s of the one side and the other were right in
their faith and wrong in their heresy-hunting. National rivalry
certainly quickened the competition between the two modes; the early
progress of aviation in France gave a great impulse to the development
of the Zeppelin in Germany. But the two modes are so entirely distinct
that they are better treated separately. None of the chief nations of
the world has dared wholly to neglect either; from the very beginning
the two have grown up side by side, and interest has been concentrated
now on the one and now on the other. When, in 1912, Great Britain took
in hand the creation of an air force, military and naval, France was
already furnished with a very large number of aeroplanes, organized for
service with the army, and Germany was provided with airships of
unprecedented power and range. France also had some airships, and
Germany, alarmed by the progress of French aviation, had begun to turn
her attention to aeroplanes, but the pride of Germany was in her
airships, and the pride of France was in her aeroplanes. These were the
conditions with which Great Britain had to reckon; they had grown up
rapidly in the course of a few years; and it will be convenient to speak
first of the airship, which, invented by France, was adopted and
improved by Germany; and then of the aeroplane, which was made by France
into so formidable a military engine that Germany had no choice but to
imitate again. Meantime Great Britain, during the earlier years of these
developments, entrusted her aerial fortunes to a few balloons, which
were operated by the Royal Engineers and were not very favourably
regarded by the chiefs of the army. The unpreparedness of Great Britain
in all national crises is a time-honoured theme. The Englishman, if he
does not wholly distrust science, at least distrusts theory. Facts
excite him, and rouse him to exertion. In an address delivered in 1910,
Mr. R. B. Haldane, who consistently did all that he could to promote and
encourage science, uttered a prophecy which deserves record. 'When a new
invention,' he said, 'like the submarine or the motor, comes to light,
the Englishman is usually behind. Give him a few years and he has not
only taken care of himself in the meantime, but is generally leading. As
it was with these inventions, so I suspect it will prove to be with
aircraft.'

The airship, like the balloon, was a French invention. When the balloon
first came into vogue many