Ambassador was notified that these
two officers were no longer acceptable
to the United States and their imme-
diate recall was demanded.



EFFORTS TO CREATE TROUBLE
\_J WITH MEXICO.

Through the enterprising activities
of the Providence Journal the Govern-
ment was furnished with evidence



HISTORY OF THE WORLD WAR



which led to the arrest of Victoriana
Huerta, erstwhile President of Mex-
ico. After his departure from Mexico
in 1914, Huerta went to Spain but
later came to the United States and
located on Long Island. In June, 1915,
he started on what he said was a visit
to the Panama-Pacific Exposition at
San Francisco. When he left the train
near El Paso, Texas, he was arrested
by the American authorities and
charged with conspiracy to foment a
revolution against a friendly country,
Mexico. Huerta's death shortly after
removed him from the scene. The
Journal then published a mass of evi-
dence gathered by its agents which
showed that Huerta was the tool of
Germany and was being used to foment
trouble in Mexico in the hope of divert-
ing public attention in the United
States from the European war to more
pressing problems at home.

Protest was made by the British
Ambassador that German agents had
sent a number of vessels laden with
coal and supplies for German cruisers
in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
As a result five men connected with
the Hamburg American Steamship
Company were indicted for obtaining
false clearances of vessels from United
States ports. The German Ambassa-
dor asserted that it was not a violation
of international law or of the statutes
of the United States to send vessels
from neutral ports to supply war ships
on the high seas or in other neutral
ports. This contention was upheld by
the court but the men were convicted
for defrauding the goverment by ob-
taining false clearance papers.

SOME FURTHER DOCUMENTS COME TO
LIGHT.

The confessions of Major von der
Goltz disclosed a conspiracy to de-
stroy the Welland Canal. After his
activities in the United States von der
Goltz went to England where he was
arrested as a spy. To escape prosecu-
tion he made a full confession. His
testimony led to the indictment of the
former German military attache, Franz
von Papen; of Wolf von Igel, von
Papen's secretary, and of Captain
Hans Tauscher, American agent of



the Krupp corporation. Von Igel was
arrested in the New York office for-
merly occupied by von Papen and a
mass of papers was seized by the author-
ities. Von Igel claimed diplomatic
immunity and was supported in his
contention by Ambassador von Bern-
stoff who demanded that the seized
documents should be returned. Cap-
tain Tauscher was tried but the jury
failed to convict. Another German
official to fall into the clutches of the
law was Franz Bopp, the consul-gen-
eral at San Francisco, who, with sev-
eral others, was charged with conspir-
acy to restrain the foreign commerce
of the United States in munitions of
war and to organize an expedition to
destroy British property in Canada,
and was later convicted.

Dr. Walter Scheele, head of a chem-
ical company, and eight Germans con-
nected with the North German Lloyd
and the Hamburg American lines were
indicted for manufacturing bombs to
be placed on munition vessels. One of
these men, Captain Charles von Kleist,
confessed that more than 200 such
bombs had been made, and that the
funds had been supplied by von Papen,
Boy-Ed and von Rintelen, a German
agent imprisoned in the Tower of
London.

THE QUESTION OF UNRESTRICTED IMMI-
GRATION ARISES.

One result of the intrigues of foreign
born citizens in the United States was
to direct attention to the policy of the
country toward immigration. Many
Americans had been seriously dis-
turbed at the demonstrations of dis-
loyalty and serious doubts were ex-
pressed as to the effectiveness with
which the foreign born had been incor-
porated into the American body pol-
itic. As a result demands were made
in the public press for the modifica-
tion of the traditional policy of the
United States towards immigration.
In 1913, President Taft and in 1915,
President Wilson vetoed bills estab-
lishing a literacy test for immigrants
on the ground that they were tests
not of selection but of restriction and
that the bills contemplated a reversal
of a traditional American policy.

427 .



HISTORY OF THE WORLD WAR



Finally, in February, 1917, Congress
passed a similar restrictive measure
over the President's veto.

