1 _Sources for the earliest history_

Until recently we were dependent for the beginnings of Chinese history
on the written Chinese tradition. According to these sources China’s
history began either about 4000 B.C. or about 2700 B.C. with a
succession of wise emperors who “invented” the elements of a
civilization, such as clothing, the preparation of food, marriage, and a
state system; they instructed their people in these things, and so
brought China, as early as in the third millennium B.C., to an
astonishingly high cultural level. However, all we know of the origin of
civilizations makes this of itself entirely improbable; no other
civilization in the world originated in any such way. As time went on,
Chinese historians found more and more to say about primeval times. All
these narratives were collected in the great imperial history that
appeared at the beginning of the Manchu epoch. That book was translated
into French, and all the works written in Western languages until recent
years on Chinese history and civilization have been based in the last
resort on that translation.

Sku: historyofchina

Importance of unity in command–Inevitable difficulties in a double
organization–Burnside’s problem different from that of
Rosecrans–Co-operation necessarily imperfect–Growth of Grant’s
reputation–Solid grounds of it–Special orders sent him–Voyage to
Cairo–Meets Stanton at Louisville–Division of the Mississippi
created–It included Burnside’s and Rosecrans’s
departments–Alternate forms in regard to Rosecrans–He is
relieved–Thomas succeeds him–Grant’s relations to the change–His
intellectual methods–Taciturnity–Patience–Discussions in his
presence–Clear judgments–His “good anecdote”–Rosecrans sends
Garfield to Washington–Congressman or General–Duplication of
offices–Interview between Garfield and Stanton–Dana’s
dispatches–Garfield’s visit to me–Description of the rout of
Rosecrans’s right wing–Effect on the general–Retreat to
Chattanooga–Lookout Mountain abandoned–The President’s
problem–Dana’s light upon it–Stanton’s use of it–Grant’s
acquiescence–Subsequent relations of Garfield and
Rosecrans–Improving the “cracker line”–Opening the
Tennessee–Combat at Wauhatchie.

Sku: militaryv2

Ohio Senate, April 12–Sumter bombarded–”Glory to God!”–The
surrender–Effect on public sentiment–Call for troops–Politicians
changing front–David Tod–Stephen A. Douglas–The insurrection must
be crushed–Garfield on personal duty–Troops organized by the
States–The militia–Unpreparedness–McClellan at Columbus–Meets
Governor Dennison–Put in command–Our stock of munitions–Making
estimates–McClellan’s plan–Camp Jackson–Camp Dennison–Gathering
of the volunteers–Garibaldi uniforms–Officering the troops–Off
for Washington–Scenes in the State Capitol–Governor Dennison’s
labors–Young regulars–Scott’s policy–Alex. McCook–Orlando
Poe–Not allowed to take state commissions.

Sku: civilwarv1

This book so condenses and systematizes general military instruction
and the work done at Plattsburg so that it may be easily utilized in
training other troops. No broad claim for originality is made except
in the arrangement of all available material; the bibliography makes
acknowledgment to all texts so utilized. Besides bringing helpful
reminders to new officers regarding the elements of modern warfare,
much of the material will be found of radical importance, as it is
practically new and never before condensed. Since under the new army
organization the platoon leader virtually has assumed the roll of a
captain of a company, it is not enough for him to know simply his own
part; he must be ready with all the information that his
non-commissioned officers and men should know, and more important
still, he must know how to teach them. Having little or no time to
work over and digest for himself this mass of new material pouring in
upon him, the officer may find in this book, material condensed and
already arranged.

Sku: militaryins

It is a curious circumstance that an invention, which is hailed
as being one of the greatest achievements ever recorded in the
march of civilisation, should be devoted essentially to the
maiming of humanity and the destruction of property. In no
other trend of human endeavour is this factor so potently
demonstrated as in connection with Man’s Conquest of the Air.
The dogged struggle against the blind forces of Nature was waged
tenaciously and perseveringly for centuries. But the measure of
success recorded from time to time was so disappointing as to
convey the impression, except in a limited circle, that the
problem was impossible of solution. In the meantime wondrous
changes had taken place in the methods of transportation by land
and sea. The steam and electric railway, steam propulsion of
vessels, and mechanical movement along the highroads had been
evolved and advanced to a high standard of perfection, to the
untold advantage of the community. Consequently it was argued,
if only a system of travel along the aerial highways could be
established, then all other methods of mechanical transportation
would be rendered, if not entirely obsolete, at least antiquated.

