EUCALYP'TUS, a genus of trees, nat. ord. Myrtaceae, mostly natives of
Australia, and remarkable for their gigantic size, some of them attaining
the height of 480 or 500 feet. In the Australian colonies they are known by
the name of gum trees, from the gum which exudes from their trunks;
individual species are known as 'stringy bark', 'iron bark', _karri_, or
_jarrah_. The wood of some is excellent for building and many purposes. The
_E. glob[)u]lus_, or blue gum, yields an essential oil which is valuable as
a febrifuge, antasthmatic, and antispasmodic. The medicinal properties of
this tree also make it useful as a disinfectant, and as an astringent in
affections of the respiratory passages, being employed in the form of an
infusion, a decoction, or an extract, and cigarettes made of the leaves
being also smoked. The E. glob[)u]lus and the E. amygdalina are found to
have an excellent sanitary effect when planted in malarious districts such
as the Roman Campagna, parts of which have already been reclaimed by their
use. This result is partly brought about by the drainage of the soil (the
trees absorbing great quantities of moisture), partly perhaps by the
balsamic odour given out. E. mannif[)e]ra and others yield a sweet
secretion resembling manna. Some, especially E. rostrata, yield a kind of
gum kino. The Eucalyptus has been introduced with success into India,
Palestine, Algiers, and Southern France.
EUCHARIST ([=u]'ka-rist; Gr. _eucharistia_, from _eu_, well, and _charis_,
grace), a name for the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, in reference to the
blessing and thanksgiving which accompany it.
EUCHARISTIC CONGRESSES, gatherings of the Roman Catholic clergy and laity,
held with the object of glorifying the Sacrament of the Eucharist, were
inaugurated by Bishop de Segur, of Lille. The first congress, held in that
city (1881) excited little but local interest; but the movement rapidly
developed, succeeding congresses being held at Avignon (1882), Liege
(1883), Paris (1888), Jerusalem (1893), Lourdes (1899), Rome (1905), and
elsewhere. In 1908 the congress held in London was attended by Cardinal
Vannutelli, the first Papal legate to visit England for three centuries, by
six other cardinals, fourteen archbishops, and seventy bishops. A proposal
to carry the Sacrament through London in procession aroused much
opposition, and the project was abandoned on the personal intervention of
Mr. Asquith, then Premier.
EUCHRE ([=u]'k[.e]r), a card-game very popular in America, is usually
played by two or four persons. After the cut for deal five cards are dealt
(either by twos and threes or by threes and twos) to each player, and the
uppermost card of those undealt is turned up for trump. The first player
has the option either to 'order up' (namely to make this card trump) or to
pass. In the latter case it is left to the next player to decide if he will
play first or pass, and so on till the turn of the dealer comes. He must
either play on this trump or turn it down, when all the players have again
in turn their choice of making a new trump or passing. If a trump is
'ordered up' or taken in the first round, the dealer may take it into his
cards, discarding in its place his poorest card. If the player who elects
to play wins five tricks, he counts two; if he wins three tricks, he counts
one; if he wins fewer than three tricks, he is _euchred_, and each
independent opponent counts two. The cards rank as at whist, except that
the knave of the trump suit, called the _right bower_ (from the Ger.
_bauer_, a peasant), is the highest card, the knave of the other suit of
the same colour being the second highest.
EUCKEN, Rudolf Christoph, German philosopher and theologian, born in East
Friesland in 1846. Educated at the Universities of Goettingen and Berlin,
he was professor of philosophy at Basel from 1871 to 1874, when he obtained
a similar appointment at Jena. Opposed both to utilitarianism and
positivism. Eucken is one of the leaders of those German philosophers who
maintain that the spiritual interests of man should be taken into
consideration, and oppose the philosophic systems which treat life only
from the physical and biological points of view. His spiritualistic
philosophy has found many adherents, and his works are very popular. In
1908 he won the Nobel prize for literature, and in 1910 he was made a D.D.
of the University of Glasgow. His works include: _The Life of the Spirit_
(1909), _The Problem of Human Life as viewed by the Great Thinkers_ (1909),
The Meaning and Value of Life (1909), _Main Currents of Modern Thought_
(1911), _Life's Basis and Life's Ideal_ (1911), _Can we still be
Christians?_ (1913).
EUCLID (_Eucleid[=e]s_), of Alexandria, a distinguished Greek
mathematician, who flourished about 300 B.C. His _Stoicheia_ (Elements of
Geometry), in thirteen books, are still extant, and form the most usual
introduction to the study of geometry. The work was known to the Arabs,
translations of it having appeared in the time of Harun-al-Rashid and of
Al-Mamun. It was translated from the Arabic into Latin by Adelard of Bath,
and an English translation from the Latin appeared in 1570. The severity
and accuracy of Euclid's methods of demonstration have as a whole never
been surpassed. Besides the _Elements_, some other works are attributed to
Euclid.--Cf. R. S. Heath, _The Thirteen Books of Euclid's Elements_.
EUCLID (_Eucleid[=e]s_), of Megara, an ancient Greek philosopher, the
founder of the Megaric school of philosophy, and a pupil of Socrates.
EUDIOM'ETER (Gr. _eudios_, serene), an instrument originally designed for
ascertaining the purity of the air or the quantity of oxygen it contains,
but now employed generally in the analysis of gaseous mixtures. It consists
of a graduated glass tube, either straight or bent in the shape of the
letter [1], hermetically sealed at one end and open at the other. Two
platinum wires, intended for the conveyance of electric sparks through any
mixture of gases, are inserted through the glass near the closed end of the
tube, and approach but do not touch each other. To determine the proportion
of oxygen in a given specimen of air, hydrogen is introduced into the tube
with a measured volume of the air, and the mixture is fired by an electric
spark. Water is formed, and the quantity of oxygen can be estimated from
the diminution of volume. In a mixture of gases, chemical absorbents may be
used to remove the gases one by one, the amounts present being determined
by the successive changes of volume.
EUGENE ([=u]-j[=e]n'), or Francois Eugene, Prince of Savoy, fifth son of
Eugene Maurice, Duke of Savoy-Carignan, and Olympia Mancini, a niece of
Cardinal Mazarin. He was born at Paris 18th Oct., 1663, and died in Vienna
21st April, 1736. Offended with Louis XIV, he entered the Austrian service
in 1683, serving his first campaign as a volunteer against the Turks. Here
he distinguished himself so much that he received a regiment of dragoons.
Later, at the sieges of Belgrade and Mayence, he increased his reputation,
and on the outbreak of war between France and Austria he received the
command of the Imperial forces sent to Piedmont to act in conjunction with
the troops of the Duke of Savoy. At the end of the war he was sent as
commander-in-chief to Hungary, where he defeated the Turks at the battle of
Zenta (11th Sept., 1697). The War of the Spanish Succession brought Eugene
again into the field. In Northern Italy he outmanoeuvred Catinat and
Villeroi, defeating the latter at Cremona (1702). In 1703 he commanded the
Imperial army in Germany, and in co-operation with Marlborough frustrated
the plans of France and her allies. In the battle of Blenheim, Eugene and
Marlborough defeated the French and Bavarians under Marshal Tallard, 13th
Aug., 1704. Next year Eugene, returning to Italy, forced the French to
raise the siege of Turin, and in one month drove them out of Italy. During
the following years he fought on the Rhine, took Lille, and, in conjunction
with Marlborough, defeated the French at Oudenarde (1708), and Malplaquet
(1709), where he himself was dangerously wounded. After the recall of
Marlborough, which Eugene opposed in person at London, without success, and
the defection of England from the alliance against France, his further
progress was in a great measure checked. In the war with Turkey, in 1716,
Eugene defeated two superior armies at Peterswardein and Temesvar, and, in
1717, took Belgrade, after having gained a decisive victory over a third
army that came to its relief. During fifteen years of peace which followed,
Eugene served Austria as faithfully in the Cabinet as he had done in the
field. He was one of the great generals of modern times.--Cf. G. B.
Malleson, _Prince Eugene of Savoy_.
EUGE'NIA (so named in honour of Prince _Eugene_), a genus of Myrtaceae,
nearly related to the myrtle. It contains numerous species, some of which
produce delicious fruits. Cloves are the dried flower-buds of _E.
caryophyllata_.
EUGENICS has been defined as "the study of agencies under social control
that may improve or impair the racial qualities of future generations,
either physically or mentally". It is concerned with the investigation of
the physical, mental, and moral traits of mankind, and especially with the
factors of inheritance of desirable and undesirable qualities. The interest
in the subject is largely due to the untiring zeal of the late Sir Francis
Galton, who devoted most of his life to the study of the manifold problems
that came within the scope of 'eugenics', and, in accordance with the terms
of his will (1908), founded the Galton Chair of Eugenics in the University
of London. The library and laboratory of the Galton benefaction form part
of the Department of Applied Statistics, under the direction of Professor
Karl Pearson, F.R.S., at University College, London, who is also the editor
of the journal _Biometrika_, which is devoted to the statistical side of
the problems of anthropology and heredity. The aim of the Galton laboratory
is to collect material relating to human heredity, and to investigate its
significance; and also to extend the knowledge of eugenics by professional
instruction, lectures, publications, and experimental work. The scope of
its activities will best be appreciated by the study of such works as the
late Sir Francis Galton's _Natural Inheritance_ (1889) and _Essays in
Eugenics_ (1909), and Professor Karl Pearson's _Groundwork of Eugenics_
(1909), _Practical Problems of Eugenics_ (1909), and _State of National
Eugenics_ (1909). _The Treasury of Human Inheritance_, issued in parts from
the Galton laboratory, is a monumental record of facts relating to the
hereditary transmission of human qualities. The Eugenics Education Society,
under the presidency of Major Leonard Darwin, has for its aim the
stimulation of public interest in the subject, and the discussion of the
problems of heredity. It issues a journal, _The Eugenics Review_, now in
its twelfth year.
It has long been known that by means of careful selection of parents it was
possible to breed horses, cattle, dogs, &c., and a great variety of food-
and flowering-plants, with desirable qualities highly developed. But it is
obvious that such direct methods cannot be applied to human beings for the
purpose of breeding men and women with special traits. What the eugenic
societies aim at doing is to educate the people to realize the far-reaching
effects of the inheritance of good or bad qualities, in the hope that such
knowledge may exert some influence in the choice of partners in matrimony.
But their efforts are especially directed to the exposure of the disastrous
results that may ensue from the contamination of a family by the
intermarriage of one of its members with an individual subject to some
hereditary defect of a physical, mental, or moral nature.
The study of eugenics is intimately related to a wide range of subjects: to
genetics, which explains the laws that govern the heredity of specific
traits in man, and suggests certain practical applications of the rules of
breeding to race improvement by cutting off undesirable strains and by
selecting mates desirable from the eugenic standpoint; to the study of
biographies of individuals and the genealogies of families, for the purpose
of obtaining data for the investigation of the working of inheritance; to
anthropology, history, and archaeology, law and politics, economics and
sociology, medicine and psychology, and statistical science.
