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
Within the whole history of mankind the nations of the earth had never
been so thoroughly equipped for the art of warfare as they were in
1914. While the arts of construction have enormously developed, those
of destruction have fully kept pace with them; and the horrors of war
have enormously increased side by side with the benignities of peace.
It is interesting to trace the history of warfare from this point of
view. Beginning with the club and hammer of the stone age, advancing
through the bow and arrow and the sling-shot of later times, this art,
even in the great days of ancient civilization, the eras of Greece and
Rome, had advanced little beyond the sword and spear, crude weapons of
destruction as regarded in our times. They have in great part been set
aside as symbols of military dignity, emblems of the “pomp and
circumstance of glorious war.”
Descending through the Middle Ages we find the sword and spear still
holding sway, with the bow as an important accessory for the use of the
common soldier. As for the knight, he became an iron-clad champion, so
incased in steel that he could fight effectively only on horseback,
becoming largely helpless on foot. At length, the greatest stage in the
history of war, the notable invention of gunpowder was achieved, and an
enormous transformation took place in the whole terrible art. The
musket, the rifle, the pistol, the cannon were one by one evolved, to
develop in the nineteenth century into the breech-loader, the machine
gun, the bomb, and the multitude of devices fitted to bring about death
and destruction by wholesale, instead of by the retail methods of older
days.
At sea, the sailing vessel, with her far-flung white wings and rows of
puny guns, has given way to the steel-clad battleship with her fewer
but enormously larger cannons, capable of flinging huge masses of iron
many miles through the air and with a precision of aim that seems
incredible for such great distances.
We must add to this the torpedo boat, a tiny craft with a weapon
capable of sinking the most costly and stupendous of battleships, and
the submarine, fitted to creep unseen under blockading fleets, and deal
destruction with nothing to show the hand that dealt the deadly blow.
Even the broad expanse of the air has been made a field of warlike
activity, with scouting airships flying above contending armies and
signaling their most secret movements to the forces below.
OLD AND NEW METHODS IN WAR
In regard to loss of life on the battle-field, it may be said that many
of the wars of ancient times surpassed the bloodiest of those of modern
days, despite the enormously more destructive weapons and implements
now employed. When men fought hand to hand, and no idea of quarter for
the defeated existed, entire armies were at times slaughtered on the
field. In our days, when the idea of mercy for the vanquished prevails,
this wholesale slaughter of beaten hosts has ceased, and the death list
of the battle-field has been largely reduced by caution on the part of
the fighters. With the feeling that a dead soldier is utterly useless,
and a wounded one often worse than useless, as constituting an
impediment, every means of saving life is utilized. Soldiers now fight
miles apart. Prostrate, hidden, taking advantage of every opportunity
of protection, every natural advantage or artificial device, vast
quantities of ammunition are wasted on the empty air, every ball that
finds its quarry in human flesh being mayhap but one in hundreds that
go astray. In the old-time wars actual hand-to-hand fighting took
place. Almost every stroke told, every thrusting blade was directly
parried or came back stained with blood. In modern wars fighting of
this kind has ceased. A battle has become a matter of machinery. The
strong arm and stalwart heart are replaced by the bullet-flinging
machine, and it is a rare event for a man to know to whose hand he owes
wound or death. Such, at least, was largely the case in the war between
Russia and Japan in 1905. But in recent battles we read of hordes of
soldiers charging up to the muzzles of machine guns, and being mowed
down like ripened wheat.
COSTS OF MODERN WARFARE
But while loss of human life in war has not greatly increased, in other
directions the cost of warfare has enormously grown. In the past,
little special preparation was needed by the fighter. Armies could be
recruited off-hand from city or farm and do valiant duty in the field,
with simple and cheap weapons. In our days years of preliminary
preparation are deemed necessary and the costs of war go on during
times of profound peace, millions of men who could be used effectively
in the peaceful industries spending the best years of their lives in
learning the most effective methods of destroying their fellow men.
This is only one phase of the element of cost. Great workshops are
devoted to the preparation of military material, of absolutely no use
to mankind except as instruments of destruction. The costs of war, even
in times of peace, are thus very large. But they increase in an
enormous proportion after war has actually begun, millions of dollars
being needed where tens formerly sufficed, and national bankruptcy
threatening the nation that keeps its armies long in the field. The
American Civil War, fought half a century ago, was a costly procedure
for the American people. If it had been fought five or ten years ago
its cost would have been increased five-fold, so great has been the
progress in this terrible art in the interval.
