Kelly Miller\'s History of the World War for Human Rights

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[Illustration: KELLY MILLER, A.M., LL.D.

Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, Howard University, Washington
D.C.]

KELLY MILLER'S HISTORY

OF

The World War

FOR

Human Rights

An Intensely Human and Brilliant Account of the World War; Why America
Entered the Conflict; What the Allies Fought For; And a Thrilling
Account of the Important Part Taken by the Negro in the Tragic Defeat of
Germany; The Downfall of Autocracy, and Complete Victory for the Cause
of Righteousness and Freedom.

INCLUDING

A Wonderful Array of Striking Pictures Made from Recent Official
Photographs, Illustrating and Describing the New and Awful Devices Used
in the Horrible Methods of Modern Warfare, together with Remarkable
Pictures of the Negro in Action in Both Army and Navy.

BY

KELLY MILLER, A.M., LL.D.

The Well-Known and Popular Author of "Race Adjustment," "Out of the
House of Bondage" and "The Disgrace of Democracy."

ALSO

Important Contribution by JOHN J. PERSHING, the Famous General,
FREDERICK DRINKER, the Noted War Correspondent, and E.A. ALLEN, Author
of "The History of Civilization."

Copyright, 1919
By
A. JENKINS

Copyright, 1919
By
O. KELLER

THE NEGRO'S PART IN THE WAR

BY PROFESSOR KELLY MILLER, THE WELL-KNOWN THINKER AND WRITER.

This treatise will set forth the black man's part in the world's war
with the logical sequence of facts and the brilliant power of statement
for which the author is famous. The mere announcement that the author of
"Race Adjustment," "Out of the House of Bondage," and "The Disgrace of
Democracy" is to present a history of the Negro in the great world
conflict, is sufficient to arouse expectancy among the wide circle of
readers who eagerly await anything that flows from his pen.

In this treatise, Professor Miller will trace briefly, but with
consuming interest, the relation of the Negro to the great wars of the
past. He will point out the never-failing fount of loyalty and
patriotism which characterizes the black man's nature, and will show
that the Negro has never been a hireling, but has always been
characterized by that moral energy which actuates all true heroism.

The conduct of the Negro in the present struggle will be set forth with
a brilliant and pointed pen. The idea of three hundred thousand American
Negroes crossing three thousand miles of sea to fight against autocracy
of the German crown constitutes the most interesting chapter in the
history of this modern crusade against an unholy cause. The valor and
heroism of the Afro-American contingent were second to none according to
the unanimous testimony of those who were in command of this high
enterprise.

The story of Negro officers in command of troops of their own color will
prove the wisdom of a policy entered upon with much distrust and
misgiving. It is just here that Professor Miller reaches the high-water
mark. Here is a story never told before, because the world has never
before witnessed Negro officers in large numbers participating in the
directive side of war waged on the high level of modern science and
system.

Professor Miller's treatise carries its own prophecy. He logically
enough forecasts the future of the race in glowing colors as the result
of his loyal and patriotic conduct in this great world epoch.

The author wisely queries: "When, hereafter, the Negro asks for his
rights as an American citizen, where can the American be found with the
heart or the hardihood to say him, Nay?"

The work will be profusely illustrated.

PUBLISHERS.
March 27, 1919.

GENERAL PREFACE

While the underlying causes of the greatest war in all history must be
traced far back into the centuries, the one great object of the conflict
which was precipitated by the assassination of the Archduke Francis
Ferdinand of Austria, in Bosnia, at the end of June, 1914, is the
ultimate determination as to whether imperialism as exemplified in the
government of Germany shall rule the world, or whether democracy shall
reign.

Whenever men or nations disregard those principles which society has
laid down for their conduct in modern civilized life, and obligation and
duty are forgotten in the desire for self-advancement, conflict results.

Since the days of Athens and Sparta the world's greatest wars have in
the main been conflicts of ideals--democracy being arrayed against
oligarchy--men fighting for individual rights as against militarism and
military domination.

