| Show WAR WA u WO WON N germanys germanas Germ anys monstrous conspiracy and its defeat by forces of ci civilization VI WORLD domination 0 0 IMI I 1 SOUGHT americas entrance the decisive e fac tor in the mighty struggle in which democracy triumphed over irresponsible autocratic militarism by EDWARD W PICKARD autocratic militarism imbued with an overpowering greed for world domination started the great war democracy inspired with decency and common sense ended it all wars are commercial Is a saying that Is true of all modern wars the greatest war of all time just end ed was no less so than others for I 1 though it was made by the military class of germany it was for the benefit of commercial der germany many for the conquest of the trade of the world ever since the defeat of france in 1870 and the formation of the german empire the ruling classes of germany had been assiduously preparing for the mighty struggle that began in 1014 l secretly at times with brazen frankness at others they laid their plans built up ill their mighty military machine macli lne extended their espionage system to all lands with the aid of the business houses and the diplomats though warned by more than alian one student of affairs the world in vencial ignored all tills this or looked on it as merely boastfulness and legitimate trade competition germanys germanas Germ anys plan was nothing less than an enormous conspiracy to establish what the conspirators knew ns as mittel europa a dominion extending front from the north korth sea to the persian gulf As preliminaries german princes were placed on thrones of middle europe wherever possible and financial relations were established that gave germany virtual control over the coveted countries then the hun autocracy impatiently awaited the day excuse was ready made merely an excuse was needed to precipitate the conflict and this was afforded on june 28 1014 1914 by the assassination sassi nation of archduke Fer ferdinand ferdinell dinall d of Au austria and his wife in Saraj evo bos nia uy ily a serbian that this crime was Ift inspired to serve as a pretext I 1 I 1 is S evid et AV the fact that everything ib b pre prepaid lia a je bev L i i i p for putting the german military ma chine in motion austria launder under or ders from berlin made demands on serbia to which no self respecting nation could submit and on july 28 declared war on its neighbor russia as ally of and sponsor for seroia mobilized mothe molie its armies at once despite t the lie protests of germany whereupon the kalser kaiser declared war on russia france being in offensive and defensive alliance with russia was compelled to mobilize find and the kaisers keisers kai sers armed foicey got into action at once the course of events so tar far had been foreseen by the german high command and it was in ili accordance with its prearranged plan which was to crush france by a swift vlot advance cn oh paris find and then to tuni about and ninke make an end of Rus sias military resistance sista si uce on august 2 german troops ente entered red france at cirey find and began moving through luxemburg despite the spirited protests of the grand duchess duche qs and berlin asked belgium to permit tile passage of troops through that country tills this was refused the king of belgium appealing to the powers that had guaranteed the neutrality of his kingdom all tills this time great britain had been striving to avert the outbreak of a general war and germany rested complacently on the information of her spies that the Biltl Bilt isit sli would not enter into the conflict but beilin reckoned without the british spirit of fair play and faithfulness to treaties and when the kaiser tore up the 11 scrap of paper and invaded belgium berglu ul great britain jumped to the rescue her mighty fleet was mobilized and her army pitifully small began moving ing across the channel then events came callie with dazing rapidity one after another the nations fell into line against the germans and austro hun garlans ga rians but the tendons were ready and the others except france were not the invasion 0 of f belgium on ju august gust 5 began one of the most chapters chap teis in the history of HIP world the rape of belgium xing king albert and lifs hs helale little aminy resisted to their but the supposedly impregnable forts of liege namur and other belgian towns were speedily reduced by the hun clI cannon nOll and the land and its people were made captive the atrocities committed by the germans off officers leers and privates alike will remain a blot on tile name of 0 germany to the end of fill all time the world has been so well informed d concerning those brutal crimes that it Is unnecessary to recapitulate them choln having overrun nil all but a narrow of belgium the hun it armies arales began what berlin fondly bell believed eved was to bo be a triumphal march to paris glands En little regular army was thrown across their path and fought and died almost to a man and bide by vide ride with them thear the french ench contested every foot fool they were nvere pushed back slowly but surely until the marne was reached tin and crossed by the invading hosts and the capital seemed to be within It liln the giasi of th huns then came fo for rard urd the first heroic figure egure of the war