Produced by Thierry Alberto, Jeannie Howse and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net * * * * * A GENERAL SKETCH OF THE EUROPEAN WAR BY HILAIRE BELLOC THE FIRST PHASE THOMAS NELSON & COMPANY LONDON, EDINBURGH, PARIS, AND NEW YORK _First published June 1, 1915_ _Reprinted June 1915_ CONTENTS. INTRODUCTION 7 PART I. THE GENERAL CAUSES OF THE WAR. (1) THE GERMAN OBJECT 17 (2) CONFLICT PRODUCED BY THE CONTRAST OF THIS GERMAN ATTITUDE OR WILL WITH THE WILLS OF OTHER NATIONS 23 (3) PRUSSIA 27 (4) AUSTRIA 39 (5) THE PARTICULAR CAUSES OF THE WAR 50 (6) THE IMMEDIATE OCCASION OF THE WAR 64 PART II. THE FORCES OPPOSED. (1) THE GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION OF THE BELLIGERENTS 80 The Geographical Advantages and Disadvantages of the Germanic Body 86 The Geographical Advantages and Disadvantages of the Allies 121 (2) THE OPPOSING STRENGTHS 136 The Figures of the First Period, say to October 1-31, 1914 145 The Figures of the Second Period, say to April 15-June 1, 1915 151 (3) THE CONFLICTING THEORIES OF WAR 164 PART III. THE FIRST OPERATIONS. (1) THE BATTLE OF METZ 316 (2) LEMBERG 322 (3) TANNENBERG 345 (4) THE SPIRITS IN CONFLICT 365 INTRODUCTION. It is the object of this book, and those which will succeed it in the same series, to put before the reader the main lines of the European War as it proceeds. Each such part must necessarily be completed and issued some little time after the events to which it relates have passed into history. The present first, or introductory volume, which is a preface to the whole, covers no more than the outbreak of hostilities, and is chiefly concerned with an examination of the historical causes which produced the conflict, an estimate of the comparative strength of the various combatants, and a description of the first few days during which these combatants took up their positions and suffered the first great shocks of the campaigns in East and West. But in order to serve as an introduction to the remainder of the series, it is necessary that the plan upon which these books are to be constructed should be clearly explained.