geography of great war

7/28/2019 Geography of Great War

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THE

OF THE GREAT WAR

BYFRANK M. McMURRY, Ph.D.

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY1918

All rights reserved


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Walter ainton Jackson LibraryThe University of North Carolina at GreensboroSpecial Collections


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Digitized by the Internet Archivein 2010 with funding from

Lyrasis IVIembers and Sloan Foundation

http://www.archive.org/details/geographyofgreatOOinmcmu


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CA^


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THE GEOGRAPHY OF THE GREAT WARBy Frank M. McMurky

Fig. 2.

1. German Empire in 1914(Before the War)

In order to understand the geography ofthe war, it is necessary to make some studyof Germany.There are many states in the German

Empire, just as there are many in our owncountry, and they vary in size and im-portance even much more than states of thedo ours. In Fig. 2 one can German*easily see which is largest. EmpireHow does Prussia compare with all the otherstates together in area and population?Copyright, 191S, by The Macmillan Ccmpant/

1


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THE GEOGRAPHY OF THE GREAT WARWhich is second in area and population?Which is third in each ? Trace the boundaryof Prussia. Locate Bavaria and Saxony.Note that three of the states are only cities.Name and locate each of these (see p. 39).Our largest state is Texas,- which is morethan two hundred times as large as Rhode

Island, our smallest. Our largest state inpopulation is New York, which containsmore than one hundi-ed times as manypeople as Nevada, our smallest state inpopulation. Yet wt have no state that isnearly equal'^to all the others either in areaor population ; in fact, each is a very smallpart of the whole.From the map it is*plain why people so

often name Prussia when speaking of Ger-many. Perhaps the map suggests to you,too, that it is dangerous for a nation tohave one state so much larger than all theothers together. In the United States there isno such danger. But if Prussia's importanceand power correspond to its size, it can con-trol the other twenty-four states and haveits own way. If it happened to be governedby selfish men, all the other states wouldhave to suffer ; and even if it were well gov-erned, the other states would have too littleof self-government. It is generally believedthat these dangers have not been avoided;indeed, that Prussia's bad leadership hasbeen the principal cause of the great war.Germany has only a small number of

colonies, as is seen in Fig. 1. Notice theirareas. There are three that

Germany's ^^^ ^^^^ much larger thancolonies Germany, and their popula-1. Location, tions together reach well intoarea, and the millions (see p. 39). All ofpopu a ion them are in the torrid zone orvery close to it. Locate each of those inAfrica. Note the latitude of New Guinea.Germany has been greatly interested in

2. Their her colonies and has spentimportance large sums of money for theirdevelopment. Her apparent aim has been

to find suitable places for the emigration ofGermans from the Fatherland. Althoughthe density of population of Germany itself(Fig. 534, main text) is not so great asthat of some other countries, it has greatlyincreased in recent years and some outlethas seemed necessary.The fact is, however, that very few Ger-

mans have emigrated to these colonies.One reason for this is that the torrid climatethere makes life almost impossible for whitepeople ; at any rate, in such regions thewhite man soon loses energy and health.The kind of government that a country

has may be of vital importance to othercountries, and that is true of the -pj^g objectionGerman government. Its form to their kindis a monarchy and the chief of governmentofficer is the Kaiser, William II. He ap-points the leading mmister, called the Chan-cellor, and the latter appoints the othermembers of the cabinet, such, for example,as Minister of Interior and Minister ofEducation. The difiiculty is that theseministers who form the German cabinet andvery largely control the state are respon-sible to the Kaiser, and not to the people.Also, the Kaiser is not elected by popularvote,, as our President is, but has in-herited his office and claims that he holdsit by divine right, or by appointment fromGod alone. Neither is he responsible to thepeople.Thus the people have little authority in

the government. It is their duty to bedirected, to obey, rather than to lead.There is no effective check on the Kaiseror on the leading statesmen subject to him,if they happen to be narrow in their plansor too ambitious ; these leaders can even de-clare war without the consent of the people.To this power our objection is very serious.We do not believe that a few men should

have such power. War is so fearful anundertaking, the welfare of the mass of thepeople is so mvolved in it, that they ought


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THE GEOGRAPHY OF THE GREAT WARto have a voice in deciding such an issue ; atleast, only those who represent them and arefully responsibleto them shouldhave that power.Otherwise asmall groupmight at anytime make end-less trouble bothfor themselvesand for othernations. Thatis what thesmall group inGermany hasdone, in startingthis war, and theUnited States isdetermined toaid in makingsuch a step im-possible again. This is one of our greataims in the present war.

2. Examples of Prussian LeadershipWe commonly think of the United States

as a young nation, and of the governmentsThe youth of o^ Europe as very old, butthe German the fact is that Germany is theEmpire youngest of the great nations.We are nearly a century older than Ger-many, for that Empire was founded in 1871.There were, of course, German people livingin that region long before, but until thatdate they were not brought together toform the German Empire.The leadership in German affairs, both

before 1871 and since, has rested with Prussia.Several acts show the spirit that has pre-vailed in Prussia and, therefore, in the Ger-man Empire during the last sixty years.About 1860 a very strong and unscrupu-

lous man named Otto von Bismarck becamethe chief minister in Prussia. His aim was

to make Prussia powerful without much re-gard to the rights of other people. One of

Underwood and UnderipoodFig. 3. German submarine of the largest type stopping the Spanish mail steamer off Cadiz.

his early acts was to attack the little countryof Denmark and take from it the south-ern section called Schleswig- Annexation ofHolstein, about one third of Schleswig-the whole country. This region Holsteinwas annexed to Prussia and has remaineda part of it ever since (Fig. 2).

In area Schleswig-Holstein is nearly equalto Massachusetts, and it has been importantas a farming region.The Kaiser Wilhelm Canai and the naval

port, Kiel, have >nade ii especially notedin recent years (Fig. 4). The canal wasdug in order tc secure a short and saferoute for vessels from the North Sea to theBaltic. Kiel is a port at the eastern endof the canal, with a harbor so remarkablygood that it has become the chief navalstation of Germany. German war vesselscan reach the North Sea very quicklyfrom this haven, and they can escape-just as quickly by this route when thereis need.Very soon after 1870 Germany found a


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THE GEOGRAPHY OF THE GREAT WARchance to quarrel with France and improvedthe opportunity. France was invaded andAnnexation of ^^ris captured within a fewAlsace- months. The terms of peaceLorraine ^j^j^^ were finally' agreed uponrequired France to pay to the Germans anindemnity of one billion dollars and also

from this territory as from all the rest ofPrussia; and had they not had these richiron mines in their possession this greatwar would have ceased long ago.The other reason was, perhaps, just as

important in their minds. Alsace-Lorrainehad been the principal source of iron inFrance, and if France were de-prived of it, the Germansthought she could hardly carryon a successful war in thefuture. She might, then, be re-duced to a second-class powerand Germany would be ableto overcome her at will.

Ambitions of Germanysince 1871

Fig. 4.

to cede to them the region called Alsace-Lorraine (Fig. 2).

This is a region about as large as Con-necticut and, like Schleswig-Holstein, valuablefor its farm products, especially grapes, andfor its textile industries. But there were twoother reasons why Prussia coveted it.

It is a land that is remarkably rich in ironore and coal, and while Germany had oresin other sections, none of those sections wasso rich in these two minerals. The Ger-mans foresaw that their need of iron wouldbe likely to increase in the future, owingboth to increased manufacturing and alsoto*possible war. War calls for an enormousamount of iron and steel. In 1911 theyobtained over three times as much iron ore

The Prussians and some ofthe small German states thathad joined them Reasons forhad much reason encourage-to feel encouraged ^^^^by their successes. As a re-sult of the war with Denmarkthey had acquired extensiveterritory; as a result of theirstruggle with France they had

obtained still more valuable territory and abillion dollars besides. There was anothergreat benefit. This Franco-Prussian war, asit M^as called, had brought the many smallpolitical divisions of the Germans togetherand made it possible to found, by theirunion, a new nation called the GermanEmpire. That great event took place, asstated before, in 1871.Thus the Germans started out as a new

nation feeling highly pleased with them-selves. They had been invincible in fightingand had also become rich. A billion dollarsin those days seemed a fabulous amount andmade the Germans feel that they were rollingin wealth. Another fact gave reason forgreat pride. Neither of these wars had


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THE GEOGRAPHY OF THE GREAT WARlasted more than a few months and theywere therefore not very costly. That factmust have awakened a very important ques-tion in the minds of the people : If wars canprove so profitable and yet can be made tocost so little, may they not be very desirablefor a nation ? May not war be a very goodthing ?

