The Battle of the Marne i8i General Joffre, who calmly permitted the Germans to inundate provinces and ravage cities until by the very greatness of their labors, the privations and the losses in the series of battles they fought, they came upon the final battle-licld weary and spent, their food supply reduced, their ammunition trains outdistanced. In this situation, after a month of retreat, General Joffre suddenly struck back with the full force of superior numbers, in far better physical condition, fighting near their bases of supplies, still unbroken in spirit and burning to avenge not merely old wrongs, but the immediate injuries of recent defeats. The German strategy was comprehended in the single determination to strike one terrific, crippling, crushing blow without delay. The French, to parry that blow until its first force should be lost, its weight weakened by depletions necessitated by Russian ad- vance, the human element in the magnificent machine exhausted. It was the French strategy which pre- vailed; it prevailed, because the French, with their English comrades, were able to retreat for three weeks and strike back In the fourth. The Battle of the Marne could not end the war, but on the fields where Napoleon won his last great battles and a century before showed himself a su- preme master of war, the long course of Prussian victories was at last interrupted by the sons of the soldiers who surrendered at Sedan and Metz, aided by the same British doggedness which a century be- fore had won Waterloo.