D 525 
 P23 
 
 Copy 
 
 1 
 
 " "^ " " " " ■- ■■ ■ " - ■- ■ 
 
 
 \ ¥ : 4(1 4 1 ... ur \ ..A « .«_ 
 
 ^™ 
 
 ' 
 
 A JLittle History 
 
 
 Of 15he 
 
 
 \ Great World War 
 
 ! 
 
 
 i 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 1 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 ■ 1 
 
 i 
 
 
 1 
 
 — — 
 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 1 
 1 
 
 i 
 
 1 
 
 ! 
 
 1 
 1 
 
 j 
 
 
 \ 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 j 
 
 1 Written By 
 
 
 ISAAC MARSHALL PAGE 1 
 
 ! 1 
 
 i 
 
"The Kcntuckian, or A 
 Woman's Reaping" 
 
 is one of those books that make an im- 
 pression upon the young mind not to be 
 forgotten. It may truly be called — The 
 Home Book. It is written to show what 
 each home can be if only w^e do our part 
 in contributing to its happiness. The 
 story of the book, which is laid in the 
 Kentucky hills, delights all the young 
 people as they delve into its beautiful 
 depths. 
 
 If you want your home life purer, and 
 to leave your children a gift that is 
 worth while, be sure to get them this 
 book. 
 
 Beautifully bound in cloth. 75c. post- 
 paid. 
 
 Address All Orders to the Author, 
 
 I. M. PAGE, 
 
 P. O. Box 394, Cincinnati, Ohio. 
 
44 
 
 A Little History of 
 The Great World War" 
 
 Vrfttcn By 
 
 Isaac SVlarshall Tage 
 
 Author of ''The Girt that "Disappeared"' and 
 
 "TAe Keniuckian, or <A Woman's 
 
 "^Reaping'' 
 
 Published By 
 
 L M. PAGE 
 R O. Box 394, Gncinnati, Ohio. 
 

 Copyright, J9J8 
 
 FEB 25 1918 ©CU492381 
 
PREFACE 
 
 Our excuse for sending out this little vol- 
 ume to the public is that there is no other 
 book like it ; i. e., a brief history that gives the 
 real story of the great world war in a nut- 
 shell. Those books that are on the markets 
 are either too costly for the rank and file to 
 buy or they require so much reading to get at 
 the facts that you find told so briefly here. It 
 is therefore with the feeling that we are ren- 
 dering America the service of supplying a 
 real need, we send this little book on its life 
 mission. 
 
 We also hope that it will do more than 
 merely answer the questions dealt with, but 
 that it will Americanize our thought of the 
 World's War and stir each reader with that 
 patriotic feeling born of knowing the truth; 
 that we may go with glad hearts to do our bit, 
 whatever that bit may be, our hearts swell- 
 ing with pride that we have heard America's 
 call, and our feet hasting to the task that the 
 present emergency has brought. We there- 
 
4 A LITTLE HISTORY 
 
 fore dedicate this little booklet to the Mothers 
 who have given so unselfishly to their coun- 
 try, and to the sons v^rho have donned the 
 khaki in the name of LIBERTY. 
 
 Yours sincerely, 
 
 ISAAC MARSHALL PAGE. 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 The Beginning of the European War 
 
 On June 28, 1914, the Austrian Crown 
 Prince Franz Ferdinand and his wife were 
 murdered at Sarejevo in Austria-Hungary 
 Sarejevo is so near to the borders of Servia 
 that suspicion was at once attached to the 
 Servian Nation. Austria-Hungary made im- 
 mediate investigation which revealed that the 
 murder had been planned in Servia and that 
 the assassins had been assisted by high of- 
 ficials in the government. 
 
 Many weeks passed before any action was 
 taken. The Nations wondered what Austria 
 would say. When she did speak it was like 
 a thunderbolt from a cloudless sky. Sir Ed- 
 ward Grey, remarked that he had never 
 known any state to address another with 
 such authority. 
 
 On July 23rd, Servia received the Austrian 
 note. This note demanded the dismissal and 
 punishment of the men connected with the 
 murder; the supression of certain newspapers 
 and further that Austrian officers should aid 
 in enforcing the above mentioned demands. 
 
 Any one can see that for Servia to accept 
 
6 A LITTLE HISTORY 
 
 these demands would be to surrender her- 
 self to Austria as a mere province. Servia 
 wired Russia for advice. In this telegram 
 she told Russia that she was willing to ac- 
 cept these demands as far as consistent with 
 her integrity, but felt that to accept them 
 in toto would not be consistent with her in- 
 tegrity. 
 
 The Tsar of Russia urged the crown prince 
 to go as far in meeting the Austrian demands 
 as Servia's national integrity would allow and 
 then in case this failed, Russia would not be 
 unmindful of her fate. 
 