In the World War, which terminated with the signing of the armistice,
November 11, 1918, which painted the green fields of France and Belgium
red with blood, and swept nations into the most significant and bitter
struggle in all history, the fight was against the Imperial Government
of Germany, by men and nations who claim that humanity the world over
has rights that must be observed.

Germany has brought upon herself the destruction of her government by
ruthlessly trampling upon her neighbors and assuming that "might is
right."

The Imperial Government, led by the House of Hohenzollern, was suffering
from an exaggerated ego. Her trouble was psychological. The men who
study the strange workings and twists of the human mind which land some
men in the institutions for the criminal insane, agree that when any man
becomes obsessed with an idea and "rides a hobby" to the exclusion of
all else, he loses his balance and develops an obliquity of view which
makes him a dangerous creature.

Germany was obsessed with the spirit of militarism and almost everything
else had been sacrificed to this idol. The very first appearance of
Germans in history is as a warlike people. The earliest German
literature is of folk-tales about war heroes, and these stories tell of
the manly virtues of the heroes.

It is true that there are many scientists, poets, and musicians among
the Germans, but their warlike side must never be forgotten. The entire
race is imbued with the military spirit, the influence reaching to every
phase of national life. All that was best in the nation was raised to
its highest efficiency through military training, but in the
accomplishment of its purposes the House of Hohenzollern, which is
responsible for the development of the national fighting arm, neglected
much and produced millions of creatures who are but human machines,
taught to obey orders without consideration as to the effect their acts
might produce, whether right or wrong.

In their criticisms of the Prussian militarism the world democracies
defined militarism as an arrogant, or exclusive, professional military
spirit, developed by training and environment until it became despotic,
and assumed superiority over rational motives and deliberations.

This attitude was reflected in the conduct of the Kaiser, who, as
illustrative of the point, is quoted at the dedication of the monument
to Prince Frederick Charles at Frankfurt-on-the-Oder in 1891, as having
said, "We would rather sacrifice our eighteen army corps and our
forty-two millions inhabitants on the field of battle than surrender a
single stone of what my father and Prince Charles Frederick gained."

His speeches were filled with similar bombastic and extravagant
expressions which were the subject of international comment for many
years. Other countries besides Germany have maintained great armies, but
their maintenance has been but an incidental part of the general
business of the nation and there was no submerging of the spirit which
seeks and demands appropriate public ideals in government and action. So
that while other elements have always tended to produce friction between
neighboring countries, it was adamant, stubborn, military Prussianism
which asserted itself in the middle of 1914 and set the world afire.

Enough is known at this writing to show that the cost in lives, money,
morals and weakening of humanity as a whole, is staggering, and yet the
whole truth can not be realized for years to come. In our own great
struggle, which had for its object the liberation of the Negro, the
scars which our country received have not yet been entirely eliminated.
Portions of the country devastated by the soldiers still bear the marks
of the invasion, but what was lost in money and material things was made
up by the welding together of the two sections of the country. The Union
was made a concrete, humanitarian body of citizens. The battle was for
the right and liberty triumphed. And by the defeat of Germany liberty
again triumphs and the world is made a safe place in which to live.

And just as America fought for liberty in the stirring days of 1776, and
her peoples fought one another in the trying days of 1861-65, so America
was drawn into the World's War that the principles of liberty, for which
she has ever stood, might be perpetuated throughout the world, and that
an international peace might be established, which has for its purposes
the ending of such convulsions as have shaken the world since August,
1914, since the first shots were fired in fair Belgium by German
invaders.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTORY

CIVILIZATION AT ISSUE--THE GERMAN EMPIRE--CHARACTER OF WILLIAM II--THE
GREAT CONSPIRACY--THE WAR BY YEARS--UNITED STATES IN THE WAR--TWO
HUNDRED AND FIFTY MILES OF BATTLE--THE DOWNFALL OF TURKEY--THE
DEMOCRATIC CLOSE OF THE WAR 17

