On the eve of the outbreak of the war there were six great powersin the world and a cluster of smaller ones, each armed to the teethand straining every nerve to get ahead of the others in deadlinessof equipment and military efficiency. The great powers were first theUnited States, a nation addicted to commerce, but roused to militarynecessities by the efforts of Germany to expand into South America, andby the natural consequences of her own unwary annexations of land in thevery teeth of Japan.
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