THE VIRUS OF WAR

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 228, 27 September 1938, Page 4

THE VIRUS OF WAR

HOW IT SPREADS.

FATEFUL DAYS OF 1914

RECALLED.

HORRORS AND WASTAGE OF LAST CONFLICT. When Germany wan fir«t warned by Oeat, Britain that mi attack on Czechoslovakia would probably result in h ! « "rid war. Mr .r,>| m sine.p.. Minister for j I-'-'reixn Allan-., stated that the bc ? in | niiitf of a I'.mllict would l.c like the ' iM'U'iniiin-j nf a Hip in a hiuh wind. It ', would ho iinpo,,il,le t„ «„y |„, w ,„,. it j would spread, or tin- extent of the! fl-Ktrin-tion, and how many mi-lit he ' called in to cXtinyuMi it. | Th« rapid way in «hi, |, t |i- World AV '"- "< I'Ml IS H ,.iva,| ...mm* emphasis' t" this mavp wariiiii'.'. K\ ,-r V know.*' that. thi« war wa« Ihe rc-'iilt of the "--'"""iiialinH of tin- In-ii-.j,|.i.»i-fnt to the ' liirono of Au-li i.i Mm -i v. t!i.. Arch- ! (, " k " l''iam>ia l-Vidii I. ~ 1 his iiior- j ' '•■'< '•• » iff. tli.- Ilii .« ~| lloheubcr;:. •

<l Snraj,. V i», 110-nh.oii >iinil-i \ . June -»-i l!)l » In flic hi.jlic.l ciicli- 'in Austria I! win firmly believe,l ,],.,( |jie .•o-r-a-.-dii.i----t""1 "•' the li■• 11 api'iircni had heen iiiMi?atcr| liy the Sci hian t.o\.i nmciit. and they decided that Serl.in mu-t he « lesson that -he uonhl tuner for..el <"' -'"Iy :i. the Au.-ti ian Minister at Belgrade delivered to the Serbian Covern "'■"•' l>} Ni'tr making luimiliatin- and impo*»jhlt> demand*. v\ if Ii a |.er<>m ptor v rei|iie«t for an entirely favotinhle repl'v within IS bouts. Sei'hia. acting on the advice (l f lt't|«*ia. accepted nil the demand* except two. which she asked fhoiild Ik- referred to the international tribunal nt The Habile, lint Austria, who was (leferiiilned on war. refused to regard Serbia's reply a« satisfactory, withdrew her Minl»ti>r from Belgrade, and immediately benati to mobilise for war. ilelyrade Vila bombarded by Austria o?l duly liS.

Trembling in Balance. Russia, who had long regarded herself as the champion of the Shu people; in llHlkini countries. lia<l begun a secret rnr.hili-,1 Lion of part of her army on July 2tl. when she knew that Austria, had declined to accept Serbia's reply a* satisfactory. Three clays Liter Russia publicly proclaimed a parti-il mobilisation order. Germany, who had also begun to mobilise secretly, informed Russia on July 29 that if she did not camel her mobilisation war would be declared. At midnight on July 30 Russia proclaimed a general mobilisation, and an hour later Austria did likewise. At noon on July 31 Germany proclaimed a state of danger of war, which automatically summoned a large number of reservUts to the colours. Late that nijrht the German ambassador at St. Petersburg presented an ultimatum to Russia threatening that Germany would mobilise If Russia did not begin to demobilise within 12 hours.

At 3.40 p.m. on August 1 France, who ycara before had entered into a military alliance with Russia to come to one another's assistance in the event of war, proclaimed a general mobilisation, and Germany Issued ■ similar proclamation at 6 p.m. At 7.30 p.m. Germany < elared war on Russia, on the formal j otind that Russlr-n troops had violate! German territory. At 7 p.m. on August 2 Germany delivered to Belgium an Ultimatum demanding within 12 hour* Sermlsaion to move troops through lelgium on the pretext that Franco meditated an invasion at Belgian territory in order to attack Germany. At 6.46 p.m. on August 3 Germany declared war on France.

Britain's Ultimatum. On August 4 the British Government, after learning that Germany had informed Belgium in diplomatic language that her troops would force their war through that country if opposed, And after being informed that "German troops had already violated Belgian territory, «ent a telegram to Sir Edward (When, the British Ambassador at Merlin, of which the filial paragraph was as followst—"ln these circumstance*, and in view of the fact that Germany declined to give the same assurance respecting Belgium as France gave last week In reply to our request, mad* simultaneously at Berlin and Paris, ws must repeat that request, and ask that a satisfactory reply to it and to pur telegram of this morning be received hero by 12 o'clock to-night. If not, you are instructed to ask for your passport*, and to say that His Majesty's Government feel bound to take all steps in their power to uphold the neutrality of Belgium, and the observance of a t treaty to which Germany is as much • party as ourselves."