After the founding of the empire Bismarckremained Chancellor for many years. HeThe Middle- was ambitious to develop itsEurope plan power to the fullest extent, in-deed to make it supreme in Europe just ashe had made Prussia supreme in Germany.To this end not only schools were developedand mines and factories, but great schemesfor 'political power as well. One of thelatter was called the " Mittel-Europa " orin English the " Middle-Europe " plan.This was a scheme for the combination

under one leadership of as many of the1 What the countries in central Europe asplan was possible. They were to supportone another in commerce and also in de-fense against enemies in war. The govern-ments were to be independent as before,but the several nations were to act togetherin military and economic matters.On Fig. 416, main text, you can see whatnations might have been expected to join such2. Who the ^ league. The two most promi-leader was nent would naturally be Ger-many and Austria-Hungary.Several, if not all, of the Balkan Stateswould be included, and Turkey, for shestill had some territory in Europe. Itwas hoped, too, that Norway and Sweden,Denmark, Holland, and Italy might be in-duced to join.Of the two most prominent nations Austria-

Hungary could not, of course, be the leader.Her area was somewhat greater than thatof Germany and her population not verymuch less. Her population was very mixed,however, with many opposing interests, andtheir union under one ruler was very loose.

It had long been expected that at the deathof the Emperor Francis Joseph, which oc-curred only in 1916, the empire would neces-sarily fall apart, according to the manynationalities that composed it.In such circumstances the leadershipwould naturally fall to Germany, for she

was by far the strongest power.Such leadership by Germany, since it

would allow her to dominate this group ofstates, both in military and economic mat-ters, would immensely increase her powerboth in war and in peace.There was another project which was

closely related to this one and was really acontinuation of it. This became known asthe " Berlin-to-Bagdad Plan," and as timepassed the two were developed together.According to this scheme the ^liddle-

Europe project was to be extended so asto include southwestern Asia. The Berlin-to-Asia Minor just south of the Bagdad planBlack Sea is held by Turkey, i. what theand to the south and south- project waseast of that region are a number of weakIMohammedan states somewhat under thecontrol of Turkey. Thi-ough a close alliancewith Turkey, Germany secured valuablerights in this entire area, including the rightto plant colonies, develop trade, and buildrailways. An especially important featurein the plan was the building of a railroadall the way from Constantinople to Bagdad,more than a thousand miles distant, on theTigris River. This river flows through thefamous country of Mesopotamia and to thePersian Gulf. This road would, of course,be connected with the road from Berlin toConstantinople, so that Berlin, and evenHambiu-g, would be directly connected byrail with Bagdad; hence the name, the" Berlin-to-Bagdad Plan." The right for itsconstruction was obtained from Turkey byGermany in 1902-1903. Figure 5 shows hownearly completed this railroad was in Jan-uary, 1918. Estimate the nmnber of miles


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6 THE GEOGRAPHY OF THE GREAT WARthat remain to be built. Note the countriesthrough which it passes.The Turkish Government has always been

regarded as exceedingly untrustworthy andcruel ; and it has allowed or even favoredso many massacres of innocent people withinits borders that it has hardly been classedamong the civilized nations. Yet in orderto carry through the Berlin to Bagdad pro-ject the Germans cultivated the friendship

tains valuable mineral deposits, also. Itpromised, therefore, to be a good substitutefor some of the colonies that Germanythought she needed so badly.The railroad as a means for transportation

of goods secured a very important advantage.Heretofore the shortest route by water forgoods from India, the East Indies, and otJiercountries of eastern Asia, to western Europehas been around Arabia, through the Suez

PROPOSEDBERLIN TO BAGDAD RAILWAY

Fig. 5.

of the Turks diligently, and the Kaiser, ina speech at Damascus in 1898, declared:" The three hundred million Mohammedanswho live scattered over the globe may beassured of this, that the German Emperorwill be their friend at all times."Much of the Turkish Empire is arid ; butin Bible times the Tigris-Euphrates Valley,2. Its value in or Mesopotamia, was very pro-time of peace ductive, and by the aid of irri-gation it could be made so again. It con-

Canal and the entire length of the Mediter-ranean, to the Atlantic Ocean. Trace thiscourse in Fig. 1. This was usually a saferand easier route than any by land. Evengoods from many parts of the Turkish Em-pire have had to be transported long dis-tances by camels in order to reach Europe.But this railway would solve these difficultiesof transportation. It would furnish a farshorter and more convenient route to andfrom the Orient, and save a great quantity


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THE GEOGRAPHY OF THE GREAT WARof time. It is no wonder that Germanymagnified such an advantage.

Preparation for war, as has been indicated,has always been an important part of the3. Its value in German plans. This proposedtime of war xosid secured a very great ad-vantage in case of war, particularly warwith either Russia or Great Britain, whowere her most dangerous opponents amongthe Great Powers.

It gave to Germany the control of Con-stantinople and, thereby, of the passagefrom the Black Sea to the Mediterranean.This is the outlet by water on which Russiahas always been most dependent, for herports in the Baltic Sea and on the Arcticare hard to reach and frozen up much ofthe year. Yet Russia could now easily beblocked at this point by Germany.The most valuable colony in all the

British Empire is India, toward which thisrailroad reaches. King George is knownas King of England and Emperor of India.There are an enormous population and untoldwealth in that vast country, and no doubtGermany has often cast longing eyes in itsdirection. If she were at war with Englandthis railroad might make it easy for her tomake a vast amount of trouble in India, andperhaps to attack it directly with an army.The realization of the Berlin-to-Bagdad

plan required that Germany dominate all4. Why this ^^ countries through which theplan is offensive road passed; in short, theyto the world ij x* n i. j. -Cwould practically have to begoverned by Germany or her allies. Inthese countries are people of many differentraces and languages who have few interestsin common and who are just as anxious togovern themselves as we are to governourselves. Our idea is that they shouldhave this privilege; that it would be mostunjust and an act of extreme tyranny foranother nation, simply because it had thepower, to subject these peoples to its ownwill. We should not expect them all to

submit, and the plan would therefore meana state of constant warfare over this vastarea.

Referring to this plan of the GermansPresident Wilson, in his Flag Day Address,June 14, 1917, said :

" Their plan was to throw a broad belt ofGerman military power and political controlacross the very center of Europe and beyondthe Mediterranean into the heart of Asiaand Austria-Hungary was to be as muchtheir tool and pawn as Serbia or Bulgariaor Turkey or the ponderous states of theEast. Austria-Hungary, indeed, was to be-come part of the central German Empire,absorbed and dominated by the same forcesand influences that had originally cementedthe German states themselves. The dreamhad its heart at Berlin. It could have hada heart nowhere else ! It rejected the ideaof solidarity of race entirely. The choiceof peoples played no part in it at all. Itcontemplated binding together racial andpolitical units which could be kept togetheronly by force Czechs, jNIagyars, Croats,Serbs, Roumanians, Turks, Armenians theproud states of Bohemia and Hungary, thestout little commonwealths of the Balkans,the indomitable Turks, the subtile peoplesof the East. These people did not wish tobe united. They ardently desired to directtheir own affairs, would be satisfied only byundisputed independence. They could bekept quiet only by the presence or the con-stant threat of armed men. They wouldlive under a common power only by sheercompulsion and await the day of revolution.But the German military statesmen hadreckoned with all that and were ready todeal with it in their own way."

It might seem that German ambitionwould be satisfied with all the precedingplans. But there is one other Pan-aim that shows still wider am- Germanismbitions among some of the leading Germans.It is known bv the name of Pan-Germanism.


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8 THE GEOGRAPHY OF THE GREAT WARThere are many Germans scattered over

the earth. Millions of our own citizens areof German birth or descent ; there is alarge nmnber in Brazil, in Chile, and else-where. It was the plan to unite all theseas far as possible. For that pm*pose manysocieties were formed in these comitries, andother societies were organized in Germany tokeep in touch with them. German-speakingpeople in foreign lands were m-ged to pre-serve the use of the German language, andmoney from Germany was freely spent inforeign lands to found German newspaperswhich should spread German culture.

themselves as Germans rather than Ameri-cans and to act accordingly. That wouldtend to make trouble for the rest of theworld; but it might strengthen Germany,and that was the object. The part " pan "in the term " Pan-Germanism " is from theGreek meaning "all," and the name signifiesthe extension of German rule wherever Ger-mans live.

All these plans made war a possibility atany time and a certainty some time in thenear future. German states- Preparationsmen foresaw this outcome from ^or warthe beginning and for the last fifty years

ARMIES, PEACE FOOTING JANUARY 1914250,000 500,,000 1,000,000RUSSIA,.FRANCE.ITALY....GREATBRITAIN-RUMANIAUNITEDSTATES-BELGIUMSERBIA..PORTUGALGERMANYAUSTRIA-HUNGARYTURKEY...BULGARIA

,290,000.763,820.305,038.250,000. 130,000.104,569. 47,603.361,747.30,000.866,026.424,258.210,000.. 59,900

I !

