Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1916-07-23
ALLIES NOW THINK
WAR TIDE TURNED
Two Years After UItimatum to
Serbia Finds Them Strong
and Confident.
BELIEVE THEY 0UTMATCH
RESOURCES OF THE ENEMY
Pressure on All Fronts Robs Teutons
of Advantage of the Interior
Position.
BY j. L. GARVIN.

Copyright, 1915 by the New York Tribune
Association.l
LONDON. July 22.-Just two years ago
the Austrian ultimatum was flung at
Serbia, and the pale horse Of the apoca-
lypse. ridden by the shadow. appeared
over Europe to presage the death OF mil
lions. The second anniversary of that
event finds all the people of the great
alliance stamped with the conviction
that their victory will be. as Gen. Botha
puts it. complete and absolute"
To be inspired by so strong hope Is in
itself power. For the worlds future
the struggle with all its horrors. Will
have been worth waging. Morally we feel
already that we have the reward OF our
waiting Practically no one doubts now
what l ventured to say with decision
fortnight ago-that the turning point has
been reached.
We have no delusions. We have been
too well exercised in disappointment and
too thoroughly disciplined by experience
We know the stubborn and bloody process
to be passed. We expect that 1t Will take
the better part of a year yet to break up
the central league and secure sound
reconstruction of the old world.
Tiduueu SlO~, Quiz WV.
The allies have begun this time by
reckoning with the worst that may
vet have to be overcome. They have
laid themselves out for slow, sure
work. But they think that well before
the third anniversary of the doomsday
of 1914 the terms on which the war
must end will have been determined by
the crushing of the artificial empire
which issued the deadliest message In
history The HohenZollern system. no
doubt. used that of the Hapsburss as
an instrument. but when that tool is
once broken there can be no hope Tor
German ascendency, even in the eyes
of Germans themselves. Berlin must
accept the consequences. The KAISER S
subjects themselves will change the
system
Chiefly we have three thoughts. We
are glad. above all things, that we are
helping France in battle before the
situation on the Meuse has reached ex-
tremity. and we hope with our allies
that Verdun is saved. We believe thai
in common with the other allies we
have worked out a fighting method as
certain as fate and that the central
empires must succumb to it. Finally.
we like to think that the British army
has proved its quality at last and will
be acknowledged when the struggle is
over to have played part second to
none in the war.
Army Close to People.
We feel that it is coming to its own.
as we always knew it would, and we
are honorably content with that. In a
complete sense 1t is the army Of the
nation-bone of our bone and flesh of
our flesh. The navy is the senior serv-
ice and all else depends upon 1t; but
for every household in the land which
has relatives in the navy there are ten
homes which have men in khaki.
The fleet alone could never have done
enough. In a sense Trafalgar led to
Waterloo, but it took ten years to get
from one to the other, owing to Eng
lands failure to create in the Napo-
leonic wars a great national army for
continental operations. Without such
an army ten years would not bring US
in the present war to as good a goal.
and under the conditions of modern
land war no one can afford a decade of
it, Besides, even Trafalgar might not
have led to Waterloo had not the route
passed through Moscow and Leipzig.
Our democracy of today feels that by
sea we are not less great than were
our ancestors, while by land our mill
tary achievement in two years is rela-
lively and absolutely incompara bly,
greater than theirs. And that has
saved the day in Europe. But for that
the whole continent, from Paris to
Moscow. from Hamburg to Bagdad.
would have been under the Prussian
heel. The enemy's area of supplies
would have been immensely enlarged; ;
sea power alone would have been less
effective against William II than
against Napoleon.
Met a Superior Enemy.
The first forces we threw onto the
continent baffled the German outf1ank-
ing sweep when the enemy was three
to one and even five to one. We had
a share, according to our numbers, in
the honors of the Marine. The British
defense of Ypres when the German ad-
vantage in guns seemed overwhelming
wax as heroic as the French defense of
verdun, and one cannot say more. Even
now we cannot understand why the
Germans failed then to burst our thin
lines across the road to the sea- Had
the Germans known with what des-
perate difficulty we held for want of
guns and numbers the enemy would
probably have been at Calais and Bou-
logne long before the first year was
over.
Some military experts of very high
indeed think that if the
the west in the spring of last year. in
stead of against the grand duke, they
might have broken through and nm
ished with Russia afterward. This year
it would unquestionably have been far
better for the enemy to throw his
utmost weight on Russia. But again
the enemy did the contrary and made,
as we think. the greatest strategical
blunder Of the war. 1t was too late
for the Germans in the west, as it is
now too late in the east-too late every
where France was attacked this
spring with the intention of eXhausting
her reserves. of bleeding her white at
Verdun. But something else was hap
pening. Britain's new armies were
made at last and had become equal
new" as they were-to any troops in
the world In numbers and equipment
they were becoming every day more
They had reserves certain
to outlast those of Germany. To in
sure that remarkable situation was the
bedrock of Lord Kitchener's policy.
Whe nthe Germans attacked Verdun
the British took over more of the
French lines-a very important step
and the beginning of a still more
important process. We were entireIy
at Gen. Joffre's disposal and were very
willing to do more.