A General Sketch of the European War | Page 2

as will permit whoever has grasped it a secure comprehension of
the forces at work, and of the results of those forces. It is desired, for
example, that the reader of these pages shall be able to say to himself:
"The Germanic body expected to win--and no wonder, for it had such
and such advantages in number and in equipment.... The first two
battles before Warsaw failed, and I can see why. It was because the
difficulties in Russian supply were met by a contraction of the Russian
line.... The 1st German Army was compelled to retreat before Paris,
and I can now see why that was so: as it turned to envelop the Allied
line, a great reserve within the fortified zone of Paris threatened it, and
forced it back."
These main lines, and these only, are attempted in the present book,
and in those that are to follow it in this series.
The disadvantage of such a method is, of course, that the reader must
look elsewhere for details, for the notices of a particular action, and the
records of particular regiments. He must look for these to the large
histories of the war, which will amply supply his curiosity in good time.
But the advantage of the method consists in that it provides, as I hope, a
foundation upon which all this bewildering multitude of detailed
reading can repose.
I set out, then, to give, as it were, the alphabet of the campaign, and I
begin in this volume with the preliminaries to it--that is, its great
political causes, deep rooted in the past; the particular and immediate
causes which led to the outbreak of war; an estimate of the forces
engaged; and the inception of hostilities.
PLAN OF THIS BOOK.

This first volume will cover three parts. In
Part I. I shall write of
The Causes of the War. In
Part II. I shall Contrast the Forces
Opposed. In
Part III. (the briefest) I shall describe the
First Shock.
In
Part I., where I deal first with the general or
historical causes
of the war, later with the particulars, I shall:--
1. Define the German object which led up to it.
2. Show how this object conflicted with the wills of other nations.
3. Briefly sketch the rise of Prussia and of her domination over North
Germany.
4. Define the position of Austria-Hungary in the matter, and thus close
the general clauses.
5. The particular causes of the war will next be dealt with; the curious
challenge thrown down to Great Britain by the German Fleet before the
German Empire had made secure its position on the Continent; the
French advance upon Morocco; the coalition of the Balkan States
against the remainder of the Turkish Empire in Europe.

6. Lastly, in this First Part, I shall describe the immediate occasion of
the war and its surroundings: the ultimatum issued by the
Austro-Hungarian Government to the little kingdom of Servia.
In
Part II. I will attempt to present the forces
opposed at the
outbreak of war.
First, the contrast in the geographical position of the Germanic Allies
with their enemies, the French, the English, and the Russians. Secondly,
the numbers of trained men prepared and the numbers of reserves
available in at least the first year to the various numbers in conflict.
Thirdly, the way in which the various enemies had thought of the
coming war (which was largely a matter of theory in the lack of
experience); in what either party has been right, and in what wrong, as
events proved; and with what measure of foresight the various
combatants entered the field.
In
Part III, I will very briefly describe the
original armed
dispositions for combat at the outbreak of war, the German aim upon
the West, and the German orders to the Austrians upon the East; the
overrunning of Belgium, and the German success upon the Sambre;
then the pursuit of the Franco-British forces to the line Paris-Verdun,
up to the eve of the successful counter-offensive undertaken by them in
the first week of September. I will end by describing what were the
contemporary events in the Eastern field: in its northern part the
overrunning of East Prussia by the Russians, and the heavy blow which
the Germans there administered to the invader; in its southern the
Austrian opposition to the Russians on the Galician borders, and the

breakdown of that opposition at Lemberg.
My terminal date for this sketch will be the 5th of September.

A GENERAL SKETCH OF THE EUROPEAN WAR.

PART I.
THE GENERAL CAUSES OF THE WAR.
War is the attempt of two human groups each to impose its will upon
the other by force of arms. This definition holds of the most righteous
war fought in self-defence as much as