Kelly Miller's History of the World War for Human Rights Part 30

Things are a bit different in the Marine Corps. In this organization a man doesn't absolutely have to wait for his number to come around. If he distinguishes himself above his fellows, he may be promoted without much regard for age or length of service. He goes up as he is able to, by his active ability and his readiness to work hard and effectively for Uncle Sam. There are advocates, of course, of both systems. There are merits which both systems can justly claim. But it goes without saying that this possibility of promotion keeps everybody in the Marine Corps on the jump.

Even the enlisted men who are too old to get commissions have something to work for. Not very long since Congress authorized the appointment of "warrant officers" in the Marine Corps. The Navy had this grade for many years. It is new in the Marine Corps, and is an added incentive to hard work.

Another incentive--and perhaps the strongest one--that draws young fellows of the up-and-doing sort into the Marine Corps is that of active service. The Marines boast that they are always on the job; that no matter how peaceful the time, the Marines are sure to see "something stirring" right along. It is a saying--and a true one--in the Marine Corps that every marine who has served the ordinary enlistment in the corps since the Spanish-American war has smelt powder. Ever since the fuss with Spain the marines have been covering themselves with glory. In that little war of 1898 the Marines were the first to land in Cuba. They held Guantanamo for three months. In 1890 they saw service in the Philippines; the next year in China. In 1902 the Marines took part in the fighting against Aguinaldo, the wily Filipino leader. In 1903 they put down the rebellion in Panama, captured Colon and opened up the Panama railroad. In 1906 they helped quiet the uprising of that summer in Cuba. They were in Nicaragua in 1909. From 1911 to 1913 they did more duty in Cuba, with a whirl in Nicaragua again in 1912. They helped hold Vera Cruz for three months in 1914. Next year they went to Haiti, where they have been moderately busy from time to time since. Santo Domingo saw them in 1916.

AN UNAPPROACHABLE RECORD.

Neither the army nor the navy can claim anything to beat it--you couldn't tell a marine that the rival branches of the service can claim anything to equal it. And as for the modern implements of warfare--the European armies have no advantage over the marines for testing out new devices. They had armored cars, for instance, as far back as 1906; they began to use motor trucks for military purposes as early as 1909. Every marine expedition is equipped with its quota of armored trucks. They would as soon think of voyaging over the seas to put down an incipient revolution without their armored cars and motor trucks as they would of going to meet the enemy without their rifle.

There used to be an old joke about "Horse Marines." A sailorman on a horse is an incongruous thing--a sight to make you hold your sides. But the marines are not plain sailormen. They are "soldier and sailor, too,"

and as soldiers they have turned the joke on the old saw about "horse marines." There are "horse marines" these days, and mighty good cavalry they make.

The marine can ride with the best of the cavalrymen. And in the fracas in Domingo there were two cavalry companies of marines organized.

THE MANY-SIDED MARINE.

It takes a bit longer to make an efficient marine than to make an infantryman. This because the marine is a man of many specialties. He is, of course, in season and out of season, an international policeman.

That's his job in time of peace. But when he fares abroad to fight his country's battles he may be called upon to do almost any kind of work.

He may be an artilleryman; a signalman; an airman. He may be, and usually is, anything that his country needs at that particular time. And he is trained to meet the emergency.

The new recruit, in ordinary times, is sent for his first instruction to Port Royal, down in Georgia. There he has nothing to do but drill, drill, drill, until he can do the infantry evolutions in his sleep. He learns to drill, he learns to keep clean--the Marines are something of a dandy corps--and he learns to take care of himself no matter what happens. He is taught to be a soldier and a man. He learns to walk straight, shoot straight, think straight. And then he goes for a spell to sea--for after all, he needs sea legs as well as land legs.

But these two tricks of duty by no means end the marine's schooling.

When he has become an efficient all-around man he may specialize. He may, if he chooses, go into the signal corps and learn the mult.i.tude of details connected with this ultramodern arm of the service. He learns to send messages by every possible means. He learns to operate a radio.

And, it might be mentioned in pa.s.sing, the Marine Corps is equipped with the very finest of radio apparatus. They have big trucks which carry the outfit and supply the power for either sending radio messages or operating huge electric searchlights. Or he may go into aviation.

[Ill.u.s.tration: INTERNATIONAL BOUNDARIES BEFORE THE WAR.

This map shows the boundary lines between nations as they were at the beginning of the war, as also the coast lines of Europe. The latter are brought out in bold relief.]

CHAPTER XIV.

THE NATIONS AT WAR.

