WAR OF THE NATIONS 



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WAR OF THE NATIONS 



Teuton plan and lost to the central empires 

 their chance of speedy conclusion of the war. 

 It gave France time to s-wini: us troops across 

 the path of the invader; it afforded oppor- 

 tunity for England to put its little army of 



.000 into 

 Northern France, 

 to stand beside 

 its ally. 



is on Aug- 

 thut the 

 German ultima- 

 tum was deliv- 

 ered to Belgium. 

 Bigger guns than 

 the rest of the 

 world knew ex- 

 isted hammered 



at the forts of CARDINAL MERCIER 

 Liege, among the The Be ,g lan churchman who 

 most formidable upheld his country's rights 

 inst the invaders and 

 in the world ; on thereby won the admiration 



the loth Liege of the world ' 

 fell. Four days later Brussels was occupied, and 

 the Belgian government moved towards France, 

 where, at Havre, it was finally established. 

 On the 24th Namur was taken; the next day 

 Louvain was sacked and partly destroyed. On 

 to France marched the gray-green hosts, and 

 until September 5 they drove back the French, 

 Belgians and British. At the Marne River the 

 allied armies accomplished what the Belgians 

 alone had begun; in the Battle of the Marne, 

 only forty miles from Paris, Marshal Joffre 

 ; the flood and saved the capital. On 

 September 8 the Germans began to retreat, and 

 did not stop until they reached the Aisne.' At 

 once they inaugurated a new idea in warfare 

 by "digging themselves in" building trenches 



in which to protect themselves from the fire of 

 the enemy. France was saved, for a time, at 

 least, though the enemy held practically one- 

 tenth of its richest territory. 



Thus runs the story of the beginning of the 

 great war. 



Now there .began the most stupendous en- 

 deavor to cope with the fearful situation. 

 Safely behind its Grand Fleet and behind the 

 back of better-prepared France, Britain began 

 the hurried formation of an army to throw 

 across the Channel to the protection of France 

 and of itself. ''Kitchener's army," it was called, 

 for "Kitchener of Khartum" was its organizer; 

 within three years 5,000,000 young men of the 

 Empire had joined the colors the greatest 



A TRENCH SYSTEM 



Before concentration of gunfire destroys 

 trenches, their appearance is everywhere much 

 like the system shown above. It was reported 

 and generally accepted as true that between the 

 North Sea and Switzerland on the west front 

 there existed as early as the autumn of 1915 over 

 12,000 miles of trench works, on the 450-mile line. 



volunteer army the world had ever seen. But 

 even a year after the Battle of the Marne it 

 was ill prepared to take its place by the side of 

 France in the field. Not until 1917 did Britain 

 reach its full strength. 



The Battle Fronts 



In the early days of the conflict three great 

 battle lines were established. Their lengths 

 told plainly of the magnitude of the tasks of 

 the opposing forces. 



The Western Front. The line which held the 

 closest attention of the world was the so-called 

 western front ; it extended roughly in its north- 

 era section along the point to which the Ger- 

 mans retreated after their defeat at the Marne 

 and the points to which other German armies 

 were hurried to oppose the French. This line 

 extended literally 450 miles, from the North 

 Sea to Switzerland, a distance about half as 

 great as from New York to Chicago. Concen- 



trations of men and munitions were greater in 

 some sections than in others, but all along that 

 winding course were established walls of men 

 and of glistening steel. Here and there where 

 the need was greatest 2,000 heavy guns of all 

 sizes on each side roared their challenge to the 

 enemy in every mile. After three years of war 

 no point in the line had been bent as far as 

 twenty miles by either contending force, but 

 over a million men died in the onslaughts and 

 in the shock of resistance. 



Two high German officers held the east- 

 ern side of the line during the greater part of 

 the war Crown Prince Ruprecht of Bavaria in 