The tremendous stimulus which the rapid development of eugenics has given
to the wider recognition of the significance of heredity in human affairs
has tended to obscure the importance of social environment and individual
experience, especially in children of tender age, in shaping the attitude
of the individual. Education is a vastly more important factor--the manner
and attitude of the teacher, rather than the subject-matter of his or her
lessons--than the eugenic enthusiasts, with their over-emphasis on the
dominance of hereditary influences, are willing to admit. In the causation
of many diseases, commonly reputed to be hereditary, such as tuberculosis
and certain forms of insanity, the social and physical circumstances
probably play a more important part than heredity in determining the onset
of the illness, even when some undoubted hereditary aptitude to fall a
victim to one or other of these affections is admitted. In no branch of
medicine or sociology is this fallacy more fruitful of error than in the
domain of mental disease. Apart from certain physical defects of the
nervous system and specific infections, such as syphilis, the causes of
mental alienation are to be sought rather in some maladjustment to the
individual's social circumstances, often the result of some emotional
disturbance, even in early childhood, which created the attitude of mind
that eventually determined the mental conflict expressed by the insanity.
The study of the effects of the strain of war has shown that anxiety, if
sufficiently intense and prolonged, can produce mental disturbance in
anyone, whatever his heredity and antecedents. By over-emphasizing the
importance of inheritance in the causation of such conditions as insanity
and epilepsy, and ignoring the effects of the profound social disturbance
an insane parent may inflict upon any home, and especially upon the
impressionable minds of young children in it, the eugenic societies have
been responsible for raising up a growing body of opposition to their
views. Not only in the domains of medicine and psychology, but also in
those of ethnology and sociology, there is a feeling that the eugenic
claims have been pushed too far. But when the subject of eugenics has been
pruned of these extravagances, it will exert a far-reaching influence upon
social and political organization and events by compelling respect for the
vast importance of heredity as a factor that plays some part in determining
the physical, mental, and moral qualities of mankind. References to the
voluminous literature will be found in _The Eugenics Review_ (published by
the Eugenics Education Society, Kingsway, London).
EUGENIE (eu-zh[=a]-n[=e]), Marie de Guzman, ex-Empress of the French, born
at Granada, in Spain, 5th May, 1826, died at Seville 11th July, 1920. Her
father, the Count de Montijo, was of a noble Spanish family; her mother was
of Scotch extraction, maiden name Kirkpatrick. On 29th Jan., 1853, she
became the wife of Napoleon III and Empress of the French. On 16th March,
1856, a son was born of the marriage. When the war broke out with Germany,
she was appointed regent (15th July, 1870) during the absence of the
emperor, but on the 4th Sept. the Revolution forced her to flee from
France. She went to England, where she was joined by the Prince Imperial
and afterwards by the emperor. Camden House, Chislehurst, became the
residence of the imperial exiles. On 9th Jan., 1873, the emperor died, and
six years later the Prince Imperial was slain while with the British army
in the Zulu War. In 1881 the empress transferred her residence to
Farnborough, in Hampshire. During the European War she established a
hospital at Farnborough. In 1918 she handed over to Clemenceau the letters
which she had received from William I in 1870. The letters shed a striking
light upon the ambitions of Prussia. She was buried in the mausoleum at
Farnborough.--BIBLIOGRAPHY: De Lano, _The Empress Eugenie_; Tschuddi,
_Eugene, Empress of the French_; Stoddart, _The Life of Empress Eugenie_;
E. Legge, _The Empress Eugenie and her Son_.
EUGE'NIUS, the name of four Popes.--1. EUGENIUS I, elected 8th Sept., 654,
while his predecessor, Martin I, was still living; died in 657 without
having exerted any material influence on his times.--2. EUGENIUS II held
the see from 824-827.--3. EUGENIUS III, born at Pisa, was a disciple of St.
Bernard of Clairvaux. He was raised to the popedom in 1145; was obliged to
quit Rome in 1146 in consequence of the commotions caused by Arnold of
Brescia; returned with the help of King Roger of Sicily in 1150, and died
in 1153.--4. EUGENIUS IV, from Venice, originally called Gabriel
Condolmero, was raised to the popedom in 1431. In consequence of his
opposition to the Council of Basel he was deposed. He died in 1447.
EUGENOL, or ALLYLGUAIACOL, is found in cloves, the leaves of cinnamon, and
other plants. About 90 per cent of _clove oil_ is composed of eugenol.
EU'GUBINE TABLES, the name given to seven bronze tablets or tables found in
1444 at the town of Gubbio, the ancient Iguvium or Eugubium, now in the
Italian province of Perugia, bearing inscriptions in the language of the
ancient Umbrians, which seems to have somewhat resembled the ancient Latin
as well as the Oscan. They seem to have been inscribed three or four
centuries B.C., and refer to sacrificial usages and ritual.
EUHEM'ERISM, a method or system (so named from its founder Euhemerus, a
Greek philosopher) of interpreting myths and mythological deities, by which
they are regarded as deifications of dead heroes and poetical exaggerations
of real histories.
EULENSPIEGEL (oi'len-sp[=e]-gl), Till, a name which has become associated
in Germany with all sorts of wild, whimsical frolics, and with many amusing
stories. Some such popular hero of tradition and folk-lore seems to have
really existed in Germany, probably in the first half of the fourteenth
century, and a collection of popular tales of a frolicsome character,
originally written in Low German, purports to contain his adventures. The
earliest edition of such is a Strasbourg one of the year 1515 in the
British Museum. Better known, however, is that of 1519, published also at
Strasbourg by Thomas Muerner (under the title _Howle-glass_). The work was
early translated into English and almost all European tongues. A modern
English translation appeared in 1890.
EULER (oi'l[.e]r or ue'l[.e]r), Leonard, a distinguished mathematician,
born at Basel in 1707, died at St. Petersburg (Petrograd) in 1783. He was
educated at the University of Basel under the Bernouillis, through whose
influence he procured a place in the Academy of St. Petersburg. In 1741 he
accepted an invitation from Frederick the Great to become professor of
mathematics in the Berlin Academy, but in 1766 returned to St. Petersburg,
where he became director of the mathematical class of the academy. Euler's
profound and inventive mind gave a new form to the science. He applied the
analytic method to mechanics, and greatly improved the integral and
differential calculus. He also wrote on physics, and employed himself in
metaphysical and philosophical speculations. Amongst his numerous writings
are: the _Theoria Motuum Planetarum et Cometarum, Introductio in Analysin
Infinitorum_, and _Opuscula Analytica_.
EU'MENES (-n[=e]z), the name of two kings of Pergamus.--1. EUMENES I
succeeded his uncle Philetaerus 263 B.C. He reigned for twenty-two years,
and then died in a fit of drunkenness.--2. EUMENES II succeeded his father
Attalus 197 B.C., and, like him, attached himself to the Romans, who, as a
reward for his services in the war against Antiochus of Syria, bestowed
upon him the Thracian Chersonesus and almost all Asia on this side of the
Taurus. He died in 159 B.C.
EUMENIDES ([=u]-men'i-d[=e]z). See _Furies_.
EUMYCETES, or HIGHER FUNGI, a common name for those Fungi which possess a
septate mycelium. They also have a well-marked type of 'principal'
spore--either the _ascospore_ (Ascomycetes) or the _basidiospore_
(Basidiomycetes)--and rarely produce definite sexual organs. Opposed to
Phycomycetes.
EUNOMIANS, the followers of Eunomius, Bishop of Cyzicum, in the fourth
century A.D., who held that Christ was a created being of a nature unlike
that of the Father.
EU'NUCH, an emasculated male. The term is of Greek origin (_eunouchos_,
from _eun[=e]_, a couch or bed, _echein_, to hold or guard); but eunuchs
became known to the Greeks no doubt from the practice among Eastern nations
of having them as guardians of their women's apartments. Eunuchs were
employed in somewhat similar duties among the Romans in the luxurious times
of the empire, and under the Byzantine monarchs they were common. The
Mohammedans still have them about their harems. Emasculation, when effected
in early life, produces singular changes in males and assimilates them in
some respects to women, causing them in particular to have the voice of a
female. Hence it was not uncommon in Italy to castrate boys in order to fit
them for soprano singers when adults.
EUON'YMUS, the spindle trees or prickwoods, a genus of shrubs or trees,
nat. ord. Celastrineae, containing about fifty species, natives of the
temperate regions of the northern hemisphere. The root-bark of _E.
atropurpureus_ is the source of euonymin, a bitter principle with a
powerful stimulating effect on the liver.
EUPATO'RIA, formerly Koslov, a seaport on the western coast of the Crimea,
government of Taurida. It was here that the allied forces landed at the
commencement of the Crimean War (14th to 18th Sept., 1854). Pop. 30,432.
EUPATO'RIUM, a genus of plants, chiefly natives of America, belonging to
the nat. ord. Compositae. Their roots are perennial, possessing a rough,
bitter, or aromatic taste; the flowers are small, white, reddish, or
bluish, in corymbs. Amongst the many species are _E. cannab[=i]num_, or
hemp-agrimony, a British plant.
EUPEN (oi'pen), a town and district of Belgium, formerly part of Rhenish
Prussia, 7 miles S.S.W. of Aix-la-Chapelle. It has manufactures of woollen
and linen cloth, hats, soap, leather, and chemicals; paper, flax, and
worsted mills; and an important trade. The town was ceded to Prussia at the
Peace of Paris in 1814. On 26th May, 1919, Eupen was occupied by Belgian
troops, and by the Treaty of Versailles Eupen and Malmedy were handed over
to Belgium. Pop. 13,540.
EUPHO'NIUM, a brass bass instrument, generally introduced into military
bands, and frequently met with in the orchestra as a substitute for the
superseded ophicleide. It is one of the saxhorn family of instruments. It
is tuned in C or in B flat, and is furnished with three or four valves or
pistons.
EUPHORBIA. See _Spurge_.
EUPHORBIA'CEAE, the spurgeworts, a nat. ord. of herbaceous plants, shrubs,
or very large trees, which occur in all regions of the globe. Most of them
have an acrid milky juice, and diclinous or monoecious flowers. The fruit
is dry or slightly fleshy, and three-lobed. Among the genera are:
Euphorbia, which yields an oil used as a powerful cathartic; Croton,
affording croton-oil; the _Ric[)i]nus comm[)u]nis_, or castor-oil plant;
the _Buxus sempervirens_, or box-wood plant; the _Manihot utilissima_,
which yields the food known as tapioca or cassava. In most members of the
genera the milky juice contains caoutchouc.
EUPHOR'BIUM, a yellowish-white body, which is the solidified juice of
certain plants of the genus Euphorbia, either exuding naturally or from
incisions made in the bark. It is a powerfully acrid substance, virulently
purgative and emetic.
EUPHRA'TES, or EL FRAT, a celebrated river of Western Asia, Mesopotamia,
having a double source in two streams rising in the Anti-Taurus range. Its
total length is about 1750 miles, and the area of its basin 260,000 sq.
miles. It flows mainly in a south-easterly course through the great
alluvial plains of Babylonia and Chaldaea till it falls into the Persian
Gulf by several mouths, of which only one in Persian territory is
navigable. About 100 miles from its mouth it is joined by the Tigris, when
the united streams take the name of Shatt-el-Arab. It is navigable for
about 1200 miles, but navigation is somewhat impeded by rapids and
shallows. The melting of snow in the Taurus and Anti-Taurus causes a
flooding in spring. The water is highest in May and June, when the current,
which rarely exceeds 3 miles an hour, rises to 5. In the Bible (_Gen._ XV,
18) the Euphrates is _The River_, or _The Great River_.