UNEXPECTED DEVELOPMENTS--HOW THE WAR FLAMES SPREAD--A SCORE OF COUNTRIES INVOLVED--THE POINTS OF CONTACT--PICTURESQUE AND RUGGED BULGARIA, ROUMANIA, SERVIA, GREECE, ITALY AND HISTORIC SOUTHEAST EUROPE.

The real history of the greatest war of all times is the history of the entire world, touching every phase of existence in a manner that has never been approximated by any other conflict. The motives and ramifications are so great that it is almost impossible for the human mind to grasp the significance of many things of importance which, at a glance, seem to be but incidents.

The world looked on expectantly when the war started, because there was a general knowledge of the conditions existing in Europe and the undercurrent was felt by students of international affairs. But that Russia would revolt and the Czar abdicate, as he did in March, 1917, and the iron-ruled country would set up a government of its own--would join the circle of democracies--was not even hinted at. Neither was it intimated that Constantine I, King of Greece, would abdicate in favor of his son, Prince Alexander, as he did in the following June, under pressure, because of his sympathy for Germany.

Neither was there a suspicion that the fire started by the flash of a pistol and the bursting of a bomb in Bosnia would spread until sixteen countries were arrayed against Germany and Austria, supported by the Bulgarians and the Turks. And to these must be added the entrance into the conflict of Canada, Australia, New Zealand, possessions of Great Britain, and smaller possessions of other countries. The flames swept over the face of the earth in this fas.h.i.+on:

Starting with the movement of Austria against Servia, after the a.s.sa.s.sination of the Archduke Ferdinand, there lined up as a consequence of the alliances formed between the powers, the countries referred to in preceding chapters. The triple alliance was originally an agreement between Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy, to strengthen their positions, and the Triple Entente consisted of agreements between France, England and Russia.

INVASION OF BELGIUM.

Briefly, the invasion of Belgium by Germany, and her ambitions in the southeast, where Russia had what amounted to protectorate relations, drew first France, England and Russia into the strife, and step by step there became involved nation after nation. The steps, marked by the declarations of war, were as follows: On July 28, 1914, Austria declared war on Servia, and on August 1 Germany made the declaration against Russia. Next Germany turned upon France, on the third day of August, and also on Belgium, whereupon, on the following day, Great Britain declared war on Germany; a day later Austria-Hungary issued the mandate against Russia, and two days later, or on August 8, Montenegro declared war on Austria. Austria accepted the challenge, and then Servia took up the cudgel against Germany. France made formal declaration of war on Austria-Hungary and by the end of August Montenegro had declared against Germany; Great Britain on Austria; j.a.pan on Germany; Austria on j.a.pan; Austria on Belgium. Later, or early in November, Russia declared herself against Turkey, as did France and Great Britain.

For six months the battle raged and the rest of the world regarded the result with grave concern until in May of 1915 Italy, having renounced her alliance with Germany and Austria, declared war first on Austria, then on Turkey. In the fall of 1915 Servia took up arms against Bulgaria, as did Great Britain, France, Italy and Russia. Then Germany declared against Portugal, whose government replied in kind; Austria followed Germany in the alignment and finally, in August, 1916, there were exchanges of sharp "courtesies"--the complete severance of all diplomatic relations and open warfare--between Roumania and Austria-Hungary; then between Bulgaria and Roumania, with the consequent alignment of the Central Powers. Italy had also made her declaration against Germany specific. So for nine months the war waged with terrible bitterness until on April 6, the United States, by the proclamation of President Wilson, was finally at war with Germany.

IN THE NATURE OF MERE FORMALITIES.

These steps were, in many instances, in the nature of formalities, for the relations.h.i.+ps of some of the countries involved placed them in the position of practically being at war before formal announcement was made. The position then, was that Germany, Austria-Hungary and Turkey were supported by Bulgaria, who was anxious to get redress for having been cheated out of what she regarded as her rightful possessions in the settlement of the Balkan war question. Those aligned on the other side were England, France, Russia, Montenegro, Italy, Belgium (which had been making defensive warfare in keeping with her desire to be true to her neutral pledges); Servia, Roumania, j.a.pan, Portugal, the United States, the little princ.i.p.ality of Monaco, which is best known as the seat of Monte Carlo, the great gambling center of Europe, and San Marino, a similar "patch" on the map of Europe. Brazil, Guatemala, and the little Republic of Cuba also aligned themselves against Germany in support of the Allies, though there was no actual engagement of their forces. Thus there could be counted as at war against the Central Powers in June, 1917, sixteen countries.

Most interesting of all the countries involved were those belonging to the Balkan group and centering in southeastern Europe. The Balkan nations, Bulgaria, Servia, Montenegro, with Greece, paved the way for their entrance into the conflict when they formed an alliance, in 1912, for common protection, particularly for the enforcement of one of the provisions of the Berlin Treaty, guaranteeing local government to the Bulgar and Serbian colonies in Macedonia. Montenegro began war on Turkey in October, and Bulgaria, Servia and Greece joined and drove the Turks out of many of their strongholds.