'^^^-"^y^^^^yyy^yyyyyyyyyyy^yyyy^^^-.y^y^yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy^ym^yjyM

'yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy^

'>}'Ay;y>9:yyyi.

'^y^!'^^y


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THE GEOGRAPHY OF THE GREAT WARChile and stored. German manufacturersof chemicals used in munitions were forbiddento export them. Railroads leading to Franceand Belgium, as well as to Russia, togetherwith their equipment, were improved, so asto be ready for transportation of troops ata moment's notice. The navy was strength-ened in corresponding fashion. Austria-Hungary and Turkey, already under theguidance of the Germans according to theMiddle-Europe and Berlin-to-Bagdad proj-ects, were making similar improvements.

that she could conquer the earth nation bynation."

4. The War in 1914While Germany was making all thesepreparations so openly, she declared that they

were for defense only, and other unprepared-nations did not make them- ness of theselves ready for the attack that ^li^sGermany was really planning. PerhapsFrance alone fully comprehended the situa-

POPULATION50.000.000 100,000,000 150,000,000

RUSSIA_.UNITEDSTATES-GREATBRITAIN-FRANCE...ITALYRUMANIA...BELGIUM..PORTUGALSERBIA. _..GERMANY,AUSTRIA-HUNGARY-TURKEY.__BULGARIA.

.174,099,600102,000,000.45,370,530.39,601,509.35,597,784...7.600,000...7,600,000...6,000,000...4,550,000

^^^^^^^^^^^^.^.j^^^fe?^^^;^;^^;:^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

. 67,8 1 2,000 '^yyyyy^y^yyyyyyyyyy^yyyyyyy^^

. 5 1,340,378 ^^^^^^^^.3 1,000,000^^^^^ ;

...5,000,000^ ;

Fig. 7.

In 1914 the Germans felt that their prepa-ration was complete.

In an address delivered in Chicago, Sep-tember 14, 1917, Elihu Root, former UnitedStates Senator from New York, summed upthe case as follows :

" It now appears beyond the possibilityof doubt that this war was made by Ger-many, pursuing a long and settled purpose.For many years she had been preparing todo exactly what she has done, with a thorough-ness, a perfection of plans, and a vastness ofprovision in men, munitions, and suppliesnever before equaled or approached in humanhistory. She brought the war on when shechose, because she chose, in the belief

tion. Yet her population (Fig. 7) andresources were much inferior to those ofGermany. Likewise Russia's army, thoughlarge (Fig. 6), was inferior to Germany'sarmy in training, equipment, and effective-ness. All of the nations now allied hopedstill that war might be avoided. Conse-quently they did not prepare for war ascompletely as Germany did.Among the Great Powers of Europe thatentered the war immediately, England had.by far the smallest army and it was scat-tered widely over the earth. She had smallsupplies of munitions and few factories formaking them. Her people had not believedthat Germany would provoke a war. But


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10 THE GEOGRAPHY OF THE GREAT WARshe did have the advantage of a great navy.In Fig. 8 compare the warship tonnage ofthe several powers. England's navy hasbeen her salvation.The event that" immediately led to the

war occurred in Austria near the SerbianHow the border. On June 28, 1914, thewar began heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, Archduke Francis Ferdinand,and his wife, were assassinated by Serbian

" Across the path of this railway to Bagdadlay Serbia an independent country whosesovereign alone among those of southwesternEurope had no marriage connection withBerlin, a Serbia that looked toward Russia.That is why Europe was nearly driven intowar in 1913 ; that is why Germany stoodso determinedly behind Austria's demandsin 1914 and forced war. She must haveher ' corridor ' to the southeast ; she must

WARSHIP TONNAGE JANUARY 1914500,000 1,000,000 1,500,000 2,000,000

GREATBRITAIN-UNITEDSTATESFRANCE.RUSSIA..ITALY....JAPAN..GERMANY..AUSTRIA-HUNGARY-TURKEY....

2,200,000 ^^^^^^^fii


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Dl

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i i

11


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12 THE GEOGRAPHY OF THE GREAT WARthem. If one followed their courses, onecould find a comparatively easy road. Buttheir valleys are narrow, with steep sides insome places, and these can be easily defendedagainst a powerful enemy.There is only one route that is compara-tively level land all the way, and that route

leads through Belgium and then down south-west near the coast toward Paris. This isthe route that the Teutons chose. It is

only to save time, but also to enrich them-selves greatly while taking from their enemiesthe means of carrying on the war. For thesereasons their choice must have seemed tothem a masterly one.There were most vital reasons, however,against this selection. Germany ^ Reasonshad pledged herself by solemn against entering

agreement to respect the neu- ^trality of Belgium, and if there was any sense

Fig. 10. French troops on the way to the front. Underwood and Underwoodlonger than any other, being 250 miles, butit is the easiest way on account of the levelground over which it passes.There is another reason that no doubt

influenced this choice. Belgium is a re-markably fertile country; also, southernBelgium and northern France are, together,one of the richest mining and manufacturingregions in the world. France obtains fromthis section nine-tenths of her iron ore, aswell as half of all her coal. Much morethan one-half of all her iron and steel fac-tories are located here. In choosing thisroute, therefore, the Teutons could hope not

of honor in her she would keep this pledge.Also England had bound herself to protectthe neutrality of Belgium; so it was likelythat she would declare war against the Teu-tons if they crossed the Belgian frontier.But honor counted little with the Germanswhen such advantages were involved, andEngland's army was so small that the warmight be finished before it could be made tocount. So Belgium had to suffer.

This invasion of Belgimn by Germany,contrary to her own pledge, was an act oftremendous significance for all the nationsof the earth, particularly for the small ones


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THE GEOGRAPHY OF THE GREAT WAR 13

Fig. 11. The approaches to Paris from the east and northeast.It was really a declaration that the smallnation must expect to suffer in the future.3. Importance ^ight, not Right, was to rule;of Germany's and any people that lacked^^^ the physical force to protectitself against attack might expect to besubdued and governed by stronger nations.Never was a more direct blow struck againstliberty.The Germans had planned to march a

certain distance each day, and allowed them-selves six days to get past Belgium. Theydid not expect the Belgians to have the cour-age to try to stop them.At the start, though, there was a delay.When the army appeared at the frontier of

the little country, the German commander

informed its people that it was necessaryfor his army to cross, but that the Belgianswould not be injured if they did not resist,and that they would be paid in gold for anydamage that might be done.To his astonishment they refused. This

was then- reply : " The Belgian government,if they were to accept the proposals submittedto them, would sacrihce the honor of thenation and betray their duty toward Europe.''King Albert did not hesitate. He threw hissmall army across the German path, eventhough it meant destruction for both armyand people, and he delayed then- advanceten full days. The Germans were furiousand inflicted on Belgium awful ptmishment.The ten days, however, saved France. It


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14 THE GEOGRAPHY OF THE GREAT WARgave the French time to assemble theirarmies and the English time to send a small4. Importance ^o^ce to theb aid. Also, thisof Belgium's act of the Belgians aroused theresistance admiration of the world; itwas as noble as the conduct of the Ger-mans was ignoble, and it drew to them

Fig.British Official Photograph

12. British troops entrenched on the western front.fair-minded people every-awful years that have

support offor the

The Germans soon left Belgium behindcame within sight of Paris. Figure 11

the line that they held when nearestthe city. Estimate the distance. The

government had left the cajntal, onof the imminent danger, and moved

Bordeaux. It looked as though the cityhave to fall.

. . But the furious battle of the Marnethe invaders back, and the line that

they finally had to take at the end of theyear's fighting is also shown in Fig. 11.This was one of the great bat- 5. The resultties of history. For the time of the campaignbeing, at least, it decided that France shouldremain French and not become Prussian.Germany did not succeed in crushing

France before Russia couldact. On the The war incontrary, Rus- the eastsia assembled a great armyand invaded East Prussia.In order to meet this at-tack Germany was compelledto withdraw some of herforces from France. Thishelped to check the Germanson the Marne. Russia alsoinvaded Austria, and thusshe kept the Teutons ex-ceedingly busy on the easternfront. Figure 13 shows thelines held in the east towardthe end of 1914.The superiority of^ the

British navy (Fig. 8) was im-mediately made The war uponto count. By the seasthe end of the year theGerman fleets, war and mer-chant, were driven from theseas. When it is recalledthat three fourths of the

earth's surface is water, the importance ofthis advantage begins to be apparent. Allthis area was at the disposal of the Britishfor transporting supplies, as well as troopsfrom her colonies ; at the same time it wasclosed to Germany.

The War in 1915had proved en-he campaign of 1914

couraging to the Allies on the Discourage-whole; but there were many mentstothereasons for discouragement ^^^^during the year 1915.