EU'PHUISM (Gr. _euphues_, well endowed by nature), an affected style of
speech which distinguished the conversation and writings of many of the
wits of the court of Queen Elizabeth. The name and the style were derived
from _Euphues, the Anatomy of Wit_ (about 1580), and _Euphues and his
England_ (about 1582), both written by John Lyly (1554-1606). A well-known
euphuist in fiction is Sir Piercie Shafton in Scott's _Monastery_. Scott,
however, had not studied Lyly sufficiently, and Sir Piercie raves
bombastically rather than talks euphuistically. The chief characteristics
of genuine euphuism were extreme artificiality and numerous allusions to
natural history embellished by imagination.
EU'POLIS, an Athenian comic poet, who flourished about 429 B.C. Neither the
date of his birth nor that of his death is known with certainty. He
belongs, like Aristophanes and Cratinus, to the Old Comedy. His works are
all lost except small fragments. According to Suidas, he produced seventeen
plays, seven of which won the first prize. His best-known plays are the
_Kolakes_ (Flatterers), in which he attacked the prodigal Callias, and the
_Baptae_ (Dippers), in which he attacked Alcibiades and the exotic ritual
practised at his clubs.
EURA'SIANS (syncopated from European-Asians), a name euphemistically given
to the 'half-castes' of India, the offspring of European fathers and Indian
mothers. They are particularly common in the three presidential
capitals--Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay. Belonging strictly to neither race,
Eurasians are not infrequently ostracized by both; and their anomalous
position often exerts a baneful influence upon their character. They
generally receive a European education, and the young men are often engaged
in Government or mercantile offices. The girls, in spite of their dark
tint, are generally very pretty and often marry Europeans.
EURE (_eu_r), a river of North-West France, which rises in the department
of the Orne, and falls into the Seine after a course of 124 miles, being
navigable for about half the distance. It gives its name to a department in
the north-west of France, forming part of Normandy; area, 2330 sq. miles.
The surface consists of an extensive plain, intersected by rivers, chief of
which is the Seine. It is extensively cultivated; apples, pears, plums, and
cherries form important crops, and a little wine is produced. The mining
and manufacturing industries are extensive, and the department has a
considerable trade in woollen cloth, linen and cotton fabrics, carpets,
leather, paper, glass. Evreux is the capital. Pop. 303,092.
EURE-ET-LOIR (_eu_r-[.e]-lwaer), a department in the north-west of France,
forming part of the old provinces of Orleannais and Ile-de-France; area,
2293 sq. miles. A ridge of no great height divides the department into a
north and a south basin, traversed respectively by the Eure and the Loire.
The soil is extremely fertile, and there is scarcely any waste land. A
considerable portion is occupied by orchards and vineyards, but the greater
part is devoted to cereal crops. The department is essentially
agricultural, and has few manufactures. The capital is Chartres. Pop.
251,259.
EURE'KA (Gr. _heur[=e]ka_, I have found it), the exclamation of Archimedes
when, after long study, he discovered a method of detecting the amount of
alloy in King Hiero's crown. Hence the word is used as an expression of
triumph at a discovery or supposed discovery.
EURHYTHMICS, a general term, but usually used to denote a system of
education evolved by Emile Jaques-Dalcroze of Geneva. This form of training
bears on all art, but especially on the art of music. Eurhythmics is
essentially an original contribution to education. It aims at training
musical sense on the broadest lines, using the body as an instrument of
expression. Breaking away from preconceived ideas of music as a phenomenon
of sound only, M. Dalcroze claims that music is innate. From this
standpoint it follows that musicality as such is capable of cultivation
apart from instrumental performance. Rhythm, not being a quality confined
to music, but found common to all art, and fundamental to life, can,
therefore, be developed from within the human being. This the Dalcroze
system claims to do. Rhythm of sound plays a leading part in that it is
allied to movement. Exercises at the piano are played to which the pupil
listens, and to which he responds in movement--movement so closely allied
to the music that it is a form of musical imagery. The technique is
developed on simple lines to serve this end only. The system is
progressive, starting from elementary rhythmic structure, and ending with
complete musical form. It is far-reaching in educative purpose. It claims
to free innate rhythm, to develop it for individual self-expression; to
bring mind and body into closer unity, and in their interaction to give
poise to both; to train accurate musical listening, ready assimilation of
musical language and its spontaneous translation into terms of movement; to
give musical experiences which shall be heard and felt; to cultivate
musical expression and creation (in movement); to blend self-discipline
with emotion.
EURIP'IDES, the last of the three great Greek writers of tragedies, was
born about 480 B.C., and died 406 B.C. Tradition declares that he was born
at Salamis, on the very day of the Greek naval victory there. He was, as
far as we can tell, of good birth; at any rate, he was well educated, and
was able to live a life of ease and leisure, and to collect one of the
largest libraries of the time. The comic poets, especially Aristophanes,
delighted to say that his mother, Cleito, was a cabbage-woman, but there is
probably little or no truth in this statement. Euripides was originally
trained as an athlete, but conceived an intense dislike for that
occupation. Greatly daring, he expressed his view openly (Fragment 284).
Like a popular modern dramatist, his recreation was probably 'anything
except sport'. He then took to painting, but abandoned it in favour of
writing tragedies. His first play (not preserved), the _Peliades_, was
produced when he was twenty-five years of age. He is said to have written
ninety-two dramas, eight of which were satyr-plays. Ancient critics allow
seventy-five of these to have been genuine. During his long career he only
won the first prize five times. Euripides did not take any part in public
life, but devoted himself entirely to a life of speculation and to writing
plays. There is a tradition, not, however, on a very firm basis, that he
was twice married, and that both marriages were failures. He is represented
by Aristophanes as a woman-hater, but indeed he portrays women more
sympathetically than Aeschylus or Sophocles. The women had little cause to
congratulate themselves on securing Aristophanes as a champion, for his
scorpions are far more stinging then Euripides' whips. Euripides left
Athens about 409 B.C., and went to the court of King Archelaus in
Macedonia. There he died in 406 B.C.; according to some accounts, he was
killed by savage dogs which were set on him by some of his rivals at the
king's court.
Seventeen tragedies and one satyr-play have been preserved to us. The
latter (_The Cyclops_) is interesting as being the only example of a
satyr-play which we possess. In itself it is not amusing. It has been
admirably translated by Shelley. The seventeen tragedies in the order of
their production are: _Alcestis_, _Medea_, _Hippolytus_, _Hecuba_,
_Andromache_, _Ion_, _Suppliants_, _Heracleidae_, _Hercules Furens_,
_Iphigenia among the Tauri_, _Trojan Women_, _Helena_, _Phoenissae_,
_Electra_, _Orestes_, _Iphigenia at Aulis_, and _The Bacchae_. The
_Rhesus_, a feeble production long attributed to Euripides, is almost
certainly not his work.
The work of Euripides still retains the power of arousing strong likes and
dislikes. He has had sturdy supporters and fanatical detractors. The truth
is that if the tragedies of Aeschylus and Sophocles are looked upon as
models for all Greek tragedy, Euripides falls far short of his models.
Euripides, however, though he died shortly before Sophocles, belonged to a
younger and quite different generation, and held different views about art,
morality, religion, and almost everything of importance. His aim was rather
different from that of the earlier poets, and he must be judged, not by
their standards, but on his own merits. His own merits are amply sufficient
to justify the high opinion held of him in the ancient world, and supported
by many of the greatest of the moderns. The dethroning of Euripides was the
result of a German conspiracy, carried out with much energy by Niebuhr, and
with even more by Schlegel. They enjoyed themselves while pulling Euripides
to pieces much as schoolboys who have detected a flaw in the armour of
their master. Many proofs can be adduced that Euripides was not a
sophistical trifler; but one glance at his bust is enough to assure anyone
of unbiased judgment that he was a man of remarkable breadth of mind and
intellectual gifts. The fact remains, however, that the extant plays of
Euripides are of very unequal merit. The _Helena_ is not a good play; it
was ridiculed by Aristophanes, but he did not succeed in making it much
more absurd than it was already. The _Hecuba_ and the _Heracleidae_ are not
well constructed, and the _Electra_ and _Orestes_ challenge too directly
the masterpieces of the earlier tragedians. In his greatest plays, however,
Euripides can bear comparison with any poet. The _Medea_ is a play which
still never fails to please; the _Hippolytus_ and the _Ion_ are admirable
dramas and admirably constructed; above all, the _Bacchae_ is a
masterpiece, more picturesque than any other Greek tragedy, a play not
unworthy to be set near _The Tempest_ and _Cymbeline_.
Euripides has been accused by his detractors of degrading his art, because
he opened his plays with a prologue and ended them with the intervention of
a god. Both devices, if not desirable, are quite pardonable. Possible plots
were becoming more and more scarce; Euripides did not wish to adopt trite
themes, and so went into the by-ways of mythology, or adopted a less
well-known alternative version of a well-known legend. He could not count
on his audience already possessing enough knowledge of the story to enable
them to understand his plays without a prologue. The _deus ex machina_, as
the god who ends some of the plays is called, was often warranted or
required by the plot which called for a conventional ending. Euripides has
also been accused, by Aristophanes and by many less entertaining writers,
of taking away all the dignity of tragedy. It is quite true that he is a
realist. Sophocles represented men as they ought to be, Euripides
represented them as they were. This was an unforgiveable offence in the
eyes of the 'men of Marathon' at Athens. The tragic heroes were not mere
stage characters, they considered; they were often ancestors or national
heroes, and it was impious to represent them as speaking ordinary language,
or sharing the weaknesses of ordinary men. Euripides did do this, did it
intentionally, and did it excellently. He came at an awkward transition
period, and the lack of success of some of his work is owing to the
impossibility of pouring new wine into old bottles. The old tragedy was too
tightly bound by convention to suit Euripides, who wished to portray living
men and women, and to have an exciting plot. The new comedy--the romantic
comedy of Menander--had not yet been invented. Had it been, Euripides would
surely have written comedies. The comic poets of the next century turned to
him for a model, and it was one of them, Philemon, who said that if he were
quite sure that dead men retained their perception he would hang himself to
see Euripides. Euripides is, in fact, the earliest writer of romantic
plays, a fact well illustrated by his _Alcestis_, which is one of his best
plays. In it tragedy and comedy are harmoniously blended, and it has a
happy ending.
For better and for worse Euripides is a very modern poet, and makes a
special appeal to the present generation. But his pathos, his wide
sympathies, and his wonderful poetry have appealed to the best judges in
all ages. Theocritus, Virgil, Ovid, Horace, Milton, and Browning have been
among his admirers; his detractors include a few Teutonic professors, and a
few who honour the memory of Aeschylus and Sophocles on the other side
idolatry.--BIBLIOGRAPHY: A. W. Verrall, _Euripides the Rationalist_;
G. G. A. Murray, _Euripides and his Age_ (Home University Library); W. B.
Donne, _Euripides_ (Ancient Classics for English Readers); Sir J. P.
