Publisher's Synopsis
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1916 edition. Excerpt: ... thought, if any European or Asiatic military power concludes to take from us the Panama Canal or Hawaii or Porto Rico or to seize and hold for ransom New York or San Francisco. Moreover, this war has made it evident that armies of hundreds of thousands of men can be transported not only across the narrow but across the broad seas. England's great navy has made the ocean a barrier to her foes, and a highway for herself, and it is only Britain's navy which has saved her from utter disgrace. Let us profit alike by Belgium's heroic example in the present, and by the terrible fate brought on her by her lack of forethought and preparedness in the past. At present, in spite of the shattering disasters of the last year and a quarter, and although only a tiny fraction of her territory is left unconquered, Belgium's army is stronger and more efficient than ever before. It numbers about 120,000 fighting men, with over 400 guns and thousands of machine guns and in addition first-class services of aviation, food supply, sanitation, manufacture of ammunition and the like. There are fourteen centers for the drilling of recruits, and excellent schools for the officers. The morale of the army is extraordinary. I know of nothing finer in history than the way in which this army has been raised and maintained by the Belgian nation in the midst of a cataclysm well-nigh unparalleled in the history of nations. But this cataclysm, this frightful and crushing disaster to Belgium, occurred precisely because no such effort was put forth before the event. The splendid heroism of the present can only repair a small part of the horrible damage due to the unpreparedness of the past. Belgium has suffered the last extremities of woe; and she would have gone almost...