War
brings to light all that a nation has collected in
secret.
brings to light all that a nation has collected in
secret.
Treitschke - 1914 - His Doctrine of German Destiny
I am confident,
that with the adjustment of the struggle for civili-
zation there will be formed in the political world
an element, conservative in the true sense. Con-
tinue to be of good courage for your patriotic
struggles, my dear Sir; time will come when Ger-
mans again will enjoy life and their country, and
will overcome the political children's complaint of
aimless dissatisfaction . ' f
The partial justice of Baumgarten's polemics,
which we also recognize, did not lie in isolated
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? 130 Treitschke
blame which Treitschke successfully refuted, and
against which both Sybel and Erdmansdoerffer,
both certainly competent judges, objected to. It
was against the general distribution of light and
shade, that objection could be raised. In a work
judging so severely nearly all monarchs of Europe,
the idealization of Friedrich Wilhelm III was
most surprising. The King who had behaved
feebly during the war, and in peace times perse-
cuted patriots such as Arndt, and John, and de-
stroyed the life of hundreds of brave young men
because in every member of a Students' Corps he
suspected a Jacobin and with narrow-minded
obstinacy clung to this prejudice, who in the desire
to obtain qualification for liturgies bestowed upon
Prussia the disorganizing ritual quarrel, and re-
fused the clergy who demurred an increase of
salary, who drove the Lutherans into separation,
who with his stupid adoration of Metternich and
the Czar had to be styled the strongest supporter
of the reaction in Germany, he remains for us a
bad monarch, and the personal good qualities and
domestic virtues, which nobody contests, Treitsch-
ke would never have so strongly emphasized
in the case of a Habsburg or a Wittelsbach.
Treitschke by no means disguised these events, but
his final judgment is reminiscent of Spittler's
characterization of the author of the Formula of
Concord of which the caustic Suabian Spittler
said that counting up all his bad qualities, and
questionable actions, one wonders that, on the
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? His Life and Work 131
whole, such an honourable figure was the outcome
of it. It was natural that the South German
Democracy approved of Baumgarten's attack
upon their most dangerous opponent; the Jewish
Press in Berlin made propaganda for his pamphlet,
and when visiting us in the autumn Treitschke
complained that at every bookseller's window
Baumgarten's booklet glared at him, and that
certain students in order to annoy him placed it
during lectures before them. But not one bitter
word he uttered against Baumgarten, and it was
only sad that an old friendship came to an end in
this way. In a letter to Heigel he replied to the
reproach that in his Prussian arrogance he con-
sidered the South Germans only as Second Class
Germans in the following manner: "I am only
politically a Prussian; as a man I feel more at
home in South and Central Germany than in the
North; nearly all my fondest recollections date
from Upper Germany, my wife is from Bodensee,
and my daughters born in the Palatine are con-
sidered South Germans here. I hope you will not
be one of those who will be biased by Baumgarten's
acrimony. In my opinion historic objectiveness
consists in treating big things in a big way, and
small things in a small way. It was my duty to
show that the old Prussian absolutism has done
great and good deeds after 1815, and that South
German constitutional life had to go through
difficult years of apprenticeship before it was
clarified. If these incontestable facts are uncom-
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? 132 Treitschke
fortable for present-day party politics, I must not
therefore pass them in silence, or screen them.
Whatever you may think about them, you will not,
I hope, find North German prejudices in my book.
To my mind Baumgarten was always the embodi-
ment of the ugliest fault of North Germans, i. e. ,
acrimonious fault-finding, and it almost amuses me
that he sets himself up as South Germany's
attorney, when from the South I am constantly re-
ceiving reports concurring with my views/ ' Baum-
garten himself denied the offensive nature of his
expressions, and only when Erdmansdoerffer, in a
discussion in the Grenzbote anent Baumgarten's
own writings, rendered certain parts verbatim in
parenthesis, he could have realized how such words
would appeal to the attacked party.
All this unpleasantness, however, seemed in-
significant in the presence of a fate which, since
1892, threatened the hero already tried sufficiently.
Working night after night he had kept awake by
incessant smoking until he contracted nicotine
poisoning, which affected his eyes. As he under-
went the Heidelberg ophthalmologist's treatment
he spent a longer period during the holidays in
Heidelberg than hitherto. It was impossible to
imagine anything more pathetic than the perspec-
tive which he, without lamentation, yet with
deadly earnest was taking into consideration:
" Life is not worth living when I am both deaf and
blind" he said, but how could we console him?
Reading from lip movements was most difficult
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? His Life and Work 133
for him considering the increasing weakness of his
eyes; writing was not to be thought of, so that any
connected conversation was impossible: "Why all
this to me? " he asked bitterly. His excellent wife
was ill in a neurotic establishment, his only son
had died at the age of fourteen, the eldest daughter,
formerly his principal interpreter, married abroad.
"I do not wish for anything else in life," he said,
"but to be able to work. Is that an unreasonable
wish? " Who would have thought that this strong
nature might ever have needed consolation. The
leave-taking in April, 1893, was intensely sad. In
the autumn I was again called from the garden;
Herr Treitschke was waiting on the balcony.
When entering he joyfully stretched forth both
hands. " How glad I am I came to you ! When I
was here last time I could not see the Castle, it was
as if a fog were in front of my eyes, and now I see
the outlines clearly. I am getting better! " The
doctor also had expressed himself as being satisfied.
Joyfully he related that more than ever his lec-
tures had afforded him consolation. As he was not
allowed either to read or write he had devoted the
whole of his time to their preparation, and with his
admirable memory he, but rarely referring to a
book, with such assistance as happened to be
available, had delivered his lectures, and caused
enthusiasm amongst the students as in his best
days. In the happy mood in which he was on that
day he consented to my inviting for the evening,
all the old friends from his Heidelberg times, and
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? 134 Treitschke
some other admirers ; and he was so gay and lively,
that nobody would have suspected him to be a man
fated to hear henceforth of the outer world only
by letters pressed into his hands. The improve-
ment was a lasting one. The fifth volume ap-
peared in the autumn of 1894, an d in force of style
and clearness of matter fully equalled the former
books. It was an enigma how, in view of the care
he had to exercise in regard to his eyes, he could
have mastered this literature. But the enemy had
not cleared the field; it simply attacked from
another quarter. In the winter of 1896, the sad
news arrived that Treitschke had been struck
down by an incurable kidney disease. He fought
like a hero, but hope there was none. Soon dropsy
set in, and the heart in its oppressed state caused
the strong man indescribable feelings of anguish.
