[Illustration]
The World War
A History of
The Nations and Empires Involved and
a Study of the Events Culminating in
The Great Conflict
by Logan Marshall
PREFACE
When the people of the United States heard the news of the
assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand, heir to the throne of
Austria-Hungary, and his wife in Sarajevo, Bosnia, on June 28, 1914, it
was with a feeling of great regret that another sorrow had been added
to the many already borne by the aged Emperor Francis Joseph. That
those fatal shots would echo around the world and, flashing out
suddenly like a bolt from the blue, hurl nearly the whole of Europe
within a week’s time from a state of profound peace into one of
continental war, unannounced, unexpected, unexplained, unprecedented in
suddenness and enormity, was an unimaginable possibility. And yet the
ringing of the church bells was suddenly drowned by the roar of cannon,
the voice of the dove of peace by the blare of the trump of war, and
throughout the world ran a shudder of terror at these unwonted and
ominous sounds.
But in looking back through history, tracing the course of events
during the past century, following the footsteps of men in war and
peace from that day of upheaval when medieval feudalism went down in
disarray before the arms of the people in the French Revolution, some
explanation of the Great European war of 1914 may be reached. Every
event in history has its roots somewhere in earlier history, and we
need but dig deep enough to find them.
Such is the purpose of the present work. It proposes to lay down in a
series of apposite chapters the story of the past century, beginning,
in fact, rather more than a century ago with the meteoric career of
Napoleon and seeking to show to what it led, and what effects it had
upon the political evolution of mankind. The French Revolution stood
midway between two spheres of history, the sphere of medieval barbarism
and that of modern enlightenment. It exploded like a bomb in the midst
of the self-satisfied aristocracy of the earlier social system and rent
it into the fragments which no hand could put together again. In this
sense the career of Napoleon seems providential. The era of popular
government had replaced that of autocratic and aristocratic government
in France, and the armies of Napoleon spread these radical ideas
throughout Europe until the oppressed people of every nation began to
look upward with hope and see in the distance before them a haven of
justice in the coming realm of human rights.
It required considerable time for these new conceptions to become
thoroughly disseminated. A down-trodden people enchained by the theory
of the “divine right of kings” to autocratic rule, had to break the
fetters one by one and gradually emerge from a state of practical
serfdom to one of enlightened emancipation. There were many setbacks,
and progress was distressingly slow but nevertheless sure.
The story of this upward progress is the history of the nineteenth
century, regarded from the special point of view of political progress
and the development of human rights. This is definitely shown in the
present work, which is a history of the past century and of the
twentieth century so far as it has gone. Gradually the autocrat has
declined in power and authority, and the principle of popular rights
has risen into view. This war will not have been fought in vain if, as
predicted, it will result in the complete downfall of autocracy as a
political principle, and the rise of the rule of the people, so that
the civilized nations of the earth may never again be driven into a
frightful war of extermination against peaceful neighbors at the nod of
a hereditary sovereign. Logan Marshall
CONTENTS
Chapter I. All Europe Plunged into War
Dramatic Suddenness of the Outbreak—Trade and Commerce
Paralyzed—Widespread Influences—Terrible Effects of War—The Tide of
Destruction—Half Century to Pay Debts
Chapter II. Underlying Causes of the Great European War
Assassination of the Austrian Crown Prince—Austria’s Motive in Making
War—Servia Accepts Austria’s Demand—The Ironies of History—What Austria
Has to Gain—How the War Became Continental—An Editorial Opinion—Is the
