198 The Great War get on the flank and the rear of Lee, to cut the rail- road line which connected the Confederate capital with the South, which was in fact the life line of the Army of Northern Virginia. For Lee there was the absolute necessity to hold this line. In addi- tion his effort was by striking by the other flank, that is toward Washington, to compel Grant to re- lax his deathlike grip. For this purpose Early was presently sent on that spectacular raid to the very forts of Washington. Similar efforts were presently to be made both by the Allied and German commanders on the Aisne. Yet it is necessary to note that, as it developed, the Battle of the Aisne, so far as it resembled any previous military operation, suggested the Mukden campaign of the Russo-Japanese War. In num- bers, in extent of territory it surpassed this greatly, yet nowhere else in history was there anything com- parable. Again, up to this time the battles fought were not greatly different from those of other wars. As has been pointed out, from Mons to the forts of Paris, General von Kluck had repeated the cam- paign of Grant from the Rapidan to Cold Harbor. The great German enveloping movement had been but the vastly expanded conception of von Moltke in 1870. But now, as was recognized on all sides, comparisons with 1864 or 1870 had become mis- leading. The size of the armies engaged, the ex- tent of the territory covered by the operations, the time required to traverse the vast distances between