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THE GEOGRAPHY OF THE GREAT WAR 15Several attempts were made to drive

the Germans from their position in the1. On the west, but without much suc-western front gess. The line of battle re-mained throughout the year much the sameas shown in Fig. 11.In the east the Russians were badly de-

feated. Figure 132. On the showseastern front h O Wfar into Germanand Austrian ter-ritory they hadadvanced in 1914.But this year theywere driven out ofthis conquered ter-ritory and lost ex-tensive areas oftheir own. k\\Poland was takenfrom them, includ-ing the great citiesof Warsaw andLodz, and they lostover 2,000,000 menin captured, killed,and wounded.Figure 15 marksthe line of battlein the closing daysof the year.Turkey (p. 40)had joined theCentral Powers in1914, but theBalkan States, lying3. Advance of between Turkey and Austria,had not, with the exception of

Serbia, declared in favor ofeither side. Under those conditions, andwith Serbia one of the Allies, both the Middle-Europe project and that for the Berlin-to-Bagdad railway were blocked.

In order to check them still further, theAllies planned an expedition against the

EASTERN BATTLE FROlfT1914

Fig. 13

the Berlin-toBagdad plan.

Dardanelles, with the object of gettingpossession of this outlet from the BlackSea and capturing Constantinople. In spiteof great efforts it resulted only in failureand enormous losses of men.

It had other bad effects. Bulgaria hadhesitated to ally herself with either party;

but now she felt itsafe to join theTeutons. Then theA ustro- Germansand Bulgarians to-gether overranSerbia and crushedthat nation. Theseevents brought theMiddle-Europeplan to muchnearer realization,and paved the wayfor further devel-opment of the greatBagdad railway.The Central Pow-ers had good reasonto feel encouraged.Even in war,horrible as it is,there are manyrules Gennanto be barbaritiesfollowed to whichall the leadinggovernments haveagreed. Theserules were sup-posed to have force

of law for the various nations and to limitits evils in important ways.While Germany had fully agreed to these

laws she has shown no more respect forthem than she showed for her agreementin regard to Belgiimi. Here are only a fewof the things she has done in violation ofinternational law : she has repeatedlymassacred men, women, and children, ap-


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16 THE GEOGRAPHY OF THE GREAT WARparently with the mam object of makingherself feared; she has robbed conqueredterritory of food, raw materials for manu-factures, tools, machinery, and anything

Ai i-^ 4U

Fig. 14.British Official PTiotograpH

One of the giant dirigibles guarding the British coast.

else she could lay her hands on, that, after re-moval to her own land, might be of valueto her own people ; what she could not hopeto use she has wantonly destroyed, simplyin order to leave citizens in conqueredterritory as destitute as possible. For ex-ample, to that end she has even killed or-chard after orchard of fruit trees and has setfire to houses and farm implements. Tensof thousands of civilians in Belgium, Poland,and elsewhere have been transported toTeuton lands to work as slaves ; men, women,and children have been placed in front of thefiring line in order to protect the Teutonsoldiers ; poison gas and liquid fire have beenintroduced. Probably every internationallaw to which Germany had agreed has beenbroken by her repeatedly. It is well for usto know such facts in order that we mayunderstand the kind of enemy we are fighting.

In 1915 there occurred some events thatbrought much encouragement. One was theentrance of Italy on the side ofthe Allies. In Figs. 6, 7, and 8 ^^^^^^^ ^^^

. '^ ' encourage-notice her popula- ment amongtion as compared the Allieswith that of other i. Entry ofcountries ; also the ^^l?J^ ^^^^ ^size of her armyand her warship tonnage. Thefact that she produces very littlecoal and iron greatly reducesher strength; but in spite ofthat- fact she has brought veryvaluable help.As soon as she lost all controlof the seas, Germany had to

leave her colonies ^^ ^oss ofto their fate. One colonies byof the first to be '*ytaken was Kiau-Chau (Fig. 1), byJapan. Germany had highlyvalued this colony . Other islandsin the Pacific were soon lost. Bythe end of 1915 all the four largeGerman colonies in Africa hadbeen invaded and most of their territory con-

quered. (Fig. 1.) Germany has no colonies now.When England declared war, she naturallyexpected the support of all her English colo-nies. This support was of very ^ Loyalty ofgreat importance, for thesecolonies constitute a large partof the British Empire. The "MotherCountry," called the " United Kingdom ofGreat Britain and Ireland," includes Eng-land, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland. It hasan area all together of only about 120,000square miles, which is less than one half thatof Texas; its population is more than45,000,000, which is over ten times that ofTexas. Compared with the United Statesthe United Kingdom is a small country, bothin size and population (Fig. 7) . How does itcompare with Germany?When the colonies are added, however, the

British colo-nies


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THE GEOGRAPHY OF THE GREAT WAR 17Empire is enormous. On Fig. 1 note howmany parts of the earth belong to the BritishEmpire. Its possessions are found in everycontinent and border every ocean. In North(1) Extent of America they are Canada andthe colonies Newfoundland. Name themost important parts of Asia that are Britishpossessions; of Africa. What otherimportant regions are British? Notethe population of India ; of Canada ; ofAustralia (main text, pp. 411, 424, 425).All these possessions together increasethe area under English control morethan 12,000,000 square miles, and thepopulation 450,000,000. It is evidentthat it made a very great difference tothe British whether these dependenciessupported them strongly in the conductof the war or whether they refusedsupport.Germany did not believe that Eng-

land's colonies would respond vigor-ously to the call from the

expectation in Mother Country ; and sheregard to their J^^^J strong rCaSOUS for thisloyalty i t j?

belier.Undoubtedly the Germans arguedthat if these possessions belonged toGermany, many of them would breakaway from German control at the firstopportunity. Schleswig-Holstein hasbeen a problem to the German govern-ment ever since its annexation; andAlsace-Lorraine has caused far moretrouble. There has probably neverbeen a time since 1870 when the greatmajority of the inhabitants of Alsace-Lorraine would not have returned to Frenchcontrol, if they had had a chance to vote onthe question. Germany has shown a re-markable tendency to arouse the hatred ofthe foreign peoples whom she has governed,and of course she would not admit thatEngland possessed any more skill than sheherself had shown in governing colonies.The long distance of many of the dependen-

cies from England made it especially difficultfor them to keep in close touch with theMother Country. Difference in languageand customs in many cases would cause herinfluence to be felt still less. In such cir-cumstances it seemed hardly probable thata war that she declared would lead them

Fig. 15.

to share fully with her in hardship anddanger.

Aside from such reasons for disloyalty, Ger-many proposed to supply one herself. Sheset to work, even before the war, to stir updiscontent among many of the colonies.Furnished with large sums of money, menwere sent who gave their best efforts towardstirring up in the colonies ill feeling toward


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18 THE GEOGRAPHY OF THE GREAT WARthe English and aiding\ny movements thatmight lead to disloyalty and rebellion. Thisseems an easy task, too, when one remembersthat in any country there are many personswho grumble against the government. Thefact that not many years ago England hadbeen at war with some of her colonists,especially those in South Africa, gave hope ofgreat success in this attempt. Germans havebeen employed to stir up trouble in this man-ner in probably every one of the British colo-nies of importance. The ambition was notmerely to prevent aid to the British but tocompel the British to consume much of theirstrength in quelling rebellion among their colo-nies. Indeed, by that means they hoped thatEngland would be so fully occupied that shewould have little energy left for fighting theGermans.To the astonishment of the Germans their

plan did not work. The British Empire didnot fall apart. Of the scores and

(3) Their re- . .sponse to the scores of colonies, big and little,call of the j^gt ouc has declared its inde-Mother Country , r^ .^pendence. On the contrary,their loyalty has astonished the world. Notonly have they remained friendly ; they havejoined actively in the prosecution of the war,furnishing men, money, and supplies to thefullest extent possible. The war againstTurkey has been very greatly aided by sol-diers from India. Canada has sent to thebattle fields about a half million men anundertaking greater than it would be for usto send six millions. Australia and New Zea-land have done correspondingly well. Eventhe small islands have been eager to do theirbit. Early in 1916 Jamaica, with a popula-tion of less than one million, sent her secondship load, consisting of about eleven hundredmen. ^No'one had known before how firmly the

many parts of the British Empire were puttogether. No one had known whether, ata great crisis, the Empire would crumble,each division of people to form an independ-

ent nation ; or whether its parts would unitemore closely than ever to form one morepowerful nation. The response of the colo-nies has answered this question.No doubt one reason for this result was the

sense of danger that the dependencies feltwhen Germany declared that (4) Reasons forMight rather than Right should *^^' ^"^""^rule the world. Independent small nationsin that case had little chance ; they must allythemselves with others in order to be pro-tected. This danger, then, tended to unitethem and to draw them to the more powerfulMother Country.Yet they would hardly have responded so

willingly to the call, had they not in past yearsbeen treated with respect by the UnitedKingdom ; had they not been given freedomto a large extent ; and had they not been wellprotected as British subjects when protectionwas needed. The occasion was a test of thekind of government Britain had establishedover her colonies ; and to the disgust ofGermany she stood the test astonishinglywell.

