A BUNDLE OF WAR BOOKS.—I.*
TAKING them as a whole, the war books that bare been pouring from the press during the last three months are of excellent quality, whether considered from the naval, military, political, or moral point of view. Not the least important or interesting sections of these books are those which show us how the Germans prepared for their attack upon the Allies, and especially on this country, not merely in Krupp's factories at Essen; but in the educational field. There was a moral and intellectual as well as a material assem- bling of equipment.. While the guns, bullets, and powder were being got ready the hearts of the German people were being hardened to the cry that England was to be destroyed, that she would deserve her fate as a selfish and effete Power and that all means were justifiable in accom- plishing her ruin. When the student of history looks back upon the struggle of 1914 he will probably remark that it would have been more timely and better business if these books instructing the public what to expect from Germany and what were Germany's aims and aspirations had been published and read in England before, not after, we were at war. Unfortunately, however, we chose only to prepare against Germany, but to understand Germany's attitude to us after, not before, attack. Before the war the public not merely refused to listen to any one who pointed out, as we did, that the Germans did not take the Sunday-school view of the world, but we were in effect denounced as horrible and blood-stained ruffians by many most worthy people for daring to hint at facts that are now clear to the whole world. Just as there are some supersensitive people who are revolted by " the abhorred. dexterity of surgeons," and the so-called cold-bloodedness of physicians, and who in their heart of hearts cannot help shunning doctors and nurses as people who are callous about suffering, so we are afraid there will always be plenty of people who in peace will denounce as men of blood those who ask for war preparations.
• (1) Selections from Treitechke's Lectures on Politics. Translated by Adam L. Gowans. London Gowans and Gray. [2s. net.]—(2) The Organization of the Army. By Treitacbke. Same publishers. [6d. net.]—(3) The Nation in Arms. By Field-Marshal Baronvon der Goltz. London: Hodder and Stoughton and Hugh Bees. [2.. net.]—(4) Germany's War Mania : the Teutonic Point of I iew as officially Stated by her Leaders. London : A. W. Shaw Co. [2s." net.]—(6) Might is Eight, by Sir Walter Raleigh ; Great Britain and Germany, by Spenser Wilkinson ; The Nary and the War, by J. R. Thursfleld ; the Eastern Question, by F. F. Urquhart. "The Oxford Pamphlets." Oxford : at the University Press. [6d. each.1—(6) War Studies. By John Kirkpatrick. London Adam and Charles Black. [3d.l—(7) The Refounding of the German Empire.. By Colonel G. B. mansion. C.S.I. London: Seeley, Service, and Co. [2s. net.]
However, our object now is not bygones but realities. The man who did most, morally and intellectually, to prepare Germany for the great struggle with Britain was Treitschke,' the well-known Professor of History, who in the years between 1874 and his death in 1896 kept always before his listeners and students the destruction of Britain as the ideaL He was the protagonist of the gospel of hate. With that remorseless logic which belongs to the German profes- sorial mind, he made not merely the Muse of History, but the Genius of Politics and State Organization, " procuress to the lords of hell." Here is the learned Professor in regard to "scraps of paper " :—
" A State cannot possibly bind its will for the future in respect to another State. The State has no higher judge above it, and will therefore conclude all its treaties with that silent reservation. This is vouched for by the truth, that, so long as there has been a law of nations, at the moment that war was declared between the contending States all treaties ceased ; but every State has as sovereign the undoubted right to declare war when it chooses, consequently every State is in the position of being able to cancel any treaties which have been concluded. Upon this constant alteration of treaties the progress of history is founded ; every State must see to it that its treaties remain in vigour and do not go out of date, so that another power does not denounce them by declaring war upon it. For treaties that have outlived themselves must be denounced, and new ones corresponding to the new con- ditions must take their place. From this it is clear that the international treaties which restrict the will of a State are no absolute barriers, but voluntary limitations of itself."
It is curious to find Treitschke expressing his contempt for small States :— " If we look closer, it is manifest that, if the State is power, it is only the State that is really powerful that corresponds to our idea. Hence the undoubted ludicrousness that lies in the nature of a small State. Weakness, it is true, is nothing intrinsically ludicrous, but the weakness that tries to pose as power is indeed so. In small States there is developed that beggarly frame of mind which judges the State by the taxes that it raises ; which does not feel that, if the State may not press like an egg-shell, it cannot protect either, and that the moral benefits which we owe to the State are beyond all price. It is because it begets this materialism that the small State has so pernicious an effect on the mind of its citizens. There is also completely lacking in small States the ability of the great State to be just. Whoever in a small State has a sufficient number of cousins, and is not quite an imbecile, is soon provided for."
