and the British, but also by the Prussian Government, with what
results we know.

The entries into this plain are very clearly defined by natural
limits. It is barred a few hours' march beyond the German frontier by
the broad and deep river Meuse, which here runs from the rough and
difficult Ardennes country up to the Dutch frontier. The whole passage
is no more than twelve miles across, and at the corner of it, where
the Meuse bends, is the fortress of Liége. West of this fortress the
upper reaches of the river run, roughly east and west upon Namur, and
after Namur turn south again, passing through a very deep ravine that
extends roughly from the French town of Mezières to Namur through the
Ardennes country. The Belgian Plain is therefore like a bottle with a
narrow neck, a bottle defined by the Dutch frontier and the Middle
Meuse on either side, and a neck extending only from the Ardennes
country to the Dutch frontier, with the fortress of Liége barring the
way. Now the main blow was to be delivered ultimately upon the line
Namur-Charleroi-Mons. That is, the situation was roughly that of the
accompanying diagram: by the bottle neck at D the whole mass of troops
must pass--or most of them--which are later to strike on the front AB.
To reach that front was available to the invader the vast network of
Belgian railways RRR crammed with rolling stock, and provided such
opportunities for rapid advance as no other district in Europe could
show. But all this system converged upon the main line which ran
through the ring of forts round Liége, L, and so passed through
Aix-la-Chapelle, A, and to Germany.

[Illustration: Sketch 33.]

The German Government, therefore, could not be secure of its intention