justice in states which were not strong from a military
standpoint were not to be secured through the policy of the Central
Powers. Sympathy for Belgium and the popular aversion to Teutonic
methods had left no doubt as to the duty of Siam. The motive of Siam had
a curious fitness, though there was a certain quaintness in her
expression of a desire to make, "the world safe for democracy."

The native name of Siam is Muang-Thai, which means the Kingdom of the
Free. Siam is about as large as France, and has a population of about
eight millions. Its people, who are of many shades of yellowish-brown,
have descended into this corner of Asia from the highlands north of
Burma and east of Tibet. The tradition among these people was that the
further south they descended the shorter they would grow, that when they
reached the southern plains they would be no larger than rabbits, and
that when they came to the sea they would vanish altogether. As a fact
the northern tribes are much taller than the southern.

The original population of the Siamese peninsula was a race of black
dwarfs, remnants of whom still dwell in caves and nests of palm leaves,
so shy that it is almost impossible to catch a glimpse of them. The
literary and religious culture of Siam comes mainly from southern India.
Buddhism is the dominant religion, but there are many Mohammedans also.

The accession of Siam to the ranks of the Allies did not make any great
difference from a military point of view, but it was another evidence of
the general world feeling with regard to the Germans and their
encroachments in all parts of the world. Germany had tried its best to
keep these nations from participation in the war, but not only had her
propaganda failed but the feeling of these Oriental peoples was strongly
anti-German. Much of this feeling, it is readily seen from their
statements and their private letters, comes from a personal resentment
of the boorish attitude of the individual German. By the end of 1918 the
Teuton influence in the Orient had completely disappeared.

CHAPTER XXXVII

THE DEFEAT AND RECOVERY OF ITALY

None of the surprises of the World War brought such sudden and stunning
dismay to the Entente Allies as the news of the Italian disaster
beginning October 24, 1917, and terminating in mid-November. It is a
story in which propaganda was an important factor. It taught the Allies
the dangers lying in fraternization between opposing armies.

Dur