CHAPTER I
EARLY STAGES OF THE CAMPAIGN
(1914–1915)
Contemporary writers on the history of the war are inclined to turn the whole of their attention to Europe, as though they were unaware of any events of importance outside Belgium, France, or Poland. The idea of hurling masses of men against Germany's West flank got such a firm hold upon the public mind from the first days of the war, that two very weighty considerations were almost entirely ignored. First, it was forgotten that the mere hurling of raw masses in overwhelming numbers does not decide the fate of a modern campaign. This has been proved by the Germans themselves, who by organization and technical skill have largely succeeded, in spite of inferior numbers, in holding their West front, while they were advancing victoriously against Russia's millions. Secondly, it was forgotten that very important victories might be won without crushing Germany's military forces in Europe at all. For instance, the professed object of the war would have been attained if, as the result of intelligent political propaganda on the part of the Allies, the German masses had learnt that their real enemy was in their own country. But even if the war be considered less in terms of ideas than of more material
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