DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49382#0189
CHAPTER IV.
THE ALLIES.
It is well known that in point of nuigmt u<l<* t he recent war
surpassed all records of man's histon in ancient, mediaeval, or modern
times. The Asiatic peoples that hurled themselves against the
ancient States of Greece: the barbarian hordes of Northern Europe
who successfully measured their strength with the mighty Empire of
Rome: the Christian Crusaders who advanced into Palestine m a later
age as defenders of the shrines of their faith: the Great European
armies which took part in the wars of Napolean and made almost the
whole of the continent a vast battleground, all pale into insignificance
in comparison with the number and the power of the peoples involved
in the Great War, which has just closed after having been fought on
several continents and in the three elements of earth, water, and air.
The great muster of peoples for action mi the Held, described by
epic-writers like Hoinei and Virgil, even without being divested of
the idealisation of poetry, is nothing compared with the vast concourse
of nations and empires that were brought together into the conflict by
accident,jieccessity. or freewill.
flic British Empire, of which it lias been said with legitimate
pride that its broad roots coil beneath the sea, "and its branches sweep
the world,” had Allies of no ordinarv magnitude in their campaign
against the central Empires which threatened the cause of freedom
in Europe and. indircctlv, all the world over. Unlimited as are the
resources of the British Empire, the help of the Allies was undoubtedly
a. matter of necessity, m view of the great military strength arrayed
against it and in view also of the great wealth and the high scientific
advancement of at least one of the aggressors, Germany.
THE ALLIES.
It is well known that in point of nuigmt u<l<* t he recent war
surpassed all records of man's histon in ancient, mediaeval, or modern
times. The Asiatic peoples that hurled themselves against the
ancient States of Greece: the barbarian hordes of Northern Europe
who successfully measured their strength with the mighty Empire of
Rome: the Christian Crusaders who advanced into Palestine m a later
age as defenders of the shrines of their faith: the Great European
armies which took part in the wars of Napolean and made almost the
whole of the continent a vast battleground, all pale into insignificance
in comparison with the number and the power of the peoples involved
in the Great War, which has just closed after having been fought on
several continents and in the three elements of earth, water, and air.
The great muster of peoples for action mi the Held, described by
epic-writers like Hoinei and Virgil, even without being divested of
the idealisation of poetry, is nothing compared with the vast concourse
of nations and empires that were brought together into the conflict by
accident,jieccessity. or freewill.
flic British Empire, of which it lias been said with legitimate
pride that its broad roots coil beneath the sea, "and its branches sweep
the world,” had Allies of no ordinarv magnitude in their campaign
against the central Empires which threatened the cause of freedom
in Europe and. indircctlv, all the world over. Unlimited as are the
resources of the British Empire, the help of the Allies was undoubtedly
a. matter of necessity, m view of the great military strength arrayed
against it and in view also of the great wealth and the high scientific
advancement of at least one of the aggressors, Germany.