Kaiser Responsible?—Germany’s Stake in the War—Why Russia Entered the
Field—France’s Hatred of Germany—Great Britain and Italy—The Triple
Alliance and Triple Entente
Chapter III. Strength and Resources of the Warring Powers
Old and New Methods in War—Costs of Modern Warfare—Nature of National
Resources—British and American Military Systems—Naval
Strength—Resources of Austria-Hungary—Resources of Germany—Resources of
Russia—Resources of France—Resources of Great Britain—Servia and
Belgium
Chapter IV. Great Britain and the War
The Growth of German Importance—German Militarism—Great Britain’s Peace
Efforts—Germany’s Naval Program—German Ambitions—Preparation for
War—Effect on the Empire
Chapter V. The World’s Greatest War
Wars as Mileposts—A Continent in Arms—How Canada Prepared for War—the
British Sentiment—Lord Kitchener’s Career—A Forceful Character
Chapter VI. The Earthquake of Napoleonism
Its Effect on National Conditions Finally Led to the War of 1914
Conditions in France and Germany—The Campaign in Italy—The Victory at
Marengo—Moreau at Hohenlinden—The Consul Made Emperor—The Code
Napoleon—Campaign of 1805—Battle of Austerlitz—The Conquest of
Prussia—The Invasion of Poland—Eylau and Friedland—Campaign of
1809—Victory at Wagram—The Campaign in Spain—The Invasion of Russia—A
Fatal Retreat—Dresden and Leipzig—The Hundred Days—The Congress of
Vienna—The Holy Alliance
Chapter VII. Pan-Slavism Versus Pan-Germanism
Russia’s Part in the Servian Issue—Strength of the Russian Army—The
Distribution of the Slavs—Origin of Pan-Slavism—The Czar’s
Proclamation—The Teutons of Europe—Intermingling of Races—The Nations
at War
Chapter VIII. The Ambition of Louis Napoleon
The Coup-d’état of 1851—From President to Emperor—The Empire is
Peace—War With Austria—The Austrians Advance—The Battle of
Magenta—Possession of Lombardy—French Victory at Solferino—Treaty of
Peace—Invasion of Mexico—End of Napoleon’s Career
Chapter IX. Garibaldi and Italian Unity
Power of Austria Broken
The Carbonari—Mazzini and Garibaldi—Cavour, the Statesman—The Invasion
of Sicily—Occupation of Naples—Victor Emmanuel Takes Command—Watchword
of the Patriots—Garibaldi Marches Against Rome—Battle of
Ironclads—Final Act of Italian Unity
Chapter X. The Expansion of Germany
Beginnings of Modern World Power
William I of Prussia—Bismarck’s Early Career—The Schleswig-Holstein
Question—Conquest of the Duchies—Bismarck’s Wider Views—War Forced on
Austria—The War in Italy—Austria’s Signal Defeat at Sadowa—The Treaty
of Prague—Germany after 1866
Chapter XI. The Franco-Prussian War
Birth of the German Empire and the French Republic
Causes of Hostile Relations—Discontent in France—War with Prussia
Declared—Self deception of the French—First Meeting of the Armies—The
Stronghold of Metz—Mars-la-Tour and Gravelotte—Napoleon III at
Sedan—The Emperor a Captive; France a Republic—Bismarck Refuses
Intervention—Fall of the Fortresses—Paris is Besieged—Defiant Spirit of
the French—The Struggle Continued—Operations Before Paris—Fighting in
the South—The War at an End
Chapter XII. Bismarck and the German Empire
Building the Bulwarks of the Twentieth Century Nation
Bismarck as a Statesman—Uniting the German States—William I Crowned at
Versailles—A Significant Decade—The Problem of Church Power—Progress of
Socialism—William II and the Resignation of Bismarck—Old Age
Insurance—Political and Industrial Conditions in Germany
Chapter XIII. Gladstone as an Apostle of Reform
Great Britain Becomes a World Power
Gladstone and Disraeli—Gladstone’s Famous Budget—A Suffrage Reform
Bill—Disraeli’s Reform Measure—Irish Church Disestablishment—An Irish
Land Bill—Desperate State of Ireland—The Coercion Bill—War in
Africa—Home Rule for Ireland
Chapter XIV. The French Republic
Struggles of a New Nation
The Republic Organized—The Commune of Paris—Instability of the
Government—Thiers Proclaimed President—Punishment of the Unsuccessful
Generals—MacMahon a Royalist President—Bazaine’s Sentence and
Escape—Grevy, Gambetta and Boulanger—The Panama Canal Scandal—Despotism
of the Army Leaders—The Dreyfus Case—Church and State—The Moroccan
Controversy
Chapter XV. Russia in the Field of War
The Outcome of Slavic Ambition
