The month covered by this issue of CURRENT HISTORY MAGAZINE was the most
fateful in a military way since the beginning of the war. The most
desperate and sanguinary battle in history, begun with the great German
offensive in France March 21, 1918, was at its most furious phase when
these pages were printed. No less than 4,000,000 men were engaged in
deadly combat on a front of 150 miles.
General Foch, by agreement of the Allies, was made Commander in Chief of
the allied armies in France, March 28. This decision, long regarded as
of supreme importance, was hastened by the new emergency. The United
States on April 16 officially approved the appointment. The result of
the change was to co-ordinate all the allied forces in France into one
army. Early fruits of this new unity were apparent in the news of April
19, when it was announced that heavy French reinforcements had come that
day to the relief of the hard-pressed and weary British troops in
Flanders, and had halted the Germans; the same day the French
counterattacked in the Amiens region and thrust the Germans back, thus
giving a brighter aspect to the entire situation in France. The story of
the battle of Picardy up to April 18 is told elsewhere in detail.
The separation of Russian provinces from the old Russian Empire
continued during the month; the resistance of the Bolsheviki in Finland,
the Ukraine, Lithuania, the Caucasus, and other provinces that had been
alienated either by secession or by German acquisition grew feebler as
the weeks elapsed, and the stability of the new republics under German
suzerainty was correspondingly strengthened.
The chief political events were the exposure by France of Austria's
duplicity in seeking a separate peace, which caused the downfall of the
Austrian Premier, and the application of conscription to Ireland, to be
followed by home rule. On April 18 Lord Derby was appointed British
Ambassador to France, succeeding Lord Bertie, and was succeeded as
Secretary of State for War by Viscount Milner. Austen Chamberlain, son
of the late Joseph Chamberlain, was made a member of the War Cabinet.
Secretary of War Baker, who had left for England, France, and Italy
early in March, returned on April 17 and spoke in enthusiastic terms of
the American forces abroad. He expressed firm confidence in the ultimate
defeat of Germany.
General Pershing offered all his available forces to General Foch when
the storm of the German offensive broke, and many American units were at
once brigaded with British and French forces. The appeals of France and
Great Britain for man power met with instant response on this side of
the Atlantic, and every ton of available shipping was employed in the
transport of American troops. Developments in this regard gave promise
of fulfilling the War Department's expressed intention of having an
American Army of 1,500,000 in France by the end of 1918.
All American war preparations were visibly speeded up as the situation
grew more serious for the Allies, and the spirit of the nation became
one of widespread determination to win, even though it should require
years of warfare and the entire physical and financial resources of the
United States.