What Germany Thinks Part 22

With genuine German inquisitiveness Herr Presber hunted through the various cupboards and drawers in his room and found a map of France as it was before the loss of Alsace-Lorraine. "The map is wrong and useless, and so I use it to line a drawer before placing my linen therein. This makes me think of the many changes which will be marked in the atlases which German children are now carrying to school in their satchels--after the cannon have ceased to roar. How the colouring of the maps has changed since I went to school, and yet once more a great 'unrest of colour' is about to change the map of Europe. And as far as I can see, large notes of interrogation must be placed not alone round the Poles and in Central Africa!"[179]

[Footnote 179: Ibid., p. 101.]

"I spoke of the good understanding between the natives and our soldiers.

Probably that is not so easy to attain everywhere. We drove long distances from the Prince's headquarters and once pa.s.sed through a famous town which sees the German conquerors for a second time. (No doubt Sedan is meant.--Author.)

"Most of the inhabitants know it is the Crown Prince by the signs of reverence shown him on all sides, by officers and men alike. But the citizens of the twice-conquered town bite their lips, turn their heads aside, and pretend indifference. The women too--many of them in deep mourning--turn away, or sometimes stand and stare as if with suddenly aroused interest. Here the ancient hate glowers in silence.

"It seems as if a parole of mute non-respect has been pa.s.sed round. This town, which has become world-famous on account of the _debacle_ of the Third Empire, lives to see with gnas.h.i.+ng of teeth the downfall of the Republic. But they do not believe it yet."[180]

[Footnote 180: Ibid., p. 108.]

"French and Russian prisoners are working on the roads, wheeling barrows of stone and filling the holes made by sh.e.l.l fire. Some of them, without thinking, touch their caps when their guards stand stiffly at the salute. (And how few guards are necessary to watch this tame herd!) Others gaze at our car as it rushes past without giving any salute; their faces express astonishment, curiosity, but no excitement."[181]

[Footnote 181: Ibid., pp. 107-110.]

Another illuminating page tells of the Crown Prince's anger on hearing that Italy had joined the Allies, and how they went for a motor-ride as an antidote to the royal rage.

German humour is generally unconscious and mostly unintentional. After a policy of bullying towards France for forty-four years, Germany has discovered during the course of the war that France is the cat's-paw of Russia and Great Britain--princ.i.p.ally the latter.

One writer,[182] in some fifty pages of venom, endeavours to show that England is France's executioner. Another[183] gives our ally the advice "awake!" After Germany has played the _saigner-a-blanc_ game in Northern France for more than a year, the advice seems rather belated.

[Footnote 182: Walter Unus: "England als Henker Frankreichs."

Braunschweig, 1915.]

[Footnote 183: Ernst Heinemann: "Frankreich, erwache!" Berlin, 1915.]

Herr Heinemann writes, p. 33: "France is not fighting for herself, but for England and Russia.

"Poor deceived France! She has given fifteen milliards of francs to Russia so that she may at last draw the sword in defence of Russo-Serbian and British commercial interests. She has placed her money and her beautiful land at the disposal of her so-called friends--for the sake of a mad idea which these friends have cleverly exploited (_revanche idee_).

"England has declared that she will continue the war for twenty years, twenty years--on French soil. If under these circ.u.mstances the French broke with their allies--who have exploited France for the last twenty-five years, and who have plunged her into this war---in order to arrive at a reasonable understanding with Germany; then they would only show that they do not intend to accept the final consequences of the mistakes committed by the French Government.

"No one is compelled to eat the last drop of a soup prepared by false friends. In this sense, to seduce France to a direct breach of faith with her allies, would in truth, only mean the protection of France's best interests" (pp. 51-2).

One other writer deserves mention--a lecturer in history, Bonn University--because he presents an opinion the exact contrary to the one last quoted. According to Dr. Platzhoff, France herself is the guilty party, who has tricked Russia and Great Britain into the service of revenge for 1870.

"Therefore France found it necessary to extract herself from isolation, and acquire allies against her neighbour (Germany). In several decades of painful effort, French diplomacy has solved the problem in brilliant fas.h.i.+on. _Revanche_--and alliance policy are inseparable conceptions."[184]

[Footnote 184: Dr. Walter Platzhoff; "Deutschland und Frankreich," p.

18.]

In contrast to most German authors, Platzhoff admits that the _Entente Cordiale_ was called into being by Germany herself. "This development caused great anxiety in Germany. But it seems certain that Germany could have prevented it by one means alone--an open agreement with England.

And Berlin, after considering the matter carefully, had declined the latter."[185]

[Footnote 185: Ibid., p. 22.]

"That France would enter the field on Russia's behalf is a logical consequence not only of the Dual Alliance treaty, but also of the policy pursued during recent decades. In vain French ministers have protested their love of peace and their innocence in causing this war. The policy of alliances and revenge was certain to end in a world conflagration.

"Already voices make themselves heard which prophesy a revolution in French policy and a later _entente_ with Germany."[186]

[Footnote 186: Ibid., pp. 26-8.]

Many such pa.s.sages might be cited to prove that Germany would like to see a split among the allies. But France's honour and welfare are in her own hands, and it appears a futile hope that Germany, after failing to bring France to submission and self-effacement by threats of _saigner a blanc_, will succeed in her purpose by the reality.