 July 24th — The day Russia sent the above 
 message she decided on a partial mobilization 
 of her troops. She believed that trouble was 
 coming and she must prepare for it in time. 
 Russia asked England's aid in case war came. 
 France being bound to Russia by treaty as 
 an ally, hinted at the same. Germany knew 
 that the war was coming and she asked Eng- 
 land to remain neutral. England feared war, 
 but her hope was for peace and so she did 
 not commit herself to either France, Russia 
 or Germany. 
 
 Russia thought that Austria-Hungary was 
 striking at her through her ally, Servia. The 
 quarrel thus became a quarrel between 
 Russia and Austria-Hungary. When England 
 saw the acuteness of the situation she at once 
 suggested, the four power mediation. That 
 
GREAT WORLD WAR 7 
 
 was, to let England, Germany, France and 
 Italy settle the matter, and thus keep the 
 peace of Europe. On the 25th of July Ger- 
 many agreed to the mediation of the four 
 powers ; but the next day she refused the 
 mediation of the four powers. 
 
 On the 28th Austria makes her refusal to 
 mediation, and also breaks off discussion with 
 Russia. 
 
 Servia accepts the demands of Austria, but 
 Austria claimed that the acceptance had come 
 too late, declared war on the little nation and 
 proceeded into her territory with armed 
 forces. 
 
 On July 29th Austria listens to reason and 
 resumes discussion with Russia, which con- 
 tinue through the 30th and 31st. On the first 
 day of August Austria and Russia come to 
 an agreement, as Austria gave in on the only 
 outstanding point. The peace of Europe was 
 sure. 
 
 ' Now that very day Germany mobilized her 
 troops for action and late that night broke 
 the peace of Europe by declaring war on 
 Russia. 
 
 Why? Do you ask why? That no one 
 knows. Some say it was because the Kaiser 
 is ambitious and wants to be the ruler of the 
 world. Others say the Kaiser's friends who 
 own the powder mills and steel and iron 
 works, in which the Kaiser is a holder of im-: 
 
8 A LITTLE HISTORY 
 
 mense stock, launched the war for the sake 
 of financial gain. Be that as it may, what- 
 ever the purpose, and whoever is responsible 
 for it, the fact is the same; Germany started 
 the war. 
 
 If Germany did not want war why did she 
 refuse the only way to peace, when Austria 
 was ready to accept it? Why did Germany 
 advise Austria to occupy Belgrade or some 
 other point in Servia? (See British White 
 Paper.) 
 
 If she had stopped at merely wanting war, 
 it would have been different, but Germany 
 was doing her underhanded work, by dictat- 
 ing to Austria what she should demand of 
 Servia. On July 5, 1914, a few days after the 
 Sarejevo murder, a secret meeting was held 
 between high officials of the Austrian and 
 German governments. This was made public 
 in a speech of Deputy Haase before the Reich- 
 stag, on July 19th. The Italian Ambassador 
 to Turkey told an American Attache there 
 that he had been talking to the German Am- 
 bassador Baron Wangenheim, who had told 
 him that he was just from a conference in 
 Berlin and that Austria was going to make 
 the demands on Servia so strong that she 
 could not accept them. 
 
 If Germany is not guilty of starting the 
 most horrible war of all time, why does she 
 not make public the state documents pass- 
 
GREAT WORLD WAR 9 
 
 ing between her and Austria, at the period 
 just preceeding her entrance of Belgium? 
 
 A United States Minister to one of the 
 European countries at the time tells of a 
 visit to the German borders in June, 1914, 
 even previous to the Sarejevo murder, and 
 to his surprise there were great numbers of 
 German soldiers. He saw practically no sol- 
 diers on the French borders. Germany's prep- 
 arations were in progress even then. 
 
 No one but the Imperial German Govern- 
 ment is the responsible party for the horrible 
 world war. She concocted the war scheme 
 and started it in operation. God grant that 
 she will reach the point that will make a 
 peace treaty with her conquerors that she 
 will be forced to keep forever ! 
 
 CHAPTER 11. 
 
 The Invasion of Belgium 
 
 For many years German commerce had fill- 
 ed the world. Her factories were sending 
 out millions and millions of articles bearing 
 the expression Made in Germany, but Ger- 
 many did not have seaports like other na- 
 tions. Her commerce must go out by way 
 of the North Sea and hundreds of miles to 
 the north in order to pass around Scotland, 
 
10 A LITTLE HISTORY 
 
 or her ships must sail to the south through 
 the Straits of Dover, and south of England. 
 Now, if she could only reduce France to a 
 German province she could connect her sea- 
 ports to her commerce by means of railroads. 
 Thus on the 4th day of August, 1914, the 
 German armies started to France. Why did 
 they not march on to Russia? A portion of 
 her armies did go to her eastern front, but 
 her main army started for France, because 
 that way led to world dominion. It was the 
 road to the fulfilment of her concocted 
 scheme. Her Kaisers had dreamed of it for 
 a century, and for fifty years her munition 
 plants had been storing the essence of death 
 against the day. Her coflfers overflowed 
 with gold. Food supplies were ample. Her 
 instruments of waj would be a surprise to 
 the world. The Army? Nothing like it. 
 Germany was prepared, and the moment had 
 come. Peace treaties, neutral nations, na- 
 tional honor, or the endless suflfering to be 
 brought on by her unthinkable brutality 
 amounted to nothing. Germany must win. 
 
