The Angel of the Revolution: A Tale of the Coming Terror

by George Chetwynd Griffith

  CHAPTER XXIV.

  THE NEW WARFARE.

  It will now be necessary, in order to insure the continuity of thenarrative, to lay before the reader a brief sketch of the course ofevents in Europe from the actual commencement of hostilities on ageneral scale between the two immense forces which may be mostconveniently designated as the Anglo-Teutonic Alliance and theFranco-Slavonian League.

  In order that these two terms may be fully understood, it will bewell to explain their general constitution. When the two forces, intowhich the declaration of war ultimately divided the nations ofEurope, faced each other for the struggle which was to decide themastery of the Western world, the Anglo-Teutonic Alliance consistedprimarily of Britain, Germany, and Austria, and, ranged under itsbanner, whether from choice or necessity, stood Holland, Belgium, andDenmark in the north-west, with Bulgaria, Greece, and Turkey in thesouth-west.

  Egypt was strongly garrisoned for the land defence of the Suez Canaland the high road to the East by British, Indian, and Turkish troops.British and Belgian troops held Antwerp and the fortresses of theBelgian Quadrilateral in force.

  A powerful combined fleet of British, Danish, and Dutch war vesselsof all classes held the approaches by the Sound and Kattegat to theBaltic Sea, and co-operated in touch with the German fleet; the Dutchand the German having, at any rate for the time being, and under thepressure of irresistible circumstances, laid aside their hereditarynational hatred, and consented to act as allies under suitableguarantees to Holland.

  The co-operation of Denmark had been secured, in spite of the familyconnections existing between the Danish and the Russian Courts, andthe rancour still remaining from the old Schleswig-Holstein quarrel,by very much the same means that had been taken in the historic daysof the Battle of the Baltic. It is true that matters had not gone sofar as they went when Nelson disobeyed orders by putting histelescope to his blind eye, and engaged the Danish fleet in spite ofthe signals; but a demonstration of such overwhelming force had beenmade by sea and land on the part of Britain and Germany, that theHouse of Dagmar had bowed to the inevitable, and ranged itself on theside of the Anglo-Teutonic Alliance.

  Marshalled against this imposing array of naval and military forcestood the Franco-Slavonian League, consisting primarily of France,Russia, and Italy, supported--whether by consent or necessity--bySpain, Portugal, and Servia. The co-operation of Spain had beenpurchased by the promise of Gibraltar at the conclusion of the war,and that of Portugal by the guarantee of a largely increased sphereof influence on the West Coast of Africa, plus the Belgian States ofthe Congo.

  Roumania and Switzerland remained neutral, the former to be abattlefield for the neighbouring Powers, and the latter for thepresent safe behind her ramparts of everlasting snow and ice.Scandinavia also remained neutral, the sport of the rival diplomaciesof East and West, but not counted of sufficient importance tomaterially influence the colossal struggle one way or the other.

  In round numbers the Anglo-Teutonic Alliance had seven millions ofmen on the war footing, including, of course, the Indian and Colonialforces of the British Empire, while in case of necessity urgentlevies were expected to produce between two and three millions more.Opposed to these, the Franco-Slavonian League had about ten millionsunder arms, with nearly three millions in reserve.

  As regards naval strength, the Alliance was able to pit rather morethan a thousand warships of all classes, and about the same number oftorpedo-boats, against nearly nine hundred warships and about sevenhundred torpedo-boats at the disposal of the League.

  In addition to this latter armament, it is very necessary to name afleet of a hundred war-balloons of the type mentioned in an earlierchapter, fifty of which belonged to Russia and fifty to France. Noother European Power possessed any engine of destruction that wascapable of being efficiently matched against the invention of M.Riboult, who was now occupying the position of Director of the aerialfleet in the service of the League.

  It would be both a tedious repetition of sickening descriptions ofscenes of bloodshed and a useless waste of space, to enumerate indetail all the series of conflicts by sea and land which resultedfrom the collision of the tremendous forces which were thus arrayedagainst each other in a conflict that was destined to be unparalleledin the history of the human race.

  To do so would be to occupy pages filled with more or less technicaldescriptions of strategic movements, marches, and countermarches,skirmishes, reconnaissances, and battles, which followed each otherwith such unparalleled rapidity that the combined efforts of the warcorrespondents of the European press proved entirely inadequate tokeep pace with them in the form of anything like a continuousnarrative.

  It will therefore be necessary to ask the reader to remain contentwith such brief summary as has been given, supplemented with thefollowing extracts from a very lengthy _resume_ of the leading eventsof the war up to date, which were published in a special WarSupplement issued by the _Daily Telegraph_ on the morning of Tuesdaythe 28th of June 1904:--

  "Although little more than a period of six weeks has elapsed sincethe actual outbreak of hostilities which marked the commencement ofwhat, be its issue what it may, must indubitably prove the mostcolossal struggle in the history of human warfare, changes havealready occurred which must infallibly mark their effect upon thefuture destiny of the world. Almost as soon as the first shot wasfired the nations of Europe, as if by instinct or under the influenceof some power higher than that of international diplomacy,automatically marshalled themselves into the two most mighty hoststhat have ever trod the field of battle since man first fought withman.

