war, she had gained some large colonies and was assured of others in
Africa, and she had secured a prevailing influence over the immense
domains of Turkey in Asia. By 1914 the Germans had more than half
completed a railroad through Turkey to the Persian Gulf, and expected
soon to dominate the eastern trade by the Berlin-Bagdad route.

[Illustration: THE BERLIN-BAGDAD RAILWAY]

GERMANY WANTED "A PLACE IN THE SUN."--Germany was acknowledged to be
the strongest nation in continental Europe. Her position as a world
power, however, was disputed by Great Britain, both by reason of the
latter's control of the sea through her enormous fleet, and by reason of
Great Britain's numerous colonies all over the world. It was galling to
German pride to have to coal her ships at English coaling stations. She
wanted stations of her own. By bringing on a war that would humble
France to the dust and make Belgium a part of Germany, thus giving her a
chance to seize the colonies of France and Belgium, Germany would at
once attain a position in the world's affairs which would enable her to
challenge the power of any nation on earth.

THE SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST.--German thinkers carried to an extreme
the theory of the survival of the fittest. This doctrine teaches that
all living things have reached their present forms through a gradual
development of those qualities which best fit them to live in their
present surroundings. Those that are best adapted live on, and produce a
new generation that are also well fitted to survive. Those that are not
fitted to their surroundings soon give up the struggle and die. The
Germans applied this same belief to nations, and claimed that only those
nations survived that could successfully meet world conditions. They
believed that war was an inevitable world condition, and that that