[Period Ended April 19, 1918.]
An Epoch-making Month
The month covered by this issue of Current History Magazine was the most fateful in a military way since the beginning of the war. The most desperate and sanguinary battle in history, begun with the great German offensive in France March 21, 1918, was at its most furious phase when these pages were printed. No less than 4,000,000 men were engaged in deadly combat on a front of 150 miles.
General Foch, by agreement of the Allies, was made Commander in Chief of the allied armies in France, March 28. This decision, long regarded as of supreme importance, was hastened by the new emergency. The United States on April 16 officially approved the appointment. The result of the change was to co-ordinate all the allied forces in France into one army. Early fruits of this new unity were apparent in the news of April 19, when it was announced that heavy French reinforcements had come that day to the relief of the hard-pressed and weary British troops in Flanders, and had halted the Germans; the same day the French counterattacked in the Amiens region and thrust the Germans back, thus giving a brighter aspect to the entire situation in France. The story of the battle of Picardy up to April 18 is told elsewhere in detail.
The separation of Russian provinces from the old Russian Empire continued during the month; the resistance of the Bolsheviki in Finland, the Ukraine, Lithuania, the Caucasus, and other provinces that had been alienated either by secession or by German acquisition grew feebler as the weeks elapsed, and the stability of the new republics under German suzerainty was correspondingly strengthened.
The chief political events were the exposure by France of Austria's duplicity in seeking a separate peace, which caused the downfall of the Austrian Premier, and the application of conscription to Ireland, to be followed by home rule. On April 18 Lord Derby was appointed British Ambassador to France, succeeding Lord Bertie, and was succeeded as Secretary of State for War by Viscount Milner. Austen Chamberlain, son of the late Joseph Chamberlain, was made a member of the War Cabinet.
Secretary of War Baker, who had left for England, France, and Italy early in March, returned on April 17 and spoke in enthusiastic terms of the American forces abroad. He expressed firm confidence in the ultimate defeat of Germany.
General Pershing offered all his available forces to General Foch when the storm of the German offensive broke, and many American units were at once brigaded with British and French forces. The appeals of France and Great Britain for man power met with instant response on this side of the Atlantic, and every ton of available shipping was employed in the transport of American troops. Developments in this regard gave promise of fulfilling the War Department's expressed intention of having an American Army of 1,500,000 in France by the end of 1918.
All American war preparations were visibly speeded up as the situation grew more serious for the Allies, and the spirit of the nation became one of widespread determination to win, even though it should require years of warfare and the entire physical and financial resources of the United States.
Execution of Bolo Pacha
Bolo Pacha, who was convicted by a French court-martial of treason, was executed at Vincennes April 17 by a firing squad. The chaplain, after the execution, found lying over Bolo's heart two embroidered handkerchiefs, which had been pierced by the bullets. One was given to Bolo's brother and the other to his widow.
A few days before the execution the condemned man sent for the public prosecutor, and, it is stated, made important revelations regarding former Premier Caillaux and Senator Humbert, against whom similar charges are pending.
It was proved that Bolo Pacha, whose real name was Paul Bolo, was a poor man before the war, a pensioner of his brother, Mgr. Bolo, a prominent French prelate. The testimony revealed that $1,683,000 had been transferred by the Deutsche Bank at Berlin on the recommendation of Ambassador Bernstorff to Bolo's credit in New York for the purchase of Senator Humbert's newspaper, the Paris Journal; Bolo made an offer of $400,000 for Le Figaro, bought 1,500 shares in Le Rappel for $34,000, and even approached Clemenceau's Homme Enchainé. Papers he got control over included Paris-Midi, Le Cri de Paris, a satirical weekly, and La Revue, of which Jean Finot is editor. The curious thing about the method employed to make these newspapers serve German interests was that under Bolo's control they became exponents of "defeatism" carried to the extreme of ultra-French militarism. The explanation is that the German war party could use quotations from the Bolo papers to persuade the German people that their existence was threatened by the French, thereby justifying the German Government and rekindling in the people the war fervor which was fast oozing out of them. Then, when the opportune moment came, the same ultra-patriotic papers, so it was expected, would suddenly turn pacifist and thereby stir up dissension in the nation and destroy the efficiency of its war measures.
