Preparations on a vast scale were at once begun. The war lords of Germany bent all their thoughts and energies to the task. The effect of heavy artillery and high explosive shells was studied, and the great armament works were ordered to turn out huge howitzers and the necessary ammunition for them. Innumerable machine guns and motor cars were built, and nothing that made for military or naval efficiency was overlooked. The Kiel Canal was enlarged so as to accommodate the heaviest Dreadnoughts in the navy; the number of trained men in the army was increased; huge stocks of all the necessaries of war were collected. The bankers were instructed to sell their foreign stocks and shares, and to collect gold with which to purchase abroad the cotton, copper, rubber, and petrol, which are all-important in modern warfare. A deep-laid plot was hatched to hamper British bankers so that they could not lend money to France and Russia. Silently and secretly, and with wonderful foresight and zeal, everything was prepared for the great adventure. Some idea of the wonderful completeness of the German preparations for war may be gathered from the following description of a soldier's equipment:-- "The German soldier was clothed in cloth of a colour which, on the average of European days, gave a greater degree of invisibility than khaki. This cloth was excellently woven to withstand weather and strain. Each soldier had a pocket-knife worth a week's pay of a British corporal, and carried in this pocket-knife a little equipment for mending his clothes (as also a first-aid bandage of adhesive plaster). His boots were of wonderfully strong and supple leather, such boots as only rich civilians in England can buy. His valise of cowhide, tanned with the hair on, was most ingeniously furnished with straps and removable bolts of white metal for ease of carrying and ease of packing and unpacking. Its contents, disposed in various little cupboards, gave the maximum of food-reserve and clothing-comforts for the space and weight. The order-books, the maps, the other equipment of officers and non-commissioned officers, showed the same skilful devotion to detail. During many years of preparation the German mind had evidently devoted itself with passionate industry to providing for every possible emergency of the soldier's life in the field."