THE NEW WARFARE.
It will now be necessary, in order to insure the continuity of the
narrative, to lay before the reader a brief sketch of the course of
events in Europe from the actual commencement of hostilities on a
general scale between the two immense forces which may be most
conveniently designated as the Anglo-Teutonic Alliance and the
Franco-Slavonian League.
In order that these two terms may be fully understood, it will be
well to explain their general constitution. When the two forces, into
which the declaration of war ultimately divided the nations of
Europe, faced each other for the struggle which was to decide the
mastery of the Western world, the Anglo-Teutonic Alliance consisted
primarily of Britain, Germany, and Austria, and, ranged under its
banner, whether from choice or necessity, stood Holland, Belgium, and
Denmark in the north-west, with Bulgaria, Greece, and Turkey in the
south-west.
Egypt was strongly garrisoned for the land defence of the Suez Canal
and the high road to the East by British, Indian, and Turkish troops.
British and Belgian troops held Antwerp and the fortresses of the
Belgian Quadrilateral in force.
A powerful combined fleet of British, Danish, and Dutch war vessels
of all classes held the approaches by the Sound and Kattegat to the
Baltic Sea, and co-operated in touch with the German fleet; the Dutch
and the German having, at any rate for the time being, and under the
pressure of irresistible circumstances, laid aside their hereditary
national hatred, and consented to act as allies under suitable
guarantees to Holland.
The co-operation of Denmark had been secured, in spite of the family
connections existing between the Danish and the Russian Courts, and
the rancour still remaining from the old Schleswig-Holstein quarrel,
by very much the same means that had been taken in the historic days
of the Battle of the Baltic. It is true that matters had not gone so
far as they went when Nelson disobeyed orders by putting his
telescope to his blind eye, and engaged the Danish fleet in spite of
the signals; but a demonstration of such overwhelming force had been
made by sea and land on the part of Britain and Germany, that the
House of Dagmar had bowed to the inevitable, and ranged itself on the
side of the Anglo-Teutonic Alliance.
Marshalled against this imposing array of naval and military force
stood the Franco-Slavonian League, consisting primarily of France,
Russia, and Italy, supported--whether by consent or necessity--by
Spain, Portugal, and Servia. The co-operation of Spain had been
purchased by the promise of Gibraltar at the conclusion of the war,
and that of Portugal by the guarantee of a largely increased sphere
of influence on the West Coast of Africa, plus the Belgian States of
the Congo.
Roumania and Switzerland remained neutral, the former to be a
battlefield for the neighbouring Powers, and the latter for the
present safe behind her ramparts of everlasting snow and ice.
Scandinavia also remained neutral, the sport of the rival diplomacies
of East and West, but not counted of sufficient importance to
materially influence the colossal struggle one way or the other.
In round numbers the Anglo-Teutonic Alliance had seven millions of
men on the war footing, including, of course, the Indian and Colonial
forces of the British Empire, while in case of necessity urgent
levies were expected to produce between two and three millions more.
Opposed to these, the Franco-Slavonian League had about ten millions
under arms, with nearly three millions in reserve.
As regards naval strength, the Alliance was able to pit rather more
than a thousand warships of all classes, and about the same number of
torpedo-boats, against nearly nine hundred warships and about seven
hundred torpedo-boats at the disposal of the League.
In addition to this latter armament, it is very necessary to name a
fleet of a hundred war-balloons of the type mentioned in an earlier
chapter, fifty of which belonged to Russia and fifty to France. No
other European Power possessed any engine of destruction that was
capable of being efficiently matched against the invention of M.
Riboult, who was now occupying the position of Director of the aërial
fleet in the service of the League.
It would be both a tedious repetition of sickening descriptions of
scenes of bloodshed and a useless waste of space, to enumerate in
detail all the series of conflicts by sea and land which resulted
from the collision of the tremendous forces which were thus arrayed
against each other in a conflict that was destined to be unparalleled
in the history of the human race.
To do so would be to occupy pages filled with more or less technical
descriptions of strategic movements, marches, and countermarches,
skirmishes, reconnaissances, and battles, which followed each other
with such unparalleled rapidity that the combined efforts of the war
correspondents of the European press proved entirely inadequate to
keep pace with them in the form of anything like a continuous
narrative.
It will therefore be necessary to ask the reader to remain content
with such brief summary as has been given, supplemented with the
following extracts from a very lengthy _résumé_ of the leading events
of the war up to date, which were published in a special War
Supplement issued by the _Daily Telegraph_ on the morning of Tuesday
the 28th of June 1904:--
"Although little more than a period of six weeks has elapsed since
the actual outbreak of hostilities which marked the commencement of
what, be its issue what it may, must indubitably prove the most
colossal struggle in the history of human warfare, changes have
already occurred which must infallibly mark their effect upon the
future destiny of the world. Almost as soon as the first shot was
fired the nations of Europe, as if by instinct or under the influence
of some power higher than that of international diplomacy,
automatically marshalled themselves into the two most mighty hosts
that have ever trod the field of battle since man first fought with
man.
