USA > Michigan > Lenawee County > Atlas and plat book of Lenawee County Michigan and history of the World War > Part 8
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What were the causes of this greatest of all wars? They may be divided into two classes; remote and direct. They might equally well be classified as real and assumed. They were political, military and commercial. It is difficult, if not impossible, to say, which one, or which group, the future will declare the real one.
THE CAUSES OF THE WAR- Ostensibly the fact that on June 28, 1914, the Archduke Francis Ferdinand, heir to the throne of the Austrian empire, was assassinated, together with his wife, while making a state visit to Sarajevo (capi- tal of the province of Bosnia, which the Berlin treaty of 1878 put under the ad- ministration of Austria-Hungary) was the direct cause of the great war. Back of, that, however, was a long story of political intrigue and international com- plications. The political balance of the great powers of Europe was so delicately adjusted, before the war, that any weakening of one meant the vibration of all. Germany had taken advantage of the defeat of Russia in eastern Asia, in its strug- gle with Japan in 1904 and 1905, to bully France over Morocco. In 1908, judging correctly that Russia was still unfit for war, Austria, with the connivance and help of Germany, tore up the treaty of Berlin and annexed the Turkish provinces of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It was while on a visit to these newly annexed prov- inces that the Austrian archduke was assassinated. The immediate criminal was a youth named Gavrio Prinzip, but whether he acted on his own initiative or merely the tool of others higher up, perhaps a part of a great political plot, has never been disclosed. Germany and Austria did not care. They seized upon the murder as the excuse for the war for which they had long been preparing.
GERMAN OBSERVATION BALLOON HOVERING OVER VERDUN
Such are the facts of history. Back of them, however, are certain economic developments and aspirations, certain dreams of German domination the world over, which make the murder of the Austrian Crown Prince take second place among the war causes. Germany dreamed of the day ("Der Tag" they called it) when there would be German domination from Berlin to Bagdad; when the Ger- man flag would rule over the seas; when German capital would develop the richest parts of the world; when German colonies would form a vast ring of wealth around the earth. The Kaiser was ambitious to be the modern Alexander; he had been for years preparing a vast war machine. He looked about to see where and how best he could utilize that terrible, death-dealing machine.
There had been bad blood between Germany and France ever since the Franco- Prussian war, brought to a conclusion in the spring of 1871 by the surrender
of Napoleon III and the siege and surrender of Paris. Prussia had demanded the payment by France of an immense indemnity and the cession of the splendid provinces of Alsace and Lorraine. Victor though she was, Germany still looked longingly at the remaining provinces of the country it had defeated and yearned for the day when the remaining valuable coal and iron deposits of France would be hers. She needed them for fulfilling her dreams of world power, for "made in Germany" was a commercial trademark to which the world was rapidly being forced to pay homage. Without coal and iron Germany could neither manufac- ture those things which would ensure her world-wide commercial domination nor send them abroad to bring the world to Germany's feet.
GERMANY'S DREAM OF CONQUEST-Great Britain stood between Germany and that world-empire of which she dreamed. Through her maritime power and the energy of her merchants, Britain had become a great world power while Ger- many was still a collection of petty states. When Germany became a powerful empire, with an increasing population and an immense commerce, she found that England had preceded her to those choice spots of the world where her eyes fondly turned. "Gott strafe England" (meaning "God strike England") was in the hearts of those who ruled over the German people long before the Austrian Archduke was killed.
"There are a score of considerations which show that a European war had long been planned and that finally the very date, determined by the completion of the broadened Kiel canal, had been approximately fixed," says A. Conan Dovie, the noted British writer, adding: "The importations of corn, the secret prepara- tions of giant guns, the preparations of concrete gun-platforms, the early distribu- tion of mobilization papers, the sending out of guns for auxilliary cruisers, the arming of the German colonies, all point to a predetermined rupture. If it could not be effected on one pretext, it certainly would on another."
Twice Germany believed the time had come when war might be precipitated, without the open hand of intrigue and desire being seen, The first time was in 1905, the second in 1911. Both times the commercial development and the gov- ernment of Morocco were the ostensible excuses. Both times Germany was thwarted in its efforts to precipitate a general European war. Still eyeing covet- ously the great iron and coal fields of France, she impatiently awaited the day when the mailed fist might strike, quickly and victoriously. The murder of the Austrian Archduke was seized as the final excuse.
