Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER TUESDAY, JULY 11, 1916. WAR DELUSIONS.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXX, Issue 83, 11 July 1916, Page 4

Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER TUESDAY, JULY 11, 1916. WAR DELUSIONS.

The 1 delusions which the combatants in all wars are under as soon as operations in the field begin is the subject of a. special article in a leading English paper. One great delusion is the duration of a war, and the writer vot ferred to recalls that when the, French Evolutionary- War began PiU refused to make any great preparations. JAiOtff alii feiltWard. appear-j |ances his position was justified. Half I Franeh'iwas in revolt behind the Committee of Public Safety, The French army was ifi a state of mutiny, the Prussian and Austrian forces were marching forward practically unop- : posed. Yet the war lasted more than twenty years, and all Europe was drenched with blood. Again when , Britain took up the defence of Turkey the ungrateful against Russia, the j , war was to have been brought to an | , end, after the heroic scramble across, the Alma, by the capture of be-, hastopol. But the fortress held out for a year, and taxed the resources otj ] the Allies, to the utmost. Coming to. , later days, in the South African Y ai. ■ it was quite confidently predicted tha.j British troops would he in Pretoria Ibv the Christmas following the out- I break, and Lord St. Aldwyn only ask- i od for a vote of £10,000,000-wluch 1 was to he paid for by the, gold mines. , j The estimate was absurdly out. M < of the best illustrations of this un- . founded optimism which always pre- 1 vails at the beginning of a war is j that of the Northern and Southern < States of America. One battle ot fore Richmond was to settle the matter, and the period most general!* 1 accepted for the duration of the ’ ninety days, thougli 1 wav was , General Sherman though;. IZt and said so. When the war began Sherman was given a commam i in the West, and he at once madeo' demand For the services of -00,*XIU men, saying that it was useless to at-, tempt operations in that quarter wn «- out such a force. Colonel A. K ; ;- M’Clure, in his “Reminiscences, savs that the Government, instead of, calmly investigating Sherman s demand. it was at once assumed that Vi© was mentally unbalanced. He Wil s relieved of his command, and ; ordered to report at the St. horns La,racks. In administration circles ■ 1,0 was generally spoken of as a lunatic. In the present war Germany had arranged a famous “time-table, tor defeating everybody within a p Months, hut it broke down badly, and after two years’ of the most rec.vIpsslv brutal aggression, the Germans are being driven homeward desperate and i.rokeii. Lord Kitchener rather staggered many people when he suited that we might look to a possible tluve years’ campaign, hut his judgment and foresight have proved fairly ac--1 curate, and it is quite true ' to sa.v I that'the lesson to he learud is time ! at the beginning of every groat war j the comb a' ants are under delusions, as its length, and as to the pam*i-. ( Ifioes which will ho required .o hmig 1 it to a pficcesrfv.l conclusion. inej successful combatant is the one pro-

pard to make sacrifices, and to fight on to the end, regardless of \\ fiat these sacrifices entail. That is why JRv.ssia, France and Britain are today marching on to certain and complete victory.