are even incompatible with everything which has been done hitherto--the
violation of Belgium and Luxemburg; the use of poison gases, which were
subsequently used by the other belligerents; there were Zeppelin bombs
which killed both combatants and noncombatants, a submarine war on
commerce, the torpedoing of the _Lusitania_, etc.; pillage and extortion
of tribute, beginning with Belgium; the internment and imprisonment of
the population of the eastern provinces; various devices for forcing
prisoners to work against their own country, by spying for the Central
Powers, thereby committing an act of high treason; contracts arranged
between Zimmermann and Sir Roger Casement in December, 1915, for the
formation of armed units of English prisoners of war, for the purpose of
forming the Irish brigade. Besides these, other attempts must be
mentioned, which were made among the foreigners in concentration camps
in Germany, threatening them with internment unless they betrayed their
own countries and placed themselves at Germany's disposal.
KARL LIEBKNECHT.
_June, 1916_.
[Illustration]
_TO THE END_
_War and Hunger_: "_Now you must accompany us to the end._"
_The Kaiser_: "_Yes, to my end._"
[Illustration]
_THE CONFEDERATES_
"_Did they believe that peace story in the Reichstag, Bethmann?_"
"_Yes, but the Allies didn't._"
* * * * *
Germany, using in turn force when she believes herself strongest and
craft when she feels herself growing feebler, is today resorting to
craft. She is spreading abroad the illusive word "peace." Where does
this word come from? To whom has it been spoken? And on what conditions?
And to what end? By her ambiguous man[oe]uvres Germany reckons on
dividing the allied countries. No one among us will fall into such a
trap. I have said, and I repeat, that when blood flows in streams, when
our troops with so much self-sacrifice are giving up their lives, the
word "peace" is a sacrilege if it means that the aggressor will not be
punished and if tomorrow Europe runs the risk of again being delivered
up to the despotism, fantasy, and caprice of a military caste athirst
for pride and domination. It would be the dishonor of the Allies! What
should our reply be if tomorrow, after having concluded such a peace,
our countries were dragged anew into the frenzy of armaments? What would
future generations say if we committed such an act of folly and if we
missed the opportunity which is offered us of establishing on solid
foundations a lasting peace?
ARISTIDE BRIAND,
_Premier of France.
June, 1916._
[Illustration]
"_BUNKERED_"
* * * * *
It is one of the greatest sources of pride for the Verdun Army to have
earned the testimony of the great assembly which incarnates and
immortalizes the genius of the French tongue and the French race. The
Army of Verdun has had the good fortune to answer to the appeal
addressed to it by the country. Thanks to its heroic tenacity the
offensive of the Allies has already made brilliant progress ... and the
Germans are not at Verdun.
GENERAL NIVELLE
_to the French Army
at Verdun, June, 1916._
[Illustration]
"_WE HAVE FINISHED OFF THE RUSSIANS._"
"_Wait a moment_"
* * * * *
RUSSIAN OFFENSIVE, JUNE, 1916
The blow which the Russians have delivered to the Teutons has been one
of the hardest given to any belligerent during the entire war. Not even
the great German drive of last year has had the effect of the Russian
offense of the past six weeks. In this case it is much more than a loss
of territory; it is almost the destruction of an army. Russia had vast
reserves on which to fall back.
Austria apparently has none. Austria alone of all the belligerents is
practically exhausted. Only a week ago the Austrian Department of War
endeavored to get the consent of the Government to call into the
military service all men between the ages of 56 and 60. Nothing could
show more eloquently the very dire straits into which the Austrian Army
has fallen.
J. B. W. GARDINER.
_Current History._
[Illustration]
_THE COSSACKS' SONG OF VICTORY_
* * * * *
The Petrograd official _communique_ of June 27, 1916, stated that the
prisoners and trophies captured by the armies of General Brusiloff
between June 4-23 amounted to 4,031 officers, 194,041 men, 219 guns,
besides 644 machine-guns, 196 bomb mortars, 146 artillery ammunition
wagons and 38 searchlights.
