Expansion in Europe.
(Before the War.)
192. Germany cannot be suspected of wishing for war.... She covets no possession of her neighbours. Any one who says that she does, slanders her.—Manifesto of the German Defence League, March, 1913. Nippold, D.C., p. 85.
192a. A developing, onward-striving people like ourselves requires new land for its energies, and if peace will not secure it, then only war remains. To arouse people to a realization of this fact was the mission of the Defence League.—General v. Wrochem, at meeting of German Defence League, Danzig, March, 1913. Nippold, D.C., p. 84.
192b. It is precisely our craving for expansion that drives us into the paths of conquest, and in view of which all chatter about peace and humanity can and must remain nothing but chatter.—J.L. Reimer, E.P.D., p. 154.
193. A new period of progress towards unification is possible only by means of a great and courageous policy, which should lead to victorious wars, and if possible to the territorial expansion of the Empire.—D.B.B., p. 202.
194. All the policy, internal and external, of the Empire ought to be subordinated to this governing idea—the Germanization of all the remains of foreign populations within the Empire, and the procuring for the German people of new territories, proportionate to its strength and its need of expansion.—Prof. E. Hasse, B.D.V., p. 126.
195. Our frontiers are too narrow. We must become land-hungry, must acquire new regions for settlement, otherwise we will be a sinking people, a stunted race. True love for our people and its children commands us to think of their future, however much they may accuse us of quarrelsomeness and lust of war. If the Germanic people shrank from war it would be as good as dead.—Baron v. Vietinghoff-Scheel, at meeting of Pan-German League, Erfurt, September, 1912. Nippold, D.C., p. 72.
196. Let us bravely organize great forced migrations of the inferior peoples. Posterity will be grateful to us. We must coerce them! This is one of the tasks of war: the means must be superiority of armed force. Superficially such forced migrations, and the penning up of inconvenient peoples in narrow "reserves," may appear hard; but it is the only solution of the race-question that is worthy of humanity.... Thus alone can the over-population of the earth be controlled: the efficient peoples must secure themselves elbow-room by means of war, and the inefficient must be hemmed in, and at last driven into "reserves" where they have no room to grow ... and where, discouraged and rendered indifferent to the future by the spectacle of the superior energy of their conquerors, they may crawl slowly towards the peaceful death of weary and hopeless senility.[22]—K. Wagner, K., p. 170.
197. We desire, and must desire ... a world-empire of Teutonic (germanisch) stock, under the hegemony of the German people. In order to secure this we must—
(a) Gradually Germanize the Scandinavian and Dutch Teutonic States, denationalizing them in the weaker signification of the term;[23]
(b) Break up the predominantly un-Teutonic peoples into their component parts, in order to take to ourselves the Teutonic element and Germanize it, while we reject the un-Teutonic element.
—J.L. Reimer, E.P.D., p. 137.
197a. Such false ideas as to nationality, speech and race are now prevalent ... that it is often maintained that no breaking-up of nations would be necessary, but that a "Germanization" in the mass of the nations in question [Germany's smaller neighbours] would be sufficient.—J.L. Reimer, E.P.D., p. 130.
198. We are indubitably the most martial nation in the world.... We are the most gifted of nations in all the domains of science and art. We are the best colonists, the best sailors, and even the best traders! And yet we have not up to now secured our due share in the heritage of the world.... That the German Empire is not the end but the beginning of our national development is an obvious truth.—F. Bley, W.D., pp. 21-22.
199. We must create a Central Europe which will guarantee the peace of the entire continent from the moment when it shall have driven the Russians from the Black Sea and the Slavs from the south, and shall have conquered large tracts to the east of our frontiers for German colonization. We cannot let loose ex abrupto the war which will create this Central Europe. All we can do is to accustom our people to the thought that this war must come.—P. de Lagarde, D.S., p. 83.
200. Before seeking to found a Greater Germany in other continents, we must create a Greater Germany in Central Europe.... In seeking to colonize the countries immediately contiguous to our present patrimony, we are continuing the millenary work of our ancestors. There is nothing in this contrary to nature.—Prof. E. Hasse, D.G., p. 168.
200a. Every great people needs new territory; it must expand over foreign soil; it must expel the foreigners by the power of the sword.—K. Wagner, K., p. 80.
