Germany and the Next War | Page 5

methods at first until the differences between them grow irreconcilable,
our German nation is beset on all sides. This is primarily a result of our
geographical position in the midst of hostile rivals, but also because we
have forced ourselves, though the last-comers, the virtual upstarts,
between the States which have earlier gained their place, and now
claim our share in the dominion of this world, after we have for
centuries been paramount only in the realm of intellect. We have thus

injured a thousand interests and roused bitter hostilities. It must be
reserved for a subsequent section to explain the political situation thus
affected, but one point can be mentioned without further consideration:
if a violent solution of existing difficulties is adopted, if the political
crisis develops into military action, the Germans would have a
dangerous situation in the midst of all the forces brought into play
against them. On the other hand, the issue of this struggle will be
decisive of Germany's whole future as State and nation. We have the
most to win or lose by such a struggle. We shall be beset by the greatest
perils, and we can only emerge victoriously from this struggle against a
world of hostile elements, and successfully carry through a Seven
Years' War for our position as a World Power, if we gain a start on our
probable enemy as _soldiers_; if the army which will fight our battles is
supported by all the material and spiritual forces of the nation; if the
resolve to conquer lives not only in our troops, but in the entire united
people which sends these troops to fight for all their dearest
possessions.
These were the considerations which induced me to regard war from
the standpoint of civilization, and to study its relation to the great tasks
of the present and the future which Providence has set before the
German people as the greatest civilized people known to history.
From this standpoint 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, according to their true moral significance. I must
try to prove that war is not merely a necessary element in the life of
nations, but an indispensable factor of culture, in which a true civilized
nation finds the highest expression of strength and vitality. I must
endeavour to develop from the history of the German past in its
connection with the conditions of the present those aspects of the
question which may guide us into the unknown land of the future. The
historical past cannot be killed; it exists and works according to inward
laws, while the present, too, imposes its own drastic obligations. No
one need passively submit to the pressure of circumstances; even States
stand, like the Hercules of legend, at the parting of the ways. They can
choose the road to progress or to decadence. "A favoured position in
the world will only become effective in the life of nations by the
conscious human endeavour to use it." It seemed to me, therefore, to be

necessary and profitable, at this parting of the ways of our development
where we now stand, to throw what light I may on the different paths
which are open to our people. A nation must fully realize the probable
consequences of its action; then only can it take deliberately the great
decisions for its future development, and, looking forward to its destiny
with clear gaze, be prepared for any sacrifices which the present or
future may demand.
These sacrifices, so far as they lie within the military and financial
sphere, depend mainly on the idea of what Germany is called upon to
strive for and attain in the present and the future. Only those who share
my conception of the duties and obligations of the German people, and
my conviction that they cannot be fulfilled without drawing the sword,
will be able to estimate correctly my arguments and conclusions in the
purely military sphere, and to judge competently the financial demands
which spring out of it. It is only in their logical connection with the
entire development, political and moral, of the State that the military
requirements find their motive and their justification.

CHAPTER I

THE RIGHT TO MAKE WAR
Since 1795, when Immanuel Kant published in his old age his treatise
on "Perpetual Peace," many have considered it an established fact that
war is the destruction of all good and the origin of all evil. In spite of
all that history teaches, no conviction is felt that the struggle between
nations is inevitable, and the growth of civilization is credited with a
power to which war must yield. But, undisturbed by such human
theories and the change