in the United States. While the soldiers fought on the battlefields of
Belgium, France, East Prussia and Poland, an equally bitter struggle
was carried on in the United States. In Europe the object was to stop
the invaders. In America the goal was public opinion.

It was not until several months after the beginning of the war that Sir
Edward Grey and Chancellor von Bethmann-Hollweg began to discuss what
the two countries had done before the war, to avoid it. The only thing
either nation could refer to was the 1912 Conference between Lord
Haldane and the Chancellor. This was the only real attempt made by the
two leading belligerents to come to an understanding to avoid
inevitable bloodshed. Discussions of these conferences were soon
hushed up in Europe because of the bitterness of the people against
each other. The Hymn of Hate had stirred the German people and the
Zeppelin raids were beginning to sow the seeds of determination in the
hearts of the British. It was too late to talk about why the war was
not prevented. So each set of belligerents had to rely upon the
official documents at the beginning of the war to show what was done to
avoid it.

These White Books were written to win public opinion. But why were the
people _suddenly_ taken into the confidence of their governments? Why
had the governments of England, France, Germany and Russia not been so
frank before 1914? Why had they all been interested in making the
people speculate as to what would come, and how it would come about?
Why were all the nations encouraging suspicion? Why did they always
question the motives, as well as the acts, of each other? Is it
possible that the world progressed faster than the governments and that
the governments suddenly realised that public opinion was the biggest
factor in the world? Each one knew that a war could not be waged