  "Not less than twenty millions of men are at this moment facing eachother under arms throughout the area of the war. These are almostequally divided; for, although what is now known as theFranco-Slavonian League has some three millions of men more on land,it may be safely stated that the preponderance of naval strengthpossessed by the Anglo-Teutonic Alliance fully counterbalances thisadvantage.

  "There is, however, another most important element which has now forthe first time been introduced into warfare, and which, although itis most unhappily arrayed amongst the forces opposed to our owncountry and her gallant allies, it would be both idle and mostimprudent to ignore. We refer, of course, to the two fleets ofwar-balloons, or, as it would be more correct to call them, navigableaerostats, possessed by France and Russia.

  "So tremendous has been the influence which these terrible inventionshave exercised upon the course of the war, that we are nottransgressing the bounds of sober truth when we say that they haveutterly disconcerted and brought to nought the highest strategy andthe most skilfully devised plans of the brilliant array of masters ofthe military art whose presence adorns the ranks and enlightens thecouncils of the Alliance.

  "Since the day when the Russians crossed the German and Austrianfrontiers, and the troops of France and Italy simultaneously flungthemselves across the western frontiers of Germany and through thepasses of the Tyrol, their progress, unparalleled in rapidity even bythe marvellous marches of Napoleon, has been marked, not by what wehave hitherto been accustomed to call battles, but rather by a seriesof colossal butcheries.

  "In every case of any moment the method of procedure on the part ofthe attacking forces has been the same, and, with the deepest regretwe confess it, it has been marked with the same unvarying success.Whenever a large army has been set in motion upon a predeterminedpoint of attack, whether a fortress, an entrenched camp, or astrongly occupied position in the field, a squadron of aerostats haswinged its way through the air under cover of the darkness of night,and silently and unperceived has marked the disposition of forces,the approximate strength of the army or the position to be attacked,and, as far as they were observable, the points upon which the attackcould be most favourably delivered. Then they have returned withtheir priceless information, and, according to it, the assailantshave been able, in every case so far, to make their assault whereleast expected, and to make it, moreover, upon an already partiallydemora
lised force.

  "From the detailed descriptions which we have already published ofbattles and sieges, or rather of the storming of great fortresses, itwill be remembered that every assault on the part of the troops ofthe League has been preceded by a preliminary and irresistible attackfrom the clouds.

  "The aerostats have stationed themselves at great elevations over theramparts of fortresses and the bivouacs of armies, and have raineddown a hail of dynamite, melinite, fire-shells and cyanogenpoison-grenades, which have at once put guns out of action, blown upmagazines, rendered fortifications untenable, and rent masses ofinfantry and squadrons of cavalry into demoralised fragments, beforethey had the time or the opportunity to strike a blow in reply. Thenupon these silenced batteries, these wrecked fortifications, andthese demoralised brigades, there has been poured a storm ofartillery fire from the untouched enemy, advancing in perfect order,and inspired with high-spirited confidence, which has beenirresistibly opposed to the demoralisation of their enemies.

  "Is it any wonder, or any disgrace, to the defeated, that under suchnovel and appalling conditions the orderly and disciplined onslaughtsof the legions of the League have in almost every case beencompletely successful? The sober truth is that the invention andemployment of these devastating appliances have completely alteredthe face of the field of battle and the conditions of modern warfare.It is not in human valour, no matter how heroic or self-devoted itmay be, to oppose itself with anything like confidence to an enemywhich strikes from the skies, and cannot be struck in return.

  "It was thus that the battles of Alexandrovo, Kalisz, and Czernowiczwere won in the early stages of the war upon the Austro-Germanfrontier. So, too, in the Rhine Provinces, were the battles ofTreves, Mulhausen, and Freiburg turned by the aid of the Frenchaerostats from battles into butcheries. It was under the assault ofthese irresistible engines that the great fortresses of Koenigsberg,Thorn, Breslau, Strasburg, and Metz, to say nothing of many minor,but strongly fortified, places, were first reduced to a state ofimpotence for defence, and then battered into ruins by the siege-gunsof the assailants.

  "All these terrible events, forming a series of catastrophesunparalleled in the annals of war, are still fresh in the minds ofour readers, for they have followed one upon the other with almoststupefying rapidity, and it is yet hardly six weeks since theCossacks and Uhlans were engaged in their first skirmish near Gnesen.

  "This is an amazingly brief space of time for the fate of empires tobe decided, and yet we are forced, with the utmost sorrow andreluctance, to admit that what were two months ago the magnificentlydisciplined and equipped armies of Germany and Austria, are nowcompletely shattered and broken up into fragmentary and isolated armycorps, decimated as to numbers and demoralised as to discipline,gathered in and about such strong places as are left to them, andawaiting only with the courage of desperation the moment, we fear theinevitable moment, when they shall be finally crushed between therapidly converging hosts of the victorious League.