Mahaffy, Euripides: _an Account of his Life and Works_; N. J. Patin, _Etude
sur Euripide_; P. Masqueray, _Euripide et ses idees_. There is a complete
verse translation by A. S. Way, and verse translations of several plays by
G. G. A. Murray. There is a 'transcript' of the _Alcestis_ in Browning's
_Balaustion's Adventure_, and of the _Hercules Furens_ in his
_Aristophanes' Apology_.
EURIPUS ([=u]-r[=i]'pus), in ancient geography, the strait between the
Island of Euboea and Boeotia in Greece.
EUROC'LYDON, a tempestuous wind of the Levant, which was the occasion of
the shipwreck of the vessel in which St. Paul sailed, as narrated in
_Acts_, XXVII, 14-44. The north-east wind is the wind evidently meant in
the narrative; and an alternative reading adopted in the revised version is
_euraculon_ (euraquilo) or north-easter.
EURO'PA, in Greek mythology, the daughter of Ag[=e]nor, King of the
Phoenicians, and the sister of Cadmus. The fable relates that she was
abducted by Jupiter, who for that occasion had assumed the form of a white
bull, and swam with his prize to the Island of Crete. Here Europa bore to
him Minos, Sarp[=e]don, and Rhadamanthus.
EUROPE, the smallest of the great continents, but the most important in the
history of civilization for the last two thousand years. It forms a huge
peninsula projecting from Asia, and is bounded on the north by the Arctic
Ocean; on the west by the Atlantic Ocean; on the south by the
Mediterranean, the Black Sea, and the Caucasus Range; on the east by the
Caspian Sea, the Ural River, and the Ural Mountains. The most northerly
point on the mainland is Cape Nordkyn, in Lapland, in lat. 71deg 6'; the
most southerly points are Punta da Tarifa, lat. 36deg N., in the Strait of
Gibraltar, and Cape Matapan, lat. 36deg 17', which terminates Greece. The
most westerly point is Cape Roca in Portugal, in long. 9deg 28' W., while
Ekaterinburg is in long. 60deg 36' E. From Cape Matapan to North Cape is a
direct distance of 2400 miles, from Cape St. Vincent to Ekaterinburg,
north-east by east, 3400 miles; area of the continent, about 3,865,000 sq.
miles. Great Britain and Ireland, Iceland, Novaya Zemlya, Corsica,
Sardinia, Sicily, Malta, Crete, the Ionian and the Balearic Islands are the
chief islands of Europe. The shores are very much indented, giving Europe
an immense length of coast-line (estimated at nearly 50,000 miles). The
chief seas or arms of the sea are: the White Sea on the north; the North
Sea on the west, from which branches off the great gulf or inland sea known
as the Baltic; the English Channel, between England and France; the
Mediterranean, communicating with the Atlantic by the Strait of Gibraltar
(at one point only 19 miles wide); the Adriatic and Archipelago, branching
off from the Mediterranean: and the Black Sea, connected with the
Archipelago through the Hellespont, Sea of Marmora, and Bosporus.
[Illustration]
_Surface._--The mountains form several distinct groups or systems of very
different geological dates, the loftiest mountain masses being in the south
central region. The Scandinavian mountains in the north-west, to which the
great northern peninsula owes its form, extend above 900 miles from the
Polar Sea to the south point of Norway. The highest summits are about 8000
feet. The Alps, the highest mountains in Europe (unless Mount Elbruz in the
Caucasus is claimed as European), extend from the Mediterranean first in a
northerly and then in an easterly direction, and attain their greatest
elevation in Mont Blanc (15,780 feet), Monte Rosa, and other summits.
Branching off from the Alps, though not geologically connected with them,
are the Apennines, which run south-east through Italy, constituting the
central ridge of the peninsula. The highest summit is Monte Corno (9541
feet). Mount Vesuvius, the celebrated volcano in the south of the
peninsula, is quite distinct from the Apennines. By south-eastern
extensions the Alps are connected with the Balkan and the Despoto-Dagh of
the south-eastern peninsula of Europe. Among the mountains of South-Western
Europe are several massive chains, the loftiest summits being in the
Pyrenees, and in the Sierra Nevada in the south of the Iberian Peninsula.
The highest point in the former, La Maladetta or Mount Maudit, has an
elevation of 11,165 feet; Mulahacen, in the latter, is 11,703 feet, and
capped by perpetual snow. West and north-west of the Alps are the Cevennes,
Jura, and Vosges; north and north-east, the Harz, the Thueringerwald
Mountains, the Fichtelgebirge, the Erzgebirge and Boehmerwaldgebirge.
Farther to the east the Carpathian chain encloses the great plain of
Hungary, attaining an elevation of 8000 or 8500 feet. The Ural Mountains
between Europe and Asia reach the height of 5540 feet. Besides Vesuvius,
other two volcanoes are Etna in Sicily, and Hecla in Iceland. A great part
of Northern and Eastern Europe is level. The _great plain_ of North Europe
occupies part of France, Western and Northern Belgium, Holland, the
northern provinces of Germany, and the greater part of Russia. A large
portion of this plain, extending through Holland and North Germany, is a
low sandy level not infrequently protected from inroads of the sea only by
means of strong dykes. The other great plains of Europe are the Plain of
Lombardy (the most fertile district in Europe) and the Plain of Hungary.
Part of Southern and South-Eastern Russia consists of steppes.
[Illustration]
_Rivers and Lakes._--The main European watershed runs in a winding
direction from south-west to north-east, at its north-eastern extremity
being of very slight elevation. From the Alps descend some of the largest
of the European rivers, the Rhine, the Rhone, and the Po, while the Danube,
a still greater stream, rises in the Black Forest north of the Alps. The
Volga, which enters the Caspian Sea, an inland sheet without outlet, is the
longest of European rivers, having a direct length of nearly 1700 miles,
including windings 2400 miles. Into the Mediterranean flow the Ebro, the
Rhone, and the Po; into the Black Sea, the Danube, Dnieper, Dniester, and
Don (through the Sea of Azov); into the Atlantic, the Guadalquivir, the
Guadiana, the Tagus, and Loire: into the English Channel, the Seine; into
the North Sea, the Rhine, Elbe; into the Baltic, the Oder, the Vistula, and
the Duna; into the Arctic Ocean, the Dvina. The lakes of Europe may be
divided into two groups, the southern and the northern. The former run
along both sides of the Alps, and among them, on the north side, are the
lakes of Geneva, Neuchatel, Thun, Lucerne, Zuerich, and Constance; on the
south side, Lago Maggiore, and the lakes of Como, Lugano, Iseo, and Garda.
The northern lakes extend across Sweden from west to east, and on the east
side of the Baltic a number of lakes, stretching in the same direction
across Finland on the borders of Russia, mark the continuation of the line
of depression. It is in Russia that the largest European lakes are
found--Lakes Ladoga and Onega.
_Geology._--The geological features of Europe are exceedingly varied. The
older formations prevail in the northern part as compared with the southern
half and the middle region. North of the latitude of Edinburgh and Moscow
there is very little of the surface of more recent origin than the strata
of the Upper Jura belonging to the Mesozoic period, and there are vast
tracts occupied either by eruptive rocks or one or other of the older
sedimentary formations. Denmark belongs to the Cretaceous period, as does
also a large part of Russia between the Volga and the basin of the Dnieper.
Middle and Eastern Germany, with Poland and the valley of the Dnieper,
present on the surface Eocene formations of the Tertiary period. The
remainder of Europe is remarkable for the great diversity of its
superficial structure, rocks and deposits belonging to all periods being
found within it, and having for the most part no great superficial extent.
Europe possesses abundant stores of those minerals which are of most
importance to man, such as coal and iron, Britain being particularly
favoured in this respect. Coal and iron are also obtained in France,
Belgium, and Germany. Gold is found to an unimportant extent, and silver is
widely spread in small quantities. The richest silver ores are in Norway,
Spain, the Erzgebirge, and the Harz Mountains. Spain is also rich in
quicksilver. Copper ores are abundant in the Ural Mountains, Thuringia,
Cornwall, and Spain. Tin ores are found in Cornwall, the Erzgebirge, and
Brittany.
[Illustration]
_Climate._--Several circumstances concur to give Europe a climate
peculiarly genial, such as its position almost wholly within the temperate
zone, and the great extent of its maritime boundaries. Much benefit is also
derived from the fact that its shores are exposed to the warm marine
currents and warm winds from the south-west, which prevent the formation of
ice on most of its northern shores. The eastern portion has a less
favourable climate than the western. The extremes of temperature are
greater, the summer being hotter and the winter colder, while the lines of
equal mean temperature decline south as we go east. The same advantages of
mild and genial temperature which western has over eastern Europe, the
continent collectively has over the rest of the Old World. The diminution
of mean temperature, as well as the intensity of the opposite seasons,
increases as we go east. Peking, in lat. 40deg N., has as severe a winter
as Petrograd in lat. 60deg N.
_Vegetable Productions._--With respect to the vegetable kingdom, Europe may
be divided into four zones. The first, or most northern, is that of fir and
birch. The birch reaches almost to North Cape; the fir ceases a degree
farther south. The cultivation of grain extends farther north than might be
supposed. Barley ripens even under the seventieth parallel of north
latitude; wheat ceases at 64deg in Norway, 62deg in Sweden. Within this
zone, the southern limit of which extends from lat. 64deg in Norway to lat.
62deg in Russia, agriculture has little importance, its inhabitants being
chiefly occupied with the care of reindeer or cattle, and in fishing. The
next zone, which may be called that of the oak and beech, and cereal
produce, extends from the limit above mentioned to the forty-eighth
parallel. The Alps, though beyond the limit, by reason of their elevation
belong to this zone, in the moister parts of which cattle husbandry has
been brought to perfection. Next we find the zone of the chestnut and vine,
occupying the space between the forty-eighth parallel and the mountain
chains of Southern Europe. Here the oak still flourishes, but the pine
species become rarer. Rye, which characterizes the preceding zone on the
continent, gives way to wheat, and in the southern portion of it to maize
also. The fourth zone, comprehending the southern peninsulas, is that of
the olive and evergreen woods. The orange flourishes in the southern
portion of it, and rice and even cotton are cultivated in some places in
Italy and Spain.
_Animals._--As regards animals, the reindeer and polar-bears are peculiar
to the north. In the forests of Poland and Lithuania the urus, a species of
wild ox, is still occasionally met with. Bears and wolves still inhabit the
forests and mountains; but, in general, cultivation and population have
expelled wild animals. The domesticated animals are nearly the same
throughout. The ass and mule lose their size and beauty north of the
Pyrenees and Alps. The Mediterranean Sea has many species of fish, but no
great fishery; the northern seas, on the other hand, are annually filled
with countless shoals of a few species, chiefly the herring, mackerel, cod,
and salmon.