 This was the soul of the Kaiser-god of 
 Germany. It has ever been the soul of Prus- 
 sianism and will be till the allies — truest 
 friends of the German people — have delivered 
 to the freeborn sons of the Fatherland a re- 
 public washed in the blood, and tears of the 
 suffering poor. Until the haughty house of 
 
GREAT WORLD WAR 11 
 
 the Hohenzollerns has tasted the blade of the 
 conqueror. 
 
 The border of France that touches Ger- 
 many is very narrow, so that the Germans 
 found it to their interest to cross Belgium 
 rather than confine their fighting to that nar- 
 row border on Alsace-Loraine. Belgium an- 
 ticipated this so that she asked both France 
 and Germany to respect her neutrality. 
 France notified her at once that she would 
 respect her neutrality, and she did. 
 
 What Did Germany Do? 
 
 In the year 1839 a treaty was made by the 
 leading nations of Europe which guaranteed 
 the neutrality of Belgium. In 1911 the Bel- 
 gian Minister in Berlin asked anew the prom- 
 ise of Germany to keep this treaty and the 
 assurance was given. In 1913 a high Ger- 
 man official said that Germany was deter- 
 mined to respect Belgium's guarantee of neu- 
 trality. Herr Von Bulow, the German Min- 
 ister in Brussels, again promised as late as 
 July 31, 1914, that the German sentiment re- 
 specting the neutrality of Belgium was the 
 same. Yet in the face of all these promises 
 on August 2, 1914, Germany sent Belgium an 
 ultimatum telling her to let her soldiers come 
 across her territory, or else she would be 
 treated as an enemy. This ultimatum was 
 
12 A LITTLE HISTORY 
 
 sent at 7 P. M. and Belgium was only given 
 till 7 A. M. the next day to answer; then on 
 that afternoon (August 3rd) the German 
 army crossed over into Belgium. On August 
 4th she started her black campaign of brutal- 
 ity that would shame the dark ages. Inno- 
 cent civilians were shot down like dogs. Some 
 were shot in the back while running and un- 
 armed. 
 
 Frightful? So frightful that the whole 
 world was shocked. America had reason 
 enough right there to declare war on the 
 German autocracy, but she waited. We felt 
 that it was not our affair, so America wait- 
 ed. England, however, was closer, Belgium 
 was England's honest little neighbor, and the 
 Mad Dog of Europe — the unnameable Kaiser- 
 god — was turned loose. The freedom of all 
 Europe was at stake. Germany would have 
 been the dictator of the world had not Eng- 
 land — the England we are prone to abuse — 
 stepped in at the moment she did. 
 
 The German policy is one of Frightfulness. 
 She lays bare every resource, of the enemy. 
 She terrorizes the enemy subjects in order 
 to carry out her own aims. Back in the 
 seventies a German writer argued that in 
 order to gain superiority over the enemy, the 
 army must use ruthless force. Later another 
 German military writer: "The enemy must 
 not be spared the wretchedness of war. 
 
GREAT WORLD WAR 13 
 
 Wretchedness shatters not only the energy, 
 but the will of the enemy." Then in July, 
 1900, the Kaiser in addressing the troops on 
 their leave for the Boxer War in China, urg- 
 ed them to show no mercy to the Chinese. 
 To take no prisoners. They must make a 
 name for themselves that a Chinese would 
 never look a German askance in the face. 
 In this war on the Chinese, the common sol- 
 diers were given form books for terrorizing 
 the Chinese. This then is the war policy in 
 which Germany delights. If you think that 
 she forgot to use this policy when she en- 
 tered Belgium, look at the record. 
 
 In less than forty-eight hours after the 
 German troops entered Belgian territory, a 
 bunch of her soldiers entered a house, shot 
 the father and mother dead, and taking their 
 innocent daughter, outraged her until she 
 died. 
 
 Villages everywhere were burned. Herve, 
 Soumagne, Micheroux, were burned and the 
 civilians shot down without excuse. The 
 Germans placed two regiments around the 
 village of Saint Maurice, set fire to the houses, 
 and as the helpless Belgians tried to escape 
 they shot them down without mercy, or dis- 
 tinction. The Belgians had no way to defend 
 themselves as their fire-arms had been taken 
 up by the Burgomaster. 
 
 At Andenne nearly three hundred men were 
 
14 A LITTLE HISTORY 
 
 massacred by drunken German soldiers. One 
 man was placed at the mouth of a machine 
 gun and shot. His wife carried his body- 
 home on a wheel barrow. This made the 
 Germ.ans m^ad, so that they broke into the 
 house, piled all the edibles in the floor, and 
 each one committed a nuisance there. 
 