  "Within the next few days, Berlin, Hanover, Prague, Munich, andVienna must be invested, and may possibly be destroyed or compelledto ignominious and unconditional surrender by the irresistible forcesthat will be arrayed against them.

  "Meanwhile, with still deeper regret, we are forced to confess thatthose operations in the Low Countries and the east of Europe and AsiaMinor in which our own gallant troops have been engaged inconjunction with their several allies, have been, if not equallydisastrous, at least void of any tangible success.

  "Erzeroum, Trebizond, and Scutari have fallen; the passes of theBalkans have been forced, although at immense cost to the enemy;Belgrade has been stormed; Adrianople is invested, and Constantinopleis therefore most seriously threatened.

  "By heroic efforts the French attack upon the Quadrilateral has beenrolled back at a fearful expense of human life. Antwerp is stilluntouched, and the command of the Baltic is still ours. In our ownwaters, as well as in the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, we have wonvictories which prove that Great Britain is still the unconquered,and we trust unconquerable, mistress of the seas. We have kept theDardanelles open, and the Suez Canal is still inviolate.

  "Two combined attacks, delivered by the allied French and Italiansquadrons on Malta and Gibraltar, have been repulsed by AdmiralBeresford with heavy loss to the enemy, thanks to the timely warningdelivered to Mr. Balfour by the Earl of Alanmere--upon whosemysterious disappearance we comment in another column--and the PrimeMinister's prompt and statesmanlike action in doubling the strengthof the Mediterranean fleet before the outbreak of hostilities.

  "Thanks to the tireless activity and splendid handling of the Channelfleet, the North Sea Division, and the Irish Squadron, the enemy'sflag has been practically swept from the home waters, and the shoresof our beloved country are as inviolate as they have been for morethan seven centuries. These brilliant achievements go far tocompensate us as an individual nation for the disasters which havebefallen our allies on the Continent, and, in addition, we have thesatisfaction of knowing that, so far, the most complete success hasattended our arms in the East, and that the repeated and determinedassaults of our Russian foes have been triumphantly hurled back fromthe impregnable bulwarks of our Indian Empire.

  "It has been pointed out, and it would be vain to ignore the fact,that not only have all our victories been won in the absence of theaerial fleets of the League; but that we, in common with our allies,have been worsted in each of the happily few cases in which even oneof these terrible aerostats has delivered its assaults upon us.Against this, however, we take leave to set our belief that thesemachines do not yet inspire sufficient confidence in their possessorsto warrant them in undertaking operations above the sea, or at anyconsiderable distance from their bases of manoeuvring. It is truethat we are entirely ignorant of the essentials of theirconstruction; but the fact that no attempt has yet been made to sendthem into action over blue water inspires us with the hope and beliefthat their effective range of operations is confined to the land....

  "It would be superfluous to say that the British Empire is nowinvolved in a struggle in comparison with which all our former warssink into absolute insignificance, a struggle which will tax itsimmense resources to the very utmost. Nothing, however, has yetoccurred to warrant the belief that those resources will not proveequal to the strain, or that the greatest empire on earth will notemerge from this combat of the giants with her ancient glory enhancedby new and hitherto unequalled triumphs.

  "Certainly at no period in our history have we been so splendidlyprepared to face our enemies both at home and abroad. All arms of theServices are in the highest state of efficiency, and the Governmentdockyards and arsenals, as well as private firms, are working day andnight to still further strengthen them, and provide ample supplies ofmunitions of war. The hearts of all the nations united under our flagare beating as that of one man, and from the highest to the lowestranks of Society all are inspired by a spirit of whole-souledpatriotism which, if necessary, will make any sacrifice to preservethe flag untarnished, and the honour of Britain without a spot.

  "At the head of affairs stands the man who of all others has provedhimself to be the most fitted to direct the destinies of the empirein this tremendous crisis of her history. Party feeling for the timebeing has almost entirely disappeared, save amongst the few scatteredbands of isolated Revolutionaries and malcontents, and Mr. Balfourpossesses the absolute confidence of his Majesty on the one hand, andthe undivided support of an impregnable majority in both Houses ofParliament on the other. He is admirably seconded by such lieutenantsas Lord Randolph Churchill, Sir Joseph Chamberlain, and Sir George J.Goschen on his own side of the House, and by the Earls of Roseberyand Morley, Lord Brassey, and Sir Charles Dilke in what, previous tothe outbreak of the war, was the opposing political camp, but whichis now a party as loyal as that of the Government to the bestinterests of the Empire, and fully determined to give the utmostpossible moral support consistent with fair and impartial criticism.

  "The disastr
ous mistake which was made by a very small majority ofthe Upper House in rejecting the Government guarantee for theill-fated Italian loan is now, of course, past repair; for Italy, asevents have proved, exasperated by what her spokesmen termed herselfish betrayal by Britain, has passionately thrown herself into thearms of the League, and the Alliance has now no more bitter enemythan she is. It is, however, only justice to those who defeated theloan to add that they have now clearly seen and frankly owned theirgrievous mistake, and rallied as one man to the support of theGovernment."