Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1914-08-19
WHAT WAR MEANS TO
BIG EUROPEAN POWERS

Austria dismembered. Italy drawn
aside by her Mediterranean and
African interests and the German
empire left exposed to the eternal
rivalry of the Slav and the undying
resentment of the nation which has
never yet accepted the treaty OF
Frankfort.
France. next TO Austria, is most Wit
ally affected by the present crisis. Vic
torious III the present war she would
regain her lost Provinces" The eter-
nal shadow Of German menace would
be removed. Spared the terrible ex-
pense of maintaining the unequal
struggle with her neighbor beyond the
Nosges for military superiority, she
coulu turn her to the level
opment OF her great north African
empire. which would insure her re-
naming as a world power.
But defeated. France will have to
surrender the role of a world power.
With a stationary population, shorn
of many of her African colonies. if not
of some of her European provinces.
she would sink to The rank of Spain or
become a mere satellite of Germany,
incapable of resisting her. compelled to
share in her future campaigns as was
Prussia in Napoleon's after Jena had
put her at his feet. So the French
statesmen and patriots nave reckoned
NA% ~ VI 81 " III So
they have described it as a war for
the existence of France.
For Great Britain the line of self
interest. the deciding element. since.
unlike Russia, France and Germany,
30 question of race or religion enter.
is less plain. For the Servians. Eng
land cares not a fig. She sacrificed the
Bulgarians at the congress Of Berlin.
the Albanians at London without hesi-
tation. Could the war be localized"
no sympathy with the Servian would
move her statesmen.
Again, victory for her Russian and
french allies would mean the tremen-
dous ACKNOWLEDGEMENT of the f%orlrer.
which confines India, presses uton
emma. is stretching south into Persia
and is still as ever determined to revc
ConstantInople, to prevent which Eng
land fought the Crinean war INC was
prepared to fight again after the
treaty of San Stefano.
on the other hand, a victory for the
triple alliance would mean the i'm
mediate expansion OF the German
navy, the destruction of the balance
OF power on the continent for which
England fought her great wars with
Louis NV. and Napoleon. 1t might
be. as the German soldiers. sailors and
statesmen ave long threatened, the
prelude to "the day" when the German
navy would sweep the English from
the sea and the British colonial empire
be the prize of victory. France de-
stroyed. Russia crippled. England
would be exposed to the greatest peril
In her history, and the possibility of
such peril drove England into the
triple entente.
For Italy the prospect is most con-
fused. A victory for Austria would
mean Austrian expansion in the Bal
kans. along the Adriatic and toward
the Aegean. Austria, too. is the secu-
lar enemy. Thousands of italians are
still subject to Austrian tyranny in
the "unredeemed lands" Austria is
the italian rival in the Adriatic. and
If victorious would be able to Law
hands On Salor.ica. the key to the
near east.
Again. should Italy join the Ger
mans and Austrians her coast would
be at the mercy of the French Medi-
terranean fleet; her newly won Tri-
politan colony would be the inviting
prize for French garrisons of native
troops in Algeria and Tunis. To bal
ance this Italian reward for fidelity
10 her allies would doubtless be Tunis
and perhaps Egypt, if England, too,
were defeated.
Such. briefly, are the major consid- /
eratlons which a general war has for
the rulers of Europe. So complicated
confusing are the policies and the
purposes of the great powers which
stand on the edge or a war more
terrible than Europe has known since
Napoleon abdicated at Fontainebleau.