CHAPTER II

GEN. PERSHING'S OWN STORY

ORGANIZATION OF HIS GENERAL STAFF--TRAINING IN FRANCE--IN THE AISNE
OFFENSIVE--AT CHATEAU THIERRY--THE ST MIHEIL SALIENT--MEUSE-ARGONNE,
FIRST PHASE--THE BATTLE IN THE FOREST--SUMMARY 49

CHAPTER III

PRESIDENT WILSON'S REVIEW OF THE WAR

TROOP MOVEMENT DURING THE YEAR--TRIBUTE TO AMERICAN SOLDIERS--SPLENDID
SPIRIT OF THE NATION--RESUME THE WORK OF PEACE--OUTLINE OF WORK IN
PARIS--SUPPORT OF NATION URGED 79

CHAPTER IV

THE FLASH THAT SET THE WORLD AFLAME

TEUTON FIND IN A MURDER THE EXCUSE FOR WAR--GERMANY INSPIRED BY
AMBITIONS FOR WORLD CONTROL--THE STRUGGLE FOR COMMERCIAL SUPREMACY A
FACTOR--THE UNDERLYING MOTIVES 89

CHAPTER V

WHY AMERICA ENTERED THE WAR

THE IRON HAND OF PRUSSIANISM--THE ARROGANT HOHENZOLLERN
ATTITUDE--SECRETARY LANE TELLS WHY WE FIGHT--BROKEN PLEDGES--LAWS
VIOLATED--PRUSSIANISM THE CHILD OF BARBARITY--GERMANY'S PLANS FOR A
WORLD EMPIRE 97

CHAPTER VI

THE THINGS THAT MADE MEN MAD

GERMANY'S BARBARITY--THE DEVASTATION OF BELGIUM--HUMAN FIENDS--FIREBRAND
AND TORCH--RAPE AND PILLAGE--THE SACKING OF LOUVAIN--WANTON
DESTRUCTION--OFFICIAL PROOF 113

CHAPTER VII

THE SLINKING SUBMARINE

A VORACIOUS SEA MONSTER--THE RUTHLESS DESTRUCTIVE POLICY OF
GERMANY--STARVATION OF NATIONS THE GOAL--HOW THE SUBMARINES
OPERATE--SOME PERSONAL EXPERIENCES 135

CHAPTER VIII

THWARTING THE U-BOAT

NETS TO ENTANGLE THE SEA SHARKS OF WAR--"CHASERS" OR "SKIMMING DISH"
BOATS--"BLIMPS" AND SEAPLANES--HUNTING THE SUBMARINE WITH "LANCE" BOMB
AND GUN--A SAILOR'S DESCRIPTION 154

CHAPTER IX

THE EYES OF BATTLE

AEROPLANES AND AIRSHIPS--THEY SPY THE MOVEMENTS OF FORCESON LAND OR
SEA--LEAD DISASTROUS BOMB ATTACKS--VALUABLE IN "SPOTTING"
SUBMARINES--THE BOMBARDMENT AT MESSINES RIDGE 170

CHAPTER X

WAR'S STRANGE DEVICES

CHEMISTRY A DEMON OF DESTRUCTION--POISON GAS BOMBS--GAS MASKS--HAND
GRENADES--MORTARS--"TANKS"--FEUDAL "BATTERING RAMS"--STEEL
HELMETS--STRANGE BULLETS--MOTOR PLOWS--REAL DOGS OF WAR 185

CHAPTER XI

WONDERFUL WAR WEAPONS

THE TERRIBLE RAPID-FIRE GUN--ARMORED AUTOMOBILES AND AUTOMOBILE
ARTILLERY--HOWITZERS--MOUNTED FORTS--ARMORED TRAINS--OBSERVATION
TOWERS--WIRELESS APPARATUS--THE ARMY PANTRY 205