 On the 21st of August, after a wholesale 
 massacre at Liege, the Germans carried fif- 
 teen or twenty women into the public square 
 and assaulted them in broad daylight. 
 
 In the district of Malines, the Germans 
 called a peasant to the door. He did not 
 open quick enough for them, and they shot 
 him down in his own door. His wife, who 
 stood by him with a sucking baby in her 
 arms, leaped on to the Germans and scratch- 
 ed their faces. A soldier knocked her down 
 and kiiled her. They bayonetted the baby 
 too, and laughed as its little hands quivered 
 in death. Then turning to other Belgians, 
 said : ''When a Germ.an tells you to do any- 
 thing 3^ou had better hurry." 
 
 This wholesale murder was not confined 
 to any one class, but they shot down old men 
 in their gardens. The soldiers ordered one 
 woman to bring wine and when she brought 
 it they shot her through the temple, v/ith no 
 excuse whatever. 
 In the village of Werchter a wdiole family 
 
GREAT WORLD WAR 15 
 
 was massacred because the youngest daugh- 
 ter would not allow the German soldiers to 
 outrage her. 
 
 We, of course, sent relief ships for the 
 Belgian sufferers, but still we remained neu- 
 tral, and Kaiser Wilhelm, the Mad Dog of 
 Europe, went on with his policy of Frightful- 
 ness. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 Spread of the German Menace 
 
 Volumes have been written in keeping with 
 the chapter you have just read. They tell 
 how the Belgians were locked in the village 
 church with no food, and a scanty supply of 
 water; hov/ that the priests were taken out 
 and shot beside their own churches, and of 
 the beautiful pieces of architecture and art 
 destroyed by the modern barbarians ; and of 
 Belgian children crying for bread, even dying 
 of starvation while the soldiers of the Im- 
 perial German Government feasted on the 
 cattle and produce of the land; but v/e shall 
 draw the curtain here that the scene of poor, 
 helpless, suffering Belgium may be shut out 
 of the readers' vision for a while. 
 
 We have given you but a glimpse of the 
 German menace in 1914, and now we shall 
 
16 A LITTLE HISTORY 
 
 look at her in 1915, to see if she has forgot- 
 ten her policy of frightfulness. 
 
 May the 1st, 1915, the passenger steamer 
 Lusitania set sail from New York with over 
 two thousand passengers aboard. The day 
 before she sailed Germany notified the Amer- 
 ican public of the danger of sailing on pas- 
 senger vessels on the high seas, but no one 
 thought of Germany doing so dastardly ^ 
 thing as torpedoing a passenger ship. May 
 the 7th, as the ship neared Queenstown, the 
 captain sighted the periscope of a submarine. 
 A moment later he saw a torpedo speeding 
 to the ship. He ordered the ship to make 
 for the coast, but as she turned another tor- 
 pedo struck her in the side, disabling her 
 boilers. It was then impossible to do any- 
 thing but lower the life boats. The Lusi- 
 tania was only twenty minutes sinking, and 
 her deck was the scene of beautiful heroism. 
 Brave men handed their life belts to women, 
 and helped them into the boats, giving their 
 own lives, but in spite of all the care and 
 coolness nearly 1,150 lives were lost. 114 
 of these were Americans, and a great many 
 women and children. Is there a man in all 
 civilization who can think lightly of this mur- 
 der on the high seas? It is cold-blooded 
 murder. Premeditated murder. If it was not 
 premeditated, why did Germany send out a 
 warning? She intended to use her policy of 
 
GREAT WORLD WAR 17 
 
 frightfulness on the sea to frighten com- 
 merce from the ocean, and if possible get by 
 with her deeds of horror. She meant to 
 commit the murder of the Lusitania's unfor- 
 tunate passengers and when the steamer had 
 about settled on her final resting place a 
 U-boat rose to see how well the Kaiser's 
 murder plot had been carried out. To Ger- 
 many this deed brought laughter and song, 
 to us it brings horror. Each wave that rolls 
 against the Statue of Liberty portrays the 
 shroud of some American woman and in its 
 folds you can almost see the uplifted, appeal- 
 ing, baby hands as they rose on May 7th for 
 the last time. 
 
 This stirred America as she had not been 
 stirred. A German aeroplane had tried to 
 drop bombs on the U. S. Ship Gushing. Then 
 a German submarine tried to torpedo the 
 Gulflight. There are those who claim it wa'S 
 only a mistake of the aeronaut or the cap- 
 tain of the U-boat, but when we consider how 
 accurately Germany knew where to meet the 
 Arabic and the Lusitania, we are convinced 
 of her policy. It would, of course, in her 
 judgment, be an easy matter to apologize to 
 America, and thus keep her neutral for a 
 while. 
 
 May 25th, three weeks later, she made a 
 U-boat attack on the U. S. Ship Nebraskan, 
 and pursuant to her plan offered an apology 
 
18 A LITTLE HISTORY 
 
 to the United States Government on July 
 15th. 
 
