HUNS SWEEPING WESTWARD
TOWARD SHORES OF ATLANTIC--SPREAD RUIN AND DEVASTATION--CAPITALS OF
CIVILIZATION ALARMED--ACTIVITIES OF SPIES--APOLOGIES AND LIES--GERMAN
ARMS WINNING--GAIN TIME TO FORGE NEW WEAPONS--FEW VICTORIES FOR
ALLIES--ROUMANIA CRUSHED--INCIDENT OF U-53.
The powerful thrusts of the German armies toward the English channel and
the Atlantic ocean, the pitiless submarine policy, and the fact that
Germany and Austria had allied with them Bulgaria and Turkey, began to
spread alarm in the non-belligerent nations of the world.
That Germany was playing a Machiavellian policy against the United
States soon became evident. After each submarine outrage would come an
apology, frequently a promise of reparation and an agreement not to
repeat the offense, with no intention, however, of keeping faith in any
respect. As a mask for their duplicity, the Germans even sent a message
of sympathy for the loss of American lives through the sinking of the
Lusitania; which but intensified the state of mind in this country.
Less than three weeks after the Lusitania outrage the American steamship
Nebraskan was attacked (May 25) by a submarine. The American steamship
Leelanaw was sunk by submarines July 25. The White Star liner Arabic was
sunk by a submarine August 19; sixteen victims, two American.
Our government received August 24 a note from the German ambassador
regarding the sinking of the Arabic. It stated that the loss of American
lives was contrary to the intention of the German government and was
deeply regretted. On September 1 Ambassador von Bernstorff supplemented
the note with a letter to Secretary Lansing giving assurance that German
submarines would sink no more liners.
The Allan liner Hesperian was sunk September 4 by a German submarine; 26
lives lost, one American.
On October 5 the German government sent a communication regretting again
and disavowing the sinking of the Arabic, and stating its willingness to
pay indemnities.
Meanwhile depression existed among the Allies and alarm among nations
outside the war over the German conquest of Russian Poland. They
captured Lublin, July 31; Warsaw, August 4; Ivangorod, August 5; Kovno,
August 17; Novogeorgievsk, August 19; Brest-Litovsk, August 25, and
Vilna, September 18.
Activities of spies and plottings within the United States began to
divide attention with the war in Europe and the submarine situation. Dr.
Constantin Dumba, who was Austro-Hungarian ambassador to the United
States, in a letter to the Austrian minister of foreign affairs, dated
August 20, recommended "most warmly" to the favorable consideration of
the foreign office "proposals with respect to the preparation of
disturbances in the Bethlehem steel and munitions factory, as well as in
the middle west."
He felt that "we could, if not entirely prevent the production of war
material in Bethlehem and in the middle west, at any rate strongly
disorganize it and hold it up for months."
The letter was intrusted to an American newspaper correspondent named
Archibald, who was just setting out for Europe under the protection of
an American passport. Archibald's vessel was held up at Falmouth,
England, his papers seized and their contents cabled to the United
States. On September 8 Secretary Lansing instructed our ambassador at
Vienna to demand Dr. Dumba's recall and the demand was soon acceded to
by his government.
On December 4 Captain Karl Boy-Ed, naval attache of the German embassy
in Washington, was dismissed by our government for "improper activity in
naval affairs." At the same time Captain Franz von Papen, military
attache of the embassy, was dismissed for "improper activity in military
matters." In an intercepted letter to a friend in Germany he referred to
our people as "those idiotic Yankees."
As a fitting wind-up of the year and as showing what the German promise
to protect liners amounted to, the British passenger steamer Persia was
sunk in the Mediterranean by a submarine December 30, 1915.
The opening of 1916 found the president struggling with the grave
perplexities of the submarine problem, exchanging notes with the German
government, taking fresh hope after each disappointment and endeavoring
by every means to avert the impending strife and find a basis for the
preservation of an honorable peace.
It was now evident to most thinking people that the apparent concessions
of the Germans were granted merely to provide them time to complete a
larger program of submarine construction. This must have been evident to
the president; but he appears to have possessed an optimism that rose
above his convictions.
Our government, January 18, put forth a declaration of principles
regarding submarine attacks and inquired whether the governments of the
allies would subscribe to such an agreement. This was one of the
president's "forlorn hope" movements to try and bring about an agreement
among the belligerents which would bring the submarine campaign within
the restrictions of international law. Could such an agreement have been
effected, it would have been of vast relief to this country and might
have kept us out of the war. The Allies were willing to subscribe to any
reasonable agreement provided there was assurance that it would be
maintained. They pointed out, however, the futility of treating on the
basis of promises alone with a nation which not only had shown a
contempt for its ordinary promises, but had repudiated its sacred
obligations.
A ray of hope gleamed across our national horizon when Germany, on
February 16, sent a note acknowledging her liability in the Lusitania
affair. But the whole matter was soon complicated again by the "armed
ship" issue. Germany had sent a note to the neutral powers that an armed
merchant ship would be treated as a warship and would be sunk on sight.
Secretary Lansing made the statement for this government that by
international law commercial ships have a right to arm themselves for
self-defense. It was an additional emphasis on the position that the
submarine campaign as conducted by Germany was simply piracy and had no
standing in international law. President Wilson, in a letter to Senator
Stone February 24, said that American citizens had a right to travel on
armed merchant ships, and he refused to advise them against exercising
the right.
March 24 the French steamer Sussex, engaged in passenger traffic across
the English channel, was torpedoed and sunk without warning. About
eighty passengers, including American citizens, were killed or wounded.
