that the Premier resign. He refused to resign and
was dismissed from office by the President, who was supported in his
action by the Parliament. This was practically a success of the
Parliamentary party, when suddenly several of the northern generals
and governors declared their independence, and the movement gradually
developed into a revolution in favor of the restoration of the Manchu
Dynasty. This revolution was finally suppressed.

The Japanese declared themselves, not the enemies, but the protectors
of China in terms that suggested the appearance of a Monroe Doctrine
for Asia. They pledged themselves not to violate the political
independence or territorial integrity of China, and declared strongly
in favor of the principle of the open door and equal opportunity.

On August 14th China formally joined the Allies and declared war on
Austria and Germany. She took no great part in the war, except to
invade the German and Austrian settlements in Tientsin and Hankow,
which were taken over by the Chinese authorities. The Chinese officials
also seized the Deutsche Asiatische Bank which had been financing
agent in China for the German Government, and fourteen German vessels
which had been interned in Chinese ports. Thousands of Chinese coolies
were sent to Europe to work in the Allied interests behind the battle
lines, and China has in all respects been faithful to her pledges.

The official war proclamation of China which was signed by President
Feng-kuo-chang reviewed China’s efforts to induce Germany to modify
her submarine policy. It declared that China had been forced to sever
relations with Germany and with Austro-Hungary to protect the lives and
property of Chinese citizens. It promised that China would respect the
Hague Convention, regarding the humane conduct of the war, and asserted
that China’s object was to hasten peace.

On July 22d Siam officially entered the war and all German and Austrian
subjects were interned and German ships seized. The Prince of Songkla,
brother of the reigning monarch, declared that natural necessity and
moral pressure forced Siam into the war on the side of the Entente.
Neutrality had become increasingly difficult, and it had become
apparent that freedom and justice in states which were not strong from
a military standpoint were not to be secured through the policy of
the Central Powers. Sympathy for Belgium and the popular aversion to
Teutonic methods had left no doubt as to the duty of Siam. The motive
of Siam had a curious fitness, though there was a certain quaintness in
her expression of a desire to make, “the world safe for democracy.”

The native name of Siam is Muang-Thai, which means the Kingdom of the
Free. Siam is about as large as France, and has a population of about
eight millions. Its people, who are of many shades of yellowish-brown,
have descended into this corner of Asia from the highlands north of
Burma and east of Tibet. The tradition among these people was that the
further south they descended the shorter they would grow, that when
they reached the southern plains they would be no larger than rabbits,
and that when they came to the sea they would vanish altogether. As a
fact the northern tribes are much taller than the southern.

The original population of the Siamese peninsula was a race of black
dwarfs, remnants of whom still dwell in caves and nests of palm
leaves, so shy that it is almost impossible to catch a glimpse of
them. The literary and religious culture of Siam comes mainly from
southern India. Buddhism is the dominant religion, but there are many
Mohammedans also.

The accession of Siam to the ranks of the Allies did not make any great
difference from a military point of view, but it was another evidence
of the general world feeling with regard to the Germans and their
encroachments in all parts of the world. Germany had tried its best
to keep these nations from participation in the war, but not only had
her propaganda failed but the feeling of these Oriental peoples was
strongly anti-German. Much of this feeling, it is readily seen from
their statements and their private letters, comes from a personal
resentment of the boorish attitude of the individual German. By the end
of 1918 the Teuton influence in the Orient had completely disappeared.




CHAPTER XII

THE DEFEAT AND RECOVERY OF ITALY


None of the surprises of the World War brought such sudden and stunning
dismay to the Entente Allies as the news of the Italian disaster
beginning October 24, 1917, and terminating in mid-November. It is a
story in which propaganda was an important factor. It taught the Allies
the dangers lying in fraternization between opposing armies.

During the summer of 1917 the second Italian Army was confronted by
Austrian regiments composed largely of war-weary Socialists. During
that summer skillful German propagandists operating from Spain had
sown the seeds of pacificism throughout Italy. This was made easy by
the distress then existing particularly in the villages where food was
scanty and complaints against the conduct of the war were numerous. The
propaganda extended from the civilian population to the army, and
its channel was directed mainly toward the Second Army encamped along
the Isonzo River.

  [Illustration: THREE MESSENGERS OF DESTRUCTION FOR TRIESTE

  This remarkable photograph was taken from one French airplane just
  as another had released three aerial torpedoes in a combined bombing
  and observation raid on Trieste, the great Austrian naval base. The
  photograph itself, showing details of enemy activity on the
  waterfront, was of considerable value to the intelligence division of
  the Italian army.]

As a consequence of the pacifists’ preachments both by words of mouth
and document, the Second Army was ready for the friendly approaches
that came from the front lines of the Austrians only a few hundred
yards away. Daily communication was established and at night the
opposing soldiers fraternized generally. The Russian doctrine that an
end of the fighting would come if the soldiers agreed to do no more
shooting, spread throughout the Italian trenches.

This was all part of a plan carefully mapped out by the German High
Command. When the infection had spread, the fraternizing Austrian
troops were withdrawn from the front trenches and German shock troops
took their places.

