GERMAN RETREAT IN THE WEST.—­After the Germans had been driven back to their old lines in France, there was danger that the contest might settle down to the old form of trench warfare.  But the intricate defenses of the Hindenburg line, in some cases extending to a depth of ten miles from the front trenches, did not prove strong enough to withstand the American and Allied advance.  Foch attacked the line from each end and also in the center.  In the north, by October 20, Belgian and British troops had recaptured all the Belgian coast, with its submarine bases; and the British had taken the important cities of Lens and Lille, the former valuable on account of its coal mines.  In the center British and French troops broke through to the important points of Cambrai, St. Quentin (s[)a]n-kahn-t[)a]n’) and Laon (lahn), while farther east the French and Americans began an advance along the Meuse River, threatening to attack the German line in the rear.

By this time it seemed likely that a general retirement from Belgium and France had been determined upon by the German leaders.  Moreover, the impending defeat of the German armies led to a new peace drive by the German government.  On October 6 President Wilson received a note from the German Chancellor asking for an armistice, requesting that the United States take steps for the restoration of peace, and stating that the German government accepted as a basis for peace negotiations the program as laid down in the President’s message to Congress of January 8, 1918 (Chapter XIV), and in his subsequent addresses.  In the ensuing correspondence several points are worthy of special notice.  President Wilson opposed any suggestion of an armistice till after the evacuation of Allied territory, or except as it might be arranged by the military advisers of the American and Allied powers, on such terms as would make impossible the renewal of hostilities by Germany.  He also called attention to the following point in his address of July 4, 1918,—­“The destruction of every arbitrary power anywhere that can separately, secretly, and of its single choice disturb the peace of the world, or, if it cannot be presently destroyed, at the least its reduction to virtual impotence";—­stated that the military autocracy still in control of Germany was such a power; and insisted on dealing only with a new or altered German government in which the representatives of the people should be the real rulers.

On November 11, while the German armies in France and Belgium were being defeated by the Allied and American forces, envoys from the German government accepted from General Foch an armistice in terms that meant virtually the surrender of Germany, and thus brought hostilities to an end.