Kelly Miller's History of the World War for Human Rights Part 28

Norway has a standing army a little larger than that of Denmark--about 18,000 men--with 90,000 reserves, giving a total war strength of about 110,000 men. The unorganized force available is about 360,000 men.

Portugal has a peace strength of 30,000 men, with a reserve of 225,000, making a total war strength of more than one-quarter of a million. The unorganized fighting material is more than 800,000.

Turkey, which reorganized its forces within recent years, has a peace strength of 210,000 men, about 800,000 reserves, giving a war strength of over a million, and has a total available unorganized force to call upon of more than 3,000,000.

The little army of Montenegro is a permanent body of about 35,000 men.

There are no trained reserve forces, but there is an available fighting population of 68,000, outside of the army, to call upon.

CHINA'S MILITARY RESOURCES.

Recent events throw some doubt on the figures regarding China's military resources, but the last available figures credited the great Republic of the East with a force of 400,000 men, augmented by 300,000 reserves.

With this total war strength of 700,000 soldiers, estimates of the available unorganized fighting material reaches the stupendous figure of 63,000,000.

Brazil has a peace strength of 33,000, with more than 500,000 reserves, with more than 4,000,000 unorganized available material.

As relating to the armed strength of the nations abroad, some reference to the system of fortifications which protect the various countries is interesting at this point. Following years--in fact, centuries--of study, Central Europe has been strongly fortified with a system of embattlements which have reached the limits of human ingenuity.

In the east of France, along the frontier where France, Switzerland and Germany meet, there are the first-cla.s.s fortresses of Belfort, Epinal, Toul and Verdun in the first line, reinforced by Besancon, Dijon, Langres, Rheims, La Fere and Maubeuge in the second line, with smaller fortifications close to the German frontier at Remirement, Luneville, Nancy and other points. Along the Italian frontier the fortresses are situated at Gren.o.ble, Briancon and Nice, with Lyons in the rear. There are strong forts at all naval harbors, the defense of Paris consisting of 97 bastions, 17 old forts and 38 forts of an advanced type, the whole forming entrenched camps at Versailles and St. Denis.

On that line of the German frontier which faces France there are the fortresses of Neu-Breisach, Stra.s.sburg, Metz and Diedenhofen, in the first line, with Rastatt, Bitsch and Saarlouis in the second line, and Germershein in the rear. Situated opposite Luxemburg is Mainz, with Coblentz and Cologne opposite Belgium and Wesel opposite Holland.

All along the northern coast, from Wilhelmshafen to Memmel, the German coast is strongly fortified. Memmel is the pivot point of the northern and eastern frontier, the latter frontier being protected by Konigsberg and Allenstein, of the first line, and Danzig, Dirschau, Graudenz, Thorn and the Vistula Pa.s.sages, of the second line. South of this point are Posen, Glogau and Breslau, which face Poland, while beginning at Neisse the strong defense against Austria consists of fortifications at Glatz, Ingolstadt and Ulm, the approaches to Berlin being guarded by Magdeburg, Spandau and Kustrin.

POLISH QUADRILATERAL.

Along the line of the Russian frontier which guard that country from attacks by the Germans are the fortresses of Libau, on the Baltic; Kovna, Ossovets and Ust-Dvinsk, in the Vilna district, and in Poland there are situated Novo-Georgievsk, Warsaw and Ivangorod, on the Vistula, and Brest-Litovsk, on the Bug--four strongholds known as the Polish Quadrilateral. Guarding Petrograd are the smaller fortifications of Kronstadt and Viborg, with Sweaborg midway down the Gulf of Finland near Helsingfors. Sebastopol and Kertch, in the Crimea, and Otchokov, near Odessa, are the fortifications which guard the Black Sea.

Along the Austrian frontier are the strong embattlements of Cracow and Przemysl, on the road to Lemberg in Galicia. These forts face Poland. In Hungary there are Gyula-Fehervar and Arad, on the Maros River, and which guard the approach from the angle of Roumania. On her frontier facing Servia there are Alt-Orsova and Peterwardein, on the Danube, and Sarajevo, in Bosnia, with Temesvar and Komorn blocking the approach to Vienna from the southeast. On the Adriatic are Cattaro, on the edge of Montenegro, and the naval a.r.s.enals of Pola and Trieste. All the Alpine pa.s.ses of the Tyrol are fortified, but neither Vienna nor Budapest has any defenses.