"Who is to finish my book? " he asked.
Bailleu, in his beautiful necrologue, relates of
these last days: "I found him turning over with
difficulty his excerpts, and reading with visible
effort. He began to speak of his sixth volume,
whose progress I had discussed with him in the
Archives, bringing him one part after another.
His suffering features became animated when,
speaking of the unassuming greatness of the Prince
of Prussia, whose campaign in Baden he had
studied, and by which he, with the Prussian Army,
in the general dissolution of 1848 wished to repre-
sent the healthy basis for the future of Germany.
'Our dear old gentleman! Since his death every
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? His Life and Work 135
possible misfortune has befallen me. * I tried to
console him by referring to the growing success of
his German History. 'Oh, I have had but little
luck in life, and if now but it can't be. God
cannot take me away before I have finished my
sixth volume, and then ' as if soliloquizing, he
added, 'I have yet the other work to write. " 1 I
believe few of Treitschke's friends could have read
these details without being moved to tears. For
some days there seemed to be an improvement.
The day before his death, he had joked with his
daughters in his old style. On the morning of 28
April, 1896, he was gently, and quickly, relieved
of his sufferings. At his funeral, admirers and
friends from near and far assembled. Soon after,
his children sent me a dear memento from their
father. There had been three pictures in his
room. The first, Kamphausen's Battle of Freiberg:
in the foreground a Saxon colonel is to be seen as
prisoner, and also conquered flags, and drums
emblazoned with the Saxon arms. "When will
these blessed days come back? " he once wrote to
his friend, Gutschmid. The second picture was
Mentzel's Great Elector, whom Erdmansdoerffer
kept in good memory. The third picture, by
Schrader, sent to me by the daughters, I liked
best. It represented Cromwell listening to his
blind friend, Milton, when he played the organ.
I knew that this picture of the poet, who was also
lacking a sense, and who, nevertheless, had thrown
his weight into the scale of human culture, had
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? 136 Treitschke
often been a consolation to him. At the same time,
the widow sent me the photo of my friend lying
on his death-bed. Asleep, he seems on it, rocked
in happy dreams. The dearest recollections are,
however, to me, the many volumes of his works,
which he had sent me regularly. I can never read
even one of these pages without a re-awakening of
the sound with which he would have spoken that
passage, and without my seeing the spirited smile
which accompanied his words ; this sheet-lightning
of his mind had something irresistible in his big
features, and even those had to smile who were not
at all in sympathy with his utterances. Much he
has had to suffer, and more he escaped through
timely death, and yet he has been one of the hap-
piest mortals, a favourite of the gods; as the poet
justly says :
"Alles geben die Gotter unendlichen ihren Lieblingen
ganz
Alle Freuden die unendlichen alle Schmerzen die
unendlichen ganz. "
But one question was at that time on every-
body's lips, with which he, himself, departed from
the world: "Who will now finish the German
History as he would have done? " And the answer
is : No one.
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? THE ARMY.
THE possession of a powerful and well-disciplined
Army is a sign of great excellence in a nation,
not only because the Army is a necessary stand-by
in our relations with other countries, but also
because a noble people with a glorious past will
be able to use its Army as a bloodless weapon for
long periods together. The Army will also be a
popular school for manly virtue in an age when
business and pleasure often cause higher things
to be forgotten. Of course, it must be admitted
that there are certain highly-strung and artistic
natures which cannot endure the burden of military
discipline. People of this kind often cause others
to hold quite erroneous views on universal service.
But in dealing with these great questions one
must not take abnormal persons as a standard,
but rather bear in mind the old adage, "Mens
sana in corpore sano. " This physical strength
has particular significance in periods such as ours.
One of the shortcomings of English culture lies
in the fact that the English have no universal
military service. This fault is in some measure
atoned for on the one hand by the extraordinary
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? 138 Treitschke
development of the Fleet, and on the other by
the never-ending little wars in countless colonies
'which occupy and keep alive the virile forces of
the nation. The fact that great physical activity
is still to be observed in England is partly due to
the constant wars with the colonies. But a closer
view will reveal a very serious want. The lack
of chivalry in the English character, which presents
so striking a contrast with the naive loyalty of the
Germans, has some connection with the English
practice of seeking physical exercise in boxing,
swimming, and rowing, rather than in the use of
noble arms. Such exercises are no doubt useful;
but no one can fail to observe that this whole
system of athletics tends to further brutalize the
mind of the athlete, and to set before men the
superficial ideal of being always able to carry off
the first prize.
The normal and most reasonable course for a
great nation to pursue is, therefore, to embody the
very nature of the State; that is to say, its strength,
in an ordered Army drawn from its people and
perpetually being improved. The ultra-sensitive
and philosophical mode of regarding these ques-
tions has gone out of fashion among us who live
in a warlike age, so that we are able to come back
to the view of Clausewitz, who looked upon war
as a mighty continuation of politics. All the
peace-advocates in the world put together will
never persuade the political powers to be of one
mind, and as long as they differ, the sword is and
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? The Army 139
must be the only arbiter. We have learned to
recognize the moral majesty of war just in those
aspects of it which superficial observers describe
as brutal and inhuman. Men are called upon to
overcome all natural feeling for the sake of their
country, to murder people who have never before
done them any harm, and whom they perhaps
respect as chivalrous enemies. It is things such
as these that seem at the first glance horrible and
repulsive. Look at them again and you will see
in them the greatness of war. Not only the life
of man, but also the right and natural emotions
of his inmost soul, his whole ego, are to be sacri-
ficed to a great patriotic ideal; and herein lies the
moral magnificence of war. If we pursue this
idea still further, we shall see that in spite of its
hardness and roughness, war links men together
in brotherly love, for it levels all differences of
rank, and draws men together by a common sense
of the imminence of death. Every student of
history knows that to do away with war would
be to cripple human nature. No liberty can exist
without an armed force ready to sacrifice itself
for the sake of freedom. One cannot insist too
often on the fact that scholars never touch upon
these questions without presupposing that the
State only exists as a sort of academy of arts and
sciences. This is of course also part of its duty,
but not its most immediate duty. A State which
cultivates its mental powers at the expense of its
physical ones cannot fail to go to ruin.
