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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 1, 1918)
TITE SUNDAY OREGOXIAN, PORTLAND, DECEMBER 1, 1918. REVIEW OF RECENT WORLDW AR OF GREAT HISTORICAL VALUE " L. K: Hodges, of Editorial Staff of The Oregonian, Makes Accurate Survey From Beginning of Conflict-to Fall of Hapsburgs and Hohenzollerns. 2 (Cnpxrlcht by U K. Houses. 1914.) THB war. which will probably- be known In "history the World War, and which ended on Novem ber IT with an armistice which placed Germany, deserted by all her confed erates, absolutely in the power of the allies, has cost more Uvea and more money, has involved more nations and has extended over a greater area than any which preceded It. Ten million lives are estimated to have been lost among; actual combatants, and prob ably aa many among non-combatants, while millions' have been maimed, broken In health or reduced to penury. Down to August 1. 191S. debts estimated at 1180.000,000,009 had been contracted nd billions had been added before hos tilities ceased. Whole countries had been ravaged and reduced to famine, the sea-floor had been covered with wrecked ships, and three great empires aid been destroyed before the end came. This was the cost of thwarting the ambition of one nation and Us au tocratic ruler to enslave mankind. The event which set the world aflame was the assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand, of Austria, and his wife by a band of Bosnians who con spired for the annexation of their coun try to Serbia, it having been annexed by Austria In l0t In violation of treaty. Attributing the crime to a con spiracy of Serbians who desired the "Union of ail Austrian and Hungarian territory Inhabited by their race to the kingdom of Serbia, Austria on July 13, 1914. sent an ultimatum to Serbia ac ceptance of which would have destroyed the Independence of that country, and allowing only two day to accept. Ser bia granted eight of the ten demand and offered to accept the decision of The Hague Court or of the great pow ers on the other two. A eat r La Deaf Appeals. Austria, deaf to all appeals of Rus sia. Great Britain. France and Italy, recalled her Ambassador when the time limit expired on July 25 and declared war on July 21, bombarding Belgrade the next day. Ail the other powers ex cept Germany strove to induce Austria to accept mediation, but Germany re fused to Intervene and urged Austria to stand firm. Russia, as protector of the Balkan States, was the first to mobilise her army against Austria, and Germany, though already mobilized, aent an ultimatum on July 12 to Russia demanding demobilisation! and on Au-g-ust 1 declared war on Russia. This act forced Austria's hand, for she had adopted a conciliatory tone toward Russia. Declaration by Germany against France, as the ally of Russia, followed n August I and by Austria against Russia on August . Italy declared neutrality on August 3, and several days earlier had informed France that aha would not declare war. thaugh a member of the triple alliance, on the ground that the war waa aggressive on the part of Germany and Austria and that she was bound to aid them only In a defensive war. On August 2 Ger many demanded of Belgium the right to aend her army through that country to attack France, though she was a party to the treaty of 1839 guarantee I Ing the neutrality of Belgium. Great 1 Britain, also a signatory of that treaty, sent an ultimatum to Germany de manding respect for Belgium's rights and. thia being rejected, declared war on August 4. Other declarations fol lowed in thia order: Montenegro on Austria, August I; Austria on Russia, August (; Montenegro on Germany, August 11; France on Austria, August 11; Great Britain on Austria. August 12. Real Cams Farther Back. The real causes of the war reached much farther back in history than the assassination of the Archduke, to the founding of the Hohenxollern monarchy In Prussia, even farther than that, to the beginning of the atruggle for pop ular liberty. During more than two centuries the Hohenxollerna had been adding provinces and kingdoms to their original Mark of Brandenburg by aggressive war, by guile, intrigue and treaty-bt caking unUl they had built It into the kingdom of Prussia, which dominated -11 Ger any. This process bad been continued under the Chancel lor Bisra rck bntll the Hapsburgs were expelled from their place as hereditary Emperors of Gi many .. 