CHAPTER XII

THE WORLD'S ARMIES

THE EFFICIENT GERMAN ORGANIZATION--THE LANDWEHR AND LANDSTURM--GENERAL
FORMS OF MILITARY ORGANIZATION--THE BRAVE FRENCH TROOPS--THE PICTURESQUE
ITALIAN SOLDIERY--THE PEACE AND WAR STRENGTH--AVAILABLE FIGHTING
MEN--FORTIFICATIONS 224

CHAPTER XIII

THE WORLD'S NAVIES

GERMANY'S SEA STRENGTH--GREAT BRITAIN'S IMMENSE WAR FLEET--IMMENSE
FIGHTING CRAFT--THE UNITED STATES' NEW BATTLE CRUISERS--THE FASTEST AND
BIGGEST OCEAN FIGHTING SHIPS--THE PICTURESQUE MARINES: THE SOLDIERS OF
THE SEA 243

CHAPTER XIV

THE NATIONS AT WAR

UNEXPECTED DEVELOPMENTS--HOW THE WAR FLAMES SPREAD--A SCORE OF
COUNTRIES INVOLVED--THE POINTS OF CONTACT--PICTURESQUE AND RUGGED
BULGARIA, ROUMANIA, SERVIA, GREECE, ITALY AND HISTORIC SOUTHEAST EUROPE
259

CHAPTER XV

MODERN WAR METHODS

INDIVIDUAL INITIATIVE AS AGAINST MASS MOVEMENTS--TRENCH WARFARE A GAME
OF HIDE AND SEEK--RATS AND DISEASE--SURGERY'S TRIUMPHS--CHANGED
TACTICS--ITALIAN MOUNTAIN FIGHTING 281

CHAPTER XVI

WOMAN AND THE WAR

SHE HAS WON "HER PLACE IN THE SUN"--RICH AND POOR IN THE MUNITIONS
FACTORIES--NURSE AND AMBULANCE DRIVER--KHAKI AND TROUSERS--ORGANIZER AND
FARMER--HEROES IN THE STRESS OF CIRCUMSTANCES--DYING MEN'S WORK FOR
MEN--EVEN A "BOBBIE" 298

CHAPTER XVII

THE TERRIBLE PRICE

A NATION OF MEN DESTROYED--MILLIONS IN SHIPPING AND COMMERCE
DESTROYED--WORLD'S MAPS CHANGED--BILLIONS IN MONEY--IMMENSE
DEBTS--NATION'S WEALTH--THE UNITED STATES A GREAT PROVIDER 316

CHAPTER XVIII

THE WORLD RULERS AT WAR

WOODROW WILSON, THE CHAMPION OF DEMOCRACY--THE EGOTISTICAL KAISER--THE
GERMAN CROWN PRINCE--BRITAIN'S MONARCH--CONSTANTINE WHO QUIT RATHER THAN
FIGHT GERMANY--PRESIDENT POINCARE--AND OTHER NATIONAL HEADS 328

CHAPTER XIX

THE WAR'S WHO'S WHO

STRIKING FIGURES IN THE CONFLICT--JOFFRE, THE HERO OF MARNE--NIVELLE,
THE FRENCH COMMANDER--SIR DOUGLAS HAIG--THE KAISER'S
CHANCELLOR--VENIZELOS--"BLACK JACK" PERSHING 344

CHAPTER XX

CHEMISTRY IN THE WAR

SUBSTITUTES FOR COTTON--NITRATES PRODUCED FROM AIR--YEAST A REAL
SUBSTITUTE FOR BEEF--SEAWEED MADE TO GIVE UP POTASH--A GANGRENE
PREVENTATIVE--SODA MADE OUT OF SALT WATER--AMERICA CHEMICALLY
INDEPENDENT 361

CHAPTER XXI

OUR NEIGHBORING ALLY

CANADA'S RECRUITING--RAISE 33,000 TROOPS IN TWO MONTHS--FIRST
EXPEDITIONARY FORCE TO CROSS ATLANTIC--BRAVERY AT YPRES AND
LENS--MEETING DIFFICULT PROBLEMS--QUEBEC AROUSED BY CONSCRIPTION 371

