Trench and camp. ([Admiral, Md.) 1917-1919, 1918-07-04


dtsprop0rtiOn against him was the
depressing effect produced by the de-
sertion OF the Saxon army, which
went over to the allies. The allied
EoOnmander-in-chief was the Austrian
Prince Schwarzenberg, but the Prus-
slams. with their characteristic mod
eSty, claimed the lions share OF the
lAurelD and. as they now write his
tory, you would suppose that the vic
tory Of Leipsig was wholly their
work. At the battle Of Waterloo it
was undoubtedly the coming mp Of
the Pfuesian army under Blacher
which completed the defeat Of Ma
Epoieon.
Berlim's System
Thenceforward. for nearly halt q
century, Prussia went ON in peace to
develop her military system. She
organized her system Of education 20
that this should DO Q part of the mill
t&ry, ana In this way every prussian
on reaching manhood had been
taught absolute loyalty to the SOW
ereign and the most rigid military
obedience. The deepest instinct IN
the PTuGsiaR nature-lugt for war
vas foGtered by every hind Of teach
ing; and gradually the idea spread
that, Just as the Hohen4Dllern had
acquired lands and wealth by fighting
In tho old days. 90 successful war
would now have similar result.
In 1862 Count Bismarck became
the chief minister Of the Pruasian
king. He believed thoroughly In the
doctrine that Might makes Right, 60
that II q nation succeeds In piratical
crimes, nobody can call II to account.
Among the many states which then
made mp the German confederation,
Prussia and Austria were rivals, Aus
tria having the advantage. Bis
mafck planned to make Prussia the
chief German state. and he did this
By forcing war upon Austria and
beating her in the battle Of Sadona
in 1866. That accomplished, he pro-
posed to make Prussia the head Of a
German Empire which should include
all Of the German states outside Of
Austria. So he picked q quarrel with
France. which was wrongly regarded
% the dominant power Of western
Europe and having destroyed her
imperial armies and forced her to
make peace, he was able in 1871 to
Get up the German Empire.
From that time forward Prussia
worked to be, in every sense, the mis-
tresg Of Germany. theoretically.
each state was independent. but in
oil imperial matters the Prussian
votes outweighed those of the smaller
states. Prussian education and the
Prussian army system prevailed
throughout the empire. In cunning
and subtle ways the king Of Prussia,
who was also the German emperor,
hired non-PruSsians to fed stronger
allegiance to him than to their own
petty monarchs. If You were Q con-
spicuOus professor at Munich. the
Kaiser saw TO II that you were invited
TO all professors chair at the UNI
vefsity OF Berlin. II you had made
10 reputation as painter, or writer,
or sculptor. or musician, In one of
the smaller capitals, you were sure
to be drawn to Berlin. The great
flnanciers had their natural centre at
Berlin. And so Of all the chief or
gans Of the military, political, intel
lectual and industrial forces OF the
empire. Once at Berlin you were
stealthfly Prussianised; by blandish-
ment which took the form of promo
tons, red and iron crosses and
eagles, tudicious bestowal Of the
title "von." before which every Ger
man falls down and worships, and of
various other marks Of imperial ia
v0r; or, If you proved q slow acceptor
Of the Prussian virus you were
stealthfly punished-you didn't go on
IN your profession, you weren't asked
to paint the Kaiser's portrait. you got
no concessions for your business
plans, you were aware that an un-
seen power thwarted you at every
turn; and then you understood that
the only sure road to success was to
bow low before the Kaiser and his
deputies, and you succumbed
Treitschke, the most famous Of mod
ern German historians, illustrates
this perfectly. He was q Saxon and
. strong Liberal, but on being invited
to the University Of Berlin he became
the most virulent supporter of Prus-I
sia's Leadership in the German EN-
pire, and the most vehement advo-
cate of despotism, and until his death
I'm 1896 he did more than any other
German intellectual TO inject into
the University men, the Kaiser and the
upper military class the idea of Ger
man world dominion.
Test of Greatness
The doctrine of the Superman Is
simply the expression of colossal con-
ceit. The Germans base It on the the