Allies sufficiently into account. The British were soon able to cope with the German submarines. The Americans invented deadlier gases than the Germans but refrained from using them for reasons of humanity. Edison helped the army by a number of successful inventions which accomplished more than the miracles people expected him to perform, for they increased the fighting efficiency of his fellow-countrymen. And just as the Germans relied too much on material forces and on the mechanism of organization, so they failed to comprehend moral forces and to understand the ethical strength of England and America, Italy and Serbia. They believed France degenerate and were blind to the degeneracy of Austria-Hungary. In fact they were beaten in the field by their own science, their history, their philosophy, their policy, and by Prussian militarism.
In saying this I do not belittle the military achievements of the Allied armies, all of which helped the French to gain the final victory. The British navy kept the seas open for the Allies and made it possible for food-stuffs, munitions and raw materials to reach them. As soldiers, the British distinguished themselves by their power of resistance and exemplary tenacity; and when Field-Marshal Haig attributes the Allied victory to a miracle, he recognizes the severity of German pressure but criticizes at the same time the lack of unitary leadership among the Allies. True, enemy leadership was not unitary, but the Germans managed at least to keep the politicians and strategists of Vienna within bounds. And during the whole war the Germans certainly showed admirable endurance, efficiency and skill in details. They stood out stubbornly against the greater part of the world. All respect to them!
The American share in the victory is generally recognized. It consists not only in the contribution of fresh and valiant troops at a critical moment but in the circumstance that the United States joined the Allies at all. Before coming into the war America had helped them by supplying food-stuffs and war material; afterwards she helped them by the great authority which President Wilson acquired throughout the world. In no respect was the shortsightedness of the Germans so obvious as in their treatment of America in America, and in their failure to understand the situation after the American Declaration of War.
Neither ought we to forget the other Allies, above all unhappy Russia. Her share in the successful defensive operations at the beginning of the war deserves to be dwelt upon,
