Militarism Exultant.
(After July, 1914.)
305. I have lived for forty-five years mainly in the society of Germans, and thirty years exclusively in German countries ... and my testimony is this: in the whole of Germany there has not been for the past forty-three years a single man who has wished for war—not one. Whoever denies this, lies.—H.S. Chamberlain, K.A., p. 11.
305a. It is only in war that we find the action of true heroism, the realization of which on earth is the care of militarism. That is why war appears to us, who are filled with militarism, as in itself a holy thing, as the holiest thing on earth.—Prof. W. Sombart, H.U.H., p. 88.
306. Every age requires its war, lest civilization stagnate.—O.A.H. Schmitz, D.W.D., p. 116.
Bestir you, my comrades! To horse, to horse!
And away to the field and to freedom....[30]
Truly a splendid song. It thrills through all our muscles, and makes us feel as though we ourselves would like once more to take our share in a joyous fight.—Prof. U. v. Wilamowitz-Möllendorf, pt. I., p. 4.
Compare No. [241].
308. Anti-militarism was enraptured. What we had laboriously built up through the cultivation of the warlike spirit sank to ruins.... God be eternally praised! The great masses of the people would have nothing to say to these doctrines of the evil of war.... It appeared as clear as daylight that we had always been right, and that the warlike spirit, that deepest and purest joy of the great heart of our people, was unshaken and unchanged. The warlike spirit, the love of war and the craving for battle, was no imaginary characteristic of our people—no, and a thousand times no!—K.A. Kuhn, W.U.W., p. 7.
309. The tempest of patriotic exaltation is sweeping through the German land, and Treitschke's solemn pronouncement as to war being a fountain of health for the people has all of a sudden risen into renewed estimation. The war has swept the tedious patience-game of the diplomats off the table and set the brazen dice of the battlefield rolling in its stead.—F. v. Liszt, E.M.S., "Geleitwort," p. 1.
310. Our long years of peace, full of honest, but, alas! also of dishonest, work, had brought us no blessing. We breathed again when the war came.—H. v. Wolzogen, G.Z.K., p. 61.
311. Over the blood of the fallen glows the flame of poetic enthusiasm. A war without dead and wounded is a life without work, without aim and without hope.—K.A. Kuhn, W.U.W., p. 7.
312. When the summons to war rang out, in thousands and thousands of families people searched the Holy Scriptures, to know what was God's message for the event of war; and the dear Bible-Book, which never leaves us in the lurch, brought to the searcher strength, counsel and consolation. The Old Testament, under-valued by many, now became, all of a sudden, the book for everyday reading.—Pastor M. Hennig, D.K.U.W., p. 5.
313. The order in which the nations take rank cannot be determined in time of peace, by standards of reason, not only because the majority of overfed ruminants would always keep the Lion encaged, but because only in war can the Lion prove his lionlikeness to others, and—what is still more important—to himself.—O.A.H. Schmitz, D.W.D., p. 3.
314. [Materialism and millionairism were playing havoc in Germany.] At last the spectre of materialism penetrated into the palaces of the dynastic leaders of our people, and from that day began the preaching of the blessings of everlasting peace. At the same time there began a hateful campaign of slander against all true patriots, against all ethical champions of war (Ethiker des Krieges.)—K.A. Kuhn, W.U.W., p. 6.
315. The laurels of this bloodless victory [the victory of the war spirit] belong to that part of the German teaching profession which has remained true to its patriotic duties!—K.A. Kuhn, W.U.W., p. 8.
316. Though clever writers sometimes speak of the Kaiser's romantic proclivities, his earnest searching of the Scriptures has brought him to such a sober way of thinking that he has steered clear of all Utopias, and has not allowed himself to be led astray by the empty dreams of pacifist enthusiasm.—Pastor M. Hennig, D.K.U.W., p. 16.
317. We have no knowledge of pacifist utterances of representative Germans of any time. The wretched book of the aged Kant, on "Perpetual Peace" ... is the only inglorious exception. Such utterances would indeed amount to a sin against the holy spirit of Germanism, which, from the depths of its heroism, cannot possibly arrive at any view other than a high appreciation of war.—Prof. W. Sombart, H.U.H., p. 93.
318. One or other of the English swashbucklers has recently said that the Allies are not fighting against the Germany of Beethoven and Goethe, but against the Germany of Bismarck, of which they have had too much.... But Faust and the Ninth Symphony strongly resemble the mighty works of the great artsmith, Bismarck.—K. Engelbrecht, D.D.D.K., p. 61.