 Germany now became more considerate of 
 the United States. She had to. The German 
 Chancellor, Bethman-Holweg, said to the 
 Reichstag: "I have lent myself to the Amer- 
 ican people till we have time to build more 
 submarines." This then was Germany's pur- 
 pose. She intended to engage the United 
 States in war when she felt that she was 
 sure of victory. Her place must be the con- 
 queror of the v/hole world, and she allowed 
 her foolish ambition to lead her into really 
 believing that she could whip the allies and 
 then America. So in order to gain a little 
 time she turned her policy of frightfulness 
 from us to other parts of the world. 
 
 Germany had found the Zeppelin a military 
 failure. It is too heavy to face the lighter 
 types of aeroplanes used by the allies. The 
 lighter types, going so much faster, dart out 
 of the way of the Zeppelin and often bring 
 her do\vn, so Germany sent her Zeppelins on 
 another mission. 
 
 On January 20, 1915, her Zeppelins drop- 
 ped nearly two dozen bombs on the English 
 coast towns, only 70 miles from London. She 
 had visited Antvv^erp and Paris at an earlier 
 date in the war than this, and as it was not 
 so dangerous as in the war zone, she con- 
 tinued her policy of frightfulness on the help- 
 
GREAT WORLD WAR 19 
 
 less women and children. On April 14th, she 
 dropped bombs on Blyth and Wallsend. The 
 next day she visited the towns of Sitting- 
 bourne, Faversham, and Canterbury. April 
 30th, Ipswich; May 16th, Ramsgate ; May 
 27th, Southgate; and on the 25th her vul- 
 tures of death visited the suburbs of London 
 killing twenty-five. And again on the 31st, 
 when, according to the German account, the 
 navy yard and arsenal at South Shields were 
 destroyed. London reports simply give the 
 number of the killed and the wounded. This 
 was the German policy of Frightfulness, but 
 on the 15th day of June when aeroplanes of the 
 allies visited the town of Karlsruhe in re- 
 taliation, the Mad Dog of Europe sent up 
 an awful howl. The Kaiser thought it per- 
 fectly right that his Zeppelins should murder 
 women and children in the night v/hen they 
 were asleep, but when the just court of the 
 allies asked "Eye for eye," in order to teach 
 the enemy the extent of his crimes and thus 
 protect the women and children of France, 
 England and Belgium, the Kaiser asked for 
 the sympathy from the whole v/orld. Instead 
 of sympathy, however, he found them laugh- 
 ing at him. It vv^as like an outlaw killing a 
 dozen men and when the thirteenth knocked 
 out his eye, to ask the bystanders to sym- 
 pathize with him. 
 
 Germany, however, did not limit her cruel- 
 
20 A LITTLE HISTORY 
 
 ty, even to the women and children who were 
 in good health, but attacked the hospital 
 ships. Among those sunk are the Donegal, 
 Lanfranc, Asturias, Gloucester Castle and 
 Britannic. Some of these ships carried 
 wounded soldiers, and in at least one case 
 German soldiers were being cared for, but 
 the heartless German beast has no heart to 
 feel even for his own people. What does 
 Kaiser Wilhelm care as long as his throne is 
 sure ? 
 
 The Germans also sank several ships bear- 
 ing relief to the Belgian sufferers. Among 
 those sunk are : Trevier, Feistein, S. S. Ca- 
 milla and Storstadt. 
 
 Another thing that shows the heartlessness 
 of the German military scheme is the way 
 they have dealt with the wounded men as 
 found on the field. One soldier tells of being 
 left in a trench with other wounded men. He 
 says that when they heard a band of Ger- 
 man soldiers coming one of their number, 
 an officer, waved a handkerchief as a truce. 
 This of course meant surrender as prisoners 
 of war, for they were all helpless. The Ger- 
 mans sprang into the trench and bayonetted 
 the men, except the one who tells the story. 
 They thought he was dead. 
 
 April 22, 1915, Germany added a new chap- 
 ter to her history of cruelty. The British 
 were fighting nobly in open battle at Ypres 
 
GREAT WORLD WAR 21 
 
 when great yellow clouds came rolling from 
 the German Imes. What could it be? A 
 moment later the British were gasping and 
 dying from its fumes. It was the first charge 
 with poison gas. 
 
 Who would have stooped to such a method 
 but satan, or one in close league with him? 
 
 Europe's Mad Dog was still unchained. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 The Land of Heroes 
 
 When the Germans started their march of 
 death on the French and Belgians, France 
 was surprised beyond measure. She knew 
 nothing of the Kaiser's dream of world do- 
 minion. France had given her pledge to 
 Russia as an ally in case of war, but on the 
 3rd day of August, 1914, when the German 
 Imperial Government declared war on France 
 and started her armies into her territory to 
 enslave her people, France suddenly awoke 
 to the fact that she was something more than 
 an ally. She was therefore unprepared to 
 face at a moment's notice the enemy that 
 had been planning and preparing for fifty 
 years for her utter ruin. 
 
