171. The French soldiers thought they were only going to manoeuvres. Not until they were face to face with the enemy, had come under the fire of our rifles and seen our bayonets, did they find out that they had been deceived, that they had been lied into the war.—"War Devotions," by PASTOR J. RUMP, quoted in H. & H., p. 126.

172. What homage does not the stupid world pay to Carnegie; and now we learn that, through his endowments for professors and students, he has enslaved the universities, imposing upon them hard-and-fast doctrines, as, for example, the worship of England and hostility to Germany.—H.S. CHAMBERLAIN, P.I., p. 56.

173. When we [in 1870-71] bombarded the fortress of Paris, that was an outrage upon a sacred spot. But when the English battered to the ground the defenceless Alexandria[20]—that was of course quite in order.—PROF. U. v. WILAMOWITZ-MOeLLENDORF, R., pt. i., p. 27.

173a. When our Zeppelins drop bombs on the fortress of Antwerp, there are loud protests. But how have not French prisoners boasted of the burning by their bombs of the open city of Nuernberg. The will was there; only the power was lacking.[21]—PROF. U. V. WILAMOWITZ-MOeLLENDORF, R., pt. i., p. 27.

German Insight and Foresight.

(BEFORE THE WAR.)

174. [Of the "militia" of the British self-governing Dominions.] They can be completely ignored so far as concerns any European theatre of war. [Of the British Territorial Army.] For a Continental European war it may be left out of account.—GENERAL v. BERNHARDI, G.N.W., p. 135.

175. As soon as we have won our first victory, we may be sure that Italy will unconditionally accord us her armed cooperation.—K. V. STRANTZ, E.S.V., p. 21.

176. If, in case of war, England should join the Dual Alliance against us, our military position will be in no way prejudiced, if we, on our side, take care to kindle fires at the points where her world-power is threatened. In that case, too, oversea prizes beckon us on, which will be well worth the winning.—K. v. STRANTZ, E.S.V., p. 39.

177. I do not at all believe that Zeppelins have anything to fear from aeroplanes, as their critics assert.—A. WIRTH, T.O.D., p. 52.

(AFTER JULY, 1914.)

178. The far-seeing English politician expects the present war greatly to improve the position of England as against the United States. Any injury that England may conceivably inflict on its best customer, Germany ... will be as nothing in comparison with the direct and indirect losses the war must inflict on America.—DR. A. ZIMMERMANN, quoted by P. HEINSICK, W.U.G., p. 21.

179. There can be no possible doubt that England, in secret, heartily rejoices in every Russian defeat.—P. HEINSICK, W.U.G., p. 21.

German Freedom.

(AFTER JULY, 1914.)

180. An un-German freedom is no freedom.—H.S. CHAMBERLAIN, K.A., p. 21.

180a. Germany has been for centuries the true and only home of a freedom worthy of humanity and elevating to humanity.—H.S. CHAMBERLAIN, K.A., p. 15.

181. German freedom is thus not a natural human right, but an elevation of humanity above the despotism of its own personal inclinations.—O.A.H. SCHMITZ, D.W.D., p. 46.

182. We should be in an evil case if we were to barter for these [English] "liberties," however praiseworthy in themselves, our individual many-sidedness, our temperament in constant touch with life, in short our Deutschtum.—KARL HECKEL, E.B., p. 384.

183. Ah, Milton, wert thou living at this hour!... Thou would'st understand German championship of freedom, care for justice, and love of truth.—PROF. A. BRANDL, D.R.S.Z., No. 20.

On English Freedom, see Nos. 401a, 467.

The German Language.

(AFTER JULY, 1914.)

184. Fichte expresses in simple words a positively decisive truth ... of all the languages of Europe, German is the only living one.—H.S. CHAMBERLAIN, K.A., p. 26.

185. The German ... must conquer; and when once he has conquered—to-day or in a hundred years...—no duty is more urgent than that of forcing the German language upon the world.—H.S. CHAMBERLAIN, K.A., p. 33.

186. If German Kultur and the German spirit are to march victorious through the world, not to oppress other peoples, but to aid them in their own development, an essential preliminary will be the spread of the German language. For only he who knows the German language, and can read the works of our spiritual heroes in the original, can really penetrate into the German spirit, and feel himself at home there.—C.L. POEHLMANN, G.D.W., p. 48.

187. Chance brings to my hands to-day a copy of Jugend for May 28, 1900, containing an article by me in which I read: "I have no firmer or more sacred conviction than this, that the higher Kultur of humanity depends upon the spreading of the German language." I go on to explain that this language is the indispensable interpreter of the German nature (Wesen), which is what I chiefly prize; and for the spreading of the language it is necessary that the German Empire should develop into the leading State of the world.—H.S. CHAMBERLAIN, D.Z., p. 9.

188. A defeat for Germany I could regard only as a deferred victory. I should say to myself: The time, then, is not yet ripe; the sacred treasure must yet awhile be guarded and cherished in the circle of the narrower Fatherland. For alone among all nations Germany possesses to-day a living, developing, sacred treasure.—H.S. CHAMBERLAIN, K.A., p. 24.

189. Germanism (Was wir "deutsch" nennen) is the secret through which the inner man is illuminated; and the instrument of this illumination is the [German] language.—H.S. CHAMBERLAIN, K.A., p. 25.

190. If Montaigne were living to-day, he would have to remain silent—or to learn German.—H.S. CHAMBERLAIN, K.A., p. 29.

191. Men must come to realize that whoever cannot speak German is a pariah.—H.S. CHAMBERLAIN, K.A., p. 35.

FOOTNOTES:

[8] A common expression for the ordinary, average German.

[9] This address was delivered, 9th September, 1914. The Lusitania was sunk 7th May, 1915.

[10] Though this was written in the second month of the war, we must in fairness assume that Herr Chamberlain is thinking of the German state of mind before the war. But as he has lived thirty years in Germany he must have been there during the South African War, when the German feeling towards England was too mildly described by the term "animosity."

[11]

And you must love him ere to you He will seem worthy of your love

[12] M. Dumont, writing of the Albanians (Rev. des Deux Mondes, vi., 120, 1872), supplies a pertinent comment on German piety: "Ce qui fait qu'une tribu croit a son dieu, c'est la haine de la tribu voisine."

[13] Chamberlain says that this letter was addressed to him in November, 1914, by a correspondent whom he refuses to name, but of whom he will say that "few men can form such well-informed judgment upon all phases in the life of present-day Germany, and no one deserves to be listened to with higher respect." These expressions, and the mention of William I., may perhaps justify the conjecture that the writer is none other than Chamberlain's warm admirer, William II.

[14] The same author explains that "of course the German people have not in themselves deserved this calling: it proceeds from the sheer grace of God, so we can maintain it without any Pharisaism whatever."

[15] This saying had already "burst its bonds" and been appropriated to Germany by the Kaiser:—"We are the salt of the earth, but we must also be worthy to be so." (Bremen, 22nd March, 1905.)

[16] It is odd that the "creator of children's literature" should have taken the very name of his work from an English book which had been the delight of children for half a century before he wrote.

[17] Compare with this the following:—"In our struggle with the Triple Entente, we look for the most valuable aid from Pan-Islamism, from the living sense of solidarity between all Muslims of the whole world, dependent on their common religion.... If all accounts be true, the whole Muslim world is flocking round the Sultan-Kalif, and regards this war as a 'Holy War,' That would be the first and perhaps the greatest triumph of the Pan-Islamic movement."—DR. E. HUBER, in Das Groessere Deutschland, Christmas Eve, 1914.

[18] The particular injunction of the Evangel of Christ which inspired the sinking of the Lusitania was no doubt "Suffer little children to come unto me."

[19] After making this proposal on p. 4, Professor v. Harnack, on p. 6, gives the following account of the Battle of the Marne:—"We have, without any defeat, partly withdrawn our troops to form an iron line of battle from Arras and Noyon to Verdun."

[20] "The defenceless Alexandria" was defended by an elaborate system of forts mounting hundreds of guns. It was these forts that the fleet bombarded, in the face of considerable resistance. The conflagrations in the city were the work of escaped or liberated convicts.

[21] If any French soldiers actually believed that Nuernberg had been bombed, it can only have been because the German Government spread the report, through the mouth of its Ambassador in Paris, as an excuse for declaring war. (French Yellow Book, No. 159.) It is possible that some Frenchmen may have incautiously believed the German Government. The report has been shown by German investigation to be entirely groundless.



II

GERMAN AMBITIONS



II

GERMAN AMBITIONS

Expansion in Europe.

(BEFORE THE WAR.)

192. Germany cannot be suspected of wishing for war.... She covets no possession of her neighbours. Any one who says that she does, slanders her.—Manifesto of the German Defence League, March, 1913. NIPPOLD, D.C., p. 85.

192a. A developing, onward-striving people like ourselves requires new land for its energies, and if peace will not secure it, then only war remains. To arouse people to a realization of this fact was the mission of the Defence League.—GENERAL v. WROCHEM, at meeting of German Defence League, Danzig, March, 1913. NIPPOLD, D.C., p. 84.

192b. It is precisely our craving for expansion that drives us into the paths of conquest, and in view of which all chatter about peace and humanity can and must remain nothing but chatter.—J.L. REIMER, E.P.D., p. 154.

193. A new period of progress towards unification is possible only by means of a great and courageous policy, which should lead to victorious wars, and if possible to the territorial expansion of the Empire.—D.B.B., p. 202.

194. All the policy, internal and external, of the Empire ought to be subordinated to this governing idea—the Germanization of all the remains of foreign populations within the Empire, and the procuring for the German people of new territories, proportionate to its strength and its need of expansion.—PROF. E. HASSE, B.D.V., p. 126.

195. Our frontiers are too narrow. We must become land-hungry, must acquire new regions for settlement, otherwise we will be a sinking people, a stunted race. True love for our people and its children commands us to think of their future, however much they may accuse us of quarrelsomeness and lust of war. If the Germanic people shrank from war it would be as good as dead.—BARON V. VIETINGHOFF-SCHEEL, at meeting of Pan-German League, Erfurt, September, 1912. NIPPOLD, D.C., p. 72.