Working as an ally-a vassal, rather-of Germany, Austria held an inquiry in connection with the trial of the assassins which was reported to have impli- cated individual Serbians in the plot, although no charge was made against the Serbian government. A demand was immediately made, however, containing such severe and impossible conditions that Serbia could not have remained a nation and grant them. Austria rightfully demanded the immediate trial and conviction of the assassins, but it did not stop there. It demanded that Austrian judges should sit in Serbia to hear the case and that Austrian delegates should have partial administrative control in the Serbian kingdom. Serbia was asked to turn over its courts, even its government, to Austria, because certain of its citizens were implicated in a murder not even committed within its borders. It turned to the nearest friend it had and asked for help. That friend was Russia, bound to Serbia by ties of diplomatic alliance and the kinship of blood and race. Russia was willing that the murderers should be punished; it was not willing that Serbia should be humbled to the extent which Austria demanded. The Austrian army was already mobilizing-Russia began to mobilize in the south. Austria seems to have instantly made up her mind to push the matter to an extreme conclu- sion, as is shown by the fact that mobilization papers were received by Austrians abroad, bearing the date of June 30, only two days after the Sarajevo murder. Events crowded rapidly upon each other. On July 28, 1914, Austria declared war upon Serbia. Three days later Germany, as Austria's ally, declared war upon Russia. Two days later, Germany declared war upon France, which was Russia's ally. The sparks of war were falling all over Europe. Every eye was turned toward England, to see what that kingdom would do in the crisis.
England remained aloof at first from the diplomatic negotiations and the military preparations. The attitude of France was never in doubt. Russia was her ally; France took her stand beside Russia at once. A strong bid for British neutrality was made by Germany, on July 29, the day after Austria declared war upon Serbia. In an official conversation, the German Chancellor declared that Germany was ready to pledge herself to take no territory from France in case of victory. He would make no promise as regards the French colonies, the French fleet or the immense indemnity which was already being discussed in some of the German papers. He proposed, merely, that England should hold aloof, at the price of France being allowed to retain her territory intact. Germany craved French territory, because of the coal and iron fields, yet it promised to keep its hands off, provided only that England desert her ally in the hour of need and remain neutral. To do this, Britain promptly refused. Sir Edward Grey said: "From the material point of view such a proposal is unacceptable, for France, without further territory in Europe being taken from her, could be so crushed as to lose her position as a great power and become subordinate to German policy. Altogether apart from that, it would be a disgrace for us to make this bargain with Germany at the expense of France, a disgrace from which the good name of this country would never recover." England saw clearly that Germany might, indeed, allow the coal and iron fields of France to remain France's, while at the same time securing their entire output. England was unprepared for war, but she was no traitor to her ally and to humanity in the hour of need.
THE RAPE OF BELGIUM-It was in this crisis, with England valiantly refus- ing to desert France, but not proposing to enter the war, that Germany precipt- tated matters once and for all by violating the neutrality of Belgium and rushing her armies across that fair land in order the sooner and more powerfully to strike at France.
The neutrality of Belgium was solemnly guaranteed by France, Prussia (the dominant kingdom in the federation of Germany) and Great Britain, in 1831 and 1839. On the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian war, in 1870, both France and Prussia recognized anew the neutrality of Belgium, in a special treaty arranged by Great Britain. Solemnly pledged to regard Belgium as a neutral nation, and knowing full well that to send a single armed man over the frontier without permission constituted a violation of that treaty of neutrality and a virtual declara- tion of war, Germany lost no time in sending its armed hordes across the Belgian frontier, insultingly promising not to destroy Belgian property in the event the government allowed its millions to march through the land. Others had faith- fully lived up to the treaty of Belgian neutrality. Germany broke it without any warning. On July 31, the British government asked France and Germany if they were still prepared to stand by their pledge to Belgium. France answered promptly that she was, and added that she had withdrawn her armies six miles from the Belgian frontier as an evidence of good faith. Germany failed, or refused, to answer. She was too busy mobilizing her immense armies close to the Belgian frontier, prepared to march across Belgium the very moment the hour to strike had arrived.
