The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1914-07-31
TWELVE MILLION
SOLDIERS MAY
Be \ CONFLICT
General European Struggle
Would Make Wars Of Ma
p0IC0HIC Era Small.
sERvIA NOT TO BE OESPISED
Little Country Has Large Army Of
Veteran fIghteTs-Germary's Won
derfui War Machine In Read,
necs to Begin VA at a
Moments Notice.

Americans unacguainted with The
elaborate military organizations Of for.
sign powers Il have but little Idea Of
the tremendous number OF combatants
who would be involved In any general
European whr which might arise from
Austria's imbroeiio with Servia. Aus.
tria, large as she In In territory and
population, does not outnumber Servia
In available trained men 30 heavily IA
might be expected, But the serious
meas Of the situation lies In the fact
that, once hoBtillties between the two
principals begin, Il general war might
be Inevitable. And 1t IL safe to say
that not even the Napoieonic wars
rent the fabric OF European civilization
AZ would n war between the powers of
the triple entente aud the triple ALI,
n
Always snpposing that Russia makes
good her reported threat to aid Seryia
In case the Austrians persist In going
to extremes, 1t Ia believed that Ger
many aud Italy would come to their
ally's assistance. In such u circum-
stance. II Ia assumed that Great Brit.
ain and France. the two remaining
powers In the triple entente. would not
permit their ally, Russia, to fight such
a serious battle alone. This might
mean the arraying OF Russia, France
and b~ritaln~and possibly Rumania~--
nm tina aida pF EtaY,,tn ana lfauttuut
and Italy on the eide Of Austria, with
tho possibility that the other Balkan
nations and Turkey may be dragged
Into the quarrel,
Austria's Fighting Forces.
Austria's army Ia credited viii, a
peace strength Of $4,000 men and
1850 guns. which the tlrstline re-
serves would increase In a few days to
$4,000 men, Behind these could be
mustered hundreds of thousands of
men Of varying ages who have had
some military training, and who would
Ill tho gaps In the field army. Little
6ervia can mobilize all Of her male
population trained TO bear arms to the
number Of $4,000 In a fortnlght's time.
although abe maintains only $4,000 ,
men In time of peace. As Austria |
must guard her Russian frontier and
leave some troops In the great Siav
areas Of her own territory to restrain
outbursts Of revolution. It can be seen
that any army she might attempt to
throw across the Danube into Servia
would not be OF overwhelming
strength. Then, too. the Seryian
army is largely composed Of veterans.
with a splendid morale, and a record
Of irst.rate achievement In the Balkan
wars.
Germany's field army In time of war
numbers 1890 men. and her en-.
tire system of mobilization and strate.
gy ia based upon an invasion Of France
and II Simultaneous resistance TO a
Russian attack upon her back door.
Behind this field army stands an act
I've reserve Of 600, 900 men Of the Land.
wehr, and behind them still $500, 900
men who have had military training
and are available TO make good battle
losses. Germany's strong point. AS OPP
posed TO Russia. of course, lies In her
superior mobilization. The vast dis.
tances which Russian reservists must
and the scanty railroads In the
cars empire all tend somewhat to
neutralize the preponderance Of Rus,
sian troops.
On a peace footing, the Russian
army numbers 1884. 900 men of all
corps, distributed over her European
and Asiatio possessions. Many OF
these men would not be available for
use In a European war, But military
experts concede that Russia could hurl
n great army of 1900, 900 men across
the German and Austrian frontiers,
these men comprising the regular Eu.
army corps and the hrstline re-
Behind them. In turn, are
several million trained and partly
men. for use In making up the
OF battle and disease.
France, too, would be an effective
ally Of the S~ervisns on land. The
army Ia q different weapon
what II was In 1870. The active
within continental France ia
to number about 600, 900 men,
And. although Frances limited popula.