319. How far our classic age ... was removed from a depreciation and rejection of war is shown by the attitude assumed by a spirit so pathetically calm and aloof as Jean Paul, who nevertheless called war the strengthening iron cure of humanity, and maintained, indeed, that this held good more for the side which suffers than for that which wins. The fever caused by the wounds of war was, in his opinion, better than the jail fever of a loathsome peace.—Prof. W. Sombart, H.U.H., p. 94.
320. It is monstrous that even high spiritual dignitaries can be found, in our days, to tell their adherents that war is a misfortune, and that such utterances can actually be printed by the official press.—K.A. Kuhn, W.U.W., p. 7.
321. Just imagine our humanity of to-day—I mean, of course, our German humanity—without its military education. Non-German humanity gives us some idea of what that would mean!—H. v. Wolzogen, G.Z.K., p. 60.
322. If we are to carry on the warlike education of our people—and we are resolved to do so—then we by that very fact affirm our constant readiness again to enter upon a war, as soon as our honour, our inward or outward growth, or the expansive tendencies rooted in the inmost nature of our people, demand it.—Pastor D. Baumgarten, D.R.S.Z., No. 24, p. 17.
323. The incomparably greater efficiency of army administration, even in questions of civil life, has everywhere made a deep impression during the present war, and has opened the eyes of many. One has constantly heard people exclaim: "Oh, it could only continue after the war!"—H.S. Chamberlain, P.I., p. 116.
324. Oh, that Germany would learn from this war to send out soldiers only—Generals and ex-officers of the General Staff—as German diplomatists, ambassadors and consuls!—K.L.A. Schmidt, D.E.E., p. 17.
325. We must not look for permanent peace as a result of this war. Heaven defend Germany from that.—O.A.H. Schmitz, D.W.D., p. 19.
See also Nos. [91], [192a], [195], [217].
FOOTNOTES:
[26] Down to this point Burckhardt is condensing a paragraph from Ernst v. Lasaulx, "Philosophie der Geschichte," 1856 p. 85.
[27] Quoted in original.
[28] Written in 1885.
[29] Klaus Wagner (Krieg, p. 223) has a long statistical argument to the same effect. He says that 41,000 men lost their lives in 1870-71, and estimates on this basis that, in a repetition of that war, the Germany of his own time (1906) would lose only one man in every 1,600 of her population. The confident assumption that the next war could be nothing but 1870 over again underlies all German speculation on the subject.
[30] From Schiller's Wallensteins Lager.
IV
RUTHLESSNESS
IV
RUTHLESSNESS[ToC]
(Before the War.)
326. War is an act of violence whose object is to constrain the enemy, to accomplish our will.... Insignificant limitations, hardly worthy of mention, which it imposes on itself, under the name of the law of nations, accompany this violence without notably enfeebling it.—General C v. Clausewitz, V.K., Vol. i., p. 4.
327. I warn you against pity: from it will one day arise a heavy cloud for men. Verily, I am weatherwise!—Fr. Nietzsche, Z. Of the Pitiful.
328. The Germans let the primitive Prussian tribes decide whether they should be put to the sword or thoroughly Germanized. Cruel as these processes of transformation may be, they are a blessing for humanity. It makes for health that the nobler race should absorb the inferior stock.—H. v. Treitschke, P., Vol. i, p. 121.
329. Much that is dreadful and inhuman in history, much that one hardly likes to believe, is mitigated by the reflection that the one who commands and the one who carries out are different persons—the former does not behold the sight, therefore does not experience the strong impression on the imagination; the latter obeys a superior and therefore feels no responsibility.—Fr. Nietzsche, H.T.H., section 101.
330. The warrior has need of passion. It must not ... be regarded as a necessary evil; nor condemned as a regrettable consequence of physical contact; nor must we seek to restrain it and curb it as a savage and brutal force.—General v. Hartmann, D.R., Vol. XIII., p. 122.
331. One must ... resist all sentimental weakness: life is in its essence appropriation, injury, the overpowering of whatever is foreign to us and weaker than ourselves, suppression, hardness, the forcing upon others of our own forms, the incorporation of others, or, at the very least and mildest, their exploitation.—Fr. Nietzsche, B.G.E., section 259.
332. We may depend upon the re-Germanizing of Alsace, but not of Livonia and Kurland. There no other course is open to us but to keep the subject race in as uncivilized a condition as possible, and thus prevent them from becoming a danger to their handful of conquerors.—H. v. Treitschke, P., Vol. i, p. 122.
333. A morality of the ruling class [has for] its principle that one has duties only to one's equals; that one may act towards beings of a lower rank, towards all that is foreign, just as seems good to one ... and in any case "beyond good and evil."—Fr. Nietzsche, B.G.E., section 260.
