You have probably heard grown-up people, when discussing this great war, mention “a scrap of paper.” You may even have wondered what a scrap of paper could have to do with the war. I will tell you. On the dread day when our mighty country threw down the gauntlet, the German statesman who had worked hard to keep England out of Germany’s quarrel with France and Russia exclaimed, “You are going to war for a scrap of paper!” He spoke truly, but on that scrap of paper or parchment was written the solemn promise of both England and Germany to be like big brothers to Belgium and protect her from being bullied. At first the Germans were very nice to Belgium. They said, “Only let us come through your country, and when we have conquered France we will give you a splendid reward!” But France also had promised to be a big brother to Belgium, and so Belgium said “No!” England also said “No!” England said to Germany, “If you touch our little friend Belgium, we will fight you.” So that is why the British Empire went to war with Germany. If we had chosen the easy way of breaking our promise by simply doing nothing, by standing out and merely looking on at the awful struggle, would we now be proud of being English? I think not. Germany did more than break her promise to protect Belgium. When she found that the brave little country was gamely going to fight, she sent her great armies, hundreds of thousands of trained soldiers with fleets of aeroplanes and terrible big guns, whose shells, as they are now called, could kill people miles away. She thought she would easily be able to march through Belgium right into France, and she fully expected to capture the city of Paris—all in one month! In fact, Germany made the worst mistake that can be made in war—the mistake of despising her enemies. She despised the power of the French armies, and she also very much despised the British Army. She had a good deal of respect for the British Navy because it is big, but because the British Army was small she thought it did not matter. Well, she was taught a richly-deserved lesson by Sir John French and his splendid troops, of whose gallant deeds you will read in this book. Most of all, Germany despised the army of poor little Belgium. And yet the game little kitten, though suffering terribly herself, contrived to inflict some severe scratches on the big German dog. She actually held him up for quite a long time, to his great surprise and rage, and that delay was of the utmost benefit both to France and to England. It enabled them to make their final preparations for serious fighting, and it gave us time to send our Army across the Channel to join up with the French forces.