Atlantic Warfare Today : 429 



appeared as though the last resistance to the AUied cause and trium- 

 phant democracy had been overcome. The war-weary world was dis- 

 posed to ignore, neglect and forget the tyranny and terror that the 

 Bolsheviks were busily instituting in Russia. 



However, the weakened and disunited states of Central Europe of- 

 fered attractive fields for the progressive exploitation and conquest 

 of determined fascist and communist tyrants. Czechoslovakia was 

 from the first beset by racial and minority problems of her own and 

 it was the three million or so Sudeten Germans she had absorbed 

 who provided an excuse for the Hider invasion. No League of Na- 

 tions saved her, but her fate and that of Poland finally showed Eng- 

 land and France the importance of resistance to Hider. 



Within a few hours of the declaration of war by England a Ger- 

 man submarine torpedoed and sank the Athenia. The Athenia was a 

 passenger vessel, westbound from Scotland, heavily laden with Amer- 

 ican tourists returning from Europe. This was open evidence of Ger- 

 many's continued belief in the eflecdveness of unrestricted submarine 

 warfare. 



As once before in history, the first reaction of Uncle Sam was to 

 put his hands in his pockets and try to preserve his balance on an 

 island of neutrality that was rapidly being washed away from under 

 his feet. 



In October a Pan-American Conference proclaimed a safety zone 

 of 300 miles around the shores of the western continents and de- 

 clared a general neutrality. The United States had already imposed 

 an embargo on the shipment of all arms to belligerents which greatly 

 embarrassed France and England who, in good faith, had ordered 

 arms and equipment from the United States before the declaration 

 of war when they were both neutral countries. It was November be- 

 fore Congress passed and the President signed an amendment per- 

 mitting the delivery of arms on a "cash-and-carry" basis. This meant 

 not only that the free European countries had to pay for their war 

 goods on delivery but also that deUvery had to be made in their own 

 vessels. 



At the same time American merchant vessels were forbidden to 

 arm themselves or to enter a belligerent port. American citizens were 

 barred from combat zones. Submarine captains, however, could not 

 read and cared not whether the vessel they attacked was armed or 

 unarmed, neutral or belligerent. This time the submarine war was 

 conducted on an enormous scale. The German submarine ranged 