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? 140 Treitschke
Generally speaking, we must admit that the
greatness of historical life lies in character rather
than m' education ; the driving forces of history
are to be found on spheres where character is
developing. Only hra. vft nations have any real
history. In the hour of trial in national life it be-
comes evident that warlike virtues have the cast-
jng^ vote. ^There is great truth in the old phrase
which described war as the examen rigorosum
of the States. In war, the States are called upon
to show, not only the extent of their physical,
but also of their moral power, and in a certain
measure of their intellectual capacity. . . .
War
brings to light all that a nation has collected in
secret. It is not an essential part of the nature
of armies to be always righting; the noiseless
labour of armament goes on equally in time of
peace. The entire value of the work done for
Prussia by Frederick William I did not appear until
the days of Frederick the Great, when the tremen-
dous force which had been slowly collecting sud-
denly revealed itself to the world at large. The
same is true of the year 1866.
And just because war is nothing more than a
powerful embodiment of politics, its issues are
decided, not by technical factors alone, but chiefly
by the policy which directs it. It is very signi-
ficant that when Wrangel and Prittwitz might
have been able to get the better of the Danes in
1848, and 1849, the King, who seems to have
felt horror at the thought of taking this step, and
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? The Army 141
who, moreover, feared Russia, did not himself
know what he wanted. An Army can never be
expected to fight when its leaders are in doubt as
to the advisability of a particular military action.
Every war is by nature a radical one, and in many
cases the efficiency of the troops will prove useless
in face of the hesitation and aimlessness of the
policy which it serves. Remember the campaign
in Champagne in 1792. One technical superiority
of the Prussian and Austrian troops over the sans
culottes was at that date still very considerable,
and in the neighbourhood of Mannheim a single
battalion of the Wedell Regiment prevented two
French divisions from crossing the Rhine during
the whole of one day. But still the political result
of the war was the complete downfall of the coali-
tion. The Allies were not of one mind; their
policy lacked all definite aim, and the campaign
was being conducted at haphazard. Political
considerations of this kind, which interfere with
the strategy of the leaders, are particularly dis-
astrous in wars conducted by coalitions, and
history has often proved the truth of the line,
"the strong man is strongest when alone. " In the
campaigns of 1813 and 1814, the incompetent
Prussian generals, in concert with the talented
Prussian commanders, carried on war to the knife,
whereas the more competent Austrians, who were
hindered by the aimless policy of their country,
showed themselves lukewarm and indifferent.
A policy such as that of the Austrians could not
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? 142 Treitschke
hope to find a better commander than Schwarzen-
berg. Many wars have been lost before they
were begun because they were the result of a
policy which did not know its own mind. Every
healthy-minded Army is conscious of a strong
sense of chivalry and personal honour. But under
certain circumstances this military sense of honour
becomes oversensitive. Abuses are, of course,
to 'be deplored, but this touchiness is in itself a
wholesome symptom. The duel is not a thing
which can be disregarded even among civilians.
In a democratic community the duel is the last
protest which can be made against a complete
subversion of social manners and customs. A
certain restraint is put upon a man by the thought
that he will risk his life by offending against social
usage; and it is better that now and then a pro-
mising young life should be laid down than that
the social morality of a whole people should be
brutalized. A sense of class honour also fosters
the great moral strength which resides in the Army
and which is the cause of a large part of its effec-
tiveness. The officers would lose the respect of
their subordinates if they did not show a more
ticklish sense of honour and a finer breeding.
Since duelling was abolished in England, moral
coarseness in the Army has been on the increase,
and officers have been known to come to blows in
railway carriages in the very presence of their
wives. It is obvious how greatly such conduct
must impair the respect due from the men to their
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? The Army 143
superiors. The statement of the democrat that
a man of the lower classes will more readily obey
his equal than a gentleman is entirely false. The
respect of a soldier for a man of really distinguished
character will always be greater than his respect
for an old corporal. This truth was plainly de-
monstrated in the last war, when it was found that
the French officers did not possess enough authority
over their men.
As warfare is but the tremendous embodiment
of foreign policy, everything relating to military
affairs must have a very intimate connection with
the constitution of the State, and, in its turn,
the particular organization of the Army must
determine which of many types of warfare shall
be followed. Because the Middle Ages were
aristocratic, most of the battles then fought
were between cavalry, which has always been the
pre-eminently aristocratic instrument of war.
The results of this idea may still be observed
to-day. Too great a preponderance of cavalry is
always a sign that the economic condition of a
nation is still defective, and that the power of the
aristocracy in the State is too absolute. . . .
Mechanical weapons have, on the other hand,
always been the especial property of the middle
classes. Engineering has always flourished among
commercial nations, because they possess both
capital and technical skill. Among the ancients,
the Carthaginians were technically the most
important nation in military affairs; but Rome
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? 144 Treitschke
conquered them in the end, not because
her generals were better, but because of
the moral force which held her National Army
together.
For however important technique may be in
war, it never turns the scales unaided. Economic
considerations such as skill in engineering or in
systematic collaboration can never help one to
determine the value of an Army. Still, this is
what the commercial nations seek to do, for they
look upon an Army of purely professional soldiers
as the best. It is not technical but abstract and
moral superiority that tells in the long run in war.
As far as physical capacity goes, the English
soldiers are very efficient; they are trained to box,
and are fed on an incredibly liberal scale. But
even people in England are realizing more and
more strongly that there is something wrong with
their Army, and that it cannot be compared with
a National Army because the moral energies of
the people are excluded from it. The world is not
as materialistic as Wellington supposed. Wel-
lington used to say that enthusiasm in an Army
could only produce confusion and other ill-
effects. The really national weapon of England
is the Fleet. The martial enthusiasm of the
country and it is far stronger than is usually
supposed on the Continent, because the idea of
a British universal Empire is very general among
the people must be sought on the men-of-
war.
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? The Army 145
In considering these questions we must never
lose sight of the purely moral value of the National
Army as opposed to its purely national and poli-
tical value. We must be quite clear as to whether
the perpetual complaints of the great cost of our
military system are justified. It is certain that
the blood-tax imposed by the military burden is
the greatest which a nation can be called upon to
bear. But we must never forget that there are,
and ought to be, things which are above all price.
Moral possessions have no price, and it is therefore
unreasonable to try to reckon the value of the
honour and power of the State in terms of money.
Money can never represent what we lost when the
flower of our youthful manhood fell on the battle-
fields of France. It is unworthy to judge the
possessions of the soul as if they were material.