  [Illustration: AREA OF THE FLOW AND EBB OF ITALY’S MILITARY SUCCESS

  From the Carso plateau to the Piave line.]

On October 24th these troops attacked in force. The Italians in the
front line, mistaking them for the friendly Austrians, waved a
greeting. German machine guns and rifles replied with a deadly fire,
and the great flanking movement commenced. So well had the Germans
played their game the Italians lost more than 250,000 prisoners and
2,300 guns in the first week. The attack began in the Julian Alps and
continued along the Isonzo southwestward into the plain of Venice. The
Italian positions at Tolmino and Plezzo were captured and the whole
Italian force was compelled to retreat along a seventy-mile front from
the Carnic Alps to the sea. The most important point gained by the
enemy in its early assault was the village of Caporetto on the Upper
Isonzo where General Cadorna held a great series of dams which could
have drained the Isonzo River dry within twelve hours.

The Italian retreat at places degenerated into a rout and it was not
until the Italians, reinforced by French and British, reached the Piave
River, that a stand was finally made. The defeat cost Cadorna his
command, and he was succeeded by General Armando Diaz, whose brilliant
strategy during the remainder of the war marked him as a national hero
and one of the outstanding military geniuses of the war.

The order for a general retreat was issued on October 27th. Poison gas
shells rained blindness and death upon the retreating Italians and upon
the heroic rear-guards. The city of Udine and its environs were emptied
of their inhabitants; and Goritzia, which had been wrested after a
desperate effort from the Austrians, was retaken on October 28th.

That the entire Italian army escaped the fate that had come to the
Russians at the Masurian Lakes was due mainly to the Third Army
commanded by the Duke of Aosta. During the long running fight, it faced
about from time to time and drove the Germans back in bloody encounters.

By November 10th the Italian forces had come to the hastily prepared
entrenchments on the west bank of the Piave River. The Austrians and
the Germans dug in on the east bank of the stream from the village of
Susegana in the Alpine foothills to the Adriatic Sea.

Here a long-drawn-out battle was fought, resulting in enormous losses
to the Germans and Austrians. By this time reinforcements had come up
from the French front and every attempt by the enemy to gain ground met
a bloody check. The hardest fighting was on the Asiago Plateau. There,
although the Italians were greatly outnumbered, the concentration of
their artillery in the hills overlooking the great field completely
dominated the situation.

A factor that was of the utmost value in checking the Austrians was the
system of lagoon defenses running from the lower Piave to the Gulf of
Venice.

From November 13th, when the Austrians in crossing the lower Piave in
their headlong rush to Venice were suddenly checked by the Italian
lagoon defenses, the entire Gulf of Venice, with its endless canals
and marshes, with islands disappearing and reappearing with the tide,
was the scene of a continuous battle. A correspondent described the
fighting as absolutely without precedent. The Teutons were desperately
trying to turn the Italian right wing by working their way around
the northern limits of the Venetian Gulf. The Italians inundated the
region and sealed all the entrances into the gulf by mine fields. The
gulf, therefore, was converted into an isolated sea. Over this inland
waterway the conflict raged bitterly. The Italians had a “lagoon fleet”
ranging from the swiftest of motor boats, armed with machine guns,
small cannon, and torpedo tubes, to huge, cumbersome, flat-bottomed
British monitors, mounting the biggest guns.

The Italian vessels navigated secret channels dug in the bottom of the
shallow lagoons. Only the Italian war pilots knew these courses. Even
gondolas straying out of the channels were instantly and hopelessly
stranded. Not only this, but as the muddy flats and marshy islands
did not permit of artillery emplacements the Italians developed an
immense fleet of floating batteries. The guns ranged from three-inch
fieldpieces to great fifteen-inch monsters. Each was camouflaged to
represent a tiny island, a garden patch, or a houseboat. Floating on
the glasslike surface of the lagoons, the guns fired a few shots and
then changed position, making it utterly impossible for the enemy to
locate them. The entire auxiliary service of supplying this floating
army was adapted to meet the lagoon warfare. Munition dumps were on
boats, constantly moved about to prevent the enemy spotting them.
Gondolas and motor boats replaced the automobile supply lorries
customary in land warfare. Instead of motor ambulances, motor boats
carried off the dead and wounded. Hydro-airplanes replaced ordinary
fighting aircraft.

Along the northern limit of the Venetian Gulf, where the Austrians,
having filtered into the Piave Delta, sought to cross both the Sile and
the Piave, the enemy each night hooked up pontoons. At daybreak every
morning one end of a huge pontoon structure was anchored to the east
bank of the Piave and the other flung out to the strong current, which
soon stretched the makeshift bridge across.

The moment this happened, the enemy infantry madly dashed across.
Simultaneously the Italian floating batteries opened a terrific fire.
Practically every morning the Austrians tried the trick, and every
morning they failed, with heavy losses, to effect a crossing. At last
they gave up the attempt as hopeless, and the armies remained locked on
the Piave for several months.




TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES:


  Italicized text is surrounded by underscores: _italics_.

  Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.

  Inconsistencies in hyphenation have been standardized.

  Archaic or variant spelling has been retained.

  New original cover art included with this eBook is granted to the
    public domain.



*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 74728 ***