4$ The Great War efforts were, as they were bound to be, almost fran- tic. Her sympathies with France were real, her hostility to a war which could bring no material benefits, was natural. But from the moment the conflict between France and Germany became inevitable England's partici- pation was certain. France defeated, Belgium oc- cupied, Holland at the mercy of Germany, Antwerp, " the pistol pointed at the heart of England " as Napoleon named it, the base of German fleets, this was a prospect intolerable to Englishmen. When, after the bitterness of Fashoda had a little died away, Edward VII went to Paris and laid the foundation of the Triple Entente, the ini- tial step was taken in the series which was to in- volve England in the first great continental war since Napoleon's fall, for the Crimean war was re- mote and inconsiderable. England made war upon Germany, not because of real hostility to the Germans; indeed, her feeling was historically far kinder toward Germany than France; not because there was any direct cause for war, but because as she fought Napoleon and Louis XIV, she was to fight William II of Germany as the foe of the balance of power in Europe. In Ger- many victorious she saw the future challenger of English supremacy at sea. For ten years German writers and soldiers have written of " the next war " with Great Britain. The Kaiser has said " Our future lies on the sea."