NATURE OF NATIONAL RESOURCES
It is our purpose in the present chapter to take up the subject of this
cost and review the condition and resources of the several nations
which were involved in the dread internecine struggle of 1914, the
frightful conflict of nations that moved like a great panorama before
our eyes. These resources are of two kinds. One of them consists in the
material wealth of the nations concerned, the product of the fields and
factories, the mineral treasures beneath the soil, the results of trade
and commercial activity and the conditions of national finance,
including the extent of available revenue and the indebtedness which
hangs over each nation, much of it a heritage from former wars which
have left little beyond this aggravating record of their existence. It
is one which adds something to the cost of every particle of food
consumed by the people, every shred of clothing worn by them. Additions
to this incubus of debt little disturb the rules when blithely or
bitterly engaging in new wars, but every such addition adds to the
burdens of taxation laid on the shoulders of the groaning citizens, and
is sure to deepen the harvest of retribution when the time for it
arrives.
A second of these resources is that of preparation for war in time of
peace, the training of the able-bodied citizens in the military art,
until practically the entire nation becomes converted into a vast army,
its members, after their term of compulsory service, engaging in
ordinary labors in times of peace, yet liable to be called into the
field whenever the war lords desire, to face the death-belching field
piece and machine gun in a sanguinary service in which they have little
or no personal concern. This preparedness, with the knowledge of the
duties of a soldier which it involves, is a valuable war resource to
any nation that is saddled with such a system of universal military
training. And few nations of Europe and the East are now without it.
Great Britain is the chief one in Europe, while in America the United
States is a notable example of a nation that has adopted the opposite
policy, that of keeping its population at peaceful labor, steadily
adding to its resources, during the whole time in which peace prevails,
and trusting to the courage and mental resources of its citizens to
teach them quickly the art of fighting when, if ever, the occasion
shall arrive.
It must be admitted that the European system of militarism is likely to
be of great advantage in the early days of a war, in which large bodies
of trained soldiers can be hurled with destructive force against
hastily gathered militia. The distinction between trained and untrained
soldiers, however, rapidly disappears in a war of long continuance.
Experience in the field is a lesson far superior to any gained in mock
warfare, and the taking part in a few battles will teach the art of
warfare to an extent surpassing that of years of marching and
counter-marching upon the training field.
BRITISH AND AMERICAN MILITARY SYSTEMS
Britain and the United States, the only two of the greater nations that
have adopted the policy here considered, are not trusting completely to
chance. Each of them has a body of regular troops, fitted for police
duty in time of peace and for field duty in time of war, and serving as
a nucleus fitted to give a degree of coherence to raw militia when the
sword is drawn. Subsidiary to these are bodies of volunteer troops,
training as a recreation rather than as an occupation, yet constituting
a valuable auxiliary to the regular forces. This system possesses the
advantage of maintaining no soldiers except those kept in constant and
needful duty, all the remaining population staying at their regular
labors and adding very materially every year to the resources of the
nation, while saving the great sums expended without adequate return in
the process of keeping up the system of militarism.
What is above said refers only to the human element in the system. In
addition is the necessity of preparing and keeping in store large
quantities or war material—cannons, rifles, ammunition, etc.—the
building of inland forts and coast and harbor fortifications, for ready
and immediate use in time of war. In this all the nations are alike
actively engaged, the United States and Britain as well as those of the
European continent, and none of them are likely to be caught amiss in
this particular. Cannon and gunpowder eat no food and call for no pay
or pension, and once got ready can wait with little loss of efficiency.
They may, indeed, become antiquated through new invention and
development, and need to be kept up to date in this particular. But
otherwise they can be readily kept in store and each nation may with
comparative ease maintain itself on a level with others as regards its
supply of material of war.
NAVAL STRENGTH
In one field of war-preparation little of the distinction indicated
exists. This is that of ocean warfare, in which rivalry between the
great Powers goes on without restriction—at least between the
distinctively maritime nations. In this field of effort, the building
of gigantic battleships and minor war vessels, Britain has kept itself
in advance of all others, as a nation in which the sea is likely to be
the chief field of warlike activity. Beginning with a predominance in
war ships, it has steadily retained it, adding new and constantly
greater war ships to its fleet with a feverish activity, under the idea
that here is its true field of defense. It has sought vigorously to
keep itself on a level in this particular with any two of its rivals in
sea power. While it has not quite succeeded in this, the United States
and Germany pushing it closely, it is well in the lead as compared with
any single Power, and to keep this lead it is straining every nerve and
fiber of its national capacity.
