HALF THE WORLD AT WAR.

King Country Chronicle, Volume IX, Issue 740, 27 January 1915, Page 3

HALF THE WORLD AT WAR.

SOME STRIKING FIGURES. The entrance of Turkey into the war means more than the addition of one more combatant to the other ten —remarkß an English paper. It means that over half the world, in terms of mileage and population, is now at war. The monstrous thing is more than a figure of speech. Here are the facts, first as to area: — British Empire 12,000,000 square miles; France and colonies, 3,430,000; Russia, 8,660,000; Belgium and colonies, 920,000; Servia, 18,800; Montenegro, 3200; Portugal and colonies, 837,000; Japan, 173,000; total, 26,042,000; Germany and colonies, 1,215,000; Austria-Hungary, 260,000; Turkey and dependencies, 710,000; total, 2,185,000— grand total, 28,227,000.

The total land area of the globe is estimated at fifty two and a r half million square miles. Then as to population:— British Empire. 453,000,000; France and colonies; 65,000,000 Russia, 149,000,000; Belgium and colonies, 22,000,000; Servia, 2,750,000; Montenegro, 230,000; Portugal and colonies, 15 000,000; Japan, 5,200,000—t0ta1, 758,980,000; Germany and colonies, 72,600,000; Austria-Hungary, 47,000,000; Turkey and dependencies, 21,000,000; total, 140,600,000— grand total, 899,580,000 and the total number of inhabitants of the globe is reckoned at 1,800,000,000.

Though only the smallest fraction of the numbers are engaged, there has been nothing like this in the history of the world. Ever the cataclysm of a century ago, with Britain, Russia, Außtria, Prussia, Sweden, and the Peninsula in arms again at Napoleon, dirt not represent a tithe of this convulsion, if one bears in mind the enormous increase of population in the interval And that was, after all, a European war, in spite of its occasional divagations to Syria and the West Indies. The present war has made itself felt in all climes and all continents. It has done more than range from China to Peru; it has ranged from Japan to Chili, and from the Baltic to the Tonga Archipelago. Outside Europe we have had fighting at, amongst other places, Tsingtau, Zanzibar, New Guinea, Marshall Islands, Lake Tanganyika, Madras, the Cameroons, Penang, Windhoek Bay, Akabab, Tonga and various points in the Atlantic and Pacific. Almost the only person who may be considered safe from the sound of cannon for the next six months is Sir Etneßt Shackleton. The increase in the number of the combatants leaves us in some perDlexity. Austria is at war with Servia, but is she at war with Japan? Turkey is at war with Russia, but is she with Portugal? Germany is at war with Japan, but is she with Monter.ergo? The simplest plan is, no doubt, to assume that all the parties on one side are at war with all the parties on the other, though the diplomatic aspect of the case may be slightly otherwise. _.. The expedition across the Sinai Peninsula —with an excursion to the top—would have been an adventure after the Kaiser's own heart; only the most pressing engagements could keep him at home. One is not confident that his generals could not spare him, for his presence has failed, in either theatre of hostilities to bring fortune to his troops. It has been his singular experience to preside personally over the retreat from the Marne, the retreat from Warsaw, and the retreat from Calais. One of the more dramatic possibilities of the war is now an engagement at Megiddo, the original Armageddon of the Revelation. Certainly the inclusion of the Holy Land in the area of hostilities will redouble the energies of those who see in the conflict the fulfilment of ancient prophecy. But Armageddon would not, one imagines, have become a catch word but for the misleading prefix. It had never been possible to convince the man in the street that Armageddon and Arma Virumque has not some etymological affinity.