the war if they were directed toward munition plants, railway stations,
or naval depots. The Germans, however, generally contented themselves
with attacks on defenseless residential towns and cities. Up to October,
1917, there were thirty-four such raids, resulting in the death of
nearly one thousand persons and the wounding of three times as many. The
result on the military situation was practically zero, except to
increase the British determination to see the war through.

Later the protection afforded Great Britain by anti-aircraft guns and
especially by airplanes, made it highly dangerous for Zeppelins to
continue their raids. Many of them were destroyed. The later raids were
made by squadrons of airplanes which had greater chances of escape.
German air raiders found it increasingly difficult to get past the
defenses, and in 1918 the raids on England became infrequent.

ALLIED RETALIATION.--For a long time the Allies refused to retaliate
by bombing unfortified towns in Germany, but finally they decided to do
so. The immediate results were a protest from Germany that the Allies
were violating international law, and a petition to the German
authorities from the towns in western Germany, asking that air raids on
places not in the military area should be stopped, so that the German
cities should not be bombed in retaliation. Nearly all such Allied air
raids, however, were directed against railroads, munition factories, and
other objects of military importance.

THE ALLIES ORGANIZE FOR A LONG WAR.--When Lord Kitchener, the great
British general, predicted that the war would last at least three years,
hardly any one believed him. It was thought that the cost of a modern
war would be so great that nations would not be able to stand the strain
for more than a few months. When the Allies realized that Kitchener was