won a decisive victory over Russia, bringing home from either
country great indemnities, and, with Germany, if she choose,
annexing northern France and Belgium.

Thus the Central Powers would have established themselves so
strongly as the dominant nations of Europe, that Germany with her
seventy millions of people could have directed her energy as the
next step in her career against the Mistress of the Seas.

Had Belgium not been invaded, it is questionable if the British
public would have favored joining in the war. But this aroused
public indignation to the breaking point in support of the war
members of the cabinet. Sir Edward Grey, the British Minister of
Foreign Affairs, had his way.

The British navy was as thoroughly prepared for an emergency as the
German army. It had no illusions as to the nature of its task or of
its responsibility to the nation. Britain had superior resources in
shipbuilding to Germany. She had a fleet superior in every class of
ship, and she had led the world in naval progress--both her
dreadnoughts and her battle cruisers being of a later type than her
rival's. Her desire, inevitably, was that the German fleet should
come out at once and give battle. Confident of the outcome, she
contemplated the removal of her rival from the seas at a single
blow.

German naval policy was as careful to avoid this test as British was
to invite it. The German navy was kept safely at anchor in Kiel,
protected by immense fortress guns, by elaborate mine fields, scores
of submarines and destroyers, and by numerous nets against the
approach of any British submarine. There was no way for any enemy to
reach it except by the air. The Germans would have located any
British attempt to attack their navy, as it might have meant the
loss of important British fighting units which would have given the
Germans more nearly equal chances of victory if they chose to
precipitate an engagement. Sir John Jellicoe, in command of the
fleet, however, refused to take any risks of losing his units. He
kept his fleet in harbor, ready at any moment to steam out into the
North Sea for action. Throughout the war to this writing, not one of
his great first-class battleships has fired a shot, with the
exception of the _Queen Elizabeth_, which took part in the
bombardment of the Dardanelles forts.

Superiority of gun power has been sufficient to keep England safe
from invasion, German merchant ships from sailing the seas, protect
th