Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: I! HISTORICAL ANTECEDENTS OF THE CRIME OUR IMPERIALISTS: BERNHARDI AND CO. The writings of Bernhardi, Germany and the Next War, of Frobenius, The German Empire's Hour of Destiny, the books of Treitschke, German History and Politics, are as well known abroad as in Germany, and they have in part been translated into foreign languages. The imperialistic tendencies of a political clique have never been more distinctly expressed than in these writings, and, in the view of their originators, justified. A few quotations from Bernhardi may suffice. This man is a Prussian Cavalry General, and, if I am not mistaken, has been entrusted with a command in the East, and he has already been decorated with the Iron Cross of the First Class. That he is competent and authorised to give expression to the views of authoritative German circles can scarcely be disputed. On page 255 of his book we find 1: "The Government will never be able to count upon a well- armed and self-sacrificing people in the hour of danger or necessity, if it calmly looks on while the war-like spirit is being systematically undermined by the Press and a feeble peace policy preached, still less if it allows its own organs to join in with the same note, and continually to emphasise the maintenance of peace as the object of all policy. It must rather do everything to foster a military spirit, and to make the nation comprehend the duties and aims of an imperial policy. 1[References are to the English translation (popular edition). Edward Arnold, London.] "It must continually point to the significance and the necessity of war as an indispensable agent in policy and civilisation together with the duty of self-sacrifice and devotion to State and country." Page 257: "The soul of our nation is not reflecte... --This text refers to the Paperback edition.