201. For this evil [the emigration of the surplus population] we see only one remedy: the extension of our frontiers in Europe.... We must make room for an Empire of Germanic race which shall number 100,000,000 inhabitants, in order that we may hold our own against masses such as those of Russia and the United States.—D.B.B., p. 115.
202. [In the Great-German Confederation which will comprise most of Europe] the Germans, being alone entitled to exercise political rights, to serve in the Army and Navy, and to acquire landed property, will recover the feeling they had in the Middle Ages of being a people of masters. They will gladly tolerate the foreigners living among them, to whom inferior manual services will be entrusted.—G.U.M., p. 47.
203. The principles which must guide the German people in the establishment of the new Germanic world-empire are these:—
(1) The strengthening of its Germanic race-foundation.
(2) The securing of room for its surplus of births.
(3) The greatest possible expansion of this surplus over a portion of the earth which shall be sufficiently large, various and geographically well-situated to form an economic unit.
—J.L. Reimer, E.P.D., p. 135.
204. Our own social health, towards which, in the name of our moral ideals, we are now striving, may one day compel us to force upon other nations the benefits of the new economic forms.—F. Lange, R.D., p. 160 (1893).
205. One thing alone can really profit the German people: the acquisition of new territory. That is the only solid and durable gain ... that alone can really promote the diffusion, the growth and the deepening of Germanism.—A. Wirth, O.U.W., p. 56.
206. Excessive modesty and humility, rather than excessive arrogance and ambition, is a feature of the German character. Therefore we shall know how to set a limit to our desire for expansion, and shall escape the dangers which have been fatal to all conquerors whose ambition was unbridled.—Prof. E. Hasse, W.I.K., p. 63.
206a. The territory open to future German expansion ... must extend from the North Sea and the Baltic, to the Persian Gulf, absorbing the Netherlands and Luxembourg, Switzerland, the whole basin of the Danube, the Balkan Peninsula and Asia Minor.—Prof. E. Hasse, W.I.K., p. 65.
206b. Nowhere in the world is there so much declamation about Chauvinism as in Germany, and nowhere is so little of it to be found. We hesitate to express even the most natural demands that a nation can make for itself.—H. v. Treitschke, P., Vol. i.
207. When one wishes a thing, one must effectually will it. Our sense of justice [!] may in future lead us not to desire what does not belong to us, but if we take we must also hold fast. In other words, hitherto foreign territory is not incorporated into Germany until German proprietorship is rooted in the soil.[24]—F. Lange, R.D., p. 206 (1893).
208. A people that has increased so much as the German people is forced to carry on a constant policy of expansion. It must be candidly confessed that since the retirement of Bismarck the Will to Power had been lacking.—General v. Liebert, Member of the Reichstag, at meeting of Pan-German League, Hamburg, January, 1913. Nippold, D.C., p. 76.
209. Since the Western Powers restrict our right to life, it is necessary that we should attach one of them to us or that we should sweep them out of our way by force.—M. Harden, Zukunft, 12th August, 1911.
210. The Rhine ... is a priceless natural possession, although by our own fault we have allowed its most material value to fall into alien hands, and it must be the unceasing endeavour of German policy to win back the mouths of the river.—H. v. Treitschke, P., Vol. i., p. 125.
211. The Jablunka must never hear any language but German, and the [German] wave must spread thence towards the south until nothing remains of all the lamentable nationalities of the Imperial State [Austria].—P. de Lagarde, D.S., p. 112.
212. If our area of colonization[25] does not coincide with our political boundaries, the healthy egoism of our race commands us to place our frontier-posts in foreign territory, as we have done at Metz.—Prof. E. Hasse, D.G., p. 166.
213. A sturdy German egoism must characterize all political action.... The first principle of our policy, both at home and abroad, must be that, in everything that happens, the Germans [literally, the most German] should come off best, and the others should have a bad time of it (sich unbehaglich fühlen).—F. Lange, R.D., p. 213 (1893).
213a. A Ministry of Colonization must make up for lost time. With all prudence, but also with inflexible determination, a process of expropriation should be inaugurated, by which the Poles and the Alsatians and Lorrainers would be gradually transported to the interior of the Empire, while Germans would replace them on the frontier.—F. Lange, R.D., p. 206.