196. Let us bravely organize great forced migrations of the inferior peoples. Posterity will be grateful to us. We must coerce them! This is one of the tasks of war: the means must be superiority of armed force. Superficially such forced migrations, and the penning up of inconvenient peoples in narrow "reserves," may appear hard; but it is the only solution of the race-question that is worthy of humanity.... Thus alone can the over-population of the earth be controlled: the efficient peoples must secure themselves elbow-room by means of war, and the inefficient must be hemmed in, and at last driven into "reserves" where they have no room to grow ... and where, discouraged and rendered indifferent to the future by the spectacle of the superior energy of their conquerors, they may crawl slowly towards the peaceful death of weary and hopeless senility.[22]—K. WAGNER, K., p. 170.

197. We desire, and must desire ... a world-empire of Teutonic (germanisch) stock, under the hegemony of the German people. In order to secure this we must—

(a) Gradually Germanize the Scandinavian and Dutch Teutonic States, denationalizing them in the weaker signification of the term;[23]

(b) Break up the predominantly un-Teutonic peoples into their component parts, in order to take to ourselves the Teutonic element and Germanize it, while we reject the un-Teutonic element.

—J.L. REIMER, E.P.D., p. 137.

197a. Such false ideas as to nationality, speech and race are now prevalent ... that it is often maintained that no breaking-up of nations would be necessary, but that a "Germanization" in the mass of the nations in question [Germany's smaller neighbours] would be sufficient.—J.L. REIMER, E.P.D., p. 130.

198. We are indubitably the most martial nation in the world.... We are the most gifted of nations in all the domains of science and art. We are the best colonists, the best sailors, and even the best traders! And yet we have not up to now secured our due share in the heritage of the world.... That the German Empire is not the end but the beginning of our national development is an obvious truth.—F. BLEY, W.D., pp. 21-22.

199. We must create a Central Europe which will guarantee the peace of the entire continent from the moment when it shall have driven the Russians from the Black Sea and the Slavs from the south, and shall have conquered large tracts to the east of our frontiers for German colonization. We cannot let loose ex abrupto the war which will create this Central Europe. All we can do is to accustom our people to the thought that this war must come.—P. DE LAGARDE, D.S., p. 83.

200. Before seeking to found a Greater Germany in other continents, we must create a Greater Germany in Central Europe.... In seeking to colonize the countries immediately contiguous to our present patrimony, we are continuing the millenary work of our ancestors. There is nothing in this contrary to nature.—PROF. E. HASSE, D.G., p. 168.

200a. Every great people needs new territory; it must expand over foreign soil; it must expel the foreigners by the power of the sword.—K. WAGNER, K., p. 80.

201. For this evil [the emigration of the surplus population] we see only one remedy: the extension of our frontiers in Europe.... We must make room for an Empire of Germanic race which shall number 100,000,000 inhabitants, in order that we may hold our own against masses such as those of Russia and the United States.—D.B.B., p. 115.

202. [In the Great-German Confederation which will comprise most of Europe] the Germans, being alone entitled to exercise political rights, to serve in the Army and Navy, and to acquire landed property, will recover the feeling they had in the Middle Ages of being a people of masters. They will gladly tolerate the foreigners living among them, to whom inferior manual services will be entrusted.—G.U.M., p. 47.

203. The principles which must guide the German people in the establishment of the new Germanic world-empire are these:—

(1) The strengthening of its Germanic race-foundation.

(2) The securing of room for its surplus of births.

(3) The greatest possible expansion of this surplus over a portion of the earth which shall be sufficiently large, various and geographically well-situated to form an economic unit.

—J.L. REIMER, E.P.D., p. 135.

204. Our own social health, towards which, in the name of our moral ideals, we are now striving, may one day compel us to force upon other nations the benefits of the new economic forms.—F. LANGE, R.D., p. 160 (1893).

205. One thing alone can really profit the German people: the acquisition of new territory. That is the only solid and durable gain ... that alone can really promote the diffusion, the growth and the deepening of Germanism.—A. WIRTH, O.U.W., p. 56.

206. Excessive modesty and humility, rather than excessive arrogance and ambition, is a feature of the German character. Therefore we shall know how to set a limit to our desire for expansion, and shall escape the dangers which have been fatal to all conquerors whose ambition was unbridled.—PROF. E. HASSE, W.I.K., p. 63.

206a. The territory open to future German expansion ... must extend from the North Sea and the Baltic, to the Persian Gulf, absorbing the Netherlands and Luxembourg, Switzerland, the whole basin of the Danube, the Balkan Peninsula and Asia Minor.—PROF. E. HASSE, W.I.K., p. 65.

206b. Nowhere in the world is there so much declamation about Chauvinism as in Germany, and nowhere is so little of it to be found. We hesitate to express even the most natural demands that a nation can make for itself.—H. v. TREITSCHKE, P., Vol. i.

207. When one wishes a thing, one must effectually will it. Our sense of justice [!] may in future lead us not to desire what does not belong to us, but if we take we must also hold fast. In other words, hitherto foreign territory is not incorporated into Germany until German proprietorship is rooted in the soil.[24]—F. LANGE, R.D., p. 206 (1893).

208. A people that has increased so much as the German people is forced to carry on a constant policy of expansion. It must be candidly confessed that since the retirement of Bismarck the Will to Power had been lacking.—GENERAL v. LIEBERT, Member of the Reichstag, at meeting of Pan-German League, Hamburg, January, 1913. NIPPOLD, D.C., p. 76.

209. Since the Western Powers restrict our right to life, it is necessary that we should attach one of them to us or that we should sweep them out of our way by force.—M. HARDEN, Zukunft, 12th August, 1911.

210. The Rhine ... is a priceless natural possession, although by our own fault we have allowed its most material value to fall into alien hands, and it must be the unceasing endeavour of German policy to win back the mouths of the river.—H. v. TREITSCHKE, P., Vol. i., p. 125.

211. The Jablunka must never hear any language but German, and the [German] wave must spread thence towards the south until nothing remains of all the lamentable nationalities of the Imperial State [Austria].—P. DE LAGARDE, D.S., p. 112.

212. If our area of colonization[25] does not coincide with our political boundaries, the healthy egoism of our race commands us to place our frontier-posts in foreign territory, as we have done at Metz.—PROF. E. HASSE, D.G., p. 166.

213. A sturdy German egoism must characterize all political action.... The first principle of our policy, both at home and abroad, must be that, in everything that happens, the Germans [literally, the most German] should come off best, and the others should have a bad time of it (sich unbehaglich fuehlen).—F. LANGE, R.D., p. 213 (1893).

213a. A Ministry of Colonization must make up for lost time. With all prudence, but also with inflexible determination, a process of expropriation should be inaugurated, by which the Poles and the Alsatians and Lorrainers would be gradually transported to the interior of the Empire, while Germans would replace them on the frontier.—F. LANGE, R.D., p. 206.

Expansion beyond Europe.

214. We must ... see to it that the outcome of our next successful war must be the acquisition of colonies by any possible means.—H.V. TREITSCHKE, P., Vol. i., p. 119.

215. A German policy of expansion is to-day generally accepted. The Empire must acquire more colonies.—DR. POHL, of Berlin, at meeting of Pan-German League, Augsburg, September, 1912. NIPPOLD, D.C., p. 72.

216. In all lands under German influence a double power is more or less strongly at work: the creative power of the spirit ... and the creative power of the body, that is to say, fecundity.... Whither our spiritual and our bodily fecundity impel us, thither we must go—out over the world! (hin ueber die Welt!).—J.L. REIMER, E.P.D., p. 66.

217. The longing for an eternal peace was Utopian and enervating.... Nor was there any lack of a great national aim. At the division of the earth between the other Great Powers, Germany had gone almost empty away. But Germany needed new regions for the planting-out of its ever-growing, inexhaustible wealth of people.—GENERAL V. WROCHEM, at meeting of the German Defence League, Hanover, February, 1913. NIPPOLD, D.C., p. 83.

218. With all respect to the rights of foreign nations, it must be said that Germany has not as yet the colonies which it must have.... Our development demands recognition. That is a natural right. There is here no question of prestige-politics, of adventurer-politics. Further, we are not an institute for lengthening the life of dying States.... Those half-States which owe their existence only to the aid of foreign weapons, money or knowledge, are hopelessly at the mercy of the modern States.—Leipziger Tageblatt, 24th January, 1913. NIPPOLD, D.C., p. 51.

219. The Ministry of Colonization must also arrange systematically for emigration to foreign countries.... The Government alone can, by the uncompromising (ruecksichtslos) employment of its methods of power, conclude treaties ... imposing on [the foreign countries] the conditions which it regards as desirable.—F. LANGE, R.D., p. 207 (1893).

220. In this nineteenth century, when Germany has become the first Power in the world, are we incapable of doing what our ancestors did? Germany must lay her mighty grasp upon Asia Minor.—AMICUS PATRIAE, A.U.K., p. 15.

221. The hostile arrogance of the Western Powers releases us from all our treaty obligations, throws open the doors of our verbal prison-house, and forces the German Empire, resolutely defending her vital rights, to revive the ancient Prussian policy of conquest. All Morocco in the hands of Germany; German cannon on the routes to Egypt and India; German troops on the Algerian frontier; this would be a goal worthy of great sacrifices.—M. HARDEN, Zukunft, 29th July, 1911.

222. If we do not soon acquire new territory, a frightful catastrophe is inevitable. It signifies little whether it be in Brazil, in Siberia, in Anatolia or in South Africa.... To-day, as 2,000 years ago, when the Cimbri and the Teutons beat at the gates of Rome, a cry arises ... ever louder and louder, "Give us land, give us new land!"—A. WIRTH, V.U.W., p. 227.

223. Thanks to our youthfulness and our capacity of development, thanks also to our military power, many things are possible: we can create a German nation which shall number 100,000,000 inhabitants, we can become "Europe," and dominate the seas into the bargain.—D.B.B., p. 211.

223a. This Germany of ours was once the greatest of the Sea Powers, and, God willing, so she will be again.—H. v. TREITSCHKE, P., Vol. i., p. 213.

