THE WAR GAME.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 182, 7 September 1914, Page 4

THE WAR GAME.

HISTORY REPEATS ITSELF.

TO-DAY AND 1871. Specially written for THE SUN. What sort of story was the Austrian tight wing, debacle beyond Lemberg for the tottering Habsburg ruin, who, with the fear of the Kaiser in; his heart and caht words on his lips, declared war on the Russians? The despised Servian wolves have made her flanks raw.. The Slav, in the person of General Roiizsky, has lopped off an arm —at this early stage of the greatest war in the world Austria has killed the Prussians' chances in the east; If that bloody counter-stroke of Rouzsky's has not shaken both Berlin and Vienna, then the sigtts are misleading. As for the French zone of war—one is a-weary of the censor's cryptograms; the work involved in discovering whether yesterday's advices of the Press Bureau or the contradictions to-day contain an element of truth is becoming exhausting. We may leare the Germans in sight o& the Eiffel Tower, and turn back 43 years for comparisons. For, in many ways, 1914 is even as 1870-71, as will be demonstrated. . WISDOM YEARS AGO.

The War Lord of Europe has insisted that the sword has been forced into his hand. Writing shortly after the last Franco-Prussian war, a well-known commentator even at. that period could discern the future policy of the Germans. He says: "The steps- by which Prussia has v reached her present position of supreme military power are hardly paralleled in the history of the world for rapacity, cra*r!t, and violence The small Electorate of Brandenburg grow up into the Kingdom of Prussia, and that into one of the greatest military'monarchies of .Europe, by a series- of attacks upon the independence of the other States — v diteveks which were, never restrained by considerations of 'right,' humcrnity, or honour. The invasion and annexation of Silesia by Frederick .the' Great was Only the nioet extreme instance of a poliey which has been steadily* pursued for more than a cen.tury dtrfd a-half. In our own day . . . we have seen the despoiling of Denmark, of several of the German States, and of France, that the Hohenzollerns might be enriched. We are now told that Prussia, is, "satisfied, and that nothing further will be demanded. - It way be so, but Europe may be pardoned for regarding the future with distrust*"

Doubtless that writer eame in for severe treatment by the British pro-Ger-mans of his time, but he knew well of what he was talking. BREACH OF MILITARY CUSTOM.

The past month we have heard and assisted in tirades against the German's total disregard of international usage and Hague Convention contracts generally. It was even so in 1871 —a breath of custom in connection with the siege of Paris may be cited as an example. Up to January 8 of that (for France) ill-fated year, fhe German siege guns had been directed on the forts. On the day in question the bombardment of Paris, the city, became a reality. It was held by the Parisians that the usual summons to surrender should have preceded the bombardment of a city containing more than 2,000,000 residents. Bismarck was on hand with a characteristic explanation. Neither law nor custom, he argued, obliged a beleaguering force to give notice of operations which it intended to carry out, and the people ought to have been prepared to see Paris bombarded if it prolonged its resistance. A well-founded protest was sent to Count von Moltke, against the wanton battery by the Prussians of hospitals, ambulances, churches, and schools. Moltke explained that the fog, and the distance of the batteries, prevented the gunners from taking better aim, adding that "when the German batteries had been established nearer the city they would be able to fire with more discrimination.'' The humour is exquisite. RED INDIANS 43 YEARS AGO.

' Their ruthless* vengef ulness in Belgium has rightly earned the Germans the title of the Red Indians of Europe. It is part of their policy of terrorisation to raze towns to the ground, to slaughter innocent citi-

Zens of all ages. , Turn again to 1871, j to the time when the, Germans were in active pursuit of the French, and the fighting'was as desperate as it is to-day. The Germans had by this (January) become exasperated by the prolongation of a war which they characterised as hopeless,, and, therefore, entirely devoid of justification. About this timg the London '' Times'' military correspondent wrote as follows: "it is not war, but a series/of massacres. The French rnot win now; they are suffering terribly, and the Germans are becoming fiercer from day_to day, and, Hot only so, but, as -a German officer expressed it, they are growing a little 'wild. The severity of their trials, the constant slaughter, try the feeling of the army to an extent which renders it difficult to keep up the high tone of moral feeling which characterised ihem when first fliey entered France. It is impossible not to see a gradual change coming ov'er the German troops. . ".'■'."■ Which, when one thinks of all the dreadfulnes.s that has happened to little Belgium, indicates that the German has not changed his nature. International regulations notwithstanding, the Teuton at war is a fine exponent of the law of vengeance. To-day, th« Germans burn historic Louvain to the ground; yesterday the Governor of Lorraine put the: firestick . into Fontenoy because the francs-tireurs destroyed certain lines of communication. CONCERNING WAR INDEMNITIES. The Kaiser (as did his progenitor) ' l draws the support of war from war ifeelf"—the leading centres in Belgium have been mulcted in heavy indemnities. Tn 1871, when the Germans captured Rouen in a most simple manner, the Intendant of the occupying corps had an interview with the mayor. The German officer, according to a report of the occasion, issued his commands that at 10 o'clock on the ensuing morning all the hors-es in Rouen should be paraded in the Town Hall Square. He also required "the production within a few. days of 40,000 pairs of boots to be made according to a pattern to be supplied—2o,ooo pairs of flannel shirts, 10,000 good blankets, and 10,000 good cigars." His. Worship protested that it would be impossible to comply with the order, evoking from the suave Intendant the remark. that r'' in that ease the general will impose on the city a fine of three times the value of those'articles."'V-' MORE BEAUTIFUL. FICTION.

, Extravagant and preposterous reperts of alleged successes were circulated in 1871—the Press " colourists'' of the present day have worked overtime manufacturing a lot of fiction. Lurid stories of the wholesale capture of German prisoners by the Belgians, the absurd announcement (accompanied by circumstantial details) of the suicide of von Emmich, advice of the ctoath of the Crown Prince, weird warplane legends—! such fables compare favourably with ; ' stories'' circulated in 18f 0 when Paris was doomed, the army of the "Loire" biseetedandin fullflight, and the French cause absolutely and irrevocably lost. During their march across France, when the Prussian invasion .had touched on the English Channel (at Dieppe), a bunch of German troops, instead of attacking Havre as was anticipated, went past this . town. The sub-prefect immediately issued a proclamation to the* effect that the Prussians were everywhere flying before the French "with; the utmost precipitation." The journal, "Le Havre," declared that it was a flight, if not a disaster. Havre lost its collective head completely, its people almost clamouring to be led to Paris! Just on the eve of the New Year, a telegram was posted up at Havre, which stated that the blockade of Paris was raised; that. Bismarck and 80,000 men were held up at Versailles; that 50,000 prisoners and 50 guns had been takerf* 'and 200 guns spiked; and that Prince Frederick Charles had lost his - head through contact with a cannon ball. Against this fine assortment of fabrications the reader may place Ithe above collection and the stsry of the Belgian Boy Scout. C. A. M.