marshal joffre of france commandeering Commande crIng every motor vehicle in paris lie he rill rushed to the front tile the entire force left to defend the capital and tn in a mighty battle along the marne tile the germans were defeated they had spread out too much and permitted their right to be turned and were driven back to the northeast reaching line prepared with this possibility in view they dug in find and then began a period of trench warfare that lasted for three years in the course of which there were no remarkable gains of territory by either side under the management of lord kitchener britaina Brit ains millions were being enlisted and trained and trans to the battle grounds not only from the homeland did they come but from canada australia australla alln new zealand india south africa and nil all of the far flung possessions of the empire with an ardor that settled for nil all time the question of their loyalty to that empire ireland alone held back to a considerable extent hoping to gain independence and making itself the hatching ground for many a german plot Kitch eners great work practically accomplished lie ho went to his death when a german berman submarine sa sank the cruiser on which lie he was going to russia germanys germanas Germ anys submarine warfare in ili the first months of the war the british fleets allied aided by the japanese took away germanys germanas Germ anys island col colonies onles adi and then having almost alIlI OSt full mastery of the seas established a blockade of germany designed to starve her into submission the reply to this was quick in coming the germans started out their submarines at once and began building more find and bigger un deasea vessels disregarding the recognized laws of e they declared war on ull nil vessels of their enemies find and a murderous career that finally resulted in dragging the united states into the conflict find and bringing defeat themselves the first notable victim of tills this method in c tho d 0 of f warfare was the more than a thousand of whose passengers perished on this and many another vessel ressel that was sent down by tile the submarines were american citizens and there was a powerful demand on our government to stop the practice or to enter the war for nearly two years president wilson held back writing numerous notes of protest to berlin and receiving an equal number of false promises early in 1917 beilin announced that submarine warfare thereafter would be unrestricted as it had bd been en in reality most of the time and there was no nothing thing left tf the ie united states but to declare a state of war with G ger e r TL T L L this rius was done on april 6 and fro from in fit fr arry tile he doom of germanas germanys Germ anys great r copt tied americas wonderful effort with amazing energy and speed america went at the tremendous task of making an filmy aimy out of its civilian population there were many mistakes and many delays but these are almost forgotten in the contemplation of the marvelous success with which the thing was accomplished after a long iong and heated debate tile selective draft system of raising an army was adopted and young men by the hundred thousand were taken from their civilian pursuits put in immense training camps and made into soldiers to command them thousands of officers were trained in other camps in tile the incredibly short time of one year nearly two million fighting men its as efficient as the world has ever seen hall been transported across the atlantic with all the vast supplies rl required and at home the industries of the land had been reorganized for the business of war knowing well tile the arduousness of the task of Niu winning ning the war the government bent every effort to it and the draft age limits were extended to include all men between tile ages of eighteen and forty six many thousands of those thus drafted were in training when the war c lame came to a close americas arrival in ili france was most timely though the crown prince had failed miserably in his attempt to force a way to paris by the derdul route in ill 1916 the germans never gave up their plans to take the french capital and in the spring of 1918 with re released from the eastern front by the collapse of russia they began a powerful arhe in northern france in the first stage of tills this they reached the somme ind and in tile the second they got to the M maine ine again only 53 55 miles from par paris I 1 s yankees to the rescue the yankees who nho were getting their final training behind th alie e lines had not yet seen very much action but in ili tills crisis their commander general pershing offered their immediate services to the british and french brigaded with tile the allies they went into battle with a rush that inspired ini the tired Tomm tommies le find and the advance of the was checked General Foch frances francer master strategist bt was ninde made supreme commander of the lilies allies in the west tint and lie he at once began delivering the series of terrific strokes that ul ultimately tl I 1 n at e forced the germans back to their own borders fighting with the french the americans had a big part in clearing out the marne salient fighting with the british they gave great help in the nihed allied victQr victories les further