The enormous importance of the Russian victories of June, 1916, as a
step in the attrition of the enemy forces was patent; the losses
suffered by the enemy on the Eastern front during those three weeks were
about equal to those he had suffered at Verdun in 130 days of fighting.
_Times History of the War._
[Illustration]
_CAPTAIN FRYATT_
* * * * *
Captain Charles Fryatt, master of the Great Eastern Railway's steamer
_Brussels_, which was captured by German warships on June 23, 1916, and
taken to Zeebrugge, was tried by German courtmartial at Bruges, July 27,
condemned to death by shooting, and executed immediately. The charge
against him was that of attempting to ram the German submarine U-33.
His Majesty's Government find it difficult to believe that a master of a
merchant vessel who, after German submarines adopted the practice of
sinking merchant vessels without warning and without regard for the
lives of passengers or crew, took a step which appeared to afford the
only chance of saving not only his vessel, but the lives of all on
board, can have been deliberately shot in cold blood for this action.
_British Foreign Office._
[Illustration]
_BEFORE THE SOMME_
_William_: "_Why are you so heavily bombarding the remains of that
'contemptible little British army?_"
_Prince of Bavaria_: "_I am afraid the remains are bombarding us._"
* * * * *
The German view of the situation at the end of June was well shown in a
typical article by the military correspondent of the "Berliner
Tageblatt," Major Moraht, actually published on July 1.
The writer began by declaring that "all the belligerent armies were now
at a critical stage." The Allies had undoubtedly increased the energy
and the uniformity of their conduct of war, and their great resources in
money and men and their command of the sea would enable them to do
everything possible "to hamper Germany's final victory."
The British offensive was about to begin, and "without a serious
settlement of accounts with England on the battlefields in the west the
Germans would not come a step nearer to peace." Major Moraht and the
other German writers betrayed no sense of the immensity of the coming
events, and it was clear that the Germans had not begun to dream of the
defeats that were about to be inflicted upon them.
_The Times History of the War._
[Illustration]
_THE GERMAN TANGO_
"_From East to West, and West to East, I dance with thee_"
[Illustration]
_The Wolf_: "_Is it not time to stop all further bloodshed?_"
* * * * *
During the early days of July, 1916, a general offensive on the part of
the Allies began.
The French and British armies attacked on the Somme, taking many towns
and villages and thousands of prisoners.
The Russians continued their victorious advance in the Bukowina and
began a tremendous offensive far north on the Riga front.
The Italian troops attacked in the Trentino and captured important
fortified Austrian positions.
[Illustration]
_THE DEUTSCHLAND DISPATCH_
"_Never mind, Mr. Wilson; it is only a little Lusitania blood on the
envelope_"
* * * * *
On July 9th the German Merchant Submarine _Deutschland_ arrived at
Baltimore carrying a cargo of 1,000 tons of merchandise, principally dye
stuffs. According to a statement by Captain Koenig, commander of the
_Deutschland_, she was the first of a number of similar vessels which
were being built for the purpose of breaking the British blockade of
Germany.
It was stated at the time that the captain of the submarine brought a
personal letter from the German Emperor to President Wilson.
[Illustration]
_BALAAM AND HIS ASS_
* * * * *
What, German people, is your duty in this hour? The army wants no
exhortations. It has fought superhumanly. It will fight until final
victory. But the people at home--this is their duty: To suffer in
silence, to bear their renunciations with dignity.
THE KAISER, _July, 1916_.
[Illustration]
_TEAM WORK_
* * * * *
The great armies recruited and trained by Lord Kitchener, with the
mountains of munitions piled up by Lloyd George, have become a
tremendous weapon in the skilled hands of General Sir Douglas Haig; and
they are supported on the right by a French army under General Foch that
has shown itself more than able to keep pace with them. It must not be
forgotten that the battle of the Somme is a joint enterprise of close
teamwork under the supreme direction of General Joffre.
Thus far we have heard less of the French than of the English wing, but
its achievement has been equally brilliant. The Germans caught between
these Frenchmen and Peronne, like those caught between the British and
Bapaume, have resisted to the limit of human endurance, but nothing
human could survive the awful blasting of high explosives to which their
first and second trench lines were subjected; and the Allies now have
the shells and the men to keep up the pressure indefinitely.
