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THE GEOaRAPHY OF THE GREAT WAR BY FRANK M. McMURRY, Ph.D. THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 1918 All rights reserved Walter ainton Jackson Library The University of North Carolina at Greensboro Special Collections <& Rare Books World War I Pamphlet Collection Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2010 with funding from Lyrasis IVIembers and Sloan Foundation http://www.archive.org/details/geographyofgreatOOinmcmu CA^ THE GEOGRAPHY OF THE GREAT WAR By Frank M. McMurky Fig. 2. 1. German Empire in 1914 Empire, just as there are many in our own country, and they vary in size and im- (Before the War) portance even much more than states of the In order to understand the geography of do ours. In Fig. 2 one can German* Empire the war, it is necessary to make some study easily see which is largest. of Germany. How does Prussia compare with all the other There are many states in the German states together in area and population? Copyright, 191S, by The Macmillan Ccmpant/ 1 THE GEOGRAPHY OF THE GREAT WAR Which is second in area and population? to find suitable places for the emigration of Which is third in each ? Trace the boundary Germans from the Fatherland. Although of Prussia. Locate Bavaria and Saxony. the density of population of Germany itself Note that three of the states are only cities. (Fig. 534, main text) is not so great as Name and locate each of these (see p. 39). that of some other countries, it has greatly Our largest state is Texas,- which is more increased in recent years and some outlet than two hundred times as large as Rhode has seemed necessary. Island, our smallest. Our largest state in The fact is, however, that very few Ger- population is New York, which contains mans have emigrated to these colonies. more than one hundi-ed times as many One reason for this is that the torrid climate people as Nevada, our smallest state in there makes life almost impossible for white population. Yet wt have no state that is people ; at any rate, in such regions the nearly equal'^to all the others either in area white man soon loses energy and health. or population ; in fact, each is a very small The kind of government that a country part of the whole. has may be of vital importance to other is of From the map it is*plain why people so countries, and that true the -pj^g objection often name Prussia when speaking of Ger- German government. Its form to their kind of government many. Perhaps the map suggests to you, is a monarchy and the chief too, that it is dangerous for a nation to officer is the Kaiser, William II. He ap- have one state so much larger than all the points the leading mmister, called the Chan- others together. In the United States there is cellor, and the latter appoints the other no such danger. But if Prussia's importance members of the cabinet, such, for example, and power correspond to its size, it can con- as Minister of Interior and Minister of trol the other twenty-four states and have Education. The difiiculty is that these its own way. If it happened to be governed ministers who form the German cabinet and by selfish men, all the other states would very largely control the state are respon- Kaiser, to the people. have to suffer ; and even if it were well gov- sible to the and not erned, the other states would have too little Also, the Kaiser is not elected by popular of self-government. It is generally believed vote,, as our President is, but has in- that these dangers have not been avoided; herited his office and claims that he holds indeed, that Prussia's bad leadership has it by divine right, or by appointment from been the principal cause of the great war. God alone. Neither is he responsible to the Germany has only a small number of people. colonies, as is seen in Fig. 1. Notice their Thus the people have little authority in areas. There are three that the government. It is their duty to be Germany's ^^^ ^^^^ much larger than directed, — to obey, rather than to lead. is no effective check on the Kaiser colonies Germany, and their popula- There together reach well into or on the leading statesmen subject to him, 1. Location, tions area, and the millions (see p. 39). All of if they happen to be narrow in their plans popu a ion them are in the torrid zone or or too ambitious ; these leaders can even de- very close to it. Locate each of those in clare war without the consent of the people. Africa. Note the latitude of New Guinea. To this power our objection is very serious. Germany has been greatly interested in We do not believe that a few men should power. is so fearful an 2. Their her colonies and has spent have such War importance large sums of money for their undertaking, the welfare of the mass of the development. Her apparent aim has been people is so mvolved in it, that they ought THE GEOGRAPHY OF THE GREAT WAR to have a voice in deciding such an issue ; at to make Prussia powerful without much re- least, only those who represent them and are gard to the rights of other people. One of fully responsible to them should have that power. Otherwise a small group might at any time make end- less trouble both for themselves and for other nations. That is what the small group in Germany has done, in starting this war, and the United States is determined to © Underwood and Underipood aid in making Fig. 3. — German submarine of the largest type stopping the Spanish mail steamer off Cadiz. such a step im- possible again. This is one of our great his early acts was to attack the little country aims in the present war. of Denmark and take from it the south- section called ern Schleswig- Annexation of Holstein, about one third of Schleswig- 2. Examples of Prussian Leadership the whole country. This region Holstein We commonly think of the United States was annexed to Prussia and has remained as a young nation, and of the governments a part of it ever since (Fig. 2). o^ Europe as very old, but In area Schleswig-Holstein is The youth of nearly equal the German the fact is that Germany is the to Massachusetts, and it has been important Empire youngest of the great nations. as a farming region. We are nearly a century older than Ger- The Kaiser Wilhelm Canai and the naval many, for that Empire was founded in 1871. port, Kiel, have >nade ii especially noted There were, of course, German people living in recent years (Fig. 4). The canal was in that region long before, but until that dug in order tc secure a short and safe date they were not brought together to route for vessels from the North Sea to the form the German Empire. Baltic. Kiel is a port at the eastern end The leadership in German affairs, both of the canal, with a harbor so remarkably before 1871 and since, has rested with Prussia. good that it has become the chief naval Several acts show the spirit that has pre- station of Germany. German war vessels vailed in Prussia and, therefore, in the Ger- can reach the North Sea very quickly man Empire during the last sixty years. from this haven, and they can escape- About 1860 a very strong and unscrupu- just as quickly by this route when there lous man named Otto von Bismarck became is need. the chief minister in Prussia. His aim was Very soon after 1870 Germany found a THE GEOGRAPHY OF THE GREAT WAR chance to quarrel with France and improved from this territory as from all the rest of the opportunity. France was invaded and Prussia; and had they not had these rich ^^ris captured within a few iron mines in their possession this great Annexation of Alsace- months. The terms of peace war would have ceased long ago. Lorraine ^j^j^^ were finally' agreed upon The other reason was, perhaps, just as required France to pay to the Germans an important in their minds. Alsace-Lorraine indemnity of one billion dollars and also had been the principal source of iron in France, and if France were de- prived of it, the Germans thought she could hardly carry on a successful war in the future. She might, then, be re- duced to a second-class power and Germany would be able to overcome her at will. Ambitions of Germany since 1871 The Prussians and some of the small German states that had joined them Reasons for had much reason encourage- ^^^^ to feel encouraged by their successes. As a re- sult of the war with Denmark they had acquired extensive of their Fig. 4. territory; as a result struggle with France they had to cede to them the region called Alsace- obtained still more valuable territory and a Lorraine (Fig. 2). billion dollars besides. There was another This is a region about as large as Con- great benefit. This Franco-Prussian war, as necticut and, like Schleswig-Holstein, valuable it M^as called, had brought the many small for its farm products, especially grapes, and political divisions of the Germans together their for its textile industries. But there were two and made it possible to found, by other reasons why Prussia coveted it.

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