MOBILIZATION
"Munich.--Evening after evening masses of people thronged the streets.
The heavy, oppressive atmosphere weighed upon the spirit--a leaden
pressure which increased with every hour. Then came the stirring events
on the evening of July 3ist, when the drums beat 'general march' on the
Marienplatz, and a commissioner read the articles of war to a crowd
numbered by thousands. Thirty drummers and commissioners in motors
rushed through the streets of the city.
"On Saturday evening, August 1st, the general order for mobilization was
proclaimed from the offices of the _Münchener Neuesten Nachrichten_. A
deep solemnity fell upon the masses of spectators and the crowd fell
into rank to march to the Royal Palace, from a window of which King
Ludwig spoke words of comfort and inspiration. Still singing the 'Wacht
am Rhein,' this river of humanity flowed on to the 'Englischen Garten,'
at the corner of which stands the Austrian Legation. A gentleman
addressed the representative of our beloved ally, who sounded in his
reply the note of 'faithfulness unto death.'
"And now from out the stifling depression of the leaden weight of the
previous days there arose a terrible, united will, a single mighty
thought. The whole of a great and powerful people was aroused, fired by
one solemn resolve--to act; advance on the enemy, and smash him to the
earth!
"Dresden.--I was sitting in the garden of a suburban restaurant; above
me were the dark masses of chestnut trees, while before us, above the
railway, was a long strip of bright, summer-night sky. There seemed to
be something gloomy and uncanny in the air; the lamps blinked
maliciously; a spirit of still expectation rested on the people; furtive
glances were cast from time to time at the near embankment. Military
trains were expected, and we listened nervously to the noises of the
night. The first troop-transports; where were they going--against Russia
or to the French frontier? It was whispered that the troops would only
be transported by night.
"At last a pounding thud came through the stillness of the night, and
soon two colossal engines were silhouetted against the sky, like
fire-spitting monsters. Their roar seemed more sinister than usual.
Heavy forebodings rumbled out in the rocking and rolling of the endless
coaches--the clang of a future, pregnant with death and pain. Suddenly
the tables were empty; everyone rushed towards the lighted compartments
of the train, and a scene of indescribable jubilation followed as train
after train of armed men rushed by into the night.
"Sometimes a troubled father was heard to exclaim: 'If only the first
battles were fought and won!' Yet calm confidence prevailed from the
very beginning. But the sight of the quiet, machine-like completion of
the mobilization strengthened our trust, even though a justifiable
indignation and rage filled our hearts at Europe's dastardly attack on
the Central States. Hate flamed highest, however, when England declared
war against us.
"There are several reasons for this. In the north of Germany, the
Englishman is looked upon as the European who stands nearest the German,
and with whom we have the most sympathy. His personal reliability and
the manly firmness of his bearing, the culture of English social life,
English art and style, have given Imperial Germany many points of
contact and grounds for sympathy. Our historical interests have never
collided. Then we suddenly became aware that this country, under the
mask of friendship, had egged on the whole of Europe to attack us. Not
because we had injured English feelings or interests, but solely to
destroy a competitor and divide his coat of many colours.
"No political necessity compelled modern Carthage to declare war on us,
but merely the avowed aim to do a good piece of business by the war.
Without England's intrigues Europe would never have dared to attack us.
In our case, therefore, hate has sprung out of disappointed love.
England has become our mortal enemy, just as Russia is Austria's. In a
word, the two Central Powers are inspired by moral superiority over
their enemies, and are determined to wage war on them to the last drop
of blood, and if fate permits it, to settle them off and settle up with
them once for all.
"At the commencement of the mobilization the railway time-tables in
force were cancelled; railway traffic ceased, and only slow local-trains
ran, stopping at every station to pick up the men. During the nights a
gigantic transport of troops went on to the frontiers. From that moment
the sale of alcohol on the stations was prohibited. The publication of
news concerning troop movements was suppressed, in order to veil our
objective and to keep secret our strength on the various frontiers.
"The trains in the Tyrol were decked with wreaths and flowers. They bore
Germans from the most southerly corners of our neutral ally--Italy.
