OLD EUROPE’S SUICIDE “For History of Times representeth the magnitude of actions and the public faces and deportments of persons, and passeth over in silence the smaller passages and motions of ‘men and matters.’” --_Francis Bacon_ BRIGADIER-GENERAL CHRISTOPHER BIRDWOOD THOMSON General Thomson comes of an English family of soldiers. He is about forty-five years old, and has a career of active service behind him, having served as subaltern four years in the Boer War, then having passed the Staff-College, and subsequently having been employed by the War Office in Balkan service. At the very beginning of the Great War he was engaged in Staff work at the French front, and in 1915 to 1917 was the British military representative in the Balkans. In the Palestine campaign he saw active service in the field until the occupation of Jerusalem. When the Supreme War Council was convened at Versailles, Thomson was recalled and was attached as British Military Representative in 1918 remaining until the conclusion of its peace negotiations. In 1919 he retired with rank of Brigadier General--Royal Engineers. He has now entered the field of politics as a member of the Labour Party and is the selected candidate for Parliament, standing for Central Bristol. He was a member of the Labour Party commission which recently visited Ireland; and his services in the intensive campaign work of the Labour Party in Great Britain have occupied the past year. [Illustration: THE PYRAMID OF ERRORS] OLD EUROPE’S SUICIDE OR THE BUILDING OF A PYRAMID OF ERRORS An account of certain events in Europe during the Period 1912-1919 By BRIGADIER-GENERAL CHRISTOPHER BIRDWOOD THOMSON [Illustration] NEW YORK THOMAS SELTZER 1922 Copyright, 1922, by THOMAS SELTZER, INC. _All Rights Reserved_ DEDICATION THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED TO ONE I HAVE ALWAYS CALLED “LA BELLE SAGESSE,” WHO GREATLY LOVES HER COUNTRY AND HER GARDEN BY THE “SLEEPING WATERS”. PREFACE This book is a retrospect covering the period 1912-1919. It begins with the first Balkan War, and ends with the Peace Conference at Paris. Many of the events described have been dealt with by other writers, and the only justification for adding one more volume to an already well-stocked library, is that the author was an eye-witness of all that he relates and enjoyed peculiar opportunities for studying the situation as a whole. To impressions derived from personal contact with many of the principal actors in this world-drama has been added the easy wisdom which comes after the event. With these qualifications a conscientious effort has been made to arrange the subject matter in proper sequence and to establish some connection between cause and effect--not with a view to carping criticism, but rather to stress the more obvious errors of the past and glean from them some guidance for the future.