The fortifications of Italy, aside from those on her coasts, extend in a line from Venice, through Verona, Mantua and Piacenza to Alessandria and Casale, which face the French frontier.

CHAPTER XIII.

THE WORLD'S NAVIES.

GERMANY'S SEA STRENGTH--GREAT BRITAIN'S IMMENSE WAR FLEET--IMMENSE FIGHTING CRAFT--THE UNITED STATES' NEW BATTLE CRUISERS--THE FASTEST AND BIGGEST OCEAN FIGHTING s.h.i.+PS--THE PICTURESQUE MARINES: THE SOLDIERS OF THE SEA.

Just as Germany at the outset of the war had the most efficient and, broadly speaking, the greatest army in the world, so England had the greatest navy in the world. As a matter of fact, Great Britain's domination of the seas was very largely responsible for the development of the super-submarine by Germany, and the putting into effect of the submarine warfare which proved so disastrous to the Allies. This for the reason that Germany, having sought for means to offset Great Britain's power and control of the seas, turned to the underseas craft.

Up to the accession of Emperor William II--the Kaiser--Germany's navy was little more than a joke. In 1848 the National Parliament voted six million thalers for the creation of a fleet, and some boats were constructed. But the attempts to weld Germany, then little more than a federation, into a nation having failed, the fleet was put up at auction, and actually sold in 1852. Prussia, a separate state, had started a fleet of her own and purchased the German boats.

This fleet, just before the American Civil War, consisted of four cruisers, carrying 28 cannon, and one cruiser having 17 cannon, besides which there were 21 "cannon boats," carrying two and three cannons each.

The Prussian fleet merged into the North German Confederation in 1867, and in turn became part of the fleet of the new German Empire in 1871.

In the war with France the German fleet played no part. There were one or two clashes between French and German small boats, but that was all.

Even the successful outcome of the war did not inspire Germany to build up a navy. Plans for the greater navy were first outlined about 1882, but for a period of seven years not a battles.h.i.+p was built, concentration being placed upon the torpedo boat. The idea of developing the torpedo boat fleet belong to the present Grand Admiral von Tirpitz, then a young officer. The fleet became the best in the world, but its usefulness was soon checked by the new inventions, searchlights, gatling guns, etc.

Germany's fleet legislation of 1898 for the first time looked ahead and established rules for future building. The Spanish-American and the Boer wars disquieted Germany, and about 1900 the fleet was doubled by legislation. In 1906 the campaign of submarines, torpedo boats and greater battles.h.i.+ps began. Part of the program required that 12 torpedo boats be built each year. Additional legislation for the construction of cruisers and battles.h.i.+ps was effected in 1908, and in 1912, until at the beginning of the war, Germany had 38 s.h.i.+ps of the line, 14 armored cruisers, 38 protected cruisers, 224 torpedo boats and 30 submarines.

There were no torpedo-boat destroyers, the small cruisers taking their places. The naval organization contained 73,000 officers and men. The largest boats are the dreadnoughts, which are divided into several cla.s.ses. One of the last of these built by Germany was the Derfflinger, which had a displacement of 28,000 tons.

The personnel of the German navy prior to the war was 79,197 officers and men.

THE BRITISH NAVY.

Because of the fact that the territory of Great Britain is scattered over the face of the globe and that it is necessary to use the highways of the sea for reaching her various possessions, the navy of that country is undoubtedly the greatest collection of fighting s.h.i.+ps ever gathered together under one flag.

In order to take care of her population of 1,625,000,000 she has gathered together a navy consisting of 60 modern battles.h.i.+ps, 9 battle cruisers, 34 armored cruisers, 17 heavy protected cruisers, 70 light cruisers, 232 destroyers, 59 torpedo boats of the latest type, 75 submarines, together with 50 sea-going auxiliaries of the fleet, which are used as mother s.h.i.+ps to destroyers, mine-layers, distilling s.h.i.+ps, oil s.h.i.+ps, repair and hospital s.h.i.+ps, with 145,000 officers and men.

