4 o THE WORLD'S ARMIES 



railway, some time must elapse before the Russian army can take the offensive against 

 Germany and her allies. 



The Triple and Dual Alliances. In the absence of exact information regarding the 

 war plans of different nations it is difficult to estimate the precise effect of these changes 

 in advantage to one or other of the great groups of European Powers in the event of 

 hostilities in which actual fighting at any time must be confined to a comparatively few 

 uncertain points in an immense theatre of war. While France and Russia possess the 

 advantage in numbers the Triple Alliance undoubtedly possesses great advantages as 

 regards situation in the theatre of war. The French and Russian armies together num- 

 ber on war establishment alone about 9,500,000 men as against the total war establish- 

 ment of about 7,500,000 German, Austrian and Italian troops. 1 The armies of the 

 Dual Alliance, however, are widely and completely separated by the territories of their 

 possible enemies, while those of the Triple Alliance are better situated for combined 

 action because for the purpose of war their territories become a single country cutting 

 Europe in two from North to South, with coasts upon the Baltic, North Sea and Medi- 

 terranean. The land communications of their territories until invaded are secure, 

 enabling the three armies to concentrate and reinforce one another, while the French 

 and Russian armies must depend for these facilities upon sea communications threatened 

 by hostile fleets. 



On the whole therefore the changes under consideration seem to favour German 

 strategy, with its principle of a strong offensive, upon which the war plans of the Triple 

 Alliance are probably based. They will undoubtedly facilitate these plans, the object 

 of which may be to launch swift, overwhelming attacks from one or more points simul- 

 taneously against France and Russia, or alternatively to hold back the Russian forces 

 while every effort is concentrated upon crushing their apparently more accessible and 

 vulnerable French ally as quickly as possible a task which should not be easy, as the 

 French army is one of the most formidable and efficient in the world. If the latter plan 

 proves successful Russia will be faced with the necessity of making peace or continuing 

 the war single-handed. Thus the Powers of the Triple Alliance, owing to advantages of 

 situation, may succeed in concentrating their combined strength upon the armies of the 

 Dual Alliance in turn a manoeuvre which is practically impossible for the latter to 

 employ against^the former. 2 It is clear, however, that the military situation as it 

 stands may be altered by two important factors. These are the intervention of Great 

 Britain as a member of the Triple Entente and possible developments of recent events 

 in the Balkans. 



The Triple Entente. The military potentialities of Great Britain either as a king- 

 dom or as an empire cannot be considered apart from sea power. Her power of military 

 offence depends entirely upon the maintenance of her sea communications by the force 

 of predominant naval strength. Without command of her sea communications as a 

 whole her troops in any part of the world may become immobile beyond her frontiers 

 and incapable of combined action with the rest. Thus situated the British Empire is 

 without unity for the purpose of military offence. Its scattered armies may be isolated 

 from one another and the power of each limited to the defence of a portion of its enor- 

 mous territories. Even with the command of their sea communications as a whole 

 assured to the British it is uncertain to what extent in a supreme emergency the com- 

 bined military strength of their Empire could be concentrated in any part of the world 

 and whether it could be so concentrated in time to be effective. The military forces of 

 the Dominions are all organised for local defence in separate places, not for combined 

 offence in any one place. In no case are these troops yet ready to meet the best Euro- 



1 Despite the dispersion of the Russian army for the defence of a vast Asiatic Empire the 

 Dual Alliance should be sure of superior numbers in Europe, though not necessarily at decisive 

 points at the decisive moment. 



The forces of the Dual Alliance, however, may be able to exert effective simultaneous 

 pressure against Germany, as it is claimed that combination by separated armies, though 

 still difficult, has been made easier by the use of telegraphy. German opinion is said to hold 

 that the telegraph has made operations on exterior lines effective. 



