The policy of the Czar encouraged
this inclination and produced disaffection among the Poles in Galicia
and in Posen. Moreover, it gave Russia the sympathy of the world which
had long regarded the partition of Poland as a political crime. It
encouraged the Czecho-Slavs and other dissatisfied portions of the
Austrian Empire.
The results were seen immediately in the demoralization of the Austrian
armies where considerable numbers of Czecho-Slovak troops deserted to
the Russian army, and later in the loyalty to Russia of the Poles, and
their refusal, even under the greatest German pressure, to give the
German Empire aid.
CHAPTER X
THE STRUGGLE FOR SUPREMACY ON THE SEA
Captain Mahan's thesis that in any great war the nation possessing the
greater sea power is likely to win, was splendidly illustrated during
the World War.
The great English fleets proved the insuperable obstacle to the
ambitious German plans of world dominion. The millions of soldiers
landed in France from Great Britain, and its provinces, the millions of
Americans transported in safety across the water, and the enormous
quantities of supplies put at the disposal of the Allies depended,
absolutely, upon the Allied control of the sea routes of the world. With
a superior navy a German blockade of England would have brought her to
terms in a short period, and France, left to fight alone, would have
been an easy victim.
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