Our boys were always ready for a frolic when they were off duty. These husky doughboys have just finished making a snow image of the German Emperor-mustaches and all. fire and sword, thus committing a crime which aroused all civilized nations and will be hard to blot out of memory. States, after a long period of endurance and insults, intrigues, attacks on her commerce, and defiance of international law, severed diplomatic relations with her, and a state of war was declared. The spirit of the Pilgrims and of the men of '76 was in arms. The American people felt that the principles of liberty as laid down in the Declaration of Independence were in danger. They saw, too, that if the autocratic principles of the Kaiser were allowed to dominate Europe it would only be a matter of time until they dominated America as well. Marquis de Lafayette The earliest friend of America England then entered the conflict, and the greatest war of history was on. England, France, and Russia were known as the "Entente Powers," while Germany, Austria, and Italy formed the "Triple Alliance." In spite of her treaty arrangement with Germany and Austria, Italy refused to enter the war on their side, since she maintained that the Triple Alliance was for defense only and that Germany and Austria had not been attacked. 66 LAFAYETTE-WE ARE HERE" Month after month the aggressions of Germany caused new nations to break with her: China, Japan, and finally, on April 6, 1917, the United The Château of Chavaniac The birthplace of Lafayette, former loyal friend of the United States. And so the people of the United States entered the war, to preserve not only the rights of free peoples in Field-Marshal Joffre in Brooklyn at the Unveiling of Lafayette's Statue The "Hero of the Marne" visited this country shortly before the United States joined the Allies. Here he is saluting the statue of one of the truest friends we ever had. Europe, but to protect themselves from being enslaved when their time came. When President Wilson read his memorable message to Congress telling it that the war was inevitable, he said: "The world must be made safe for democracy. . . . We have no selfish ends to serve. We desire no conquest, We desire no conquest, no dominion. We seek no indemnities for ourselves, no material compensation for the sacrifice we shall freely make. We are but one of the champions of the rights of mankind. We shall be satisfied when those rights have been made as secure as the faith and the freedom of nations can make them." Americans of the future cannot but be proud of the motives which brought their country into the war, as well as of the heroism and unselfishness with which men, women, and children, soldiers and civilians gave their energies, their devotion, and their lives to the cause of freedom. LAFAYETTE BY RICHARD A. PURDY AFAYETTE; at our cry from the cradle you came LAFA And beside that of Washington listed your name. You had come at the call of the Colonies' stand, You had come in your youth with your sword in your hand. In the new western world by the help of the old. You returned in your age on a visit, to greet All the sons of the fathers who knelt at your feet, To the country that lent us the strength of your sword. HEN a century's silence enveloped your tomb, THEN When the France that you loved, overwhelmed and in gloom, Saw the shadow of rape, the eclipse of her sun, In the oncoming hideous hordes of the Hun Like a gray tidal wave that engulfs and destroys! Like an earthquake that shatters with thunderous noise! But the ocean was open, we steered for your shores Through the lines of sea-monsters with outstretching claws— And to serve by the side of the soldiers of France. When we said at your tomb-"Lafayette, we are here." THE WORLD IN ARMS How the Nations Fought the Battles of Democracy during Four Years of Conflict THE HE Germans did not embark on a world-war in August, 1914, without a plan of campaign, so carefully worked out that its success was unquestioned by the German General Staff. In a few words, it was this: crush France first, then turn and crush Russia. To gather the fighting forces of vast Russia, to equip them and transport them to the front, with Russia's imperfect railroad system and general lack of management, was thought to be a matter of weeks. Germany counted on her enemies' slowness of mobilization as against her own preparedness. She would hurl the whole force of her army on France, then hurl it against Russia. Thus the key-note of Germany's plan was speed. That is why she chose to send her main forces into France through Belgium. She thought it would be the quickest and easiest way. France had erected numerous fortifications on her German frontier, for use in case of invasion, but her defenses on her Belgian border were weak, because all the great nations of Europe, including Germany, had solemnly agreed years before that Belgium was never to be invaded. Besides, from the geographical point of view, the Belgian plain was the best gateway into France. But in this plan Germany either counted out or overlooked certain factors; and it was due to these that her campaign of 1914 failed to conquer France. First of all, Belgium resisted and held up the march. Second, the Russians mobilized quicker than Germany had expected and invaded East Prussia. Third, England came promptly to France's rescue. And last of all, though the Germans outnumbered their opponents, the retreat of the English army delayed the Germans' progress, and Joffre's battle of the Marne stopped it. Let us begin with that fateful day, August 4, 1914, when German troops first crossed the border into Belgium. Liège! What does that word bring to your mind? Forts? Howitzers? Hosts of Germans pouring through the narrow gate into Belgium? The heroic resistance of a band of Belgians? It was at Liège that the German army met its first opposition. It took them eleven days to subdue the forts of Liège. These forts had once been reckoned as impregnable by the world; they were built in the most modern fashion of concrete and steel, but the big German siege-guns crumbled these defenses to pieces. And the German army moved on through Belgium, taking Brussels and making short work of the forts of Namur. On and on they went, thousands of them. By the sheer force of numbers they defeated the gallant Belgian army under King Albert; they defeated the British Expeditionary Force and the French, and they went swarming over the border into France, on the road to Paris. But do not think that this defeat was a capture, or the Allied retreat a rout. No. Systematically, according to plan, they fell back before the invading hordes. Joffre, the commander-in |