CHAPTER XI

THE INTELLECTUALS AND THE WAR

Mention has already been made that a large number of Germany's war books has emanated from the universities. Not the least important of these efforts is "Deutschland und der Weltkrieg" ("Germany and the World War.")[187] Twenty well-known university professors have contributed to the work; the fact being emphasized that special facilities have been accorded to them by the German foreign office. For British readers the chapters by Professors Marcks and Oncken are the most interesting, viz., "England's Policy of Might" by the former, and "Events leading up to the War" and "The Outbreak of War" by the latter. They take up a fifth of the 686 pages of which the entire work consists.

[Footnote 187: "Deutschland und der Weltkrieg," herausgegeben von Otto Hintze, Friedrich Meinecke, Hermann Oncken und Hermann Schumacher.

Leipzig und Berlin, 1915.]

The purpose of Professor Marcks' essay is to prove on historical and scientific lines the lessons which have been taught in German schools for nearly half a century, _i.e._, England is an astute but ruthless robber who respects no right, and no nation which stands in her way.

"England's modern history begins with the Tudors and her world policy with Elizabeth. First of all, England had to liberate herself, economically and politically, from a position of dependence on the other Powers; then she took up her particular att.i.tude to the world. Her separation from the Roman Catholic Church was exceedingly rich in consequences; this step a.s.signed to her a peculiar place in the camp of the nations, and exercised a deep influence upon her intellectual development. It gave her an impetus towards internal and external independence.

"But the determining factor for England's future was her insular position; this has been the case from the time Europe entered the ocean-period. Since the year 1600 England, by her commerce and politics, has influenced Europe from without, while she has maintained for herself a position of independence, and directed her energies across the ocean into the wide world. Successively she seized upon the Baltic, North Sea, and Atlantic Ocean; gradually she became the merchant and s.h.i.+pbuilder for most of the European nations.

"The sea has given her everything--independence, security and prosperity--both in treasure and lands. The sea protected her and spared her the unpleasantness of mighty neighbours. It was the ocean which permitted free development to her internal life, parliament, government and administration, and saved her from the continental form of Government--a strong, armed monarchy.

"The sea has allowed the English to develop, undisturbed, the peculiarities of their race--personal energy, trained by contact with the ocean; personal freedom, favoured but not oppressed by the living organism of the State. The sea afforded them liberty of action in every direction without fear of attack from behind. Freed from the chains which bound Europe, England went out into the wide world.

"Yet she remained constantly a.s.sociated with the continent, not only because Europe was her field of action. English statesmen have always seized upon every opportunity to influence European policy; at first this was from motives of defence, but afterwards from an ever-increasing spirit of aggression. The balance of power on the continent has always been one of the premises for England's security and existence.

"She is indebted to her insular position for the supreme advantage of being able to exercise her influence in Europe without allowing her forces to be tied to the continent; European countries were bound by their own conflicts and differences, enabling England to exert her influence upon them without active partic.i.p.ation. England has become thoroughly accustomed to a state of affairs under which she has no neighbours and never permits any--not even on the sea. She has come to consider this her G.o.d-given prerogative.

"The barriers of geographical position which hampered other lands, nature did not impose upon England; the security afforded by her girdle of waves seemed as it were to impel her to strike out into the unbounded, and to look upon every obstacle as a wrong. There is a thread of daring lawlessness running through all England's world-struggles, through all periods of her history, right down to the present day.

"When England speaks of humanity she means herself; her cosmopolitan utterances refer to her own nationality. She forgets too easily that other nations have arisen on the earth who esteem their own distinguis.h.i.+ng traits and are inspired by the ardent desire to uphold their own inst.i.tutions, forms of Government and culture. England believes all too easily that the world's map should be all one colour.

But the soul of the modern world demands variety."[188]

[Footnote 188: Ibid., 297 _et seq_.]

There is no important objection to raise against Professor Marcks'

statement of English history and Britain's favoured position on the surface of the globe. Germany did not choose her own geographical situation in the world--it is hers by nature and the right of historical succession. Britain has never envied her or endeavoured to deprive her of the advantages consequent upon her "place in the sun."

Neither did the British select their island home; destiny and history were again the determining factors. But it would be a travesty of the truth to a.s.sert that Germany has not envied her that position, together with the advantages arising from it. Yet in the same degree as the inhabitants of these islands have used the "talents" entrusted to them through their favourable position, Germany's jealousy seems to have become more bitterly angry. By right of birth and national necessity Germany demands the domination of the Rhine, but she fails to recognize that right of birth and the demands of national existence compel Britain to claim the domination of the seas.

The remainder of Professor Marcks' essay is devoted to proving that "the freedom of our world requires that it shall not be so in future."

Whatever motives actuated Germany in precipitating the war, this much is now evident--it is her supreme desire and the aim of her highest endeavour to destroy Britain's favoured situation and every advantage accruing to her from it.

To-day the issue is clear and simple for Germany--the annihilation of British power and influence in the world. Literally hundreds of German war books echo that cry, and, above all else, it is the hope of attaining this aim which has aroused the bitterest war fury in the entire German nation--man, woman and child. Reduced to first principles, this difference of geographical position and the varying advantages arising therefrom are the prime causes--if not _the_ cause--of the present world-struggle.