18tt. His work waa crowned by the defeat of France In lSTO-TL, the annexation of Alsace and Lorrslne and the founding of a new German empire with the kings of Prussia as hereditary Emper ors. Ha had conciliated Austria by se curing for he. control of the Adriatic Sea and by fixing ber frontier so that Italy would be at ber mercy. He then turned Austrian ambition for expan sion eastward toward the Balkans. In 1172 he tried to combine Russia with Germany and Austria In what was then called the Drelkaiserbund, but Rui .i broke this combination by the war n Turkey In 1277, which brought her Into rivalry with Austria In the Balkans. Fearing expansion of Russia toward Constantincple, Bismarck secured Bos nia and Herzegovina for Austria, thrusting her fa. regiment filled it, stopped the advance and drove the Germans back in a counter-attack. On the 11th another at tack was made and beaten back under the eye of the Kaiser, and next day the Germans were completely blocked. The battle continued till the 17th, when Winter storms stopped it. The Ger mans lost 250,000 men in that battle, the British 40,000 out of a force which never exceeded 150,000. That ended the western campaign of 1914 and began the war of entrenchments. Russians Have Early Successes. In the east the Austrian had in vaded Russian Poland on August 20, only to be driven back into Galicla. They lost Lcmberg, the capital, Tarno pol and Grudek were taken by Rous ky's Russians with 100,000 men and 400 guns. The armies of Dankl and Auffen burg were destroyed, Przemysl was be sieged with more than 120,000 men, and by the end of September two-thirds of Galicla was occupied by Russians. In response to an appeal from France, Russia forced Germany to divert troops eastward by invading East Prussia and ravaging the country. General von Hlndenburg, who had studied that country, was called from retirement. entrapped the Russians among the lakes and marshes, routed them at Tannen berg on August 28, captured 70,000 and drove tens of thousands Into the swamps to drown. He then Invaded Poland, was thrown back by a tre- jg, M"M"M"MM7M r i ' 1 i than expected and did not know that a -tJ "'j V - '- -r -new army under Foch had been slipped "55 I 4V Or ( J ' Into the line nor that another under J frff vfv A l f y- jf tl Maunoury was about to attack his --w r-ty JbL ?v &"J : petrograd flank on tne urc- j i C, J ' f , gj?' " ' German Armies Forced Back. f 3 y fj . SS ' was on September 6 that Joffre - w- A 'V ?CfcCyy issued the famous order that the time g-, ' E5 f "J i J f . had come to turn and attack and that 1 ., rrj fQ J l . . . . . ...... every man must hold, his ground -and i . ', -fSJ' Jji f 5 f J . die rather than give way. That morn- I Pj-r VrH 7 "V - mr A "s Maunoury appeared In Von Kluck's Q I rt70zSF -f-f r (p Q H ff I J VjnlfiA rear and that evening attacked near T ) ) y - f L ' ' Meaux, but Von Kluck was not yet v ti7 f 'y fev 'ully engaged with D'Esperey and man- 5j t -Xs jL"V Jg Xj'ij J aged to draw back and reinforce his iJ ) hW. f V 5 y ft ' men opposed to Maunoury "before the y-mZ-f ji -f J1-k. " B British could move up to support I fy JC? V Maunoury. The. -battle extended to t X. " "C-" I B ' D'Esperey and to Von Bulow, opposite , i y b i i y nAirr r him, and the two German armies were r- J " OWjiMRHRri Vj OANZIQ t D forced back across the Marne, Mau- LOHDON f -fW O Jr jMWnpunu j N noury meanwhile being repulsed and Q rS" f 15Jtp . ' held at bay in two days of fighting. y v Jt Sk- , " - But he was hard pressed by French -Jv riS jZ'r ' DBERLIN TD 7T C OTA and D'Esperey, and on the ninth he WVjgm? j U. U J , J I J. and Von Bulow began to retreat behind m&7Jf T , t-n -. v -v T i screens of strong rearguards. fix GiT iC i. L AW I i Von Kluck delayed hia retreat to the M ' ' i limit of safety, because he knew that "S, , r . W : ' ' ' - v j . ft .an eftort was to be made by Von Hau- fi ' v ' v V . sen and Wurtemburg to break the I fv t t 4 I. I French center near La Fere Champen- I I. eiaOi . . Cv I olse by driving a wedge between Focn I Iuxuiv I , Bk i - nuu uauBia ua vjr. litis abuu;a was mniyl J I made n September 7 and drove back jj M - & I Foch's right and left, but did not break I v - I them. D'Esperey lent the 42d division PAN-UER11AXV A FACT AT THE END OF THE YEAR 1916. t . by the growing enmity and the naval expansion of Germany. With the aid of France, a settlement of 4.11 differences between Great Britain and Russia was made In 1907, and the triple entente waa formed. From that year events drew steadily to a climax. In 1902 the young Turks made a successful revolution, depos ing Abdul Hamld in the following year, and Austria took the opportunity to annex Bosnia and Herzegovina In vio lation of treaty. This alarmed Serbia, which saw Its hopes of racial union blighted, and appealed to Russia. That country mobilized Its army and pro tested, but the Kaiser pledged him self to stand by Austria, and Russia, weakened by the war with Japan, made no move. But the young Turks, led by fcnur Pasha, renewed the Sultan a un derstanding with Germany and then se about .exterminating the rebelllou people of Macedonia. Bulgaria. Serbia and Greece were rival claimant to