f the great European powers?

REFERENCES.--_War Cyclopedia_ (C.P.I.); _Study of the Great
War_ (C.P.I.); Davis, _The Roots of the War_; Hazen, _Europe
since 1815_; and other general histories of recent Europe.

CHAPTER VII

THE BEGINNINGS OF THE GREAT WAR

GERMANY'S RESPONSIBILITY.--Germany's tremendous increase of armaments,
her opposition to arbitration, her hostility to the purpose of the Hague
Conferences, her building up of the Triple Alliance, her challenge to
England's naval supremacy and her refusal to accept England's suggestion
that both nations should limit their expenditures on naval armaments,
the glorification of war on the part of her teachers and writers,--all
make it clear that the present Great War was of her planning. For years
she prepared herself to inflict a crushing blow with all the weight of
her powerful army and navy and establish herself as the mistress of the
world. On this she was willing to stake her very existence. To use a
phrase made famous by one of her leading military writers, Germany had
decided upon "world power or downfall."

German militarists all looked forward to the day when her years of
preparation would at last reap their reward through the crushing of
Germany's rivals. England particularly, with her vast trade, her
colonial empire, and her control of the sea, they planned to lower to a
subordinate position in the world. "_Der Tag_" (d[)e]r tahkh), "the day"
when the long-awaited war should burst upon the world, was a favorite
toast in the German army and navy. As long ago as the end of the
Spanish-American War, a German diplomat said to an American army
officer: "About fifteen years from now my country will start her great
war. She will be in Paris in about two months after the commencement of
hostilities. Her move on Paris will be but a step to her real
object--the crushing of England. Everything will move like clockwork. We
will be prepared and others will not be prepared."

FINAL PREPARATIONS.--In 1913 the German government decided upon a
large increase in her already tremendous standing army. Immense sums
were also appropriated for aircraft and for huge guns powerful enough to
batter to pieces the strongest fortresses. To pay for this extra
equipment additional heavy taxes were voted. The new arrangements were
all to be completed by the fall of 1914. Alterations were also hurried
on the Kiel Canal. This waterway, connecting the Baltic with the N