CHAPTER XXII

THE HEROIC ANZAC

FORCES THAT STIRRED THE WORLD IN THE GALLIPOLI CAMPAIGN--FAMOUS AS
SAPPERS--THE BLASTING OF MESSINES RIDGE--TWO YEARS TUNNELLING--30,000
GERMANS BLOWN TO ATOMS--1,000,000 POUNDS OF EXPLOSIVES USED--TROOPS THAT
WERE TRANSPORTED 11,000 MILES 390

CHAPTER XXIII

AMERICA STEPS IN

PRESIDENT WILSON'S FAMOUS MESSAGE TO CONGRESS--THE WAR RESOLUTION--APRIL
6, 1917, SEES THE UNITED STATES AT WAR--REVIEW OF THE NEGOTIATIONS
BETWEEN GERMANY AND AMERICA--THE U-BOAT RESTRICTED ZONE ANNOUNCEMENT OF
GERMANY--PREMIER LLOYD GEORGE ON AMERICA IN THE CONFLICT 399

CHAPTER XXIV

UNCLE SAM TAKES HOLD

MAKES WORLD'S BIGGEST WAR LOAN--SEIZE GERMAN SHIPS--INTRIGUE
EXPOSED--GENERAL PERSHING AND STAFF IN EUROPE--THE NAVY ON DUTY IN NORTH
SEA--FIRST UNITED STATES TROOPS REACH FRANCE--GERMANY'S ATTEMPTS TO SINK
TROOP SHIPS THWARTED BY NAVY'S GUNS 427

CHAPTER XXV

A GERMAN CRISIS

THE DOWNFALL OF BETHMANN-HOLLWEG--THE CROWN PRINCE IN THE LIME
LIGHT--HOLLWEG'S UNIQUE CAREER--DR. GEORG MICHAELIS APPOINTED
CHANCELLOR--THE KAISER AND HOW HE GETS HIS IMMENSE POWER 444

CHAPTER XXVI

UNCLE SAM AND THE NEUTRALS

PRESIDENT WILSON PUTS EMBARGO ON FOOD SHIPMENTS--SCANDINAVIAN COUNTRIES
FURNISHING SUPPLIES TO GERMANY INSPIRES ORDER--THE DIFFICULT POSITION OF
NORWAY, DENMARK, HOLLAND AND SWITZERLAND 452

CHAPTER XXVII

THE ACTIONS OF THE WAR

FROM BOSNIA TO FLANDERS--MARNE THE TURNING POINT OF THE CONFLICT--THE
CONQUESTS OF SERVIA AND RUMANIA--THE FALL OF BAGDAD--RUSSIA'S WOMEN
SOLDIERS--AMERICA'S CONSCRIPTS 463

CHAPTER XXVIII

AMERICAN FORCES BECOME FACTOR

UNITED STATES SOLDIERS INSPIRED ALLIED TROOPS--RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT
COLLAPSES--ITALIAN ARMY FAILS--ALLIED WAR COUNCIL FORMED--FOCH COMMANDS
ALLIED ARMIES--PERSHING OFFERS AMERICAN TROOPS--UNDER FIRE--U-BOAT BASES
RAIDED BY BRITISH 473

CHAPTER XXIX

AMERICANS TURN WAR'S TIDE

BRILLIANT AMERICAN FIGHTING STOPS HUN ADVANCE--FRENCH AND BRITISH
INSPIRED--FAMOUS MARINES LEAD IN PICTURESQUE ATTACK--HALT GERMANS AT
CHATEAU-THIERRY--USED OPEN STYLE FIGHTING--THOUSANDS OF GERMANS
SLAIN--UNITED STATES TROOPS IN SIBERIA--NEW CONSCRIPTION BILL
PASSED--ALLIED SUCCESSES ON ALL FRONTS 489

CHAPTER XXX

VICTORY--PEACE

THE GERMAN EMPIRE COLLAPSES--FOCH'S STRATEGY WINS--AMERICAN INSPIRATION
A BIG FACTOR--BULGARIA, TURKEY AND AUSTRIA QUIT WAR--MONARCHS
FALL--KAISER ABDICATES AND FLEES GERMANY--ARMISTICE SIGNED--NOVEMBER 11,
PEACE 497

THE NEGRO IN THE WORLD WAR 507

[Illustration: WOUNDED AMERICAN SOLDIERS ENTERTAINING THEMSELVES.