that province,' where all three nationalities mingle, and sus pended their quarrel to form the Balkan league. They attacked Turkey In tb Fall of 1912 and utterly defeated her, the Bulgars reaching the outer de fenses of Constantinople. The powers mediated and bad lust effected a set tlement when the Balkan states quar reled over the spoils. Bulgaria made a suaaen attacK'on her allies in 113. bu they. Joined by Roumanla, quickly crushed her and imposed humiliating terms at Bucharest. These events caused Germany to hasten the war for which she had long prepared. Her alms of world-conquest have been completely exposed by hei own people, and they reveal why Ser bla was chosen as the first object of attack. Germany desired a clear road through the territory of her ally, Aus tria. and through Turkey to Bagdad and the Persian Gulf and by way of Syria to the Sues Canal and Egypt. She sought to reach India by land, to cut off the short British route by sea, and to use Egypt aa a base for the conquest of all Africa. Her further ambitions In the Orient were without limit. Serbia stood In the gateway from Austria Into Turkey and. If she should expand Into a strong, lndepend ent state, would block It. Cal aad Iroa Fields Ceveted. A manifesto issued In May, 1915. by the six great economic associations re vealed the further designs of Germany. Belgium was to be annexed, with all of Northeastern France as far as the mouth of the Somme River, with all the coal, iron and textile districts, and all French mines and Industries were to be SalonlkL In 1851 he drew Austria and Italy into the triple alliance, which waa renewed from time to time till the war, and to which Roumanla ac ceded In 1SSJ. But Bismarck regarded the Balkan as outside the sphere of Germany and said, wfien the Berlin Congress met In 1S7I: "The whole of the Balkans la not worth the bones of a single Pom eranian grenadier. Very different views were-faeld by Kaiser William II. who acceded to the throne In l8s. and the first sign of a breach between him and the old Chancellor came when the Kaiser paid a visit to Sultan Abdul Hamld at Constantinople in 1SS9. Since Gladstone'a accession to power In Great Britain In 1130 Turkey had been with out a friend In Europe, for Gladstone, who was a champion of the subject peoples, had compelled he.' to cede ter ritory to Greece and had occupied Egypt, so the Kaiser was -doubly wel come. Turkey needed a friend still more after the Armenian massacres of 1394-. which thrilled all Europe with horror, and again ha appeared in the person of the Kaiser, who visited the Sultan In 18J8. He then obtained the concession for the first section of the Bagdad railroad, and In 1902 the con vention for the whole line from Con stantinople to Bagdad waa signed. Thus he revealed that his ambition, like Na poleon's, reached eastward and that bis goal at that time waa Asia Minor and Mesopotamia. Defematvs Alltanve Ferssetl. Russia and France had met the forma tion of the triple alliance by forming a defensive alliance in 1S91. France settled all disputes with Great Britain in 1904. and those two power reached bought by the French government and er toward ber goal given to Germany by way of partial war Indemnity. The Alsace-Lorraine frontier was to be moved to the west ern base of the Vosges Mountains, thus making France defenseless. The Chan nel coast was to become a base for the Invasion and conquest of Great Britain. When that waa accomplished, America's turn was to come next, for, when the Kaiser was still confident of victory, he said to Ambassador Gerard "America would better look out after this war Is over." All German-Americana in the United States who could be Influenced bad been organised to promote German kultur, strong colonies had been planted In southern Brazil and ail Germans In foreign countries had been registered and enlisted in the work of German propaganda and con quest. In order to balance the Industrial ex pansion in Western Europe, the rich agricultural areas of Russian Poland and the Baltic provinces were to be an nexed and settled by German peasants. If this plan had succeeded. Austria and Turkey would have become mere vas sal of Germany, and Europe would have been cut In two by a German em pire stretching from the North Sea to the Persian Gulf aaid the Mediterranean Sea, and all other nations would have been powerless to maintain their in dependence. N The time was considered propitious for the execution ofhls grand scheme or at least of the first Installment for home rule was believed to have brought Ireland, and therefore the sis ter kingdoms, to the verge of civil war: strikes were general In England, rebellion threatened in India and South Africa, the Russian array had not been fully reorganised since the war with Japan and the Russian court .was pro- German, while