The Numbers in the World's Greatest Battles
THE stupendous character of the battle of Picardy is realized when the numbers engaged in previous noted battles of history are considered. Setting aside the mythical five millions of the army of Xerxes and the ten thousand of Xenophon, accurate figures in Greece are recorded for the campaigns of Philip of Macedon and his more famous son. At Cheronaea, fought in B. C. 338, Philip had 30,000 infantry and 2,000 cavalry, the latter led by Alexander, then 18 years old. Alexander's cavalry attack on the flank won the battle, driving back the Athenians and Thebans, who were slightly outnumbered. At Arbela, in October, 331, Alexander the Great, with 47,000 Macedonians, defeated a Persian force three or four times as great, piercing between the Persian left and centre. Pyrrhus of Epirus had, at Asculum, in the year 279, 45,000 infantry against an equal number of Romans, but he had elephants, practically equivalent to artillery.
Hannibal at Cannae, in 216, had 50,000 veterans against Varro's 50,000 Romans, who were drawn up with their backs to the sea, and were thus unable to withdraw before Hannibal's overwhelming onslaught. Julius Caesar at Alesia had 50,000 Romans against 80,000 Gallic infantry and 15,000 cavalry. At Pharsalus, in the civil war, the Pompeians, with 60,000, were routed by the Caesareans with 25,000, losing 15,000, while Julius Caesar lost only 200. Augustus Caesar formed a standing army of 300,000, his legions consisting of 3,000 heavy infantry, 1,200 light infantry, and 300 cavalry each.
Genghiz Khan began with a small force of 6,000, with which he fought and conquered his father-in-law, who had 10,000. At the Battle of the Indus, Genghiz Khan commanded a huge army of 300,000 Tartars. At the battle of Karakin, in 1218, he led 700,000 Tartars against 400,000 Kharismians, completely defeating them. Oliver Cromwell's army, in its most complete form, numbered about 80,000. The army of Frederick the Great, at its highest point of efficiency, numbered 200,000, while the army of Louis XIV. numbered 240,000 men.
In 1793, when Republican France was threatened with invasion, and Carnot was "organizing victory," the effective French forces probably numbered 300,000, though the total number available under the newly introduced system of conscription was four times as many, about a million and a quarter. At the battle of Auerstadt-Jena, on Oct. 14, 1806, Napoleon had a French Army of 160,000, against some 140,000 Prussians. About this time Napoleon made the army corps the practical unit instead of the division, as formerly. The Grand Army, which invaded Russia in 1812, totaled 467,000, but this included 280,000 foreign troops. At the battle of Leipsic, a year after the retreat from Moscow, Napoleon, with 155,000, faced 160,000 Austrians, 60,000 Prussians, and 60,000 Swedes under the recreant Frenchman Bernadotte, the ancestor of the present King of Sweden.
At Waterloo, the French Army is said to have numbered 72,000, against whom were drawn up, at the beginning of the battle, 24,000 British and 43,500 Dutch and Belgian troops. The Dutch and Belgians withdrew before the end of the battle, their place being taken by Blücher's contingent.
The forces commanded by George Washington were always numerically small, a few thousand only, and were in ceaseless flux. In 1790, the American Army consisted of 1,216 men. In the war of 1812, the invading force, which burned the national capital, numbered 3,500 men. At the beginning of the American civil war, the regular army numbered 15,300. Between April, 1861, and April, 1865, the total Federal forces enrolled amounted to 2,759,049, while the Confederates enrolled about 1,100,000, making a total of practically 4,000,000 from a population of 32,000,000; this would be equivalent to an army of from 12,000,000 to 15,000,000 with the present population of the United States. The total furnished for the war with Spain was 10,017 officers and 213,218 men.
The Austrian Army at Sadowa numbered 200,000; the French Army at Sedan some 120,000. At the battle of Mukden, Russians and Japanese each had a force of about 300,000, the largest number in any modern battle up to that time, though greatly outnumbered by Genghiz Khan.