RESOURCES OF AUSTRIA-HUNGARY
Coming now to a statement of the strength and resources of the chief
Powers concerned in the present war, Austria-Hungary, as the originator
of the outbreak, stands first. It is scarcely necessary to repeat that
its severe demands upon Servia, arising from the murder of the Archduke
Ferdinand and its refusal to accept Servia’s almost complete acceptance
of its terms, led to an immediate declaration of war upon the small
offending state, the war fever thus started quickly extending from side
to side of the continent. Therefore in considering the existing
conditions of the various countries involved, those of Austria-Hungary
properly come first, the others following in due succession.
Austria-Hungary is a dual kingdom, each partner to the union having its
separate national organization and legislative body. While both are
under the rule of one monarch, Francis Joseph being at once the Emperor
of Austria and the King of Hungary, their union is not a very intimate
one. There is large racial distinction between the two countries, and
Hungary cherishes a strong feeling of animosity to Austria, the outcome
of acts of tyranny and barbarity not far in the past.
The two countries closely approach each other in area, Austria having
115,903 and Hungary 125,039 square miles; making a total of 240,942.
The populations also do not vary largely, the total being estimated at
about 50,000,000. Of these the Slavs number more than 24,000,000,
approaching one half the total , while of Germans there are but
11,500,000, little more than half of the Slavic population. The
Magyars, or Hungarians, a people of eastern origin, and the main
element of Hungarian population, number about 8,750,000. In addition
there are several millions of Roumanian and Italic stock, and a
considerable number of Jews and Gypsies. The inclusion of this
heterogeneous population into one kingdom dates far back in medieval
history, and it was not until 1867, as a consequence of a vigorous
Hungarian demand, that Austria and Hungary became divided into separate
nations, the remnant of their former close union remaining in their
being ruled by one monarch, the venerable Francis Joseph, who is still
upon the throne. This division quickly followed the war between Prussia
and Austria in 1866, and was one of the results of the defeat of
Austria in that war.
Austria is a hilly or mountainous country, its plains occupying only
about one fifth of the total territory. The most extensive tracts of
low or flat land occur in Hungary, Galicia and Slavonia, the great
Hungarian plain having an area of 36,000 square miles. Much of this is
highly fertile, and Hungary is the great granary of the country.
Austria-Hungary is well watered by the Danube and its tributaries and
has a small extent of sea-coast on the Adriatic, its principal ports
being Trieste, Pola and Fiume. Its railways are about 30,000 miles in
length. In consequence of its interior position its largest trade is
with Germany, through which empire there is also an extensive transit
commerce. Its mountainous character makes it rich in minerals, the
chief of these being coal, iron, and salt.
Bosnia and Herzegovina, formerly part of Turkey in Europe, were put
under the military occupation and administrative rule of Austria after
the Russo-Turkish war of 1877–8, and in 1908 were fully annexed by
Austria, an act of spoliation which had its ultimate result in the
assassination of Archduke Ferdinand in 1914, and may thus be considered
the instigating agency in the 1914 war.
The finances of Austria-Hungary may be briefly given. Austria has an
annual revenue of $636,909,000; Hungary of $410,068,000; their
expenditure equaling these sums. The debt of Austria is stated at
$1,433,511,000; of Hungary, $1,257,810,000; and of the joint states at
$1,050,000,000. Military service is obligatory on all over twenty years
of age who are capable of bearing arms, the total terms of service
being twelve years, of which three are passed in the line, seven in the
reserve, and two in the Landwehr. The army is estimated to number
390,000 on the peace footing and over 2,000,000 on the war footing. Its
navy numbers four modern and nine older battleships, with twelve
cruisers and a number of smaller craft.
RESOURCES OF GERMANY
Germany, in the census of 1910, was credited with a population of
64,925,993. This is in great part composed of Teutons, or men of German
race, its people being far less heterogeneous than those of Austria,
though it includes several millions of Slavs, Lithuanians, Poles and
others. It has an area of 208,738 square miles. It is mountainous in
the south and center, but in the north there is a wide plain extending
to the German Ocean and the Baltic Sea, and forming part of the great
watershed which stretches across Europe. Its soil, except in the more
rugged and mountainous districts, is prolific, being well watered and
bearing abundant crops of the ordinary cereals. Potatoes, hemp, and
flax are very abundant crops and the sugar beet is extensively
cultivated. The forests are of great extent and value, and are
carefully conserved to yield a large production without over cutting.