the government was cor an understanding for mutual defense of rupt and incompetent By showing no their Interests, EH tain being aroused mercy to man, woman or child among those who resisted, the Kaiser expected to strike terror into all nations and to win victory quickly, for soon after war broke out he wrote to his ally. Emperor Francis Joseph of Austria: "It Is absolutely necessary to deliver everything up to blood and fire, sparing neither men, women nor children, neith er old nor young, and leave not a tree standing nor" a roof intact. By this system of terror . . . it is certain that the war will be ended within two months, whereas, if we give way to humanitarian consideration, the war might last for years." 1 Brltala Thwarts Kaiser's Hopes. If all had happened as the Kaiser ex pected his pleasant prediction might have been fulfilled. Trusting to the discord which reigned in Great Britain and to the pacificism of Its government. he did not believe that country would Intervene'; and he bad good cause to hope that he would quickly crush first France, then Russia. But on July 29 when the crisis was near, the British fleet secretly left port to stand .guard against an incursion of the German fleet into. the English Channel, where it might have cleared the way for the German army to land in the rear of the French army. When Britain declared war Germany hope of a short war and an easy victory began to wilt, for command of the sea was lost and a naval blockade became ceriain. The valor of France and the genius of Mar shal Joffre, the French commander-ln chief, withered that hop beyond chance or recovery. On land the central powers had cer tain decided advantages at the begin ning, though their combined armies on a war footing were Inferior In num bers. Germany had 6,200,000 trained men and Austria 2,000,000. a total of 7,200,000, while the war footing of the allies was: France, 4,000.000; Russia, 6,500,000; Great Britain, 730,000; Bel glum, 222,000; Serbia, 240,000; a total of 10.692,000. But Russia was completely separated from the western powers and could be reached only by a long sea voyage. At the beginning Turkey closed the Dardanelles to belligerents, so the only routes open were through the Arctic Ocean to Archangel and across the Pacific to Vladivostok. Serbia was Isolated, being shut pff from the Adriatic bea by Austria, A large part of the British army waa soattered through India and the colonies, and she had an expeditionary force of only 120, 000 men, the remainder of the home army consisting of territorials corre sponding to the American National Guard. On the other hand, Germany and Austria held a central position, their territory adjoined, their railroads had been built on strategic lines, their forces had been co-ordinated and Ger many in particular had been preparing for 40 years for a sudden eprlng with full force on one antagonist before the other could get into action. The en tire governmental and industrial ma chinery of Germany had been organized for war, and she was ready to the min ute, while Austria was not far behind. It was estimated that Russia could not fully mobilize in less than six weeks, so Austria was left to deal with her while the full weight of Germany was hurled at France in the hope of crushing her before Russia would need the attention of Germany. Treaties Held la Contempt. Germany began by sending troops through Luxemburg in contempt of the treaty guaranteeing the neutrality of the country, oa August 2, and next day an army under Von Emmlch entered Belgium and attacked Liege, which fell after three days of gallant fighting, by be army of ueneral Leman. The ring forts were soon smashed by the new 42-centimeter howitzers which Ger many for the first tlma used and which proved old style fortifications to be worthless. The Germans pushed on up the River Meuse and westward to Brus- els, but their greatest force was con centrated farther south in Luxemburg and the Ardennes, or against the hills known as the Grand Couronne, east ot Nancy. It baa been assumed that they planned a rush through Belgium to Paris In overwhelming force, but these concentration to the south, while only few divisions were at first sent to Belgljm, shows their purpose to have been to decoy the French and British into Belgium, cut them off and destroy hem there, while another army from the weakened French force captured the Grand Couronne and advanced on a front of 50 mile through the gap of Miremont into the heart of France and In the rear of the broken remnants of the French army. But Marshal Joffre, the French .com mander, read the German mind. In or der to draw them away from the Grand Couronne, he invaded Alsace, on August 7, routed the Germans at Alt kirch and took Muhlhausen. The Ger mans mistook this for a serious Inva sion