The World War and What Was Behind It

By Benezet, Louis P.

Book Id: WPLBN0000631946
Format Type: PDF eBook:
File Size: 0.7 MB
Reproduction Date: 2005

Title:	The World War and What Was Behind It
Author:	Benezet, Louis P.
Volume:
Language:	English
Subject:	Literature, Literature & thought, Writing.
Collections:	Classic Literature Collection, Blackmask Online Collection
Historic Publication Date:
Publisher:	Blackmask Online


Citation APA MLA Chicago P. Beneze, B. L. (n.d.). The World War and What Was Behind It. Retrieved from http://gutenberg.cc/

Description
Excerpt: This little volume is the result of the interest shown by pupils, teachers, and the general public in a series of talks on the causes of the great European war which were given by the author in the fall of 1914. The audiences were widely different in character. They included pupils of the sixth, seventh, and eighth grades, students in high school and normal school, teachers in the public schools, an association of business men, and a convention of boards of education. In every case, the same sentiment was voiced: ?If there were only some book which would give us these facts in simple language and illustrate them by maps and charts as you have done!? After searching the market for a book of this sort without success, the author determined to put the subject of his talks into manuscript form. It has been his aim to write in a style which is well within the comprehension of the children in the upper grades and yet is not too juvenile for adult readers. The book deals with the remarkable sequence of events in Europe which made the great war inevitable. Facts are revealed which, so far as the author knows, have not been published in any history to date; facts which had the strongest possible bearing on the outbreak of the war. The average American, whether child or adult, has little conception of conditions in Europe. In America all races mix. The children of the Polish Jew mingle with those of the Sicilian, and in the second generations both peoples have become Americans. Bohemians intermarry with Irish, Scotch with Norwegians. In Europe, on the other hand, Czech and Teuton, Bulgar and Serb may live side by side for centuries without mixing or losing their distinct racial characteristics. In order that the American reader may understand the complicated problem of European peace, a study of races and languages is given in the text, showing the relationship of Slav, Celt, Latin, and Teuton, and the various sub?divisions of these peoples. A knowledge of these facts is very essential to any understanding of the situation in Europe. The author has pointed out the fact that political boundaries are largely king?made, and that they have seldom been drawn with regard to the natural division of Europe by nationalities, or to the wishes of the mass of the population.

Table of Contents
Table of Contents: The World War and What was Behind It, 1 -- Louis P. Benezet, 1 -- Preface, 2 -- Chapter I. The Great War, 3 -- Chapter II. Rome and the Barbarian Tribes, 7 -- Chapter III. From Chiefs to Kings, 10 -- Chapter IV. Master and Man, 14 -- Chapter V. A Babel of Tongues, 16 -- Chapter VI. ?The Terrible Turk?, 21 -- Chapter VII. The Rise of Modern Nations, 23 -- Chapter VIII. The Fall of the Two Kingdoms, 26 -- Chapter IX. The Little Man from the Common People, 28 -- Chapter X. A King?Made Map and its Trail of Wrongs, 31 -- Chapter XI. Italy a Nation at Last, 34 -- Chapter XII. The Man of Blood and Iron, 36 -- Chapter XIII. The Balance of Power, 40 -- Chapter XIV. The ?Entente Cordiale?, 44 -- Chapter XV. The Sowing of the Dragon's Teeth, 47 -- Chapter XVI. Who Profits?, 50 -- Chapter XVII. The Spark that Exploded the Magazine, 53 -- Chapter XVIII. Why England Came In, 55 -- Chapter XIX. Diplomacy and Kingly Ambition, 58 -- Chapter XX. Back to the Balkans, 61 -- Chapter XXI. The War Under the Sea, 68 -- Chapter XXII. Another Crown Topples, 74 -- Chapter XXIII. The United States at War?Why?, 79 -- Chapter XXIV. Europe as it Should Be, 85 -- Chapter XXV. The Cost of It All, 87 -- Chapter XXVI. What Germany Must Learn, 89