by both sides but are predicated upon known sea casualties.
During the two years Germany sustained a reduction of 18.5 of her
strength in battleships and battle cruisers of the dreadnought era,
which means ships built since 1904, and these are the units that
really count in modern warfare. Britain is believed to have lost 6.6
of similar vessels. In light cruisers her loss was only 5.2 per cent,
while Germany was weakened nearly 45 per cent in that class of vessel.
The figures shift for vessels of an older type, showing a ratio of
about two to one against Great Britain. This is due largely to the
Dardanelles enterprise and because in some instances older craft were
assigned to many dangerous undertakings where the newer ships were
held in reserve.

In every engagement of any consequence that took place during the
first two years of war, with the single exception of the fight off
Chile, Britain won and Germany lost. But Germany inflicted greater
injury upon her opponent than any other nation in all the years of
Britain's maritime supremacy. The actual material loss to her enemies
was larger than her own. Despite this and the fact of Germany's
strongest efforts Britain still ruled the waves.

PART III--CAMPAIGN ON THE EASTERN FRONT

CHAPTER XV

THE EASTERN FRONT AT THE APPROACH OF SPRING, 1916

In the preceding volumes we have followed the fates of the Austrian,
German, and Russian armies from the beginning of the war up to March
1, 1916. Although spring weather does not set in in any part of the
country through which the eastern front ran until considerable time
after that date, events along the western front, where the Germans
were then hammering away at the gates of Verdun, had shaped themselves
in such a manner that they were bound to influence the plans of the
Russian General Staff. It was, therefore, not much of a surprise that
a Russian offensive should set in previous to the actual arrival of
spring.

As we shall see shortly, the first two weeks or so of March, 1916, saw
a renewal of active fighting at many points along the entire eastern
front. But most of this was restricted during this period to
engagements between small bodies of troops and in most instances
amounted to little more than clashes between patrols. This preliminary
period of reconnoitering was followed by another short period of
preparatory work on the part of the Russian armies consisting of
artillery attacks on certain sele