The greatness of the cause must have beena third reason for this response. The war atfirst may have seemed remote to some of thecolonies, but they soon saw that Germanywas threatening the existence of democracythroughout the world. The only hope thatmen will ever enjoy the right to govern them-selves in peace lies in the destruction of mili-tarism. The war, therefore, concerned themdirectly and they must share iu the struggle.The exhibition of loyalty by the British

colonies was one of the especially encouragingfacts in the midst of the many discourage-ments of the year 1915.

6. The War in 1916In the w^est two great battles were fought

:

Verdun and the Sorame, each lasting severalmonths and resulting in defeat to the Ger-mans with enormous losses of men. The


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THE GEOGRAPHY OF THE GREAT WAR 19line, however, as drawn in Fig. 11, wasnot greatly changed. The Russians andEvents on the Italians were also successful ineast and west opposing the Austrians. Thefronts balance of the fighting was,therefore, favorable to the Allies.

lloumania, how-ever, whoFurther prog-ress of theMiddle-Europe andBagdad Rail-way plans

ter defend. Compare the line in Fig. 18with that in Fig. 11. In this region theAllies in heavy battles won father On the west-victories that were of much "n frontimportance. Yet no decisive results werereached on this front during the year.

had en-t e r e dthe waron theside ofthe Al-

lies, was conquered.Her rich wheat fieldsand oil wells weretaken. She madethe third BalkanState that had beenadded to Teutonterritory since thewar began. Thisaddition brought theMiddle-Europe planalmost to full reali-zation. Greece aloneremained neutral.The war was bring-ing its reward.Events in Turkey

also advanced the railway project. A con-siderable British force from India hadmarched up the Tigris River toward Bagdad(Fig. 5), winning some victories on the way.But they were surrounded by the Turks andfinally compelled to surrender. The forcethat was lost consisted of 13,000 men. Themain part of the railroad that remained tobe built was in this region, and this victorybrought the possibility of its completionmuch nearer.

7. The War in 1917The Germans in France, early in the year,

retreated a considerable distance along a fifty-mile front to positions that they could bet-

FiG. 16. British armored British Offlcial Photograph'tank" passing through a burning village on the way to thefront in France.

Russia sprang a surprise on the world in1917, a surprise whose results for good andevil are thus far vast but lui- On the Rus-certain. First came the revolu- sian fronttion early in the year, the Czar abdicat-ing in INIarch and the government beingtaken over by a moderately liberal party.Finally a very radical party, called the Bol-sheviki, obtained control. They ignored allobligation to the Allies, cximpletely under-mined army discipline, and made a separatepeace with Germany. Although up to1917 Russia had fought hard and sufferedfearfully on the side of the Allies, she nowwithdrew from the war. From this yearon, therefore, the line of battle in this part


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20 THE GEOGRAPHY OF THE GREAT WAR

Fig. 17.

of the east, as indicated in Fig. 15, entirelydisappeared. This withdrawal was a mostsevere blow to the Allies, for the Germansbegan not only to overrun Russian territoryat will, but also to transport their troops thatwere not needed in this region to other battlelines.

This act of Russia had a fearful effect inOn the Italian northern Italy. On that linefrot enormous Austrian forces, manyof them brought from Russia, were as-

sembled and hurled against Italy. Thatcountry suffered terrible losses and thework she had accomplished during the pre-ceding two years was undone.During 1917 the Allies more than re-

trieved their recent losses in Checks tothe Tigris valley. Early in the the Middle-Bi ] J. J u Europe andagdad was captured by ^j^^ Bagdadthe British and most of Pales- Railwaytine also was taken from the projectsTurks. Jerusalem was surrendered to the


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THE GEOGRAPHY OF THE GREAT WAR 21British early in December of this year.It began to look now as though the Teutonswould never extend their railroad to Bagdadand the Persian Gulf, and without the ad-dition of this section the whole scheme lostits value.At the same time a blow was struck againstthe Middle-Europe plan. The one remainingneutral power among theBalkan States wasGreece. Its ruler, KingConstantine, was vio-lently pro-German, whilea majority of the Greeksfavored the Allies. Dur-ing this year Constantinewas deposed and Greecejoined the Allies (p. 40).

This was surely a deepdisappointment to theTeutons. The locationof Greece as an Alliedpower, so close to theSerbians, who were stillhostile to the Teutonseven though conquered,and so near to the rail-way, might cause strongopposition to both proj-ects at any time.This was the year in

which the submarinereached its greatest de-

structiveness

The civilized world gasped at such frightful-ness; but it was believed by the Germansto be a sure means of winning the war,and that was what they sought. Interna-tional law did not count with them.The German people were assured by theirleaders that such use of the submarine would

bring the English to their knees in a few

Fig! 18. A convoy of ships carrying Undericood and Underwoodfood and supplies to the Allies.On the seas Up to the firstof this year it had been activeand, together with mines, had destroyednearly 4,000,000 tons of merchant shipping.This was only a small part of the entireBritish merchant marine.But up to this time a great many vessels

had been spared from attack. Now on Feb-ruary 1,1917, the plan of unlimited crueltywasadopted ; the use of the submarine was freedfrom restrictions and any vesselswere attackedand sunk without warning, no matter whatnation they represented or who was on them.

months. The latter had to receive much oftheir food, ammunition, and other suppliesfrom abroad, and Germany thought thatthe submarine would cut off all such aid.With England out of the war. it wouldsoon end.From January to June they sank 3,600.000

tons of shipping. It was a critical period forthe Allies. But means for protection againstthe submarine were developed and its de-structiveness began to decline. Englandwas not starved out and the crisis is past.The policy of frightfulness, however, had


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22


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THE GEOGRAPHY OF THE GREAT WAR 23unfavorable consequences for the Germans,which they, no doubt, appreciate now farmore than they did then.

8. Additions to the Allied NationsDuring 1917 eight new countries, repre-

senting all parts of the earth, enteredNew enemies the war against Germany,to the Teutons while not a single new powerjoined^the Teutons. On page 40 there is a

It meant that it took all this time forthese nations to grasp the situation ; tocomprehend the objects of the Teutons; andto realize the methods they were adoptingin pursuit of these objects.They had been astounded at the absence

of all sense of honor on the part of Germanywhen she invaded Belgium and declaredher contract to respect its neutrality onlya " scrap of paper." They had been horrifiedat her brutality toward the Belgians and

Fig. 20. British camp in western France where officers are trained in modern warfare.list of these powers with the dates on whichwar was declared. Note these dates. (InFig. 19 note their names and locations.How many continents do they represent ?)

Originally it was generally expected thatthe war would last only a few months.Their reasons Now after two and one halffor entering years of awful fighting, thesethe war onlookers determined to assistin blocking the Teutons, no matter howfearful the sacrifices might be. Why didthey take such risk, and all on one side?What did it mean?

other conquered peoples. They had beenshocked at her selfishness and greed inrobbing conquered territory. TMien theLimtania was sunk, destroying 119S lives,114 of them American, they saw that shewas inconceivably cruel. When, therefore,her plots and conspiracies began to be un-covered in all parts of the world, they realizedthat she was wholly unworthy of trust.The significance of Pan-Germanism hadnow been made clear; and it menaced theliberties of the world. It was, therefore, theduty of all nations to combine to put it down.


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24 THE GEOGRAPHY OF THE GREAT WAR9. The United States in the War

The declaration of war by the United Statesmeant a great addition to the forces of thef\ , ,o.,,^o AlUes. Our population is overOur resources ^ \compared with 100,000,000, while that of Ger-thoseofGer- many is less than 70,000,000.many j^^ ^^^^ ^^ ^^^ ^^^ superior toGermany, since we have over 3,000,000 squaremiles, while she has only 210,000, which is

Fig. 21.Underwood and Uiidiru

Distributing equipment at the OflScers' Training Camp, Plattsburg, N. Y.

much less than that of Texas alone. In rawmaterials, manufactures, and wealth our su-periority over Germany is also striking. Weproduce nearly twice as much coal and iron asGermany, we manufacture more than twiceas many goods and our total wealth is aboutthree times hers.

