The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-01-01
History VIII GiUe 1914 Place as Year
of War Which Brought Out Best in Men

/ European statesmen will resemble the
African chiefs who by incantations
charms and prayers endeavor to pre-
| vent an eclipse or avert a cyclone.
From all this tangle OF diplomacy,
intrigue. OVERLAPPING the gradual com.
ing into collision OF nations the Ger
man declaration OF war upon Russia on
| August emerges as a clear fact, a
definite, decisive incident. From that
time to this the record of sven,s lies
| clear and open, a world drama passing
from stage to stage with incredible
| rapidly.
Thus in mid-August comes the con-
quest OF Belgium, the resistless sweep
! OF the German army from tha THINE
70 the Meuse. out OF !; all energies the
concrete picture OF little people.
| brave possessed of unconquerable spirit,
giving to mankind one m we memorable
example Of that nobility and grandeur
which other generations have found In
the story OF Thermopyls OF Marathon.
Then IN September comes the revela-
ton OF France, OF a new France as oid
as the history OF ,ho race. Along the
/ Marine. on the hails where Roman civ
| ilizatlon turned back Attla, France. the
| decaden, dying France OF the las; years
OF the nineteenth century, dlscloses itself
I az the France OF 1889. Of the French
| Revolution. ON that battlefield there il
, decided not the issue OF the Great War
| but the question Of whether there shan
| be a France.
Eastward 900 there arises q new fact.
Russia, beaten by Japan. fallen low in
| military estate. stands forth as the Russia
| Of 1912, the Russia that conquered Ma
! poleon. aud along the Galician marches
/ the Austro-lIungarian military fabric be-
| gins to crumble into dust to yield 10 IN
| FIRST OF an lnterminable series OF defeats
not Vet ended.
No less wonderful was the German
| phenomenon Where men talked of a
| machine" an army driven by mechanics,
made up OF mere instsuments. they now
began to behold a nation Of human be-
| ings. united by an intense patriotism
| determination. courage and confidence
| Forty-four wears OF unity, OF common ne
and aspiration had now patiently welded
| together separate States into German
fatherland and the gallantrv and devo-
| ton OF the Bavarans claimed equal
praise with the endurance OF the Prus-
SLAMS.
! In the same time England showed
again with her gallant little army and
her tremendous fleet the same qualities,
| the same characteristics that have given
her world empire. on land the little
! army OF Sir John French, from Mons
| TO the Marle. disclosed their Inheritance
OF precisely the qua'ities that won
| Waterloo AID made the Peninsula the
| grave Of Napoleonic armies
| Thus IL has been that little by little
| the world has learned 10 discard the
notion. the doa, that a Waterloo, Sc
! dan. Jena. was 20 be expected. Rather
/ r. became plain to all Observers that
what was lightning was one Of those
long terrible struggles. fortunately in-
frequent In al human history, in which
all the elements of chaos. of unrest, Of
revolution, u, struggle. attain temporary
| supremacy. and the result IL conflict In
| which the details and causes arc equally
obscure and complex and only exhaustion
can bring peace
To-day. after five months. the Great
Wa presents two wholly different a.
poets. ON the one side tho world sees
provinces, cities vast areas and beauti-
rul towns in ashes and ruins. 1t per
| ceives men. women and children herinG
before the storm as men. women and
| children fled before the coming OF thu
barbarlans .. old. sees them In East
Prussia as well as IN Belgium. In Austrian
| Poland quite as much as in the French
| Champagne Hunger. disease. destruc
, tion. all the conComitants OF war, ar
| daily becoming more familiar TO ouI
| eyes.
And or the other slds there is showr
with equal darity, with unmistakabl'
tplendor. the courage. the sacrifice, the
! greatness OF neu and women. the thin
We call patriotism, shining forth. not in
one but IN all the nations. the devotion
tho surrender OF all mean. petty, selfisl
| things to the common good, TO the ideal %
national existence. n the Great War ha
again loosed all the horrors OF strife 4
has equally In France, In Germany, II
England and Austria, in Belgium and Ser
via In the big States and the little States
called forth the things that make the his