Chapter XIII: Appendix

With regard to the view expressed in Chapter V. concerning the subordinate part played by the economic causes of the war, it has been pointed out to me that during the Agadir crisis the employers of labour in the various German metal industries, grouped under the name of “Steel Syndicate,” addressed a petition to the Chancellor asking that war should be declared on France. Other industrial and economic leagues suggested to him, in special memorials, annexations in Belgium, France, and Russia.

Because the German iron-masters, egged on perhaps by Krupp and the army contractors, and suffering on the other hand from a spell of reckless over-production, were hunting for fresh markets, even at the price of a costly and bloody struggle, and because other manufacturers embraced similar schemes of conquest, it does not follow, first, that the majority of employers, great and small, who wanted to work in peace, became advocates of war; secondly—this point I have tried to prove in the aforesaid chapter—that such a war would have obtained for Germany the new markets that she hankered after.

Nor does it follow that the Imperial Government let itself be led or dragged into the war by the manufacturers. Its opinions, I am ready to admit, coincided with those of many among this class, as also with those of the agrarian section. But in declaring war on France and Russia it pursued above all a political aim. It did not take up arms with the main object of securing for Germany an economic monopoly or hegemony in Europe. To-day, for instance, when we see the Germans endeavouring to change into an annexation their occupation of Belgium and north-western France, we see that it is the possession of the North Sea coast and the Strait of Dover that they mainly have in view, in order from there to be able to strike a deadly blow at the British power. The results of a German victory were admirably defined by M. Poincaré, in his fine speech of 14th July; “We should fall for ever into a political, moral, and economic thraldom.” The economic vassalage would only be a consequence of the political thraldom.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] [The following are the German newspapers mentioned in this book:—_Kölnische Zeitung_ (Cologne Gazette); _Kreuzzeitung_ (Cross Gazette); _Vossische Zeitung_ (Voss’s Gazette); _Norddeutsche Zeitung_ (North German Gazette); _Berliner Lokalanzeiger_ (Berlin Local Advertiser); and _Berliner Tageblatt_ (Berlin Daysheet).—_Translator’s Note._]

[2] [Quoted from the _Times_ report, 3rd October 1914.—_Translator’s Note._]

[3] [Quoted from the British Blue Book.—_Translator’s Note._]

[4] [In Racine’s _Britannicus_, Nero, although his wife Octavia has done no wrong, proposes to divorce her and marry Junia. Junia replies:

“J’ai mérité
Ni cet excès d’honneur, ni cette indignité.”

—_Translator’s Note._]

[5] Report of Sir E. Goschen to Sir E. Grey, 8th August 1914, published by the British Government (_Great Britain and the European Crisis_).

[6] These laws deal with the military and naval forces of the Empire, finance, commerce, questions of domicile, means of communication, and justice.

[7] [In Continental politics, blue is the colour of the Conservatives proper, black that of the Clericals.—_Translator’s Note._]

[8] [The term applied in Continental politics to the temporary combination of several parties or groups for some particular purpose.—_Translator’s Note._]

[9] [This term arose out of the Social Democrats’ Congress at Baden in 1912. The “revisionists,” headed by Eduard Bernstein, proposed to abandon the old intransigent attitude, and to compromise with the Government in certain matters, especially taxation.—_Translator’s Note._]

[10] [This word bears the same meaning, for political purposes, as “_bloc_.” It is the German form of “cartel,” a term used by modern economists to denote a manufacturers’ union to keep up prices.—_Translator’s Note._]

[11] Yellow Book concerning Morocco, 1905.

[12] [French _tour de valse_, German _Walzertour_—_i.e._, a step taken without regard to the consequences, a light-hearted escapade. We may, perhaps, trace here a flavour of Teutonic contempt for Southern airs and graces.—_Translator’s Note._]

[13] Dispatch from M. Cambon, dated 5th November, Yellow Book for 1911.

[14] See especially reports 141 and 161 from Sir Maurice de Bunsen to Sir Edward Grey (_Great Britain and the European Crisis_).

[15] Belgian Grey Book, annexe to No. 2.

[16] Yellow Book, No. 120.

[17] See M. Waxweiler’s _La Belgique neutre et loyale_ (Lausanne: Payot et Cie.), and the pamphlet by M. van den Heuvel, Minister of State, _De la violation de la neutralité belge_ (Paris: Louis de Soye).

[18] Statement made by the Chancellor on 6th November 1914 to the representatives of the great American agencies, United Press and Amalgamated Press.

[19] [It would have been a pity to drop this happy metaphor, although it is not used, so far as I am aware, by English military writers. A curtain, in fortification, is a plain wall connecting two bastions.—_Translator’s Note._]

THE END.

PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN.

End of Project Gutenberg's Germany before the war, by Eugène-Napoléon Beyens