Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1914-12-01
French Ministry of Foreign A.
fairs Reviews Events Which
Preceded Hostilities.
ISSUE OF YELLOW BOOK
REVEALING THE DETAILS
Declares Germany Began Prepare
lions in Spring of 1918 to Menace
the Triple Entente.

PARIS, December 1.-The French min
istry Of foreign affairs has made public a
yellow book bearing on the causes of the
present war. This French volume Is
much more complete than the publica-
lions of this nature given out up to the
present time by other governments.
The French report has e16 pages and
comprises no fewer than $50 documents
1t is devoted primarily to a recital Of
the negotiations which followed the de-
livery Of the Austrian note to Servia Gully
%. 1910 and which preceded the declara-
ton Of war by Germany on Russia (Au-
gust 1. 1910 and on France august 3.
1910. 1t is brought to close by the re-
production Of the declaration Of the triple
entente powers that Great Britain. Russia
and France would not conclude peace
separately.
The French diplomatic documents in
this book are divided in chapters in order
TO distinguish the preliminaries from the
The first chapter Is entitled preface"
1919 and Is devoted to the remoter re-
gions and the deeper causes Of the pres
ent conflict.
Preparations for War.
An extract CT the yellow book given out
officially in Paris. reads follows:
1T was first in the spring of 1913 that
We noted this colossal and expensive mill
tary effort which alone can explain the
desire to impose the Gernanic superiority
and hegemony upon the powers Of the
triple entente. When France responded
Of three years service b the army, this
measure of defense was denounced in Of
ncial circles in Berlin as a 'provocation
which should not be tolerated
TN April Of 1913 secret and official
German report defined the objective
and the means Of the national policy
as follows: Convince the people of the
necessity Of an offensive war against
France: prepare uprising in Russia and
In North Africa: provide for. in case
of hostilities, the immediate -absorp-
ton of Belgium and Holland
These are the ideas extolled in this
shortly after We saw the Germans
endeavor to put into operation.
We declare that Emperor William,
who. up to that time had posed as
course of a conversation with the King
OF Belgium that he had finally come to
share the ideas Of his military ad-
visers. He had placed himself among
the partisans of war which he
thought would not be long delayed,
and the empowering success Of
which seemed TO MIN certain. Public
opinion, in it's turn. permitted itself
TO be won over by the passions of the
military party and came to consider
the affair of Agadir as a defeat for
Germany. 1t regarded the existence
Of strong France as a danger to Ger
many and the breaking out of a Euro
pean war as the only remedy for all
difficulties and all uncertainties
Endansers Peace Of Europe.
These bel1icose dispositions consti-
tuted a permanent danger for the peace
Of Europe.
From = perusal of the six other
chapters of the Yellow Book, which
are devoted to the diplomatic negotia-
lions carried, on in the month of July,
there Is to be deducted, and supported
by evidence. the following Impressions:
That the combination between Austria
and Germany had decided upon war,
and that on four successive occasions
this combination endeavored to precipi-
tate war by violent proceedings. the
purpose of which was to prevent or to
insure the failure of all efforts at con-
citation. The first of these proceed
ings was the Austrian ultimatum to
Servia Gully 24) which was the origin
Of this conflict In spite of the fact that
the Belgrade government offered, for
the prosecution of the assassins of the
Austrian archduke, every facility COM
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