In spite of these facts Germany showed con-Why Ger- tempt for us as a possible en-many did not emy. Why ?fear us First of all, because as apeople we are remarkably devoted to

peace. At the time we declared war ourstanding army was composed of only about100,000 men (see Fig. 6), a very smallnumber when compared with the 866,000 inthe German standing army. Beyond thisnumber, we had very few trained soldiers,while every able-bodied man in Germany hadreceived extensive training. On the otherhand, peace societies were numerous and ac-tive throughout the land, urging the avoid-

ance of all war,and some influ-ential persons hadreached the pointwhere they op-posed allowingchildren even toplay with tin sol-diers because itdirected theirthoughts toomuch to fighting.As a nation weknew that wewould provoke nowar; and up tothat time we wereconvinced that noone was likely toattack us. Inshort, we cher-ished the hopeand expectationthat all war would

be avoided by us in the future.This condition made us harmless in theeyes of the Germans. Also, they saw thateven if we were awakened from our dreamsabout peace, it would be a long time beforewe could be ready to fight. We lacked notonly soldiers, but ofiicers as well; also anadequate supply of munitions ; indeed, wewere without the thousand and one thingsthat Germany had been carefully provid-ing during the last fifty years. No oneunderstood better than she what a mighty


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THE GEOGRAPHY OF THE GREAT WAR 25task it would befor us to getready to fight.Even if weever finally pre-pared ourselves,the field for fight-ing was at least3000 miles away,and we lackedthe ships fortransporting ourmen and theirsupplies. Morethan that, if bysome miraclethese were pro-vided, the subma-rine would pre-vent their arriving on the other side. When allthese points are considered, certainly the Ger-mans had much reason for feeling safe from us.

Utidertcood and UndertroodFig. 23. One view of the steel works at Ensley, just outside of Birmingham,Alabaana, where now munitions of war are made.

Fig. 22. Building "Liberty Ships" on Puget Sound.Geography constantly deals 'v\-ith the seven

great occupations of men; namely, agricul-ture, fishing, lumbermg, mining, qut newmanufac- occupation

t u r i n 2 ^^^ ^^^ extenttransportation, andtrade. Our declarationof war on April 6, 1917,added another, that ofcarrying on war. Thishas gradually becomethe greatest of the eight,and one that to a largedegree controls all theothers. That is a veryremarkable fact, when itis remembered that onlya few years ago we com-monly believed that wecould avoid war. Itshows how quickly andcompletely a great na-tion can change. ' -The great extent of

this occupation is sug-gested by a very fewfacts. In the latter part


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Fig. 24. Military mapof the summer of 1918 we had over 3,000,000men in France or in training at home. It hasbeen often stated that it takes seven or eight

workers at home to keep one soldier in the-field so many kinds of work are necessarysuch, for example, as farming, mining, manu-


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THE GEOGRAPHY OF THE GREAT WAR 27

of the United States.

facture of clothing, munitions, ships, etc., tomeet all military needs. If that statement iscorrect, it would mean that these 3,000,000

are keeping not less than 20,000,000 othersfully employed. The center for this greatbusiness is our capital, Washington, and prob-


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28 THE GEOGRAPHY OF THE GREAT WARably many more than 100,000 clerks and othergovernment employees have been called theresince the war began. The city has accord-ingly increased tremendously in population.

possible upon different communities. It wasa question whether such a plan would beacceptable to the people, and during the de-bate in Congress signs were not lacking that

I Underwood and UnderwoodFig. 25. Training soldiers at Camp Upton, Yaphank, Long Island, N. Y.

Other government work connected with thewar is carried on in hundreds of placesthroughout the country.The conduct of war calls for undertakings

of many kinds, each of which may be a greatbusiness in itself. One of thesewas the preparation of anarmy. Our first step was to call

soldiers, and within a few

Our preparation of anarmyfor volunteermonths these troops, together with those thatwe already had, made an army of a millionmen. Many of these were already welltrained for war.Meanwhile it was clear, however, that sev-

eral millions would be needed if we took thepart in the war that belonged to us ; also thatit would not do to wait for voluntary enlist-ments. The President proposed to raise thenecessary men by " selective draft " or con-scription. By that means the burden of thefighting would be distributed as equally as

German influence was at work to defeat theplan.Yet the bill became a law, and all men

between the ages of twenty-one and thirty-one were required to enroll for service on agiven date. Ten million young men re-sponded. Since all these were not needed atonce, it was decided to determine by lot theorder in which the men should be called.The men were also divided into classes ac-cording to conditions that deserved con-sideration in accepting or exempting them.Thus a vast army has been drafted.The training of so many soldiers was a

great problem. Nearly all of them werewithout military experience, having comedirectly from farm, factory, and oflBce. Theywere assigned to camps or cantonments inmany parts of the country, as shown inFig. 24.Each cantonment is reallv a new city de-


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THE GEOGRAPHY OF THE GREAT WAR 29signed to be the tem-porary home ofabout 40,000 men intraining. It isequipped with mostof the conveniencesof any city, having,for example, a watersystem, sewage sys-tem, electric lights,telephone, fire de-partment, and evenpaved streets. Asshown on the map,sixteen of these can-tonments were established during the sum-mer of 1917 for the drafted men. ]\Ianyother cantonments were built for the menwho belonged to the National Guard, whichhad been taken into the service before theconscription act was passed. Thousandsupon thousands of engineers, carpenters,plumbers, and other workers, besides vastquantities of lumber and other materials.

>.

Vndericood and UnderwoodFig. 26. View of an army cantonment on the historic field of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

were necessary for all this construction in soshort a time.Our navy was in far better condition for a

great war than our army. In I-'ig. 8 notehow it ranked among the navies Developmentof the Great Powers. of our navyAt the time of our entrance into the war

the Allied navies of Great Britain, France,Italy, and Japan were masters on the ocean.

German warships, mer-chant vessels, and raidershad been driven from it.But the German sub-marine, which had donemuch damage since thebeginning of the war,had been declared bythe German governmenton January 31, 1917, tobe free from all restric-tions, and it was pro\Tngfearfully destructive toAllied vessels. At thattime the Germans gen-erally relied upon it tobring victory.

It was otir task, there-fore, to construct morewar vessels, as many aswe possibly could; andto increase verv greatlvig. 27. A United States Warship using a smoke screen in the "danger zone."


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THE GEOGRAPHY OF THE GREAT WAR

Underwood and UnderwoodFig. 28. A sham battle at Pelham Bay Naval Training camp, Pelham Bay, N. Y.

oftrans-and a

these piu-poses;and, since manyships were beingsunk e^'ely weekby submarines,a still greaternumber wouldhave to be builtin order to meetthis loss.Such vessels

as these, usedfor transporta-tion of goods intime of peace,are called " mer-chant marine."At the time warwas declared by

us our merchant marine on the ocean wassmall. While we had had a great foreigntrade, nine tenths of our imports and ex-ports had been carried in ships owned byforeign countries. That was not all. Welacked the equipment, such as the shipyards,machinery, and trained workmen, necessaryfor building a great number of ships. Also,

number of naval officers and men. Thislike that of preparing a vast army, has

en accomplished with remarkable success.The purpose of the navy is to destroy the

submarines and to afford protectionin other ways. In addition towar vessels it was seen that wewould need a vast number ofother shipsptor trans-

of all sorts ofto Europe. Sev-million soldiers

would need to be takenfood for themhave to be sup-

plied by us, too; alsoclothing, ammunition,horses, engines, and hun-dreds of other articles.In addition great quan-tities of food would needto be sent to our Allies,since they could notmeet all their own wants.Thousands of vesselswould be required for Fig. 29. Launching a steel" Liberty Ship," shipbuilding yards, Mobile, Alabama.


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THE GEOGRAPHY OF THE GREAT WAR 31ships like great buildings can be built onlyvery slowly.There were many difficulties to be over-

come here; and our progress at first wasvery slow. We could not hope to accomplishmuch during 1917; it took time to get thework started. In the spring of 1918, how-ever, results began to appear; dozens ofvessels per month began to be launched, andthen as many per week. In one day, July 4,almost one hundred were launched. Thenumber continues to increase at an astonish-

numbers. Millions of shoes, blankets, uni-forms, and hats have had to be made. Tomeet all such requirements hundreds of fac-tories have abandoned their regular workand have undertaken some of these things.Thus one sees how great a business war ma\-be ; it can demand a large share of the effortsof the nation.High officials in Germany had promised

their people that even if the Transporta-United States raised a great tion of troopsarmy and secured vessels for its transporta-

FiG. 30. A giant American built airplane, used for bombing purposes.ing rate, and now the new vessels built by ourAllies and ourselves each month far exceedthose destroyed. By our astonishing energythe point of safety has been reached in ship-building.Upon the declaration of war our govern-

ment at once began preparations for the ex-M uf t tensive manufacture of muni-of munitions tions and other articles neces-and equip- sary in war. Rifles, machine"^^^ guns, cannon, and powder had tobe provided in enormous quantities. For thispurpose manufacturing centers have beendeveloped that are cities in themselves, givenup wholly to this one kind of work. Air-planes, motor-trucks, armored cars, and trans-port wagons have had to be produced in vast

tion, it would never be allowed to reachFrance. There was much doubt among us,too, about the success we should attain intransporting large numbers of men. The firsttroops were sent over in May, 1917. Thenumber that followed from month to monthwas watched by us and oiu- Allies - andprobably by the Germans also '^"ith greatanxiety. There were transported in

May, 1917 1,71S January, 191S 46,776June 12,261 Februar\ 48,027July 12,9SS March S3.S11August 1S,323 April 117,212September 32,523 Mav 244,345October 3S,259 June 276,372November 23,016 July over 300,000December 4S,S40 August about 250,000


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32 THE GEOGRAPHY OF THE GREAT WARMany of the Germans have found it diffi-

cult to believe these figures ; and even to usthey are wonderful. Transportation of peopleon any such scale upon the ocean has neverbefore been accomplished.

jit should be remembered, too, that dangerin the form of submarines lurked about the

) Kadel and, HerbertFig. 31. American troops disembarking at a port in France.

transporting vessels at every moment. Yetpractically not a man has been lost on theway to Europe. By the aid of our alliednavies and our own the vessels have beenprotected on all sides. The courage and en-durance of the men in these navies will beadmired in all time to come.