The first group, completed between 1895 and 1898, includes six battles.h.i.+ps, all of 14,900 tons displacement, 12,000 horsepower and 2,000 tons coal capacity. The speed is 17.5 knots, the armor belt being from 10 to 14 inches at the big guns and with a mean armor belt of 9 inches. The armament consists of 4 12-inch guns, 12 6-inch rapid fire, 16 3-inch rapid fire, 12 3-pounder rapid fire, 2 light rapid fire and 2 machine guns. They have one torpedo tube above water and two under water.

MONSTERS OF THE SEA.

A later group of six was built in 1900 and 1902. These monsters of the sea are of 12,950 tons displacement, 13,500 horsepower and have 2,300 tons coal capacity. They have a speed of 18.25 knots, 6 inches of armor belt and from 8 to 12 inches protection for her big guns. The armament consists of 4 12-inch rapid fire guns, 12 6-inch rapid fire, 10 3-inch rapid fire and 2 light rapid fire and 2 machine guns. There are four torpedo tubes.

Gradually England developed larger and larger vessels from this point, increasing the displacement in each group from 16,350 tons in 1906 to 20,000 in 1911, and finally to 25,700, when the Queen Elizabeth and Warspite were completed in 1915. These boats--England's super-dreadnoughts--are of 58,000 horsepower (turbine), 4,000 tons oil capacity. They have a speed of 25 knots, 13.5 inches of armor belt and from 8 to 13.5 inches protection for the big guns. The armament consists of 8 15-inch, 16 6-inch and 12 3-inch rapid fire guns. They have five torpedo tubes. There were 150,609 officers and men in the navy when England entered the war.

THE FRENCH NAVY.

At the beginning of the war the French navy ranked fourth among the navies of the world. She had 18 battles.h.i.+ps of the older types, and which ranged in date of launching from 1894 to 1909. There were building at that time eight s.h.i.+ps of about 23,095 tons displacement. Although France had no battle cruisers, she had 19 armored cruisers. The heavier of these s.h.i.+ps had a designed speed of 23 knots, and carried from 2100 to 2300 tons of coal. Their main batteries consisted of 2 7.6-inch rapid fire and 8 6.4-inch rapid fire guns.

Two protected cruisers, the D'Entrecasteaux and the Guichen, and 10 light cruisers of no fighting importance completed the list of French s.h.i.+ps.

France was, however, strong, so far as numbers go, in destroyers, torpedo boats and submarines, there being 84 destroyers, with displacements of 276 to 804 tons and speeds of 28 and 31 knots. She possessed 135 torpedo boats and 78 submarines, but many of these were of small size. One hundred and one of her torpedo boats had displacements of about 95 tons, and 20 of the submarines had displacements of 67 tons.

Of the submarines, there were 33 which had a displacement of 390 tons, 2 of 410 tons, 6 of 550 tons, 2 of 785 tons and 7 of 830 tons. This displacement, which was surface, is usually 70 per cent of the submerged. The larger submarines carry from six to eight torpedo tubes.

In the early part of 1916 the French Government had 12 submarines building, these latter having surface displacement of 520 tons and having Diesel motors of 2000 horsepower. The speed of these submarines is 17-1/2 knots on the surface and 8 knots submerged.

Attached to the French fleet are 16 auxiliaries, used as mine-layers, submarine destroyers and aeroplane mother s.h.i.+ps, of from 300 to 7,898 tons.

There were 61,240 officers and men in the navy of France when war was declared.

THE RUSSIAN NAVY.

With the ending of the Russo-j.a.panese war the Russian navy was given an overhauling. There were but three of the old battles.h.i.+ps of the Russian navy left after this fateful struggle, these being the Tri Sviat.i.telia, the Panteleimon and the Czarevitch. The Russian Government labored diligently to build up her navy, and is still doing her utmost to readjust that branch of her service.

With the outbreak of the great war she had six armored cruisers, none of which was in the Black Sea. These averaged in tonnage from 7,900 to 15,170 tons displacement. There were eight cruisers of from 3,100 to 6,700 tons, and of no fighting value whatever.

Russia had but 14 torpedo boats, all small and of little value. She had a fairly good fleet of destroyers and submarines, having 91 of the former and 55 submarines.