WAR OF THE NATIONS 



6153 



WAR OF THE NATIONS 



Dewey soon after the Battle of Manila (1898). 

 He reported a conversation with the German 

 Admiral Von Goetzen, after a German attempt 

 to profit from Dewey's exploit, in which the 

 admiral said: 



About fifteen years from now my country 

 will start a great war. She will be in Paris in 

 about two months after the commencement of 

 hostilities. Her move on Paris will be but a step 

 to her real object the crushing of England. 

 Some months after we finlshbour work in 

 Europe we will take New York and probably 

 Washington and hold them for some time. We 

 will put your country in its place with reference 

 to Germany. 



!o not propose to take any of your terri- 

 tory, but we do Intend to take a billion or so of 

 your dollars from New York and other places. 

 The Monroe Doctrine will be taken charge of by 

 us. as we will then have to put you in your 

 place, and we will take charge of South America 

 as we wish to. Don't forget this 

 about fifteen years from now remember it, and it 

 will interest you. 



This authentic record commands admiration 

 for the exactness of its prophecy; it is startling, 

 also, in the light of later events. The impres- 

 sion persists that the intended victims of this 

 threat either believed it the bombastic utter- 

 ance of a disappointed officer or they thought it 

 would be possible to avert a world calamity. 

 Certain it is that the United States and Eng- 

 land were not seriously stirred, and France 

 made no defensive move until in 1913 increased 

 military activity in the open in Germany forced 

 it to provide for additions to its army. 



The Complex Racial Problem. That there 

 may be a clearer understanding of the dire 

 events which followed one another in bewilder- 

 ing succession in the summer of 1914, a study 

 of the racial map of Europe (pages 506, 3326) 

 is essential. Differing racial ambitions always 

 breed political complexities, and the two are 

 here found in antagonism, between Teuton and 

 Slav. Russia was the great Slav power of the 

 world, and as such it had exercised immense 

 influence in the Balkan states, which arc largely 

 Slavic, but there Austrian influence was also 

 powerful. Serbia was charged with fostering 

 aspirations to weld the Slavic populations 

 a pan-Slavic union which would lessen Austrian 

 influence. So diverse were the interests of 

 people of the A ustro- Hungarian Empire that 

 well-directed efforts might crumble that govern- 

 ment and force a realignment of peoples by 

 races rather than by arbitrary political bound- 

 aries. The Teutons in Austria-Hungary and 

 number over half of the people were 

 aligned with Germany; the Slavs, with Ri 



Austria knew its danger; the spread of the idea 

 of Slavic union threatened its existence. 



The treaties closing the Balkan Wars (1913) 

 left unrest in their wake. Serbian territory 

 was enlarged ; Turkey was left only a little cor- 

 ner of Europe; Bulgaria lost territory which 

 had been won the year before. There were 

 new and conflicting interests which could not 

 be reconciled. German influence had been 

 paramount in the A astro-Hungarian monarchy; 

 the two powers have long harbored a Miltel 

 Europa ambition to make all middle Europe 

 Teutonic and open a pathway to Asia Minor 

 and the Indian Ocean. The Balkan settlement 

 threatened disaster to this plan. 



In the foreground were the Austrian-Serbian 

 antagonism ; in the background, Germany, Aus- 

 tria's ally, and Russia, friend of Serbia. 



Two Pistol Shots. On June 28, 1914, the 

 Austrian crown prince, Archduke Francis Ferdi- 

 nand, and his wife were assassinated at Sara- 

 jevo, capital of the Austrian province of Bosnia, 

 by Gavrilo Prinzip, a Serbian. The Austrian 

 government maintained that the crime was in- 

 stigated by the government of Serbia, in spite 

 of strong denials, and in this attitude was sup- 

 ported by Germany. Two years later, in the 

 midst of war, it was charged by members of the 

 German Reichstag in one of its sessions that in 

 the imperial palace of Potsdam, Prussia, on 

 July 5, 1914, a decision was reached that there 

 should be war. Austria was to present such 

 demands upon Serbia because of the double 

 crime that that country could not accept them 

 without base humiliation. Whatcv. r t!u> facts 

 regarding this alleged meeting, Austria's ulti- 

 matum was indeed severe; on July 23 it was 

 dispatched, and acceptance was demanded on 

 the following points within forty-eight hours: 



( 1 ) The Serbian government to give assurance 

 that it was not in conspiracy against the Austro- 

 Hungnrinn monarchy, and that such statement be 

 published in the Serbian official journal. (Serbia 

 accepted this <! n.. 



That the published declaration should ex- 



ii officers had engajt* 



anti-Austrian demonstration*, and that the Ser- 

 bian government should take summary n 

 again!- 1 all who had participated in such demon- 

 strations. (Accepted by Serbia.) 



(3) That the declaration should be communi- 

 cated by the king of Serbia to his army as an 

 order of the day and published In the official bul- 

 letin of the army. (Accepted.) 



(4) That all papers which had Incited hatred 

 of Austria should be suppressed. (Accepted.) 



(5) That the society styling Itself Narodna Ob- 

 rana (National Union) should be dissolved and Its 

 property confiscated. (Accepted.) 