Siege of Sebastopol—Russia in Asia—The Russo-Japanese War—Port Arthur
Taken—The Russian Fleet Defeated
Chapter XVI. Great Britain and Her Colonies
How England Became Mistress of the Seas
Great Britain as a Colonizing Power—Colonies in the Pacific
Region—Colonization in Africa—British Colonies in Africa—The Mahdi
Rebellion in Egypt—Gordon at Khartoum—Suppression of the Mahdi
Revolt—Colonization in Asia—The British in India—Colonies in
America—Development of Canada—Progress in Canada
Chapter XVII. The Open Door in China and Japan
Development of World Power in the East
Warlike Invasions of China—Commodore Perry and His Treaty—Japan’s Rapid
Progress—Origin of the China-Japan War—The Position of Korea—Li Hung
Chang and the Empress—How Japan Began War—The Chinese and Japanese
Fleets—The Battle of the Yalu—Capture of Wei Hai Wei—Europe Invades
China—The Boxer Outbreak—Russian Designs on Manchuria—Japan Begins War
on Russia—The Armies Meet—China Becomes a Republic
Chapter XVIII. Turkey and the Balkan States
Checking the Dominion of the Turk in Europe
The Story of Servia—Turkey in Europe—The Bulgarian Horrors—The Defense
of Plevna—The Congress of Berlin—Hostile Sentiments in the
Balkans—Incitement to War—Fighting Begins—The Advance on
Adrianople—Servian and Greek victories—The Bulgarian Successes—Steps
toward Peace—The War Resumed—Siege of Scutari—Treaty of Peace—War
Between the Allies—The Final Settlement
Chapter XIX. Methods in Modern Warfare
Ancient and Modern Weapons—New Types of Weapons—The Iron-clad
Warship—The Balloon in War—Tennyson’s Foresight—Gunning for
Airships—The Submarine—Under-water Warfare—The New Type of
Battleship—Mobilization—The Waste of War
Chapter XX. Canada’s Part in the World War
New Relations Toward the Empire—Military Preparations—The Great Camp at
Valcartier—The Canadian Expeditionary Force—Political Effect of
Canada’s Action on Future of the Dominion
Chapter I.
ALL EUROPE PLUNGED INTO WAR
Dramatic Suddenness of the Outbreak—Trade and Commerce
Paralyzed—Widespread Influences—Terrible Effects of War—The Tide of
Destruction—Half Century to Pay Debts
At the opening of the final week of July, 1914, the whole world—with
the exception of Mexico, in which the smouldering embers of the
revolution still burned—was in a state of profound peace. The
clattering hammers and whirling wheels of industry were everywhere to
be heard; great ships furrowed the ocean waves, deep-laden with the
world’s products and carrying thousands of travelers bent on business
or enjoyment. Countless trains of cars, drawn by smoke-belching
locomotives, traversed the long leagues of iron rails, similarly laden
with passengers engaged in peaceful errands and freight intended for
peaceful purposes. All seemed at rest so far as national hostile
sentiments were concerned. All was in motion so far as useful
industries demanded service. Europe, America, Asia, and Africa alike
had settled down as if to a long holiday from war, and the advocates of
universal peace were jubilant over the progress of their cause, holding
peace congresses and conferences at The Hague and elsewhere, fully
satisfied that the last war had been fought and that arbitration boards
would settle all future disputes among nations, however serious.
Such occasions occur at frequent intervals in nature, in which a deep
calm, a profound peace, rests over land and sea. The winds are hushed,
the waves at rest; only the needful processes of the universe are in
action, while for the time the world forgets the chained demons of
unrest and destruction. But too quickly the chains are loosened, the
winds and waves set free; and the hostile forces of nature rush over
earth and sea, spreading terror and devastation in their path. Such
energies of hostility are not confined to the elements. They exist in
human communities. They underlie the political conditions of the
nations, and their outbreak is at times as sudden and unlooked-for as
that of the winds and waves. Such was the state of political affairs in
Europe at the date mentioned, apparently calm and restful, while below
the surface hostile forces which had long been fomenting unseen were
ready to burst forth and whelm the world.