no north rth then the first american field army was organized placed on the extreme west of the line and there wiped out the st middel salient find and started on the operations that in less lessa than TIVO two cut ut the enemy lines of communication from metz tind threatened the capture of all his ss i 4 forces left in III fra CP ce i f I 1 when Rus sias vast manpower man power f gets into action germany will nill bo be r crushed as under it roller 3 said aid everyone in ili 1911 1914 and for a time tills i prediction bade fair to be realized wd the rus russians ians invaded rast east pru prussia asla it tind were inah making ing fine pro progress gresi thore L and in 11 oland which w was its kept kep i t up I 1 with some reverses u until eaily in ili at 1015 1913 when von adminis to them a succession of terrific defeats detents de tents thee were not line due so much to the military supremacy of the germans it as to the shameful betrayal betray til of i the russian armies by corrupt officials who left them almost destitute of it arms and supplies from that time on dussias Rus sias main successes were won r i against the austrians Aust lans rians and were temi horary demoralization sten steadily dily spread through the czars azars dominion t fostered by german agents find and the outcome was the deposition of onich antich j olas and his dynasty and the fai lish ment of a confused cont used semblance of W government by the soviets of the sol adlers workers find peasants a cot condl ati si tion that remains to be cleared up tip V though the power of the boI is rapidly waning italy once defeated triumphs italy declaring that the terms of boff S the triple alliance had been violated r by austria entered the war on oil the 1 l side hide of the fillies allies on may 23 1915 i turkey had gone in with germany he be fore the war was three months old ri and bulgaria cast lier her lot at with ith tile the in october 1015 1915 the forit tunes of the italians were spectacular they won over the Aust austrians rians for a long iong time and invaded the regions of italia Irrl denta along the Adil atle 1 threatening trieste then subtle i i propaganda coupled with de I 1 feathe work nt at home brought disaster 1 J on them bliem helped by german divisions f the Aust austrians rians made a tremendous 11 drive and forced the italians italian s bitch back to p tile alave ilave river line there the 1 g tet stood for many months until the nl middle of june 1918 when under gen I 1 oral eral diaz the italians not only stop 5 ped another offensive but turned it t it info 10 f a grea great t de defeat f e at an and t I 1 r rout 0 ut which y culminated in ili the surrender of aus trill this was hastened liast ened by the falli in ng to pieces of the austro hungarian i ein empire pire the states of which were es tab lishing their independence follow V ing the lead of the czecho slovaks turkey with the aid of germans j administered to great britain two set 1 i backs that were rather humiliating the first was at the dardanelles Darda nelles I 1 t which the british tried to force first with navy alone then with land hind and i sea forces both attempts were disastrous failures fallu roa the other defeat by the turks was in mesopotamia where general townshend and ills his army were captured at kut e el I 1 amara both the these re reverses S e S were e r more than compensated pen sated for by tile later conquest of mesopotamia and tl the e holy land find jhb surrender of turkey As for largely by the regenerated serbian Ser binn army which had great assistance iss istance front from J the french greeks and biltl british ll 11 serbia had been wholly in n the tha first few months of the war but her j spirit never died out and in the late summer of 1918 she not only regained her own but forced bulgaria to her i knees Rou manin kept out of the c conflict for some time and th then joined enjoined the allies though they would have preferred that she remain neutral site she invaded transylvania and at first thre threatened atene 1 I to g give ive austria in n great deal of trouble but germany came to its allys aid russia collapsed and Rou manin was forced to give up warfare in the air the most picturesque side of the groat great conflict has been the war in the air it was quickly seen that the aar plano plane would play a big part in the tha iv war ar and every belligerent nation soon lin had d powerful air fleets the machines were C enlarged and improved beyond fill all ining imagining ining and front from mere observation planes became fighting find and bombing machines of vast importance I 1 except capt for observation purposes the hie lighter than air craft were u utilized only by germany she pinned her falth to the great dirigible zeppelins zeppelina Zepp elins but these on the whole proved a als to lier her savage policy in mul a failure true germany waged unrestricted war from the aar as on land and sea iier her zeppelin zeppelina Zepp elins and planes repeatedly attacked london paris and innumerable other atile unfortified cities and towns and her airmen made a practice of bodib bombing red cross hospitals long before the war closed tile allies had established their su in the air and equal to the best of oc their livers flyers were the g gallant allent americans who |