A great nation is acting in a right and reasonable
way if it seeks to give expression to the idea of the
State, which stands for power, in the form of a
well-ordered military organization. Without it,
trade and intercourse could not prosper. If one
were to try to imagine the country without the
Army which protects our civil peace, it would be
impossible to say how great would be the decrease
in our national revenues.
Under ordinary circumstances the right to bear
arms must always be looked upon as the privilege
of a free man. It was only during the last period
of the Roman Empire that the system of keeping
mercenaries was adopted. And as mercenary
10
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? 146 Treitschke
troops consisted, except for their officers, of the
lowest dregs of society, the idea soon became
prevalent that military service was a disgrace;
and the free citizen began to show himself anxious
not to take part in it. This conception of the
mercenary system has gone on perpetuating itself
through the ages, and its after-effects have been
strikingly demonstrated even in our own day.
Our century has been called upon to witness, in
the formation of the National and Civil Guards,
the most immoral and unreasonable developments
of which the military system is capable. The
citizens imagined themselves too good to bear
arms against the enemies of their country, but
they were not averse to playing at soldiers at
home, and even to being able to defend their purse
if it should happen to be in danger. Hence the
truly disgusting invention of the National Guard,
and the inhuman legal provision that in the event
of a popular disturbance the adored rabble might
receive an immediate shaking at the hands of the
guard. The Army was only to interfere if things
became serious. This shows a complete failure
to realize the moral nobility of the duty of defence.
The right to bear arms will ever remain the honor-
ary privilege of the free man. All noble minds
have more or less recognized the truth that
"The God Who created iron did not wish
men to be thralls. " And it is the task of all
reasonable political systems to keep this idea
in honour.
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? The Army 147
II.
The example of the German National Army
has had an irresistible influence on the rest of
Europe. The ridicule heaped on it in previous
decades has now been shown to be unwarranted.
It was the custom abroad to look down on the
Prussian territorial system (Landwehr) and on the
Prussian boy army. -Things are very different
now. We know now that moral factors in war-
fare weigh more heavily than technical excellence ;
and it is further evident that the ever-increasing
technical experience of life in barracks brings
with it a corresponding brutalization of the moral
instincts. The old sergeants of France were in
no way superior to the German troops, as the
French had expected. We may say with truth
that the problem of giving a military education
to the strength of the nation and of making full
use of the trained Army was first seriously dealt
with in Germany. Our Army constitutes a pecu-
liar and necessary continuation of the scholastic
system. For many people it would be impossible
to devise a better means of education. For such
persons, living as they do in a period in which
mental restraint is lacking, the drill and enforced
cleanliness, and strict military discipline are in-
dispensable from every point of view. Carry le
prophesied that the Prussian conception of uni-
versal military service would go the round of the
globe. Since 1866 and 1870, when the organiza-
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? 148 Treitschke
tion of the Prussian Army stood its trial so bril-
liantly, nearly all the other great Powers of the
Continent have sought to imitate its methods.
But imitation abroad is not as easy as was
supposed because the Prussian Army is really a
nation in arms, and the peculiarities and refine-
ments of the national character are naturally
exemplified in it. Above all, a system of this
kind cannot be established unless the nation pos-
sesses a certain degree of political freedom, is
satisfied with the existing regime, and can count
on social freedom in the Government. A natural
respect for superior education is also necessary, for
without it the institution of the One-year Volun-
teers would be unthinkable. This system has
been introduced simply in order to make it econo-
mically and morally possible for young men belong-
ing to the educated classes to serve in the ranks.
In France this voluntary system has proved a
failure because an external equality between
different classes of men has been insisted upon.
In Germany we could hardly do without it. Quite
apart from the fact that our supply of professional
officers is not nearly large enough in the event of
war, the educated young men who in the One-year
Voluntary Service transforms into territorial
reserve officers, and who stand in many ways in
a closer relationship to the people than the pro-
fessional officers, form a natural link between the
latter and the rank and file of the Army.
The heavy burden of universal military service
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? The Army 149
can be lightened in a certain measure by decentrali-
zation, which usually enables a man to serve in
his native province. Our Provincial Army Corps
have, on the whole, quite justified their existence.
They should remain the rule; and as a wholesome
counterweight we have, in the Guard, a corps
which includes men from all parts of the country,
and forms a crack regiment, one of whose functions
it is to spur on the rest of the Army. The rigid
centralization of France makes the existence of
Provincial Army Corps such as ours an impossibil-
ity. The natives of Normandy and of the Pyre-
nees there stand side by side in the same regiment.
In Germany, on the other hand, common national-
ity is rightly looked upon as a strong cement which
will ensure the solidarity of separate bodies of
troops. This universal military service, if it is
to preserve the existence of the State, must
naturally presuppose unity in the nation as a
whole. One or two isolated little provinces,
peopled by foreign races, do not greatly affect the
question, and a few simple precautions will do
away with any threatened danger from those
quarters. In Austria things are more serious,
because there the officers in the Reserve are the
weak point of the army. They are good Czechs,
good Germans, and good Magyars, but not good
Austrians; and this flaw may some day bring
about disastrous consequences.
In all these matters of military organization
we were until quite lately the leader of the other
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? 150 Treitschke
nations. During the last few years the neighbour-
ing States have made such strenuous efforts to
obtain military power that we have been obliged
to go further this time in imitation of other
nations. The furthest limits to this onward move-
ment are improved by nature of things, and the
enormous physical strength of the Germanic race
will see to it that we have a perpetual advantage
in this respect over the less faithful nations.
The French have nearly reached the utmost limits
of their capacity; the Germans possess, in this
respect, far wider elbow-room.
I will ask you once more to observe the nature
of the influence exercised on warfare by these new
methods in military affairs. The general tend-
ency of this system is towards peace. A nation
in arms is not as easily drawn away from its social
occupations to take part in a frivolous war as a
Conscript Army would be. Wars will become
rarer and of shorter duration, although more
bloody. Desire to return home will drive the
Army to advance. The temper of the Prussian
soldiers in the summer of 1866, expressed in the
words, "Let us press on towards the Danube, so
that we may get home again soon," should be
looked upon as the normal temper of a courageous
and, at the same time, peace-loving National Army.
There can be no difficulty, to-day, in understand-
ing the bold spirit in warfare which seeks, above
all, to plunge a dagger into the heart of the enemy.