DRAMATIC SUDDENNESS OF THE OUTBREAK
On the night of July 25th the people of the civilized world settled
down to restful slumbers, with no dreams of the turmoil that was ready
to burst forth. On the morning of the 26th they rose to learn that a
great war had begun, a conflict the possible width and depth of which
no man was yet able to foresee; and as day after day passed on, each
day some new nation springing into the terrible arena until practically
the whole of Europe was in arms and the Armageddon seemed at hand, the
world stood amazed and astounded, wondering what hand had loosed so
vast a catastrophe, what deep and secret causes lay below the
ostensible causes of the war. The causes of this were largely unknown.
As a panic at times affects a vast assemblage, with no one aware of its
origin, so a wave of hostile sentiment may sweep over vast communities
until the air is full of urgent demands for war with scarce a man
knowing why.
What is already said only feebly outlines the state of consternation
into which the world was cast in that fateful week in which the doors
of the Temple of Janus, long closed, were suddenly thrown wide open and
the terrible God of War marched forth, the whole earth trembling
beneath his feet. It was the breaking of a mighty storm in a placid
sky, the fall of a meteor which spreads terror and destruction on all
sides, the explosion of a vast bomb in a great assemblage; it was
everything that can be imagined of the sudden and overwhelming, of the
amazing and incredible.
TRADE AND COMMERCE PARALYZED
For the moment the world stood still, plunged into a panic that stopped
all its activities. The stock exchanges throughout the nations were
closed, to prevent that wild and hasty action which precipitates
disaster. Throughout Europe trade, industry, commerce all ceased,
paralyzed at their sources. No ship of any of the nations concerned
except Britain dared venture from port, lest it should fall a prey to
the prowling sea dogs of war which made all the oceans unsafe. The
hosts of American tourists who had gone abroad under the sunny skies of
peace suddenly beheld the dark clouds of war rolling overhead, blotting
out the sun, and casting their black shadows over all things fair.
What does this state of affairs, this sudden stoppage of the wheels of
industry, this unforeseen and wide spread of the conditions of war
portend? Emerson has said: “When a great thinker comes into the world
all things are at risk.” There is potency in this, and also in a
variation of Emerson’s text which we shall venture to make: “When a
great war comes upon the world all things are at risk.” Everything
which we have looked upon as fixed and stable quakes as if from mighty
hidden forces. The whole world stands irresolute and amazed. The
steady-going habits and occupations of peace cease or are perilously
threatened, and no one can be sure of escaping from some of the dire
effects of the catastrophe.
WIDESPREAD INFLUENCES
The conditions of production vanish, to be replaced by conditions of
destruction. That which had been growing in grace and beauty for years
is overturned and destroyed in a moment of ravage. Changes of this kind
are not confined to the countries in which the war rages or the cities
which conquering column of troops occupy. They go beyond the borders of
military activity; they extend to far-off quarters of the earth. We
quote from the New York WORLD a vivid picture drawn at the opening of
the great European war. Its motto is “all the world is paying the cost
of the folly of Europe.”
Never before was war made so swiftly wide. News of it comes from Japan,
from Porto Rico, from Africa, from places where in old days news of
hostilities might not travel for months.
“Non-combatants are in the vast majority, even in the countries at war,
but they are not immune to its blight. Austria is isolated from the
world because her ally, Germany, will take no chances of spilling
military information and will not forward mails. If, telephoning in
France, you use a single foreign word, even an English one, your wire
is cut. Hans the German waiter, Franz the clarinettist in the little
street band, is locked up as a possible spy. There are great German
business houses in London and Paris; their condition is that of English
and French business houses in Berlin, and that is not pleasant. Great
Britain contemplates, as an act of war, the voiding of patents held by
Germans in the United Kingdom.
“Nothing is too petty, nothing too great, nothing too distant in kind
or miles from the field of war to feel its influence. The whole world
is the loser by it, whoever at the end of all the battles may say that
he has won.
DILEMMA OF THE TOURISTS
Let us consider one of the early results of the war. It vitally
affected great numbers of Americans, the army of tourists who had made
their way abroad for rest, study and recreation and whose numbers,
while unknown, were great, some estimating them at the high total of
100,000 or more. These, scattered over all sections of Europe, some
with money in abundance, some with just enough for a brief journey,
capitalists, teachers, students, all were caught in the sudden flurry
of the war, their letters of credit useless, transportation difficult
or impossible to obtain, all exposed to inconveniences, some to
indignities, some of them on the flimsiest pretence seized and searched
as spies, the great mass of them thrown into a state of panic that
added greatly to the unpleasantness of the situation in which they
found themselves.