Emperor Charles's Separate Peace Plan
The disclosures regarding Austria's efforts to make a separate peace with France, which are dealt with elsewhere in this issue of Current History Magazine, took a more sensational turn April 11, 1918, when the following official note was issued by the French Government:
Once caught in the cogwheels of lying, there is no means of stopping. Emperor Charles, under Berlin's eye, is taking on himself the lying denials of Count Czernin, and thus compels the French Government to supply the proof. Herewith is the text of an autograph letter communicated on March 31, 1917, by Prince Sixtus de Bourbon, the Emperor of Austria's brother-in-law, to President Poincaré, and communicated immediately, with the Prince's consent, to the French Premier:
My Dear Sixtus: The end of the third year of this war, which has brought so much mourning and grief into the world, approaches. All the peoples of my empire are more closely united than ever in the common determination to safeguard the integrity of the monarchy at the cost even of the heaviest sacrifices.
Thanks to their union, with the generous co-operation of all nationalities, my empire and monarchy have succeeded in resisting the gravest assaults for nearly three years. Nobody can question the military advantages secured by my troops, particularly in the Balkans.
France, on her side, has shown force, resistance, and dashing courage which are magnificent. We all unreservedly admire the admirable bravery, which is traditional to her army, and the spirit of sacrifice of the entire French people.
Therefore it is a special pleasure to me to note that, although for the moment adversaries, no real divergence of views or aspirations separates many of my empire from France, and that I am justified in hoping that my keen sympathy for France, joined to that which prevails in the whole monarchy, will forever avoid a return of the state of war, for which no responsibility can fall on me.
With this in mind, and to show in a definite manner the reality of these feelings, I beg you to convey privately and unofficially to President Poincaré that I will support by every means, and by exerting all my personal influence with my allies, France's just claims regarding Alsace-Lorraine.
Belgium should be entirely re-established in her sovereignty, retaining entirely her African possessions without prejudice to the compensations she should receive for the losses she has undergone.
Serbia should be re-established in her sovereignty, and, as a pledge of our good-will, we are ready to assure her equitable natural access to the Adriatic, and also wide economic concessions in Austria-Hungary. On her side, we will demand, as primordial and essential conditions, that Serbia cease in the future all relation with and suppress every association or group whose political object aims at the disintegration of the monarchy, particularly the Serbian political society, Narodni Ochrana; that Serbia loyally and by every means in her power prevent any kind of political agitation, either in Serbia or beyond her frontiers, in the foregoing direction, and give assurances thereof under the guarantee of the Entente Powers.
The events in Russia compel me to reserve my ideas with regard to that country until a legal definite Government is established there.
Having thus laid my ideas clearly before you, I would ask you in turn, after consulting with these two powers, to lay before me the opinion first of France and England, with a view thus to preparing the ground for an understanding on the basis of which official preliminary negotiations could be taken up and reach a result satisfactory to all.
Hoping that thus we will soon be able together to put a limit to the sufferings of so many millions of men and families now plunged in sadness and anxiety, I beg to assure you of my warmest and most brotherly affection.
CHARLES.
The reply of Emperor Charles to the foregoing letter was in the form of the following telegram to Emperor William:
Clemenceau's accusations against me are so low that I have no intention to discuss longer this affair with France. My cannon in the west is our last reply.
In faithful friendship,
CHARLES.
As a result of the publication of the letter, whose existence it is claimed was unknown to him, Count Czernin on April 15 resigned his portfolio as Foreign Minister and Premier, and accepted appointment as a Major General in the Austrian Army. He was succeeded by Baron Burian, who was Minister of Foreign Affairs from Sept. 15, 1914, to Dec. 23, 1916, when he was succeeded by Count Czernin.
It was authoritatively announced that the letter was communicated to the British, French, and Italian Premiers at a meeting which took place at St. Jean de Maurienne, April 19, 1917, and unanimously judged as insincere and intended to mask some subtle manoeuvre for stirring up friction between the Allies.
The day before the letter was published Emperor Charles sent a telegram to Emperor William, in which he said:
I accuse M. Clemenceau of piling up lies to escape the web of lies in which he is involved, making the false assertion that I in some manner recognized France's claim to Alsace-Lorraine as just. I indignantly repel the assertion.