It may be said that nothing is absolutely impossible
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? The Army 151
to a National Army of this kind when the nation
can look back over a glorious past.
that with the adjustment of the struggle for civili-
zation there will be formed in the political world
an element, conservative in the true sense. Con-
tinue to be of good courage for your patriotic
struggles, my dear Sir; time will come when Ger-
mans again will enjoy life and their country, and
will overcome the political children's complaint of
aimless dissatisfaction . ' f
The partial justice of Baumgarten's polemics,
which we also recognize, did not lie in isolated
9
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? 130 Treitschke
blame which Treitschke successfully refuted, and
against which both Sybel and Erdmansdoerffer,
both certainly competent judges, objected to. It
was against the general distribution of light and
shade, that objection could be raised. In a work
judging so severely nearly all monarchs of Europe,
the idealization of Friedrich Wilhelm III was
most surprising. The King who had behaved
feebly during the war, and in peace times perse-
cuted patriots such as Arndt, and John, and de-
stroyed the life of hundreds of brave young men
because in every member of a Students' Corps he
suspected a Jacobin and with narrow-minded
obstinacy clung to this prejudice, who in the desire
to obtain qualification for liturgies bestowed upon
Prussia the disorganizing ritual quarrel, and re-
fused the clergy who demurred an increase of
salary, who drove the Lutherans into separation,
who with his stupid adoration of Metternich and
the Czar had to be styled the strongest supporter
of the reaction in Germany, he remains for us a
bad monarch, and the personal good qualities and
domestic virtues, which nobody contests, Treitsch-
ke would never have so strongly emphasized
in the case of a Habsburg or a Wittelsbach.
Treitschke by no means disguised these events, but
his final judgment is reminiscent of Spittler's
characterization of the author of the Formula of
Concord of which the caustic Suabian Spittler
said that counting up all his bad qualities, and
questionable actions, one wonders that, on the
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? His Life and Work 131
whole, such an honourable figure was the outcome
of it. It was natural that the South German
Democracy approved of Baumgarten's attack
upon their most dangerous opponent; the Jewish
Press in Berlin made propaganda for his pamphlet,
and when visiting us in the autumn Treitschke
complained that at every bookseller's window
Baumgarten's booklet glared at him, and that
certain students in order to annoy him placed it
during lectures before them. But not one bitter
word he uttered against Baumgarten, and it was
only sad that an old friendship came to an end in
this way. In a letter to Heigel he replied to the
reproach that in his Prussian arrogance he con-
sidered the South Germans only as Second Class
Germans in the following manner: "I am only
politically a Prussian; as a man I feel more at
home in South and Central Germany than in the
North; nearly all my fondest recollections date
from Upper Germany, my wife is from Bodensee,
and my daughters born in the Palatine are con-
sidered South Germans here. I hope you will not
be one of those who will be biased by Baumgarten's
acrimony. In my opinion historic objectiveness
consists in treating big things in a big way, and
small things in a small way. It was my duty to
show that the old Prussian absolutism has done
great and good deeds after 1815, and that South
German constitutional life had to go through
difficult years of apprenticeship before it was
clarified. If these incontestable facts are uncom-
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? 132 Treitschke
fortable for present-day party politics, I must not
therefore pass them in silence, or screen them.
Whatever you may think about them, you will not,
I hope, find North German prejudices in my book.
To my mind Baumgarten was always the embodi-
ment of the ugliest fault of North Germans, i. e. ,
acrimonious fault-finding, and it almost amuses me
that he sets himself up as South Germany's
attorney, when from the South I am constantly re-
ceiving reports concurring with my views/ ' Baum-
garten himself denied the offensive nature of his
expressions, and only when Erdmansdoerffer, in a
discussion in the Grenzbote anent Baumgarten's
own writings, rendered certain parts verbatim in
parenthesis, he could have realized how such words
would appeal to the attacked party.
All this unpleasantness, however, seemed in-
significant in the presence of a fate which, since
1892, threatened the hero already tried sufficiently.
Working night after night he had kept awake by
incessant smoking until he contracted nicotine
poisoning, which affected his eyes. As he under-
went the Heidelberg ophthalmologist's treatment
he spent a longer period during the holidays in
Heidelberg than hitherto. It was impossible to
imagine anything more pathetic than the perspec-
tive which he, without lamentation, yet with
deadly earnest was taking into consideration:
" Life is not worth living when I am both deaf and
blind" he said, but how could we console him?
Reading from lip movements was most difficult
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? His Life and Work 133
for him considering the increasing weakness of his
eyes; writing was not to be thought of, so that any
connected conversation was impossible: "Why all
this to me? " he asked bitterly. His excellent wife
was ill in a neurotic establishment, his only son
had died at the age of fourteen, the eldest daughter,
formerly his principal interpreter, married abroad.
"I do not wish for anything else in life," he said,
"but to be able to work. Is that an unreasonable
wish? " Who would have thought that this strong
nature might ever have needed consolation. The
leave-taking in April, 1893, was intensely sad. In
the autumn I was again called from the garden;
Herr Treitschke was waiting on the balcony.
When entering he joyfully stretched forth both
hands. " How glad I am I came to you ! When I
was here last time I could not see the Castle, it was
as if a fog were in front of my eyes, and now I see
the outlines clearly. I am getting better! " The
doctor also had expressed himself as being satisfied.
Joyfully he related that more than ever his lec-
tures had afforded him consolation. As he was not
allowed either to read or write he had devoted the
whole of his time to their preparation, and with his
admirable memory he, but rarely referring to a
book, with such assistance as happened to be
available, had delivered his lectures, and caused
enthusiasm amongst the students as in his best
days. In the happy mood in which he was on that
day he consented to my inviting for the evening,
all the old friends from his Heidelberg times, and
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? 134 Treitschke
some other admirers ; and he was so gay and lively,
that nobody would have suspected him to be a man
fated to hear henceforth of the outer world only
by letters pressed into his hands. The improve-
ment was a lasting one. The fifth volume ap-
peared in the autumn of 1894, an d in force of style
and clearness of matter fully equalled the former
books. It was an enigma how, in view of the care
he had to exercise in regard to his eyes, he could
have mastered this literature. But the enemy had
not cleared the field; it simply attacked from
another quarter. In the winter of 1896, the sad
news arrived that Treitschke had been struck
down by an incurable kidney disease. He fought
like a hero, but hope there was none. Soon dropsy
set in, and the heart in its oppressed state caused
the strong man indescribable feelings of anguish.