_Inhabitants._--Europe is occupied by several different peoples or races,
in many parts now greatly intermingled. The Celts once possessed the west
of Europe from the Alps to the British Islands. But the Celtic
nationalities were broken by the wave of Roman conquest, and the succeeding
invasions of the Germanic tribes completed their political ruin. At the
present day the Celtic language is spoken only in the Scottish Highlands
(Gaelic), in some parts of Ireland (Irish), in Wales (Cymric), and in
Brittany (Armorican). Next to the Celtic comes the Teutonic race,
comprehending the Germanic and Scandinavian branches. The former includes
the Germans, the Dutch, and the English. The Scandinavians are divided into
Danes, Swedes, and Norwegians. To the east, in general, of the Teutonic
race, though sometimes mixed with it, come the Slavonians, that is, the
Russians, the Poles, the Czechs or Bohemians, the Serbians, Croatians, &c.
In the south and south-east of Europe are the Greek and Latin peoples, the
latter comprising the Italians, French, Spanish, and Portuguese. All the
above peoples are regarded as belonging to the Indo-European or Aryan
stock. To the Mongolian stock belong the Turks, Finns, Lapps, and Magyars
or Hungarians, all immigrants into Europe in comparatively recent times.
The Basques at the western extremity of the Pyrenees are a people whose
affinities have not yet been determined. The total population of Europe is
about 400 millions; nine-tenths speak the languages of the Indo-European
family, the Teutonic group, the Slavonic, and the Latin. The prevailing
religion is the Christian, embracing the Roman Catholic Church, which is
the most numerous, the various sects of Protestants (Lutheran, Calvinistic,
Anglican, Baptists, Methodists, &c.), and the Greek Church. A part of the
inhabitants profess the Jewish, a part the Mohammedan religion.
[Illustration]
_Political Divisions._--In 1921 Europe consisted of the following
independent states, kingdoms, or republics: Albania, Armenia, Austria,
Azerbijan, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czecho-Slovakia, Denmark, Esthonia, Finland,
France, Georgia, Germany, Great Britain and Ireland, Greece, Hungary,
Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxemburg, Monaco, Montenegro, Netherlands
(Holland), Norway, Poland, Portugal, Roumania, Russia, Serbia
(Yugo-Slavia), Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine. Of these the
following were kingdoms: Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Great Britain, Greece,
Italy, Montenegro, Netherlands (Holland), Norway, Serbia (Yugo-Slavia),
Spain, and Sweden. Turkey (whose possessions in Europe were limited to
Constantinople) was an empire, Luxemburg was a grand-duchy, Liechtenstein
and Monaco principalities, whilst all the other European states were
republics.
_History._--Europe was probably first peopled from Asia, but at what date
we know not. The first authentic history begins in Greece at about 776 B.C.
Greek civilization was at its most flourishing period about 430 B.C. After
Greece came Rome, which by the early part of the Christian era had
conquered Spain, Greece, Gaul, Helvetia, Germany between the Danube and the
Alps, Illyria, and Dacia. Improved laws and superior arts of life spread
with the Roman Empire throughout Europe, and the unity of government was
also extremely favourable to the extension of Christianity. With the
decline of the Roman Empire a great change in the political constitution of
Europe was produced by the universal migration of the northern nations. The
Ostrogoths and Lombards settled in Italy, the Franks in France, the
Visigoths in Spain, and the Anglo-Saxons in South Britain, reducing the
inhabitants to subjection, or becoming incorporated with them. Under
Charlemagne (771-814) a great Germanic empire was established, so extensive
that the kingdoms of France, Germany, Italy, Burgundy, Lorraine, and
Navarre were afterwards formed out of it. About this time the northern and
eastern nations of Europe began to exert an influence in the affairs of
Europe. The Slavs, or Slavonians, founded kingdoms in Bohemia, Poland,
Russia, and the north of Germany; the Magyars appeared in Hungary; and the
Normans agitated all Europe, founding kingdoms and principalities in
England, France, Sicily, and the East. The Crusades and the growth of the
Ottoman power are amongst the principal events which influenced Europe from
the twelfth to the fifteenth century. The conquest of Constantinople by the
Turks (1453), by driving the learned Greeks from this city, gave a new
impulse to letters in Western Europe, which was carried onwards by the
invention of printing and the Reformation. The discovery of America was
followed by the temporary preponderance of Spain in Europe, and next of
France. Subsequently Prussia and Russia gradually increased in territory
and strength. The French revolution (1789) and the Napoleonic wars had a
profound effect on Europe, the dissolution of the old German Empire being
one of the results. The most important events in European history from the
revolution of 1789 to 1914, the beginning of the European War, were: the
establishment of the independence of Greece; the disappearance of Poland as
a separate state; the unification of Italy under Victor Emmanuel; the
Franco-German War, resulting in the consolidation of Germany into an empire
under the leadership of Prussia: and the partial dismemberment of the
Turkish Empire. The European War, 1914-8 (q.v.), revolutionized the
continent and altered the map of Europe. The chief results were the
disintegration of the Dual Monarchy and of Russia, the abolition of the
German Empire, and the deposition of hereditary rulers in the smaller
German states, which instituted republican Governments. The following new
states were formed from the constituent parts of Russia and
Austria-Hungary: Albania, Armenia, Azerbijan, Czecho-Slovakia, Esthonia,
Finland, Georgia, Latvia, Lithuania, Yugo-Slavia, and Ukraine. Poland,
dissolved in the eighteenth century, was again reconstituted. France
regained Alsace and Lorraine, Turkey lost almost all her possessions in
Europe, whilst Belgium, Denmark, Greece, Italy, and Roumania were greatly
enlarged, acquiring new territories. All these alterations of boundaries
and additions of territories were based on ethnological grounds, the new
states being inhabited by peoples belonging to the same ethnical group and
speaking the same language. See articles on the various
countries.--BIBLIOGRAPHY: E. A. Freeman, _General Sketch of European
History_; A. Hassall (editor), _Periods of European History_; _European
History Chronologically Arranged_; A. S. Rappoport, _History of European
Nations_; O. Browning, _General History of the World_; H. S. Williams, _The
Historian's History of the World_.
EUROPEAN WAR, 1914-8. The European War, which began in Aug., 1914, and
involved the greater part of the globe before the last shot was fired in
Nov., 1918, had its ostensible origin in the assassination of the Austrian
heir-apparent, the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, and his wife, at Serajevo,
capital of Bosnia, once part of the ancient kingdom of Serbia. This crime
was committed by a Bosnian student, but Austria-Hungary held Serbia
responsible, and, inspired by Germany, sent an ultimatum on 23rd July,
amounting to a demand that Serbia should surrender her independence. Two
days later, notwithstanding that Serbia conceded every demand, with two
reservations which she offered to submit to the Hague Tribunal,
Austria-Hungary declared war on her. Germany, who had seen in the Serajevo
tragedy a pretext for making her long-premeditated bid for world dominion,
"knew very well what she was about in backing up Austria-Hungary in this
matter", as the German Ambassador in Vienna frankly told the British
representative at the time; and when Russia, as the traditional protector
of the Slavs, mobilized her southern armies to save Serbian independence if
necessary, she threatened instant mobilization on her own part unless
Russia stopped these military measures within twelve hours. It was
technically impossible for Russia to do anything of the kind, but her
protest to this effect was unavailing. Germany declared war on Russia on
3rd Aug., and as this inevitably involved war at the same time with
Russia's ally France, she sent a note on the following day to Belgium
demanding safe passage for German troops through Belgian territory, though
Prussia as well as Great Britain, France, Russia, and Austria had
guaranteed the neutrality and independence of Belgium by the treaty of
1839, repeatedly confirming this on subsequent occasions. When the British
Ambassador in Berlin protested against the threatened violation of treaty
rights, the German Chancellor, Bethmann-Hollweg, repudiated the treaty as a
mere "scrap of paper".
On 3rd Aug., when Germany formally declared war on France--though her
troops had already invaded French territory at various points--Belgium
refused Germany's demands, and called on Great Britain and France for
assistance. It was this call, and Germany's refusal on the following day to
accede to the British demands that Belgian neutrality should be
respected--declaring war on Belgium instead and violating her territory
early that morning--which decided Great Britain to range herself wholly on
the Franco-Russian side. The German Ambassador in London had already been
warned (on 31st July) that we should be drawn into the struggle if Germany
persisted in her threatened attack on France. Two days previously Germany
had made the 'infamous bid' to Great Britain that if she would remain
neutral no territory would be taken from France herself, though no
undertaking could be given with regard to the French colonies. British
mobilization orders were issued on 4th Aug., and at 11 p.m. on that date
Great Britain declared war on Germany.
Fortunately the British navy was ready for any emergency, with the Grand
Fleet--the command of which was given to Admiral Sir John Jellicoe--still
assembled in full strength at Portland, after the manoeuvres, the order for
its dispersal having been countermanded on 27th July. Lord Kitchener, home
on leave from Egypt, had also been stopped by a telegram from Mr. Asquith,
then Prime Minister, as he was stepping on the Channel boat at Dover on his
return journey (3rd Aug.), and two days later was appointed Secretary of
State for War. Meantime the Austrians had already bombarded Belgrade (29th
July); Italy had declined (1st Aug.) to be drawn into the conflict with her
Austro-German partners of the Triple Alliance on the grounds that their war
was an aggressive one; and German troops, as already mentioned, had invaded
France at several points on 2nd Aug., before formally declaring war on that
country.
_Western Front, 1914_
The struggle on the Western front began in earnest on the following day,
when war was declared on France and the Germans captured Trieux, near
Briey, and Luneville was bombarded by German aeroplanes. The German system
of mobilization had been quicker than the French and Russian, but the
opening moves filled the Allied commanders with too-confident hopes.
Although slower to mobilize than the Germans, a Russian army under
Rennenkampf succeeded in invading East Prussia in force; the Belgians made
a magnificent stand for their frontier fortresses when the Germans, denied
the right of way which they had demanded, endeavoured to force the great
highway of Western Europe which passes through Liege; and the French,
besides checking the enemy at Dinant, had already recovered part of the
lost provinces of Alsace-Lorraine.
On 16th Aug. the First British Expeditionary Force, under General Sir John
French, completed its landing at Boulogne, and four days later had arrived
and concentrated on the line Avesnes-Le Cateau, on the left or exposed
flank of the French Fifth Army under General de Lanzerac. It consisted of
50,000 infantry with its artillery, and five brigades of cavalry--some
70,000 troops altogether, a mere drop in the ocean compared with the
millions of men who were marching to battle for the great military powers,
but destined to play a part in the forthcoming struggle out of all
proportion to its size.
The position at this juncture was, briefly, as follows: the Germans having
at length captured the last forts of Liege, with its gallant commander
General Leman, were overrunning Belgium. Brussels had just been evacuated
(20th Aug.), and the main Belgian army, menaced by greatly superior forces
of the enemy, and disappointed in its hope of effective support from the
Franco-British troops, was retiring to seek the protection of the forts of
Antwerp. Having occupied Brussels on the 20th, the German Higher Command
appointed Baron von der Goltz as Governor. A reign of terror in Belgium had
already been inaugurated as part of Germany's deliberate policy of
'frightfulness', including the ruthless execution of civilians on
unsubstantiated charges of shooting at the invaders.
