THE NATIONAL, GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



507 



geneous, ethnic group of Germans, 70,000,000 

 strong. Because of the enormities of the past 

 four and a half years, this group cannot be 

 trusted until they have shown repentance not 

 of a few days or months, but by a generation 

 or more of decent action. 



The nascent Slavic republics of Czecho-Slo- 

 vakia (see page 489), Poland (see page 499), 

 and possibly Lithuania (see page 465), to the 

 east of the Germans, and of Jugo-Slavia (see 

 page 485), on the south, could easily be honey- 

 combed with discontent and mutual jealousies 

 by the scheming junker class of Prussians 

 Thereby would be created in the heart of Eu- 

 rope another political volcano always in erup- 

 tion, closely analogous to that which kept the 

 Balkans in continual convulsion prior to the 

 world war. Unless from the Germans are ex- 

 acted such guarantees of good conduct as can 

 neither be escaped nor evaded, the world is 

 handing over these enfranchised races to be- 

 come the ultimate prey of men who are bound 

 neither by justice, nor honor, nor mercy in 

 their dealings with mankind. 



In the German group specially prominent are 

 the Prussians, the Bavarians, the Saxons, and 

 the three Free Towns of Liibeck, Hamburg, and 

 Bremen. 



The Free Towns were the largest factor in 

 the spread of German influence during the 

 Middle Ages. These three associated with 

 themselves for mutual protection ninety of the 

 principal commercial cities between the Rhine 

 and Novgorod. This association, called the 

 Hanseatic League, or League of the Guilds, 

 from 1241 for more than four hundred years 

 defended the rights of trade and was supreme 

 in northern Europe. Under normal conditions 

 the maritime and commercial interests of Lii- 

 beck, Bremen, and Hamburg are immense. The 

 citizens, proud of their self-governing tradi- 

 tions, are democratic in sentiment. 



The Saxons are of almost pure Teutonic 

 stock, with slight Slavic admixture. They oc- 

 cupy one of the most fertile regions of Ger- 

 many. Formerly they were renowned for their 

 independent spirit. For thirty-three years they 

 stubbornly fought against Charlemagne, who 

 finally conquered and Christianized them. Dur- 

 ing the nineteenth century they constantly pro- 

 gressed in constitutional liberty until the Prus- 

 sians occupied their territory in 1866. They 

 rank among the most highly educated people 

 of Europe. Dresden, their capital, is a center 

 of art and industry. More than 95 per cent 

 of the Saxons are Protestant. 



THE BAVARIANS 



The Bavarians are racially the most compos- 

 ite people of Germany, being descended from 

 Germanized Slavs, earlier Celtic settlers, and 

 Teutonic Marcomanni and Quadi. The latter 

 entered the country from the east and were 

 called Baivarii, probably from Bojer, as they 

 had come via Bojerland or Bohemia. 



They inhabit an immense amphitheater, about 

 220 miles long and no miles broad, surrounded 

 by lofty mountains. No other territory of 



equal size in Germany is enclosed by natural 

 boundaries so distinct; consequently the Ba- 

 varians have developed a character of their 

 own. Physically they are darker, smaller- 

 boned, more natural, and less stiff than Ger- 

 mans generally. They are conservative, re- 

 ligious, and affable. 



The Passion Play has been rendered every 

 ten years since 1634 by the Bavarian peasants 

 of Oberammergau. Sovereigns and people have 

 fostered music and the drama, and their capital, 

 Munich, is a school of all the arts. The 

 bronze doors of the Capitol in Washington 

 were cast in a Bavarian foundry. Count Rum- 

 ford, philanthropist and man of science, born 

 in Woburn, Mass., and for eleven years Ba- 

 varian Minister of War and Police, reorganized 

 labor and reformed social conditions. 



Always hostile to Prussia, the Bavarians 

 since their subjection in 1866 have of necessity 

 sullenly submitted to Prussian control. Re- 

 ligious differences intensify the separation, 

 seven-tenths of the 6,000,000 Bavarians being 

 Roman Catholics. 



THE PRUSSIANS * 



The Prussians derive their name and origin 

 from the Borussi, a fierce, large-boned people, 

 kindred of the Lithuanians and Letts (see 

 pages 464-465), living in the tenth century on 

 the lowlands of the Oder, Vistula, and Niemen. 

 Almost exterminated by the Teutonic Knights, 

 the survivors besought the intervention of Po- 

 land, which annexed those west of the Vistula. 

 In 1525 Albert of Hohenzollern, grand master 

 of the Knights, declared himself a Protestant 

 and surrendered his lands to the King of Po- 

 land, who thereupon created Prussia a Grand 

 Duchy and made him Grand Duke. His remote 

 descendant, Frederick, having bought the title 

 of king from the emperor at a great price, with 

 extraordinary pomp at Konigsburg, where he 

 was born, crowned himself King of Prussia, 

 January 18, 1701. 



The Prussians, though completely German- 

 ized, always differed from and were disliked 

 and^ mistrusted by the other Germans. Von 

 Treitschke says of Prussia, ''from its beginning 

 the most hated of German States." Goethe 

 wrote, '[The Prussian was always a brute and 

 civilization will make him ferocious." The 

 Prussians have always manifested peculiar 

 traits, possibly derived from their common an- 

 cestors, the merciless Knights and the fierce 

 Borussi. 



At accession Frederick possessed a kingdom 

 of 40,000 square miles and 1,500,000 inhab- 

 itants. A year ago Prussia comprised 140,000 

 square miles and 40,000,000 inhabitants. 



This surprising result was accomplished by 

 a continuous, consistent policy of employing 

 duplicity, violence, or any infamous means to 

 acquire territory and people. While the name 



* See also, in National Geographic Maga- 

 zine. "Prussianism," by Secretary of State 

 Robert Lansing, and "Germany's Dream of 

 World Domination" (June, 1918). 