 Shock though it was, France marshaled 
 her small force against the enemy. England 
 
22 A LITTLE HISTORY 
 
 responded for the sake of wronged Belgium. 
 England severed relations with Germany on 
 August 5, 1914, and on August 6th, Parlia- 
 ment accepted the state of war the Germans 
 had brought on. 
 
 It was the 23rd of August when the allies 
 met the Germans in battle. The battle oc- 
 curred at Mons, Belgium, but the lack of 
 preparations brought defeat to the allies. 
 Every day the Germans gained from ten to 
 fifteen miles on the allies. On and on march- 
 ed the conquering hordes of the Germans, 
 until they crossed the river Marne on the 
 4th day of September. They were now in 
 a short distance of Paris, so close that an 
 attack on Paris was expected at any day. The 
 city was preparing for such an attack and 
 the French Government was moved to Bor- 
 deaux. It seemed as though Germany was 
 in to win in her dream of world dominion, 
 but there came a new chapter in French his- 
 tory. The spirit of the immortal Joan of Arc 
 entered the armies. The heroic General Jof- 
 fre rallied his men and made a drive* on the 
 Germans that will make him famous for all 
 time. No power on earth could stay the 
 heroic sons of France. The English knew this 
 and went into the task v/ith renewed energy. 
 The French knew it and showed it in those 
 courageous moments of battle. The Germans 
 knew and fled like chaff before the wind. No 
 
GREAT WORLD WAR 23 
 
 wonder the United States gave General Joffre 
 such a wholehearted welcome when he came 
 on a national mission early in 1917. The 
 world recognizes him as the hero of the 
 Marne! September 15 the Germans halted on 
 the banks of the Aisne River and the longest 
 battle line of history was started. The Germans 
 tried to get around the allies and the allies 
 kept running their lines farther and farther 
 until October the first, a mighty line was 
 formed. Along this liae of battle for three 
 years have been used all the latest methods 
 of warfare making Verdun, Arras, Somme 
 and other sections famous as the Land of 
 Heroes. 
 
 Surely no battle since the seige of ancient 
 Troy has been so fierce as that never ending 
 battle of Verdun. Verdun is on the Meuse 
 River and where the highway leads into the 
 heart of France. The Germans thought that 
 they must take Verdun. No other victory 
 amounted to much unless Verdun fell. After 
 months of desperate fighting in this sector, 
 the Germans set in afresh with a determina- 
 tion to win by forcing her way. Germany 
 gathered her fresh troops and rested them 
 for weeks, then at 7 A. M. on the 21st of 
 February, 1915, the German forces led by 
 Crown Prince Ruprecht made an artillery 
 bombardment that has no equal in history. 
 One writer describes the bursting bombs and 
 
24 A LITTLE HISTORY 
 
 rockets as looking like a most coUossal dis- 
 play of fireworks. The bombarding that the 
 Germans had done heretofore was tame in 
 comparison to this new attack. The British 
 and French were cut down and their defenses 
 shattered; still they fought with a desperate 
 mien and courage that will never be sur- 
 passed on any battlefield. The Germans knew 
 that they had impaired the lines of the allies, 
 and at 5 P. M, they made a drive with their 
 infantry to take possession of the enemy 
 trenches. They thought that nothing remain- 
 ed but to possess, but they forgot the men 
 they were fighting. Poor as the defenses of 
 the allies were they made a stand and the 
 Germans were cut to pieces, line after line 
 falling like mown hay. The Germans now 
 started another bombardment, followed by 
 infantry drives, in this way they gained a 
 foothold in the first line trenches by the end 
 of the day. February 22nd, the bombarding 
 was more terriffic. Their flame of battle 
 swept the field as a mighty fire, and that 
 night found the allies without shelter, but 
 they went to work and soon dug themselves 
 trenches. They had been fighting for hours 
 and were almost exhausted, but they worked 
 as desperately as they had fought. 
 
 General Castlenau gave orders to the men 
 to hold Verdun at any cost. On February 
 24th General Petain took charge of the forces 
 
GREAT WORLD WAR 25 
 
 in the Verdun sector, and later Verdun was 
 a fortification with underground passages 
 running for miles and miles, filled with beds, 
 offices, foodstuff, and munitions. There was 
 even a great underground passage for retreat. 
 Such is the Verdun of the present. 
 
 In this section the famous LaFayette fly- 
 ing esquadrille won world-wide admiration. 
 The entire corps is composed of Americans 
 who ventured to the land of heroes even while 
 the United States remained neutral. What 
 gratitude to the memory of Marquis De 
 LaFayette ! 
 
