The World War and What Was Behind It

Preface

This little volume is the result of the interest shown by pupils, teachers, andthe general public in a series of talks on the causes of the great European warwhich were given by the author in the fall of 1914. The audiences were widelydifferent in character. They included pupils of the sixth, seventh, and eighthgrades, students in high school and normal school, teachers in the publicschools, an association of business men, and a convention of boards ofeducation. In every case, the same sentiment was voiced: “If there wereonly some book which would give us these facts in simple language andillustrate them by maps and charts as you have done!” After searching themarket for a book of this sort without success, the author determined to putthe subject of his talks into manuscript form. It has been his aim to write ina style which is well within the comprehension of the children in the uppergrades and yet is not too juvenile for adult readers. The book deals with theremarkable sequence of events in Europe which made the great war inevitable.Facts are revealed which, so far as the author knows, have not been publishedin any history to date; facts which had the strongest possible bearing on theoutbreak of the war. The average American, whether child or adult, has littleconception of conditions in Europe. In America all races mix. The children ofthe Polish Jew mingle with those of the Sicilian, and in the second generationsboth peoples have become Americans. Bohemians intermarry with Irish, Scotchwith Norwegians. In Europe, on the other hand, Czech and Teuton, Bulgar andSerb may live side by side for centuries without mixing or losing theirdistinct racial characteristics. In order that the American reader mayunderstand the complicated problem of European peace, a study of races andlanguages is given in the text, showing the relationship of Slav, Celt, Latin,and Teuton, and the various sub-divisions of these peoples. A knowledge ofthese facts is very essential to any understanding of the situation in Europe.The author has pointed out the fact that political boundaries are largelyking-made, and that they have seldom been drawn with regard to the naturaldivision of Europe by nationalities, or to the wishes of the mass of thepopulation.

The chapter, entitled “Europe as it Should Be,” with itsaccompanying map, shows the boundaries of the various nations as they wouldlook if the bulk of the people of each nationality were included in a singlepolitical division. In many places, it is, of course, impossible to draw sharplines. Greek shades off into Bulgar on one side and into Skipetar and Serb onthe other. Prague, the capital of the Czechs, is one-third German in itspopulation. There are large islands of Germans and Magyars in the midst of theRoumanians of Transylvania. These are a few examples out of many which could becited. However, the general aim of the chapter has been to divide the continentinto nations, i

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