334. The "argument of war" permits every belligerent State to have recourse to all means which enable it to attain the object of the war; still, practice has taught the advisability of allowing in one's own interest the introduction of a limitation in the use of certain methods of war, and a total renunciation of the use of others.... If in the following work the expression "the law of war" is used, it must be understood that by it is meant only ... a limitation of arbitrary behaviour which custom and conventionality, human friendliness and a calculating egoism have erected, but for the observance of which there exists no express sanction, but only "the fear of reprisals" decides.—G.W.B., pp. 52, 53.
335. A new type of philosophers and commanders will some time or other be needed, at the very idea of which everything that has existed in the way of occult, terrible and benevolent [!] beings might look pale and dwarfed. The image of such leaders hovers before our eyes.... The conditions which one would have partly to create and partly to utilize for their genesis [include] a transvaluation of values, under the new pressure and hammer of which a conscience should be steeled and a heart transformed to brass, so as to bear the weight of such responsibility.—Fr. Nietzsche, B.G.E., section 203.
336. Since the tendency of thought of the last century was dominated essentially by humanitarian considerations which not infrequently degenerated into sentimentality and weak emotionalism, there have not been wanting attempts to influence the development of the usages of war in a way which was in fundamental contradiction with the nature of war and its object. Attempts of this kind will also not be wanting in the future, the more so as these agitations have found a kind of moral recognition in some provisions of the Geneva Convention and the Brussels and Hague Conferences.... The danger can only be met by a thorough study of war itself. By steeping himself in military history an officer will be able to guard himself against excessive humanitarian notions, it will teach him that certain severities are indispensable to war, nay, more, that the only true humanity very often lies in a ruthless application of them.—G.W.B., pp. 54, 55.
337. Those very men who are so strictly kept within bounds by good manners ... who, in their behaviour to one another, show themselves so inventive in consideration, self-control, delicacy, loyalty, pride and friendship—those very men are to the outside world, to things foreign and to foreign countries, little better than so many uncaged beasts of prey. Here they enjoy liberty from all social restraint ... and become rejoicing monsters, who perhaps go on their way, after a hideous sequence of murder, conflagration, violation, torture, with as much gaiety and equanimity as if they had merely taken part in some student gambols.... Deep in the nature of all these noble races there lurks unmistakably the beast of prey, the blond beast, lustfully roving in search of booty and victory.—Fr. Nietzsche, G.M., i., II.
338. However much it may ruffle human feeling to compel a man to do harm to his own Fatherland, and indirectly to fight his own troops, none the less no army operating in an enemy's country will altogether renounce this expedient.—G.W.B., p. 117.
339. A still more severe measure is the compulsion of the inhabitants to furnish information about their own army, its strategy, its resources, and its military secrets. The majority of writers of all nations are unanimous in their condemnation of this measure. Nevertheless it cannot be entirely dispensed with; doubtless it will be applied with regret, but the argument of war will frequently make it necessary.—G.W.B., p. 118.
340. That the lambs should bear a grudge against the great birds of prey is in no way surprising; but that is no reason why we should blame the great birds of prey for picking up the lambs.... To demand of strength that it should not manifest itself as strength, that it should not be a will for overcoming, for overthrowing, for mastery, a thirst for enemies, for struggles and triumphs, is as absurd as to demand of weakness that it should manifest itself as strength.—Fr. Nietzsche, G.M., i., 13.
341. It is a gratuitous illusion to suppose that modern war does not demand far more brutality, far more violence, and an action far more general than was formerly the case.—General v. Hartmann, D.R., Vol. xiv., p. 89.
342. The enemy State must not be spared the want and wretchedness of war; these are particularly useful in shattering its energy and subduing its will.—General v. Hartmann, D.R., Vol. xiii., p. 459.
343. We ... believe that [man's] Will to Life had to be intensified into unconditional Will to Power; we hold that hardness, violence, slavery, danger in the street and in the heart, secrecy, stoicism, arts of temptation and devilry of all kinds; that everything evil, terrible, tyrannical, wild-beast-like and serpent-like in man contributes to the elevation of the species just as much as its opposite—and in saying this we do not even say enough.—Fr. Nietzsche, B.G.E., section 44.
344. Even if there were no question of vengeance, even if we were not demanding reparation for ancient wrongs ... the crime (Frevel) of opposing the development of Germany is so great that the most trenchant measures are scarcely a sufficient punishment for it!—D.B.B., p. 214.
345. Whoever enters upon a war in future, will do well to look only to his own interests, and pay no heed to any so-called international law. He will do well to act without consideration and without scruple, and this holds good in the case of a war with England.[31]—D.B.B., p. 214.
