Atlantic Warfare Today : 415 



affairs taking place somewhere on the fringes of civilization. When 

 the Japanese launched an unprovoked and unannounced war against 

 Russia the explanation was that though they had been very quick in 

 absorbing Western mechanical progress they had been a little slow 

 in catching on to Western social and ethical ideas. The development 

 of a major war among Christian countries was regarded as a remote 

 improbability. 



Today it is hard to recover the feeling of confidence and hope that 

 marked the beginning of the century. Yet though we may smile at 

 some of its vain and naive expressions, the spirit of the early part of 

 the century has a strong survival value and is not beaten yet. From 

 1890 to 1914 there was a great period of expansion and construction. 

 We are, in fact, still engaged in a struggle testing the institutions and 

 relationships then established. 



At the time the critics and doubters were few. The main thing 

 was to get on with the job — extend the railroads, run faster trains, 

 build bigger and faster ships, open up new mines, explore new terri- 

 tories. 



To express its pride in progress and its confidence in the future, 

 the Western World held a number of international expositions or 

 world's fairs at the beginning of the century. There was the Paris 

 Exposition in 1901 with a moving sidewalk that carried people all 

 around the exposition grounds. Horseless carriages were seen on the 

 avenues of Paris and people who rode in the captive balloon could 

 look down on the people who were riding to the top of the Eiffel 

 Tower. 



In England Queen Victoria, who had celebrated her diamond jubi- 

 lee in 1897, lived on into the new century and was succeeded by her 

 aging son, Edward VII, who, despite his long years of waiting, took 

 up the responsibilities of the throne with energy as well as social 

 grace. 



In Germany the new emperor, the energetic and aggressive Wil- 

 liam II, had forced Bismarck into retirement and had progressively 

 revised or displaced the Bismarck policies. At the beginning William 

 showed considerable aptitude and tact in social and political organi- 

 zation. Under his rule German industry and trade expanded enor- 

 mously. Germans everywhere were recognized for the ingenuity 

 and inventiveness of their science, the scope and thoroughness of 

 their scholarship. On the Atlantic the liners of the North German 

 Lloyd and the Hamburg-American began to rival the best that the 

 English builders and operators could do. All of these things seemed 