224. "Civis Germanicus sum—ich bin ein Deutscher!" As the free Roman, in his character of Civis Romanus, formerly ruled the world, so must every continental German of to-day, and of the future, rule the world in his character of Civis Germanicus.—J.L. REIMER, E.P.D., p. 146.

Weltmacht (World-Dominion).

(AFTER JULY, 1914.)

225. We want no world-dominion.... It is unjust, and therefore un-German.—PROF. W. v. BLUME, D.D.M., p. 23.

225a. Germany, as the preponderant Power in a Great-German League, will with this war attain world-supremacy.—R. THEUDEN, W.M.K.B., p. 13.

226. We want no hegemony, no world-dominion! Such ambitions mean everlasting war; whereas Germany sincerely desires peace, and the influence which shall enable her to establish it.—PROF. DR. R. JANNASCH, W.D.U.S., p. 22.

226a. Formerly German thought was shut up in her corner, but now the world shall have its coat cut according to German measure, and as far as our swords flash and German blood flows, the circle of the earth shall come under the tutelage of German activity.—"World-Germany," by F. PHILIPPI, quoted in H.A.H., p. 43.

227. We were contented within our boundaries. Not a single foot did we want of the countries adjoining our frontiers. PROF. U. V. WILAMOWITZ-MOeLLENDORF, R., pt. i., p. II.

227a. Before everything, however, we must see to the provision of agricultural land! We require more soil for settlement.... And we require unsettled land for settlement. No alien fellow-citizens!—PROF. M. v. GRUBER, D.R.S.Z., No. 30, p. 27.

228. With us shall right and morality, truth and faithfulness, win the fight against wrong and baseness, malice and falsehood. Through our supremacy (Vorherrschaft), which we hope will be the outward result of this war, God will establish His dominion over the many-coloured throng of the nations who stand against us.—"War Devotions," by PASTOR J. RUMP, quoted in H.A.H., p. 128.

229. Not through a chaotic conflict of ideas, but only through unity of conviction, can a world-ruling Germany arise; and if Germany does not rule the world (I do not mean through her power alone, but through her all-sided superiority and moral weight) then she will disappear from the map; it is a case of "Either—or."—H.S. CHAMBERLAIN, P.I., p. 39.

230. Not one of our Pan-German leaders, whose plans are to-day being realized on the battlefields, received honour or recognition at the hands of the German monarchs, for whose honour and glory we had suffered and fought.—K.A. KUHN, W.U.W., p. 6.

231. If we set ourselves to multiply, as we did in the first five years of this century, then the German people would in 1950 number 118 millions, and in the year 2000, 250 millions. Then we could face the future with considerably more confidence.—PROF. M. V. GRUBER, D.R.S.Z., No. 30, p. 25.

232. Germany—of this I am convinced—may in less than two centuries succeed in dominating (beherrschen) the whole globe (Erdkugel), in part directly and politically, in part indirectly, through language, methods and Kultur, if only it can in time strike out a "new course," and definitely break with Anglo-American methods of government, and with the State-destroying ideals of the Revolution.—H.S. CHAMBERLAIN, P.I., p. 88.

233. If every representative, rising to the height of the great time in which he lives, will put away from him all pettiness of spirit ... we shall be an unconquerable people, capable of ruling the world.—C.L. POEHLMANN, G.D.W., p. 11.

234. Where self-interest ends the real patriotism begins; and its measure is not the loud chest-note of conviction, but self-sacrificing, untiring work in the service of the community, in order gradually to win for the German nature (Wesen) the first place in the world.—PROF. G.E. PAZAUREK, P.K.U.K., p. 5.

235. Just such a systematic transformation of the world as Augustus effected, Germany must now undertake—but on how much nobler a plan!—H.S. CHAMBERLAIN, K.A., p. 42.

235a. Germany will be the schoolmaster of all the world, as every German has a bit of the schoolmaster in him.—PROF. W. V. BLUME, D.D.M., p. 25.

Compare No. 82.

236. The war must last until we have forced disarmament upon our enemies. There is a nursery rhyme which runs thus:—

Knife and scissors, fork and candle, Little children must not handle.

Since the enemy States behave so childishly as to misuse their arms, they must be placed under tutelage. Moreover, our enemies have acted so dishonourably that it is only just that rights of citizenship should be denied them.... When they can no longer bear arms, they cannot make any new disturbances.—O. SIEMENS, W.L.K.D., p. 47.

237. We must establish ourselves firmly at Antwerp on the North Sea and at Riga on the Baltic.... At all events we must, at the conclusion of peace, demand substantial expansions of the German Empire. In this our motive will not be the greed and covetousness of world-ruling England, nor the national vanity of gloire-seeking France, nor the childish megalomania of Rome-mad Italy, nor the insatiable craving for expansion of semi-barbarous Russia.—PROF. E. HAECKEL, E.W., p. 122.

238. We could not but say to ourselves, "If once it comes to war with England, it will be difficult for us to get at her in her island. It will be easier to strike at her in Egypt [which the writer elsewhere describes as the keystone of the arch of the British Empire]. But to that end we require an alliance with the Turks." ... Therefore Germany sent officers to instruct the Turkish Army, therefore the Emperor went in 1898 to Constantinople and Jerusalem and made his famous speech as to the friendship between Germany and the Mohammedans. Therefore we built the Bagdad Railway with German money.—P. ROHRBACH, W.W.R., p. 12.

239. Noblesse oblige.... The idea that we are the chosen people imposes on us heavy duties, and duties only.... We are not out to conquer the world. Have no fear, my dear neighbours, we will not devour you.... Should it be necessary to increase our territory in order that the greater body of the people may have room to develop, then in that case we shall take as much land as may appear to be necessary. We will also plant our foot where it appears important on strategic grounds that we should do so, in order to maintain our impregnable strength. Thus, if our position of strength in the world will gain by it, we will establish stations for our fleet, for example, in Dover, Malta and Suez. Beyond this we will do nothing. We have not the least desire to expand, for we have something more important to do.—PROF. W. SOMBART, H.U.H, p. 143.

239a. We trust that the German Eagle, when with one wing he has scourged the barbarians back into Asia, and with the other has freed himself from unworthy chains, will soar high over the oceans ... where his wings can grow and he can stretch them according to his needs. And we hope that this strong, united, purified Germany will be a fountain of rejuvenescence to the ageing Kultur of Europe.—PROF. G. ROETHE, D.R.S.Z., No. 1, p. 31.

See also Nos. 7, 84.

FOOTNOTES:

[22] It is only right to state that the author urges this spirited policy, not upon his countrymen alone, but upon the "Germanoid" races at large. The "inefficient" peoples whom he has specially in view are the non-German populations of South America, whom he proposes to deport to "reserves" in Africa!

[23] The author has previously defined two grades of denationalization. The second or weaker grade includes the substitution of German for the national language. For the diabolical means by which he proposes to secure the extinction of "undesired and enslaved races," see E.P.D., p. 159.

[24] That is, until the original landowners are forcibly expropriated.

[25] It is not quite clear what the Professor means by "colonization"—but it does not greatly matter.



III

WAR-WORSHIP



III

WAR-WORSHIP

The Lust of Battle.

(BEFORE THE WAR.)

240. How often, in such a charge [during manoeuvres] has my ear caught the yearning cry of a comrade tearing along beside me: "Donnerwetter, if this were only the real thing!" (wenn das doch Ernst waere).—KRONPRINZ WILHELM, D.I.W., Chapter II.

240a. When the Gordian knot is ready to be cut, God sends the Alexander! Does not the Crown Prince William's confession of his belief in courage as the highest flower of the human spirit, in his book "Deutschland in Waffen," sound like an answer to the longing that thrills through our whole people?—Deutsche Tageszeitung, 5th May, 1913. NIPPOLD, D.C., p. 34.

241. In philosophic form, the idea of the beneficence of war may be traced back to the saying of Heraclitus, "polemos pater panton" [war is the father of everything].... War is held to be a divine institution, a law of the universe, present in all nature; not for nothing do the Indians worship Siva the Destroyer; the warrior is filled with the enthusiasm of destruction; wars purify the atmosphere like thunderstorms....[26] We may here refer to H. Leo's phrase as to the "fresh and joyous war that shall sweep away the scrofulous rabble" [vom "frischen und froehlichen Krieg, der das skrofuloese Gesindel wegfegen soll."].—J. BURCKHARDT, W.B., p. 163.

242. The Kaiser may have thought that war was not necessary ... because every year of peace increased the power of the Empire, and because the German hegemony in Europe was safe enough without shedding a drop of blood. To this one may reply that the noblest weapon rusts if its use is too long restricted to reviews and parades ... and that every ascent to a higher mental Kultur impairs the barbaric energy of warriors, and encumbers them with scruples which damp their joyous courage.—M. HARDEN, Zukunft, 19th August, 1911.

War and Religion.

243. It is no mere chance that the earliest piece of poetry, the oldest three distiches of the Old Testament, the Song of Lamech, is a song of triumph over the invention of the sword. (Genesis, iv., 23):—

Ada and Zillah hear my voice; Ye wives of Lamech hearken unto my speech: For I have slain a man for wounding me, And a young man for bruising me: If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, Truly Lamech seventy and sevenfold.

—E. v. LASAULX, P.G., p. 85.

244. Perpetual peace is a dream, and it is not even a beautiful dream: war forms part of the eternal order instituted by God.... Without war humanity would sink into materialism.—COUNT V. MOLTKE, letter to Bluntschli, 11th December, 1880.

245. To appeal from this judgment to Christianity would be sheer perversity, for does not the Bible distinctly say that the ruler shall rule by the sword, and, again, that greater love hath no man than to lay down his life for his friend?—H. v. TREITSCHKE, P., Vol. i., p. 67.

245a. But it is not worth while to speak further of these matters, for God above us will see to it that war shall always recur, as a drastic medicine for ailing humanity.—H. v. TREITSCHKE, P., Vol. i., p. 69.

246. Christian morality is based, indeed, on the law of love. "Love God above all things, and thy neighbour as thyself." This law can claim no significance for the relations of one country to another, since its application to politics would lead to a conflict of duties.... Christ himself said: "I am not come to send peace on earth, but a sword." His teaching can never be adduced as an argument against the universal law of struggle. There never was a religion which was more combative than Christianity.—GENERAL v. BERNHARDI, G.N.W., p. 29.