In order to provide space on shipboard forso many soldiers, especially in the recentmonths, the partitions of some of the vesselswere removed and all possible space suitedfor bunks was utilized. The soldiers sleptin shifts, each of three shifts occupying the

bunks eight hours. It is plain that the bedswere kept very busy.

Upon declaration of war German vesselsm American ports were seized and havebeen used in transport service. The larg-est transport of all is the Leviathan, formerlycalled the Vaterland, which sailed betweenHamburg and New

York.Provision of food

for our Allies, par-ticularly the Englishand French, isanother undertakingthat has called formuch planning and1 a D O r Q^y provisionon our of food forpart, our AlliesThe British are amanufacturing na-tion, relying uponimports from othercountries for muchof their food. Be-fore the war thewant of such importsfor even a few weekswould have causedmuch suffering.

Since the war be-gan, large areas thatwere formerly

wooded and were parts of large estates andparks have been brought under cultivation.With this improvement it is said that theBritish can supply enough food to last themat least eight months in the year. To supplythe other third from abroad, however, is nosmall task.

Before the war France was less dependenton imports for food, although she required agood deal. The war, however, has devas-tated a part of the land ; and, partly becauseso many of the men were engaged in fightingand partly because the soil has lacked fertili-


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THE GEOGRAPHY OF THE GREAT-WAR 33zation, her crops have been unusually small.In November, 1917, the United States FoodAdministration stated that the 1917 wheatcrop of France, as compared with that of 1913,was short over one half or 176,000,000bushels ; that the potato crop was shortabout one third or 165,000,000 bushels ; thatthe sugar-beet crop was short over twothirds or 148,000,000 bushels; that the num-ber of cattle had decreased about one sixth or2,435,000 head;that the numberof sheep had de-creased over onethird or 5,535,-000 head; andthat the numberof hogs had de-creased twofifths or 2,825,-000 head. Boththe British andthe French hadto receive greatquantities offood from abroador give up fight-ing.[Heretofore

these importscame largely from Canada, Australia, Argen-tina, and other agricultural countries. Butships were lacking for transportation ofwheat all the way from Australia, and forseveral reasons many of these other countrieshave not been able to supply as much asusual. Thus it was that the United Stateswas left to furnish it.Our country as well as England ranks high in

manufacturing ; in fact the United States is thegreatest manufacturing nation. Yet we pro-duce most of our food andhave always exportedsome. Now it became necessary for us to ex-port far more. Wheat and meat were the thingsmost needed ; and under Mr. Hoover's lead weset to work to secure enough to save our Allies.

This need furnished an opportunity forevery one to be patriotic by doing his bit,particularly by helping to produce more ofvarious kinds of food and to consume less ofthose that were needed abroad.The success of our efforts is as gratifyingin this case as in the others already men-

tioned. Our average monthly export of beefbefore the war was 1,066,000 pounds; andof pork 41,531,000 pounds. In June, 1918, we

i^-^.3i^/-C,??t:rV^-T*^-f^c '

Fig. 32. Women at Washington, D.C., learning to run a tractor in order to do farm work.sent abroad 92,173,000 pounds of beef and169,331,000 pounds of pork. Our export ofwheat has likewise been tremendously in-creased. These are facts that have con-vinced our Allies and the Germans, too that we can be depended upon.

Care of the wounded is another phase ofwar that has called for much planning and agreat number of workers. In Care of theancient wars little provision was woundedmade for those who were injured. They diedfrom lack of care if their wounds were serious.Now, unless a wound is very serious, the manis expected to recover and to return to theranks. It is a matter of economy as well ashumanity to attend to him.


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34 THE GEOGRAPHY OF THE GREAT WARThe soldier is not only cared for when he

is wounded, but is kept in health if pos-sible. It is the business of doctors to beon the lookout for contagious diseases, toinspect drinking water, to watch over food, Provision forthe comfort

and entertain-ment of sol-diers

() UndeTwood and UnderwoodFig. 33. Filing pledges to save food at the office of the Food Conservation Com-

mission, New York.

and to see that camps are in a sanitary con-dition.The Red Cross Society is organized under

supervision of the government to do much ofthis work. It has many doctors and trainedniu-ses. Under them are assistants who bringthe wounded to hospitals for treatment.They help the men with their mail and aidthem in communicating with parents andfriends. In the regions ruined by war theSociety helps to look after homeless people.It finds temporary shelter for widows and

orphans and feeds refugees until they cancare for themselves.Wars are now fought by citizen soldiers.

If possible, they should comeback home at the end of the

war betterthan whenthey left.Their leisure time, there-fore, should be properlyspent, and they shouldhave such comforts andentertainments as willkeep them healthyminded and happy. Agreat force of workers isemployed to assist thesoldier in these respects.They lead in many kindsof games, they organizeschools, exhibit motionpictures, furnish musicand reading matter, andestablish stores whereneeded articles can bebought at reasonableprices. The fightingpower of men is muchaffected by such care, aswell as their health andmorals. Such organi-zations as the YoungMen's Christian Associ-ation, the Knights of

Columbus, the Salvation Army, and Jewishsocieties have assumed responsibility for thiswork.

10. The War in 1918In the west the Germans aimed at the

Channel ports, especially Calais, and at Paris.Their plan was to break through On the west-the line of defense at once, or by em frontone drive after another to bend it until itwould have to give way. The drives beganin March, and one after another was made


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THE GEOGRAPHY OF THE GREAT WAR 35with tremendous force.The Allies had to yieldextensive areas, until, onJuly 15, the line stood asshown in Fig. 34.On July 15 anotherterrific drive began

which allowed the Ger-mans to cross the Marne.The French sufferedheavy losses ; but theAmerican Army was inthe line and helped tomeet the shock. Ourmen fought like veter-ans and helped drive theinvaders back across theMarne. Then the Alliesundertook an offensiveof their own and forcedthe Teutons to retreatfurther until Paris wasmade safe from attack. This second battleof the Marne seems likely to be rememberedas the turning point in the war. Thoughthe French forces were of course far larger than

Fig.Britisn Official Photograph

35. American troops on their way to the trenches on the British front.

Fig. 34.

ours, General Pershing had possibly 300,000men in this battle, and 1,000,000 more inother parts of the line or in reserve. Thegreat energy and skill ^that our countryhad shown dur-

ing more thanone year in cre-ating an army,building ships,and transport-ing men had nowbegun to count.Other attacksmade by theAllies soon afterbrought fiu-therdisaster to theTeutons.On the Italianfront, also, thetide On the^-ag Italian fronttiu-ned in favorof the Allies.


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36


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THE GEOGRAPHY OF THE GREAT WAR 37A great Austrian drive had been planned tocrush Italy, while the British and French werekept too busy to give aid. This took place inMay. At first success appeared to be withthe Teutons. Then the Italians rallied, de-feated them, and drove them back. TheAustrian leaders had promised their armyfood and supplies in abundance in the con-quered territory of fertile northern Italy.Money was even issued to them in advanceto be spent in Venice. But there was no op-portunity to use it.Instead the armymarched in greathaste in the oppositedirection, leaving be-hind them thousandsof dead and of prison-ers and vast quanti-ties of war material.The state of affairs

in Russia continuedto worry the Alliednations, for the Ger-Events in mansRussia wereobtaining a firmerand firmer hold uponthe country. Manypersons urged armedintervention by the

seem a plan for the conquest of their countryby the Allies, and thus drive them into opensympathy with Germany. At the presenttime it appears that this objection has beenovercome and that both military and civil aid,as just indicated, will be sent to Russia inincreasing quantity in the near future.