The reply of Germany to this request was a formal declaration of war on Belgium on August 4. The short period of gram Great Britain gave Germany for a reply to her request for an assurance that German troops would not violate Belgian territory expired at midnight on August 4, and a state of war I "twaan tße two countries began from that hour. Thus within a week of Austria's bombardment of Belgrade six countries, including Ave of the Great Towers, ware at war. There were four more declarations of war before the month of August came to an end. The ilttle Hlav kingdom of Montenegro declared war on Austria-Hungary on Auiriirtt 7; France declared war on Aus-tria-Hungary on August 10; Grsat Britain followed with a declaration of war against Austria-Hungary two days later, and Japan declared war on Germany on August 23. This brought the number of belligerent, countries up to nne withla 26 day. u f the firing of the 111 at. shot. B

Nineteen Nations at War. torn w»r on the side of the Central Empire.. an* in Mar. 1015, Italy joined in i.he conflict on th« H ldi> „f the Allies with a deration of war M lt £ tria-Hungary. In October of that year Bulgaria joined the Central Kmpire. ?"" ln consequence tlreat Brita'n' Prance and Italy formally declared war Tort" V In l V () thPre W, ' rc ***** «»« deplarationa of war. Germany. Turkey and Bulgaria declared war on* Rumania, when the latter country threw in her lot with the Allies by means of a formal declaration of war a K ainst Austria-Hungary. Albania declared war 1 on Austria on January 11, IiMB- (Jerroany on Portugal on March 9, and Italy on Uermnny on August 28. I n 1017 there i\rn nine more declarations of war making a grand total of 31, in a, conflict in which 10 countries were engaged, though »nme of these countries played very small part* in the actual fighting, and several, surh as Cuba Panama. Brazil and China, all of whom joined tho Allies, tonic no part at all Tha outstanding addition to the strength of tha Allies in 1017 was the United States, which on April 6 declared war on Germany. Two days later Austria.

| Hungary declared war on the United Mat,-, and on the third day Bulgaria followed her example. Eight Million Dead. The war lasted four vear*. three m.mth, and 14 da va—from .July 28 l!U», until November 11. 191s. when' the armi.-tiee between the Allies and Germany was signed. Strictly accurate figures in regard to the total casualties in this colossal conflict have never been published, as several countries did not compile complete records. According to an official statement laid on the table of the British House of Common* in .May. 1021, the casualties among the chief belligerents were as follow: —

BRITISH EMPIRE. Dead. Wounded, fircnt Britain 743,702 1.503.262 India «i.:ira to mn Australia 3f»,330 1.".-'l7l Cannda 56.«1>5 Hit' 732 *»«• w Zea lan cl 18.1 .JG 40.72!) South Africa. Now foundland and other colonies l.",lo3 ALLIED AND ASSOCIATED COUXTPTKS Dead. Wound" I t r JS, ce l,38T..:«IO X„ record Beljtlum 38.172 44...M} !"»'»' 460.000 947 DUO Portugal t /S j- t:;7->l Rumania 33.-..7<W No record Serbia yjj .-.;.-, 13.1J48 United States .. 113.ii«0 2o;>;6{io ENEMY COUNTRIES. Dead. Wounded. German jr. 2,0V>,46»i 4.203,028 Austria-Hungary ... 1.2n0.00u 3,620.00u Bulgaria 101.224 I*2 4** l Turkey 300,000 570.000 This gives a total of 7,067,308 killed, of whom 3,415.618 were Allied soldiers and sailors and 3,6.31,690 enemy dead. But the table does not include Russia. whose casualties were subsequently given as approximately 1,700,000 killed. 1,450,000 disabled, 3,500,000 wounded and 2,600,000 ■ taken prisoner. In 1023 the British War Office published a large volume of war statistics consisting of 880 pages, which gave the total casualties of the twelve chief belligerent countries as 42,110,273, and the death roll as 8,246,471. Grejt Britain's death roll reached 1,0f1ft,825 and her wounded exceeded 2,260,000.

Four Years of lUaghter sad Devastation.

It Is difficult for the human mfnd to visualise the horrors of war as expressed in these ligur.es.' It lias been calculated that if all the men who were killed in the Great War could march past in column of four at the regulation quick-time marching pace of the British Army, the sad procession would Ale past day and night continuously for more than four weeks before the end came in sight. A similar procession of killed and wounded would take nearly twenty weeks to march past a given spot. The expenditure of Great Britain in the war reached a daily average of over £7,440,000 towards its close, but in the early months of the war the expenditure was much less. The total war expenditure of Great Britain amounted to £7,066,000,000, exclusive of the sum of £1,730,000,000 lent to her Allies and the overseas Dominions. France's total war expenditure was £4,754,000 000 and that of the United States £3,526,000,000. France suffered more than any of the other belligerents in the damage done to property. German armies were in occupation of French territory for four years and most of the great destructive battles were fought out on French soil. The following details are taken from the French official summary of direct damage suffered during the war:— Towns and villages entirety er partially dettroyed 3,720 Population driven out and rendered ' homeless 2,712.000 Houses entirely destroyed 310.260 Houses partially destroyed .... 318,675 Bridges, viaducts, etc., destroyed 4,785 Railways destroyed (miles) 3,460 Canals destroyed (miles) 007 Roads destroyed (miles) ' 24,375 Arable land rendered useless (acres) 7,200,000 Factories and manufacturing plant destroyed 11,500 Cattle carried off 2,000,000