This text comes from our book, From Sea to Shining Sea . The United States was not very well prepared to go to war with Great Britain. The British had a much larger army and the largest and most powerful navy in the world. Fortunately for the Americans, the British could not send many troops to America, since most of them were fighting Napoleon’s armies in Europe. Even so, in the early part of the war, the Americans lost most of their battles against the British. Battle between the USS...

This text comes from our book, The American Venture . Balboa’s discovery of the Pacific Ocean and, later, Elcano’s circumnavigation of the world had shown that the lands of America were not the outposts of Asia but a New World. Yet, though this New World offered its own tempting riches, European rulers still hoped to reach Asia. Though the continents of North and South America seemed to lie between the rulers and their dream, some Europeans hoped to find a passage or strait through the...

This text comes from our book, The American Venture . The Pope’s Peace Efforts When the Great War broke out in 1914, Pius X had been the reigning pope for over a decade. Rejecting the decision for war, Pius died, calling on the powers to abandon their “murderous struggle” and seek peace. The war was only a month old when Pius’ successor, Pope Benedict XV, took up the call for peace. On the Feast of All Souls, November 1, 1914, Benedict issued Ad Beatissimi , an encyclical letter in which he...