In August Allied forces were landed on theMurman coast and occupied Archangel on theWhite Sea (Fig. 358, main text), others werelanded in Vladivostok. These forces co-

FiG. 37.I Committee on Public Informaiion

- French children greeting American soldiers on their way to the front in France.Allies. They be-lieved that a large part of the population,especially in Siberia, was hostile to Germanyand would welcome an Allied army sent fortheir protection. It could best be sent, theythought, by way of Vladivostok (Fig. 455,main text) and might well be accompaniedby experts who should help in reorganizingthe government, industry, and education.Such a plan might finally, also, restore thebattle line in Russia and thus compel Ger-many to withdraw soldiers from the west inorder to oppose it.There was one important objection to such

a move. To many of the Russians it might

operated with forces of friendly Russians andformer subjects of Austria-Hungary who hadbeen prisoners in Russia but now assertedtheir independence. The most important ofthese forces were the Czecho-Slovaks whohad come from Bohemia and otlier subjectstates of Austria-Hungary.

American participation in the war on astill vaster scale was assured when in Augustthe limits of the draft age were lowered fromtwenty-one to eighteen and raised fromthirty-one to forty-five, thus making avail-able several million more soldiers for thenext year's campaign.


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38 THE GEOGRAPHY OF THE GREAT WAR11. Cost of the War

There is no accurate way of estimating agreat many of the costs of war. For exampleValues that ^^ ^^ difficult to assign a definitecannot be cost to the loss of a life, toestimated g^ wound that partly or whollydisables a man for work; to loss of healthowing to exposure ; to the pain endured by awounded man even though the wound finallyheals; to the life-long sorrow and lonelinessdue to death of loved ones ; to the neglect ineducation and other care that children sufferwhen they have been made orphans ; to theanguish caused by the separation and partialdestruction of families living in the region offighting. All such things are to be countedamong the costs of war ; indeed, they are themain costs because they show what a fearfulthing war is, and should always be kept inmind when the glories of war are mentioned.Yet there is no way of estimating their worth.A few of the very many kinds of work re-Expenses 01 quired for the conduct of warthe war have been briefly described.Each of these calls for vast sums of

money. For example, the pay of a privatesoldier is thirty dollars per month, with anextra allowance of three dollars per monthfor foreign service. Three million soldierstherefore would cost the nation close to onehundred million dollars per month. Cloth-ing is an additional item, costing much moreduring war than in time of peace. It isestimated that during peace times eachsoldier, fully equipped, costs our governmentfifteen hundred dollars a year. A single greatcannon costs many thousands of dollars, anda single shot from it at least several hundreds.The numbers of men engaged in this war farexceed those in any previous war, and theexpenses reach fabulous sums.

In order to raise the money the govern-ments have not only levied unusually hightaxes but have also borrowed extensively.Each nation had debts before the war be-

gan; but they have all been tremendouslyincreased since that date. The indebtednesstotal debt of each country ac- of the leadingcording to the latest estimates of nations at warthe Department of Commerce of the UnitedStates was as follows :

PERCENTAGE OF DEBT\0% 2Q% 30% 4054

UNITED 5.97/' ' ' ' ' ' ':iimimmiî -

GREAT 44.3% ^^^^giggr=5585igsgssJ!g?pr , . V ..,- ^ > '/'^ mmaiUMFRANCE 40.7% immimmimiimiii^^.- ; ...:;;::::::: ._ :ITALYGERMANY

25. %35.3%

mm-/-':-}--' -. ...;;i, ', |s^^'- ;"- ' --'o-^

AUSTRIA - 36.3 % î=g?&Ass^^sj;w-i?j;^îi!iss^!5s^^

UNITEDSTATES"GREATBRITAIN"FRANCE-ITALY---

COMPARISON OF NATIONAL WEALTH AND DEBT950.000,000,000 flOO.000.000.000 tl5O,OOO.000.000

AUSTRIAHUNGARY "

8220,000,000,000" 413,000,000,0008 86,000,000.000 39,000,000,000859,000,000,000624,000,000,0008 20,000,000,000'"*5, 000,000, 000

^^^^^^12t 200.000,000,000

i^


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THE GEOGRAPHY OF THE GREAT WAR 39It is possible to estimate the worth of all

the property owned by each nation and thusfind its total wealth. Then by comparingthe debt of each with this total wealth itspercent of indebtedness can be shown.Note this per cent in the table. Observethat the wealth of the UnitedThe security States far exceeds that of any

States loans ^^^ ^^ ^^^ other countries. Infact, it is as great as that of sev-

eral of them added together. Observe, also,

that our per cent of indebtedness is smallerthan that of any one of the other Powers.This means that the loans we make to ourGovernment are far safer than those made toany one of these other Powers. In otherwords, our investments in United Statesbonds and war savings stamps are the safestinvestments in the wide world. That issomething to make us proud, and also tomake us eager to make more loans toUncle Sam.

States of Germany

NameKingdoms

PrussiaBavaria ....SaxonyWiirttemberg .

Grand-DuchiesBadenHesseMecklenburg-SchwerinSaxe-Weimar .Mecklenburg-StrelitzOldenburg ....

DuchiesBrunswick ....Saxe-Meiningen .Saxe-Altenburg .Saxe-Coburg-Gotha .Anhalt

Aeea sq. mi,

134,61629,2925,7897,534

5,8232,9665,0681,3971,1312,482

1,418953511764

Population1910

40,165,2196,887,2914,806,6612,437,574

2,142,8331,282,051639,958417,149106,442483,042

494,339278,762216,128257,177331,128

NamePrincipalities Schwarzburg-Sonders-

hausenSchwarzbiu"g-RudolstadtWaldeck . . .Reuss-Greiz .Heuss-SchleizSchaumburg-LippeLippe ....

Free TownsLiibeckBremenHamburg .

Imperial TerritoryAlsace-Lorraine .

German Empire

Abea sq. mi.

333363433122319131469

11599160

5,604

Population1910

89,917100,70261,70772,769152,75246,652150,937

116,559299,526

1,014,664

1,874,014208,780 64,925,993

Colonies formerly in possession of GermanyName Abea sq. mi.(Estimated) Population(Estimated) Name Area sq. mi.(Estimated) POPULATIOX(Estimated)

In AfricaTogolandKamerunS. W. Africa ....East Africa ....

In the PacificGerman New Guinea

33,700190,000322,450364,000

70,00020,000

1,000,0003,500,000200,000

7,000,000

110,000188,000

Caroline, Pelew, andMarianne Islands

Solomon IslandsMarshall IslandsSamoan Islands . . .

In AsiaKiauchau ....

Total dependencies .

SOO4,200160985

117

41,60045,00015,00033,000

60.000Bismarck Archipelago . 1,600,412 12,192,600


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N.^.T10N

DECLARATIONS OF WARALLIED POWERS

Declaration op War Aoainst 1914 1France GermanyAustria

Tiu-keyBulgaria

Great Britain GermanyAustriaTurkeyBulgariaSerbia GermanyTurkey

BulgariaMontenegro AustriaGermanyJapan GermanyRussia TurkeyBvilgariaPortugal GermanyItaly AustriaTurkeyBulgariaGermanySan Marino AustriaRoumania AustriaGreece GermanyBulgariaUnited States GermanyAustriaCuba GermanyPanama GermanyAustriaChina GermanyAustriaBrazQ GermanySiam GermanyAustriaLiberia Germany

CENTRAL POWERSDeclaration op War Againstation

Germany Russia . .FranceBelgium . .Portugal . .Roumania .

Austria Serbia . .Russia . .MontenegroJapanBelgium . .Turkey Allies . .RoumaniaBulgaria Serbia

1914Aug. 1Aug. 3Aug. 4

July 28Aug. 6Aug. 9Aug. 27Aug. 28Nov. 23

Mar. 9Sept. 14

Aug. 29Oct. 14

1917Aug.Aug.Nov.

3135

Oct. 16Aug.Aug.Nov.

4135

Oct. 15Aug.Dec. 92

Oct. 16Aug.Aug. 89Aug. 23Nov. 3 Oct. 19Nov. 23 May 24Aug. 21

Oct. 19

May 24 Aug.Aug.

28

27Nov. 28 July 2

July 2Apr. 6Dec. 7Apr. 7Apr. 7Dec. 10Aug. 14Aug. 14Oct. 26July 22July 22Aug. 4

1917

NATIONS THAT HAVE SEVERED RELATIONS WITH GERMANYBolivia April 14, 1917Guatemala April 27. 1917Honduras May 17, 1917Nicaragua May 18. 1917

I Declaration of war by the provisional government of Greece.

Haiti . .Costa RicaPeruUruguay .

June 17, 1917Sept. 21, 1917Oct. 6, 1917Oct. 7, 1917


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geography of great war

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