Page Two
A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE GREAT WAR
Great Britain looked on, alarmed and suspicious. Having received no reply to its request for a definite assurance about Belgium, the British government instructed its ambassador to ask for an immediate answer, on August 4th. The startling reply came from the German secretary of foreign affairs that the Ger- man troops had already crossed the Belgian frontier. It was in this conversa- tion that the German official referred to the Belgian neutrality treaty as "a scrap of paper"; an historic scrap of paper, indeed, which thrust Great Britain into a war from which it might otherwise have held aloof and which, in the end, brought to Germany the most crushing defeat ever administered to anv nation in the his- tory of the world. On that day, August 4, 1914, war was declared between Great Britain and Germany. Up to that time Great Britain had taken but one step beyond the path of strict neutrality. That step consisted in the announcement on August 2, subject to Parliamentary approval, that "if the German fleet comes into the Channel or through the North Sea to undertake hostile operations against the French coasts or shipping, the British fleet will give all the protection in its power." This did not mean war, but two days later Germany's action in invading Belgium brought it about.
There still remained one other nation, the position and attitude of which were in doubt. That nation was Italy.
Prior to the outbreak of the war Italy was an ally of Germany and Austria- Hungary. The terms of the alliance did not bind Italy to take up war on account of any war being waged by its allies; it was only called upon to assist if the land of either Germany or Austria-Hungary were invaded by an enemy. This was not the situation in August, 1914. Italy canvassed the situation thoroughly and at last decided on a policy of strict neutrality. This not only relieved France of a trave peril, but afforded the simplest and most conclusive exhibition of the aggres- mive character of Germany's action. It was not until the following May (1915) that Italy definitely decided to cast its fortunes with Britain, France, Russia and Belgium against her former allies: Germany and Austro-Hungary. Long before that (October 29, 1914) Turkey had declared war against Russia. Twelve months later (October, 1915) Bulgaria also joined forces with the Central Empires. The outbreak of actual hostilities found Russia, France, Serbia, Montenegro, Belgium and Great Britain allied against Germany and Austria-Hungary. Within a year Germany and Austria had the support of Bulgaria and Turkey, while the allies found themselves supported by Italy, Roumania and Japan. Eventually twenty- six nations became embroiled in the struggle, the list being as follows:
THE NATIONS ENGAGED-The Central Empires: Germany, Austria-Hungary, Turkey and Bulgaria.
The Allies: Belgium, Serbia, France, Great Britain, Montenegro, Italy, Greece, Brazil, Japan, China, Cuba, Portugal, Liberia, Panama, San Marino, Siam, Rou- mania, Russia, the United States, Nicaragua, Uruguay and Guatemala.
The greatest war in the history of the world found at its close almost 100,- 000,000 men under arms or available for military service. It was fought out at a cost of almost $200,000,000,000. Such figures are appalling. Never before had the world known such a holocaust, such a tragedy. Never before had it seen so many men clutching so fiercely at each others throats, engaged in so titanic a struggle.
CHAPTER II.
THE CAMPAIGN OF 1914-The war began with the overruning, by the Ger- man armies, of the neutral kingdom of Belgium and the neutral duchy of Luxem- burg. Had it not been for the courageous and determined resistance of the Belgian troops, under command of King Albert, who held back the German hordes until France could prepare, in a measure, for the unexpected invasion, the war might have ended in a few months, with a victory for the Central Empires, instead of in their decisive defeat. "Time was the precious gift which little Belgium gave to the Allies; she gave them days and days, and every day worth an army corps."
THE INVASION OF BELGIUM-The army which came pouring over the Bel- gian frontier was the most efficient and the best armed and equipped ever gath- ered in the field up to that time. The Germans considered it invincible. There was not a thing which had not been provided, either to assist the soldiers in carry-
PLAYING CARDS IN A SHELTER ON THE FRENCH FRONT
ing on their offensive, or to frighten the people of the conquered territory into passiveness. The army moved forward with the precision of clockwork; every- thing seemed to have been arranged long in advance. Only the little Belgian army, mobilized with great speed, stood between the Germans and their long-held dreams of a Middle Europe empire, stretching from the Baltic to the Black Sea. Never was there a more gallant, determined resistance; never did soldiers give up their lives more willingly for others.