247. When here on earth a battle is won by German arms and the faithful dead ascend to Heaven, a Potsdam lance-corporal will call the guard to the door, and "old Fritz," springing from his golden throne, will give the command to present arms. That is the Heaven of Young Germany.—Weekly Paper for Young Germany, January 25, 1913.

Compare "God and the old Kaiser" No. 97.

War and Ethics.

248. Nothing is more immoral than to consider and talk of war as an immoral thing. "War is the mother of all good things" (Empedocles).... And there is nothing more moral than the collective egoism, the self-conserving instinct, of nations.—PROF. E. HASSE, Z.D.V., p. 127.

248a. The idea of war is the child of healthy egoism, which is honest to the marrow of its bones, is ashamed of nothing in Nature.... but is the basis of all Kultur, of all morality.—K. WAGNER, K.

249. We must therefore reckon with war as a necessary factor towards higher development.... A people really learns to know its full national strength only in war ... only then, indeed, does its full strength come into existence.—J. BURCKHARDT, W.B., p. 162.

249a. War makes room for the competent at the expense of the unsound. War is the source of all good growth. Without war the development of nations is impossible—K. WAGNER, K., p. 183.

250. The sight of blood and wounds steels the nerves of the soul, the horrors of war stimulate the spirits, so that instead of the falsehood and cowardice of enervation, the old heroic virtues are restored ... fear of God, martial bravery, obedience, up-rightness of mind, constancy, truth ... manlike courage, manly pity, and all that is great and good in humanity.—E. v. LASAULX, P.G., p. 86.

Compare Nos. 254, 311.

251. The brutal incidents inseparable from every war vanish completely before the idealism of the main result.... Strength, truth and honour come to the front and are brought in to play.—GENERAL V. BERNHARDI, G.N.W., p. 27.

252. War is the most august and sacred of human activities.... For us, too, the great, joyful hour of battle will one day strike.... The openly expressed longing for war often degenerates into vain boasting and ludicrous sabre-rattling. But still and deep in the German heart must the joy in war and the longing for war endure.—OTTO VON GOTTBERG, in Weekly Paper for the Youth of Germany, 25th January, 1913. NIPPOLD, D.C., p. 1.

253. Life as the most necessary medium of Kultur—that is the ground on which the modern apostles of peace take their stand.... But our German morality makes short work of all such rubbish. It says with Moltke: "Eternal peace is only a dream, and not even a beautiful dream!" No, certainly not beautiful, for a peace which could no longer look forward to war as the issue even of the worst complications would poison and rot away our inmost heart, until we became loathsome to ourselves.—F. LANGE, R.D., p. 157 (1893).

254. Whosoever has crossed a great battlefield and has shuddered in the depths of his soul at all the horrors confronting him, will have found new strength and exaltation in the thought that here the whole tragic gravity of military necessity is regnant, and here a justifiable passion has done its work.—GENERAL v. HARTMANN, D.R., XIV., p. 84.

255. The appeal to arms will be valid until the end of history, and therein lies the sacredness of war.—H. v. TREITSCHKE, P., Vol. i., p. 29.

See also No. 314.

War and Biology.

256. We children of the future ... do not by any means think it desirable that the kingdom of righteousness and peace should be established on the earth.... We rejoice in all men who, like ourselves, love danger, war and adventure ... we count ourselves among the conquerors; we ponder over the need of a new order of things, even of a new slavery—for every strengthening and elevation of the type "man" also involves a new form of slavery.—FR. NIETZSCHE, J.W., section 377.

257. Unless we choose to shut our eyes to the necessity of evolution, we must recognize the necessity of war. We must accept war, which will last as long as development and existence; we must accept eternal war.—K. WAGNER, K., p. 153.

258. "War is the father of everything," says Heraclitus. It will be the father of the new German race of the future.—PROF. E. HASSE, Z.D.V., p. 126.

259. The efforts directed towards the abolition of war must not only be termed foolish, but absolutely immoral, and must be stigmatized as unworthy of the human race.... The weak nation is to have the same right to live as the powerful and vigorous nation! The whole idea represents a presumptuous encroachment on the natural laws of development.—GENERAL v. BERNHARDI, G.N.W., p. 34.

260. It is proved beyond all shadow of doubt that regular war (der regelrechte Krieg) is, not only from the biological and true kultural standpoint, the best and noblest form of the struggle for existence, but also, from time to time, an absolute necessity for the maintenance of the State and society.—DR. SCHMIDT, of Gibichenfels, at meeting of Pan-German League, Berlin, October, 1912. NIPPOLD, D.C., p. 73.

261. War is a biological necessity of the first importance, a regulative element in the life of mankind which cannot be dispensed with.... "War is the father of all things." The sages of antiquity, long before Darwin, recognized this.... "To supplant or to be supplanted is the essence of life," says Goethe, "and the strong life gains the upper hand."—GENERAL v. BERNHARDI, G.N.W., p. 18.

See also No. 386.

War and Kultur.

262. It is nothing but fanaticism to expect very much from humanity when it has forgotten how to wage war. For the present we know of no other means whereby the rough energy of the camp, the deep impersonal hatred, the cold-bloodedness of murder with a good conscience, the general ardour of the system in the destruction of the enemy ... can be as forcibly and certainly communicated to enervated nations as is done by every great war. Kultur can by no means dispense with passions, vices and malignities.—FR. NIETZSCHE, H.T.H., section 477.

263. It is here demonstrated with rare cogency and conclusiveness that war is not only a factor, but the main factor, in true, genuine Kultur—not only its creator but its preserver.... Although the author thus recognizes war as an element in the divine world-order, he by no means ignores the blessings of peace, as the second factor in true, genuine Kultur, in a certain measure complementary to war.—Berliner neueste Nachrichten, 24th December, 1912, in review of Der Krieg als Kulturfaktor, by DR. SCHMIDT, of Gibichenfels. NIPPOLD, D.C., p. 20.

264. No sooner are airships invented than the General Staffs set to work to devise methods of applying them to destruction.... Thus every achievement of "Kultur"[27] and of the human intelligence is only a means to more barbarous processes of war: and yet the pacifists see in the progress of the human intelligence a guarantee of world-peace!—L. GUMPLOWICZ, S.I.U., p. 161.

265. I must first of all examine the aspirations for peace, which seem to dominate our age and threaten to poison the soul of the German people.... I must try to prove that war is not merely a necessary element in the life of nations, but an indispensable factor of Kultur, in which a truly civilized nation finds the highest expression of strength and vitality.—GENERAL v. BERNHARDI, G.N.W., p. 14.

266. If the Twilight of the Gods that has now so long brooded over the European race and Kultur is at last to vanish before the light of morning, then we Germans in particular must no longer see in war our destroyer ... but must recognize in it our healer, our physician.—Taegliche Rundschau, 12th November, 1912. NIPPOLD, D.C., p. 23.

267. Our own country, by employing its military powers, has attained a degree of Kultur which it never could have reached by the methods of peaceful development.—GENERAL v. BERNHARDI, G.N.W., p. 119.

268. War is to us only a means, but the state of preparation for war is more than a means, it is an end.—PROF. E. HASSE, Z.D.V., p. 126.

See also Nos. 84, 91.

Blood and Iron.

269. The time for petty politics is past; the next century[28] will bring the struggle for the dominion of the world—the compulsion to great politics.—FR. NIETZSCHE, B.G.E., section 208.

270. I greet all the signs indicating that a more manly and warlike age is commencing, which will, above all, bring heroism again into honour!—FR. NIETZSCHE, J.W., section 283.

271. General Keim from Berlin insisted that the path to German unity and power was not paved with sealing-wax, printers' ink and parliamentary resolutions, but marked by blood, wounds and deeds of arms. States could be maintained only by the means by which they were created.—At meeting of Pan-German League, Augsburg, September, 1912. NIPPOLD, D.C., p. 72.

272. It is only since the last war [1870] that a sounder theory has arisen of the State and its military power. Without war no State could be.... War, therefore will endure to the end of history, so long as there is multiplicity of States.—H. v. TREITSCHKE, P., Vol. i., p. 65.

273. We owe it to Napoleon ... that several warlike centuries, which have not had their like in past history, may now follow one another—in short, that we have entered upon the classical age of war, war at the same time scientific and popular, on the grandest scale (as regards means, talents and discipline) to which all coming millenniums will look back with envy and awe as a work of perfection—for the national movement out of which this martial glory springs, is only the counter-choc against Napoleon, and would not have existed without him. To him, consequently, one will one day be able to attribute the fact that man in Europe has again got the upper hand of the merchant and the Philistine.—FR. NIETZSCHE, J.W., section 362.

274. What men tower highest in the history of the nation, whom does the German heart cherish with the most ardent love? Goethe? Schiller? Wagner? Marx? Oh, no—but Barbarossa, the great Frederick, Bluecher, Moltke, Bismarck, the hard men of blood. It is to them, who offered up thousands of lives, that the soul of the people goes out with tenderest affection, with positively adoring gratitude. Because they did what now we ought to do.... Our holiest raptures of homage are paid to these Titans of the Blood-Deed.—DR. W. FUCHS, in article on "Psychiatrie and Politics," in Die Post, 28th January, 1912. NIPPOLD, D.C., p. 2.

275. I must assert with emphasis that the cardinal sin of our whole policy has hitherto been that we have lost sight of the eternal truth: POLITICS MEAN THE WILL TO POWER.... The history of the world teaches us that only those people have strongly asserted themselves who have without hesitation placed the Will to Power higher than the Will to Peace.—GENERAL KEIM, at meeting of Central Committee of Pan-German League, Munich, April, 1913. NIPPOLD, D.C., p. 77.

276. This nation possesses an excess of vigour, enterprise, idealism, and spiritual energy which qualifies it for the highest place; but a malignant fairy laid on its cradle the most petty theoretical dogmatism.... Yet the heart of this people can always be won for great and noble aims, even though such aims can only be attended by danger.... An intense longing for a foremost place among the Powers and for manly action fills our nation. Every vigorous utterance, every bold political step of the Government, finds in the soul of the people a deeply-felt echo, and loosens the bonds which fetter all their forces.—GENERAL v. BERNHARDI, G.N.W., p. 256.