[Ill.u.s.tration: OUTLINE MAP OF GERMANY AND THE STATES FORMING THE EMPIRE.

This drawing shows the location of the twenty-five States which were included within the boundaries of the German Empire at the beginning of the war.]

"COMIC OPERA" SOLDIERS.

In a month of fighting the little countries, in the picturesque southeastern section, whose soldiers have been depicted as "comic opera"

soldiers, had rent Turkey; Greece had captured the famous Macedonian city of Salonica, once known as Thessalonica, where was located the church in which was addressed St. Paul's Epistle to the Thessalonians; while the Servians had captured Monastir, one of the most important centers in Macedonia, and the Bulgarians had driven the Turks almost to the famed city of Constantinople. The Servian soldiers finally marched to the Adriatic sea, and Albania raised a flag of its own and asked Austria-Hungary and Italy to recognize its independence and grant it protection.

Within little more than two months Turkey had been deprived of the greater portion of her possessions in Europe and a treaty of peace was signed between the allied countries and the Turks. By this agreement Albania became in effect a suzerainty, protected by Austria. But the agreement between Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy--the Triple Entente--gave those countries a combined power which, when it came to fixing the terms of peace, left the small allied countries of victory at a disadvantage, and while Montenegro and Greece gained some territory, as did Servia, Bulgaria lost what she had gained in the war. Turkey lost 90 per cent of her Empire in Europe, which so aroused the country that the rising of the young Turks followed and the government was reorganized. The enforced terms of settlement, however, set the little countries at each other's throats.

The field of the Balkan battles is the very center of the world's history. Along the Adriatic, Ionian and Agean seas are lands and territories peopled with races that mark their ancestry back to the very darkest ages. The protected country of Albania, with its rocky surface, numbers among its peoples descendants of the Arnauts, whose very origin is a mystery. They were present before the days of Greece and Rome. The Ottoman Turks, the Bulgars from the plains of the Volga and the Ural Mountains, the Serbs, the Roumanians, Russians, Italians, the Slavs, Tartars.

A REGION OF MOUNTAINS.

Albania is a mountainous region along the Adriatic coast, peopled with descendants of the ancients who maintain their characteristics. They are said to be descendants of the Pelasgian races, which inhabited the territory before the Greeks builded their Athens.

The Albanians are wild, daring mountaineers, and though the people have, to all intents and purposes, been under Turkish rule for centuries, they have never recognized the sovereignty of the Sultan. It was originally part of the Turkish Empire in Europe, having been taken by Turkey, in 1467, and is a fertile, but wild country.

The same picturesque people that make up the population of Albania const.i.tute the populace of the little country of Montenegro, which was once part of the Turkish possession. Montenegro contained about 3486 square miles of territory before its acquisitions in the Balkan wars.

Aided by Russia, the country obtained its independence from Turkey in 1878, and in 1910 became a kingdom. Its present area is about 5650 square miles and the population 520,000. The capital is Cettinje.

Bulgaria was also once a part of the Turkish possessions, and under the Treaty of Berlin, in 1878, became a suzerainty. It is a famous pastoral country, inhabited by a people for years held under the Ottoman heel.

They are racially Turanians, and kin of the Tartar and Huns, who came into their present fertile country from the vast plains of eastern Russia. They made their way thither more than a thousand years ago, and battling at the very gates of Constantinople, by their fierce crusades, secured the grants from the Byzantine Empire of the territory, which const.i.tutes the Bulgaria of today. The population is nearly 5,000,000, and the country contains about 43,000 square miles.

WHY ITALY ENTERED THE WAR.

Italy's reasons for entering the war, aside from her demands for territory, in exchange for continuance of neutrality, have to do with matters of years gone by, when she began the struggle for her liberation from the Austrian domination. Italy desired, among other things, to acquire Trentino, Goritz, and other adjacent territory controlled by Austria, but Italian in every attribute. Trentino is a rocky region, and strategically valuable to the country possessing it, which was proved by the terrible struggle which the Italians were forced to make in their attacks against the Austrian forces.

The city of Trent is the capital of Trentino, famous in history, and the seat of the long church council in 1545-46. It was in turn controlled by Roman, Goth, Hun, Lombard and Holy Roman Empire. It is the site of many historic buildings, notably the cathedral of Trent, which is a fine example of Lombard architecture, and the church of Santa Maria Maggorie, where the famous Council of the Roman Catholic Church was held. There are old towers, and libraries rich in ma.n.u.scripts.