on March
1 the policy of sinking without warning all Allied merchant vessels
believed to carry any armament for defensive purposes, and the world
waited with bated breath for fresh developments of the Teutonic campaign
of frightfulness.

CHAPTER. XXVI

CLIMAX OF THE WAR.

_Prolonged Battle of Verdun the Most Terrible in History--
Enormous Losses on Both Sides--_Submarine Activity
Imperils Relations of America and Germany_.

Beginning with the first infantry attack by the Germans on Monday,
February 21, after twenty-four hours of continuous bombardment, the
battles incident to the siege of Verdun were fought at brief intervals
during the next two months, down to the middle of April, and marked
the climax of the War. The losses on both sides were enormous and
extraordinary, and taken as a whole the struggle on the semicircular
front north and east of the great French stronghold fully justified its
description as "the most terrible battle in the world's history."

When spring of 1916 arrived, the struggle seemed to be a pretty even
draw, but the end was not in sight. Both sides showed the greatest
confidence in the outcome. In France the confidence of the nation found
expression in the voice of M. Alexandre Ribot, the veteran minister
of finance, who, having Verdun before his eyes, told the Chamber of
Deputies: "We have reached the decisive hour. We can say without
exaggeration, without illusion, and without vain optimism, that we now
see the end of this horrible war."

But while the French were certain that victory would ultimately be
theirs, the German papers and people were just as fully persuaded that
this finest of the fortresses of France would finally fall before the
determined assaults of the Kaiser's army, which no fort had, as yet,
stopped.

Both sides recognized that this was the supreme moment of the War. The
Germans had gained by April 15 from three to five miles along a front of
about 15 miles, but had taken only two of the ring of minor forts around
Verdun. The French claimed that the configuration of the ground occupied
by the contending forces at that time made their line impregnable.
Although Verdun was said by the German military experts to be only an
incident in the German offensive which was planned to secure the final
"decision," they realized the importance of Verdun to their whole line
on the Western front, and knew its value too well not to make the most
desperate and exhaust