The War Under the Sea
Britannia rules the waves.—Enter the submarine.—The blockade of
Germany.—The sinking of the _Lusitania_ and other ships.—The
trade in munitions of war.—The voyages of the
_Deutschland_.—Germany ready for peace (on her own terms).—The
reply of the allies.—Germany’s amazing announcement.—The United
States breaks off friendly relations.
You will remember how hard the Germans had worked, building
warships, with the hope that one day their navy might be the
strongest in the world. At the outbreak of the great war in 1914
they were still far behind England in naval power. On the other
hand, it was necessary for the English to keep their navy
scattered all over the world. English battleships were guarding
trade routes to Australia, to China, to the islands of the
Pacific. The Suez Canal, the Straits of Gibraltar, the Island of
Malta—all were in English hands, and ships and guns were needed
to defend them.
The German navy, on the other hand, with the exception of a few
cruisers in the Pacific Ocean and two warships in the
Mediterranean, was gathered in the Baltic Sea, the southeastern
part of the North Sea, and the great Kiel Canal which connected
these two bodies of water. It was quite possible that this fleet,
by making a quick dash for the ports of England, might find there
only a portion of the English ships and be able to overwhelm them
before the rest of the English navy should assemble from the far
parts of the earth.
Winston Churchill, whose name you have read before, had the
foresight to assemble enough English vessels in home waters in
the latter part of the month of July, 1914, to give England the
upper hand over the fleet of Germany. As a result, finding the
British too strong, the Germans did not venture out into the high
seas to give battle. A few skirmishes were fought between
cruisers, then some speedy German warships made a dash across the
North Sea to the coast of England, shelled some small towns,
killed several men, women, and children and returned, getting
back to the Kiel Canal before the English vessels arrived in any
number.
A second raid was attempted a few weeks later but by this time
the British were on the watch. Two of the best German cruisers
were sunk and the others barely escaped the fire of the avengers.
About the first of June, 1916, a goodly portion of the German
fleet sailed out, hoping to catch the British unawares. They were
successful in sinking several large ships, but when the main
British fleet arrived they began in turn to suffer great losses,
and were obliged to retire. With the exception of these two
fights and two other battles fought off the coast of South
America (in the first of which a small English fleet was
destroyed by the Germans, and in the second a larger British
fleet took revenge), there have been no battles between the sea
forces.
The big navy of England ruled the ocean. German merchant vessels
were either captured or forced to remain in ports of neutral
nations. German commerce was swept from the seas, while ships
carrying supplies to France and the British Isles sailed
unmolested—for a time. Only in the Baltic Sea was Germany
mistress. Commerce from Sweden, Norway, and Denmark was kept up
as usual. Across the borders of Holland and Switzerland came
great streams of imports. Merchants in these little countries
bought, in the markets of the world, apparently for themselves,
but really for Germany.
However, not for long did British commerce sail unmolested. A new
and terrible menace was to appear. This was the submarine boat,
the invention of Mr. John Holland, an American, but improved and
enlarged by the Germans. In one of the early months of the war
three British warships, the _Hogue_, the _Cressy_, and the
_Aboukir_, were cruising about, guarding the waters of the North
Sea. There was the explosion of a torpedo, and the _Hogue_ began
to sink. One of her sister ships rushed in to pick up the crew as
they struggled in the water. A second torpedo struck and a second
ship was sinking. Nothing daunted by the fate of the other two,
the last survivor steamed to the scene of the disaster—the German
submarine once more shot its deadly weapon, and three gallant
ships with a thousand men had gone down.
This startled the world. It was plain that battleships and
cruisers were not enough. While England controlled the surface of
the sea, there was no way to prevent the coming and going of the
German submarine beneath the waters. All naval warfare was
changed in a moment; new methods and new weapons had to be
employed.
At the outset of the war the English and French fleets had set up
a strict blockade of Germany. There were certain substances which
were called “contraband of war” and which, according to the law
of nations, might be seized by one country if they were the
property of her enemy. On the list of contraband were all kinds
of ammunition and guns, as well as materials for making these.
England and France, however, added to the list which all nations
before the war had admitted to be contraband substances like
cotton, which was very necessary in the manufacture of gun-cotton
and other high explosives, gasoline—fuel for the thousands of
automobiles needed to transport army supplies, and rubber for
their tires. Soon other substances were added to the list.