Taken as a whole, we cannot help feeling that Treitschke's ability, though not of course his influence, has been enor- mously overrated. He was content to take a wicked idea and follow it out to its logical conclusion without shame or
remorse. That is the long and short of it. At best, however, he is but a kind of beer-sodden Machiavelli. To quote the immortal words of Lance : " One who undertakes to be a dog
should be a dog at all things." It is a poor thing to be a respectable bourgeois at home and a fiend in the professorial chair. Another piece of Treitschke literature is a reprint of chap. =hi. of his " Lectures " on the organization of the Army' —a chapter which is also contained in the book just noticed.
The Nation in Arm83 is a popular reprint of Mr. Philip Ashworth's translation of Baron von der Goltz's great treatise. Those civilians who have the strategic instinct, and there are a great many such persons just now, will fmd it full of interest. Baron von der Goltz, of course, carries on the Clausewitz tradition. Indeed, he is at it now as Governor of Belgium. Yet another of the translations from German sources is Germany's War Mania,' which contains, to quote the title-page, "the Teutonic Point of View as Officially Stated by her Leaders "—that is, by the German Emperor, the Crown Prince, the Chancellor, past and present, and various Generals and Professors. The book has for its motto the following admirable quotation from Theodor Mommsen : " Have a care lest in this State, which has been at once a power in arms and a power in
intelligence, the intelligence should vanish, and nothing but the pure military State should remain." What a tragedy that the intellectual Germans would not listen to this noble warning !
Among some of the best war pamphlets dealing with the moral side of the struggle are those entitled "The
Oxford Pamphlets."' From these we select four. Excellent where all are good is Sir Walter Raleigh's Might is Bight. Here is the introductory paragraph :- " It is now recognized in England that our enemy in this war is not a tyrant military caste, but the united people of modern Germany. We have to combat an armed doctrine which is virtually
the creed of all Germany. Saxony and Bavaria, it is true, would never have invented the doctrine ; but they have accepted it trona Prussia, and they believe it. The Prussian doctrine has paid the German people handsomely; it has given them their place in the world. When it ceases to pay them, and not till then, they will reconsider it. They will not think, till they are compelled to think. When they find themselves face to face with a greater and more enduring strength than their own, they will renounce their idol. But they are a brave people, a faithful people, and a stupid people, so that they will need rough proofs. They cannot be driven from their position by a little paper shot. In their present mood, if they hear an appeal to pity, sensibility, and sympathy, they take it for a cry of weakness. I am reminded of what I once heard said by a genial and humane Irish officer concerning a proposal to treat with the leaders of a Zulu rebellion. 'Kill them all,' he said, 'it's the only thing they understand: He meant that the Zulu chiefs would mistake moderation for a sign of fear. By the irony of human history this sentence has become almost true of the great German people, who built up the structure of modern metaphysics. They can be argued with only by those who have the will and the power to punish them."
Of Mr. Spenser Wilkinson's Great Britain and Germany we need only say that the closely reasoned pages are worthy of the Chichele Professor of Military History at Oxford. The little pamphlet does not lend itself to quotation, for the links are too closely knit, but no one will be able to read it without gaining afirmer grasp of the war and what led up to it. Further, let us hope that for the future it will spread the conviction that the beat friend of peace is he who dares to face the thought of war and make adequate preparation therefor. Mr. Tburs- field's pamphlet, The Navy and the War, will show our readers, if there are any who require such information, what we owe to the Navy, and how patient we must be in supporting it if it is to perform its great trust adequately. " Patience and Vigilance —Patience and Vigilance—Patience and Vigilance," are the watchwords of the Navy. Mr. Thursfield ends with Mahan's glorious words as to the part played by the Fleet in the Napoleonic Wars, words which can never grow stale :— " They were dull, weary, eventless months, those months of waiting and watching of the big ships before the French arsenals. Purposeless they surely seemed to many, but they saved England. The world has never seen a more impressive demonstration of the influence of sea power upon its history. Those far-distant, storm- beaten ships upon which the Grand Army never looked, stood between it and the dominion of the world."
Very useful is Mr. F. F. Urquhart's The Eastern Question, for it reminds us of essential facts which are too apt to be forgotten. Readers will gather from it, among other things, what is the meaning of Greater Servia. Another interesting pamphlet of this sort is War Studies,6 by Mr. John Kirk- patrick. We wish we had space to quote his excellent historical summary, and show " how old and how eminent amongst us" is the principle of universal military service in England. We may add by way of postscript that Colonel Malleson's Befounding of the German Empire7 will be found very helpful by those who want to refresh their memory as to the rise of the German State from 1815 to 1914.
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