Among domestic animals, the cattle, sheep and swine of certain
districts have long been famous.
The minerals are numerous and some of them of much value, those of
chief importance being coal, iron, zinc, lead and salt. While much
attention is given to mining and agriculture, the manufacturing
industries are especially important. Linens and other textiles are
widely produced and iron manufacture is largely carried on. The Krupp
iron works at Essen are of world-wide fame, and the cannon made there
are used in the forts of many distant nations.
These are a few only of the large variety of manufactures, a market for
which is found in all parts of the world, the commerce of Germany being
widely extended. In short, the empire has come into very active rivalry
with Great Britain in the development of commerce, and to its progress
in this direction it owes much of its flourishing condition. Hamburg is
by far the most important seaport, Bremen, Stettin, Danzig and others
also being thriving ports. The total length of railway is over 40,000
miles.
The annual revenue of the German Empire is nearly $900,000,000; that of
its component states, $1,500,000,000; that of the states at
$3,735,000,000. The revenue is derived chiefly from customs duties,
excise duties on beet-root sugar, salt, tobacco and malt and
contributions from the several states.
Germany is the foster home of modern militarism and is held to have the
most complete army system in the world. Every man capable of bearing
arms must begin his military training on the 1st of January of the year
in which he reaches the age of twenty, and continue it to the end of
his forty-second year, unless released from this duty by the competent
authorities, either altogether or for times of peace.
Seven years of this time must be spent in the army or fleet; three of
them in active service, four in the reserve. Seven more years are
passed in the Landwehr, the members of which may be called out only
twice for training. The remaining time is passed in the Landsturm,
which is called out only in case of invasion of the empire. The total
peace strength of the army is given at 870,000; of the reserves at
4,430,000; the total being 5,300,000.
The navel force of Germany is very powerful, though considerably less
than that of Great Britain. It comprises 19 of the enormous modern
battleships, 7 cruiser battleships, and 20 of older type; 9 first-class
and 45 second and third-class cruisers, and numerous smaller warships,
including 47 torpedo boats, 141 destroyers and 60 submarines.
RESOURCES OF RUSSIA
Russia, the third of the three nations to which the war was most
immediately due, is the most extensive consolidated empire in the
world, its total area being estimated at 8,647,657 square miles, of
which 1,852,524 are in Europe, the remainder in Asia. The population is
given at about 160,000,000, of which 130,000,000 are in Europe.
Agriculture is the chief pursuit of this great population, though
manufactures are largely developing. The forests, immense in extent,
cover forty-two per cent of the area and contain timber in enormous
quantities. While a large part of the area is level ground, there is
much elevated territory, and the mineral wealth is very important. It
includes gold, silver, platinum, iron, copper, coal and salt, all of
large occurrence. Of the people, over 1,800,000 are employed in
manufacture, and the annual value of the commerce amounts to
$1,300,000,000. The length of railway is about 50,000 miles.
Russia is heavily in debt, Germany being its largest creditor. The
total debt is stated at $4,553,000,000, its revenue $1,674,000,000. The
liability to military service covers all able-bodied men between the
ages of twenty and forty-two years. Five years must be passed in active
service, the remainder in the various reserves. On a peace footing the
army is 1,290,000 strong; its war strength is 5,500,000. The
territorial service is capable of supplying about 3,000,000 more,
making a possible total of 7,500,000. As regards the navy, it was
greatly reduced in strength in the war with Japan and has not yet fully
recovered. The empire now possesses nine modern battleships, four
cruiser battleships, and eight of old type. There are also cruisers and
other vessels, including 23 torpedo boats, 105 destroyers, and 48
submarines.
RESOURCES OF FRANCE
France, the one large Power in Europe in which the people have created
a republic and have got rid of the FACT of a king, as illustrated in
the other continental Powers,—and in addition to the mountain realm of
Switzerland, in which the people govern themselves through their
representatives,—has taken up the dogma of militarism in common with
its neighbors and constitutes the fourth of the Powers in which this
system has been carried to its ultimate conclusion of a world-wide war.
