Show TWENTY VENTY YEARS AGO Following the assassination of the Archduke FranCIS Ferdin- Ferdin Ferdinand Ferdinand and heir presumptIve to the throne of Hungary AustrIa on June 28 1914 the stage was speedIly set for the Great War Var which formally began by declaration of war on Sel via exactly one month later on July Other declaratIons of wear val followed wIth dramatIc sWIftness Germany against RUSSIa August 1 against France BelgIUm and England August 4 Thus by August 4 all hope of averting a European war ar had vanished and In a 3 few months Germany Turkey and BulgarIa known thele- thele after as the Powers faced practIcally all the lest iest of Europe desIgnated as the Allies With the entry of the United States and most of the countries of the western e into the war on the side of the Allies jn in 1917 no less than 23 natIOns were wele arrayed against the four Central Powers The total number of men mobIlIzed was nearly 65 million of which r two thirds were on the side of the Allies AHles The Allied losses were ere killed or died wound wound- wounded wounded ed and or missing The Central Powers lost kIlled or dIed wounded and prison prison- prisoners prisoners ers or missing War Val expendItures reached the incomprehensIble total of billion and of thIS vast sum the Allies also spent about two ttO third All this waste of lives and treasure is still reflected in th the unhappy economic condItIOn of the world StIll in spite of this ghastly spectacle vve e find the same national and racIal hatreds which eXIsted 20 years ago working toward another war which mIght easily be more terrIble than the last What a commentary on our called so-called Christian civIlization |