¶ For four years, Germany had been increasing her military power by ten-fold. The greatest military martinet of all time, Von Roon, had the men up at three and four in the morning drilling them as human beings were never drilled before. Von Moltke, “with the battle pictures in his brain,” was planning every detail against France.
¶ The preparations were now complete. The Germans were thoroughly organized, led by generals guided by a single brain, von Moltke, master of tactics and strategy.
¶ Just the day the war broke out von Moltke, who was always as taciturn as the Sphinx, “and in times of peace ugly and crabbed,” was sitting in his garden moodily declaiming against these poor times—with no war in sight!
Bismarck greeted his compatriot, bravely. Von Moltke ordered sherry punch and the two cronies began drinking each other’s health.
¶ “You are not looking well, Chief?” began Bismarck.
¶ “No, I have not been well, lately!”
¶ “But you must cheer up. War is your business and you will now quickly mend. I remember when the Spanish war was the burning question you looked at least ten years younger. When I told you that the Hohenzollern prince gave the thing up, you became at once ten years older. This time, the French have made difficulties, and you look fresh and younger by ten years.”
¶ In this light-hearted way Bismarck spoke of the oncoming strife—up to the year 1914 the bloodiest in the history of the world.
57
The bugle blast “For God and Fatherland!” again resounds throughout Germany—The great host crosses the Rhine.