1914] Germany Declares War 



of the nature of camouflage. Tension on the Con- 

 tinent had become so great that a strong man in 

 effective opposition (Jean Jaures, for example) took 

 his life in his hands. A chance shot along the frontier 

 might have precipitated the catastrophe, a fact 

 more or less realized by observers for the last twenty 

 years. 



On Monday morning war was declared against invasion 

 France, and the German General Staff, apparently f Bel & u 

 without the approval of the Prime Minister, Beth- 

 mann-Hollweg, at once invaded Belgium. Now that 

 the war is over, in a spirit of generosity toward a 

 conquered foe which at the point of the sword has 

 confessed guilt, several American and British pub- 

 licists have discredited "the Myth of the Guilty 

 Nation," evoking Burke's dictum that you "cannot 

 indict a whole nation." It is of course manifest that 

 a "whole nation" could not unite for crime or con- 

 spiracy. But conspiracy actually existed on the part 

 of German military leaders, and culminated in crime 

 of the first magnitude. At the best, also, the German 

 people as a whole were guilty of docility and acqui- 

 escence, a role for which they were fitted by nature 

 and especially by training. Brutality is the "Nemesis 

 of Docility." 1 



When the war was young and relatively popular, 

 Winston Churchill was reported to claim it as his 

 war. Isvolsky, in Russia, made the same assertion 

 for himself. But the Pangermanists knew better. 2 

 The war was theirs; no others were in position to 

 bring it on. Its sources lay deep down in elementary 



1 See volume thus entitled, by Edmond Holmes. 



2 See Chapter XLV, pages 554-555. 



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