PART II.

The forces opposed.

(1) The geographical position of the belligerents 80

      The Geographical Advantages and Disadvantages of
      the Germanic Body 86

      The Geographical Advantages and Disadvantages of
      the Allies 121

(2) The opposing strengths 136

      The Figures of the First Period, say to
      October 1-31, 1914 145

      The Figures of the Second Period, say to
      April 15-June 1, 1915 151

(3) The conflicting theories of war 164

PART III.

The first operations.

(1) The battle of Metz 316

(2) Lemberg 322

(3) Tannenberg 345

(4) The spirits in conflict 365

INTRODUCTION.

It is the object of this book, and those which will succeed it in the same series, to put before the reader the main lines of the European War as it proceeds.  Each such part must necessarily be completed and issued some little time after the events to which it relates have passed into history.  The present first, or introductory volume, which is a preface to the whole, covers no more than the outbreak of hostilities, and is chiefly concerned with an examination of the historical causes which produced the conflict, an estimate of the comparative strength of the various combatants, and a description of the first few days during which these combatants took up their positions and suffered the first great shocks of the campaigns in East and West.

But in order to serve as an introduction to the remainder of the series, it is necessary that the plan upon which these books are to be constructed should be clearly explained.

There is no intention of giving in detail and with numerous exact maps the progress of the campaigns.  Still less does the writer propose to examine disputed points of detail, or to enumerate the units employed over that vast field.  His object is to make clear, as far as he is able, those great outlines of the business which too commonly escape the general reader.