The European conflagration was
certain to call forth in America a dis-
cussion of the country's policy toward
military preparedness. It was obvious
that the American military establish-
ment in 1914 was hopelessly inade-
quate for war with any first class
power. Indeed the recent experience
in Mexico had shown that it was not
prepared for even a minor national
crisis. At the outbreak of the European
War the regular army of the United
States consisted of 85,965 enlisted men
and 4,823 officers. In addition there
was the organized militia of the differ-
ent states amounting to 128,000. This
latter was, however, in most of the
states, far from being in first class
condition, either from the standpoint
of training or of military equipment.

>THE POLICY OF ISOLATION GENERALLY
1 ACCEPTED.

There still existed throughout the
country a strong popular feeling that
our political and geographical isola-
tion would always preserve the nation
from foreign attack, and that we had
little interest in foreign quarrels. So
long as adequate provision was made
for the navy, there seemed to be little
need of a large army. That the country
would ever be called upon to send a
large military force to foreign coun-
tries was an idea which few had ever
thought possible before 1914.

In his message to Congress on De-
cember 8, 1914, President Wilson clear-
ly stated this traditional feeling of the
country concerning military prepared-
ness as follows: "It is said in some
quarters that we are not prepared for
war. What is meant by being pre-
pared? Is it meant that we are not
ready upon brief notice to put a nation
in the field, a nation of men trained to
arms. Of course we are not ready to
do that, and we shall never be in time
of peace so long as we retain our pres-
ent political principles and institutions.
And what is it that it is suggested that
we be prepared to do? To defend our-
selves against attack? We have al-
ways found means to do that and shall

428



find them whenever it is necessary
without calling our people away from
their necessary tasks to render com-
pulsory military service in times of
peace. . .From the first we have had
a clear and settled policy with regard
to military establishments. We never
have had, and while we retain our pres-
ent principles and ideals we never shall
have, a large standing army. If asked,
are you ready to defend yourselves?
We reply, most assuredly, to the ut-
most ; and yet we shall not turn America
into a military camp. We will not ask
our young men to spend the best years
of their lives making soldiers of them-
selves. . . .We must depend in
every time of national peril, in the
future as in the past, not upon a stand-
ing army, nor upon a reserve army,
but upon a citizenry trained and accus-
tomed to arms."

ADVOCATES OF PREPAREDNESS INCREASE
\ IN NUMBERS.

But there were many persons who
saw a real national danger in the lack
of military preparedness. Ex-President
Roosevelt with characteristic energy
urged the need of action in this matter.
The National Security League and the
Navy League were organized by per-
sons who advocated measures for
strengthening the army and navy.
The crisis with Germany arising out
of the submarine campaign greatly
strengthened the movement. Advo-
cates of preparedness pointed out that
our protests against the violation of
neutral rights were futile so long as we
were unable to back up our protests
with adequate military force. In a
speech delivered at New York, No-
vember 4, 1915, President Wilson
frankly stated that his views on the
subject of preparedness had undergone
a marked change and he pledged the
administration to a policy of military
preparedness "to vindicate our right
to independent and unmolested action
by making the force that is in us ready
for assertion." In his annual message
to Congress in 1915 the President said
that the dominant desire of our people
was for peace; that we regard war
merely as a means of asserting our
rights against aggression. At the same



HISTORY OF THE WORLD WAR



time if we are to fight effectively we
must know how modern fighting is
done and what to do when the sum-
mons comes. He therefore proposed to
lay before Congress plans for a more
adequate national defense. These plans
contemplated increasing the regular
army from 108,013 to 141,843 officers
and men to be supplemented by "a
force of 400,000 disciplined citizens
raised in increments of 133,000 a year
throughout a period of three years."
This volunteer force was to be trained
for three years. For the navy, which
the President characterized as "our
first line of defense," the Administra-
tion proposed the building within five
years of ten battleships, six battle
cruisers, ten scout cruisers, fifty des-
troyers, fifteen fleet submarines, eighty-
five coast submarines, four gunboats,
one hospital, two ammunition, two
fuel oil ships, and one repair ship. The
personnel of the navy should be in-
creased by 11,500.

T 7ARIOUS PLANS TO INCREASE THE ARMY.