of the lost provinces, rushed down to Alsace and drove the French back, but they postponed the attack on Nancy, and thus s.uff ered a strategic de- leac - Meanwhile, the Germans In Belgium were reconnolterlng in search of the British and French armies, and delayed their advance from Liege to Namur from Aug ist 7 to 20. believing that tho allies were entering the trap, when in fact there were no French north of the Sambrs River. In fact, the French army was concentrating from the Sam bre southward to Belfort, near the Swiss border, with the British on it right, before Mons, the latter the number of 100.000 having landed In France between August 9 and 18. Joffre Inspired the opinion that he had desert ed the Belgians by a second Inroad into Alsa-e on August 14, hoping to be able by a quick concentration farther north to cut off the German light wing in Belgium while the main German strength was driving Castelnau's army back from Alsace. The Germans de scended on Castelnau in force, hoping to break through the French line, but after a bloody battle at Morhanges, he made good his retreat and, reinforced by Pau and Duball, beat them at Lune vllle and drove them back from Nancy. Thus Joffre forced the enemy to reveal where his main strength lay and where he intended to strike. Move Made on Paris. Discovering the relative weakness of the French in that quarter, the Germans again believed that Joffre was pushing his main -force into Bel gium, and they came through Brussels and Namur expecting to meet it. Then Joffre sent his own and trench s army into line to cut off Von Kluck and Von Bulow. The blow was to be struck by Lanrezac at Charlerol, but he did not hold that city in force or destroy the bridge over the Meuse. Realizing their danger, the Germans under Von Hausen struck hard and crossed the Meuse on August 22. The danger now was that the British would be cut off. and Joffre ordered the retreat, while the Germans began their advance, their aim being, not to take Paris, but either to envelop the French left wlng-or cut through the center, destroy the French and British armies In detail and rush to Paris and Western France. It was Joffres plan to keep the German army in front of him as he retreated, and It was French's part to prevent them from getting around the left wing and smashing It. The British General first foiled an effort to cut him off and cfush him in the battle of Mons, on August 23. and that of Le Cateau, on the 25th, against odds of two to one in men and three to one in guns. Then he continued the retreat, fighting all the way. At the same time the French army swung back on the pivot of Verdun, Joffre ordering vicious attacks at va rious points In order to shape the line to his will and to keep up the spirit of his men. The Germans' hurried march was getting them ahead of their sup pile and was lengthening their com munications and wearying them, while Joffre was drawing back to his re serves, which he was concentrating ready to strike back. Joffre also de ceived the German high command into the belief that he was strong at Ver dun and Nancy and that therefore his retreating line must be weak. This Impression was given by the strong defense which Sarrail made against the Crown Prince before Verdun and the terrible repulse which the Germans suf fered from Castelnau on September 6, when, under the eyes of the Kaiser, they tried to carry the Grand Couronne in hope of breaking through the gap of'Miremont and getting in the rear of the retreating army. Being too wise to continue his turn ing movement around so strong a de fense as Paris formed to the French left. Von Kluck swung to the east of that city. He then crossed the Marne at Meaux and tried to penetrate be tween the British and D'Esperey Fifth, army, but found them stronger to Foch, who transferred them to his right on the niga-ti of the Sth. The heroic capture of Mondemont Chateau by the 77th regiment gave him com mand of two of the three roads across the marsh of St Gond, and Langle de Cary drove back Von Hausen's left. Foch found that a gap had been left between Von Hausen and Wurtemburg and at 4 o'clock on the afternoon of the 9th hurled the 42d division at the form er's flank, going through the Prussian Guard and driving back the Saxons in confusion. That night Von Hausen be gan to retreat in haste, but at down on the 10th Foch struck at his rear, went through it and drove the Saxons (grins made a diversion Into Bosnia. in ro" to the Marne. The. other I The first evidence of Turkey's secret allied commanders all the way from I alliance with Germany was rivenwhen tne uurcq to Verdun were attacking at I the battleship Breslau and the cruiser mo same time, a Dlow Dy the Urown Uoeben fled from Messina. Italv. on Prince at Verdun was stopped by Sar- August 6 and went through the Dardan