An attempt was made to starve Germany into making peace. The
central empires, in ordinary years, raise only about
three-fourths of the food that they eat. With the great supply of
Russian wheat shut off and vessels from North America and South
America not allowed to pass the British blockade, Germany’s
imports had to come by way of Holland, Switzerland, and the
Scandinavian countries. When Holland in 1915 began to buy about
four times as much wheat as she had eaten in 1913, it did not
take a detective to discover that she was secretly selling to
Germany the great bulk of what she was buying apparently for
herself. In a like manner Switzerland and the Scandinavian
countries suddenly developed a much greater appetite than before
the war! The British blockade grew stricter. It was agreed to
allow these countries to import just enough food for their own
purposes. The British trusted that they would rather eat the food
themselves than sell it to Germany even at very high prices. The
Germans soon began to feel the pinch of hunger. They had
slaughtered many of their cows for beef and as a result grew
short of milk and butter.
To strike back at England, Germany announced that she would use
her submarines to sink ships carrying food to the British Isles.
This happened in February, 1915. There was a storm of protest
from the world in general, but Germany agreed that her submarine
commanders should warn each ship of its danger and allow the
captain time to get the passengers and crew into boats before the
deadly torpedo was shot. Still the crew, exposed to the danger of
the ocean in open boats, and often cast loose miles from shore,
were in serious danger.
The laws of nations, as observed by civilized countries in wars
up to this time, have said that a blockade, in order to be
recognized by all nations, had to be successful in doing the work
for which it was intended. If England really was able to stop
every boat sailing for German shores, then all nations would have
to admit that Germany was blockaded; but if the Germans were able
to sink only one ship out of every hundred that sailed into
English ports, Germany could hardly be said to be carrying on a
real blockade of England. In spite of protests from neutral
nations who were peaceably trying to trade with all the countries
at war, this sinking of merchantmen by submarines went on.
In May, 1915, the great steamship _Lusitania_ was due to sail
from New York for England. A few days before her departure
notices signed by the German ambassador were put into New York
papers, warning people that Germany would not be responsible for
what happened to them if they took passage on this boat. Very few
people paid any attention to these warnings. With over a thousand
persons on board the _Lusitania_ sailed, on schedule time.
Suddenly the civilized world was horrified to hear that a German
submarine, without giving the slightest warning, had sent two
torpedoes crashing through the hull of the great steamer, sending
her to the bottom in short order. A few had time to get into the
boats, but over eight hundred men, women, and children were
drowned, of whom over one hundred were American citizens. Strange
as it may seem, this action caused a thrill of joy throughout
Germany. Some of the Germans were horrified, as were people in
neutral countries, but on the whole the action of the German navy
was approved by the voice of the German people. With a curiously
warped sense of right and wrong the Germans proclaimed that the
English and Americans were brutal in allowing women and children
to go on this boat when they had been warned that the boat was
going to be sunk! They spoke of this much in the manner in which
one would speak of the cruelty of a man who would drive innocent
children and women to march in front of armies in order to
protect the troops from the fire of their enemies.
A storm of indignation against Germany burst out all over the
United States. Many were for immediate war. Calmer plans,
however, prevailed, and the upshot of the matter was that a stern
note was sent to Berlin notifying the Kaiser that the United
States could not permit vessels carrying Americans to be
torpedoed without warning on the open seas. The German papers
proceeded to make jokes about this matter. They pictured every
French and English boat as refusing to sail until at least two
Americans had been persuaded to go as passengers, so that the
boat might be under the protection of the United States.
However, in spite of Germany’s solemn promise that nothing of the
sort would happen again, similar incidents kept occurring,
although on a smaller scale. The American steamers _Falaba_ and
_Gulflight_ were torpedoed without warning, in each case with the
loss of one or two lives. Finally, the steamer _Sussex_, crossing
the English Channel, was hit by a torpedo which killed many of
the passengers. As several Americans lost their lives, once more
the United States warned Germany that this must not be repeated.
Germany acknowledged that her submarine commander had gone
further than his orders allowed him and promised that the act
should not be repeated—provided that the United States should
force England to abandon what Germany called her illegal
blockade. The United States in reply made it plain that while the
English blockade was unpleasant to American citizens, still it
was very different from the brutal murder of women and children
on the high seas. England, when convinced that an American ship
was carrying supplies which would be sold in the end to Germany,
merely took this vessel into an English port, where a court
decided what the cargo was worth and ordered the British
government to pay that sum to the (American) owners.