346. Hatred, delight in mischief, rapacity and ambition, and whatever else is called evil, belong to the marvellous economy of the conservation of the race.—Fr. Nietzsche, J.W., section 1.
347. Individual persons may be harshly dealt with when an example is made of them, intended to serve as a warning.... Whenever a national war breaks out, terrorism becomes a necessary military principle.—General v. Hartmann, D.R., Vol. XIII, p. 462.
348. Terrorism is seen to be a relatively gentle procedure, useful to keep in a state of obedience the masses of the people.—General v. Hartmann, D.R., Vol. XIII, p. 462.
349. To protect oneself against attack and injuries from the inhabitants, and to employ ruthlessly the necessary means of defence and intimidation is obviously not only a right but a duty of the staff of the army.—G.W.B., p. 120.
350. The more pitiless is the væ victis, the greater is the security of the ensuing peace. In the days of old, conquered peoples were completely annihilated. To-day this is physically impracticable, but one can imagine conditions which should approach very closely to total destruction.—D.B.B., p. 214.
351. International law is in no way opposed to the exploitation of the crimes of third parties (assassination, incendiarism, robbery and the like) to the prejudice of the enemy.—G.W.B., p. 85.
352. In reality the evil impulses are just in as high a degree expedient, indispensable, and conservative of the species as the good—only, their function is different.—Fr. Nietzsche, J.W., section 4.
353. If the [small] nations in question have nothing Germanic in them, and are therefore foreign to our Kultur, the question at once arises: Do they stand in the way of our expansion, or do they not? In the latter case, let them develop as their nature prescribes; in the former case, it would be folly to spare them, for they would be like a wedge in our flesh, which we refrained from extracting only for their own sake. If we found ourselves forced to break up the historical form of the nation, in order to separate its racial elements, taking what belongs to our race[32] and rejecting what is foreign to it, we ought not therefore to have any moral scruples or to think ourselves inhuman. (In this connection I refer the reader to my later chapter on humanity[33]).—J.L. Reimer, E.P.D., p. 130.
354. Article 40 of the Declaration of Brussels requires that requisitions ... shall bear a direct relation to the capacity and resources of a country, and, indeed, the justification for this condition would be willingly recognized by every one in theory, but it will scarcely ever be observed in practice. In cases of necessity, the needs of an army will alone decide.—G.W.B., p. 134.
355. In spite of his delight in mere success, in spite of his recklessness in the choice of men and methods, in spite of all the harshness and brutality which his nature must acquire, the true statesman displays a disinterestedness which cannot fail to impress.—H. v. Treitschke, P., Vol. i., p. 58.
356. Verily, ye good and just; much in you is laughable, and most of all your fear of what hath hitherto been called "devil"! ... I guess that you will call my Superman "devil"!—Fr. Nietzsche, Z. Of Manly Prudence.
(After July, 1914.)
357. Our troops are assured of their mission; and they recognize clearly, too, that the truest compassion lies in taking the sternest measures, in order to bring the war itself to an early close.—Pastor G. Traub, D.K.U.S., p. 6.
358. How much further would Germany have got in Alsace-Lorraine, if it had modelled its policy on Cromwell's treatment of Ulster, and had not been misled by weak humanitarianism!—H.S. Chamberlain, K.A., p. 93.
359. In the midst of this bewildering uproar, the soul again learns the truth of the old doctrine: it is the whole man that matters, and not his individual acts; it is the soul that gives value to the deeds, not the deeds to the soul.—Pastor G. Traub, D.K.U.S., p. 6.
Compare Nietzsche, passim.
360. We are not only compelled to accept the war that is forced upon us ... but are even compelled to carry on this war with a cruelty, a ruthlessness, an employment of every imaginable device, unknown in any previous war.—Pastor D. Baumgarten, D.R.S.Z., No. 24, p. 7.
361. Whoever cannot prevail upon himself to approve from the bottom of his heart the sinking of the Lusitania—whoever cannot conquer his sense of the gigantic cruelty (ungeheure Grausamkeit) to unnumbered perfectly innocent victims ... and give himself up to honest delight at this victorious exploit of German defensive power—him we judge to be no true German.—Pastor D. Baumgarten, D.R.S.Z., No. 24, p. 7.[34]
See also No. [423].
FOOTNOTES:
[31] Observe that these two utterances are not shrieks of the war frenzy, but are the reflections of a German patriot in the year of grace 1900.
[32] The author does not explain how Germanic elements are to be discovered in peoples which he has assumed to have nothing Germanic in them.
[33] This chapter is an ingenious disquisition to prove that humanity may be all very well for inferior races, but that Germanism cannot be hampered by its restraints.
[34] This and the previous extract are taken from an address on the Sermon on the Mount!