third-class
cruisers her loss was great, those that went down being the eleven
ships _Ariadne, Augsburg, Emden, Graudenz, Hela, Koeln, Koenigsberg,
Leipzig, Nuernberg, Magdeburg, Mainz_, and the _Dresden_; she lost,
also, the four armored cruisers _Bluecher, Scharnhorst, Gneisenau_,
and _Yorck_; the old cruiser _Geier_ (interned); the three converted
liners _Spreewald, Cap Trafalgar_, and _Kaiser Wilhelm_; and the
mine layer _Koenigin Luise_.

The German policy of attrition had not taken off as many ships
as had been lost by Germany herself, and, as England's ships so
far outnumbered her own, it may well be said that the "whittling"
policy was not successful. She made up for this by having still
at large the cruiser _Karlsruhe_ which damaged a great amount of
commerce, and by the exploits of her submarines, far outshining
those of the Allies.

Russia had lost the armored cruiser _Pallada_, and the _Jemchug_,
a third-class cruiser, and the losses of the French and Austrian
navies were not worth accounting. With regard to interned vessels
both sides had losses. While the Germans were unable to use the
great modern merchantmen which lay in American and other ports, and
had to do without them either as converted cruisers or transports,
the Allies were forced to detail warships to keep guard at the
entrance of the various ports where these interned German liners
might at any moment take to the high seas.

In naval warfare the number of ships lost is no determining factor in
figuring the actual victory--the important thing being the existence
or nonexistence of the grand fleets of the combatants after the
fighting is finished. Viewed from such an angle, the fact that
the Allies had left no German ships at large other than those in
the North Sea, cannot entitle them to victory at the end of the
first six months of war. So long as a German fleet remained intact
and interned in neutral ports, naval victory for the Allies had
not come, though naval supremacy was indicated.

The fact was apparent, moreover, that while the Central Powers
were being deprived of all their trade on the seas, the world's
commerce endangered only by submarines was remaining wide open
to the Allies.

PART III--THE WAR ON THE EASTERN FRONT

* * * * *

CHAPTER XLI

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE THEATRE OF WARFARE

World war--the prophecy of the ages--now threatened the foundations
of civilization. Whether