CHAPTER XIII 

 GERMANY AND HER NEIGHBORS 



THE principles developed in this volume have a direct appli- 

 cation to the Great War. The pages of history show 

 that in the long run the outcome of wars is in accord with 

 the health and energy of the people. Of course there are many 

 exceptions. The distance from home makes a great difference. 

 A strong people fighting at long range may occasionally be unable 

 to defeat a weaker nation which has the advantage of being close 

 to the battle-ground. So, too, a great leader may be of more 

 avail than the activity of his opponents. Again, a people in dis- 

 tress through hunger may overwhelm others of greater energy 

 by the sheer impetuosity of their frenzied outburst. Yet ulti- 

 mately health and energy, and therefore climate, appear to be the 

 deciding factors. Racial character is unquestionably most 

 important in this respect as in others, but in spite of our pre- 

 possessions to the contrary, it is becoming evident that much of 

 what we call racial character is really the effect of physical 

 environment acting upon generation after generation. 



Glance at the course of history for a moment. Egypt spread 

 her dominion far to the south and into the confines of Arabia at 

 a time when her people appear to have been blessed with health 

 and energy because of the variable climate which then prevailed. 

 So, too, with Babylonia and Assyria. In the wars between these 

 two we cannot tell what part was played by differences in health, 

 but both of them conquered the surrounding countries at times 

 when they were probably stimulated by a bracing climate. In 

 Palestine we see this same phenomenon. That country apparently 