rail, and in consequence of Von Kluck's I elles to Constantinople, where they and Von Hausen' defeat the entire I were ostensibly sold to Turkey. In 1 mendous onslaught, but advanced again within 80 miles of Warsaw before Win ter set in. The Russians continued the campaign against the Austrlans throughout the Winter and pressed on through the passes of the Carpathian Mountains Into Hungary through the snow. Serbia, left to her own resources, drove out the invading Austrlans by a victory at Ehabatz on August 20. They came back in greater force and pene trated eastward into the country, but o i i wees, oi ecemoer tne mysX surrendered with 120 ,000 starving -vl C 7 ou- " 7uu Austrlans. Von Hlndenburg was mass ing a great army in Poland, and it daclous was sunk by a torpedo off, the Irish coast on October 27, but ail her crew were saved and she was raised a year later. German Colonics Taken. One by one the German colonies and Islands were captured or attacked. To gol&nd, West Africa, surrendered to the British on August 26 and three days later the New zealanders seized Samoa, On September 12 the Australian cap tured the Bismarck Archipelago and German New Guinea and on the 19th the British captured Luderitzbucht in German Souttiwcst Afrca. The French, in concert with the British, invaded German Kanterun, West Africa, and a week later the British captured Dulla, the capital. On October 6 and 7 the Japanese seized the Marshall and Caro line Islands. A Boer rebellion in South Africa incited by the German In the neighboring colony broke out, led by Colonel Maritz, and was loined on the 26th by Generals Dewet and Beyers. The majority of the Boers remained loyal to Great Britain and led by the Pre mier, General Botha, they soon sup pressed the rebels and on December 1 Dewet surrendered. An attempt to stir up rebellion in India failed, some spo radic disturbances being sternly sup. pressed. From the outset hostilities on tha part of Germany were marked by con tempt for international law and hn manity. The seas were strewn with floating, hidden - mines. Merchant ship were eunrit by submarine with out search and their crews were left to drown or reach shore In small boats. Massacre of civilians, burning of en tire towns and looting marked German progress through Belgium, France and Poland, and Austrian progress in Ser bia. Crowds of women, children and old men were driven forward as a shield for advancing troops, and many were carried away as hostages. A large part of Louvain, Belgium, was burned, Rheims and Its beautiful cathedral waa shelled, and priceless works of art were defaced or stolen. Public opinion in the United States was overwhelmingly partial to the al lies and tended more strongly that way as German- methods became more law, -less. But the American people re garded the war as Europe's' affair and they approved President Wilson's proc lamation of neutrality. Many men, however, foresaw danger to this coun try and began a movement for military preparedness, which rapidly gained ad- -herents. The allies bought great quan titles of munitions in America, and the pro-German element, relatively small, but noisy and Impudent, and backed by the pacifists, put forward the novel uocLrme inai mis Lrane was unneutral. The methods of the British naval block-., ade, though conforming to the princi ples of law and humanity, drew protests from neutrals, among whom the United States took the lead. The President belittled the danger to this country, and in his annual message to Congress, were "nervous and excited." But the . danger grew as Admiral von Tirpitz, head of the German navy, in December threatened to use submarines in de stroying allied commerce, for the pur pose of starving Great Britain, for that was a threat against American com- - merce also. Russians Attain Successes. When the campaign of 1915 opened. Interest was divided between the Rus sian front and the Dardanelles. In the . former field of operations, the Russians, after throwing back the Germans in Poland for the third time in mid-November, held a north-and-south line from the Niemen In East Prussia to the west bank of the Donajec In Galicla all Winter and drove through the Carpathian-!. By March they held the passes, and Cossacks had penetrated nto Hungary and on March 21 Pryze- the border again, while the Montene- German army began to retreat with the French and British In hot pursuit That was the first decisive battle of the war. On the 40th day after war was declared on Russia by Germany, it decided that the war should be long, October, their German officers still In command but under the Turkish flag, they made an attack on Russian ships at Odessa. Russia then declared war on Turkey, and France and Great Brit ain promptly took the same action. A though Germany had pinned her hopes I