In Congress various opinions were
expressed as to method of carrying into
effect the President's proposals for in-
creasing the military establishment.
One plan supported by the Secretary
of War, Mr. Lindley M. Garrison, and
General Scott, the Chief of Staff of the
army, advocated the creation of a con-
tinental army entirely under the con-
trol of the Federal Government. A
second plan supported by Mr. Hay,
Chairman of the House Committee on
Military Affairs, proposed the utiliza-
tion of the National Guard of the vari-
ous states as the basis of the new army,
by placing the Guard under federal
control. Mr. Garrison was unwilling
to agree to this suggestion and asked
the President to support his plan for a
continental army. The President re-
plied that he did not desire to commit
himself irrevocably to any one propo-
sal but was prepared to accept any
plan which would accomplish the end
in view. Under these circumstances
Mr. Garrison felt that he could not re-
main in the Cabinet and he tendered
his resignation to the President. In
. his place Mr. Newton D. Baker was



appointed Secretary of War. Congress
finally agreed upon a military bill
providing for a regular army of 186,000;
a federalized National Guard of 425,-
ooo; an officers' reserve corps for the
regular army; an enlisted reserve corps
for the engineer, signal and quarter-
master corps, medical and ordinance
departments; and reserve officers' train-
ing corps at schools, colleges and uni-
versities.

Coincident with this movement for
military preparedness, there was wide-
spread feeling that the United States
should not only use its influence to
bring to an end the terrible struggle
in Europe but also at the same time to
discover and present to the world some
means of preventing the recurrence of
such a catastrophe. Many plans were
suggested, and every one, no matter
how chimerical, found supporters.

THE "PEACE SHIP" AND ITS VARIED PAS-
SENGERS.

Of the various pacifist schemes the
one to attract the greatest attention
was that undertaken by Henry Ford.
In the fall of 1915 he announced his
intention of taking a party of Ameri-
can peace advocates to Europe to dis-
cover some means of ending the war,
"to get the soldiers out of the trenches
before Christmas." An Atlantic liner
was chartered to carry 150 men and
women who constituted the party to
Europe. They represented many vari-
eties of opinion, some of them irrecon-
cilable. The expedition had no official
sanction from the government and the
European belligerents showed no in-
clination to welcome the adventure.
The party arrived in Norway Decem-
ber 18, 1915. What slight possibilities
the movement had of accomplishing
anything were destroyed by internal
dissensions, and after a short stay at
Copenhagen and The Hague, the pil-
grims returned to the United States,
and the war went on more vigorously
than ever.

f-VTHER SCHEMES TO BRING ABOUT FUTURE
W PEACE.

Much more significant were the or-
ganized efforts directed toward finding
some means of preventing future wars.
The movement for international peace

429



HISTORY OF THE WORLD WAR



was, of course, not new. During the
latter part of the nineteenth century
noteworthy progress had been made in
this direction, as evidenced by the
creation of the Hague Tribunal and
the signing of a large number of arbi-
tration treaties. But these instrumen-
talities had proved insufficient to pre-
vent the great catastrophe in Europe.
Advocates of peace therefore began to
search for more effective safeguards.
Various organizations came forward
with different programs. Of these the
one to attract greatest attention was
presented by the League to Enforce
Peace.

The program of the League provided,
(l) that justiciable questions arising
between nations, which are not settled
by negotiation, should be submitted to
a judicial tribunal for hearing and
judgment, (2) other questions should
be submitted to a council of concilia-
tion for "hearing, consideration and
recommendation," (3) that the signa-
tory powers should use their economic
and military forces against any one of
their number going to war without sub-
mitting the matter in dispute to arbi-
tration, (4) that periodic conferences
should be held to formulate rules of
international law. The new idea
which this plan proposed was the crea-
tion of an international force which
would command respect for interna-
tional agreements.

T)RESIDENT WILSON ADVOCATES A LEAGUE
1 OF NATIONS.

President Wilson evidenced a lively
interest in this new movement and in a
memorable speech on May 27, 1916, he
declared that "the United States is
willing to become a partner in any
feasible association of nations" formed
to preserve certain fundamental ob-
jects. These objects were (i) that every
people shall have the right to choose
the sovereignty under which they shall
live, (2) that small states shall enjoy
the same rights as large states, (3)
that the world shall be free from dis-
turbance of its peace caused by aggres-
sion and disregard of popular rights.
In conclusion he advocated "a univer-
sal association of nations to maintain
the inviolate security of the high way of

430



the seas for the common and unhin-
dered use of the nations of the world,
and to prevent any war begun either
contrary to treaty covenants or with-
out warning and full submission of the
causes to the opinion of the world,
a virtual guarantee of territorial integ-
rity and political independence."

