Blood and Iron.
269. The time for petty politics is past; the next century[28] will bring the struggle for the dominion of the world—the compulsion to great politics.—Fr. Nietzsche, B.G.E., section 208.
270. I greet all the signs indicating that a more manly and warlike age is commencing, which will, above all, bring heroism again into honour!—Fr. Nietzsche, J.W., section 283.
271. General Keim from Berlin insisted that the path to German unity and power was not paved with sealing-wax, printers' ink and parliamentary resolutions, but marked by blood, wounds and deeds of arms. States could be maintained only by the means by which they were created.—At meeting of Pan-German League, Augsburg, September, 1912. Nippold, D.C., p. 72.
272. It is only since the last war [1870] that a sounder theory has arisen of the State and its military power. Without war no State could be.... War, therefore will endure to the end of history, so long as there is multiplicity of States.—H. v. Treitschke, P., Vol. i., p. 65.
273. We owe it to Napoleon ... that several warlike centuries, which have not had their like in past history, may now follow one another—in short, that we have entered upon the classical age of war, war at the same time scientific and popular, on the grandest scale (as regards means, talents and discipline) to which all coming millenniums will look back with envy and awe as a work of perfection—for the national movement out of which this martial glory springs, is only the counter-choc against Napoleon, and would not have existed without him. To him, consequently, one will one day be able to attribute the fact that man in Europe has again got the upper hand of the merchant and the Philistine.—Fr. Nietzsche, J.W., section 362.
274. What men tower highest in the history of the nation, whom does the German heart cherish with the most ardent love? Goethe? Schiller? Wagner? Marx? Oh, no—but Barbarossa, the great Frederick, Blücher, Moltke, Bismarck, the hard men of blood. It is to them, who offered up thousands of lives, that the soul of the people goes out with tenderest affection, with positively adoring gratitude. Because they did what now we ought to do.... Our holiest raptures of homage are paid to these Titans of the Blood-Deed.—Dr. W. Fuchs, in article on "Psychiatrie and Politics," in Die Post, 28th January, 1912. Nippold, D.C., p. 2.
275. I must assert with emphasis that the cardinal sin of our whole policy has hitherto been that we have lost sight of the eternal truth: Politics mean the Will to Power.... The history of the world teaches us that only those people have strongly asserted themselves who have without hesitation placed the Will to Power higher than the Will to Peace.—General Keim, at meeting of Central Committee of Pan-German League, Munich, April, 1913. Nippold, D.C., p. 77.
276. This nation possesses an excess of vigour, enterprise, idealism, and spiritual energy which qualifies it for the highest place; but a malignant fairy laid on its cradle the most petty theoretical dogmatism.... Yet the heart of this people can always be won for great and noble aims, even though such aims can only be attended by danger.... An intense longing for a foremost place among the Powers and for manly action fills our nation. Every vigorous utterance, every bold political step of the Government, finds in the soul of the people a deeply-felt echo, and loosens the bonds which fetter all their forces.—General v. Bernhardi, G.N.W., p. 256.
277. War does not depend on the human will, but is for the most part an ineluctable, elementary happening, a dæmonic power forcing itself upon us, against which all written treaties, all peace conferences and humanitarian agitations, come pitifully to wreck.—General Keim, at meeting of the German Defence League, Cassel, February, 1913. Nippold, D.C., p. 82.