During the period of convalescence the wounded were well cared for. They
earned and deserved the best possible treatment and care.]

[Illustration: FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK, CHEERS NEGRO VETERANS.

The 369th Colored Infantry acclaimed by thousands upon their return from
France. Their record is one of the bravest of any organization in the
war.]

[Illustration: ONE OF THE WOUNDED AND HIS MOTHER.

A member of the famous 369th Colored Infantry, who was wounded in the
fighting, and his proud mother. He sacrificed a leg for the cause of
righteousness and World Peace.]

[Illustration: CHEERFULLY DOING THE WORK REQUIRED.

Transporting tan bark, to be used in connection with tanning leather. No
slackers. The colored women did willingly and efficiently their part in
helping win the war.]

[Illustration: NEGRO SOLDIERS LOOKING FOR THE ENEMY.

Negro troops from many parts of the world were engaged in the war. It
has been estimated that as many as 700,000 Negro soldiers were in the
French Army alone.]

[Illustration: ENTERTAINING CONVALESCENT AMERICAN SOLDIERS AT AUTHEIL.

Negro musicians were in great demand in France. This picture shows
Lieut. Europe's noted colored band.]

[Illustration: THE BAND IN La BOURBOULE, FRANCE.

The arrival of the colored musicians created great excitement. This band
heralded the coming of soldiers to rest up.]

[Illustration: A SNIPER AT WORK.

This papier-mache camouflage, made to imitate a dead horse, furnished
good protection for the sharpshooter.]

[Illustration: SENEGALIANS ON THE SOMME FRONT.]

[Illustration: FRENCH ZOUAVES TAKEN PRISONERS BY GERMANS.

They were formerly artists in a Paris cafe-concert.]

[Illustration: WOUNDED COLORED SOLDIERS ON THE MACEDONIAN FRONT.

They were with the ambulance X.A., and the major surgeon is distributing
cigarettes.]

[Illustration: Private Henry Johnson

Private Needham Roberts

Of the New York National Guards (now the 369th) who have been decorated
by the French for routing 24 Germans and preventing the carrying out of
a well-developed plan to assail one of the most important points of
resistance on the American front. They have been awarded the War Cross
by the French.]

[Illustration: COLORED SOLDIERS BUILDING ROADS "OVER THERE."]

[Illustration: COLORED SOLDIERS IN THE TRENCHES "OVER THERE."

(Note the tin hats.)]

[Illustration: HOTEL BOOKER T. WASHINGTON "OVER THERE."

The Negro Soldiers are surely fighting for Democracy. It is coming to
them by leaps and bounds.]

[Illustration: COLORED SOLDIERS LEAVING AN AMERICAN PORT FOR "OVER
THERE."

(See them dancing on the right.)]

The Late Major Walker, of the First Colored Battalion, District of
Columbia National Guard

[Illustration:

The late Major James E. Walker was born in Virginia, September 7, 1874.
He was educated in the public schools of Washington, D.C., and was
graduated from the M. Street High School in 1893, and the Miner Normal
School in 1894. For twenty-four years he was in the public school
service, and since 1899 was supervising principal. In 1896 he was made
Lieutenant in the First Separate Battalion of the National Guard of the
District of Columbia. In 1909 he was made Captain and in 1912, through
competitive examination, was commissioned Major. His command was called
out to guard the White House, and while on this duty Major Walker's
health became impaired. He was sent to the U.S. Hospital at Fort Bayard,
New Mexico, for treatment, where he died April 4, 1918.]

[Illustration: THE FIGHTING U.S.A. MARINE BRIGADE IN BELLEAU WOOD.

