A RETROSPECT AND GENERAL SUMMARY
Position of Italy--Fall of German colonies--Sea affairs--Our Allies.
There has been no opportunity during this somewhat breathless
narrative of the great events which will ever be associated with the
names of Mons, the Marne, the Aisne, and Ypres to indicate those
factors which were influencing the course of the war in other
regions. They do not come properly within the scope of this
narrative, nor does the author profess to have any special
information concerning them, but they cannot be absolutely omitted
without interfering with a correct view of the general situation.
They will therefore be briefly summarised in retrospect before the
reader is carried on into a more particular account of the trench
warfare of the early winter of 1914.
[Sidenote: Position of Italy.]
The most important European event at the outbreak of the war, outside
the movement of the combatants, was the secession of Italy from the
Central Powers on the grounds that her treaty applied only to wars of
defence whilst this was manifestly one of aggression. Italian
statesmen could speak with the more decision upon the point since the
plot had been unfolded before their eyes. A year previously they had
been asked to join in an unprovoked {312} attack upon Serbia, and in
refusing had given clear warning to their allies how such an outrage
would be viewed. The Central Powers, however, puffed up by their
vainglory and by the knowledge of their own secret preparations, were
persuaded that they had ample strength to carry out their intentions
without aid from their southern ally. Italy, having denounced the
treaty, remained a neutral, but it was always clear that she would
sooner or later throw in her strength with those who were at war with
Austria, her secular enemy. It was not, however, until May 1915 that
she was in a position to take a definite step. It should be
remembered to her eternal honour that the time at which she did
eventually come in was one which was very overcast for the Allies,
and that far from fulfilling the cynical German prophecy that she
would "hasten to the assistance of the conqueror," she took grave
risks in ranging herself upon the side of her Latin sister.
[Sidenote: Fall of German colonies.]
Upon August 24 Japan also declared war, and by November 7 had
completed her share of the common task, for Tsingtau, the only German
colony in Eastern Asia, was captured by a Japanese expeditionary
force aided by a British contingent. Already the vast Colonial
erection of Germany, those numerous places in the sun which she had
annexed all over the globe, were beginning to crumble. The little
Togoland colony fell upon August 26. New Zealand took over German
Samoa upon August 31. The Australians occupied the Bismarck
Archipelago upon September 7, and New Guinea upon the 25th. These
smaller twigs were easily lopped, but the main boughs were made of
tougher stuff. A premature attack upon German East Africa by an
expeditionary force from India {313} met with a severe check
immediately after landing. In South Africa the Germans succeeded in
blowing into a small flame the smouldering ashes of the old Boer War.
De Wet and others broke their oaths and took up arms, but the
majority remained splendidly loyal, and by the beginning of December
Botha had brought the insurrection to an end, and was able henceforth
to devote his grand powers of leadership and organisation to the
extinction of the enemy's south-western colony.
[Sidenote: Sea affairs.]
A word, too, about sea affairs before we turn to the further detailed
account of the British winter upon the Continent. In good time the
Fleet had been ordered to her war-stations at the north and east of
Scotland, with the result that German ocean commerce was brought to
an immediate and absolute stop. The German ships _Goeben_ and
_Breslau_, which were cut off at the outbreak of the war in the
Mediterranean, succeeded in a very clever fashion in reaching the
Dardanelles and safety. Having taken refuge at Constantinople, these
ships played a prominent part in determining Turkey to take action
against the Allies on October 31, a most disastrous decision both for
Turkey, which met her ruin, and for the Allies, who found their task
greatly increased through the excellent fighting power of the Turkish
forces.
A brisk action was fought upon August 28 in the Heligoland Bight,
when Admiral Beatty with his cruiser-squadron and a number of light
craft visited the enemy in his own waters, sinking three German
warships and sustaining no losses himself. Among the prisoners was
the son of Chief Admiral Von Tirpitz. Numerous minor actions led to
no {314} noteworthy result, but the power of the submarine, already
prophesied before the war, speedily made itself manifest. Several
small British cruisers were destroyed by these craft, and finally a
considerable disaster occurred through the sinking of the three
cruisers, _Hogue_, _Aboukir_, and _Cressy_, upon September 22. This
dashing and cool-headed exploit was brought off by a young lieutenant
named Weddigen. Much as we suffered from his action, it was
recognised in Britain as having been a remarkable deed of arms upon a
very different plane to those execrable murders of civilians with
which the German submarine service was afterwards associated. Some
months later Weddigen's submarine rose amongst the Grand Fleet whilst
it was in motion, and was rammed and destroyed by the _Dreadnought_.