Members of the _Wehrkraftverein_ (Boy Scouts) inspected the trains at
every station, and it is said that a Serb was found bound fast
underneath one of the carriages. Serbian scoundrels were found on all
sides; if one of them had succeeded in destroying the Brenner line the
whole plan of mobilization would have been disturbed. Therefore
sentinels were placed along the whole line and strong guards protected
every tunnel. At night all lights were put out and those on the engines
covered up; even the stations were not illuminated--everywhere darkness.
"Slowly feeling its way, the train crept over the Brenner--it took
twelve hours; in Innsbruck the station was crowded with Germans to
welcome the warriors, and the ancient hills echoed again and again the
'Wacht am Rhein.' The solemnity which had marked the first days in
Munich had given place to boisterous joy. Thousands of men in mountain
costume had flocked into Munich to offer themselves as volunteers, and
the streets and station rang with their _jodeln_! (the peculiar cry of
Alpine herdsmen).
"Outside the station lay vast quantities of materials for the Flying
Corps, and innumerable motor-cars. A regiment of artillery was just
leaving, while a band was in the centre of the station; the rhythm of
the kettle-drums rolled mightily, and the music clashed in the huge
central hall; thousands of voices joined in, then helmets, hats, caps,
rifles and swords were waved and the train moved off amid shouts: 'Go
for them! Cut them down!' ('Drauf auf die Kerle! Haut sie
zusammen!')"[29]
[Footnote 29: Colonel Frobenius: "Durch Not und Tod" ("Through Distress
and Death"). Leipzig, 1915, p. 12 et seq.]
"If I live to be a hundred I shall never forget these days. They are the
greatest in our history. We never dreamed that anything so overwhelming
could be experienced on earth. Only three weeks ago and we should have
been quite incapable of imagining its like. The feeling that we have
experienced something overpowering, something which we cannot utter,
overwhelms us all. We see it in each other's faces and feel it in the
pressure of a hand. Words are too weak, so each is silent about what he
feels. We are conscious of one thing alone: Germany's heart has appeared
to us!
"At last we see each other as we are, and that is the indescribable
something--the birth of this great time. Never have we been so earnest
and never so glad. Every other thought, every other feeling has gone.
What we have thought and felt before was all unreality, mere ghosts; day
has dawned and they have fled. The whole land bristles with arms and
every German heart is filled with trust. If we were always as we are
to-day--one heart and one voice--then the whole world would have to bow
before us. But we no longer knew ourselves, we had forgotten our real
nature. We were so many and so divided, and each wanted only to be
himself. How was it that such madness could have blinded us, and discord
weakened us?
"Now we realize our strength and see what we can achieve, for in spite
of all we have retained our integrity; we have suffered no injury to the
soul. Germany's soul had slept awhile and now awakes like a giant
refreshed, and we can hardly recollect what it was all like only three
weeks ago, when each lived for himself, when we were at best only
parties, not a people. Each knew not the other, because he knew not
himself. In unholy egoism everyone had forgotten his highest will. Now
each has found his true will again, and that is proved--for we have only
one.
"In all German hearts flames the same holy wrath. A sacred wrath which
sanctifies and heals. Every wound heals; we are again healthy and whole.
Praise be to God for this war which delivered us on the first day from
German quarrelsomeness! When the days of peace return we must prove that
we deserve to have lived through this holy German war. Then no word must
be spoken, no deed done on German soil which would be unworthy of these
sublime days.
"Groups stand at the street corners reading the latest news. One counts
aloud how many enemies we have: there are already six. A silence ensues,
till someone says: 'Many enemies, great honour, and we shall win, for
our cause is just!' Such utterances can be heard every day. That is
German faith; human might does not decide, but God's justice! That is
the Supreme blessing of this great time; we put our trust in the spirit.
Modern Germans have never breathed before so pure an atmosphere, for
Germany's soul has appeared to us.
* * * * *
"I am going to pronounce a blessing on this war, the blessing which is
on all lips, for we Germans, no matter in what part of the world we are,
all bless, bless and bless again this world war. I do not intend to
become lyrical. Lyric is so far from me that in all these three months I
have not composed a single war poem. No, I shall endeavour to count up
quite calmly, unlyrically, what we have seen during these three months:
point for point, the whole list of surprises, for they have all been
surprises, one after the other.