This was resented by the American shippers, but it was not
anything to go to war over. The United States gave warning that
she would hold Germany responsible for any damage to American
ships or loss of American lives.
All of this time the Germans were accusing the United States of
favoring the nations of the Entente because they were selling
munitions of war to them and none to Germany. They said that it
was grossly unfair for neutral nations to sell to one side when,
owing to the blockade, they could not sell to the other also.
When a protest was made by Austria, the United States pointed out
that a similar case had come up in 1899. At that time the empire
of Great Britain was at war with two little Dutch Republics in
South Africa. The Dutch, completely blockaded, could not buy
munitions in the open market. Nevertheless, this fact did not
prevent both Austria and Germany from selling guns and ammunition
to Great Britain. (It must be made plain that the United States
_government_ was not selling munitions of war to any of the
warring nations. What Germany wanted and Austria asked was that
our government should prevent our private companies, as, for
example our steel mills, from shipping any goods which would
eventually aid in killing Germans. The United States made it
plain that our people had no feeling in the matter—that they were
in business, and would sell to whomsoever came to buy; that it
was not our fault that the British navy, being larger than the
German, prevented Germany from trading with us.)
In the meanwhile explosions kept occurring in the many munition
factories in the United States that were turning out shells and
guns for the Allies. Several hundred Americans were killed in
these explosions, and property to the value of millions of
dollars was destroyed. It was proved that the Austrian ambassador
and several of the German diplomats had been hiring men to commit
these crimes. They were protected from our courts by the fact
that they were representatives of foreign nations, but the
President insisted that their governments recall them.
The Germans made a great point about the brutality of the English
blockade. They told stories about the starving babies of Germany,
who were being denied milk because of the cruelty of the English.
As a matter of fact, what Germany really lacked was rubber,
cotton, gasoline, and above all, nickel and cobalt, two metals
which were needed in the manufacture of guns and shells.
Finally, in the summer of 1916, came a world surprise. A large
German submarine, the _Deutschland_, made the voyage across the
Atlantic Ocean and bobbed up unexpectedly in the harbor of
Baltimore. In spite of all the trouble that the United States had
had with Germany over the sinking of ships by submarines, the
crew of this vessel was warmly received, and the cargo of dyes
which she brought was eagerly purchased. The Germans, in return,
loaded their ship with the metals and other products of which
Germany was so short. As one American newspaper said, the
_Deutschland_ took back a cargo of nickel and rubber to the
starving babies of Germany. Once more the _Deutschland_ came,
this time to New London, and again her crew was welcomed with
every sign of hospitality.
[Illustration: The Deutschland in Chesapeake Bay]
In December, 1916, at the close of the victorious German campaign
against Roumania, the central powers, weary of war and beginning
to feel the pinch of starvation and the drain on their young men,
made it known that as they had won the war they were now ready to
treat for peace. This message carried with it a threat to all
countries not at war that if they did not help to force the
Entente to accept the Kaiser’s peace terms, Germany could not be
held responsible for anything that might happen to them in the
future.
President Wilson, always apprehensive that something might draw
the United States into the conflict, grasped eagerly at this
opportunity, and in a public message he asked both sides to state
to the world on what terms they would stop the war.
The Germans and their allies did not make a clear and definite
proposal. On the other hand, the nations of the Entente, in no
uncertain terms, declared that no peace would be made unless the
central powers restored what they had wrongfully seized, paid the
victims of their unprovoked attack for the damage they had done,
and guaranteed that no such act should ever be committed in the
future. They also declared that the Poles, Danes, Czechs,
Slovaks, Italians, Alsatians, and Serbs should be freed from the
tyrannous governments which now enslaved them. In plain language
this meant that the central powers must give back part of
Schleswig to Denmark, allow the kingdom of Poland to be restored
as it once had been; permit the Bohemians and Slovaks to form an
independent nation in the midst of Austria-Hungary; allow the
people of Alsace and Lorraine the right of returning to France;
annex the Italians in Austria-Hungary to Italy, and permit the
Serbs in Bosnia and Herzegovina to join their cousins to the
southeast in one great Serbian nation.