Turkish army under Enver Pasha in- or victory on a short war. it decided that Germany should not crush one ad versary before the others got their forces into the field, that Germany snould be squeezed relentlessly by sea power, that that power should gather vaded Transcaucasia, but was defeated on December 7 near Batoum and was utterly routed at Saraicamysh on Jan uary 6, 1915, and pursued into Armenia and Northern Persia. A British Indian expedition to Me so armies and munitions from all the ends potamia arrived at the mouth of the of the earth, that the United States Shatt-el-Arab, which is the estuary of should finally take up arms, and that the Tigris and Euphrates, on Novem- autocracy should vanish from the civ- ber 13, and after two engagements took ilized world. It changed the course of history. It was won by the superior strategy of Joffre, who with inferior forces held the initiative throughout. and by the superior valor of the French and British soldiers. Race for Channel Made. The Germans swung back to prepared positions north of the Aisne from Noyon eastward. Westward of that town the two armies engaged in a race to out flank each other, the Germans striving to hold a line touching the Channel at the mouth of the Somme, or at leant the port of Basra on November 21. The Turks were defeated again and lost Kurna on December 4, and the advance up the Tigris continued. In eomDlianee with her treatv with Great "Britain, Japan sent an ultimatum to Odrmany on August 15 demanding evacuation of Kiauchau, China, within eight days, and at the end-of that period declared war and blockaded the port. An army was landed, a small British Indian force Joined it, and laid siege to the fortress, which was captured on November 7. Japan gave aid to the al lies by patroling the Pacific and Asiatlo tTm xrA :bsot: the same time the Germans put Verdun in a semi-circle by pushing a salient to the Meuse at St Mihiel south of thac fortress, and they made savage but fruitless attacks at several points east ward to Noyon In an effort to regain the Marne line. The race to outflank swung both armies into a line no.tli ward from Noyon, each extending its front seaward. After losing Liege and Namur, the Belgians had abandoned Brussels and withdrawn to Antwerp, but that port was isolated by tne Ger mans before the allies could Join up with It Bombardment of the city be gan on September 23 and on October 6 the Belgians and the British and French reinforcements began to withdraw westward under the very nose of the enemy, who, however, pushed :0,000 Belgians and Britons northeast into Holland and captured the ci'.v on the 9th. The British army mei iwhile had been moved from the Aisne to Fland ers and fought stubbornly at La Bassee and on the Lys to hold the the Mediterranean and providing trans ports for allied troops. German Shipping Destroyed. Before the year ended German ship ping was practically swept from the sea. The battle fleet kept snug in Its harbors and German naval operations near home were conrinca to suDma rines, mine-planting in disregard of in ternational law and sudden dashes to the English coast, on which undefended towns were bombarded for an hour or two, after which the raiders speeded home. The only engagement of any importance was an attack by the Brit ish on a German squadron In the Tight of Heligoland on August 28, in which five German vessels were sunk, two of them being cruisers and three destroy ers. On SeptemDer iz tne nrst warning was given of the large part which sub marines were to play when the uerman U-9 sank the British cruisers Aboukir, n. t h. s,.hMt ,n n,i. rir Cressy and Hogue near Heligoland. The ,"-""" j ,u. v. . "". German Asiatic squadron escaped when. of Tser, where they, joined by French marines, came in touch with the Bel gians, who entrenched southward from Nieuport on the coast. The Ue-mar.o had by strategic their chance to seize Calais and Dun kirk. The Germans poured troops into Bel gium and began on October 21 a most determined effort to break through the i weak allied line, to Calais. They struck the Belgians and French Ma rines on the Yser, and many thousands were drowned wnen tne Belgians flooded the country and they struck the British at Arras and La Bassee and, just Japan attempted to blockade It in Tsin- tau, China, and sent out tne cruisers Emden. Leipzig and Dresden as raiders. After bombarding Madras, India, and blundering missed fenang, wn"P " i"1 ""V,";,,': er, a r t ciivu ucoi.iwj'w ai.u ...... vessels and after working great havoc among shipping In the In dian Ocean, the Emden was ilnally run down and destroyed by the Australian cruiser Sydney off Keel ing Island. The German Asiatic squadron crossed the Pacifio Ocean to the coast of Chile, where it did battle with a British squadron off Coronel on November 1 