view was fundamentally the same as that of France and England. This implied that Austria-Hungary would, if possible, separate from Germany, who could then be more easily defeated by military means. The Government at Vienna naturally took advantage of this for a long time, and until the spring of 1918 it caused us much anxiety.
Nevertheless the entry of the United States into the war was a new guarantee of victory for us. After the crisis brought about by the peace overtures in December and January, the Allies themselves accepted America’s step as a great success. France was filled with enthusiasm, having now regained her confidence. Wilson immediately became the world’s great moral authority. His preparations for warfare, which were being made on a vast scale, were discussed everywhere with complete hope and confidence. A military victory was now regarded as certain, even though it was realized that the American preparations would take a long time. As soon as the United States entered the war, public opinion in France was practically unanimous that the only thing to do was to hold out until America was ready.
This feeling was shared by us also. We were confident that the United States, partly because of their strength and prestige, partly in view of the principles consistently enunciated by President Wilson, would not relax their efforts until Germany at least had been forced to capitulate. I took this view also because it was obvious that the United States had no direct interest in the war, and thus, as they had no definite war aim of their own, the steps which they had taken had been prompted largely by Wilson’s democratic convictions. He had rightly judged that the point at issue was not merely one of frontiers or States in Central Europe, but the great problem of reorganizing Europe and, indeed, to a certain extent, the whole world.
(d) The Progress of the Russian Revolution, its Foreign Policy and our Movement
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Those associated with our movement in Western Europe welcomed the Russian revolution. I have already mentioned the difficulties which we encountered in Tsarist Russia, and our internal dissensions which developed from them. In conse-