The French armies, under the supreme command of General Joffre, who, like
Lord Kitchener, had been an engineer student when the Franco-Prussian War
broke out, and had been Chief of the General Staff since 1911, were now
disposed for the double purpose of meeting the threatened German onslaught
and preparing the counter-offensive on which French doctrines of strategy
had been based. Starting from the Swiss frontier there were nine divisions
forming the Alsace force, the main offensive group, consisting of the
French First and Second Armies, being extended along the Lorraine frontier,
and the Third Army about Verdun. The Fourth Army formed the mass of
manoeuvre held in reserve behind the centre, while the Fifth, whose left
wing was now extended by the British Expeditionary Force, faced the
Ardennes as far as the Belgian frontier.
Germany was not seriously alarmed by the spectacular advance of the French
into their lost provinces. It suited the strategy of her War Staff to keep
the French mass of manoeuvre as far as possible from the point at which it
would soon be sorely needed; and their feint attacks in the direction of
Longwy, Luneville, and Belfort were designed to strengthen the belief that
their real offensive would come in the frontal assault which the French
dispositions had assumed. Germany, however, had always intended to strike
through Belgium when the time came to deliver the knock-out blow to France
before Russia had time to mobilize her millions.
The German advance was proceeding according to the plan which had been
worked out in detail as far back as 1904 by the soldier-scholar of the
Garde-Ulanen, Count von Schlieffen, who died two years before his great
scheme was put into execution. Based on the assumption that Germany and
Austria-Hungary would have to fight France, Russia, Great Britain, and
Belgium without the aid of Italy, it provided for an immediate attack by
the right wing of the German army of such weight and ferocity as to destroy
the French left by a single blow, and then roll up the main French armies
one after the other. The South and Russian fronts were meantime to be
lightly held, everything being staked on the sudden, overwhelming blow in
the north through Belgium. One of the bitter controversies in Germany,
after the war, raged round the responsibility for the failure of this plan,
the execution of which devolved on General von Moltke, nephew of the great
strategist of the Franco-Prussian War. The Kaiser believed that the name of
Moltke would strike terror into the hearts of Germany's enemies, but the
second Moltke lacked the genius of his predecessor, and the course of
events proved that he was not equal to the task of carrying out so
prodigious a plan.
It was doubly necessary to strike at once with an immediate maximum of
strength now that Britain had already ranged herself alongside the Allies.
This maximum of strength was attained long before France had completed her
mobilization, and enabled Germany to launch her unexpected blow with
crushing effect. She had reckoned, however, without the stubborn defence of
the Belgians in the opening moves of the game, a defence which clogged the
wheels of her mighty war machine at the critical moment; and was wholly
unprepared for Britain's great achievement in transporting her
'insignificant' but indomitable army, without a hitch, complete in every
detail, and establishing it in its place in the line of battle, hundreds of
miles from its base, in less than three weeks from the declaration of war.
Clearly there was no time to be lost in solving the military problem on the
Western front before the Russians could throw their full weight into the
scales.
The secret of Germany's sudden attempt to overwhelm the Allied left by an
outflanking movement was well kept. The position in Belgium was obviously
grave; but Joffre still clung to the belief that if the Germans attacked
the Allied left in force, they would leave their own position in front of
the French Fifth Army so exposed as to give him an opening for a successful
counter-stroke with de Lanzerac's troops in co-operation with the British.
Up to the 22nd General French's preparations were all in the direction of
offensive action on these lines; his two corps had taken up their positions
through Binche and Mons and along the canal to Conde.
The German tide which now swept through the plains of Belgium entirely
upset the Allied calculations. General French woke on 22nd Aug. to find the
troops of the French Fifth Army on his right in unmistakeable retreat. The
full force of the German blow, delivered by von Buelow's Second Army, had
been felt by de Lanzerac's troops on the Sambre at daybreak, and had
pressed them back from the river. The British position held by the 1st
Corps (1st and 2nd Divisions) under General Sir Douglas Haig, the 2nd Corps
(3rd and 5th Divisions) under General Sir H. Smith-Dorrien, and the Cavalry
Division under General Allenby, became isolated by the retreat of de
Lanzerac--"the most complete example", as Lord French long afterwards
described him, "of the Staff College pedant whose 'superior education' had
given him little idea of how to conduct war". De Lanzerac asked General
French if he would attack the flank of the German columns which were
pressing him back from the Sambre, but the British Commander, who had
received definite instructions from Lord Kitchener that his command was to
be an entirely independent one, "and that you will in no case come in any
sense under the orders of any Allied general", replied that with his own
position so seriously threatened by the retreat of de Lanzerac's troops
such an operation was impracticable, but he agreed to retain his present
position for the next twenty-four hours.
The British army fulfilled this pledge, and the barrier thus held and
maintained during the subsequent retreat, though shattered in parts, saved
the French left from being outflanked by the invading right wing of the
Germans under von Kluck. The whole situation became extremely critical on
the following day (23rd Aug.). Namur, the forts of which had been regarded
as impregnable, fell before the crushing attack of the heavy Austrian
howitzers brought up by the advancing Germans; the French thrust into
Alsace-Lorraine had just been countered by the German Fifth Army under the
Crown Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria, which compelled the French to retreat
from all but a corner of Alsace; and the main German attack, launched at
the other end of the line, forced the French back both from the Sambre and
the Meuse. The French Fifth Army, the position of which was considerably
weakened by the fall of Namur, was attacked both by von Buelow's army in
front, and by a Saxon army under von Hausen on its right. It was forced
back until von Hausen found a gap on its right flank, through which he
proceeded to pour his Saxons with the object of rolling up the French Third
and Fourth Armies under Ruffey and Langle de Cary. These retreated in turn,
to recover alignment with de Lanzerac's Fifth Army, which had retreated
from the British right. The British army was thus left 'in the air',
outflanked not only on the right, where von Buelow was now advancing on it
from Charleroi, but also on the left, where von Kluck's right wing was
sweeping down in full force from the north-west.
The onslaught on the British front began shortly after noon with a
bombardment of some 600 guns along the whole line of 25 miles; followed by
a great frontal attack in mass formation. The British troops, all experts
at musketry, used their rifles with such deadly effect that the frontal
attack crumpled up. The line held; but with the German tide surging round
on either flank the position became increasingly critical. Under the
threatened turning movement General Smith-Dorrien withdrew from the Mons
salient, and before nightfall took up a fresh line some 3 miles south of
the canal. The advanced troops of the 1st Corps had not been seriously
engaged, and held their ground. It was not until late that night that the
desperate situation on his right was fully revealed to General French; and
when news also arrived from Joffre that the British army would probably be
attacked the next day by at least three German corps and two cavalry
divisions, it became clear that a general and immediate retirement was
inevitable. What actually happened was that the enemy attacked with no
fewer than four corps, and at least two cavalry divisions.
_The Retreat from Mons_
The great retreat began shortly after dawn on the 24th with a feint attack
by the 1st Division, under cover of which the 2nd Corps moved back 5 miles,
and then stood in turn to protect the retirement of the 1st Corps. Further
withdrawals were effected that day by alternate corps, covered by heavy
rear-guard actions, until the 1st Corps had reached the line between
Maubeuge and Bavai, with the 2nd Corps extending the line from Bavai to
Bry. Von Kluck's army, though kept in check by the retreating troops,
followed closely on their heels and round their left flank, their design
apparently being to turn the British left and press them back on Maubeuge,
the fortress close on their right rear, which, well fortified and
provisioned as it was, offered, as General French afterwards pointed out
(in _1914_), a terrible temptation to an army seeking shelter against
overwhelming odds. Bazaine's example at Metz in 1870, and a shrewd
suspicion that the German move was deliberately planned with that end in
view, proved sufficient reasons for avoiding the trap. A further retreat
was accordingly ordered to the line Le Cateau-Cambrai, some miles farther
back.
Tournai, which was held by a French Territorial brigade, fell that day.
There was nothing apparently to prevent the German host at this juncture
from continuing its course to the coast and seizing the Channel ports as
far as the Seine. That, doubtless, would have been included in the
programme had the Germans anticipated a campaign of any considerable
duration. The Kaiser, however, had promised his troops that they should be
home again "before the leaves fall"; and to bring this about it was
necessary to settle with the Allied army once and for all. Where von Moltke
failed, according to Ludendorff and other critics after the war, was in not
striking farther to the north or north-west, and in not throwing still more
weight into the scale from his left wing.
On the 25th the French were still retreating all along the line save at
Maubeuge, the garrison of which held out until 7th Sept., and at Longwy,
north of Verdun, which fell on 28th Aug. The British army, battle-worn and
suffering severely from the heat, but resisting all the German efforts to
turn its western flank, marched stubbornly back, gallantly assisted by
Allenby's cavalry. The French were a day's march ahead of them when the
British reached the Le Cateau position. General French decided, therefore,
that, sorely as the troops needed rest, there was nothing for it but to
resume the retreat at daybreak, and issued orders to that effect. The
hardest fighting on the 25th had fallen to the 1st Corps at Landrecies,
where Haig's weary troops were violently attacked at nightfall, before they
could snatch any rest, by fresh enemy troops sent forward in pursuit in
motors and lorries. The German infantry paid dearly for their temerity in
advancing through the narrow streets of the town in close order, two or
three British machine-guns mowing them down in hundreds. The attack was a
disastrous failure.
The 2nd Corps did not reach Le Cateau until ten or eleven o'clock that
night, thoroughly exhausted after a hard day's fighting and marching.
Smith-Dorrien had lost heavily in the operations, and was so convinced that
his troops were unfit to resume the march at daybreak that he elected to
stand and abide by the result. The magnificent fight put up by his troops
on the following day, assisted by Allenby and Sordet's cavalry, and two
divisions of French Territorial troops under d'Amade, which had been
detailed to guard the British left flank, saved the situation, and averted,
in the considered opinion expressed by General French five years later, "a
stupendous repetition of Sedan". The actual result was a total loss of some
14,000 officers and men, about 80 guns, and numbers of machine-guns, as
well as quantities of ammunition and material. According to General French,
these losses heavily handicapped the British army in the subsequent stages
of the retreat, and were felt throughout the first battle of the Marne and
the early operations on the Aisne. In his dispatch of Sept., 1914, the
British Commander-in-Chief had written of this battle in eulogistic terms.
It was not till some time later, he explains, that he came to know the full
details of the battle and to appreciate it in all its details. For General
Smith-Dorrien it is urged that his stand at Le Cateau broke the full force
of the German pursuit, and checked its course in time.
On the 27th the shattered 2nd Corps, having broken off the action,
continued the retreat with the 1st Corps. On the 28th Gough, with the 3rd
Cavalry Brigade at St. Quentin, and Chetwode, with the 5th at Cerizy,
turned on the leading German cavalry at both these places and threw them
back on their main bodies in confusion. For the first time since the
retreat began the worn-out British infantry, having reached the line of the
Oise between Noyon and La Fere, were able to rest and sleep in peace.