277. War does not depend on the human will, but is for the most part an ineluctable, elementary happening, a daemonic power forcing itself upon us, against which all written treaties, all peace conferences and humanitarian agitations, come pitifully to wreck.—GENERAL KEIM, at meeting of the German Defence League, Cassel, February, 1913. NIPPOLD, D.C., p. 82.

War Necessary to Germany.

278. If the health and life of Germany require this mortal and terrible remedy [war], let us not hesitate to apply it, so be it! God is the Judge. I accept the awful responsibility.... God never forsakes a good German.—"AMICUS PATRIAE," A.U.K., p. 15.

278a. Whoever loves his people and wishes to hasten the crisis of the present sickness, must yearn for war as the awakener of all that is good, healthy and strong in the nation.—D. FRYMANN, W.I.K.W., p. 53.

279. The duties and obligations of the German people ... cannot be fulfilled without drawing the sword.—GENERAL v. BERNHARDI, G.N.W., p. 15.

280. It is for social as much as for national and political reasons that we must fix our minds incessantly upon war; may the first ten or twenty years of the twentieth century bring it to us, for we have need of it!—D.B.B., p. 191.

281. It must be regarded as a quite unthinkable proposition that an agreement between France and Germany can be negotiated before the question between them has been once more decided by arms.—GENERAL V. BERNHARDI, G.N.W., p. 91.

282. In one way or another we must square our account with France if we wish for a free hand in our international policy.... France must be so completely crushed that she can never again come across our path.—GENERAL v. BERNHARDI, G.N.W., p. 105.

283. A pacific agreement with England is a will-o'-the-wisp which no serious German statesman would trouble to follow. We must always keep the possibility of war with England before our eyes, and arrange our political and military plans accordingly.—GENERAL V. BERNHARDI, G.N.W., p. 99.

284. Since the struggle is, as appears on a thorough investigation of the international question, necessary and inevitable, we must fight it out, cost what it may.... We have fought in the last great wars for our national union and our position among the Powers of Europe; we must now decide whether we wish to develop into and maintain a World Empire, and procure for German spirit and German ideas that fit recognition which has been hitherto withheld from them.—GENERAL V. BERNHARDI, G.N.W., p. 103.

285. If we wish to compete further with them [the other Powers] a policy which our population and our civilization both entitle and compel us to adopt, we must not hold back in the hard struggle for the sovereignty of the world.—GENERAL v. BERNHARDI, G.N.W., p. 79.

285a. All that other nations attained in centuries of natural development—political union, colonial possessions, naval power, international trade—was denied to our nation until quite recently. What we now wish to attain must be fought for, and won, against a superior force of hostile interests and powers.—GENERAL V. BERNHARDI, G.N.W., p. 84.

286. Since almost every part of the globe is inhabited, new territory must, as a rule, be obtained at the cost of its possessors—that is to say, by conquest, which thus becomes a law of necessity.—GENERAL v. BERNHARDI, G.N.W., p. 21.

287. Success is necessary to gain influence over the masses, and this influence can only be obtained by continually appealing to the national imagination and enlisting its interest in great universal ideas and great national ambitions.... We Germans have a far greater and more urgent duty towards civilization to perform than the Great Asiatic Power. We, like the Japanese, can only fulfil it by the sword.—GENERAL v. BERNHARDI, G.N.W., p. 258.

War need not be Defensive.

288. Ye say it is the good cause which halloweth even war? I say unto you, it is the good war which halloweth every cause.—FR. NIETZSCHE, Z., "War and Warriors."

289. We must not think merely of external foes who compel us to fight. A war may seem to be forced upon a statesman by the condition of home affairs, or by the pressure of the whole political situation.—GENERAL v. BERNHARDI, G.N.W., p. 38.

290. The moral duty of the State towards its citizens is to begin the struggle while the prospects of success and the political circumstances are still tolerably favourable. When, on the other hand, the hostile States are weakened or hampered by affairs at home and abroad, but its own warlike strength shows elements of superiority, it is imperative to use the favourable circumstances to promote its own political aims.—GENERAL v. BERNHARDI, G.N.W., p. 53.

291. The lessons of history confirm the view that wars which have been deliberately provoked by far-seeing statesmen have had the happiest results.—GENERAL v. BERNHARDI, G.N.W., p. 45.

See also No. 382.

Contempt for Peace.

292. Ye shall love peace as a means to new wars—and the short peace more than the long.—FR. NIETZSCHE, Z., "War and Warriors."

292a. Only over the black gate of the cemetery ... can we read the words, "Eternal peace for all peoples." For peoples who live and strive, the only maxim and motto must be Eternal War.—K. WAGNER, K., p. 217.

293. The reception of the Tsar's [Peace] Manifesto was anything but friendly.... The learned world, also, was for the most part hostile to the idea underlying the Manifesto, and such a man as Mommsen could even, amid great applause, characterize the proposed Conference as "a misprint in world-history."—A.H. FRIED, H.D.F., Vol. I., p. 205.

294. The German who loves his people, and believes in the greatness and the future of our home ... must not let himself be lazily sung to sleep by the peace-lullabies of the Utopians.—KRONPRINZ WILHELM, D.I.W., Chapter I.

295. A long peace not only leads to enervation, but allows of the existence of a multitude of pitiful, trembling miserable-creatures [Notexistenzen] ... who cling fast to life with loud cries about their "right" to exist, block the way for real strength, make the air foetid, and altogether defile the blood of the nation. War brings real strength into honour again.—J. BURCKHARDT, W.B., p. 164.

296. Let us laugh with all our lungs at the old women in trousers who are afraid of war, and therefore complain that it is cruel and hideous. No, war is beautiful. Its august grandeur elevates the heart of man high above all that is commonplace and earthly.—O. V. GOTTBERG, in Weekly Paper for the Youth of Germany, 25th January, 1913. NIPPOLD, D.C., p. 2.

297. Efforts to secure peace are extraordinarily detrimental to the national health so soon as they influence politics.—GENERAL V. BERNHARDI, G.N.W., p. 28.

298. People are too much given to sentimental maunderings. To what practical end had the vaunted Hague Peace Meetings led? The 100,000 marks spent on the Peace Palace would much better have been devoted to the support of needy veterans.—GENERAL KEIM, at meeting of the German Defence League, Cassel, February, 1913. NIPPOLD, D.C., p. 82.

299. The worst of hypocrisies is the participation by Germany in the Hague Conference.... We should do better to leave that farce to those who, for centuries, have made of hypocrisy an industry and a habit.—PROF. E. HASSE, Z.D.V., p. 132.

300. We can, fortunately, assert the impossibility of these efforts after peace ever attaining their ultimate object in a world bristling with arms, where a healthy egoism still directs the policy of most countries.—GENERAL v. BERNHARDI, G.N.W., p. 36.

301. The so-called world-peace is not order, but chaos. It means in the first place the forcible dominion of capitalists and the proletariat [!] over the productive powers of the nations, and lastly, in the struggle of all against all, a return to those prehistoric conditions out of which, in the opinion of our "cosmopolitans," all our culture took its rise.—Der Reichsbote, 14th March, 1913. NIPPOLD, D.C., p. 26.

302. A people of parasites like the Jews strives, with all the instincts of its craving for power and for wealth, towards the abolition of war, for if that could be effected its work of disintegrating the living bodies of the nations could go on unhindered.—F. LANGE, R.D., p. 158 (1893).

303. As for the whinings of M. de Bloch and Frau v. Suttner with regard to the horrors of modern war, they are imbecilities to which we can make a statistical answer. Statistics prove that two years of peace cost Germany more violent deaths (suicides, accidents, murders) than the whole war of 1870-71 cost us—that war without parallel.[29]—D.B.B., p. 206.

304. Sentimental maunderings about humanity and peace were bringing us face to face with the danger that cosmopolitanism might overshadow Germanism, and that the Nobel Prize might actually be offered to our Kaiser.—EXCELLENZ v. WROCHEM, at meeting of Pan-German League, Augsburg, September, 1912. NIPPOLD, D.C., p. 72.

See also Nos. 217, 244, 253, 314, 316, 317, 319.

Militarism Exultant.

(AFTER JULY, 1914.)

305. I have lived for forty-five years mainly in the society of Germans, and thirty years exclusively in German countries ... and my testimony is this: in the whole of Germany there has not been for the past forty-three years a single man who has wished for war—not one. Whoever denies this, lies.—H.S. CHAMBERLAIN, K.A., p. 11.

305a. It is only in war that we find the action of true heroism, the realization of which on earth is the care of militarism. That is why war appears to us, who are filled with militarism, as in itself a holy thing, as the holiest thing on earth.—PROF. W. SOMBART, H.U.H., p. 88.

306. Every age requires its war, lest civilization stagnate.—O.A.H. SCHMITZ, D.W.D., p. 116.

307.

Bestir you, my comrades! To horse, to horse! And away to the field and to freedom....[30]

Truly a splendid song. It thrills through all our muscles, and makes us feel as though we ourselves would like once more to take our share in a joyous fight.—PROF. U. v. WILAMOWITZ-MOeLLENDORF, pt. I., p. 4.

Compare No. 241.

308. Anti-militarism was enraptured. What we had laboriously built up through the cultivation of the warlike spirit sank to ruins.... God be eternally praised! The great masses of the people would have nothing to say to these doctrines of the evil of war.... It appeared as clear as daylight that we had always been right, and that the warlike spirit, that deepest and purest joy of the great heart of our people, was unshaken and unchanged. The warlike spirit, the love of war and the craving for battle, was no imaginary characteristic of our people—no, and a thousand times no!—K.A. KUHN, W.U.W., p. 7.

309. The tempest of patriotic exaltation is sweeping through the German land, and Treitschke's solemn pronouncement as to war being a fountain of health for the people has all of a sudden risen into renewed estimation. The war has swept the tedious patience-game of the diplomats off the table and set the brazen dice of the battlefield rolling in its stead.—F. v. LISZT, E.M.S., "Geleitwort," p. 1.

