Events Culminating in The Great Conflict | Page 4

hurl nearly the whole of Europe within a week's time from a state of profound peace into one of continental war, unannounced, unexpected, unexplained, unprecedented in suddenness and enormity, was an unimaginable possibility. And yet the ringing of the church bells was suddenly drowned by the roar of cannon, the voice of the dove of peace by the blare of the trump of war, and throughout the world ran a shudder of terror at these unwonted and ominous sounds.
But in looking back through history, tracing the course of events during the past century, following the footsteps of men in war and peace from that day of upheaval when medieval feudalism went down in disarray before the arms of the people in the French Revolution, some explanation of the Great European war of 1914 may be reached. Every event in history has its roots somewhere in earlier history, and we need but dig deep enough to find them.
Such is the purpose of the present work. It proposes to lay down in a series of apposite chapters the story of the past century, beginning, in fact, rather more than a century ago with the meteoric career of Napoleon and seeking to show to what it led, and what effects it had upon the political evolution of mankind. The French Revolution stood midway between two spheres of history, the sphere of medieval barbarism and that of modern enlightenment. It exploded like a bomb in the midst of the self-satisfied aristocracy of the earlier social system and rent it into the fragments which no hand could put together again. In this sense the career of Napoleon seems providential. The era of popular government had replaced that of autocratic and aristocratic government in France, and the armies of Napoleon spread these radical ideas throughout Europe until the oppressed people of every nation began to look upward with hope and see in the distance before them a haven of justice in the coming realm of human rights.
It required considerable time for these new conceptions to become thoroughly disseminated. A down-trodden people enchained by the theory of the "divine right of kings" to autocratic rule, had to break the fetters one by one and gradually emerge from a state of practical serfdom to one of enlightened emancipation. There were many setbacks, and progress was distressingly slow but nevertheless sure.
The story of this upward progress is the history of the nineteenth century, regarded from the special point of view of political progress and the development of human rights. This is definitely shown in the present work, which is a history of the past century and of the twentieth century so far as it has gone. Gradually the autocrat has declined in power and authority, and the principle of popular rights has risen into view. This war will not have been fought in vain if, as predicted, it will result in the complete downfall of autocracy as a political principle, and the rise of the rule of the people, so that the civilized nations of the earth may never again be driven into a frightful war of extermination against peaceful neighbors at the nod of a hereditary sovereign. Logan Marshall
CONTENTS
Chapter I
All Europe Plunged into War
Dramatic Suddenness of the Outbreak - Trade and Commerce Paralyzed - Widespread Influences - Terrible Effects of War - The Tide of Destruction - Half Century to Pay Debts
Chapter II
Underlying Causes of the Great European War Assassination of the Austrian Crown Prince - Austria's Motive in Making War - Servia Accepts Austria's Demand - The Ironies of History - What Austria Has to Gain - How the War Became Continental - An Editorial Opinion - Is the Kaiser Responsible? - Germany's Stake in the War - Why Russia Entered the Field - France's Hatred of Germany - Great Britain and Italy - The Triple Alliance and Triple Entente
Chapter III
Strength and Resources of the Warring Powers Old and New Methods in War - Costs of Modern Warfare - Nature of National Resources - British and American Military Systems - Naval Strength - Resources of Austria-Hungary - Resources of Germany - Resources of Russia - Resources of France - Resources of Great Britain - Servia and Belgium
Chapter IV
Great Britain and the War The Growth of German Importance - German Militarism - Great Britain's Peace Efforts - Germany's Naval Program - German Ambitions - Preparation for War - Effect on the Empire
Chapter V
The World's Greatest War Wars as Mileposts - A Continent in Arms - How Canada Prepared for War - the British Sentiment - Lord Kitchener's Career - A Forceful Character
Chapter VI
The Earthquake of Napoleonism Its Effect on National Conditions Finally Led to the War of 1914
Conditions in France and Germany - The Campaign in Italy - The Victory at Marengo - Moreau at Hohenlinden - The