Finally, after a longer or shorter period of indecisive deadlock, the time comes when trained troops and material of war accumulated in advance begin to run short--when new levies, raised since the war broke out, begin to take the field, well or ill equipped, well or ill armed, as the case may be. When this stage is reached we are in the _drag_ of war; and the side which can best afford to feed, clothe, and arm its fresh reinforcements stands at an enormous advantage. In 1870 war was announced on July 15th, and formally declared on the 19th. Three weeks later, on August 6th, the important battles of Woerth and Spicheren were won by the Germans. On September 2nd, the issue of the war was decided, when the Emperor of the French, with his main army, surrendered at Sedan. Metz fell in the last days of October, and Paris on the first day of March in the {265} following year. In that war the _onset_ settled everything. There was no real _grip_ of the opposing forces. The German attack had been so swift, vigorous, and successful that France was knocked out in the first round. [Sidenote: RESULTS OF SUCCESS IN ONSET] The speed with which great armies can be mobilised and hurled against one another has not diminished in the forty odd years which have elapsed since the _débâcle_. On the contrary, the art of war has been largely concerned in the interval with the vital question, how to get in the first deadly blow. The military view was, that probably not earlier than the fifteenth day--certainly not later than the twenty-first--a battle would take place which must be of the highest importance, and which might quite well be decisive. It might make ultimate German victory only a matter of time; or it might only determine whether the ensuing campaign was to be waged on French or German soil--whether there was to be a German invasion of France or a Franco-British invasion of Germany. Consequently, if our Expeditionary Force was to render assistance at the critical time, it must reach its position on the frontier within a fortnight of the outbreak of war. As to the _drag_ of war, the Triple Entente had the advantage, if that stage were ever reached. For the purses of England, France, and Russia were much longer than those of Germany and Austria. It was important, however, to remember that there would be no hope for us in the _drag_ of war, if Germany could deliver a heavy enough blow at the beginning, as she did in 1870.