To this the German Emperor replied as follows:
Accept my heartiest thanks for the letter in which you repudiate the assertion of the French Premier regarding your attitude toward the French claims on Alsace-Lorraine as entirely baseless and once again accentuate the solidarity of the interests which exist between us and our empires. I hasten to tell you that in my eyes there is no need whatever for such assurance on your part, for I have not for a moment been in doubt. You have made our cause your own; in like measure we stand for the rights of your monarchy.
The heavy battles in these years clearly demonstrate this for every one who will see. They have only drawn the bond closer. Our enemies, who are unable to do anything against us in honorable battle, do not recoil from the most sordid and lowest means. We must put up with that, but all the more it is our duty ruthlessly to grapple with and beat the enemy in all the war theatres.
After the publication of the letter the Austrian Government announced that it was "garbled" and intimated that portions of it were forged before it reached Prince Sixtus. The German press accepted the letter as genuine with caustic and hostile criticism. It was announced April 18 that the original letter of the Emperor was in the possession of Prince Sixtus, who sent a copy of it to President Poincaré.
When Austria Ruled Prussia
Emperor Karl's effort to make a separate peace recalls the period, beginning with the Summer of 1849, when Austria and Prussia were literally at daggers drawn. Twenty-eight North German States had just formed a Prussian League, under the leadership of Friedrich Wilhelm IV. of Prussia. Austria, under the leadership of Franz Josef, organized a counterleague of South German States, and had the support of Nicholas I. of Russia, who had helped Austria to subdue Hungary. Schwarzenberg, the fighting man of the Austrian Confederation, announced his policy: "First humiliate Prussia, then destroy her." The practical collision between Prussian North Germany and Austrian South Germany came when the Elector of Hesse quarreled with his people. The Hessians appealed to the Council of the Prussian League, of which Hesse was a member, while the Elector of Hesse appealed to the Emperor of Austria. Austria and Prussia both set armies in movement, the Austrian force being mainly composed of Bavarian troops, and a kind of half-battle was fought on the frontier of Bavaria. But the Prussian Army was weak and inefficient, while Nicholas I. of Russia was open in his support of Austria. Friedrich Wilhelm IV. of Prussia met Schwarzenberg in a conference at Olmütz on Nov. 28, 1850, and offered Prussia's submission to Austria. Austria then restored the old Diet and reorganized the German Confederation upon the basis of 1815, the Federal act creating this confederation having actually antedated the battle of Waterloo by a week. In this confederation, which was composed of sovereigns, not of peoples, (thirty-four sovereign Princes and the four "free cities" of Hamburg, Bremen, Lübeck, and Frankfort,) and which met in the Federal Diet at Frankfort, the Austrian representatives presided, and Austria's pre-eminence lasted until the battle of Sadowa, in 1866, when the simultaneous attacks of Prussia and Italy brought about Austria's defeat.
A Union of the Jugo-Slavs
A public meeting held at Rome March 14, 1918, was addressed by Professor Salvemini, a distinguished historian, who advocated the policy of Mazzini that the Italians should ally themselves with the Balkan peoples in order to free them from Austrian and Turkish domination. The speaker opposed the teaching of Cesare Balbo, who advocated a free hand for Austria in the Balkans in return for the cession of the Italian provinces. The leading Serbians and numerous influential Jugo-Slav exiles from Austria-Hungary have indorsed Professor Salvemini's proposition, and a number of Italian Deputies and publicists have joined the movement.
A conference under the auspices of the Serbian Society of Great Britain was held in London March 13, 1918, which was attended by the Executive Committees of the British-Italian League, the Anglo-Hellenic Society, and the Anglo-Rumanian Society. The following resolutions were unanimously passed:
1. This conference learns with gratification of the present understanding between representative Italians and the Jugo-Slavs, convinced as it is that it is in the vital interest of both races that they should unite on the basis, as far as practicable, of the principle of self-determination and in a spirit of mutual toleration and friendliness as allies against German and Austro-Magyar military domination.
2. The conference confidently hopes that such an understanding will not weaken but strengthen the bonds of alliance which exist between Serbia and Greece, and that it will be followed by a similar amicable settlement of all outstanding questions between Italy and Greece, so that the Eastern Mediterranean may present a solid bulwark against the German Drang nach Osten.