"Only a few days ago a high State official said to me: 'Let us confess
at once that in all Europe nobody believed in this war; everybody had
prepared for it, but nobody thought it possible--not even those who
wanted war.'
"All thinking men considered that the interwoven economic dependence on
each other among the nations, was so strong that none dare commit
suicide by commencing a war. Thus we spoke to each other, and that
seemed an axiom. Further, it seemed to be true that even if a madman let
loose the dogs of war, then it would be all over in a fortnight. The man
in the street imagined that it would be a kind of parade (_Aufmarsch_),
a mobilization test, and the power which succeeded best would be the
victor, for no country in the world was strong enough to stand the
enormous cost for longer than three weeks.
"Now three months have gone, and we have stood the strain, and we can
bear it for another three, six months, a year, or as many years as it
must be. The calculation was wrong, all the calculations were wrong: the
reality of this war surpasses everything which we had imagined, and it
has been glorious to experience on so grand a scale that reality always
surpasses the conception. Even that is not true which we learned in all
the schools and read in all the books--that every war is an awful
misfortune. Even this war is horrible; yes, but our salvation. It seems
so to us, and so it has appeared to us from the very first day onwards.
"That first day will remain in our memories for ever; never in all our
lives had we experienced anything so grand, and we had never believed it
possible to experience anything so magnificent. Word for word Bismarck's
prophecy (1888) has come true: 'It must be a war to which the whole
nation gives its assent; it must be a national war, conducted with an
enthusiasm like that of 1870, when we were ruthlessly attacked. Then all
Germany from the Memel to Lake Constance will blaze up like a
powder-mine and the whole land bristle with bayonets.' The war which
Bismarck prophesied was this war, and what he foretold came to pass, and
we saw it with our eyes. We saw the German mobilization with eyes which
since then have been consecrate.
"All enthusiasm is splendid, even in an individual, be he who he may and
for whatever cause you like. In enthusiasm everything good in a man
appears, while the common and vulgar in him sinks away. Any enthusiasm
either of groups or societies in which the individual ego loses itself
is grand, but the mighty enthusiasm of a powerful people is
overwhelming. This was, however, an enthusiasm of a peculiar sort--it
was well disciplined, an enthusiasm combined with and controlled by the
highest order.
"In this the fundamental secret of German power was revealed: to remain
calm in enthusiasm, cold amidst fire and still obedient to duty in a
tornado of passion. Then we were all inspired by the thought and
feeling: 'Nobody can achieve that, for in order to be able to do it we
have had to perform a huge intellectual and spiritual task. It is not
alone the result of the last century and a half; no, that work has been
going on for nearly a thousand years.'
"What is the spirit of our German mysticism, the spirit of Eckhart and
Tauler, except: Drunkenness of the soul in a waking condition? The
accepted law on which all great German deeds rest, is: to dovetail
enthusiasm with discipline and order. From our Gothic, through German
_barock_ to Frederick the Great and Kant, on to the classical
period--what does all that mean if it is not the architecture of one
huge feeling? The soul runs riot in its imaginings and therewith the
intellect builds. The ravings of the soul provide the materials with
which the mind builds.
"What is German music from Bach to Beethoven and from Beethoven to
Wagner--yes, even to Richard Strauss--but enthusiasm with discipline?
German music has been our mobilization; it has gone on just as in a
_partitur_ by Richard Wagner--absolute rapture with perfect precision!
"Hence when we saw the miracle of this mobilization--all Germany's
military manhood packed in railway trains, rolling through the land, day
by day and night after night, never a minute late and never a question
for which the right answer was not ready and waiting--when we saw all
this, we were not astonished, because it was no miracle; it was nothing
other than a natural result of a thousand years of work and preparation;
it was the net profit of the whole of German history.
"At the German mobilization not only our brave soldiers, reserves and
militia (_Landwehrmänner und Landstürmler_) entered the field, but the
whole of Germany's historic past marched with them. It was this which
inspired the unshakable confidence which has endured from the first day
of war. In truth, the dear Fatherland has every reason to be calm.