310. Our long years of peace, full of honest, but, alas! also of dishonest, work, had brought us no blessing. We breathed again when the war came.—H. v. WOLZOGEN, G.Z.K., p. 61.

311. Over the blood of the fallen glows the flame of poetic enthusiasm. A war without dead and wounded is a life without work, without aim and without hope.—K.A. KUHN, W.U.W., p. 7.

Compare Nos. 250, 254.

312. When the summons to war rang out, in thousands and thousands of families people searched the Holy Scriptures, to know what was God's message for the event of war; and the dear Bible-Book, which never leaves us in the lurch, brought to the searcher strength, counsel and consolation. The Old Testament, under-valued by many, now became, all of a sudden, the book for everyday reading.—PASTOR M. HENNIG, D.K.U.W., p. 5.

313. The order in which the nations take rank cannot be determined in time of peace, by standards of reason, not only because the majority of overfed ruminants would always keep the Lion encaged, but because only in war can the Lion prove his lionlikeness to others, and—what is still more important—to himself.—O.A.H. SCHMITZ, D.W.D., p. 3.

314. [Materialism and millionairism were playing havoc in Germany.] At last the spectre of materialism penetrated into the palaces of the dynastic leaders of our people, and from that day began the preaching of the blessings of everlasting peace. At the same time there began a hateful campaign of slander against all true patriots, against all ethical champions of war (Ethiker des Krieges.)—K.A. KUHN, W.U.W., p. 6.

315. The laurels of this bloodless victory [the victory of the war spirit] belong to that part of the German teaching profession which has remained true to its patriotic duties!—K.A. KUHN, W.U.W., p. 8.

316. Though clever writers sometimes speak of the Kaiser's romantic proclivities, his earnest searching of the Scriptures has brought him to such a sober way of thinking that he has steered clear of all Utopias, and has not allowed himself to be led astray by the empty dreams of pacifist enthusiasm.—PASTOR M. HENNIG, D.K.U.W., p. 16.

317. We have no knowledge of pacifist utterances of representative Germans of any time. The wretched book of the aged Kant, on "Perpetual Peace" ... is the only inglorious exception. Such utterances would indeed amount to a sin against the holy spirit of Germanism, which, from the depths of its heroism, cannot possibly arrive at any view other than a high appreciation of war.—PROF. W. SOMBART, H.U.H., p. 93.

318. One or other of the English swashbucklers has recently said that the Allies are not fighting against the Germany of Beethoven and Goethe, but against the Germany of Bismarck, of which they have had too much.... But Faust and the Ninth Symphony strongly resemble the mighty works of the great artsmith, Bismarck.—K. ENGELBRECHT, D.D.D.K., p. 61.

319. How far our classic age ... was removed from a depreciation and rejection of war is shown by the attitude assumed by a spirit so pathetically calm and aloof as Jean Paul, who nevertheless called war the strengthening iron cure of humanity, and maintained, indeed, that this held good more for the side which suffers than for that which wins. The fever caused by the wounds of war was, in his opinion, better than the jail fever of a loathsome peace.—PROF. W. SOMBART, H.U.H., p. 94.

320. It is monstrous that even high spiritual dignitaries can be found, in our days, to tell their adherents that war is a misfortune, and that such utterances can actually be printed by the official press.—K.A. KUHN, W.U.W., p. 7.

321. Just imagine our humanity of to-day—I mean, of course, our German humanity—without its military education. Non-German humanity gives us some idea of what that would mean!—H. v. WOLZOGEN, G.Z.K., p. 60.

322. If we are to carry on the warlike education of our people—and we are resolved to do so—then we by that very fact affirm our constant readiness again to enter upon a war, as soon as our honour, our inward or outward growth, or the expansive tendencies rooted in the inmost nature of our people, demand it.—PASTOR D. BAUMGARTEN, D.R.S.Z., No. 24, p. 17.

323. The incomparably greater efficiency of army administration, even in questions of civil life, has everywhere made a deep impression during the present war, and has opened the eyes of many. One has constantly heard people exclaim: "Oh, it could only continue after the war!"—H.S. CHAMBERLAIN, P.I., p. 116.

324. Oh, that Germany would learn from this war to send out soldiers only—Generals and ex-officers of the General Staff—as German diplomatists, ambassadors and consuls!—K.L.A. SCHMIDT, D.E.E., p. 17.

325. We must not look for permanent peace as a result of this war. Heaven defend Germany from that.—O.A.H. SCHMITZ, D.W.D., p. 19.

See also Nos. 91, 192a, 195, 217.

FOOTNOTES:

[26] Down to this point Burckhardt is condensing a paragraph from Ernst v. Lasaulx, "Philosophie der Geschichte," 1856 p. 85.

[27] Quoted in original.

[28] Written in 1885.

[29] Klaus Wagner (Krieg, p. 223) has a long statistical argument to the same effect. He says that 41,000 men lost their lives in 1870-71, and estimates on this basis that, in a repetition of that war, the Germany of his own time (1906) would lose only one man in every 1,600 of her population. The confident assumption that the next war could be nothing but 1870 over again underlies all German speculation on the subject.

[30] From Schiller's Wallensteins Lager.



IV

RUTHLESSNESS



IV

RUTHLESSNESS

(BEFORE THE WAR.)

326. War is an act of violence whose object is to constrain the enemy, to accomplish our will.... Insignificant limitations, hardly worthy of mention, which it imposes on itself, under the name of the law of nations, accompany this violence without notably enfeebling it.—GENERAL C v. CLAUSEWITZ, V.K., Vol. i., p. 4.

327. I warn you against pity: from it will one day arise a heavy cloud for men. Verily, I am weatherwise!—FR. NIETZSCHE, Z. Of the Pitiful.

328. The Germans let the primitive Prussian tribes decide whether they should be put to the sword or thoroughly Germanized. Cruel as these processes of transformation may be, they are a blessing for humanity. It makes for health that the nobler race should absorb the inferior stock.—H. v. TREITSCHKE, P., Vol. i, p. 121.

329. Much that is dreadful and inhuman in history, much that one hardly likes to believe, is mitigated by the reflection that the one who commands and the one who carries out are different persons—the former does not behold the sight, therefore does not experience the strong impression on the imagination; the latter obeys a superior and therefore feels no responsibility.—FR. NIETZSCHE, H.T.H., section 101.

330. The warrior has need of passion. It must not ... be regarded as a necessary evil; nor condemned as a regrettable consequence of physical contact; nor must we seek to restrain it and curb it as a savage and brutal force.—GENERAL v. HARTMANN, D.R., Vol. XIII., p. 122.

331. One must ... resist all sentimental weakness: life is in its essence appropriation, injury, the overpowering of whatever is foreign to us and weaker than ourselves, suppression, hardness, the forcing upon others of our own forms, the incorporation of others, or, at the very least and mildest, their exploitation.—FR. NIETZSCHE, B.G.E., section 259.

332. We may depend upon the re-Germanizing of Alsace, but not of Livonia and Kurland. There no other course is open to us but to keep the subject race in as uncivilized a condition as possible, and thus prevent them from becoming a danger to their handful of conquerors.—H. v. TREITSCHKE, P., Vol. i, p. 122.

333. A morality of the ruling class [has for] its principle that one has duties only to one's equals; that one may act towards beings of a lower rank, towards all that is foreign, just as seems good to one ... and in any case "beyond good and evil."—FR. NIETZSCHE, B.G.E., section 260.

334. The "argument of war" permits every belligerent State to have recourse to all means which enable it to attain the object of the war; still, practice has taught the advisability of allowing in one's own interest the introduction of a limitation in the use of certain methods of war, and a total renunciation of the use of others.... If in the following work the expression "the law of war" is used, it must be understood that by it is meant only ... a limitation of arbitrary behaviour which custom and conventionality, human friendliness and a calculating egoism have erected, but for the observance of which there exists no express sanction, but only "the fear of reprisals" decides.—G.W.B., pp. 52, 53.

335. A new type of philosophers and commanders will some time or other be needed, at the very idea of which everything that has existed in the way of occult, terrible and benevolent [!] beings might look pale and dwarfed. The image of such leaders hovers before our eyes.... The conditions which one would have partly to create and partly to utilize for their genesis [include] a transvaluation of values, under the new pressure and hammer of which a conscience should be steeled and a heart transformed to brass, so as to bear the weight of such responsibility.—FR. NIETZSCHE, B.G.E., section 203.

336. Since the tendency of thought of the last century was dominated essentially by humanitarian considerations which not infrequently degenerated into sentimentality and weak emotionalism, there have not been wanting attempts to influence the development of the usages of war in a way which was in fundamental contradiction with the nature of war and its object. Attempts of this kind will also not be wanting in the future, the more so as these agitations have found a kind of moral recognition in some provisions of the Geneva Convention and the Brussels and Hague Conferences.... The danger can only be met by a thorough study of war itself. By steeping himself in military history an officer will be able to guard himself against excessive humanitarian notions, it will teach him that certain severities are indispensable to war, nay, more, that the only true humanity very often lies in a ruthless application of them.—G.W.B., pp. 54, 55.

337. Those very men who are so strictly kept within bounds by good manners ... who, in their behaviour to one another, show themselves so inventive in consideration, self-control, delicacy, loyalty, pride and friendship—those very men are to the outside world, to things foreign and to foreign countries, little better than so many uncaged beasts of prey. Here they enjoy liberty from all social restraint ... and become rejoicing monsters, who perhaps go on their way, after a hideous sequence of murder, conflagration, violation, torture, with as much gaiety and equanimity as if they had merely taken part in some student gambols.... Deep in the nature of all these noble races there lurks unmistakably the beast of prey, the blond beast, lustfully roving in search of booty and victory.—FR. NIETZSCHE, G.M., i., II.

338. However much it may ruffle human feeling to compel a man to do harm to his own Fatherland, and indirectly to fight his own troops, none the less no army operating in an enemy's country will altogether renounce this expedient.—G.W.B., p. 117.

339. A still more severe measure is the compulsion of the inhabitants to furnish information about their own army, its strategy, its resources, and its military secrets. The majority of writers of all nations are unanimous in their condemnation of this measure. Nevertheless it cannot be entirely dispensed with; doubtless it will be applied with regret, but the argument of war will frequently make it necessary.—G.W.B., p. 118.