While these conditions of panic gradually adjusted themselves, the
status of the tourists continued difficult and annoying. The railroads
were seized for the transportation of troops, leaving many Americans
helplessly held in far interior parts, frequently without money or
credit. One example of the difficulties encountered will serve as an
instance which might be repeated a hundred fold.
Seven hundred Americans from Geneva were made by Swiss troops to leave
a train. Many who refused were forced off at the point or guns. This
compulsory removal took place at some distance from a station near the
border, according to Mrs. Edward Collins, of New York, who with her
three daughters was on the train. With 200 others they reached Paris
and were taken aboard a French troop train. Most of the arrivals were
women; the men were left behind because of lack of space. One hundred
women refused to take the train without their husbands; scores struck
back for Geneva; others on foot, carrying articles of baggage, started
in the direction of Paris, hoping to get trains somewhere. Just why
Swiss troops thus occupied themselves is not explained; but in times of
warlike turmoil many unexplainable things occur. Here is an incident of
a different kind, told by one of the escaping host: “I went into the
restaurant car for lunch,” he said. “When I tried to return to the car
where I’d left my suitcase, hat, cane and overcoat, I couldn’t find it.
Finally the conductor said blithely, ‘Oh, that car was taken off for
the use of the army.’
“I was forced to continue traveling coatless, hatless and minus my
baggage until I boarded the steamer FLUSHING, when I managed to swipe a
straw hat during the course of the Channel passage while the people
were down eating in the saloon. I grabbed the first one on the hatrack.
Talk about a romantic age. Why, I wouldn’t live in any other time than
now. We will be boring our grandchildren talking about this war.”
The scarcity of provisions in many localities and the withholding of
money by the banks made the situation, as regarded Americans,
especially serious. Those fortunate enough to reach port without
encountering these difficulties found the situation there equally
embarrassing. The great German and English liners, for instance, were
held up by order of the government, or feared to sail lest they should
be taken captive by hostile cruisers. Many of these lay in port in New
York, forbidden to sail for fear of capture. These included ships of
the Cunard and International Marine lines, the north German Lloyd, the
Hamburg-American, the Russian-American, and the French lines, until
this port led the world in the congestion of great liners rendered
inactive by the war situation abroad. The few that put to sea were
utterly incapable of accommodating a tithe of the anxious and appealing
applicants. It had ceased, in the state of panic that prevailed, to be
a mere question of money. Frightened millionaires were credited with
begging for steerage berths. Everywhere was dread and confusion, men
and women being in a state of mind past the limits of calm reasoning.
Impulse is the sole ruling force where reason has ceased to act.
Slowly the skies cleared; calmer conditions began to prevail. The
United States government sent the battleship TENNESSEE abroad with
several millions of dollars for the aid of destitute travelers and the
relief of those who could not get their letters or credit and
travelers’ checks cashed. Such a measure of relief was necessary, there
being people abroad with letters of credit for as much as $5,000
without money enough to buy a meal. One tourist said: “I had to give a
Milwaukee doctor, who had a letter of credit for $2,500 money to get
shaved.” London hotels showed much consideration for the needs of
travelers without ready cash, but on the continent there were many such
who were refused hotel accommodation.
As for those who reached New York or other American ports, many had
fled in such haste as to leave their baggage behind. Numbers of the
poorer travelers had exhausted their scanty stores of cash in the
effort to escape from Europe and reached port utterly penniless. The
case was one that called for immediate and adequate solution and the
governmental and moneyed interests on this side did their utmost to
cope with the situation. Vessels of American register were too few to
carry the host applying for transportation, and it was finally decided
to charter foreign vessels for this purpose and thus hasten the work of
moving the multitude of appealing tourists. From 15,000 to 20,000 of
these needed immediate attention, a majority of them being destitute.
