Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-07-27
Assassination of Crown Prince
Francis Ferdinand Served
Merely as the Spark to Ig-
mite Volcano of Wrath
Allies Hard Beset When
United States Entered for
the Sake of Human Free.
dom From Kultur
Now Young America Appar.
emily Has Saved the Day in
the West and Italy Holds
Against Austria

THE great war in which nearly the
L whole world Is involved, will have
been waged for four years tomorrow
It was on July %. 1914, that Austria
formally declared war on Serbia, one
month after the assassination at Sera-
jevo of the Austrian Crown Prince
Francis Ferdinand, and his Wife while
on an official visit to the Bosnian capi.
tal This double assassination merely
served as the pretext for plunging the
world into the cataclysmic clash of arms
and wholesale slaughter of humanity
the worst of all ages.
Ever since 1871 there have been
some special subjects Of international
conflict. namely, the desire of the French
to recover Alsace-Lorraine the desire
OF Italy to reclaim. its ''unredeemed"
lands held by Austria colonial and
commercial rivalry among the great
Powers over central and northern Africa
Asia Minor, Mesopotamia and Persia
the increased gravity of questions con-
cerning the Balkan peninsula after the
TURKISH revolution in 1908 and last but
by no means least In this category was
the Anglo-German problem, which was
In process of settlement when war
broke out.
Diplomatic Crisis Added Fuel
Three diplomatic crises added fuel to
the smoldering embers. These were the
first Moroccan crisis in 19O5-06. in which
the Kaiser challenged Delcasse's policy
In Morocco as opposed to the interests
Of Germany, resulting in the dismissal
or the French Minister Of Foreign Af-
fairs: Austria's annexation of Bosnia
and Herzegovina dn l90s) aided and
abetted by the Kaiser, and the second
Moroccan crisis, known as the Agadir
affair. in 1911. This affair ended in
diplomatic defeat for the Kaiser and
caused furious resentment of the Ger
man military party. So much so in fact
that speaker in the Reichstag boldly
proclaimed that hereafter ut is not by
concessions that We shall secure peace.
but by the German sword" and the out
burst was applauded by the German
Crown Prince.
AS a link in word-power domination
came the Mitteleuropa plan. defined
briefly as a plan for a loosely fed
Grated combination for purposes of Of
fense and defense, military and eco
nomic, consisting primarily Of the Ger
| man Empire and Austria Hungary, but
also including the Balkan States and
| Turkey and all the neutral States that
| could be drawn within its embrace. the
| whole group to be dominated by Ger.
many. The war of the Balkan allies
! G91o-13) with Turkey and the treaty
| of Bucharest dissipated the Middle Eu-
! rope dream.
Astride q Volcano
| Thus 1t was that matters stood in the
late summer Of 1914, when all Europe
was astrde a giant volcano whose erup-
| tions would soon Convulse the world
| 1t was at this time the Austrian Crown
Prince was assassinated. Austria de-
| cided to punish Serbia, In whose terri.
| tory the crime was committed Great
Britain. Russia and France tried to me.
diate, but despite their efforts Austria
declared war on the little kingdom Rus
sa went to the aid of Serbia by mo
bilizing her armies on the Austro-Hun
garian frontier On July 81, 1914, Ger
many proclaimed n threatening DANCE
Of war and sent ultmatums to Russis
and France. The next day orders 70
general mobilization were issued In Ger
many and France. and Germany de
clared war on Russia in defense of he
ally, Austria-Hungary.
The events that followed-Germany'
invasion OF Luxembourg. the violation o
Belgium, the appeal Of the heroic Bel
gian King to Great Britain, France ant
Russia to come to her assistance: Grea
Britain's utimatum to Germany, fol
lowed by declaration of war against tn
Kaiser the subjueation of Belgium an
the entrance into France Of the German
. armies with the avowed intention of TAX
,, ing Paris; how they were hurled bac
. a. the battle of the Marne-all thes
events need not be recited in detail. a
they are still fresh in the public mint
And the two great opposing armie
still are fighting along that great west
, ern line as the world struggle is abou
10 enter the fifth year But now, a