"Not less than twenty millions of men are at this moment facing each
other under arms throughout the area of the war. These are almost
equally divided; for, although what is now known as the
Franco-Slavonian League has some three millions of men more on land,
it may be safely stated that the preponderance of naval strength
possessed by the Anglo-Teutonic Alliance fully counterbalances this
advantage.
"There is, however, another most important element which has now for
the first time been introduced into warfare, and which, although it
is most unhappily arrayed amongst the forces opposed to our own
country and her gallant allies, it would be both idle and most
imprudent to ignore. We refer, of course, to the two fleets of
war-balloons, or, as it would be more correct to call them, navigable
aerostats, possessed by France and Russia.
"So tremendous has been the influence which these terrible inventions
have exercised upon the course of the war, that we are not
transgressing the bounds of sober truth when we say that they have
utterly disconcerted and brought to nought the highest strategy and
the most skilfully devised plans of the brilliant array of masters of
the military art whose presence adorns the ranks and enlightens the
councils of the Alliance.
"Since the day when the Russians crossed the German and Austrian
frontiers, and the troops of France and Italy simultaneously flung
themselves across the western frontiers of Germany and through the
passes of the Tyrol, their progress, unparalleled in rapidity even by
the marvellous marches of Napoleon, has been marked, not by what we
have hitherto been accustomed to call battles, but rather by a series
of colossal butcheries.
"In every case of any moment the method of procedure on the part of
the attacking forces has been the same, and, with the deepest regret
we confess it, it has been marked with the same unvarying success.
Whenever a large army has been set in motion upon a predetermined
point of attack, whether a fortress, an entrenched camp, or a
strongly occupied position in the field, a squadron of aerostats has
winged its way through the air under cover of the darkness of night,
and silently and unperceived has marked the disposition of forces,
the approximate strength of the army or the position to be attacked,
and, as far as they were observable, the points upon which the attack
could be most favourably delivered. Then they have returned with
their priceless information, and, according to it, the assailants
have been able, in every case so far, to make their assault where
least expected, and to make it, moreover, upon an already partially
demoralised force.
"From the detailed descriptions which we have already published of
battles and sieges, or rather of the storming of great fortresses, it
will be remembered that every assault on the part of the troops of
the League has been preceded by a preliminary and irresistible attack
from the clouds.
"The aerostats have stationed themselves at great elevations over the
ramparts of fortresses and the bivouacs of armies, and have rained
down a hail of dynamite, melinite, fire-shells and cyanogen
poison-grenades, which have at once put guns out of action, blown up
magazines, rendered fortifications untenable, and rent masses of
infantry and squadrons of cavalry into demoralised fragments, before
they had the time or the opportunity to strike a blow in reply. Then
upon these silenced batteries, these wrecked fortifications, and
these demoralised brigades, there has been poured a storm of
artillery fire from the untouched enemy, advancing in perfect order,
and inspired with high-spirited confidence, which has been
irresistibly opposed to the demoralisation of their enemies.
"Is it any wonder, or any disgrace, to the defeated, that under such
novel and appalling conditions the orderly and disciplined onslaughts
of the legions of the League have in almost every case been
completely successful? The sober truth is that the invention and
employment of these devastating appliances have completely altered
the face of the field of battle and the conditions of modern warfare.
It is not in human valour, no matter how heroic or self-devoted it
may be, to oppose itself with anything like confidence to an enemy
which strikes from the skies, and cannot be struck in return.
"It was thus that the battles of Alexandrovo, Kalisz, and Czernowicz
were won in the early stages of the war upon the Austro-German
frontier. So, too, in the Rhine Provinces, were the battles of
Treves, Mulhausen, and Freiburg turned by the aid of the French
aerostats from battles into butcheries. It was under the assault of
these irresistible engines that the great fortresses of Königsberg,
Thorn, Breslau, Strasburg, and Metz, to say nothing of many minor,
but strongly fortified, places, were first reduced to a state of
impotence for defence, and then battered into ruins by the siege-guns
of the assailants.
"All these terrible events, forming a series of catastrophes
unparalleled in the annals of war, are still fresh in the minds of
our readers, for they have followed one upon the other with almost
stupefying rapidity, and it is yet hardly six weeks since the
Cossacks and Uhlans were engaged in their first skirmish near Gnesen.
"This is an amazingly brief space of time for the fate of empires to
be decided, and yet we are forced, with the utmost sorrow and
reluctance, to admit that what were two months ago the magnificently
disciplined and equipped armies of Germany and Austria, are now
completely shattered and broken up into fragmentary and isolated army
corps, decimated as to numbers and demoralised as to discipline,
gathered in and about such strong places as are left to them, and
awaiting only with the courage of desperation the moment, we fear the
inevitable moment, when they shall be finally crushed between the
rapidly converging hosts of the victorious League.
