Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1896-12-03
THE WAR OF THE FUTURE
As Pictured By an imaginative French Army
Officer.

Ill fleDcn ARMY ClICleS, anu WHICH IS
certain to attract the attention OF mill
tary men all over the world 1t is en-
titled LInvasion Nore (The Black
Invasion, and is written by Capt.
Danrit, a French army officer in active
service
The purpose of the work, which is
fornida bile in size and profusely illus
trated, is to show what a great war
would mean so years hence. when it
may he reasonably supposed That
scientific invention will have perfected
engines of destruction even more ter
ribfe and deadly than those in use to-
day.
The author somewhat plausibly i'm
asines "a general uprising of the black
races all over the world The East
Indians rise once more in revolt against
the English in India and join forces
with the Soudanese. Algerians,
Abyssinians. Zulus and Egyptians and
the hundreds of other races and tribes.
known and unknown. of the great
African continent. who are exasperated
at the manner in which the European
powers have taken possession If their
country.
Forty millions of Mohammedans in
China. the Siamese. the Persians and
the Turks all join the standard of the
holy war of vengeance and eXtermna
ton. and assemble under the leader
ship of Abdul NJ manned. a Sultan
dethroned at Constantinople by Eng
fish intrigue. but regarded by every
! true Mussuman as the representative
of the prophet and the chief of Islam.
| Hordes of fanatics gather under his
| banner from all parts of Asia, Africa
| and India. until at the last the Sultan
| has under his command an army of
| $4,000 Geo men.
| Al preconcerted signal. this vast
| horde. perfectly armed with the most
| modern weapons. purchased from The
whites. sweeps over Europe. spreading
| devastation and ruin in its path. just as
| Is hundred years previous the barbar-
Gus Huns had swept over the western
| empire of Rome
| This idea had given Capt. Danrt an
opportunity to describe all the ethods
of defense likely to be adopted by the
| European nations to repel this inva-
sion, and in this lies the chief intereS.
of the book. He has treated it very
much after the manner of Jules Verne,
| and. indeed, the work is dedicated to
that great French romanticist. who
was the first to describe and discuss
| the latest and most interesting dis
coveries of science under the guise of
| fiction.
Jules Verne. in acknowledgment of
| the dedication, writes to the author as
I fnllnVS iS rom a ,.ls :, hl.a
| for its originality do not think I
can praise it more than when | say |
| heartily wish had written it myself "
| With pardona bic national vanity
Capt. Danrit arranges in his work tina t
| the Mussulman wave sweeps every
thing before it until it gets to Paris
There it is powerless to overcome the
heroic and scientific defense made by
| bis countrymen. Paris saves the
civilized world. In a short preface the
author says:
Il do not think this hypot is ex-
travagant. | attempt to explain how
| these African hordes succeed in over
| coming the formula BILE armies which
| the European powers raise to arrest
| their progress. Although civilized ma
tons have the powerful auxiliary Of
science. the Sultan. entirely untram-
meled by the human law of nations,
| does not hesitate to let loose against
| his enemies every frightful disease and
pest known to barbarian people. He
| introduces cholera and typhus fever
among the European forces, and these
| scour2es destroy more life than a dozen
| battles.
| II
better resistance to these invaders than
the Roman empire offered to the bar
| barianso Why should not Abd-u Ill
| NJ hammcd. this almost divine chief of
a fanatical army Of l300O,0c0, renew
the exploits Of the Alarics, the Genrises
| and the Odoacres, who, followed only
| by few hundred thousand men, made
| their triumphal entry into imperial
| Rome? Have we more confidence be-
| cause Europe is better armed than the
| Roman legiuns We're. or because our
| advance in science. or because we have
steam powder and electricity? What
| would all that amount to if panic
seized every heart. or if the cholera or
the black plague melted our armies?
| The blacks begin hostilities by sez-
| ing and destroying all the European
| posts on the Congo and the Nile. and
| then begin their victorious march to-
! ward the mediterranean. A French
army of %. 900 men engages them in the
| Sahara. and a horrible massacre en-
s,1es There are 20 Soudanese to every
F'renchman. and in spite of their maya
zire rifles and rapid firing machine
guns. the French are slaughtered to a
IMAM
| Meantime Europe begins to ht
alarmed at the seriousness of the up
| rising. and in Paris the Biographies
| society of French Africa appoints a
| ce committee to report on the extent OF
the revolt The president of the society
is an aerunaut and has perfected ar
lair ship which he calls The Car, anc
lin which he offers to proceed to Africa
'IThe air ship. in Capt. Danrit's opinion
j viii he the most important factor II
the warfare of the future, ana ne gives
THE Gar" as a type of air ship whlc.
wound be the most practicable Tor MN
|tary purposes
1 1t is shaped like spinning top OF
lrather. il consists of two cones undet
iat their base. Its width is o. feet anf
hts total height 20 feet. Its chief orig
| ..,:., ~ construction lies in the FAC