The outbreak of war had seen a considerable number of German cruisers
at large, and these would undoubtedly have been strongly reinforced
had it not been for the speed with which the British Fleet took up
its war-stations. As it was, the amount of damage to commerce was
not serious, and by the New Year all the wanderers had been rounded
up. The most successful raider was the _Emden_, under Captain
Müller, which captured and destroyed numerous British merchant-ships,
bombarded the Madras gas-works, and sank by a surprise attack a small
Russian cruiser and a French destroyer before it was finally cornered
and sunk by the Australian cruiser _Sydney_ off Cocos Island upon
November 10. Captain Muller, though forced by circumstances to adopt
certain measures not recognised in honourable naval warfare, behaved
on the whole in the manner which one associates with the term naval
officer. The {315} _Karlsruhe_ had also considerable success as a
naval raider, but met her end through an unexplained explosion some
little time after her consort the _Emden_. On the whole, the damage
inflicted by German commerce destroyers was very much less summary.
than had been anticipated.
On November 1, Admiral Craddock's squadron, consisting of the
_Monmouth_, the _Good Hope_, and two small vessels, was engaged by a
superior squadron under Admiral von Spee at Coronel off the coast of
Chili. The result was a British defeat, the two cruisers being sunk
by gun-fire with all hands. This disaster was dramatically revenged,
as within six weeks, upon December 8, a special cruiser-squadron
dispatched from England under Admiral Sturdee entirely destroyed the
fleet of Von Spee in the Battle of the Falkland Islands. The British
Fleet was considerably stronger, and little credit can be claimed
save for the admirable strategy which enabled Sturdee to find the
enemy in that vast waste of waters as promptly and directly as if the
meeting had been by appointment.
There were no other outstanding naval events in 1914 save a raid upon
Cuxhaven by aeroplanes, escorted by light cruisers, which probably
did little harm as the weather was misty. This occurred upon
Christmas Day 1914. It had been preceded by an attack by German
cruisers on December 16 upon West Hartlepool, Scarborough, and
Whitby. As the two latter towns were open watering-places, and as
numerous civilians were the victims of the raid, it was recognised
from this time onwards that the German Navy was as little trammelled
by international law or by the feelings of humanity as the German
{316} Army had shown itself to be in France, Belgium, and Russia.
[Sidenote: Our Allies.]
The general movement of the French armies has been touched upon in
recording the experiences of the British, for after their glorious
victory at the Marne and the hold-up at the Aisne, it was at Ypres
that the real fighting was done, the rest of the long line down to
the Swiss frontier playing a subsidiary part. The Russians, however,
had experienced both extremities of fortune, for their victory at
Lemberg over the Austrians upon September 2 was of a very glorious
character, while their defeat by the Germans at Tannenberg in East
Prussia was no less decisive. All the events of the outset of the
war were inglorious for Austria, who received rapidly the punishment
which she deserved for her wanton disturbance of the world's peace.
Apart from the blows which she received from Russia, she was severely
defeated by the Serbians on August 17, and her invading army was
driven out of the country which she had wronged. At the end of the
year she had lost the whole of Galicia to the Russians, who in turn
had been pushed out of East Prussia by the German armies under Von
Hindenburg. An invasion of Poland by the Germans was held up after
very severe fighting, failing to reach Warsaw, which was its
objective.
These were the main incidents of the world's war during the months
which have been under review. As those months passed the terrific
nature of the task which they had undertaken became more and more
clear to the British, but further reflection had confirmed them in
their opinion that the alternative course of abandoning their friends
and breaking their pledge to Belgium was an absolutely unthinkable
{317} one, so that however great the trials and sacrifices in blood
and treasure, they were not further embittered by the reflection that
they could possibly have been avoided. Very greatly were they
cheered in that dark hour by the splendid, whole-hearted help from
India, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, help which was even more
valuable from a moral than from a material standpoint. With this
brief synopsis we will now return to those operations which are the
proper subject of this volume.
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