AN OCEAN INCIDENT
Men and women needed not only transportation, but money also, and in
this particular there is an interesting story to tell. The German
steamer KRONPRINZESSIN CECILIE, bound for Bremen, had sailed from New
York before the outbreak of the war, carrying about 1,200 passengers
and a precious freight of gold, valued at $10,700,000. The value of the
vessel herself added $5,000,000 to this sum. What had become of her and
her tempting cargo was for a time unknown. There were rumors that she
had been captured by a British cruiser, but this had no better
foundation than such rumors usually have. Her captain was alert to the
situation, being informed by wireless of the sudden change from peace
to war. One such message, received from an Irish wireless station,
conveyed an order from the Bremen company for him to return with all
haste to an American port.
It was on the evening of Friday, July 31st, that this order came. At
once the vessel changed its course. One by one the ship’s lights were
put out. The decks which could not be made absolutely dark were
enclosed with canvas. By midnight the ship was as dark as the sea
surrounding. On she went through Saturday and on Sunday ran into a
dense fog. Through this she rushed with unchecked speed and in utter
silence, not a toot coming from her fog-horn. This was all very well as
a measure of secrecy, but it opened the way to serious danger through a
possible collision, and a committee of passengers was formed to request
the captain to reconsider his action. Just as the committee reached his
room the first blast of the fog-horn was heard, its welcome tone
bringing a sense of security where grave apprehension had prevailed.
A group of financiers were on board who offered to buy the ship and
sail her under American colors. But to all such proposals Captain
Polack turned a deaf ear. He said that his duty was spelled by his
orders from Bremen to turn back and save his ship, and these he
proposed to obey. A passenger stated:
“There were seven of the crew on watch all the time, two aloft. This
enabled the captain to know of passing vessels before they came above
the horizon. We were undoubtedly in danger on Sunday afternoon. We
intercepted a wireless message in French in which two French cruisers
were exchanging data in regard to their positions.
“The captain told me that he imagined those to be two vessels who
regularly patroled the fishing grounds in the interest of French
fisheries. If the captain of either of those vessels should have come
out of the fog and found us, his share of the prize in money might have
amounted to $4,000,000. Did privateer ever dream of such booty!
“Early on Saturday our four great funnels were given broad black bands
in order to make us look like the Olympic, which was supposed to be
twenty-four hours ahead of us. There was a certain grim humor in the
fact that the wireless operator on the Olympic kept calling us all
Friday night. Of course we did not answer.”
On Tuesday, August 4th, the great ship came within sight of land at the
little village of Bar Harbor, Mount Desert Island, off the coast of
Maine; a port scarce large enough to hold the giant liner that had
sought safety in its waters. Wireless messages were at once flashed to
all parts of the country and the news that the endangered vessel, with
its precious cargo, was safe, was received with general relief. As
regards the future movements of the ship Captain Polack said:
“I can see no possibility of taking this ship to New York from here
with safety. To avoid foreign vessels we should have to keep within the
three-mile limit, and to accomplish this the ship would have to be
built like a canoe. We have reached an American port in safety and that
was more than I dared to hope. We have been in almost constant danger
of capture, and we can consider ourselves extremely lucky to have come
out so well.
“I know I have been criticized for making too great speed under bad
weather conditions, but I have not wilfully endangered the lives of the
passengers. I would rather have lost the whole whip and cargo than have
assumed any such risk. Of course, aside from this consideration, my one
aim has been to save my ship and my cargo from capture.
“I have not been acting on my own initiative, but under orders from the
North German Lloyd in Bremen, and although I am an officer in the
German navy my duty has been to the steamship line.”
CLOSING THE STOCK MARKETS
We have so far dealt with only a few of the results of the war. There
were various others of great moment, to some of which a passing
allusion has been made.
On July 30th, for the first time in history, the stock markets of the
world were all closed at the same time. Heretofore when the European
markets have been closed those on this side of the ocean remained open.
The New York Exchange was the last big stock market to announce
temporary suspension of business. The New York Cotton Exchange closed,
following the announcement of the failure of several brokerage firms.
Stock Exchanges throughout the United States followed the example set
by New York. The Stock Exchanges in London and the big provincial
cities, as well as those on the Continent, ceased business, owing to
the breakdown of the credit system, which was made complete by the
postponement of the Paris settlement.
