The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1915-01-26

cember,' by Frank II. Simors-
in the American Review Of H.
views for January.
In any general survey of the his.
tory Of the great war in its dftl
month, the moral rather than iii.
military effect Of the operations take,
! first place. For if the German a.
tack in the opening months uighA
fairly BIZ hkened 10 q forest 6r,.
| sweeping irresistihiy forward 0e,
vast districts, ever widening its al-.
of destruction and mounting eye~
higher in It's violence. it is not less
patent that, December come, Their.
was east and west in Europe an eti-
| dent slackening of the fire-groxIn-
competence on the part OF tho-o
whose necessity it was to limit roI-
| troll, exJinguisn the blaze.
! Looking at the fields of Operations
in December il was plain that Will.
there had been no success Yet in az.
tuaIy exiting GiShinS the contlaefation
It had been limited, circutnscribed.
confined TO tne narroWeSt bound.
since it broke out. In places ii was
actually flung back: ct no point was
it permitted to ravage against many
| of the districts which it had swepo
over in the early days ii August and
September
Ia September il was Paris Whici
had been in danger. In October. in
! November, the German drive for he
seacoast, for Calais and Dunkirk
threa tened Go conquer for the kaise'
those "WindoWs on the channel which
for ali Pan~Gernians had been the
dream Of all dreams. the first ster
IN the series which was to acquire for
Germany her place in the sun.
But if III November and in the ter
rible battle Of Ypres, Of Flanders
this German advance had been matt.
| m htar. II oi... bot
like the march to Paris the sweep
to the channel had been definitely
repulsed. From Switzerland to the
North Sea the great German offensive
lost the necessary numbers ard force.
! had come to full stop, fallen dead
had sunk to the level of a mere siege
operation in which the Germans were
t more frequently on the defensive
T than the offensive. and one by one
towns and villages in Flanders, IL
Artois. in Champagne which had
l been captured in the initial drives.
were regained by allied advances, ad-
5 vances measured by rods, not miles.
achieved in days. not hours
For this the explanation was to b
/ found rather in the east than the
e west, for while her western campaign
4 was still at crisis Germany had
: again, as before the battle Of the
Marine, to hurry eastward troops nee
I essary to enforce victory in Flanders
1 to avoid the imminent disaster Rus
e sian masses had prepared in Poland
G East and west, Russian, French and
brlush armies increased in numbers,
l IN effectiveness in material, particu-
r larly in artillery, while Austrian re-
y sources and military value declined
stlll more rapidly than before, and az
{ | last there seemed to be the approach
= OF tune when German numbers and
i courage German efficiency and skill
would no longer avail to keep the
e battle lines on both fronts outsid.
her own territory
LookinS seward, too, the decisiv.
de1eae or the last German fleet on
q the high seas-always inevitable.
c gwen the superiority OF the allied
nasleS-served 10 emphasize once
: more how fatally the net was being
y drawn about the German empire. IT
e served to recall for ali Americans the
e circumstances OF the Confederacy
mhen-Gettysburg lost, and the At
) lanuc blockade made effective-th-
y superiority in resources and numbers
e OF the North was established. and the
CIV! war settled down to a process Of
attrluon Then came destruction -
u campaigns IN which neither skill de-
IL Fouon, nor Vaior could avail against
mum bers. wealth and sea power
mus for the outside world Dere.n-
Der seemed to mark the beginning Or
u the end, not in the sense that the APP
- pToacn OF peace was meaSurably has
- tened not that the prospect OF q Ions,
= ana terrible war was banished bat
le simply in the sense that under the
= polucal conditions existing, while the
ranks OF her enemies remained III
e, broken. there was no longer any
u promise Of ultimate German victory
IL Fernanys problem henceforth sc. o. =
lie ed 10 be one Of defense not attack. 81
Sc endurance not conquest. William II
II Was not 10 conquer Europe as \apO-
l. leon did at Austerlitz GERMANY vas
81 not to control the Continent ~
"a France had a little nore than d cen
ia tury before. 1t remained to be seen
n whether the German Emperor could
1t fioid Belgium as Frederick the tireat
had held Silesia against the corn