Several notes passed between our government and Germany on the sinking
of the Sussex and other vessels. Our ambassador at Berlin was instructed
to take energetic action and to insist upon adequate attention to our
demands. April 18 our government delivered what was considered an
ultimatum to the effect that unless Germany abandoned her methods of
submarine warfare, the United States would sever diplomatic relations.
The president addressed congress on the matter the following day.
Germany had not yet completed her program of submarine building and
thought it wise to temporize with the American government for a while
longer. May 4 she replied to the ultimatum of April 18, acknowledged the
sinking of the Sussex and in the main acceded to all the demands of the
United States. There were certain phases which indicated that Germany
wished to use this country as a medium for securing certain agreements
from the Allies. The president accepted the German conditions generally,
but made it clear in his reply that the conditions could not depend upon
any negotiations between this country and other belligerents. The
intimation was plain enough that the United States would not be a
catspaw for German aims.
Up to this time in the year 1916 the advantage in arms had been greatly
on the side of Germany and her allies. In January the British had
evacuated the entire Gallipoli peninsula and the campaign in Turkey soon
came to grief. Cettinje, the capital of Montenegro, had also fallen to
the Teutonic allies, and that country practically was put out of the
war.
The British had made important gains in the German colonies in Africa
and had conquered most of the Kamerun section there. Between February
and July the Germans had been battling at the important French position
of Verdun, with great losses and small results. Practically all the
ground lost was slowly regained by the French in the autumn. The
Russians had entered Persia in February, and April 17 had captured the
important city of Trebizond in Armenia from the Turks. But on April 29
General Townshend surrendered his entire British force to the Turks at
Kut el Amara, after being besieged for 143 days and finally starved into
submission.
Throughout the balance of the year the advantage was greatly on the side
of the Germans, for the latter part of the year saw the beginning of the
crushing of Roumania, which had entered the war August 27 on the side of
the Allies. Bucharest, the capital, fell to the Germans December 6;
Dobrudja, January 2, and Focsani, January 8 of the ensuing year, 1917.
The crushing of Roumania was accomplished almost entirely by treachery.
The Germans knew the plans of all the principal fortifications; the
strength and plans of the Roumanian forces, and every detail calculated
to be of benefit. The country had been honeycombed with their spies
prior to and during the war, very much as Russia had been. It is quite
evident that men high in the councils of the Roumanian government and in
full possession of the military secrets of the country were simply
disguised German agents.
Between July and November had occurred the great battles of the Somme
during which the Allies had failed to break the German lines. The
Austrians in June had launched a great attack and made much progress
against the Italians in the Trentino. The principal offsets to the
German gains during the last seven months of the year 1916 were the
Russian offensive in Volhynia and Bukovina, and the counter drive of the
Italians against the Austrians. The Russians captured Czernovitz June
17, and by the end of the month had overrun the whole of Bukovina. The
Italians drove out the Austrians between August 6 and September 1,
winning August 9 the important city and fortress of Gorizia.
Submarine incidents important to this government were not lacking during
the latter half of the year. The German submarine U-53 suddenly appeared
October 8 in the harbor at Newport, R.I. The commander delivered
letters for the German ambassador and immediately put to sea to begin
ravages on British shipping off the Nantucket coast. Among the five or
six vessels sunk was the steamer Stephano, which carried American
passengers. The passengers and crews of all the vessels were picked up
by American destroyers and no lives were lost. The episode, which was an
eight-day wonder, and resulted in a temporary tie-up of shipping in
eastern ports, started numerous rumors and several legal questions, none
of which, however, turned out finally to have been of much importance,
as U-53 vanished as suddenly as it had appeared, and its visit was not
succeeded by any like craft. It is not improbable that the purpose of
the German government in sending the boat to our shores was to convey a
hint of what we might expect if we should become involved with Germany.
October 28 the British steamer Marina was torpedoed with a loss of six
American lives.
The straining of President Washington's advice and the Monroe Doctrine
were again evident throughout the year. President Wilson in an address
before the League to Enforce Peace, May 27, had said that the United
States was ready to join any practical league for preserving peace and
guaranteeing the political and territorial integrity of nations.
November 29 our government sent a protest to Germany against the
deportation of Belgians.
Almost immediately upon the invasion of Belgium the German authorities,
in pursuance of their system of terrorization, shipped to Germany
considerable groups of the population. On October 12,1915, a general
order was issued by the German military government in Belgium providing
that persons who should "refuse work suitable to their occupation and in
the execution of which the military administration is interested,"
should be subject to one year's imprisonment or to deportation to
Germany. Numerous sentences, both of men and women, were imposed under
that order.
The wholesale deportation of Belgian workmen to Germany, which began
October 3, 1916, proceeded on different grounds, for, having stripped
large sections of the country of machinery and raw materials, the
military authorities now came forward with the plea that it was
necessary to send the labor after it. The number of workmen deported is
variously estimated at between one and three hundred thousand.
"The rage, the terror, the despair" excited by this measure all over
Belgium, our minister, Brand Whitlock, reported, "were beyond anything
we had witnessed since the day the Germans poured into Brussels. I am
constantly in receipt of reports from all over Belgium that bear out the
stories of brutality and cruelty.
"In tearing away from nearly every humble home in the land a husband and
a father or a son and brother, the Germans have lighted a fire of hatred
that will never go out. It is one of those deeds that make one despair
of the future of the human race, a deed coldly planned, studiously
matured, and deliberately and systematically executed, a deed so cruel
that German soldiers are said to have wept in its execution, and so
monstrous that even German officers are now said to be ashamed." Poland
and the occupied parts of France experienced similar treatment.