Depositors stormed every bank in London for gold, and the runs
continued for a couple of days. In order to protect its dwindling gold
supply the Bank of England raised its discount rate to 8 per cent.
Leading bankers of London requested Premier Asquith to suspend the bank
act, and he promised to lay the matter before the Chancellor of the
Exchequer. In all the capitals of Europe financial transactions
virtually came to a standstill. The slump in the market value of
securities within the first week of the war flurry was estimated at
$2,000,000,000, and radical measures were necessary to prevent hasty
action while the condition of panic prevailed.
This sudden stoppage of ordinary financial operations was accompanied
by a similar cessation of the industries of peace over a wide range of
territory. The artisan was forced to let fall the tools of his trade
and take up those of war. The railroads were similarly denuded of their
employees except in so far as they were needed to convey soldiers and
military supplies. The customary uses of the railroad were largely
suspended and travel went on under great difficulties. In a measure it
had returned to the conditions existing before the invention of the
locomotive. Even horse traffic was limited by the demands of the army
for these animals, and foot travel regained some of its old ascendency.
War makes business active in one direction and in one only, that of
army and navy supply, of the manufacture of the implements of
destruction, of vast quantities of explosives, of multitudes of
death-dealing weapons. Food supplies need to be diverted in the same
direction, the demands of the soldier being considered first, those of
the home people last, the latter being often supplied at starvation
prices. There is plenty of work to do—of its kind. But it is of a kind
that injures instead of aiding the people of the nations.
TERRIBLE EFFECTS OF WAR
This individual source of misery and suffering in war times is
accompanied by a more direct one, that of the main purpose of
war—destruction of human life and of property that might be utilized by
an enemy, frequently of merciless brigandage and devastation. It is
horrible to think of the frightful suffering caused by every great
battle. Immediate death on the field might reasonably be welcomed as an
escape from the suffering arising from wounds, the terrible
mutilations, the injuries that rankle throughout life, the conversion
of hosts of able-bodied men into feeble invalids, to be kept by the
direct aid of their fellows or the indirect aid of the people at large
through a system of pensions.
The physical sufferings of the soldiers from wounds and privations are
perhaps not the greatest. Side by side with them are the mental
anxieties of their families at home, their terrible suspense, the
effect upon them of tidings of the maiming or death of those dear to
them or on whose labor they immediately depend. The harvest of misery
arising from this cause it is impossible to estimate. It is not to be
seen in the open. It dwells unseen in humble homes, in city, village,
or field, borne often uncomplainingly, but not less poignant from this
cause. The tears and terrors thus produced are beyond calculation. But
while the glories of war are celebrated with blast of trumpet and roll
of drum, the terrible accompaniment of groans of misery is too apt to
pass unheard and die away forgotten.
To turn from this roll of horrors, there are costs of war in other
directions to be considered. Those include the ravage of cities by
flame or pillage, the loss of splendid works of architecture, the
irretrievable destruction of great productions of art, the vanishing of
much on which the world had long set store.
THE TIDE OF DESTRUCTION
Not only on land, but at sea as well, the tide of destruction rises and
swells. Huge warships, built at a cost of millions of dollars and
tenanted by hundreds of hardy sailors, are torn and rent by shot and
shell and at times sent to the bottom with all on board by the
explosion of torpedoes beneath their unprotected lower hulls. The
torpedo boat, the submarine, with other agencies of unseen destruction,
have come into play to add enormously to the horrors of naval warfare,
while the bomb-dropping airships, letting fall its dire missiles from
the sky, has come to add to the dread terror and torment of the
battle-field.
We began this chapter with a statement of the startling suddenness of
this great war, and the widespread consequences which immediately
followed. We have been led into a discussion of its issues, of the
disturbing and distracting consequences which cannot fail to follow any
great modern war between civilized nations. We had some examples of
this on a small scale in the recent Balkan-Turkish war. But that was of
minor importance and its effects, many of them sanguinary and horrible,
were mainly confined to the region in which it occurred. But a war
covering nearly a whole continent cannot be confined and circumscribed
in its consequences. All the world must feel them in a measure—though
diminishing with distance. The vast expanse of water which separates
the United States from the European continent could not save its
citizens from feeling certain ill effects from the struggle of war
lords. America and Europe are tied together with many cords of business
and interest, and the severing or weakening of these cannot fail to be
seriously felt. Canada, at a similar width of removal from Europe, had
reason to feel it still more seriously, from its close political
relations with Great Britain.