"Who is to finish my book? " he asked.
Bailleu, in his beautiful necrologue, relates of
these last days: "I found him turning over with
difficulty his excerpts, and reading with visible
effort. He began to speak of his sixth volume,
whose progress I had discussed with him in the
Archives, bringing him one part after another.
His suffering features became animated when,
speaking of the unassuming greatness of the Prince
of Prussia, whose campaign in Baden he had
studied, and by which he, with the Prussian Army,
in the general dissolution of 1848 wished to repre-
sent the healthy basis for the future of Germany.
'Our dear old gentleman! Since his death every
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? His Life and Work 135
possible misfortune has befallen me. * I tried to
console him by referring to the growing success of
his German History. 'Oh, I have had but little
luck in life, and if now but it can't be. God
cannot take me away before I have finished my
sixth volume, and then ' as if soliloquizing, he
added, 'I have yet the other work to write. " 1 I
believe few of Treitschke's friends could have read
these details without being moved to tears. For
some days there seemed to be an improvement.
The day before his death, he had joked with his
daughters in his old style. On the morning of 28
April, 1896, he was gently, and quickly, relieved
of his sufferings. At his funeral, admirers and
friends from near and far assembled. Soon after,
his children sent me a dear memento from their
father. There had been three pictures in his
room. The first, Kamphausen's Battle of Freiberg:
in the foreground a Saxon colonel is to be seen as
prisoner, and also conquered flags, and drums
emblazoned with the Saxon arms. "When will
these blessed days come back? " he once wrote to
his friend, Gutschmid. The second picture was
Mentzel's Great Elector, whom Erdmansdoerffer
kept in good memory. The third picture, by
Schrader, sent to me by the daughters, I liked
best. It represented Cromwell listening to his
blind friend, Milton, when he played the organ.
I knew that this picture of the poet, who was also
lacking a sense, and who, nevertheless, had thrown
his weight into the scale of human culture, had
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? 136 Treitschke
often been a consolation to him. At the same time,
the widow sent me the photo of my friend lying
on his death-bed. Asleep, he seems on it, rocked
in happy dreams. The dearest recollections are,
however, to me, the many volumes of his works,
which he had sent me regularly. I can never read
even one of these pages without a re-awakening of
the sound with which he would have spoken that
passage, and without my seeing the spirited smile
which accompanied his words ; this sheet-lightning
of his mind had something irresistible in his big
features, and even those had to smile who were not
at all in sympathy with his utterances. Much he
has had to suffer, and more he escaped through
timely death, and yet he has been one of the hap-
piest mortals, a favourite of the gods; as the poet
justly says :
"Alles geben die Gotter unendlichen ihren Lieblingen
ganz
Alle Freuden die unendlichen alle Schmerzen die
unendlichen ganz. "
But one question was at that time on every-
body's lips, with which he, himself, departed from
the world: "Who will now finish the German
History as he would have done? " And the answer
is : No one.
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? THE ARMY.
THE possession of a powerful and well-disciplined
Army is a sign of great excellence in a nation,
not only because the Army is a necessary stand-by
in our relations with other countries, but also
because a noble people with a glorious past will
be able to use its Army as a bloodless weapon for
long periods together. The Army will also be a
popular school for manly virtue in an age when
business and pleasure often cause higher things
to be forgotten. Of course, it must be admitted
that there are certain highly-strung and artistic
natures which cannot endure the burden of military
discipline. People of this kind often cause others
to hold quite erroneous views on universal service.
But in dealing with these great questions one
must not take abnormal persons as a standard,
but rather bear in mind the old adage, "Mens
sana in corpore sano. " This physical strength
has particular significance in periods such as ours.
One of the shortcomings of English culture lies
in the fact that the English have no universal
military service. This fault is in some measure
atoned for on the one hand by the extraordinary
137
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? 138 Treitschke
development of the Fleet, and on the other by
the never-ending little wars in countless colonies
'which occupy and keep alive the virile forces of
the nation. The fact that great physical activity
is still to be observed in England is partly due to
the constant wars with the colonies. But a closer
view will reveal a very serious want. The lack
of chivalry in the English character, which presents
so striking a contrast with the naive loyalty of the
Germans, has some connection with the English
practice of seeking physical exercise in boxing,
swimming, and rowing, rather than in the use of
noble arms. Such exercises are no doubt useful;
but no one can fail to observe that this whole
system of athletics tends to further brutalize the
mind of the athlete, and to set before men the
superficial ideal of being always able to carry off
the first prize.
The normal and most reasonable course for a
great nation to pursue is, therefore, to embody the
very nature of the State; that is to say, its strength,
in an ordered Army drawn from its people and
perpetually being improved. The ultra-sensitive
and philosophical mode of regarding these ques-
tions has gone out of fashion among us who live
in a warlike age, so that we are able to come back
to the view of Clausewitz, who looked upon war
as a mighty continuation of politics. All the
peace-advocates in the world put together will
never persuade the political powers to be of one
mind, and as long as they differ, the sword is and
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? The Army 139
must be the only arbiter. We have learned to
recognize the moral majesty of war just in those
aspects of it which superficial observers describe
as brutal and inhuman. Men are called upon to
overcome all natural feeling for the sake of their
country, to murder people who have never before
done them any harm, and whom they perhaps
respect as chivalrous enemies. It is things such
as these that seem at the first glance horrible and
repulsive. Look at them again and you will see
in them the greatness of war. Not only the life
of man, but also the right and natural emotions
of his inmost soul, his whole ego, are to be sacri-
ficed to a great patriotic ideal; and herein lies the
moral magnificence of war. If we pursue this
idea still further, we shall see that in spite of its
hardness and roughness, war links men together
in brotherly love, for it levels all differences of
rank, and draws men together by a common sense
of the imminence of death. Every student of
history knows that to do away with war would
be to cripple human nature. No liberty can exist
without an armed force ready to sacrifice itself
for the sake of freedom. One cannot insist too
often on the fact that scholars never touch upon
these questions without presupposing that the
State only exists as a sort of academy of arts and
sciences. This is of course also part of its duty,
but not its most immediate duty. A State which
cultivates its mental powers at the expense of its
physical ones cannot fail to go to ruin.