340. That the lambs should bear a grudge against the great birds of prey is in no way surprising; but that is no reason why we should blame the great birds of prey for picking up the lambs.... To demand of strength that it should not manifest itself as strength, that it should not be a will for overcoming, for overthrowing, for mastery, a thirst for enemies, for struggles and triumphs, is as absurd as to demand of weakness that it should manifest itself as strength.—FR. NIETZSCHE, G.M., i., 13.

341. It is a gratuitous illusion to suppose that modern war does not demand far more brutality, far more violence, and an action far more general than was formerly the case.—GENERAL v. HARTMANN, D.R., Vol. xiv., p. 89.

342. The enemy State must not be spared the want and wretchedness of war; these are particularly useful in shattering its energy and subduing its will.—GENERAL v. HARTMANN, D.R., Vol. xiii., p. 459.

343. We ... believe that [man's] Will to Life had to be intensified into unconditional Will to Power; we hold that hardness, violence, slavery, danger in the street and in the heart, secrecy, stoicism, arts of temptation and devilry of all kinds; that everything evil, terrible, tyrannical, wild-beast-like and serpent-like in man contributes to the elevation of the species just as much as its opposite—and in saying this we do not even say enough.—FR. NIETZSCHE, B.G.E., section 44.

344. Even if there were no question of vengeance, even if we were not demanding reparation for ancient wrongs ... the crime (Frevel) of opposing the development of Germany is so great that the most trenchant measures are scarcely a sufficient punishment for it!—D.B.B., p. 214.

345. Whoever enters upon a war in future, will do well to look only to his own interests, and pay no heed to any so-called international law. He will do well to act without consideration and without scruple, and this holds good in the case of a war with England.[31]—D.B.B., p. 214.

346. Hatred, delight in mischief, rapacity and ambition, and whatever else is called evil, belong to the marvellous economy of the conservation of the race.—FR. NIETZSCHE, J.W., section 1.

347. Individual persons may be harshly dealt with when an example is made of them, intended to serve as a warning.... Whenever a national war breaks out, terrorism becomes a necessary military principle.—GENERAL v. HARTMANN, D.R., Vol. XIII, p. 462.

348. Terrorism is seen to be a relatively gentle procedure, useful to keep in a state of obedience the masses of the people.—GENERAL V. HARTMANN, D.R., Vol. XIII, p. 462.

349. To protect oneself against attack and injuries from the inhabitants, and to employ ruthlessly the necessary means of defence and intimidation is obviously not only a right but a duty of the staff of the army.—G.W.B., p. 120.

350. The more pitiless is the vae victis, the greater is the security of the ensuing peace. In the days of old, conquered peoples were completely annihilated. To-day this is physically impracticable, but one can imagine conditions which should approach very closely to total destruction.—D.B.B., p. 214.

Compare Nos. 196, 197.

351. International law is in no way opposed to the exploitation of the crimes of third parties (assassination, incendiarism, robbery and the like) to the prejudice of the enemy.—G.W.B., p. 85.

352. In reality the evil impulses are just in as high a degree expedient, indispensable, and conservative of the species as the good—only, their function is different.—FR. NIETZSCHE, J.W., section 4.

353. If the [small] nations in question have nothing Germanic in them, and are therefore foreign to our Kultur, the question at once arises: Do they stand in the way of our expansion, or do they not? In the latter case, let them develop as their nature prescribes; in the former case, it would be folly to spare them, for they would be like a wedge in our flesh, which we refrained from extracting only for their own sake. If we found ourselves forced to break up the historical form of the nation, in order to separate its racial elements, taking what belongs to our race[32] and rejecting what is foreign to it, we ought not therefore to have any moral scruples or to think ourselves inhuman. (In this connection I refer the reader to my later chapter on humanity[33]).—J.L. REIMER, E.P.D., p. 130.

354. Article 40 of the Declaration of Brussels requires that requisitions ... shall bear a direct relation to the capacity and resources of a country, and, indeed, the justification for this condition would be willingly recognized by every one in theory, but it will scarcely ever be observed in practice. In cases of necessity, the needs of an army will alone decide.—G.W.B., p. 134.

355. In spite of his delight in mere success, in spite of his recklessness in the choice of men and methods, in spite of all the harshness and brutality which his nature must acquire, the true statesman displays a disinterestedness which cannot fail to impress.—H. v. TREITSCHKE, P., Vol. i., p. 58.

356. Verily, ye good and just; much in you is laughable, and most of all your fear of what hath hitherto been called "devil"! ... I guess that you will call my Superman "devil"!—FR. NIETZSCHE, Z. Of Manly Prudence.

(AFTER JULY, 1914.)

357. Our troops are assured of their mission; and they recognize clearly, too, that the truest compassion lies in taking the sternest measures, in order to bring the war itself to an early close.—PASTOR G. TRAUB, D.K.U.S., p. 6.

358. How much further would Germany have got in Alsace-Lorraine, if it had modelled its policy on Cromwell's treatment of Ulster, and had not been misled by weak humanitarianism!—H.S. CHAMBERLAIN, K.A., p. 93.

359. In the midst of this bewildering uproar, the soul again learns the truth of the old doctrine: it is the whole man that matters, and not his individual acts; it is the soul that gives value to the deeds, not the deeds to the soul.—PASTOR G. TRAUB, D.K.U.S., p. 6.

Compare Nietzsche, passim.

360. We are not only compelled to accept the war that is forced upon us ... but are even compelled to carry on this war with a cruelty, a ruthlessness, an employment of every imaginable device, unknown in any previous war.—PASTOR D. BAUMGARTEN, D.R.S.Z., No. 24, p. 7.

361. Whoever cannot prevail upon himself to approve from the bottom of his heart the sinking of the Lusitania—whoever cannot conquer his sense of the gigantic cruelty (ungeheure Grausamkeit) to unnumbered perfectly innocent victims ... and give himself up to honest delight at this victorious exploit of German defensive power—him we judge to be no true German.—PASTOR D. BAUMGARTEN, D.R.S.Z., No. 24, p. 7.[34]

See also No. 423.

FOOTNOTES:

[31] Observe that these two utterances are not shrieks of the war frenzy, but are the reflections of a German patriot in the year of grace 1900.

[32] The author does not explain how Germanic elements are to be discovered in peoples which he has assumed to have nothing Germanic in them.

[33] This chapter is an ingenious disquisition to prove that humanity may be all very well for inferior races, but that Germanism cannot be hampered by its restraints.

[34] This and the previous extract are taken from an address on the Sermon on the Mount!



V

MACHIAVELISM



V

MACHIAVELISM

Mendacity and Faithlessness.

(BEFORE THE WAR.)

362. A stock of inherited conceptions of integrity and morality is a necessity for government.—H. v. TREITSCHKE, P., Vol. i., p. 317.

363. When one really meditates a war, one must say no word about it; one must envelop one's designs in a profound mystery; then, suddenly and without warning, one leaps like a thief in the night—as the Japanese destroyers leapt upon the unsuspecting Port Arthur, as Frederick II. threw himself upon Silesia.[35]—A. WIRTH, U.A.P., p. 36.

364. The brilliant Florentine was the first to infuse into politics the great idea that the State is Power. The consequences of this thought are far-reaching. It is the truth, and those who dare not face it had better leave politics alone.—H. v. TREITSCHKE, P., Vol. i., p. 85.

365. As real might can alone guarantee the endurance of peace and security, and as war is the best test of real might, war contains the promise of future peace. But it must if possible [womoeglich] be a righteous and honourable war, something in the nature of a war of defence.—J. BURCKHARDT, W.B., p. 164.

366. It was Machiavelli who first laid down the maxim that when the State's salvation is at stake there must be no enquiry into the purity of the means employed; only let the State be secured and no one will condemn them.—H. v. TREITSCHKE, P., Vol. i., p. 83.

367. The relations between two States must often be termed a latent war, which is provisionally being waged in peaceful rivalry. Such a position justifies the employment of hostile methods, cunning and deception, just as war itself does.—GENERAL v. BERNHARDI, G.N.W., p. 49.

368. The statesman has no right to warm his hands with smug self-laudation at the smoking ruins of his Fatherland, and comfort himself by saying, "I have never lied"; this is the monkish type of virtue.—H. v. TREITSCHKE, P., Vol i., p. 104.

369. Belligerent States are always and exclusively in a pure state of nature, in which there cannot possibly be any question or right [or law].—E. v. HARTMANN, quoted by EIN DEUTSCHER, W.K.B.M., p. 12.

370. How markedly Bismarck's grand frankness in large matters stands out amidst all his craft in single instances.[36]—H. V. TREITSCHKE, P., Vol. i., p. 90.

371. Let it be the task of our diplomacy so to shuffle the cards that we may be attacked by France, for then there would be reasonable prospect that Russia for a time would remain neutral.... But we must not hope to bring about this attack by waiting passively. Neither France, nor Russia, nor England need to attack in order to further their interests.... If we wish to bring about an attack by our opponents, we must initiate an active policy which, without attacking France, will so prejudice her interests or those of England, that both these States would feel themselves compelled to attack us. Opportunities for such procedure are offered both in Africa and in Europe.—GENERAL v. BERNHARDI, G.N.W., p. 280.

372. When an unconscientious speculator is telling lies upon the Stock Exchange he is thinking only of his own profit, but when a diplomat is guilty of obscuring facts in a diplomatic negotiation he is thinking of his country.—H. v. TREITSCHKE, P., Vol i., p. 91.

373. It is natural, and within certain limits, politically a matter of course, that the German Emperor should have thought that, until Germany had a strong fleet, we must try to keep on good terms with England, and even, on occasion, to make concessions.—GRAF E. V. REVENTLOW, D.A.P., p. 60.

374. No State can pledge its future to another. It knows no arbiter, and draws up all its treaties with this implied reservation.... Moreover, every sovereign State has the undoubted right to declare war at its pleasure, and is consequently entitled to repudiate its treaties.—H. v. TREITSCHKE, p. i., 28.

