America and the great war for humanity and freedom - Tapa blanda

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1917 Excerpt: ...North Sea. They were intercepted by a British squadron, one of the best of them was sunk, and the rest were driven back to port. Finally, at the end of May, 1916, a large part of the German battle fleet came out from behind Heligoland and steamed northward. A much weaker squadron of British battle cruisers promptly engaged it, suffering heavy loss but inflicting still greater, until the main fleet could come up, when the surviving German vessels fled back to port in disaster. This so-called battle of Jutland was by far the most important of the war, and while at first announced as a German victory, was in fact a crushing defeat for the Germans and a clean-cut victory for the British navy. TIRPITZ AND FRIGHTFULNESS The chief operations of the Germans at sea were in submarine boats. This campaign was devised and prosecuted under the direction of Admiral Von Tirpitz, whose policy was one of "frightfulness." He meant to disregard the international laws of naval warfare, and to destroy ruthlessly and without warning every British vessel he could find and also every neutral vessel that did not obey German dictation. The rules that merchant vessels must be visited and searched before they are condemned and destroyed, and that the passengers and crews must have warning and a chance for escape to safety, were quite ignored. We speak elsewhere of the destruction of American ships by the submarines, and of the destruction of American lives on ships of other nationalities; particularly in the infamous sinking of the Lusitania. It was this policy of frightfulness that led to America's chief controversy with Germany, and to the ultimate declaration of war. We have already referred to the destructiveness of the German submarines during the recrudescence of their...