H. R. H. PRINCE GEORGE.

CONTENTS

I.[A Bolt from the Blue]1
II.[The Seething Whirlpool]16
III.[The Beginnings of Prussia]35
IV.[The Great War Lord of Europe]49
V.[How the Great War Lord Fell]65
VI.[The Man of Blood and Iron]74
VII.[Clearing the Path]81
VIII.[Preparing for War]86
IX.["The Cockpit of Europe"]93
X.[A Terrible Struggle]97
XI.[France under the Harrow]113
XII.[The Boyhood of the Kaiser]121
XIII.[Crown Prince and Kaiser]129
XIV.[The Dawn of "The Day"]145
XV.[Fateful Days]155
XVI.[Why Britain went to War]161
XVII.[The Submarine that Failed]177
XVIII.[Infantry and its Work]186
XIX.[Cavalry and Artillery]193
XX.[Some Military Terms]209
XXI.[The Invasion of Belgium]220
XXII.[How Liége won the Legion of Honour]225
XXIII.[The Raid into Alsace]241
XXIV.[The Germans in Belgium]250
XXV.[Deeds of Shame and Horror]257
XXVI.[The Rally of the British Empire]273
XXVII.[How India answered the Call]289
XXVIII.[The German Advance on Brussels]295
XXIX.[How the Germans entered Brussels]305
XXX.[How the British Army was carried Overseas]310

CHAPTER I.

A BOLT FROM THE BLUE.

One Sunday afternoon, in the month of December 1908, the beautiful city of Messina[1] was all life and light and gaiety. The sky was blue and cloudless, and out in the Strait the little, crested waves leaped and sparkled in the sunshine. The squares and gardens were thronged with townsfolk in holiday attire; laughing groups of young men and maidens went to and fro or paused to listen to the band; fathers of families were romping with their children on the grass; mothers were quietly knitting hard by: all was merry as a marriage bell. Happy, careless ease reigned everywhere, and when night fell, the big, round moon shone upon a silent town in which thousands of people were wrapped in peaceful slumber.

But ere the dawn had begun to brighten the eastern sky an awful doom fell upon that city. The thunder roared, the lightning flashed, the earth heaved and cracked, houses and churches and public buildings came crashing to the ground, fires broke out, and a huge, angry wave from the sea swept over the land. The morning sun shone upon a terrible scene of destruction. The fair city was no more; thousands of the happy folks of yesterday had been hurried into eternity, and those who were spared found themselves homeless and ruined.