CHAPTER LVI
THE WAR BY YEARS
Germany's military strength developed during forty years of preparation, and the offensive plans of the German High Command developed in connection with an extraordinary spy service in France, Belgium, Russia, England and the United States, culminated in a simultaneous campaign on land and by sea, affecting these five nations.
AUGUST 1, 1914-AUGUST 1, 1915
Belgium and Northern France were overrun by a German invading force under General von Kluck. The heroic effort of the French army under General Joffre and a supreme strategic thrust at the German center by General Foch turned back the German tide at the battle of the Marne. The scientific diabolism of the German High Command was revealed when poison gas was projected against the Canadians at Ypres, torturing, blinding and killing thousands.
German terrorism on the high seas culminated in the sinking of the Cunard liner Lusitania by a German submarine off the Irish coast. Men, women and children to the number of 1,152 lost their lives. Of these 102 were Americans.
German colonies in South Africa were invaded by British South African troops under General Louis Botha, who during the Boer War commanded a division against the British. The German holdings at Tsing-Tau and in the Marshall Islands were seized by Japan.
German cruisers that had raided sea-going commerce were destroyed. The most noted of these was the Emden, which was defeated and destroyed by the Australian cruiser Sydney off the Cocos Islands.
German sea power was further humiliated in a running fight off Helgoland in which the battle cruiser Blucher was sunk and in a battle off the Falkland Islands in which three German cruisers were destroyed.
Italy entered the war on May 23,1915, and invaded Austria on a sixty-mile front. Russian forces, after early successes, were defeated at Tannenburg by von Hindenburg, the outstanding military genius on the German side.