France had a startling object lesson in 1870. It had, under Napoleon
III, been imitating Prussia in its military establishment, and its
government officials coincided with the emperor in the theory that its
army was in a splendid state of preparation. Marshal Leboeuf lightly
declared that “everything was ready, more than ready, and not a gaiter
button missing,” and it was with a light-hearted confidence that the
Emperor Napoleon declared war against Prussia, the insensate multitude
filling Paris with their futile war cry of “On to Berlin.”
This is not the place to deal with this subject, but it may be said
that France quickly learned that nothing was ready and the nation went
down in the most sudden and awful disaster of modern times. A lesson
had been taught, one not easy to forget. The Republic succeeded the
Empire, and has since been working on the theory that war with its old
enemy might at any time become imminent and no negligence in the matter
of preparation could be permitted. As a consequence, France went into
the war of 1914 in a state of fitness greatly superior to that of 1870,
and Germany found France waiting on its border line, alert and able,
ready alike for offense or defense.
What are the natural conditions, the strength and resources, of this
great republic? France has an area of 207,054 square miles, almost the
same as that of the German Empire. If its numerous colonies be added,
its total area is over 4,000,000 square miles. But this vast colonial
expanse is of no special advantage to it in a European war. Its
population is 39,601,509; if Algeria, its most available colony, be
added, it is about 45,000,000, a total 20,000,000 less than the
population of Germany.
Its soil is highly fitted for agricultural use, about nine tenths of it
being productive and more than half of it under the plow, the cereals
forming the bulk of its products. Its wheat crop is large and oats, rye
and barley are also of value, though the raising of the domestic
animals is of less importance than in the surrounding countries. The
growth of the vine is one of its most important branches of
agriculture, and in good years France produces about half of the total
wine yield of the world. In mineral wealth it stands at a somewhat low
level, its yield of coal, iron, etc. being of minor importance.
France enjoys a large and valuable commerce and active manufacturing
industries, products of a more or less artistic character being
especially attended to. Of the textile fabrics, those of silk goods are
much the most important, this industry employing about 2,000,000
persons and yielding more than a fourth in value of the whole
manufactured products of France. Other products are carpets, tapestry,
fine muslins, lace and cotton goods. Products of different character
are numerous and their value large. The fisheries of France are also of
much importance. Its commerce, while large, is very considerably less
than that of Great Britain and Germany, France being especially a
self-centered country, largely using what it makes.
There is abundant provision for internal trade and travel, there being
30,000 miles of railway, 3,000 miles or canal, and 5,500 miles of
navigable rivers. The annual revenue approaches $1,000,000,000, and the
public debt in 1914 was at the large total of over $6,200,000,000. This
is much the largest debt of any nation in the world, the debt of
Russia, which comes next in amount, being about $1,700,000,000 less. It
is largely due to the cost of the war of 1870 and the subsequent large
payment to Germany. Yet the French people carry it without feeling
seriously overburdened.
Coming now to the French military system, it rivals that of Germany in
efficiency. The law requires the compulsory military service of every
French citizen who is not unfit for such service. They have to serve in
the regular army for three years, in the regular reserves for six
years, in the territorial army for six years, and finally in the
reserves of this army for ten years. This gives France a peace strength
of 720,000 and a total war strength of 4,000,000. The navy is manned
partly by conscription, partly by voluntary enlistment, the naval
forces comprising about 60,000 officers and men.
The naval strength of the republic embraces 17 modern battleships, 25
of older type, 18 first-class, 13 second and third-class cruisers, 173
torpedo boats, 87 destroyers, and 90 submarines. There is another
element of modern military strength of growing importance and sure to
be of large use in the war under review. This is that of the airship.
In 1914 France stood at the head in this particular, its aeroplanes,
built or under construction, numbering 550. Germany had 375, Russia
315, Italy 270, Austria 220, Britain 180 and Belgium 150. In dirigible
balloons Germany stood first, with 50. France had 30, Russia 15,
Austria 10 and Britain 7. These air-soaring implements of war came into
play early in the conflict and Tennyson’s vision of “battles in the
blue” was realized in attacks of aeroplanes upon dirigibles, with death
to the crews of each.
RESOURCES OF GREAT BRITAIN.