Sku: Aeroplaneswar

Toward the end of the summer of 1917 it was very hot in New York, and
hotter still aboard the transatlantic liner thrust between the piers.
One glance at our cabins, at the crowded decks and dining-room, at the
little writing-room above, where the ink had congealed in the ink-wells,
sufficed to bring home to us that the days of luxurious sea travel, of
a la carte restaurants, and Louis Seize bedrooms were gone–at least for
a period. The prospect of a voyage of nearly two weeks was not enticing.
The ship, to be sure, was far from being the best of those still running
on a line which had gained a magic reputation of immunity from
submarines; three years ago she carried only second and third class
passengers! But most of us were in a hurry to get to the countries where
war had already become a grim and terrible reality. In one way or
another we had all enlisted.
By “we” I mean the American passengers. The first welcome discovery
among the crowd wandering aimlessly and somewhat disconsolately about the
decks was the cheerful face of a friend whom at first I did not recognize
because of his amazing disguise in uniform. Hitherto he had been
associated in my mind with dinner parties and clubs.

Sku: wartime

On 28 June 1914 the Archduke Francis Ferdinand, heir-presumptive to
the Hapsburg throne, was shot in the streets of Serajevo, the capital
of the Austrian province of Bosnia. Redeemed by the Russo-Turkish war
of 1876-7 from Ottoman rule, Bosnia had by the Congress of Berlin in
1878 been entrusted to Austrian administration; but in 1908, fearing
lest a Turkey rejuvenated by the Young Turk revolution should seek to
revive its claims on Bosnia, the Austrian Government annexed on its
own authority a province confided to its care by a European mandate.
This arbitrary act was only challenged on paper at the time; but the
striking success of Serbia in the Balkan wars of 1912-13 brought out
the dangers and defects of Austrian policy. For the Serbs were kin to
the great majority of the Bosnian people and to millions of other
South Slavs who were subject to the Austrian crown and discontented
with its repressive government; and the growing prestige of Serbia
bred hopes and feelings of Slav nationality on both sides of the
Hapsburg frontier. The would-be and the real assassins of the
Archduke, while technically Austrian subjects, were Slavs by birth,
and the murder brought to a head the antagonism between a race
becoming conscious of its possibilities and a government determined to
repress them. The crime gave a moral advantage to the oppressor, but
the guilt has yet to be apportioned, and instigation may have come
from secret sources within the Hapsburg empire; for the Archduke was
hated by dominant cliques on account of his alleged pro-Slav
sympathies and his suspected intention of admitting his future Slav
subjects to a share in political power.

Sku: greatwar

History often reproduces without reference to nationality some
particular human type or class which becomes active and predominant for
a time, and fades away when its task is finished. It is, however, not
utterly lost, for the germ of it lies dormant yet ready to re-appear
when the exigencies of the moment recall it. The reserve forces of human
nature are inexhaustible and inextinguishable.
It is probable that few of the Boers had ever heard of Oliver Cromwell,
or that his life and times had ever been studied in the South African
Republics, and had influenced the Boer action; yet the affinity of the
South African burghers of the XIXth century with the Puritans and the
Roundheads of the XVIIth is striking. It was not so much a parallelism
of aims and hopes, for the struggle in England was political and not
national as in South Africa, as of temperament, character, and method.
There was hardly an individuity in the Boers of the War which might not
have been found in the followers of Cromwell. Like these they were
fanatically but sincerely religious, and their unabashed and fearless
adherence to their beliefs and their open observance of the outward
forms of religion exposed them to the same cruel and baseless charge of
hypocrisy.

Sku: handbookwar

In many quarters of the world, especially in certain sections of the
British public, people believed that the German nation was led blindly
into the World War by an unscrupulous military clique. Now, however,
there is ample evidence to prove that the entire nation was thoroughly
well informed of the course which events were taking, and also warned as
to the catastrophe to which the national course was certainly leading.

Sku: whatgermany

This play was written during the war. But owing to the fact that several
managers politely declined to produce it, it has not appeared on any
stage. Now, perhaps, its theme is more timely, more likely to receive
the attention it deserves, when the smoke of battle has somewhat cleared.
Even when the struggle with Germany and her allies was in progress it was
quite apparent to the discerning that the true issue of the conflict was
one quite familiar to American thought, of self-determination.

Sku: playjonathan