Here the Germans were not only stopped in their march toward Paris, but
"knocked out." The furious and fast fighting of the Marines proved their
superiority. The Hun was badly beaten. The soldier applying the bayonet
is an American Negro.]

[Illustration: AFRICAN TROOPS IN FRANCE. THEY FOUGHT FOR THE ALLIES.

A war dance, relieving the monotony and for the benefit of British and
French troops. These colored soldiers gave a good account of
themselves.]

[Illustration: KAMERAD! KAMERAD!

Three colored Canadians imitating the Germans, whom they captured in
this dugout near the Canal du Nord, as they put up their hands and
shouted "Kamerad"!]

CHAPTER I.

INTRODUCTORY.

CIVILIZATION AT ISSUE--THE GERMAN EMPIRE--CHARACTER OF WILLIAM II--THE
GREAT CONSPIRACY--THE WAR BY YEARS--UNITED STATES IN THE WAR--TWO
HUNDRED FIFTY MILES OF BATTLE--THE DOWNFALL OF TURKEY--THE DEMOCRATIC
CLOSE OF THE WAR.

The World War, terminated by the signing of the armistice November 11,
1918, was attended with more far-reaching changes than any war known to
history, and is destined to so profoundly influence civilization that we
see in it the beginning of a new age. Somewhat similar wars in the past
were the campaigns of Alexander; the wars that overthrew the Roman
Empire and the Napoleonic wars of a previous century; but this one war
surpasses them all, measured by any scale that can be applied to
military operations. It was truly a World War, thus in a class by
itself. Beginning in Central Europe, twenty-eight nations--nearly all of
the important nations of the world--with a total population of about
1,600,000,000--or eleven-twelfths of the human race--became involved. It
cost 10,000,000 human lives, 17,000,000 more suffered bodily injury; the
money cost was about $200,000,000,000, but who can measure the cost in
untold suffering caused by ruined homes and wrecked lives that attended
it? Or who can measure the property loss, considering that the fairest
provinces of Europe were swept with the bezom of destruction?

Rightly to judge the real significance of such a world struggle, we must
consider conditions that made it possible; study the issue involved
stripped of all misleading statements; review its course and weigh the
nature of the profound changes--geographical, political and
economic--that resulted. We shall find that this war was the
culmination of century-old causes; that two rival theories of
government--impossible to longer co-exist--met in deadly conflict; and
that civilization itself was the stake at issue. We shall see that
beyond the wreck of empires and troubled days of reconstruction now upon
us--through it all approaches a wonderful new age. Autocracy has
crumbled; a higher form of democracy will arise and in peaceful days to
come the nations of the world will rapidly advance in all that
constitutes national well-being.

THE GERMAN STATES.

The early history of Germany is a confused panorama of a thousand years,
during which time Central Europe was a country of numerous separate
states, many of them at times coming together as a more or less closely
knit confederacy under the lead of a powerful state, only to fall apart
into a mass of confused units at a later date. It is interesting to
learn that among the Teutonic knights of that early time, none was more
noted than Count Thassilo Von Zollern who founded the house of
Hohenzollern, that played such an ambitious role in European history,
the house whose downfall was one of the dramatic results of the war.

THE RISE OF PRUSSIA.

At its height the German Empire consisted of a union of twenty-five
Germanic states of various grades and the Reichland of Alsace-Lorraine
under the leadership of Prussia, by far the most important state of the
Empire. The foundation of Prussia's greatness was laid by Frederick the
Great in 1763 when he tore Silesia from Austria in an entirely
unprovoked war. He wished to enlarge the bounds of Prussia, he coveted
Silesia, so he took it. In that deed of spoliation we see manifested the
spirit that has animated official Germany since that date. Not only is
the House of Hohenzollern descended from the Robber Knights of old, but
the same is true of the military caste of Germany generally. Recent
centuries have cast only a thin veneer of modern thought over
essentially medieval conceptions of national rights and duties.