375. The question of alliances in war is always an open one, for circumstances may at any moment arise such as Bismarck referred to when he said: "No power is bound [or, we will add, entitled][37] to sacrifice important interests of its own on the altar of faithfulness to an alliance!"—GRAF E. v. REVENTLOW, D.A.P., p. 22.

376. It was a most serious mistake in German policy that a final settling of accounts with France was not effected at a time when the state of international affairs was favourable and success might confidently have been expected.... This policy somewhat resembles the supineness for which England has herself to blame, when she refused her assistance to the Southern States in the American War of Secession.—GENERAL v. BERNHARDI, G.N.W., p. 239.

377. Since England committed the unpardonable blunder, from her point of view, of not supporting the Southern States in the American War of Secession, a rival to England's world-wide Empire has appeared on the other side of the Atlantic.—GENERAL v. BERNHARDI, G.N.W., p. 95.

(AFTER JULY, 1914.)

378. Perhaps the greatest danger for us Germans—greatest because it does not threaten us from without, but within our own hearts—is our magnanimity. O, there is something glorious about this virtue, and we Germans may be quite particularly proud of possessing it.... But woe to the people which does not stand as one man behind the statesman who, by dint of hard struggles with his own soul, has fought his way to the only true standpoint—namely, that in international relations magnanimity is wholly out of place, and that here the voice of expediency can alone be heard.—EIN DEUTSCHER, W.K.B.M., p. 12.

379. Through our policy of peace ... we deprive ourselves of the right of determining the time for bringing about a decision by force of arms, as Bismarck did in three wars, in which, thanks to his diplomatic adroitness, he forced upon his adversaries the outward appearance of declaring war, while in reality Prussia-Germany was the assailant. Bismarck is quoted in Germany as having discouraged preventive wars.... But we must not forget that the three great wars which Bismarck waged were in fact preventive. Even in 1870 the outbreak of war might have been stayed. It was only the brilliant manipulation (geniale Fassung) of the Ems telegram that put France in the wrong and drove her into war, just as Bismarck had foreseen.—K. v. STRANTZ, E.S.V., p. 38.

380. For the will of the State, no other principle exists but that of expediency (Zweckmaessigkeit), which is at the same time selfishness; not, however, the short-sighted selfishness commended by Machiavelli, but far-seeing, shrewdly-calculating selfishness.—EIN DEUTSCHER, W.K.B.M., p. 11.

381. Far-seeing selfishness does not exclude the endeavour to win the confidence of other nations, which can be won only by honesty. But this honesty, at any rate on vital questions, ought on no account to be carried to the pitch of inexpedient Quixotism. EIN DEUTSCHER, W.K.B.M., p. 11.

382. War was in our eyes the most honourable and the holiest means of awakening the people from its dazed condition. Whether this war came as an aggressive or as a defensive war was, in principle, a matter of indifference. That it came to us in the form of a war of defence was one of those historical strokes of luck which God vouchsafes to those peoples whom He loves. The time has not yet come to enquire whether the leaders of German foreign policy took deliberate measures to place us in the attitude of defence which the masses always regard as more moral. It may perhaps be so; but it is far from impossible that the disinclination for war which placed certain high dignitaries of the German Empire in constant opposition to the will of the people may have so far imposed upon our adversaries as to induce them to attack us.—K.A. KUHN, W.U.W., p. 9.

383. Treaties under international law are no more than the formulated expression of the existent relations of power between States. If these relations of power have so far changed that the real or imaginary vital interests of one of the States demand and render possible the alteration of such treaties, it is the simple duty of the leader of that State to effect the alteration by all conceivable means, so long as the risk does not appear greater than the anticipated advantage.—EIN DEUTSCHER, W.K.B.M., p. 7.

Might is Right.

(BEFORE THE WAR.)

384. The law of the strong holds good everywhere.—GENERAL V. BERNHARDI, G.N.W., p. 18.

385. What does right matter to me? I have no need of it. What I can acquire by force, that I possess and enjoy; what I cannot obtain, I renounce, and I set up no pretensions to indefeasible right.... I have the right to do what I have the power to do.—M. STIRNER, D.E.S.E., p. 275.

386. Might is the supreme right, and the dispute as to what is right is decided by the arbitrament of war. War gives a biologically just decision.—GENERAL v. BERNHARDI, G.N.W., p. 23.

387. Let it not be said that every people has a right to its existence (Bestand), its speech, &c. By making play with this principle, one may put on a cheap appearance of civilization, but only so long as the people in question ... does not stand in the way of any more powerful people.—J.L. REIMER, E.P.D., p. 129.

388. It is a persistent struggle for possessions, power and sovereignty that primarily governs the relations of one nation to another, and right is respected so far only as it is compatible with advantage.—GENERAL v. BERNHARDI, G.N.W., p. 19.

389. The earth is constantly being divided anew among the strong and powerful. The smaller peoples disappear; they are necessarily absorbed by their larger neighbours.—PROF. E. HASSE, D.G., p. 169.

(AFTER JULY, 1914.)

390. It is a base calumny to attribute to us the brutal principle that might is equivalent to right.—PROF. F. MEINECKE, D.R.S.Z., No. 29, p. 23.

391. In the age of the most tremendous mobilization of physical and spiritual forces the world has ever seen, we proclaim—no, we do not proclaim it, but it reveals itself—the Religion of Strength.—PROF. A. DEISSMANN, D.R.S.Z., No. 9, p. 24.

See also Nos. 84, 499.

FOOTNOTES:

[35] Frederick the Great's principle was: "When kings want war they begin it, and leave learned professors to come after and prove that it was just."

[36] In other words, Bismarck always told the truth when it was absolutely convenient.

[37] Reventlow's interpolation.



VI

ENGLAND, FRANCE & BELGIUM—ESPECIALLY ENGLAND



VI

ENGLAND, FRANCE & BELGIUM—ESPECIALLY ENGLAND

The False Islanders.

(BEFORE THE WAR.)

392. The climate, the want of wine, and lack of beautiful scenery, have all been obstacles in the way of English Kultur. H. V. TREITSCHKE, P., Vol. i., p. 222.

393. The English nationalism is also cosmopolitanism: the service of his own nation appears to the Englishman the service of mankind. For he regards his own nation as the mistress of the highest Kultur-treasures, to which other nations look up in order to admire and imitate. Thus Anglification is identified with the furtherance of human Kultur.—G. v. SCHULZE-GAEVERNITZ, B.I., p. 49.

394. England's strength resides in arrogant self-esteem, Germany's greatness in the modest appreciation of everything foreign. England is self-seeking to the point of insanity, Germany is just even to self-depreciation.—TH. FONTANE (about 1854), E.B., p. 389.

395. At the time of the illness of the Emperor Frederick, Treitschke, at the end of a long speech, summed up his sentiments in these words: "It must come to this that no German dog shall for evermore accept a piece of bread from the hand of an Englishman." These words, uttered in an outburst of passion, aroused no mirth, but went to the heart of the audience.—E.B., p. 395.

396. After the Boer War, Wildenbruch was done with England.... She was dead for him, and erased from the Book of Life. All the contempt which now leads us to raise, not the sword, but the whip, against that abortion compounded of low greed and shameless hypocrisy, he then screamed out to the world in words which we could not even to-day make bitterer or more scathing.—PROF. B. LITZMANN, D.R.S.Z., No. 12, p. 13.

397. It is just as Schleiermacher said a hundred years ago: "These false islanders, wrongly admired by many, have no other watchword but gain and enjoyment. They are never in earnest about anything that transcends practical utility."—PASTOR M. HENNIG, D.K.U.W., p. 37.

(AFTER JULY, 1914.)

Hymns of Hate.

398. The war has laid bare the British soul, and a cold shudder goes through the Germanic Kultur-world.—"GERMANUS," B.U.D.K., p. 52.

398a. A hundred times more glowing than our steel, shall the mark of our contempt be branded upon thee. Wander thou as a lonely Ahasuerus, restless and unhappy, over land and sea. And if thou sayest, "I have flung the firebrand of hell from earth to heaven, over sea and land, I have struck God and mankind in the face, and must now bear all their curses, an everlasting stigma seared with fire," then shalt thou speak the truth for the first time.—OTTO RIEMASCH, quoted in H.A.H., p. 49.

399. No people has done so much harm to civilization as the English.—O.A.H. SCHMITZ, D.W.D., p. 122.

400. King William I. issued on August 11, 1870, a proclamation to the effect that "Germany made war only against the armies of the enemy, not against the civil population."... There can be no doubt that, in the case of an eventual landing in England, the proclamation of the Emperor William II. to the English people would be couched in very different terms from those in which King William I. addressed the people of France.—A HAMBURG MERCHANT, E.S.S.H., pp. 8, 10.

401. England has nothing but the instincts of a beast of prey. This alone can explain her foreign and domestic policy of the past decades. Her one object has been to increase her outward possessions and to let her own people starve.—K.L.A. SCHMIDT, D.E.E., p. 6.

401a. We willingly leave to the Britons their "freedom." It is nothing but the freedom of the English aristocracy to impose its will on the English people. It is the freedom of individuals, bought with the misery of millions and with the blood of hirelings.—PROF. W. V. BLUME, D.D.M., p. 21.

But see No. 432, on the disgusting "comfort" of the British workman.

402. We need not be ashamed of our hatred [for England]. It is rooted in our love for our innocently suffering fellow-countrymen. This sanctifies it. The Gospel does not say, "If any one strikes thy child on the right cheek, turn to him also the left cheek of thy child," It speaks only of one's own cheek. But it also speaks of the hell-fire of which the offender stands in danger.—PROF. R. LEONHARD, D.R.S.Z., No. 16.

403. Our war expenses will be paid by the vanquished. The black-white-red flag shall float over all seas.... The whole world shall stand open to us, to develop the energy of the German nature in unhampered competition.... We must break the tyranny which England, in base self-seeking and shameless contempt of law, exercises over the seas.—PROF. O. v. GIERKE, D.R.S.Z., No. 2, p. 23.

404. It is high time to shake off the illusion that there is any moral law, or any historical consideration, that imposes upon us any sort of restraint with regard to England. Only absolute ruthlessness makes any impression on the Englishman; anything else he regards as weakness.... A corsaire, corsaire et demi!—PROF. O. FLAMM, E.B., p. 400.