under Admiral when the French had filled the last gap Craddock and sank the cruisers Good in his thin line with Haig-s corps, they Hope and Monmouth. It then went Into pounded day after day at the salient the Atlantic and Was about to bombard which extended around Tpres. The Ger- the Falkland Islands on December 7 mans threw themselves in great masses when It spied a far stronger British at the British, whom they outnum- force, which had arrived only the pre bered four to one and who were weak vious day to hunt it down. The Ger in artillery and had no high explosive mans fled, but the British averhauled shell, and the British mowed them down them and sank the cruisers Gneisenau, with rife fire and slew them with bayo- Scharnhorst, Nurnberg and. Leipzig, nets. The thin line went slowly back- Admiral von Spee going down with his ward, but did not break. ship. The Dresden escaped, , but was The storm continued day after day. sunk by British cruisers several months On Nevember 10 a gap was made south later in the harbor of Juan Fernandez of the wrecked city, but the Worcester j Island. The British, dreadnaught Au- sulted him to have the enemy deeply involved in the mountains. Further to" distract their attention from his real - objective, he struck them In East Prus sia on February 7, forced a retreat, in vaded Courland, but was repulsed at Prasnysz, though the Russians were so lily armed that many of them fought with two bombs In one hand and a bayonet in the other. Another feint on the south reconquered Bukowlna and retook Stanislau. The real attack was made by Von Mackensen along the Donajec at Gorlice on May 4 with such a storm of artillery fire as annihilated a large part of the Russian army. He drove forward against stubborn resist- ' ance through Galicla, hofing to trai- the armies in the Carpathians, but they fell back in time to make a fierce fight" before losing Lemberg and Przemysl -again. Then began the great retreat. Ths ' Germans and Austrlans, with abundant artillery, ammunition and aircraft, en-'M deavored to catch the-Itussian army in - huge trap, the jaws of which were to close from East Prussia and through Prasnysz on the north and from Galicia - through Lublin on the south, taking Warsaw as they snapped together. But 3 the Grand Duke fought them off on the wings while he drew back in the center and before he gave up Warsaw on August 5 had gutted it of war ma- - terial. He continued to draw back, still fighting, till he was relieved of the - command on September 7. According to " German boasts, he had lost 1,100,000 prisoners since May 1. He had lost Po land also, but he had saved his army. The retreat was continued until the' Russians had lost all the great fort, resses In Poland, were out of Austrian torritory and were entrenched on a line running north past the Tripet marshes: and easf of W!.na, but just ki 'p- ing the enemy out of Riga. As Winder.', drew near, millions of Poles fled east- " ward from their burning villages, and , many thousanls dl ?d of disease and ' privation before fighting died down in ' the middle of November. Dardanelles Attempt Given Up. Having tested the strength of the Dardanelles forts by a naval bombard-" ment on November 3, 1914, the British concentrated their efforts against Tur key at that point. They annexed Cyprus and deposed the pro-Turkish Khedive of Egypt and enthroned Hussein Kamil as Sultan under their protection. In January they decided on a naval attack on the straits, a proposal to make a simultaneous landing with 40.- 000 men being rejected by Lord Kitch ener with the remark that he had not the men and would not send them If he had. The attack was begun on Feb ruary 15 by a British-French fleet, and the .outer forts were soon demolished. The fleet gradually forced its way up toward the Narrows and was attacking the forts at that point on March 18, when three old-style British battleships were sunk by mines floated down with the current. That night the fleet with- -drew to Mudros, 40 miles, although ' the Turks afterward admitted that the. forts had only a few shells left; that anotherlday's bombardment would have forced surrender, that the way would then have been clear for the fleet to steam up to Constantinople and that the government, in a panic, was about to flee to Broussa. About the time when the naval at- . tack began, the British government -decided to Bend an army, after all, and It arrived at Mudros on March 25 un der command of General Sir Ian Hamil- -ton; but he found that the loading of the transports bad been bungled. He sent them to Alexandria, unloaded them, sorted their cargoes and the military units, reloaded them and sent them - back to Mudros, where French, Indian, Australian and New Zealand contin gents joined them. During that month the Turks had had warning and ample