In the present conflict Lord Kitchener himself admits that there are
many times the number of British soldiers in France than was thought
would be necessary when war was declared. And even up to May 6 the
British public was not thoroughly aroused. Many of the peasants in the
back counties hardly believed the war was a reality. Recruiting was
slow, there was but little enthusiasm, and Lord Haldane's thinly veiled
hint that a draft might soon become necessary was almost unnoticed.
But the sinking of the Lusitania has brought the war home to England as
nothing else has or could have done, and all England is aflame with a
bitterness against Germany which is already increasing the flow of
recruits and cannot but add to the fighting efficiency of the men now at
the front. The effect will be far-reaching throughout the British
Empire, and will do much to solve the problem which faced the organizers
of Great Britain's forces of how to get sufficient volunteers to swell
the volume of the French expeditionary force and to replace the
casualties.
To turn to the direct military operations in the various theatres of
war, no week since last Fall has witnessed more important activities or
offensive movements conducted on such a scale.
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