"Within the next few days, Berlin, Hanover, Prague, Munich, and
Vienna must be invested, and may possibly be destroyed or compelled
to ignominious and unconditional surrender by the irresistible forces
that will be arrayed against them.
"Meanwhile, with still deeper regret, we are forced to confess that
those operations in the Low Countries and the east of Europe and Asia
Minor in which our own gallant troops have been engaged in
conjunction with their several allies, have been, if not equally
disastrous, at least void of any tangible success.
"Erzeroum, Trebizond, and Scutari have fallen; the passes of the
Balkans have been forced, although at immense cost to the enemy;
Belgrade has been stormed; Adrianople is invested, and Constantinople
is therefore most seriously threatened.
"By heroic efforts the French attack upon the Quadrilateral has been
rolled back at a fearful expense of human life. Antwerp is still
untouched, and the command of the Baltic is still ours. In our own
waters, as well as in the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, we have won
victories which prove that Great Britain is still the unconquered,
and we trust unconquerable, mistress of the seas. We have kept the
Dardanelles open, and the Suez Canal is still inviolate.
"Two combined attacks, delivered by the allied French and Italian
squadrons on Malta and Gibraltar, have been repulsed by Admiral
Beresford with heavy loss to the enemy, thanks to the timely warning
delivered to Mr. Balfour by the Earl of Alanmere--upon whose
mysterious disappearance we comment in another column--and the Prime
Minister's prompt and statesmanlike action in doubling the strength
of the Mediterranean fleet before the outbreak of hostilities.
"Thanks to the tireless activity and splendid handling of the Channel
fleet, the North Sea Division, and the Irish Squadron, the enemy's
flag has been practically swept from the home waters, and the shores
of our beloved country are as inviolate as they have been for more
than seven centuries. These brilliant achievements go far to
compensate us as an individual nation for the disasters which have
befallen our allies on the Continent, and, in addition, we have the
satisfaction of knowing that, so far, the most complete success has
attended our arms in the East, and that the repeated and determined
assaults of our Russian foes have been triumphantly hurled back from
the impregnable bulwarks of our Indian Empire.
"It has been pointed out, and it would be vain to ignore the fact,
that not only have all our victories been won in the absence of the
aërial fleets of the League; but that we, in common with our allies,
have been worsted in each of the happily few cases in which even one
of these terrible aerostats has delivered its assaults upon us.
Against this, however, we take leave to set our belief that these
machines do not yet inspire sufficient confidence in their possessors
to warrant them in undertaking operations above the sea, or at any
considerable distance from their bases of manoeuvring. It is true
that we are entirely ignorant of the essentials of their
construction; but the fact that no attempt has yet been made to send
them into action over blue water inspires us with the hope and belief
that their effective range of operations is confined to the land....
"It would be superfluous to say that the British Empire is now
involved in a struggle in comparison with which all our former wars
sink into absolute insignificance, a struggle which will tax its
immense resources to the very utmost. Nothing, however, has yet
occurred to warrant the belief that those resources will not prove
equal to the strain, or that the greatest empire on earth will not
emerge from this combat of the giants with her ancient glory enhanced
by new and hitherto unequalled triumphs.
"Certainly at no period in our history have we been so splendidly
prepared to face our enemies both at home and abroad. All arms of the
Services are in the highest state of efficiency, and the Government
dockyards and arsenals, as well as private firms, are working day and
night to still further strengthen them, and provide ample supplies of
munitions of war. The hearts of all the nations united under our flag
are beating as that of one man, and from the highest to the lowest
ranks of Society all are inspired by a spirit of whole-souled
patriotism which, if necessary, will make any sacrifice to preserve
the flag untarnished, and the honour of Britain without a spot.
"At the head of affairs stands the man who of all others has proved
himself to be the most fitted to direct the destinies of the empire
in this tremendous crisis of her history. Party feeling for the time
being has almost entirely disappeared, save amongst the few scattered
bands of isolated Revolutionaries and malcontents, and Mr. Balfour
possesses the absolute confidence of his Majesty on the one hand, and
the undivided support of an impregnable majority in both Houses of
Parliament on the other. He is admirably seconded by such lieutenants
as Lord Randolph Churchill, Sir Joseph Chamberlain, and Sir George J.
Goschen on his own side of the House, and by the Earls of Rosebery
and Morley, Lord Brassey, and Sir Charles Dilke in what, previous to
the outbreak of the war, was the opposing political camp, but which
is now a party as loyal as that of the Government to the best
interests of the Empire, and fully determined to give the utmost
possible moral support consistent with fair and impartial criticism.
"The disastrous mistake which was made by a very small majority of
the Upper House in rejecting the Government guarantee for the
ill-fated Italian loan is now, of course, past repair; for Italy, as
events have proved, exasperated by what her spokesmen termed her
selfish betrayal by Britain, has passionately thrown herself into the
arms of the League, and the Alliance has now no more bitter enemy
than she is. It is, however, only justice to those who defeated the
loan to add that they have now clearly seen and frankly owned their
grievous mistake, and rallied as one man to the support of the
Government."