Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1918-12-01
GREATEST SEE-SAW
GAME IN THE WORLD.
Ups and Downs of Great War
Show Four Years Of
fluctuations.
J0FFRE AS miracle MAN"
When He Stopped His Retreat
and Stood, Tide
Changed
JOFFRE AS miracle MAN.
Especial to The Times-Dispatch1

H..
Victory is ours; the Tcuton is ground
into the dust, begging for that mercy.
to which he assigned no place In his I
scheme of war. 5
Now that the lighting is over and
ours is the winning side. we can pause
TO look back over four hideous years
OF slaughter and devastation. We can
take stock of what has happened and
We can allow ourselves to realize that
never before in history was there a war
of such and so many ups and downs
such alterations of the madness OF
triumph with the chill of despair
Up and down the fortunes of the
allies most certainly went before vic.
tory finally perched on the banners OF s
Foch last summer. A retrospect of the 4
conflict shows nine sharply defined :
some of the greatest struggles of the
war, amPng them Verdun and the
Sopme. because those. critical though
sharp contrast Many ba tiles even
whole campaigns. are excluded, simply
because they do not present the re-
quisitc ebb and flow of fortune
The nine phases in question ara tho
following:
/. The Marine u9l4). H
:. TanncnbcrG I9l4. y
). Russian advance in Galicia
4. The Dunajcc G915). t
.. Brusllon,s Offensive 1915.
b. BulGarias war record. a '-Asi
q. Turkeys war record. liti4
5. 1taly's war record
western front. 80
trated all the elements of dramatic
change which have characterized this
war
EVENTS THAT LED UP @
TO CHANGE OF FORTUNE +
To begin with the events that led y
a. nF
Belgium had hecn violated Tramp Z
ing ON her promise to respect Belgian &
neutrality, Germany had flung her cruel
border, through Wise and Li.ge and q
Louvain. burning and outraging and
killing. Brussels had fallen. The forts
or Namur had crumbled before the fire 4
OF the Invaders, monster guns. Heroic
King Albert and the remnant of his
armies had shut themselves up In
Antwerp. where zeppelins rained bombs
children sheltered. tlsg
The French left wing had been de-.
Gated at Mons and English had-sbeens
lie cateau and Landrecles and St.
Quentin the heroic men of French and
Haig and Smith Dorrien had retrcated,
brave Englishmnn they were, in futile
attempts to check the rush OF Wilhelm's
ruthless armies. 49,
To their right the French were also
Joffre's order TO give ground and more;
ground and still more ground. Around
iariS trees and houses had been felled3
TO clear the way for the guns of her
forts. y The French government moved
to BrodeauX.
II looked like 1870 all over again
Germans. with the ninble Won Kluck
on the extreme right were closing in. 4
Then came the miracle. IS
.Ionre brusuucly ordered his mon To
them to turn their faces to the foe, to
die in their trucks If they must. bit
hor TO yield another inch.
against the impact of the Germans.
sa anen ro Nancy rY,m, rolled up the over
feE,ments hurled themselves upon the
IN Inc center. Foch. who was to pass
sentence OF death upon German milf;
, ,;.r Ionr years later. drove forward
confessed defeat. and. cutting in hs-
tween Won kluck and Won Eulow. he
s .'n shed Germany's hopes of speedy
victory with one splendid blow. !.
GERMAN HOPES REVERSED
SHAKEN AND DEClMATEn
Shaken and decimated. tho GERMS !,
armies fell back from the Marine foptHal
Aisne Here they dug themselves in
70 fon siaS months mon, and years on the de '
weeks. " 'ooi
., The l"., world gaspcd at such reversal
to he matched by the millions of on
lockers who, from the remotest corners
OF the globe breathlcssly regarded ina
titanic spectacle.
For the next turn of fortune,s ,,b,.,5
we must turn back to events on the
tar-fung eastern front. where. for SO
long Russian. German and Austrian
armies fought hack and forth across
q IN f,,r
leaEing ruin, hunger. death in their
wake. The tickle nature OF the goddess
or battles was shown on this front in
III" very first month of the war
IL was In East Prussia The hulk OF
the German armies had been hurled
against France. because the great gem
STA. would be so slow to mobilize her
armies that France could be disposed I
OF before Russia was ready. thus max
Ing 1t possible for the Germans To
had been captured and the French Re-
puh,ic tnmbled into the dust
sut that general stan had reckoned
nrising promptness. Russia sncceeded
In throwing into East Prussia two
iarga armies; one under General Rem
ncnkamnT' nh She other under General
rnsit on the frontier and advanced un-
checked strrteht toward the heart OF
n iha ssh ;, The ISs German general in
'.S' W 'ue ttS'eTn frontier Shltt
UP in Koenigsberg. badly
sen red. leaving the province at the
mercy OF the invaders Over the roads
leading westward thousands OF fright 5
ered peasants streamed s.
HOW IINDENHCRG CAME
INTO WARS JINEIICIT.r
Thcn those In TIL" seats OF the mighty
a. Berlin bcthought themselves OF ans
Old srouchv general living at Han (
over named Hindenburs. who had heen (
ho"ing, people for years by incess1rt
talk about the lake region OF Fast,
Prussia which he considered a spInr- s.
did bulwprk OF defense against Russian
onslaught. 49, I,
They. sent for him and asked him IN
!ake charge OF the defense against
Samsonoff and Rennenkampfr Ono
Ludendorff. who had entered Belgiun, &
with tho invading German army. was
assigned to HindenburG at his request.
as chief of stan, - { $50
Within q few days after he had been
snatched from his grumbiing ilts AZ s
INTO tran at TannenberS; and cut hts !:
army to pieces. Thousands crowned a
In the IaEca n IN :. n ,,f.