The Belgians fought not only for their own ravished land, but also for France, for Europe, for civilization itself. Their courageous self-sacrifice cannot be overestimated.
There was little time to prepare to repel the invaders. On July 31, before any declaration of war, a German army of 125,000 men was moving close to the Belgian border. On the night of Saturday, August 1, the vanguard of the German armies, using motor trucks followed by trains, burst through the neutral duchy of Luxemburg, and on August 3 they were over the Belgian line. They swept everything before them for the first few days. Irresistibly they swung along, beating back the little handful of brave Belgian defenders (Belgium's army, on a war footing, was only 200,000), while France, England and Russia made frantic efforts to call, train, arm and equip great armies overnight-an impossible task. But, the Germans met with an unexpected setback. They approached the forts of Liege, Belgium, expecting them to fall quick and easy victims to their power- ful guns, the like of which the world had never seen before. Here was where the Kaiser made his first mistake. On August 5 the Huns attempted to rush the gaps between the Liege forts. These gaps were three miles wide and filled with
entrenched infantry. The Germans expected to sweep them away, but the Bel- gians held on. The Germans fell by the thousands. Eighty thousand other Ger- mans were brought up and on August 7 the attack was renewed, but with no better result. A garrison of 25,000 Belgians held off the attacking army of 120,000 ten days, giving France the precious time which she needed so badly.
The Liege garrison fought well, but it fought against too heavy odds. With twelve forts, three miles apart, it was impossible to guard all the avenues of attack and approach with the small force at command. The Germans entered the town of Liege on the 8th, but the forts still held out. Day followed day, and still the forts held. The Germans had expected to be in France before Liege was finally conquered. On August 14 the last Liege fort fell and the Germans were per- mitted to press forward. By that time the French were pouring into Alsace and Lorraine, in a courageous, but ill-timed attempt to regain these "lost provinces." Had the Liege forts fallen as quickly as the Germans confidently expected, the German dream of world empire might have come to pass. But when the Liege forts held back the onrushing invaders, the history of the war and of the world has changed.
GERMAN BARBARITY-The Germans poured into Belgium, in a seemingly
never-ending stream. They ravished the once-fair land, the neutrality of which they had solemnly guaranteed. They perpetrated untold atrocities on the people. The great university of Louvain was sacked and destroyed. Belgian men were arrested and shot down on little or no excuse. Women were torn from their husbands, daughters from their parents, and compelled to submit themselves to the lustful desires of the brutal invaders. Children were bayoneted, apparently merely to satisfy the blood lust of the conquerors. Brutality ran riot. Immense indemnities were demanded for the smallest overt acts; hostages were held with- out reason or warrant of law. The German hand was at the throat of Belgium and Germany knew no mercy.
After Liege came Namur, another Belgian stronghold, of which much was expected. But Namur was a disappointment. The German invasion, by now, was sweeping everything before it. It had spread into Brussels, the Belgian capital. Namur was believed to be stronger than Liege, yet it held back the German tide only a few days. On August 22 the garrison surrendered, a considerable portion effecting a retreat to the French army, which by that time had come up to the sup- port of the town. The tide had been held back a little, however, so that it was the third week of August before the ranks of the Belgian army had taken refuge in Antwerp, and the Germans, at last victorious over their puny foe, were finally sweeping down upon northern France in a 200-mile line. By that time 100,000 British had crossed the channel, coming to the rescue of the Belgians, a handful compared with the hordes of Huns, but heroes every one of them, destined to fall before the Teutonic conqueror, but in falling to pull the enemy down with them. No braver body of troops ever entered a battle than these British "Tommies," fighting against overwhelming odds with a courage which thrilled the world. "A thin red line of heroes," they added undying glory to the brilliant military page of Britain.
The first real battles between the Germans and the French were at Dinant, where the French were victorious, and at Charleroi, which the Germans carried on August 22, pushing the French back with considerable loss of guns and prison- ers along the whole line. There was a defeat, but nothing approaching a rout or an envelopment, so the hearts of the French beat high. The line fell back, fight- ing determinedly, but northern France was thrown open to the invaders. This retirement resulted in the battle of the Mons, August 23, the first encounter in which the British army engaged.
