tocracy, defeated
in the eyes of its deluded subjects and discredited in the eyes of the
world, was in headlong flight. Its only concern was to save as much as
possible from the ruins of the ostentatious temple it had reared.

CHAPTER LII

LAST DAYS OF THE WAR

From November 1st until November 11th, the day when the armistice
granting terms to Germany was signed, the collapse of the German
defensive was complete. The army that under von Hindenburg and Ludendorf
had smashed its way over Poland, Roumania, Serbia, Belgium, and into the
heart of France, was now a military machine in full retreat. It is only
justice to that machine to say that the great retreat at no place
degenerated into a rout. Von Hindenburg and the German General Staff had
planned a series of rear-guard actions that were effective in protecting
the main bodies of infantry and artillery. Machine-gun nests and
airplane attacks were the main reliance of the Germans in these
maneuvers of delay, but the German field artillery also did its share.

Immense quantities of material and many thousands of prisoners were
captured by the British, Canadians and Australians in the north, and by
the French and Americans in the south. Simultaneously with this wide and
savage drive upon the Germans along the Belgian and French fronts, came
the heaviest Italian attack of the war. Before it the Austrians were
swept in a torrent that was irresistible. French, English and American
troops co-operated in this thrust that extended from the plains of the
Piave into Trentino. The immediate effect of the Italian offensive was
to force Austria to her knees in abject surrender. An armistice,
humiliating in its terms, was signed by the Austrian representatives,
and the back door to Germany was opened to the Allies.

Germany's frantic plea for an armistice followed. There were those in
the Allied countries who maintained that nothing short of unconditional
surrender should be permitted. Cooler counsel prevailed, and an
armistice was offered to the German High Command through General Foch,
the terms of which far exceeded in severity those granted to Turkey and
Austria. These were read for the first time by Germany's representatives
on Friday, November 8th. General Foch, when he gave the document to the
German delegation, declared that Germany's decision must be made within
seventy-two hours. Eleven o'clock on Monday, November 11th, was the time
limit permitted to Germany. The a