In our first volume we learned how the disunited states of Germany, under the leadership of Prussia, became welded together into a great empire on the ringing anvil of war. The German Empire had been created by the sword, and Germans had been taught to believe that only by the sword could it be maintained and increased. During less than half a century they had grown from poverty to riches and greatness, and this sudden rise to wealth and power had so turned their heads that they now deemed themselves entitled to world-empire. Mighty in industry and commerce, and possessed of the vastest and most highly organized weapon of war that the world has ever known, they nevertheless saw their ambitions thwarted again and again. They desired greatly a dominion beyond the seas, but colonies were hard to come by. With the failure of their attempts to expand they grew more and more embittered, until they believed that they were being robbed of their rightful due by the envy and greed of neighbouring Powers. On their eastern border they saw the Russians daily recovering from the effects of the war against Japan, and so rapidly advancing in military strength as to be a real menace to that commanding position which they coveted. Their leaders feared that if Russia were not speedily crippled she would "Bestride the narrow world Like a Colossus,[2] and we petty men Walk under his huge legs, and peep about To find ourselves dishonourable graves." While viewing the rise of Russia with mingled fear and contempt, they saw the British people, whom they had been taught to despise as a worn-out and wealth-corrupted race, holding dominion on every continent and in every sea, and unfurling their flag over one in four of all mankind. The spectacle was gall and wormwood to them, and they made no secret of their intention to wrest this vast empire from its present holders when the time was ripe. To this end they had built a great fleet, and their sailors drank to "The Day" when the lordship of the ocean should be theirs, and the overseas dominion of Britain the spoils of their triumph. But the fruits of industrial strength and armed might were slow in ripening, and in 1911, when, thanks to the support of Great Britain, France became supreme in Morocco and the shadowy claims of Germany were set aside, there was bitter chagrin in the Fatherland. It was then, as we have good reason to believe, that the leaders of the German people came to the conclusion that only by war could they realize their ambitions. War must be made on France and on her ally, Russia. When France was overthrown, Germany would be absolute master of Central and Western Europe. When Russia was crippled, Germany would have a free hand in the Balkans. Then, mightily increased in territory and resources, she would proceed to the conquest of Britain.