This declaration aroused consider-
able adverse criticism throughout the
country by those who felt that such a
program would entail an abandon-
ment of America's traditional policy
of isolation from European affairs. To
his critics the President said "I shall
never myself consent to an entangling
alliance, but I would gladly assent to a
disentangling alliance, an alliance which
would disentangle the people of the
world from those combinations in which
they seek their own separate and pri-
vate interests, and unite with the people
of the world to preserve the peace of
the world upon a basis of common right
and justice."

THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF 1916
APPROACHES.

These views of the President gave a
striking illustration of the remarkable
change which had taken place in Amer-
ican political thought after two years of
the European war. The expression of
such opinions on the eve of a presiden-
tial election, in which he was certain to
be the nominee of the Democratic
party, showed the confidence of the
President in the desire of the American
people for a wider participation in the
affairs of the world.

The presidential election of 1916 was
anticipated with lively interest, in
Europe as well as in America, for it gave
the first real opportunity to test the
public opinion of the country on the
conduct of our foreign relations by the
Democratic party. That Mr. Wilson
would be renominated was a foregone
conclusion. The nomination of Mr.
Hughes by the Republicans was re-
ceived with general approval. The
Republican platform affirmed that the
Administration had failed to protect
the fundamental rights of American
citizens and by its "phrase-making
and shifty expedients" had "destroyed
our influence abroad and humiliated us



HISTORY OF THE WORLD WAR



in our own eyes." It advocated mili-
tary preparedness without being speci-
fic. It called for "a strict and honest
neutrality in the European War. " The
Democratic platform called for the pro-
tection of "the sacred rights of Ameri-
can citizenship" both at home and
abroad; it condemned the efforts of
every organization "that has for its
object the advancement of the interest
of a foreign power""; it advocated an
army and navy "fully adequate to the
requirements of order, of safety, and of
the protection of the nation's rights";
it stated the belief that "the time had
come when it is the duty of the United
States to join with the other nations of
the world in any feasible association"
to preserve the peace of the world.

'"pHE CANDIDATES BEFORE THE PEOPLE.

In the campaign which followed Mr.
Hughes devoted much attention to
criticising the Administration for its
Mexican policy and for its handling of
the European situation, but he failed
to give any clear statement as to how
he would have acted differently under
the circumstances. Much interest was
manifested as to how the large German
American vote would be cast. It was
felt that President Wilson had alien-
ated a large part of this vote by his pol-
icy toward the submarine campaign
and the shipment of munitions to the
Allies. Mr. Wilson won approval for a
sharp rebuke which he administered to
an anti-British agitator named Jere-
miah O'Leary who wrote an offensive
letter to the President predicting his
defeat. In his reply the President said:
"I would feel deeply mortified to have
you or anybody like you vote for me.
Since you have access to many disloyal
Americans and I have not, I will ask
you to convey this message to them."
It was not until a week before the elec-
tion that Mr. Hughes was willing to
state frankly his attitude on the em-
bargo question and on the right of
Americans to travel on belligerent
ships. This hesitancy gave some people
the impression that the Republican
candidate was trying to conciliate the
German vote.

The results of the election gave no



conclusive evidence of the attitude of
the country on the great problems con-
fronting it. Mr. Wilson was re-elected
by 277 electoral votes to 254 for Mr.
Hughes. It was the closest presidential
contest since 1876. Broadly speaking
the South and the Far West supported
Wilson while the East and the Middle
West supported Hughes. Though un-
authorized, the slogan, "He kept us out
of the war" undoubtedly won votes
for Mr. Wilson in the West. Of the
seven states containing the largest
German-American population Mr. Wil-
son carried three and Mr. Hughes four.
It is apparent that the issues which
were decisive in the election were do-
mestic and not foreign issues.

THE PROVINCIAL ISOLATION OF THE
UNITED STATES IS SHOCKED.

