POST-WAR EUROPE
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Sm,—In the multitude of writings and speeches on this subject there seems always to be one great assumption, that in post-war Europe there must necessarily be a State called Germany, or the German Empire. It is not a great assumption to say that if there is, there will be no possibility or any settled peace for Europe or for the world. It is no use saying vaguely and glibly that the victorious Allies will keep in continual existence military, naval and air forces of such power that whoever attempts to disturb the peace can be immediately crushed. That would mean a world war every fifty years or so, with crushing armaments everywhere during the intervening years. What a prospect!
To prevent that, the Allies must strike at the root of the evil. What is that root? It is the immensely efficient military machine which the German Empire has built up. A hasty glance at the recent history of the German-speaking peoples will, I think, reveal the following facts. They are not all of one race, and they have not always been a menace to the world's peace. Between the death of Frederick the Great and the rise of Bismarck they were divided into a large number of small States, quite independent of one another and many of them valuable contributors to world civilisation and culture, especially in literature, philosophy and music, as the names of Goethe, Schiller, Lessing, Heine, Kant, Bach, Beethoven, Mozart and many others show. With the rise of Bismarck to power in Prussia these contributions gradually faded away and the intellectual forces of the German-speaking peoples were diverted to destruction, net creation, but for one brief period the', achievements rivalled those of the city States of ancient Greece and mediaeval Italy.
In the roughest and briefest outline their history was something like this: Bismarck did not originate, but gave the most practical trend to, the idea that the German-speaking tribes were by Nature ordained to conquer and rule the world, beginning with Europe. Having attained power in Prussia, he set himself to make it army into a most efficient, and if possible invincible, offensive military machine. It was not a defensive army. No enemy threatened Germany. Within about seven years he started three European wars. In 1863, he attacked his weakest neighbour, little Denmark, easily conquered it, and annexed two of its provinces to Prussia. In 1866 he attacked Austria (then reckoned one of the Great Powers of Europe) and conquered it in about seven weeks. He annexed none of its territory, but contented himself with deposing Austria from the leadership of the South German Federation and putting in its place Prussia, the leading Power in the North German States. In 187o he inveigled France (then considered the foremost military Power in Europe, if not in the world) into war. After about eight months France was prostrate at his feet, her Emperor dethroned and in exile ; her Empire became a republic.
In 1871 the German Empire was founded at Versailles, in the capital of France, and the King of Prussia became the first German Emperor. Since that date the German Empire has become an increasing menace to the peace and culture of Europe, and through Europe, to the world. It has produced two world wars. Can this be permanently stopped? Yes, but only in one way. By breaking up the German Empire into its component parts and restoring i, to the condition in which it was when it made great contributions tt. ivilisation and culture, as a number of small, independent, free States, who were a menace to no one. It would not be necessary for the rest of the word to keep huge armed forces in existence such as are necessary to prevent a surprise attack by a conglomeration of eighty millions of people, secretly armed to the teeth. These small States could be carefully and easily checked by a com- paratively small force, if they showed any sign of re-uniting or making military preparations for offensive war.—Yours faithfully, W. M. CROOK.
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