Chancellor von Bethmann-Hollweg, of the German Empire, wrote Germany's infamy into history when, in a formal statement, he acknowledged that the invasion of Belgium was "a wrong that we will try to make good again as soon as our military ends have been reached." To Sir Edward Vochen, British Ambassador to Germany, he addressed the inquiry: "Is it the purpose of your country to make war upon Germany for the sake of a scrap of paper?" The treaty of 1839-1870 guaranteeing Belgium's neutrality was the scrap of paper. [Illustration: Photographs] KING ALBERT I, QUEEN ELIZABETH, THE HEROIC RULERS OF BELGIUM [Illustration: Photograph showing bombed out shells of buildings. In the foreground a building has been leveled to the ground.] Copyright International News Service. THE RED RUINS OF YPRES Ypres, the British soldiers "Wipers," was the scene of much of the bloodiest fighting of the war. Three great battles were fought for its possession. The photograph shows what was once the market place. With the entrance of England into the war, the issue between autocracy and democracy was made plain before the people of the world. Austria, and later Turkey, joined with Germany; France, and Japan, by reason of their respective treaty obligations joined England and Russia. Italy for the time preferred to remain neutral, ignoring her implied alliance with the Teutonic empires. How other nations lined up on the one side and the other is indicated by the State Department's list of war declarations, and diplomatic severances, which follows: