By Aug. 4, 1914, war had been declared by all the nations now engaged
except Turkey and Italy. Subsequent events have proved that of them
all the Teutonic allies were the only nations actually prepared and
that as between Austria and Germany the preparation of the latter was
much more complete. It was the Germans, therefore, who, with the
entire campaign carefully mapped out in advance, took the initiative.
Germany, too, at the very outset saw the one clear path to victory.
One or the other of her Continental enemies must not only be defeated,
but crushed and eliminated from the conflict before the other could
mobilize against her. One of them, Russia, would probably take the
longer time to effect her mobilization. Russia had started, it is
true, before war was declared. But interior railroads in Russia are
few. Russia, too, is proverbially slow, if for no other reason than by
virtue of her ponderous numbers. France, on the other hand, is checked
and counter-checked by good strategic railroads, and, having no such
vast territory over which her troops would have to be moved, would be
able to mobilize in a much shorter time than her ally. England, for a
few weeks at least, could be disregarded. Deceived as to the extent of
Russian unpreparedness and believing that Russia's slowness would
prevent an active offense for some weeks, Germany selected France as
her first objective, and took immediate steps to hurl twenty-four army
corps across the French border at various points, aiming at Paris.
These twenty-four corps were divided into three armies--the Army of
the Meuse, based on Cologne; the Army of the Moselle, based on Metz
and Coblenz, and the Army of the Rhine, based on Strassburg. All of
these three armies were naturally to converge on Paris. The route of
the Army of the Meuse would pass through Liege, Namur, and Maubeuge,
and would therefore have to cross a part of Belgium; the Army of the
Moselle would take a route through Sedan and Soissons, passing north
of the Verdun fortress, but of necessity crossing the Duchy of
Luxemburg; the Army of the Rhine, after crossing the screen of the
Vosges Mountains, would pass through Nancy and Toul, between the
fortresses of Epinal and Belfort.
It is obvious that the march to Paris would be most quickly achieved
through the flat country of Belgium, where the French frontier is
practically unguarded and only the weakly manned barrier fortresses of
Belgium barred the way. The remainder of the French frontier from
Luxemburg to Switzerland was well fortified, and Germany had no time
to spend in reducing fortified places.
[Illustration: THOMAS A. EDISON
The American Inventor, Now Associated With the Navy Department as
Chief of the Advisory Board of Civilian Inventors and Engineers]
[Illustration: HUDSON MAXIM