 Happy be that American woman who has 
 given a son to the cause of liberty. They 
 may, or they may not return to you, mother, 
 but they have gone to the Land of Heroes 
 and their deeds shall go down in history for 
 they are courtiers to the Cause of Freedom 
 just as much as Washington and the men 
 of 76. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Why America Entered the War 
 
 One of the most deadly pieces of German 
 propaganda that has flooded the country is 
 the statement that England got the United 
 States into the war; or that the United 
 States entered the war on England's account 
 There are well meaning people who ask. 
 
26 A LITTLE HISTORY 
 
 "Why didn't the United States protest when 
 England interferred with our mails, when 
 she was protesting to Germany about the 
 U-boats?" If the reader has never thought 
 seriously about this matter, please stop a 
 moment and do so now. There is quite a lot 
 of difference in the murder of women and 
 children on the high seas, and the interfer- 
 ing with mails and commerce, etc., but the 
 United States did protest and England came 
 to time. She also protested to Germany and 
 she did not come to time. So reader, Eng- 
 land has had nothing to do with our entrance 
 into the world war. If England had been 
 fighting as Germany's ally we could have had 
 no other choice than to fight them both. Ger- 
 many made war on America when she was 
 neutral. She used underhanded methods, 
 prostituted consular service, and trampled 
 underfoot every international law that came 
 in her way. 
 
 Late in the year 1915, Von Papen, the Ger- 
 man military attache at Washington, D. Cs, 
 and Karl Boy-ed, German naval attache, were 
 asked to leave Washington because of their 
 using their offices in an underhanded way, 
 thus prostituting the consular service to car- 
 ry out the designs of a foreign power. Von 
 Papen had sent certain messages in code to 
 the war office in Berlin, which was illegal. 
 Karl Boy-ed had encouraged an insurrection 
 
GREAT WORLD WAR 27 
 
 in Mexico. In this connection may be men- 
 tioned the names of Franz Bopp, Wolf Von 
 Igel and other plotters that were in the em- 
 ploy of the German regime. One planned 
 to blow up the Welland Canal. Secret papers 
 were found in possession of Ambassador 
 Dumba revealing the plots to organize strikes 
 in munition plants, and he too had to leave 
 this country. It is said that one man was 
 paid $5,000 for propaganda v/ork for the Im- 
 perial German Government. 
 
 Perhaps you ask if these plots resulted in 
 any serious damage to any one. Yes, it was 
 found that this system was employing men 
 both in the United States and Mexico. It 
 has been shown that Boy-ed had tried to 
 bring about an insurrection in Mexico, and 
 so this work finally resulted in a most dis- 
 astrous thing. The Mexicans were embitter- 
 ed, and finally the heartless savage. Villa, 
 came to carry out the German design. We 
 have no proofs that Villa was employed by 
 Germany, but there is enough circumstantial 
 evidence to put it beyond all doubt. We are 
 therefore not far from the right track when 
 we charge against the Germans that mas- 
 sacre at Columbus, N. M., on the morning 
 of March 9, 1916. Personally, I believe that 
 the proof of this very thing will be made 
 known at some future date. 
 
 Just two weeks after the Columbus mas-: 
 
28 A LITTLE HISTORY 
 
 sacre a German U-boat torpedoed and sank 
 the Channel passenger steamer Sussex, caus- 
 ing the loss of more American lives. 
 
 The United States Government sent to the 
 Imperial German Government on April 15, 
 1916, the following note : 
 
 "If it is still the purpose of the Imperial 
 German Government to prosecute relentless 
 and indiscriminate warfare against vessels of 
 commerce by the use of submarines, without 
 regard to what the Government of the United 
 States must consider the sacred and indis- 
 putable rules of international law, and the 
 universally recognized dictates of humanity, 
 the Government of the United States is at 
 last forced to the conclusion that there is 
 but one course it can pursue. Unless the 
 German Government should now immediate- 
 ly declare and effect an abandonment of its 
 present methods of submarine warfare against 
 passenger and freight carrying vessels, the 
 Government of the United States can have 
 no choice but to sever diplomatic relations 
 with the German Empire altogether." 
 
 Germany was not quite ready for a break 
 with the United States, and so in answer to 
 the above note she promised (May 4th) that 
 she was ready to do all in her power to con- 
 fine the operations of war for the remainder 
 of its duration to the fighting forces of the 
 belligerents. The German Government also 
 
GREAT WORLD WAR 29 
 
 promised in this reply to meet the demands of 
 international law, by visitation and search, 
 both within and without the naval war zone, 
 that vessels bearing passengers and freight 
 should not be sunk unless they offered re- 
 sistance or tried to escape. 
 
 The next months seemed as though Ger- 
 many would make good her word, but she 
 had an object in view. She wanted (as shown 
 before in this little volume) to gain time to 
 build more submarines. January 31, 1917, 
 Germany having decided that she could whip 
 the whole world by using the additional sub- 
 marines she had builded, sent to the United 
 States a note declaring that all ships, includ- 
 ing those of neutrals, would be sunk if found 
 in a certain zone around France, Great Brit- 
 ain, Italy and the eastern Mediterraean. 
 
