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.
During the summer of 1917 the second Italian army was confronted by
Austrian regiments composed largely of war-weary Socialists. During that
summer skilful German propagandists operating from Spain had sown the
seeds of pacificism throughout Italy. This was made easy by the distress
then existing particularly in the villages where food was scanty and
complaints against the conduct of the war were numerous. The propaganda
extended from the civilian population to the army, and its channel was
directed mainly toward the second army encamped along the Isonzo River.
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