ute through Sedan and Soissons, passing north
of the Verdun fortress, but of necessity crossing the Duchy of
Luxemburg; the Army of the Rhine, after crossing the screen of the
Vosges Mountains, would pass through Nancy and Toul, between the
fortresses of Epinal and Belfort.

It is obvious that the march to Paris would be most quickly achieved
through the flat country of Belgium, where the French frontier is
practically unguarded and only the weakly manned barrier fortresses of
Belgium barred the way. The remainder of the French frontier from
Luxemburg to Switzerland was well fortified, and Germany had no time
to spend in reducing fortified places.

[Illustration: THOMAS A. EDISON

The American Inventor, Now Associated With the Navy Department as
Chief of the Advisory Board of Civilian Inventors and Engineers]

[Illustration: HUDSON MAXIM

American Inventor of High Explosives and Other Materials of War

(_Photo by White._)]

The main advance was therefore to take place through Belgium, the Army
of the Moselle co-operating, while to the Army of the Rhine was
assigned the offensive-defensive role of advancing to the barrier
fortresses of Epinal and Belfort to check any French advance that
might be directed against the communications of the Armies of the
Moselle and the Meuse to the north. The railroad communications
through the Belgian plain were splendidly adapted to this plan, backed
as they were by the military railroads which Germany had constructed
several years before, running through the industrial districts in the
north of the German Empire up to the Belgian border.

Germany's first move was the invasion of Luxemburg, violating the
neutrality of a State which, under the treaty making her independent
and guaranteeing neutrality, (to which treaty Germany was a party,)
was not permitted to maintain an army. Two days later Germany asked
passage for her troops through Belgium, for the purpose of attacking
France. Belgium promptly refused, and on Aug. 4 Germany began the
forcing of this passage by an attack on Liege.

Thus, at the outset the German plan went awry. Although the
contemplated line of advance was through Liege and Namur, it was not
sufficient, with Belgium openly in arms to defend her country, to
reduce only these two towns. The Belgian Army could, and later did,
fall back to the north on Louvain, Brussels, and Antwerp, and so be
directly on the German flank and in a position to strike at the line