_Current History, New York, July, 1916._
[Illustration]
"_I Hope, My Dear Friends and Allies, That I Have Been Able to Make You
Feel Happy and Confident Again._"
* * * * *
The battle is raging, huge beyond all previous imagination. Rejuvenated,
perfectly equipped with all they want, Russia's armies again have broken
against our bulwarks in the east. France has experienced a regeneration
in this war of which she hardly believed herself capable. She has
dragged her dilatory English Ally into joining the offensive on the
Somme, and whatever inward worth the British army has it now has an
abundance of artillery.
THE KAISER, _July, 1916_.
[Illustration]
_ANOTHER NAIL IN HINDENBURG_
(_In 1915 a gigantic statue of wood was erected in Berlin to
Hindenburg_)
* * * * *
The problem implied in the second phase of the great Russian offensive
of 1916 had been solved completely in favour of our Allies. The enemy
had abandoned his entire front south of the Marshes, having lost in ten
weeks' fighting (May, June, July) in prisoners alone well over 300,000
men. The total casualties suffered by him in that campaign almost
equalled the original strength of his armies between the Pripet Marshes
and the Carpathian Mountains.
_The Times History of the War._
[Illustration]
"_SEEMS TO BE NEUTRAL: SINK HIM!_"
* * * * *
The freedom of the sea means to Germany that the German Navy is to
behave at sea as the German Army behaves on land. It means that neither
enemy civilians nor neutrals may possess rights against militant
Germany; that those who do not resist will be drowned, and those who do
will be shot.
Already 244 neutral merchantmen have been sunk in defiance of law and
humanity, and the number daily grows. Mankind, with the experience of
two years of war behind it, has made up its mind about German culture.
It is not, I think, without material for forming a judgment about German
freedom.
A. J. BALFOUR,
_First Lord of the Admiralty.
July, 1916._
[Illustration]
_NOW ALSO THE AXE IS LAID UNTO THE ROOT OF THE TREE_
* * * * *
As the second year of the war drew to its close important gains were
made by the Allied Armies on all fronts. On the Somme the British
occupied Mameton Wood, Trones Wood, and the villages of
Ovillers-la-Boiselle, Longueval, Podieres. The French advanced on a
front of 10-1/2 miles and captured the German positions from Estrees to
Vermando-Villers. On the Eastern Front, the Russians crossed the
Carpathians in the south and pierced Hindenburg's Riga line at several
points.
On the Isonzo the Italians began a great drive towards Gorizia.
[Illustration]
_THE SPIRIT OF FRANCE_
"_France is dying._"--_Hindenburg_
* * * * *
This year has been so full of a glory so pure that it will forever
illumine the human race. It has been a year in which France, the France
of Joan of Arc and Valmy, has risen, if possible, to even greater
heights.
Be the war of short or long duration, France accepts it. The country is
summoning its genius and changing its methods. Each French soldier
before the enemy repeats the words of Joan of Arc, "You can enchain me,
but you cannot enchain the fortunes of France."
PAUL DESCHANEL, _President of French
Chamber of Deputies._
[Illustration]
"_BEFORE THE FALL_"
[Illustration]
_Europe_: "_Am I not yet sufficiently civilised?_"
* * * * *
_Direct Losses of Human Life During Two Years of War_
Dead Wounded Dead and Invalids
Wounded
Austria-H'gry 718,000 1,777,000 2,495,000 533,000
Belgium 50,000 110,000 160,000 33,000
Bulgaria 25,000 60,000 85,000 18,000
England 205,000 512,000 717,000 154,300
France 885,000 2,115,000 3,000,000 634,000
Germany 885,500 2,116,300 3,001,800 634,900
Italy 105,000 245,000 350,000 73,500
Russia 1,498,000 3,820,000 5,318,000 1,146,000
Serbia 110,000 140,000 250,000 42,000
Turkey 150,000 350,000 500,000 105,000
--------- ---------- ---------- ---------
Total 4,631,500 11,245,300 15,876,800 3,373,700
_From a Danish Estimate
published by the War Study Society
of Copenhagen._
[Illustration]