In these days in which we live the cost of war is a giant to be
reckoned with. With every increase in the size of cannon, the tonnage
of warships, the destructiveness of weapons and ammunition, this
element of cost grows proportionately greater and has in our day become
stupendous. Nations may spend in our era more cold cash in a day of war
than would have served for a year in the famous days of chivalry. A
study of this question was made by army and navy experts in 1914, and
they decided that the expense to the five nations concerned in the
European war would be not less than $50,000,000 a day.
If we add to this the loss of untold numbers of young men in the prime
of life, whose labor is needed in the fields and workshops of the
nations involved, other billions of dollars must be added to the
estimate, due to the crippling of industries. There is also the
destruction of property to be considered, including the very costly
modern battleships, this also footing up into the billions.
When it is considered that in thirteen years the cost of maintenance of
the armies and navies of the warring countries, as well as the cost of
naval construction, exceeded $20,000,000,000 some idea may be had of
the expense attached to war and the preparations of European countries
for just such contingencies as those that arose in Europe in 1914. The
cost of the Panama Canal, one of the most useful aids to the commerce
of the world, was approximately $375,000,000, but the expense of the
preparations for war in Europe during the time it took to build the
canal exceeded the cost of this gigantic undertaking nearly sixty to
one.
The money thus expended on preparation for war during the thirteen
years named would, if spent in railroad and marine construction, have
given vast commercial power to these nations. To what extent have they
been benefited by the rivalry to gain precedence in military power?
They stand on practically the same basis now that it is all at an end.
Would they not be on the same basis if it had never begun? Aside from
this is the incentive to employ these vast armaments in the purpose for
which they were designed, the effect of creating a military spirit and
developing a military caste in each by the nations, a result very
likely to be productive of ill effects.
The total expense of maintenance of armies and navies, together with
the cost of construction in thirteen years, in Germany, Austria,
Russia, France and Great Britain, was as follows:
Naval expenditures $5,648,525,000
Construction 2,146,765,000
Cost of armies 13,138,403,000
Total $20,933,693,000
The wealth of the same nations in round figures is:
Great Britain $80,000,000,000
Germany 60,500,000,000
Austria 25,000,000,000
France 65,000,000,000
Russia 40,000,000,000
Total 270,500,000,000
This enormous expense which was incurred in preparation for war needed
to be rapidly increased to meet the expenses of actual warfare. The
British House of Commons authorized war credits amounting to
$1,025,000,000, while the German Reichstag voted $1,250,000,000.
Austria and France had to set aside vast sums for their respective war
chests.
HALF CENTURY TO PAY DEBTS
In anticipation of trouble Germany in 1913 voted $250,000,000 for
extraordinary war expenses and about $100,000,000 was spent on an
aerial fleet. France spent $60,000,000 for the same purpose.
The annual cost of maintaining the great armies and navies of Europe
even on a peace basis is enormous, and it must be vastly increased
during war. The official figures for 1913–14 are:
British army $224,300,000
British navy 224,140,000
German army 183,090,00
German navy 111,300,000
French army 191,431,580
French navy 119,571,400
Russian army 317,800,000
Russian navy 122,500,000
Austrian army 82,300,000
Austrian navy 42,000,000
Total $1,618,432,980
It was evident that taxes to meet the extraordinary expenses of war
would have to be greatly increased in Germany and France. As business
became at a standstill throughout Europe and every port of entry
blocked, experts wondered where the money was to come from. All agreed
that, when peace should be declared and the figures were all in, the
result financially would be staggering and that the heaviest burden it
had ever borne would rest upon Europe for fifty years to come. For when
the roar of the cannon ceases and the nations are at rest, then dawns
the era of payment, inevitable, unescapable, one in which for
generations every man and woman must share.