 The United States severed diplomatic re- 
 lations with Germany on February 3, 1917. 
 Why should she not? Germany had broken 
 her solemn pledge and her note meant that 
 she was going on with the murder of our 
 people. 
 
 Just at this time another piece of German 
 intrigue came to light. The German foreign 
 secretary, Zimmermann, had sent a note to 
 Von Eckhardt, the German Minister in Mexi- 
 co City, in which he told him that on February 
 the first they would start the unlimited use 
 of the submarine, that Germany hoped to 
 
30 A LITTLE HISTORY 
 
 keep the United States neutral but in case 
 we did not remain neutral for him to have 
 a secret agreement with Mexico. He even 
 told him to promise Mexico that Germany- 
 would furnish her money, fight with her and 
 when peace came Mexico would receive her 
 lost territory in Texas, New Mexico and Ari- 
 zona. He further asked Von Eckhardt to 
 have Mexico suggest to Japan that she fight 
 with them. 
 
 It has been said that this note was sent 
 through the German consular service in the 
 United States and was captured on the Mexi- 
 can border by a band of our troops searching 
 the bearer. 
 
 This note was not made public till March 
 1, 1917, but it must have been in the hands 
 of our faithful representative at Washington 
 at the time of the severance of diplomatic 
 relations with Germany. 
 
 The United States Government announced 
 at the time of the breaking ofif of diplomatic 
 relations that she would refrain from hostili- 
 ties until actual "Overt Acts" of the Imperial 
 German Government were committed; but 
 these "overt acts" were committed. Within 
 two months Germany sank at least eight 
 American merchant ships, with the loss of 
 nearly fifty American lives. 
 
 The Mad Dog of Europe was laying waste 
 the life and property of American citizens, 
 
GREAT WORLD WAR 31 
 
 and had not our wise and faithful officials at 
 Washington taken the steps they did our fate 
 might have been like that of Belgium. On 
 the 2nd day of April, 1917, Mr. Wilson deliv- 
 ered to Congress perhaps the greatest state 
 address that has been given since the Colonial 
 days. It v^as a literary masterpiece, and yet 
 so intensely human that it touched a respon- 
 sive chord in all civilization. It was so beau- 
 tiful in its unselfishness and its defense of all 
 humanity, including the German people who 
 are down-trodden by the Kaiser-god, that it 
 brought the sympathetic aid of thousands. 
 Congress was stirred into immediate action 
 and with their backing, on August 6th, Presi- 
 dent Wilson announced that a state of war 
 exists between the United States and Ger- 
 many. 
 
 Our reason then for entering the war was 
 for no ordinary purpose, but in defense of 
 freedom. There is no hope of gain in national 
 possessions, but there will be the greatest 
 gain in the real things that are worth fight- 
 ing for — the freedom from tyranny of all the 
 earth's suffering creatures. 
 
 Give, therefore, a free man's gift in this 
 struggle for freedom. Buy a Liberty Bond, 
 and then buy another. Join the Red Cross, 
 or do your bit whatever it may be. Better 
 still, go to the country's service and drive 
 forever from this earth the crazed tyrant of 
 
Z2 A LITTLE HISTORY 
 
 Europe, who has trampled and starved the 
 crying, helpless infants of northern France 
 and Belgium ; who has carried away their 
 men into the lowest form of servitude, and 
 their women into a slavery infinitely worse 
 than death ; who has boasted to graft the 
 German stock where free men have fallen; 
 who has dropped bombs on relief ships, and 
 hospital ships, and laughed at the sinking of 
 passenger ships laden with neutral lives ; and 
 who has laughed at the suffering of his own 
 war-ridden Germany and urged her on to war 
 against those who are fighting for her free- 
 dom, by his lies which he has hired his learn- 
 ed professors to invent, thus you give to the 
 world that peace which the Prince of Peace 
 came to bring. 
 
 Oeacidified using the Bookkeeper proces 
 Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
 Treatment Date: orp 2flJ2 
 
 PreservationTechnologie; 
 
 A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATIO 
 
 1 1 1 Thomson Park Drive 
 Cranberry Township. PA 16066 
 (724)779-2111 
 
is the most thrilling story of the White 
 Slave evil that has ever been written. It 
 was copyrighted by I. M. Page [the 
 author] in 1915, and has been so popu- 
 lar that the sales have already gone into 
 the thousands. It is clean, vital and 
 powerfully dramatic. 
 
 Every Minister, Teacher, Parent, Girl 
 and Social Worker should by all means, 
 have a copy of this book to help in the 
 fight for clean, pure homes. It contains 
 twelve chapters that command unbroken 
 interest from the first sentence to the 
 finis. Beautifully bound, price postpaid, 
 25 CENTS. 
 
 -Address- 
 
 I. M. PAGE, PUBLISHER 
 P. O. Box 394, Cincinnati, Ohio 
 
 /' 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 021 547 909 2