On the 29th the British troops reached the line Compiegne-Soissons, the
Germans on the same day occupying La Fere and Amiens, as well as Rethel and
other towns along the French front. Bapaume held out until the
rolling-stock had been removed from Amiens, but the flood-tide of invasion
now seemed to be carrying everything before it. Uhlans threatened to cut
Sir John French's communications with his base at Boulogne and Dieppe. The
base was accordingly transferred to St. Nazaire, at the mouth of the Loire.
Timely help came to the retiring British troops on the 29th by a brilliant
counter-stroke near Guise on the part of the French Fifth Army on their
right; but neither the British nor the French troops on de Lanzerac's right
were in a position to make a stand in support of that reaction. The Aisne
was forced by the invaders on the 28-29th, and Rheims, Chalons, and Laon
abandoned to them within the ensuing forty-eight hours. Falling back
doggedly from the Aisne and the Oise, the British troops withdrew on 2nd
Sept. to Chantilly-Nanteuil, the German advance having been checked on the
previous day by the 4th (Guards) Brigade in a stiff rear-guard action at
Villers-Cotterets.
The great retreat was coming to an end. Victory and Paris seemed within the
enemy's grasp. He had--as he thought--so shattered the British army that it
was now entirely negligible as a fighting force. He was ignorant of the
real strength of the force that was gathering on the British left north of
Paris--the new French Sixth Army under General Maunoury. It seemed both to
von Kluck and the German Higher Command that they had only the shaken
French Fifth Army seriously to reckon with on the Allied left, and, as von
Kluck was considered more than strong enough for the task, von Moltke took
the Garde Reserve Corps and 11th Army Corps from his right wing to East
Prussia, where the Russians were now carrying the war well into the
Fatherland.
The help rendered by the Russians at this critical phase of the war was
invaluable, and played no small part in the approaching struggle on the
Marne. In his fears for the safety of Paris, Joffre was naturally anxious
to profit by this relief, and discussed with Sir John French the
possibility of taking the offensive at the earliest possible moment. There
appears to have been some misunderstanding as to Sir John's plans at this
point. The British Commander-in-Chief declares that he had every intention
of remaining in the line and filling the gap between the French Fifth and
Sixth Armies, but the French Higher Command was apparently under the
impression that he was determined not to fight any more until his troops
had been given a week to reorganize and refit. Lord Kitchener himself
hurried to Paris to clear the matter up, but "full accord", according to
President Poincare, long afterwards, "was not re-established without
trouble". As soon, however, as the offensive was ordered, continued the
same authority, the British Commander-in-Chief gave his assistance without
reserve. "His army fought with magnificent courage, and Great Britain
played a brilliant part in the common victory."
In the meantime the retreat continued, the British, on 2nd Sept., reaching
the line of the Marne towards Lagny and Meaux, with the French Fifth Army,
now under the command of Franchet d'Esperey, on their right, retiring on
Chateau-Thierry, and Maunoury's new Sixth Army, on their left, retiring
towards Paris. It was at this point that von Kluck made the fatal mistake
of dismissing the British army as practically crushed and out of action.
Diverting the advance of the German First Army, he left Paris on his right
in order to deal what he hoped would be a decisive blow at the French Fifth
Army south of the Marne. By 5th Sept. the British army had fallen back to
the Forest of Crecy to bring it in line with the French Fifth Army.
Not only was the British army at length receiving sorely needed
reinforcements, but the French army was every moment increasing in strength
and numbers as it fell back on its reserves. Besides the French Sixth Army
on the British left, another new French army had sprung into being behind
the marshes of St. Gond--the Ninth, under Foch, who filled the gap between
Franchet d'Esperey's Fifth and Langle de Cary's Fourth Army--behind Vitry.
Eastward the line was continued by the French Third Army, now commanded by
Sarrail in place of Ruffey; and Castlenau's Second Army, now fighting the
battle of the Grand Couronne de Nancy which stemmed the German invasion at
this point, and prevented the threatened envelopment on the Allies' right,
where the Kaiser himself had gone to inspire the troops of Prince Rupprecht
of Bavaria.
_First Battles of Marne and Aisne_
Secure on the right, Joffre was at last able to deliver the great
counter-stroke on the left which the Germans had invited by their
tremendous bid for swift and decisive victory. The retreat came to an end
on 5th Sept., when Joffre gave Sir John French his final plans for the
coming offensive, and von Kluck, ignorant of the recuperative powers of the
British, as well as of the strength of the French Sixth Army on their left,
marched across their front in pursuit of d'Esperey's Fifth. That night the
Germans crossed the Marne, and the Grand and Petit Morin--two streams which
branch off roughly parallel to one another south of the Marne--while some
of their patrols reached the Seine, there catching a fleeting glimpse of
the capital where they confidently hoped the French would soon be brought
to terms.
When at last the retreat came to an end, the British army had been
reinforced by the 4th Division, which, with the 19th Infantry Brigade--and
subsequently the 6th Division--became the Third Army Corps under General
Pulteney, who arrived in France to take command of it on 30th Aug.
Deficiencies in armament and material had also been partially made good,
but, most important of all, Sir John French bore witness, "the promise of
an immediate advance against the enemy had sent a thrill of exultation and
enthusiasm throughout the whole force".
The first battle of the Marne had scarcely opened on 6th Sept., 1914, when
von Kluck, realizing that Maunoury's force on his extreme right was
becoming dangerous, sent two army corps northwards to deal with it.
Maunoury had already crossed the Marne and fought the first battle of the
Ourcq on the 5th. The dispatch of the two German corps to keep him in check
made a way now for the British troops, when, according to plan, they turned
on the invaders with the object of assailing their flank with the French
Sixth Army on their left; while the French Fifth Army, and the French
armies to its right, made a simultaneous frontal attack.
Both Joffre and French were under the impression that the German thrust was
still in full career when their counter-stroke was delivered. Already,
however, the tide had begun to turn. Von Kluck, realizing too late--what
should have been obvious from the first--that his communications were being
seriously threatened on the Ourcq, saw that retreat was inevitable unless
he could crush the forces gathering so ominously against his right flank.
The opening of the battle of the Marne thus became on von Kluck's part an
effort to overwhelm Maunoury on his right, while he kept the British army
and French Fifth Army at bay with strong rear-guards and cavalry. The
surprise of the day to the Germans was probably the remarkable part played
by the British, who, instead of being practically wiped out, as the enemy
fondly believed, attacked with an energy and dash which carried everything
before them, and, but for filling their allotted role of maintaining
alignment with the French armies on each flank, would doubtless have
advanced farther than they did. As it was, the progress made was
considerable. The Germans were driven back to the Grand Morin, and the line
of that stream made good on the following day.
Meantime the French Fifth Army on their right, materially helped by this
success, had also recovered a good deal of ground, while Foch and Langle de
Cary, farther east, held their own against the fierce assaults of the
German centre. A last desperate effort was being made to hack a way through
at this point, and Sarrail, on Langle de Cary's right, had to give way a
little along the Meuse. That day the Germans reached the most southerly
point of their advance, at Provins. The deciding phase of the battle,
however, was developing with dramatic swiftness on von Kluck's right wing.
Maunoury was hard pressed by the repeated onslaughts of the enemy, whose
heavy reinforcements at this point held the issue in the balance for
several days. General Gallieni, the Governor of Paris, hurried up fresh
troops to Maunoury in motor-buses and taxis, and the French line held.
The British army helped matters considerably by driving the Germans across
the Grand Morin at Coulommiers on the 7th, and on the following day from
the Petit Morin, thus also helping d'Esperey with the French Fifth Army, on
its right, to continue his advance farther east as far as Montmirail. On
the 9th came the decisive blows which removed all doubts as to the issue of
the battle. Von Kluck's retreat on his left flank exposed the right of von
Buelow's Second Army, which was further jeopardized by a gap which appeared
on its left, where it should have linked up with von Hausen's Third Army.
This double opening gave Foch, facing von Buelow in the marshes of St.
Gond, the opportunity which he sought of smashing the enemy's centre. He
seized it by a series of lightning blows which drove the German centre back
on the morning of the 10th in complete disorder, pursued by Foch's
victorious infantry.
[Illustration]
All the reinforcements sent to von Kluck were now of no avail against the
French Sixth Army, which had been fighting against odds since 6th Sept.,
helped not a little by Pulteney's 3rd Corps on its right flank. Maunoury
carried the Ourcq on the 9th, and Pulteney's corps was able to cross the
Marne, after stiff fighting at La Ferte-sous-Jouarre, at dawn on the
following day, when the German retreat became general. The left of the
British 2nd Corps had crossed the Marne at Nanteuil, where the bridges were
found unbroken and the enemy gone, on the morning of the 9th, but was
ordered not to advance too far north until the 1st and 2nd Corps were
firmly established on the northern bank. The 1st crossed later in the day
at Charly-sur-Marne and Saulchery, clearing the ground of the enemy and
making many captures; but the 3rd Corps had a harder task at La
Ferte-sous-Jouarre, and, as already mentioned, was not completely
established on the other side until the following morning. The first battle
of the Marne ended on the night of the 10th with the enemy in full retreat
to the north and north-east and the Allies in hot pursuit. By the 12th he
had been driven back from the Seine a distance of 65 miles, and the great
German plan of a sudden crushing defeat of the Allies in the West had
collapsed like a house of cards.
The hopes thus raised among the Allies of a speedy termination of the war
in their favour were, on the other hand, equally illusory. Though the
Germans lost heavily in officers and men, as well as in guns and other war
material, their retreat was no disorderly flight. Many desperate rear-guard
actions were fought all along the line, but the enemy retired steadily to
prepared positions on the Aisne, where the eyes of all the commanders were
to be opened to the possibilities of trench warfare under modern
conditions. It needed many hard lessons before the truth was driven home.
When the first battle of the Aisne opened on 13th Sept., the British army
already had its outposts on that river, the main body being in positions
somewhat to the south, between Soissons and Bourg. Throwing bridges across
during the night, the advance was continued on the opposite bank on the
following day, though not without heavy British casualties, amounting to
between 1500 and 2000, including 3 commanding officers. The 6th Division
arrived from England at this stage, and joined its own 3rd Corps on the
left. Further advance was stayed by the strength of the enemy's entrenched
positions, in which he now determined to make his stand. Here he was backed
by an overpowering superiority in artillery which, with fierce
counter-attacks on the part of his infantry, gallantly repulsed though they
were, caused such severe losses that the British Commander-in-Chief was
forced to assume a defensive role, while Maunoury, de Castlenau, and Foch
each made stupendous efforts to break the enemy's line and renew the war of
movement and manoeuvre on which their military principles had been based.
All, however, ended in the same dreary deadlock of entrenchments.