"In the meantime something more has happened: all in a moment we became
Germans! We held our breaths when the Kaiser uttered these words. This
too arose out of the deepest depths of Germany's yearnings; it sounded
like an eagle-cry of our most ancient longings. Germany's soul has long
pined to tear itself from its narrow confines (_verwerden_, as Eckhart,
or _sich entselbsten_, as Goethe put it), to lay aside self-will and
sacrifice itself, to be absorbed in the whole, and yet still to serve
(Wagner). And this eternal German yearning had never reached fulfilment,
but self-interest and egoism have always been stronger; every German has
been at war with all the others. 'For every man to go his own way,' said
Goethe, 'is the peculiar characteristic of the German race. I have never
seen them united except in their hate for Napoleon. I am curious to see
what they will do when he is banished to the other side of the Rhine.'
And Goethe was right: no sooner was the land freed from the oppressor,
than each began again to think and act only for himself. Hence, when we
first learned of the Kaiser's words we felt almost a joyous fear. If it
were only true that now there were only Germans! But on the very next
day our eyes saw and our ears heard that at last there were only
Germans, and with that, all pain and fear was forgotten. If war is
awful, even a just war, a holy war--even for the victor too, we will
endure all that, for it is as nothing; no sacrifice is too great for
this prize--that we are all only Germans.
"Since the Emperor spoke those words three months have passed, and there
have only been Germans in the land. These three months have brought much
sorrow to German hearts, for there is hardly a home which does not
lament a father, a son, or a brother. Nevertheless, one may say that
since our existence as a nation, Germany has never been more joyous, in
the best sense of the word, than in this time of suffering. Through our
tears the noblest joy has shone; not alone at the success of our arms;
it is not from pride at fighting against a world of enemies; it is not
the fact that we are now assured of a future which in July last we could
not have imagined; it is not the feeling of power, of which even we
ourselves did not know. That shining joy springs from deeper reasons. We
are glad because we have found each other; we did not know each other
before. Indeed, no one knew himself. Now we know each other, and above
all, each knows himself.
"It was Bismarck who uttered these terrible words: 'When the unoccupied
German must give up the struggle and strife which has become dear to
him, and offer the hand of reconciliation, then he loses all joy in
life. Civil war is always the most terrible thing which any land can
have. But with us Germans it is still more terrible, because it is
fought out by us with more love for the strife than any other war.'
"Does it not sound truly horrible for the greatest benefactor of a
nation, which has to thank him for having realized its century-old dream
of unity, to say in all calm and as something quite obvious, that his
own nation engages in a civil war 'with more love' than any other war?
And wherever we look in Bismarck's speeches, the same complaint is found
which had been the eternal lamentation of Goethe--the lament over the
lack of faith and will of the Germans.
"How will it be this time? Will it be as after the Seven Years' War,
after the War of Liberation, after 1870? Will it be again all in vain?
As soon as the Fatherland is secure, will every German once again cease
to be a German in order to become some kind of -crat or -ist or -er?
This time it will be more difficult, for from this war he will return no
more into the same Fatherland. It will have expanded; the German
Fatherland will be greater. Arndt's poems must be written over again: no
longer merely 'as far as the German tongue is spoken.' Germany will
stretch beyond that limit, and in it the German will have work to do.
"In his speech Bismarck spoke of the 'unoccupied'; but in all
probability after this war, for years to come, there will be no
'unoccupied' Germans. They will be fully occupied with the new
organization. What the sword has won, we shall keep. 'The pike in the
European carp-pond,' said Bismarck once, 'prevent us from becoming carp.
They compel us to exertions which voluntarily we should hardly be
willing to make. They compel us to hold together, which is in direct
contradiction to our innermost nature.'
"As we cannot change our nature, it will be good if we take over for
good and all a number--a very considerable number,--of these European
pike. That will occupy the German peasant and give an outlet to his
superfluous energies. There will be no leisure-energy to discharge
itself in party strife. Further, we must build Europe up again. It stood
on rotten foundations, and now it has fallen to pieces. We shall erect
it again on a German basis, and there will be work enough."[30]
[Footnote 30: Hermann Bahr: "Kriegssegen" ("The Blessings of War").
Published in Munich, 1915, p. 5 _et seq_.]