The Bemidji daily pioneer. [volume] (Bemidji, Minn.) 1904-1971, 1917-12-24

flrther conquest. His son ana !: sue.
scessor disliked military pursuits. pre-.
ferring the company Of music and
books. ~ But he, too, realized on ascend
ing the throne that the PEussian ideal
could not endure apart
from q policy Of aggressive militarism,
and 2skilIfully employing the military
machine painstaking perfected by his
thrifty father, be became the all7pow-
:erful Frederick the Great. one OF the
most renowned military geniuses Of
history. Silesia was, brutaIly wrench.
ed from the helpless young Empress
OF Austria without the pretense oftlan
excuse, and the shameful partition Of
Poland was successfully begun, Mill
tarismgapproximately doubled the Siza
OF Pr,issia in the lifetime Of sthtS one
man (see Figures and 81 .,.,,,s. H. I
Il The time soon came when tho
normal growth of the Prussiah ideal
Of government demanded the extern
sion of Prussian influence on an en-
ormous scales Thus far gtht Hohen!
zollern dominion had risen by success
ssive acquisitions from small pros
vince surrounding Berlin to a Euro!
pean power e(Fisure94: Itgmust next
ascend to the position 81 = world pow
ier., To accomplish" this two things
were essential. Austria shad long
been a powerful rival 81. Prussia I'm the
struggle for dominant Influence among
the smaller German states. Since the
absorption Of Austria was not yet pos
sible, her influence must be destroyed
by military defeat. With Austria
eliminated Prussian1 domination over
the remaining German Estates must be
Consolidated, to the end that a great
Germanie7 power pledged to the sup
port Of Hohenzollernism and the Prus-
sian ideal Of government. should arise
In the world. Two remarkable men
undertook this colossal task. lillian
1. Of Prussia, grandfather Of the pres:
ent Kaiser, bent all his energies to
developing the military8 resources Of
his kingdom, while Bismarck proceed
ed to apply his policy of blood and
iron. In defiance ofrtherPrussian par
Lament which refused to vote taxes
for great army, Id defiance Of the
constitution which guaranteed to the
parliament control over taxes, and In
defiance of the voice of the people as
expressed in the public press, the mil
,itary machine y? was enormously
strengthened William T. and the
Iron Chancellor knew that all crimes
against the peoples liberty would be
forgotten when war, of conquest had
been successfully concluded. r. go
In, the course of few months, the
Danish provinces Of Sch1eswig and
Holstein were conquered and annexed
to Prussia, Austria was overwhelming
ly defeated and her influence des
troyed. and a number of tn" indepen
dent north German states whi"h sided
with Austria were brought under Prus
sian, control Soon after. the south
German states were brought int the
Prussian union for a new war of con
quest, Alssce- Lorraine and a huge In
tiemnity were extracted from PROSTATE
France, and the Hohenzollern king o.
Prussia became the aatocratic ruler
Of a great world power. the modern
German Empire r(Ngure s.. The
Prussian ideal Of government was nov
firmly established among great PEG
pie pledged to a policy Of aggressive
militarism. 49,.
= tits well for US to review these
salient facts Of Prussian history, les
we forget that from the earliest time
the house of Hohenzollem has eff
ciently and consistently pursued
single, policy which Inevitably in
wolves the maintenance of a grea
military machine and the periodic EN-
ployment Of that machine in ever-en
lareins 7conquests Of neishhoring terri
ltDry. He 10 blind indeed who woul'
J imagine that altar pursuing Z give.