Failing to shift the enemy from these impregnable positions, Joffre
endeavoured to outflank the German right wing, already threatened by
Maunoury's advance along the Oise. Two new French armies were formed from
the reserves to extend the Allied left--the Seventh, entrusted to de
Castlenau, whose Second Army was transferred to Dubail, and the Tenth, the
command of which was given to Maud'huy. De Castlenau's Seventh Army, though
it failed to turn the enemy's flank--the movement having been anticipated
by him--succeeded in extending the pressure of Maunoury's left, which had
swung round by the 20th until it ran north from Compiegne to west of
Lassigny, and in building the first section of Joffre's great besieging
wall which, gradually extending from the Alps to the sea, became the
impenetrable barrier between the enemy and his main objectives. The Allies'
line was continued by de Castlenau through Roye to Albert, and thence, by
Maud'huy's Tenth Army, through Arras to Lens.
Von Moltke had now been superseded in the German Higher Command by
Falkenhayn, who promptly countered Joffre's new strategy by similar
extensions of the German front, thus beginning the outflanking race
destined only to end in stalemate on the coast. While extending their right
the Germans made a strenuous effort to regain the initiative by a blow with
the army group nominally commanded by the German Crown Prince on Sarrail's
flank on the Meuse. It was a blow aimed at Verdun and the whole of the
Allied line, which it hoped to break through at this point and so take in
the rear. Verdun, however, had been rendered impenetrable by miles of
powerfully protected outer defences, and practically the only success which
fell to the Crown Prince on this occasion was the capture of the
Camp-des-Romains and St. Mihiel on the Meuse, thus creating the remarkable
salient east of Verdun which was destined to remain until the
Franco-American force flattened it out in the victorious advance of the
Allies four years later. The German Crown Prince fared even worse a week
later, when he attacked along the main road through the Argonne towards
Verdun, only to be flung back. It was after this double failure that the
Germans bombarded Rheims and shattered her noble cathedral.
The crucial phase of the struggle in the West had shifted towards the coast
as the first battle of the Aisne died down on 28th Sept., and the campaigns
began in Artois which led in due course to the fierce struggles for the
Labyrinth, the Vimy Ridge, Lens, and Loos. The extension of the French left
placed the British army in an anomalous position. Even before Joffre had
begun to build his barrier in this direction the British Commander-in-Chief
had felt strongly that his proper sphere of action was on the Belgian
frontier on the left flank of the French armies, for the two-fold purpose
of defending the Channel ports and being in position to concert combined
action with the British navy. He suggested this move to the north to Joffre
on 29th Sept., pointing out its strategical advantages and the possibility
of doing so now that the position of his force on the right bank of the
Aisne had been thoroughly well entrenched. Joffre agreed in principle to
General French's proposal, but postponed the movement until 3rd Oct.
_Retreat from Antwerp_
By this time the critical situation of the Belgian army at Antwerp had
become hopeless, and the danger of a German descent on the Channel ports
suddenly became acute. Since their retreat towards Antwerp after their
evacuation of Brussels on 20th Aug., the Belgians had kept the Germans at
bay by vigorous counter-attacks, and threatened their communications by
sundry sorties from the fortress. These sorties and counter-attacks,
calling for reinforcements at a time when every soldier was needed on the
main fighting fronts, infuriated the Germans and led to the reign of terror
which included the deliberate destruction of Louvain and similar outrages
at Malines, Termonde, and elsewhere.
Having made his position secure on the Aisne, and brought up his heavy
guns, the enemy began his bombardment of the outer forts of Antwerp on 28th
Sept. By the 3rd of Oct. the Belgians were endangered not only by the
besieging army, but also by the ever-lengthening German line which, having
now been extended from Lassigny to Lille--only 38 miles from the
sea--threatened to isolate the Belgian forces from the Franco-British
armies. They accordingly decided that plans must be made at once to
withdraw from Antwerp in the direction of Ghent, both to protect the
coast-line and gain touch with the Allies. The British troops hurriedly
sent to reinforce the Belgians--a brigade of Royal Marines and part of the
recently formed Naval Division--had no influence on the fate of the
fortress, but helped in protecting the flight of the citizens and in the
final retreat of the Belgian army. Some 1500 of the Royal Naval Division
were forced across the Dutch frontier and interned, and about 800 were made
prisoners. The remnants of the British force, and the bulk of the Belgian
army, escaped westward, leaving the Germans on 9th Oct. in possession of
the deserted city. A little more and the German commander (von Beseler)
might have closed the gap beyond the Scheldt through which this retreat had
been made. Luckily for the Allies, too, the German Higher Command failed,
as Lord French long afterwards expressed it, to gather the richer harvest
which had been put within its grasp by the capture of Antwerp. There was
then apparently no insuperable obstacle to an immediate German advance on
Dunkirk, Calais, and Boulogne, before the Allied troops could arrive from
the main theatres to prevent it. "As on the Marne, so at Antwerp, they were
not prepared to seize the psychological moment and to play boldly for the
great stake".
General French, who had been given no voice in the Antwerp dispositions,
was now in the midst of the British move from the Aisne front to the north,
where he was to be reinforced by the 7th Infantry and 3rd Cavalry
Divisions, which had been landed on the Belgian coast to defend Zeebrugge
and Ostend under Rawlinson's command, and the Indian contingent, which had
just arrived at Orleans under Willcocks.
_First Battle of Ypres_
The two corps under de Castlenau and de Maud'huy were now under the supreme
command of General Foch, who had orders to control all the French armies
operating in the northern theatre, and was confident that it was still
possible to outflank the Germans and bend them back behind the Scheldt. At
the end of a fortnight the British army had been successfully transported
to the north from the Aisne--after successfully holding the line of that
river for twenty-five days against many desperate efforts of the enemy to
break through--and had taken up its position on the left of Maud'huy's
corps, the Allies' line being extended thence into Flanders by the French
8th Corps (under d'Urbal), which had been called up by Joffre to this end,
as well as to help the sorely tried Belgians. Meantime the Germans, besides
pressing Maud'huy hard in front of Arras, and forcing his Territorials out
of Lille, had driven the retreating Belgian army out of Houthulst Forest to
the line of the Yser north of Ypres, whence it took refuge behind the Yser
and completed the Allied line to the coast. Rawlinson's 4th Corps, covering
the retreat of the Belgian army, had hard fighting most of the way before
it succeeded in joining the main British army, the German forces from
Antwerp concentrating westwards in ever increasing numbers. By the 15th
Capper's 7th Division was east of Ypres, while Byng's 3rd Cavalry Division,
a day earlier, had connected up with Gough's 2nd Cavalry Division in front
of Kemmel and assisted in the capture of that position, a gain which proved
of the utmost importance in the subsequent struggle for Ypres. Allenby's
Cavalry Corps had greatly distinguished itself during the two previous
days, driving the enemy back all the way in a magnificent sweep to the
north and north-east.
A brilliant series of advances by Pulteney's 3rd Corps on 12-15th Oct.,
leading to the capture of Bailleul and Meteren, and the line Sailly-Nieppe,
confirmed French in the belief which he shared with Foch that the enemy had
exhausted his strength, and that the time was ripe for a strong offensive
eastwards. The advance had scarcely been started, however, before reports
arrived of a powerful offensive on the part of the Germans towards Ypres
and the Yser. The power and weight of the enemy's opposition on the British
front increased each day. Armentieres and the Bois Grenier were won by 15th
Oct., but the failure of the 4th Corps in its advance on Menin was one of
numerous indications that the Germans were being heavily reinforced. By the
21st all General French's worst forebodings were realized by the certainty
established that the small German force which had been operating between
Ostend and Menin on the 18th had been increased by no fewer than four
corps. This discovery, in the British Commander-in-Chief's own words, "came
like a veritable bolt from the blue". There was no longer any hope of
continuing the offensive on the part of the comparatively weak British
line, extended as it was on too long a front. It was a case of holding on
now until relief arrived.
The threat was twofold. Not only were the Germans massing in tremendous
strength in the north; they were also seriously threatening the British
right. Maud'huy, round Arras, was fighting a battle which, like that which
the British were waging round Ypres, was one of the landmarks of the war.
He sent word on the 16th that the enemy was intent on driving in a wedge
between Ypres and La Bassee--a threat which, had it matured, would have
finally separated the Allies, and compelled the British either to surrender
or be driven into the sea. Faced by this double threat, General French
decided to risk the possible disaster on his right, and concentrate against
the German tide in the north, which otherwise must gain the seaboard, with
possibly fatal consequences to the whole British campaign.
Fortunately the First Army under Haig had already been ordered in the
direction best calculated to meet the new situation, though there was no
longer any hope of its original orders--to turn the enemy's flank and drive
him back to Ghent--being carried out. In this first phase of the battle of
Ypres, which lasted until the night of 26th Oct., the northern portion of
the British line, notwithstanding the enemy's immense reinforcements,
progressed slowly but surely, and took heavy toll in killed, wounded, and
prisoners. A certain amount of ground was lost to the south, between
Zonnebeke and La Bassee--the commanders of both the 2nd and 3rd Corps being
anxious about their positions on more than one occasion--but at no point
was any serious break made in the line. Maud'huy at the same time was
gallantly keeping the enemy in check in the Arras region, though he could
not drive him from Lens and the Vimy Ridge; while on the left the French
and Belgians were withstanding repeated assaults on the swaying front
between Dixmude and the sea. The line held, and was now more or less firmly
established.
The second phase of the battle of Ypres consisted in the repeated attempts
of the Germans to break through this line at all costs. It began on 27th
Oct., and lasted through five of the most momentous days in the history of
the British army. On this day the French 9th Corps, which had been sent by
Joffre to the assistance of the sorely tried British troops, took over the
trenches in the northern part of the British salient. Capper's 7th
Division, exhausted by incessant fighting and fearful losses, was
temporarily attached to Haig's 1st Corps in the centre, and took over the
ground south of the Ypres-Menin road. Byng's 3rd Cavalry Division was at
the same time placed under Allenby. The 4th Corps was thus temporarily
broken up, Rawlinson being sent home to supervise the preparation of the
8th Division for France.
The British line was further reduced in numbers during the opening days of
this new phase of the battle by the repeated but unavailing attempt of the
enemy to advance, the Germans meantime mounting up reserves of
reinforcements for a decisive blow until, by the 30th, they outnumbered the
battle-worn British by two to one. Then came the onslaught in full, almost
overpowering strength. "October 31st and November 1st", afterwards wrote
the British Commander-in-Chief in his story of _1914_, "will remain for
ever memorable in the history of our country, for during those two days, no
more than one thin and straggling line of tired-out British soldiers stood
between the Empire and its practical ruin as an independent first-class
Power." The storm centre of the British battle-line was the
Wytschaete-Messines ridge, where Allenby's Cavalry Corps and Shaw's 9th
Brigade of the 3rd Division withstood for forty-eight hours the supreme
efforts of two and a half German army corps to dislodge them. The honours
of those heroic days were shared by the French 9th Corps and the British
1st Corps (with the 7th Division attached) in their continued defence of
the Ypres salient; and the British 2nd Corps, which held a long line on the
right in difficult country, and, though forced to give up Neuve Chapelle on
the 28th, withstood repeated attacks by superior numbers until the Indian
Corps took over their positions.
[Illustration: Map showing lines of the Allied Armies in Northern France at
the end of October and beginning of November, 1914
1, Yser line, defended by Franco-Belgian forces.
2, Ypres to La Bassee line, guarded chiefly by British troops.
3, French lines to a point above Verdun.