For more than two years the people
of the United States had watched the
great European drama with absorbing
interest. In those two years American
public opinion had undergone a slow
but fundamental transformation. In
1914 the United States was still a pro-
vincial nation. The people of this
country, as a whole, knew little and
cared less about the great problems of
world politics. To the majority of
Americans the European war was only
another one of the many struggles for
European leadership.

Those critics who condemn the
Administration for not breaking with
Germany in May 1915, after the sink-
ing of the Lusitania, do not realize
how deep-seated was this American
provincialism. Slowly, however, Amer-
icans began to see the great struggle in
a new light. People began to realize
that American interests were vitally
bound up with the interests of the rest
of the world. Submarine ruthlessness
and German crimes in Belgium alien-
ated such sympathy as there was for
Germany among Americans of the old
stock. Instinctively the American
people came to feel that the success of
the Allies meant the preservation of
American ideals. It had taken two
years of experience and education to
prepare America for the part she was
destined to play in the world drama.
NELSON P. MEAD.

431




OBSTACLES TO IMPEDE THE PROGRESS OF THE ENEMY

Many years ago the French called arrangements like these, intended to block up a road or an opening, "chevaux-
de-frise" or Friesland horses. In this war, like so many other half-forgotten instruments, they were revived
and thousands were constructed and used, though barbed wire took the place of iron spikes set in a beam.




FRENCH TRENCH DEFENSES IN RESERVE AT VERDUN

In different places barbed wire entanglements in place before trenches have been shown, Here is a French re-
serve station behind Verdun. Stakes have been cut and sharpened and lengths of barbed wire fastened a number
of them together, making a section of fence. The section is then rolled up for transfer to the front, where it will be
unrolled and the stakes driven into the ground before the trenches, usually at night. French Official

432




French Quick-Firer Approaching Verdun

CHAPTER XXVIII

They Shall Not Pass; The Story of Verdun I

THE STORY OF ONE OF THE GREATEST BATTLES IN THE
HISTORY OF THE WORLD



'IpHE word Verdun has passed into
A world currency, and posterity will
rank its soldiers with those that
fought at Thermopylae, at Chalons and
at Tours. The story survives of a
Russian soldier who encountered
French troops in Siberia but was un-
able to communicate with his western
allies. He solved the difficulty in
characteristic fashion: "Verdun!", he
said, saluting, and immediately the gap
was bridged.

VERDUN ONE OF THE GREATEST BATTLES
OF THE WORLD.

Psychologically, the battle was a
revelation of hitherto unsuspected en-
durance in the make-up of the French.
"Us ne passer ont pas!" repeated the
poilu, doggedly confident through all
the horror and misery that prevailed
at Verdun, and only changing with the
fortunes of battle into the quiet but
still more determined "On les aura!"
Comparisons are always invidious, but
it is indisputable that this struggle
witnessed one of the most signal
triumphs of soirit over material things
that the world has ever known. That
so much beauty of courage, of suffer-
ing, of bearing, and of hoping could
have flowered and survived amidst the
hideous inferno of bombardment and
torturing thirst, "makes one to think"
as the suggestive French idiom would
say. Militarily also, the battle is



extraordinary for the mass of metal
used on both sides, the number of
troops employed, and the dramatic
change in fortune on the Douaumont
Plateau, no less sudden indeed, than
the Battle of the Marne.

GENERAL FALKENHAYN STRIVES FOR A
DECISION.

In 1915 German arms had sought
success and gained it against the
Russians and in the Balkans. But
decision was' lacking, and that only
could be attained in the west, and in
the west it was sought by the two
general staffs. General von Falken-
hayn in his book "The German Gen-
eral Staff and its Decisions," pub-
lished after the war, says: "The strain
on the French has almost reached a
breaking point. If we succeed in
opening the eyes of her people to the
fact that in a military sense they have
nothing more to hope for, that break-
ing point would be reached and
England's best sword knocked out of
her hand. To achieve that object, the
uncertain method of a mass break
though in any case beyond our means,
is unnecessary. We can probably do
enough for our purposes with limited
resources. Within our reach, behind
the French sector of the Western Front,
there are objectives, for the retention
of which the French General Staff
would be compelled to throw in every

433



HISTORY OF THE WORLD WAR



man they have. If they do so, the