3. The conference sends fraternal greetings to Rumania and assures the Rumanian people that, whatever terms Rumania is forced to accept from the enemy by the cruel exigencies of the war, the British people will not cease to regard her as an ally in spirit, and will not cease to strive for the attainment of her national unity as one of the essential factors of a lasting peace.
A convention of Bohemians, Slavs, Jugo-Slavs, Rumanians, Serbians, Italians, and Poles met at Rome on April 10 under the Presidency of former Senator Ruffini, with prominent Italians and Frenchmen present, among them former Ministers Martini, Barzilai, Franklin, Bouillon, and Albert Thomas. Dr. Trumbitch, President of the Jugo-Slav Committee in Great Britain, also attended. It was the first assemblage of representatives of the nationalities that are opposed to Austrian dominion. The Mayor of Rome was a participant. The Italian and Polish representatives for the first time gave their adhesion to the Jugo-Slav aspiration. The following declaration was adopted:
1. Every people proclaims it to be its right to determine its own nationality and national unity and complete independence.
2. Every people knows that the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy is an instrument of German domination and a fundamental obstacle to the realization of its rights to free development and self-government.
3. The Congress recognizes the necessity of fighting against the common oppressors.
The representatives of the Jugo-Slavs agree:
That the unity and independence of the Jugo-Slav Nation is considered of vital importance by Italy.
That the deliverance of the Adriatic Sea and its defense from any enemy is of capital interest to the two peoples.
That territorial controversies will be amicably settled on the principle of nationality and in such a manner as not to injure the vital interests of the two nations; interests which will be taken into account at the peace conferences.
The Polish delegates added their declaration that they consider Germany as the principal enemy of Poland, and that they believe that the disintegration of the Austro-Hungarian Empire is the only way through which they can obtain their independence from Germany.
Can a Nation Be Wiped Out?
If we pass by the ancient epoch when it was the custom of the conqueror to "take the city, and slay the people therein, and beat down the city, and sow it with salt," and come to more modern times, we shall find cause to question whether any people has been actually exterminated by war.
Probably the worst devastation in modern Europe was that caused by the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648) when the Germans were fighting among themselves. Season by season, says the historian, armies of ruthless freebooters harried the land with fire and sword. The peasant, who found that he toiled only to feed robbers and to draw them to outrage and torture his family, ceased to labor and became himself robber and camp follower. Half the population and two-thirds of the movable property of Germany were swept away. In many large districts the facts were worse than this average. The Duchy of Württemberg had 50,000 people left out of 500,000. Populous cities had become hamlets; and for miles upon miles, former hamlets were the lairs of wolf packs. Not until 1850 did some sections of Germany again contain as many homesteads and cattle as in 1618. So there is justification for the belief that Montenegro, Serbia, and Armenia will come back again to health and strength.
On March 21 an order was issued, applying to all of Great Britain, requiring all entertainments, including theatres, to close at 10:30 P. M., and forbidding any shop window lighting. No public meals were allowed after 9:30 P. M. at hotels, restaurants, clubs, and boarding houses, and the tube and train services were reduced; also, by one-sixth, the amount of gas or electricity allowance.
British Man-power Bill.
The British Man-Power bill, which provides for conscription in Ireland and was described in the important address by Premier Lloyd George, (Page [263],) passed its third reading in the House of Commons April 16 by a vote of 301 to 103. The Government announced that a bill giving home rule to Ireland would be introduced, and if it failed of passage the Government would resign. The Man-Power bill was passed in record time by the House of Lords and became a law by the King's signature April 19. Meetings of protest were held by Nationalists, who joined with Sinn Feiners, O'Brienites, Laborites, and Clericals in denouncing the measure.
An increase of 1,426,000 in the number of women employed since 1914 is shown in figures announced by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The greatest increase was in industries, which took in 530,000 more women, but the largest proportionate increase was 214,000 additional women taken into Government service. Women have replaced 1,413,000 men since 1914. Industrial and Government work has taken 400,000 women formerly employed in domestic service or in dressmaking.