completed in a single campaign. Every one knows that Lord Kitchener is
supposed to have prophesied a war of three years, and we can hardly ignore
the opinion of so good a judge. If we ask why, the obvious answer is that
every nation engaged is not fighting for mere victory in battle, nor yet
for extension of territory; but for something more important than these.
They fight for the triumph of their respective ideas, and it will make the
greatest difference to Europe and the world which of the ideas is
eventually conqueror. Supposing the German invasion of France ends in
failure; that, clearly, will not finish the war. Supposing even that
Berlin is taken by the Russians, we cannot affirm that so great an event
will necessarily complete the campaign. The whole of Germany will have to
be invaded and subdued, and that is a process which will take a very long
time even under the most favourable auspices. Or take the opposite
hypothesis. Let us suppose that the Germans capture Paris, and manage by
forced marches to defend their country against the Muscovite incursion.
Even so, nothing is accomplished of a lasting character. France will go on
fighting as she did after 1870, and we shall be found at her side. Or,
assuming the worst hypothesis of all, that France lies prostrate under the
heel of her German conqueror, does any one suppose that Great Britain
will desist from fighting? We know perfectly well that, with the aid of
our Fleet, we shall still be in a position to defy the German invader and
make use of our enormous reserves to wear out even Teutonic obstinacy. The
great sign and seal of this battle to the death is the recent covenant
entered into by the three members of the Triple Entente.[1] They have
declared in the most formal fashion, over the signatures of their three
representatives, Sir Edward Grey, M. Paul Cambon, and Count Benckendorff,
that they will not make a separate peace, that they will continue to act
in unison, and fight, not as three nations, but as one. Perhaps one of the
least expected results of the present conjuncture is that the Triple
Entente, which was supposed to possess less cohesive efficiency than the