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LAND & WATER January 31. 19^8 
Views of a Prussian Militarist 
By Kenneth Beaton 
world-power is inconceivable without striving for expression 
of power in the world, and consequently for sea-power. But 
this involves the constant existence of a large number ot 
potential causes of friction. Hence arises the necessity for 
adequate armaments on land and sea. He will have none ot 
your delusions about peace and the brotherhood of man. 
War, he says (p. 172) has its basis in human nature, and as 
long as human nature remains unaltered, war will continue 
to exist, as it has existed already for thousands of years. The 
oft-quoted saying of Moltkethat wars are inhuman, but eternal 
jjeace is a dream, and not even a beautiful dream, will con- 
tinue to be true. In support of which contention the author 
brings forward suitable extracts from Treitschke, reminding 
us that the polished man of the world and the savage both 
have the brute in them, and that the idea of one universal 
Empire is odious, the ideal of a State co-extensive with 
humanity, no ideal at all. He closes his book with the 
following words : 
We must not put might before right, but equally little shall 
we and can we clispen.se with might. In the future, as in the 
past, the (lerman people will have to .seek firm cohesion in 
its glorious arniv and in its belaurelled young fleet. 
'' 7-\FDuCTI0N^ from the World War writtcB b\- 
/ yi.ieut.-General Baron von Freytag-Loringhoven, 
-^-^anrl recentlv translated into English (Constable 
and Co., 2s. bd.) is in some respects a disappomting 
book. But it should attract attention, owing to the 
position of the author, and to the open way in which he_taiKs 
of preparing for further warfare later on. W e all prefer to 
think that this war is to be the last, and peace, when it hnaily 
comes, is to come for ever. 
The first part consists of general observations on various 
features of the war. The author has been, since September 
1916, Deputv Chief of the t^.eneral Staff, that is to say, head 
of suirh parts of the (general Staff as remain in Berlin ; betore 
•that, he had been Ouarter-Master-(ieneral in the Field, his 
successor being the now celebrated Ludendorff. So he speaks 
with authoritv ; and the book, with or without intrinsic ment 
of its own, becomes of importance as expressing the opinion 
of the men at the head of the German Anny. 
His general observations are what one would expect from 
anv intelligent officer who had been at the front. He points 
out the increased importance of railways, which have enabled 
(.ermanv to move ver\- large bodies of troops backwards 
and for\vards between the Eastern and Western fronts, anc 
which enabled the French to do the same thing during and 
after the battle of the Mame. The enormous ad\antages of 
motor transport are duly set forth, and we are again told that 
aircraft has brought about a number of new phenomena ; 
not the least of these, to my mind, is the announcement that 
Orman aviators ha\-e " established more and more their 
superioritv in the air." General von Freytag admits that the 
Zeppelin has given wav before the aeroplane in land warfare. 
There are the usual excerpts from orthodox German militar\- 
historians of the wars of the last centurj' ; anyone who has 
read a few of them is fairly familiar with them all. Here is a 
beautiful instance : " We may rejoice that the following 
words of Clausewitz are completely applicable to our infantry- : 
' Happy the army in which an untimely boldness frequenth- 
manifests itself ; ' it is an exuberant growth which shows a 
rich soil.' " There is another gem from Prince Frederick 
Charles on page 136 concerning the mutual relations between 
generals and their troops, too long to quote here. 
The author explains the German failure on the Marne by 
■ saying the Germans simply had not sufficient numbers to carr>' 
out their plan of enveloping the French and British forces ; 
they would have required another complete army in echelon 
on their right flank. No mention is made of any mistakes on 
the part of the Higher Command. We also come upon novel 
interpretations of recent history. A certain Dr. Georg Solms- 
sen is quoted with approval as saying that for England this 
is " a commercial war with a view to her own enrichment and 
the annihilation of her chief rival." Again : " The French 
officers have completely lost that chivalrous sentiment which 
as late as 1870 found expression in the words of an old French- 
man : ' The person of a prisoner is sacred.' The French, 
both white and black, and their women no less, haVe not 
scrupled to jeer at and ill-treat our prisoners in the most 
flagrant manner, and the Government of the Republic has in 
general furnished an example of unworthy treatment of 
prisoners." This from' the land of Ruhleben and Wittenberg 1 
Here is another rich passage : 
In the case of the Ontral Powers, that lofty moral strength 
arising from the sense of righteous self-defence in a war which 
liad been thrust upon them, showed its superiority to the zeal 
which a commercial antl predatory war could kindle in our 
enemies. 
