Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1917-01-05
MILITARY ASPECT OF
GERMAN PEACE PROPOSALS

- 'ioiiS ~ y eGsAA - - O'>
until the end.
To-day German influence extends
from Hamburg to Bagdad, from the
Elbe to the Tigris, and German arrival
at Suez has long been expected by
British garrisons and forecast by Berlin
soldiers. BY crushing Rumania Ger
many has removed the last possible
menace t" her road to the east, and if
Rufnania escapes from the war a state
she will necessarily be drawn back to
the German Influence from which she
escaped only with the death of her Old
king. What this escape has cost her is
already plain TO all R~umanians, and be-
Tore Rlllnania entered the war the Ger
man influence at Bucharest was very
considerable.
The sole condition of peace that Ger
many now cares about is that condition
which permits her to control central
Europe and to keep open the doorway
to Asia Minor. where she hopes to build
Il colonial empire comparable to those
of france n Britain and hardly in
ferior to that of Russia. And if Germany
can mold approximately the lines she
now occupies. if she can escape disaster
and conquest. she will preserve this
essential condition.
Napoleon fell because he could put
no limit to his ambition. He conquered
europe. he extended the frontiers OF
France until they included the Euro
pean seacoast from the Nistula to Cat
taro; but there was no point at which
ne would pause. He exhausted France
and aroused all Europe against him.
Yet even then he fell only because of
his gigantic Russian blunder. which
destroyed his great army. that army
which he could not replace.
Germany is not undertaking to re-
peat Napoleon's mistake. On the con-
trary, her peace move will eventually,
IL not Immediately. aim at separating
the allies who are fighting her by maxi
ing a peace tina is tolerable and even
favorable for all save Russia and using
the WEAKNESS of war and the possible
suspicion of Russia as a lever within
France. Britain n Italy. If the war
ecomes merely a question of whether
russia or Germany shall rule at Siam
boul, will France. II Italy and Rritain
continue to sacrifice blood and treas
ure? Germany believes rot, and she is
aiming, l believe, to bring about such
a condition.
On the military side the question is:
Can the allies crush Germany? Now
that the German lines are established
east and west, can Germany's foes hope
to carry the war into German and
Austrian territory by piercing these
lines? And the war must be carried
far into Austrian and German terri
tory = the allies are to impose their
will upon Germany: that is, il they ARE
to r~eestablish Serbia and put the car
in control of the straits. The German
answer is that this cannot be done
within any time limit that it is possible
That the war can reach. or at any cost
In life that it is conceivable that her
enemies can pay.
The Germans. quite as we'll as their
opponents. recognize that there is every
possibility that the allies will be able
next summer to push back the German
lines i'm France. They may even expel
tho NJ n Vs fssp, ~ IN.,~
west of a line from Antwerp, through
Namur TO the Verdun front. But his
will not bring a. allies into Germany.
nor release all Belgium, nor threaten the
central European plan. At the close of
another year Of var if The allies stand
that there is no German disaster, Ger
many will still occupy strong lines far
within enemy territory and her retreat
Will have shortened her lines.
If the Russians should make a new
advance in the east and take Lemberg
and the country east of the Carpa-
thians and south of the San, at "a cost
equal to that of the last great often
sive, Germany would still hole Lithu-
ania as a counter balance and could
trade it against a restoration of east
ern GaliciW and the Bukowina to Aus
tria.
The essence of the German idea now
seems to be that the element Of time is
with n central powers n not with
the allies. and in this they are in some
degree confirmed by the recent fall of
a British ministry. held responsible for
British delays, and the removal of
Joffre. who has been the apostle of Fa-
bian tactics. 1t is now at last recog-
nized by the allies that they have not
all time and eternity to win the war in
and that questions of food and funds
are becoming >pressing for them also.
so Tar. after two Voal.y nyrorv o11io1
effort to break the German lines on the
western front has failed, as had every
German effort to break the west front
OF the allies. Today the Germans be-
lteve that france and Italy will break
before their own ines fail.
More than this, as a H~indenburg
statement to an American correspond
,ent the'O other day Indicated, the Ger
mans believe that the French will fight
with less determination hereafter when
pared to return all French territory
when peace is made. But, as linden
burg said. il the French care to con-
tinue fighting or what they al have
on application. Germany believes that
she can hold this at a price that will
be prOhtbitive in French blood.
Satisfied that she has reached the
maximum or the approximate MAKE
mum of her military expansion. esti-
mating her profits in terms of her re-
sources. 1t would seem from the mill
tary standpoint that German peace
terms would De based upon the as
sumption that exhaustion would over
take her foes before they were able
either to exhaust her or to win mill
tary successes sufficient to destroy the
Germany plan and impose their will
upon Germany, to the extent of de-
|stroying the German conception of a
central European state WITH western
Asiastic dependencies.
And on the military side 1t seems to