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? 140 Treitschke
Generally speaking, we must admit that the
greatness of historical life lies in character rather
than m' education ; the driving forces of history
are to be found on spheres where character is
developing. Only hra. vft nations have any real
history. In the hour of trial in national life it be-
comes evident that warlike virtues have the cast-
jng^ vote. ^There is great truth in the old phrase
which described war as the examen rigorosum
of the States. In war, the States are called upon
to show, not only the extent of their physical,
but also of their moral power, and in a certain
measure of their intellectual capacity. . . .
War
brings to light all that a nation has collected in
secret. It is not an essential part of the nature
of armies to be always righting; the noiseless
labour of armament goes on equally in time of
peace. The entire value of the work done for
Prussia by Frederick William I did not appear until
the days of Frederick the Great, when the tremen-
dous force which had been slowly collecting sud-
denly revealed itself to the world at large. The
same is true of the year 1866.
And just because war is nothing more than a
powerful embodiment of politics, its issues are
decided, not by technical factors alone, but chiefly
by the policy which directs it. It is very signi-
ficant that when Wrangel and Prittwitz might
have been able to get the better of the Danes in
1848, and 1849, the King, who seems to have
felt horror at the thought of taking this step, and
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? The Army 141
who, moreover, feared Russia, did not himself
know what he wanted. An Army can never be
expected to fight when its leaders are in doubt as
to the advisability of a particular military action.
Every war is by nature a radical one, and in many
cases the efficiency of the troops will prove useless
in face of the hesitation and aimlessness of the
policy which it serves. Remember the campaign
in Champagne in 1792. One technical superiority
of the Prussian and Austrian troops over the sans
culottes was at that date still very considerable,
and in the neighbourhood of Mannheim a single
battalion of the Wedell Regiment prevented two
French divisions from crossing the Rhine during
the whole of one day. But still the political result
of the war was the complete downfall of the coali-
tion. The Allies were not of one mind; their
policy lacked all definite aim, and the campaign
was being conducted at haphazard. Political
considerations of this kind, which interfere with
the strategy of the leaders, are particularly dis-
astrous in wars conducted by coalitions, and
history has often proved the truth of the line,
"the strong man is strongest when alone. " In the
campaigns of 1813 and 1814, the incompetent
Prussian generals, in concert with the talented
Prussian commanders, carried on war to the knife,
whereas the more competent Austrians, who were
hindered by the aimless policy of their country,
showed themselves lukewarm and indifferent.
A policy such as that of the Austrians could not
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? 142 Treitschke
hope to find a better commander than Schwarzen-
berg. Many wars have been lost before they
were begun because they were the result of a
policy which did not know its own mind. Every
healthy-minded Army is conscious of a strong
sense of chivalry and personal honour. But under
certain circumstances this military sense of honour
becomes oversensitive. Abuses are, of course,
to 'be deplored, but this touchiness is in itself a
wholesome symptom. The duel is not a thing
which can be disregarded even among civilians.
In a democratic community the duel is the last
protest which can be made against a complete
subversion of social manners and customs. A
certain restraint is put upon a man by the thought
that he will risk his life by offending against social
usage; and it is better that now and then a pro-
mising young life should be laid down than that
the social morality of a whole people should be
brutalized. A sense of class honour also fosters
the great moral strength which resides in the Army
and which is the cause of a large part of its effec-
tiveness. The officers would lose the respect of
their subordinates if they did not show a more
ticklish sense of honour and a finer breeding.
Since duelling was abolished in England, moral
coarseness in the Army has been on the increase,
and officers have been known to come to blows in
railway carriages in the very presence of their
wives. It is obvious how greatly such conduct
must impair the respect due from the men to their
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? The Army 143
superiors. The statement of the democrat that
a man of the lower classes will more readily obey
his equal than a gentleman is entirely false. The
respect of a soldier for a man of really distinguished
character will always be greater than his respect
for an old corporal. This truth was plainly de-
monstrated in the last war, when it was found that
the French officers did not possess enough authority
over their men.
As warfare is but the tremendous embodiment
of foreign policy, everything relating to military
affairs must have a very intimate connection with
the constitution of the State, and, in its turn,
the particular organization of the Army must
determine which of many types of warfare shall
be followed. Because the Middle Ages were
aristocratic, most of the battles then fought
were between cavalry, which has always been the
pre-eminently aristocratic instrument of war.
The results of this idea may still be observed
to-day. Too great a preponderance of cavalry is
always a sign that the economic condition of a
nation is still defective, and that the power of the
aristocracy in the State is too absolute. . . .
Mechanical weapons have, on the other hand,
always been the especial property of the middle
classes. Engineering has always flourished among
commercial nations, because they possess both
capital and technical skill. Among the ancients,
the Carthaginians were technically the most
important nation in military affairs; but Rome
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? 144 Treitschke
conquered them in the end, not because
her generals were better, but because of
the moral force which held her National Army
together.
For however important technique may be in
war, it never turns the scales unaided. Economic
considerations such as skill in engineering or in
systematic collaboration can never help one to
determine the value of an Army. Still, this is
what the commercial nations seek to do, for they
look upon an Army of purely professional soldiers
as the best. It is not technical but abstract and
moral superiority that tells in the long run in war.
As far as physical capacity goes, the English
soldiers are very efficient; they are trained to box,
and are fed on an incredibly liberal scale. But
even people in England are realizing more and
more strongly that there is something wrong with
their Army, and that it cannot be compared with
a National Army because the moral energies of
the people are excluded from it. The world is not
as materialistic as Wellington supposed. Wel-
lington used to say that enthusiasm in an Army
could only produce confusion and other ill-
effects. The really national weapon of England
is the Fleet. The martial enthusiasm of the
country and it is far stronger than is usually
supposed on the Continent, because the idea of
a British universal Empire is very general among
the people must be sought on the men-of-
war.
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? The Army 145
In considering these questions we must never
lose sight of the purely moral value of the National
Army as opposed to its purely national and poli-
tical value. We must be quite clear as to whether
the perpetual complaints of the great cost of our
military system are justified. It is certain that
the blood-tax imposed by the military burden is
the greatest which a nation can be called upon to
bear. But we must never forget that there are,
and ought to be, things which are above all price.
Moral possessions have no price, and it is therefore
unreasonable to try to reckon the value of the
honour and power of the State in terms of money.
Money can never represent what we lost when the
flower of our youthful manhood fell on the battle-
fields of France. It is unworthy to judge the
possessions of the soul as if they were material.
