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Show STRATEGY OF THE WAR. Whether General von Moltkc has been dismissed as chief of the general staff and replaced by General von Falkenhayn still remains a mvst.ry, although a Copenhagen dispatch says that an official announcement of the change has final lv been made. Some time ago a dispatch dis-patch from Berlin stated that Von Moltke had been compelled to givn up his duties, temporarily because of ill health. Even if this were the true explanation, it is apparent that tho German general staff has a new chief. It is openly maintained by competent men that Von Falkenhayn will be merely a puppet of the kai:rr, who, it is said, seeks to rule tho army with a despotic sway. The reasons assigned lor the dismissal of General von Moltke arc strifes, court intrigues and disputes, the desire of the crown prince to act entirely ., hi.s own initiative and the .-jutociati'-, ways of tho kaiser. The removal of General von -huiikc was first reported moru than a month !,go and was supposed to have been 1,-islencl by the German defeat on the Manic. In Germany the story of Von Moltke ill health no doubt was resorted to as an expedient to nai'O German military prestige, for it is clearly understood that the retirement of the child: of the genornl Htn.fl", miles. mi-les. cT.nlained in this way, would create a most unfavorable impression abroad, because it would be a confession that German strategy, adopted in delail long before the war, had failed utterly. utter-ly. Whether Gorman fl.rategy has) failed or whether any strategy could have Bl.(,ce(ed agaie' t .'.m l. a powerful com bination ao lingland, franco an,. ..us-sia ..us-sia is a question which only military experts could disems intelligently. .Nevertheless .Nev-ertheless fmtue. commanding figures are ..merging from the l-niol.n of 1ml tic, and ;,n,ong tl.e-e is General .loffre, who'... victory on the Man,,- was .me ol tho most brilliant of the war. Lord Kitchener Kitch-ener found occasion at. the Guild Hall banquet, lo pay General .loffre ... mod Haltering tr.l.nt.... "General ,lol fie is not only a (jr-tit .oMicr, but a great ,;,." said Lord Kitchener, and e',, ,llv be .le.'rel this p. ..,.. bv '"r sonal contact with the illustrious war-I rior. It is quite appareut in any event that history will not accord to German strategy the immense superiority in this war w-hich it earned iu the Franco-Prussian Franco-Prussian war. At the same timo it Is too early for tho English or the French to boast or to belittle tho results already al-ready attained by German arms. Thu favorable news received in London during dur-ing the last few days inspired Premier Asquith to expres.s the opinion that the war would be much shorter than had been predicted originally by experts, ex-perts, and yet the premier's confidence is based merely upon the fact that tho allies have been able to hold the Germans Ger-mans in check. It is true, as Lord Kitchener slated, that the Germans have not yet accomplished a single objective. ob-jective. They failed to take Paris, Warsaw, or the channel ports, but after three months ' of fighting there is scarcely a square mile of German soil that is occupied by the onemy, and tho Germans have occupied practically the whole of Belgium and much of northern France. The German strategy fails to appear brilliant beeauso the strategy on the other side has been of a high order, and this is duo to the fact that all tho great continental nations have been preparing through many years to meet every possible strategic condition. It ia probable that even uenerai joiire, with all his remarkable military gifts, is making most of his. moves in accordance accord-ance with plans that were evolved in times of peace. The Eussiau strategy has been the equal of any employed in tho western theater of war and has accomplished even more decisive results. It has not been invariably successful, however, and has fallen short of a complete triumph tri-umph by reason of the splendid campaign cam-paign which the Germans have conducted con-ducted ou the East Prussian border. |