Birmingham state herald., 1896-02-02
WARS BEGIN THE CENTURIES. Nearly All Great Conflicts Have Commenced
 lt With Such Epochs.


 Boston Advertiser f,r3 ans
 If the present excited dispute between the British and the German governments should finally culminate In a war there would be no great reason for surprise, for it generally happens that each centu- ry begins or ends in a war of some world wide importance. This has been shown so often in history since the mediiaeval epoch that one might almost take for granted the existence of some law which decreed that about the end of each cen tury a great war should be waged. While of course there Is no such law, there does seem to be in history tendency to ep- och-making events in science, in politics, in art, in music or even in religious move ments about once every 100 years. The children of great men do not seem to accomplish much; but the grand children or great-grandchildren repeat the deeds of their ancestors. Admitting the exist ence of atavism the occurrence of great events a century apart does not seem to be entirely the work of fiekle chance.
 At all events, there can be few things more firmly established in past history than the fact that when a century closes or a new century opens there will be noted an important war. Away back in the middle ages this fact was to have been noted The eleventh century, as will be noted at once, closed with the cap
 
 which began in 1895. The second crusade accomplished a less fortunate result Je- iusalem was lost in 1187, and although once again the chivalry of Europe in cuding Richard of England, went to fight the. Turks as theAtwelfth century closed even the capture of Constantine pie in 1903 did not make the crusades of that time a success. z sss
 The close of the thirteenth century was also marked by desperate conflict be- tween Christian and painm forces; but the 'crusades were ended for all time by the capture of Acres and before another century had passed the nations that had undertaken the crusades together were fighting among themselves.
 The fourteenth century closed with the wars in England and the accession of Henry ", and early in the fifteenth cen tury the bitter war between France and England broke out. The discovery of Columbus took the fancy of the fighting men, who hurried to the new countries on adWenturous expeditions; but the Cambraw league war against Venice closed the century and early in the next century, or about 1513,sthe wel-known battle of "the field of the spurs" at Guine- gate and the bloodier battle of Flodden field took place.
 Toward the close of the sixteenth cen- tury it seemed as if all the world were fighting. About twelve years before the century closed the Spanish armada came to grief A few years later in France, the fight between Henry of Navarro and the league was being most bitterly waged in the memory of the St. Bartholomew massacre. In far off Croatia 650OO Chris tians were being slaughtered by the Turks. The religious wars of Europe were most fiercely waged at this time, and early in the seventeenth century the wars of Germany were begun to bring such soldiers as lilly, Gustavus Adol- phus and Wallenstein into prominence. On the high seas the 'gentlemen adven- turers" and buccaneers started upon their careers, which later degenerated into downright piracy.
 It was about a century later that the pirates reached the height of their ca- reer, and only a few years after the cap ture of Panama and Carthagena the buc- cancer confederacy was broken up and the pirates were hunted down. It was near the close of the seventeenth century also that the Polish king, Sobieski, saved Vienna and stayed the Turkish advance into Europe The campaigns of Marlbor- ough against the great French king and those of Peter the Great against the Swedish were among the great military events of the age. About a century later came the war of the American revolution the dismemberment of Poland, the French revolution and a general scene Of militarism which at last brought to the front one central figure, Napoleon whose meteoric career was practically begun with that of the nineteenth century