Great Britain, the remaining party to the five-fold war of great
European Powers, is an island country of considerably smaller area than
those so far named. Including Ireland it has an area of 121,391 square
miles, about equal to that of the American State of New Mexico and not
half the size of the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. Its population,
however, surpasses that of France, amounting to 45,221,615. If the
outlying dominions of Great Britain be added it becomes the greatest
empire in the world’s history, its colonial dominions being estimated
at over 13,000,000 square miles, and the total population of kingdom
and colonies at 435,000,000, the greatest population of any country in
the world. And Britain differs from France in the fact that much of
this outlying population is available for war purposes in case of peril
to the liberties of the mother country. At the outbreak of the war of
1914 the loyal Dominion of Canada sprang at once into the field,
mobilized its forces, and offered the mother land material aid in men
and gifts of varied nature.
The same sense of loyalty was shown in Australia and South Africa and
in others of the British oversea dominions, while India added an
important contingent to the army and much other aid.
As for the immediate kingdom, it is not of high value in agricultural
wealth, being at present divided up to a considerable extent into large
unproductive estates, and it is quite unable to feed its teeming
population, depending for this on its large commerce in food products.
Its annual imports amount to about $3,000,000,000, its exports to
$2,250,000,000.
Commercially and industrially alike Great Britain stands at the head of
all European nations. Its abundant mineral wealth, especially in coal
and iron, has stimulated manufactures to the highest degree, while its
insular character and numerous seaports have had a similar stimulating
effect upon commerce. Its revenue, aside from that of the colonies,
amounts to about $920,000,000 annually, and its public debt reaches a
total of $3,485,000,000.
The British government depends largely for safety from invasion upon
its insular position and its enormously developed navy, and has not
felt it necessary to enter upon the frenzy of military preparation
which pervades the continental nations. No British citizen is obliged
to bear arms except for the defense of his country, but all able-bodied
men are liable to militia service, the militia being raised, when
required, by ballot. Enlistment among the regulars is either for twelve
years’ army service, or for seven years’ army service and five years’
reserve service. The peace strength of the army is estimated at about
255,000 men, the reserves at 475,000; making a total of 730,000.
It is in its navy that Great Britain’s chief warlike strength exists,
the naval force being much greater than that of any other nation. It
possesses in all 29 modern battleships, many of them of the great
dreadnaught and super-dreadnaught type. In addition it has 10 cruiser
battleships, and 38 older battleships, most of the latter likely to be
of little service for warlike duty. There are also 45 first-class, and
70 second and third-class cruisers, 58 torpedo boats, 212 destroyers
and 85 submarines, the whole forming a total navel strength approaching
that of any two of the other Powers.
SERVIA AND BELGIUM
As regards the remaining nations engaged in the war, Servia, in which
the contest began, has an area of 18,782 square miles, a population of
4,000,000, and a standing army of 240,000, a number seemingly very
inadequate to face the enormously greater power of Austria-Hungary. But
the men had become practically all soldiers, very many of them tried
veterans of the recent Balkan War; their country is mountainous and
admirably fitted for defensive warfare, and their power of resistance
to invasion was quickly shown to be great.
Belgium, the other early seat of the war, is still smaller in area,
having but 11,366 square miles. But it is very densely populated,
possessing 7,432,784 inhabitants. Its army proved brave and capable,
its fortifications modern and well adapted to defense, and small as was
its field force it held back the far more numerous German invaders
until France and Great Britain had their troops in position for
available defense. This small intermediate kingdom therefore played a
very important part in the outset of the war.
If one judges by the figures given of the available military strength
of the nations involved, the huge host said to have followed Xerxes to
the invasion of Greece could easily be far surpassed in modern warfare.
The fact is, however, that these huge figures greatly exceed the
numbers that could, except in the most extreme exigency, be available
for use in the field, and for real active service we should be obliged
to greatly reduce these paper estimates. It must be taken into account
that the fields and factories of the nations cannot be too greatly
denuded of their trained workers. It was a shrewd saying of Napoleon
Bonaparte that “An army marches on its stomach,” and the important duty
of keeping the stomach adequately filled can not be overlooked.
In actual war also there is an enormous exhaustion of military
material, which must be constantly replaced, and this in turn demands
the services of great numbers of trained artisans. The question of
finance also cannot be overlooked. It needs vast sums of money to keep
a modern army in the field, this increasing rapidly as the forces grow
in numbers, and no national treasure chest is inexhaustible. Tax as
they may, the war lords cannot squeeze out of their people more blood
than flows in their veins, and exhaustion of the war-chest may prove
even more disastrous than exhaustion of the regiments. For these
reasons a limit to the size of armies is inevitable and in any great
war this limitation must quickly make itself apparent.