A great nation is acting in a right and reasonable
way if it seeks to give expression to the idea of the
State, which stands for power, in the form of a
well-ordered military organization. Without it,
trade and intercourse could not prosper. If one
were to try to imagine the country without the
Army which protects our civil peace, it would be
impossible to say how great would be the decrease
in our national revenues.
Under ordinary circumstances the right to bear
arms must always be looked upon as the privilege
of a free man. It was only during the last period
of the Roman Empire that the system of keeping
mercenaries was adopted. And as mercenary
10
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? 146 Treitschke
troops consisted, except for their officers, of the
lowest dregs of society, the idea soon became
prevalent that military service was a disgrace;
and the free citizen began to show himself anxious
not to take part in it. This conception of the
mercenary system has gone on perpetuating itself
through the ages, and its after-effects have been
strikingly demonstrated even in our own day.
Our century has been called upon to witness, in
the formation of the National and Civil Guards,
the most immoral and unreasonable developments
of which the military system is capable. The
citizens imagined themselves too good to bear
arms against the enemies of their country, but
they were not averse to playing at soldiers at
home, and even to being able to defend their purse
if it should happen to be in danger. Hence the
truly disgusting invention of the National Guard,
and the inhuman legal provision that in the event
of a popular disturbance the adored rabble might
receive an immediate shaking at the hands of the
guard. The Army was only to interfere if things
became serious. This shows a complete failure
to realize the moral nobility of the duty of defence.
The right to bear arms will ever remain the honor-
ary privilege of the free man. All noble minds
have more or less recognized the truth that
"The God Who created iron did not wish
men to be thralls. " And it is the task of all
reasonable political systems to keep this idea
in honour.
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? The Army 147
II.
The example of the German National Army
has had an irresistible influence on the rest of
Europe. The ridicule heaped on it in previous
decades has now been shown to be unwarranted.
It was the custom abroad to look down on the
Prussian territorial system (Landwehr) and on the
Prussian boy army. -Things are very different
now. We know now that moral factors in war-
fare weigh more heavily than technical excellence ;
and it is further evident that the ever-increasing
technical experience of life in barracks brings
with it a corresponding brutalization of the moral
instincts. The old sergeants of France were in
no way superior to the German troops, as the
French had expected. We may say with truth
that the problem of giving a military education
to the strength of the nation and of making full
use of the trained Army was first seriously dealt
with in Germany. Our Army constitutes a pecu-
liar and necessary continuation of the scholastic
system. For many people it would be impossible
to devise a better means of education. For such
persons, living as they do in a period in which
mental restraint is lacking, the drill and enforced
cleanliness, and strict military discipline are in-
dispensable from every point of view. Carry le
prophesied that the Prussian conception of uni-
versal military service would go the round of the
globe. Since 1866 and 1870, when the organiza-
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? 148 Treitschke
tion of the Prussian Army stood its trial so bril-
liantly, nearly all the other great Powers of the
Continent have sought to imitate its methods.
But imitation abroad is not as easy as was
supposed because the Prussian Army is really a
nation in arms, and the peculiarities and refine-
ments of the national character are naturally
exemplified in it. Above all, a system of this
kind cannot be established unless the nation pos-
sesses a certain degree of political freedom, is
satisfied with the existing regime, and can count
on social freedom in the Government. A natural
respect for superior education is also necessary, for
without it the institution of the One-year Volun-
teers would be unthinkable. This system has
been introduced simply in order to make it econo-
mically and morally possible for young men belong-
ing to the educated classes to serve in the ranks.
In France this voluntary system has proved a
failure because an external equality between
different classes of men has been insisted upon.
In Germany we could hardly do without it. Quite
apart from the fact that our supply of professional
officers is not nearly large enough in the event of
war, the educated young men who in the One-year
Voluntary Service transforms into territorial
reserve officers, and who stand in many ways in
a closer relationship to the people than the pro-
fessional officers, form a natural link between the
latter and the rank and file of the Army.
The heavy burden of universal military service
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? The Army 149
can be lightened in a certain measure by decentrali-
zation, which usually enables a man to serve in
his native province. Our Provincial Army Corps
have, on the whole, quite justified their existence.
They should remain the rule; and as a wholesome
counterweight we have, in the Guard, a corps
which includes men from all parts of the country,
and forms a crack regiment, one of whose functions
it is to spur on the rest of the Army. The rigid
centralization of France makes the existence of
Provincial Army Corps such as ours an impossibil-
ity. The natives of Normandy and of the Pyre-
nees there stand side by side in the same regiment.
In Germany, on the other hand, common national-
ity is rightly looked upon as a strong cement which
will ensure the solidarity of separate bodies of
troops. This universal military service, if it is
to preserve the existence of the State, must
naturally presuppose unity in the nation as a
whole. One or two isolated little provinces,
peopled by foreign races, do not greatly affect the
question, and a few simple precautions will do
away with any threatened danger from those
quarters. In Austria things are more serious,
because there the officers in the Reserve are the
weak point of the army. They are good Czechs,
good Germans, and good Magyars, but not good
Austrians; and this flaw may some day bring
about disastrous consequences.
In all these matters of military organization
we were until quite lately the leader of the other
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? 150 Treitschke
nations. During the last few years the neighbour-
ing States have made such strenuous efforts to
obtain military power that we have been obliged
to go further this time in imitation of other
nations. The furthest limits to this onward move-
ment are improved by nature of things, and the
enormous physical strength of the Germanic race
will see to it that we have a perpetual advantage
in this respect over the less faithful nations.
The French have nearly reached the utmost limits
of their capacity; the Germans possess, in this
respect, far wider elbow-room.
I will ask you once more to observe the nature
of the influence exercised on warfare by these new
methods in military affairs. The general tend-
ency of this system is towards peace. A nation
in arms is not as easily drawn away from its social
occupations to take part in a frivolous war as a
Conscript Army would be. Wars will become
rarer and of shorter duration, although more
bloody. Desire to return home will drive the
Army to advance. The temper of the Prussian
soldiers in the summer of 1866, expressed in the
words, "Let us press on towards the Danube, so
that we may get home again soon," should be
looked upon as the normal temper of a courageous
and, at the same time, peace-loving National Army.
There can be no difficulty, to-day, in understand-
ing the bold spirit in warfare which seeks, above
all, to plunge a dagger into the heart of the enemy.
It may be said that nothing is absolutely impossible
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? The Army 151
to a National Army of this kind when the nation
can look back over a glorious past.