Or this ; 
F.ven distinguished minds are subject to mass-suggestion, as 
is shown in the case of numerous distinguished scholars and 
artists among our enemies. Neither judgment nor good taste 
availed to prevent them from joining in the general orgies of 
hatred directed against everything German.. 
W'e Nvonder whether the General has ever heard of Lissauer's 
'■ Song of Hate," which earned the author a decoration from 
the All-Highest ! 
Cieneral von Freytag-Loringhoven appears to admit, though 
of course he does not say so in so many words, that Germans- 
has missed her mark this time ; but he is perfectly frank about 
the necessity to tr\' again. No one, he says (p. 155), will 
dispute the fact that the world war has given the Ciermans 
cause to subject their national life to a thorough examination 
in all its departments, and that it must mark the beginning 
of all kinds of new developments. Nobody can undertake 
to guarantee a long period of peace, and a lasting peace is 
guaranteed only by strong armaments (p. 171). Moreover^ 
Incorrigible 
The author's purely mihtary Deductions from the World Wat 
liave no very great "distinction. They contain nothing that 
has not already been noted in the numerous pamphlets circu- 
lated by the Allied General Staffs. But this obstinate resohe 
to try again in future wars is significant, though e\'en here 
there is nothing for us to be alarmed about. These Prussian 
officers are incorrigible. But there are other forces at work in 
the world of which they know little : which in their conceit 
and hardness of heart they refuse to acknowledge, but which 
may in the end prove far too great and strong for them. 
There is a measure of truth in what this one says. It is 
quite true that we arc men, swayed by certain primitive 
passions, and that the millennium, the day in which all men 
will work together and love one another, and feel nothing but 
good will towards all other men, white, black, and yellow- 
is a day which may never dawn. But meanwhile Cieneral 
\-on Freytag-Loringhoven, with his Treitschke and his 
Clausewitz and their hard traditions, represents a type of which 
the whole of Europe is now sick unto death. If we fail to 
crush those men, and the mighty forces that are rising up 
around us prove unable to overwhelm Prussianism, the world 
will indeed be a strange place to live in. 
These rulers of Germany are pitiless and enormously con- 
ceited. They may say unctuous things now about the co- 
operation of all Germitns in the world war ; but if they get 
the upper hand they will crush the growth of democracy in 
their own country vjith the same ferocity with which they would 
crush us if they could come across the Channel. They scorn 
the idea of kindliness towards the weak, of sympathy with 
those who follow different ideals, of co-operation with men 
in their own country or others who want to walk in the paths 
of peace, and build up the State by work rather than by war. 
Theirs is a narrow view, the view of men who are as callous 
and bigoted as they are vain. 
We who also long for peace, but who cannot think of peace 
until that Prussian tyranny has had its sting drawn, must not 
exaggerate the power of these men, but at the same time 
must not forget that they are still in power. Salvation can 
only come to us through our own strength and resolution, and 
we must look to the forces of democracy, what is best in the 
democracy of Great Britain and her Allies, to make it irn- 
possible for these evil men to lift up their heads again. Their 
destruction will come from their own people in the first place. 
There are many in Germany, and still more in .Austria- 
Hungary, who look upon them with almost as much dislike 
as we do, and in time the better instincts of the (iermans will 
reassert themselves. But meanwhile the class to which von 
Freytag-Loringhoven belongs is in power, and there are no 
serious indications that their power is disputed by any appre- 
ciable portion of the nation. We must face facts, and we 
must not allow ourselves to relax our efforts, iioth military 
and civil, until the German nation takes a different view of 
the rights and claims of other people. 
It is to be hoped that large numbers of our country-men 
w-ill read and meditate upon this book, even if it costs them an 
effort, and induces an occasional yawn. As long as the 
Pnissian military caste is in power, it has to he reckoned 
with ; and we are here told plainly what it hopes to accom- 
phsh after the war, in preparation for another. 
