Читать книгу History of the American Negro in the Great World War - William Allison Sweeney - Страница 21

There were not wanting those to point out to Mr. Ridder that the sacrifice of life could have been avoided had Germany and its tool Austria, played fair with Serbia and the balance of Europe. Also, his statement that the government of Germany did not want the war has been successfully challenged from a hundred different sources.

H.G. Wells, the eminent English author, contributed a prophecy which translated very plainly the handwriting on the wall. He said:

"This war is not going to end in diplomacy; it is going to end diplomacy.

"It is quite a different sort of war from any that have gone before. At the end there will be no conference of Europe on the old lines, but a conference of the world. It will make a peace that will put an end to Krupp, and the spirit of Krupp and Kruppism and the private armament firms behind Krupp for evermore."

Austria formally declared war against Serbia, July 28, 1914. During the few days intervening between the dispatch of the ultimatum to Serbia and the formal declaration of war, Serbia and Russia, seeing the inevitable, had commenced to mobilize their armies. On the last day of July, Germany as Austria's ally, issued an ultimatum with a twelve hour limit demanding that Russia cease mobilization. They were fond of short term ultimatums. They did not permit more than enough time for the dispatch to be transmitted and received, much less considered, before the terms of it had expired. Russia demanded assurances from Austria that war was not forthcoming and it continued to mobilize. On August 1, Germany declared war. France then began to mobilize.

Germany invaded the duchy of Luxemburg and demanded free passage for its troops across Belgium to attack France at that country's most vulnerable point. King Albert of Belgium refused his consent on the ground that the neutrality of his country had been guaranteed by the powers of Europe, including Germany itself, and appealed for diplomatic help from Great Britain. That country, which had sought through its foreign secretary, Sir Edward Grey, to preserve the peace of Europe, was now aroused. August 4, it sent an ultimatum to Germany demanding that the neutrality of Belgium be respected. As the demand was not complied with, Britain formally declared war against Germany.

Italy at that time was joined with Germany and Austria in what was known as the Triple Alliance. But Italy recognized the fact that the war was one of aggression and held that it was not bound by its compact to assist its allies. The sympathies of its people were with the French and British. Afterwards Italy repudiated entirely its alliance and all obligations to Germany and Austria and entered the war on the side of the allies. Thus the country of Mazzini, of Garibaldi and Victor Emmanuel, ranged itself on the side of emancipation and human rights.

The refusal of Italy to enter a war of conquest was the first event to set the balance of the world seriously thinking of the meaning of the war. If Italy refused to join its old allies, it meant that Italy was too honorable to assist their purposes; Italy knew the character of its associates. When it finally repudiated them altogether and joined the war on the other side, it was a terrific indictment of the Germanic powers, for Italy had much more to gain in a material way from its old alliance. It simply showed the world that spirit was above materialism; that emancipation was in the air and that the lamp of civilization might be dimmed but could not be darkened by the forces of evil.