BRITAIN TO THE RESCUE-The bulk of the British expeditionary force passed over to France under cover of darkness on the nights of August 12 and 13, 1914. A. Conan Doyle has described the embarkation in this manner: "It is doubtful if so large a host has ever been moved by water in so short a time in all the annals of military history. There was drama in the secrecy and celerity of the affair. Two canvas walls converging into a funnel screened the approaches to Southampton Dock. All beyond was darkness and mystery. Down this fatal funnel passed the flower of the youth of Britain, and their folk saw them no more. They had embarked upon the great adventure of the German war. The crowds in the street saw the last serried files vanish into the darkness of the docks, heard the measured tramp upon the stone quays further away in the silence of the night, until at last all was still and great steamers were pushing out into the darkness." Such was the embarkation of the first contingent of the many millions of soldiers who were to cross the waters from England, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United States. Germany was pleased to call the first 100,000 which England sent across the channel a "contemptible little army," but that handful grew into millions, and British military history records no more gallant deeds than were performed by her troops in the great world war.
The battle of Mons (August 23, 1914) found the British troops unaccustomed to warfare as it was to be waged during the four succeeding years. Still they held their ground well. When it was finally learned that instead of being opposed by 90,000 Germans, the enemy numbered 180,000, and that instead of being sup- ported by French troops on either side, the Germans had already put the French on his right to flight, while nothing substantial lay on his left, Sir John French (the British commander) was forced to order a retirement, after losing 5,000 men. Considering the size of the forces participating and the energy with which the battle was being conducted, this was no easy task, but it was accomplished in good order. Step by step the British retreated, hard pressed by the Germans, who felt, three days after the Mons defeat, that complete victory was at last theirs. On August 26 the German general, Von Kluck, sent an exultant telegram to Berlin declaring that he had the enemy surrounded, a telegram which set Berlin flutter- ing with flags. But the end was not yet. Sir John French and General Joffre (the latter in command of the French army and eventually to become Marshal of France) had other plans, daring plans, which it took courageous minds to conceive and brave men to execute. What history records as the "Retreat to the Marne" was begun, a retirement which was to end in an "about face" and the retreat, in turn, of the invaders.
THE BATTLE OF THE MARNE-It was apparent from a very early date that General Joffre had determined upon a retreat of the Allied armies to the line of the Marne river, where lay strong fortifications. To all appearances the French and British were in rapid retreat before an overwhelming foe. In fact, however, they were luring their enemy along, farther and farther away from his base of supplies, awaiting the time when they might turn and fall upon him with sledge-hammer blows which his exhausted vanguard could not withstand. "What- ever may be said of the first French advances into Alsace and Lorraine, the plan of escape from the northern peril proves that the taciturnity of Joseph Jacques Joffre covered a cool, clear brain, capable of large and delicate combinations, a rare knowledge of his men to respond to the extraordinary demand made upon their endurance. France had not begun well and the full force of the invasion was upon her. Few commanders ever held such a responsibility, but, in the supreme crisis, this captain did not fail."
A part of the German army was held back by the resistance of the great French fort of Maubeuge, gaining a delay of twelve days. The first German troops appeared before the place on August 25. It was not until September 7 (while the issue was being decided on the Marne) that Maubeuge surrendered, and full pos- session of the trunk railway, for which the enemy was fighting, was obtained. September 6 was a day of great elation in the armies of France and England, for it marked the end of the retreat and the beginning of their victorious advance. The Allied retreat could not have gone farther south without exposing Paris to the danger of an attack. Already the Germans were at Senlis, within twenty-five miles of Paris and their guns were plainly heard in that city. The French govern- ment had already been transferred to Bordeaux, and Paris put into a state which promised a long and stubborn defense. On September 6 the French and British line was extended in seven separate armies from Verdun to the west of Paris, a distance of 174 miles. The desperate struggle of September 6, 7, 8 and 9 may be looked upon as the first turning point of the war. At one time the situation was desperate for the Allies, but 20,000 men-all sorts and conditions-were rushed out from Paris in a five-mile line of automobiles, taxis and trucks, and the tide was turned. On the morning of the 10th the Germans began an extended retreat,
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