When these terms were published the German government exclaimed
that while they had been willing to make peace and perhaps even
give back the conquered portions of Belgium and northern France
in return for the captured German colonies in Africa and the
Pacific Ocean, with the payment of indemnities to Germany, now it
was plain that the nations of the Entente intended to wipe out
utterly the German nation and dismember the empire of
Austria-Hungary; and that since Germany had offered her enemies
an honorable peace and they had refused, the only thing left for
the central powers to do was to fight to the bitter end and _use
any means whatsoever to force their enemies to make peace_.
In other words, here were the two conflicting claims: Germany
said, “We have won the war. Don’t you recognize the fact that you
have been beaten? Give us back our colonies, organize a kingdom
of Poland, out of the part of Russian Poland which we have
conquered, as a separate kingdom under our protection, but don’t
expect us to join to this any part of Austrian or Prussian
Poland. (Prussian and Austrian Poland are _ours_. You wouldn’t
expect _us_ to give up any part of _them_, would you?) Allow us
to keep the port of Antwerp and maintain our control over the
Balkan peninsula. We will restore to you northern France, most of
Belgium, and even part of Serbia. See what a generous offer we
are making!”
The Allied nations replied, in effect: “You now have gotten
three-fourths of what you aimed at when you began the war. If we
make peace now, allowing you to keep the greater part of what you
have conquered, you will be magnanimous and give back a small
portion of it if we in turn surrender all your lost colonies.
Hardly! We demand, on the other hand, that you recompense, as far
as you can, the miserable victims of your savage attack for the
death and destruction that you have caused; that you put things
back as you found them as nearly as possible; that you make it
plain to us that never again will we have to be on guard against
the possibility of a ruthless invasion by your army; that you
give to the peoples whom you and your allies have forcibly
annexed or retained under your rule a chance to choose their own
form of government.”
Then said the Germans to the world, “You see! They want to wipe
us out of existence and cut the empire of our allies into small
bits. Nothing is left but to fight for our existence, and, as we
are fighting for our existence, all rules hitherto observed in
civilized warfare are now called off!”
In the latter part of January, 1917, the German government
announced that, inasmuch as they had tried to bring about an
honorable peace (which would have left them still in possession
of three-fourths the plunder they had gained in the war) and this
peace offer had been rejected by the Entente, all responsibility
for anything which might happen hereafter in the war would have
to be borne by France, England, etc., and not by Germany. It was
stated that Germany was fighting for her existence, and that when
one’s life is at stake all methods of fighting are permissible.
Germany proposed, therefore, to send out her submarines and sink
_without warning_ all merchant ships sailing toward English or
French ports.
In a special note to the United States, the German government
said that once a week, at a certain time, the United States would
be permitted to send a passenger vessel to England, provided that
this boat were duly inspected and proved to have no munitions of
war or supplies for England on board. It must be painted all over
with red, white, and blue stripes and must be marked in other
ways so that the German submarine commanders would know it. (It
must be remembered that Germany insisted that she was fighting
for the freedom of the seas!)
Now, at all times, it has been recognized that the open seas are
free to all nations for travel and commerce. This proposal, to
sink without warning all ships on the ocean, was a bit of
effrontery that few had imagined even the German government was
capable of.
President Wilson had been exceedingly patient with Germany. In
fact, a great majority of the newspaper and magazine writers in
the country had criticized him for being too patient. The great
majority of the people of the United States were for peace,
ardently. The government at Washington knew this. Nevertheless,
this last announcement by Germany that she proposed to kill any
American citizens who dared to travel on the sea in the
neighborhood of England and France seemed more than a
self-respecting nation could endure. The Secretary of State sent
notice to Count Von Bernstorff, the German ambassador, to leave
this country. Friendly relations between the imperial government
of Germany and the United States of America were at an end.
Questions for Review
How did the submarine boat change methods of warfare?
What is contraband of war?
Was it right to prevent the importation of food into Germany?
Why would a nation which manufactured a great deal of war
material object to the sale of such material to fighting
nations by nations at peace?
Show how this rule, if carried out, would have a tendency to
make all nations devote too much work to the preparation of
war supplies.
Show the difference between the British blockade and the
sinking of ships by German submarines.
Would the blowing up of American factories by paid agents of
the German government have been a good enough reason for the
United States to have declared war?
How did the voyages of the _Deutschland_ prove that the
United States wanted to be fair to both sides in the war?
What reasons had Austria and Germany for wishing peace in
December 1916?
Why did President Wilson ask the warring nations to state
their aims in the war?
How did Germany try to justify the sinking of ships without
warning?