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GERMAN PATRIOTISM.* No greater mistake can be made by a nation that is at war than to underrate the strength of its antagonists. Napoleon, whom Clausewitz termed the incarnate genius of war, made the most colossal blunders in the realm of politics. Not only, in spite of his well-known aphorism that the moral is to the physical as two to one, did he habitually underestimate the strength of all moral and spiritual forces, but he was possessed with the wholly erroneous idea that when he had vanquished armies he had subdued nations, It was this error which led him to his ruin. Moscow and Madrid might be occupied, but Russia and Spain survived. Prussia, might be devastated by French troops, but the only result was to evoke the indomit- able spirit of Prussian nationalism. It was otherwise when Napoleon had to deal with purely administrative or military questions. In these spheres of action he rarely missed his mark. His administrative system, as Mr. Bodley has pointed out, has stood erect for three generations of men. It has constituted the framework which has kept French society • The Teaching of History it; Girls &hoots in North and Central Germany. Report by Eve Dodge, M.A. Itaucheeter: at the University Press. 1801:. [Is. ed. net.] together amid the fever of insurrection or the more lingering disorders of Parliamentary govern meat. As a soldier, Napoleon may perhaps he justly accused of having paid insufficient atten- tion to the advice of those of his Marshals who had served in Spain, and who warned him at Waterloo that he had to deal with the British infantry, whom. General Foy described as "the best in the world." Generally speaking, however, he never fell into the mistake of underestimating the military strength of his opponents. Beugnot relates that one of his Council (the Comte de Cesaac) opposed his marriage with an Austrian Archduchess on the ground that Austria " n'etait plus une puissance," upon which Napoleon promptly replied : "L'Autriche n'est plus une puissance! On voit bien, Mon- sieur, que vons n'etiez pas it Wagram."' Neither the English nor the French nation has from the very commencement of the present war been at all inclined to underestimate the military prowess of its redoubtable foes. Indeed, in the first instance there was perhaps rather a dis- position to overrate their military qualities. The rapid and decisive victories of 1866 and 1870 had enormously enhanced the prestige of the German Army. A distinguished French- man said to me shortly after the campaign of 1870-71 that the French soldier was so disheartened that, in the presence of a German force, he would think himself defeated before he fired off his rifle. That was a gross exaggeration even at the time. Recent events bare now conclusively proved that, man for man, the British or French soldier is a match, and perhaps more than a match, for his German adversary. The tradition of German invincibility has been shattered. But there are other qualities besides those of pure military efficiency of which account has to be taken. The spirit which animates the contending armies has to be considered. Shakespeare was quite right when he said that he is thriae.armed who feels his quarrel just. It cannot be doubted, for instance, that one of the factors which contributed to British defeat during the American War of Independence was that a considerable section of the British nation never had their hearts really in the cause for which they were fighting. Chatham's son, and possibly others, refused to serve.
What is the spirit which now animates the German nation and the German Army P Abundant evidence is forthcoming to show that a feeling of intense hatred against the Allies,. and especially against England, has been evoked in Germany. But do the Germans really believe in the justice of their cause P To Englishmen, who know the facts, which have been carefully concealed from the German public, it. seems almost incredible that they should do so, and this feeling, coupled with a general belief that all individuality has been crushed out in Germany, and that the whole national machine moves with the regularity of clockwork at the bidding of an absolutist Government, appears to have engendered the notion amongst some sections of the British public that German patriotism is not what is called "spontaneous," but that it is an artificial product made to order, and that it would speedily wither if the pressure which has produced it were withdrawn. In all this there is what John Stuart Mill very appositely called a "bandying of half-truths." It is a fact that the rigid discipline of the whole German system has produced a unity of thought and action in the nation which is unknown in any democratic country. But it involves a most dangerous fallacy to suppose that on this account the patriotism of the men who have faced almost certain death from the rifles and machine- guns of the Allied troops is spurious and wanting in spon- taneity. It is nothing of the sort. It may well be that, more especially in the elementary schools, where the Government has strenuously endeavoured to combat the reception of Socialist doctrines, German patriotism is to a great extent the outcome of that respect for authority which a very strict and long course of disciplinary education and government is able to produce on a somewhat docile people. But. whatever be the cause, there can be no doubt of the result. A patriot:sal which is very real and very ardent exists. It can lead to nothing but error and disappointment if we at all deceive ourselves on this point,
In a sense it may be said that all patriotism is spontaneous. Even Locke would possibly have admitted that loveof country
is as nearly " innate " as any idea can be. If not innate, it is certainly instinctive. It is probable that the mere physical features of some monotonous plain or inhospitable ice-bound coast are as attractive in the eyes of their inhabitants as the rugged beauty of the wild Alpine scenes which, Goldsmith has told us, but bind all the more the mountaineer to the place of his birth. But it is, of course, true that patriotism, though instinctive, may be fostered and directed in certain specific channels by association and education. It is a commonplace to state that education may give divers trends to patriotism. Nothing is more characteristic of Napoleon's methods than the Catechism which he caused to be adopted for use in the French schools. He endeavoured to elevate Imperialism to the dignity of a religion. In answer to the question as to what was to be thought of those who were unfaithful in their duties towards the Emperor, French children were taught to reply : "According to St. Paul, they sin against the ordinance of God, and are deserving of ever- lasting damnation." The Emperor, it was said, was the "Anointed of the Lord, through consecration by the Pope, who is the head of the Church universal." Similarly, it cannot be doubted that the whole efforts of German, and especially of Prussian, educationalists have been directed towards instilling into the minds of the German youth a patriotism of a highly exclusive and narrow type. Cosmo- politanism, though it need not and should not destroy patriotism, rather tends to enfeeble it. The Holy Roman Empire was an institution which partook of a cosmopolitan character, and so long as it existed it tended to disunite Germans and to enfeeble German patriotism. Towards the end of the eighteenth century writers such as Wieland, Herder, and even Goethe, openly sneered at national pride. Cosmopolitan principles have now been altogether banished from the schools of Germany. The German youth have been taught to scout Lucan's idea that they were born into the world to benefit the human race. On the contrary, all their efforts are to be directed to the exclusive glorification of Germany, whose civilization is vaunted in terms of the utmost extravagance as vastly superior to that of all other countries, and to the maintenance of the existing system under which Germany is governed.
In 1908, a very interesting Report was written by Miss:Eva Dodge on the teaching of history in the girls' schools of Northern and Central Germany. Summarizing the result of some very extended inquiries, Miss Dodge says, in answer to the question "What is, for a German, the aim of history teaching," that," in general, it appears to be the cultivation of patriotism." She visited Eisenach, for instance, and there she found it laid down, as a rule for the guidance of teachers, that "history-teaching must cultivate love for Emperor and Empire, homeland, fatherland, and fellow-countrymen." She
wont to Leipsic, and there she learnt that, in dealing with Roman history, the children were taught that the Emperor Augustus committed the crime of sending " Varus, the proud and arrogant," to "bring all Germanyunder the yoke of Rome." "What," the little girls are asked, "should we do if we want to be worthy of our forefathers " The answer is that they should emulate the conduct of the German women who killed themselves and their children rather than fall into the hands of the Romans. At Halle, "the bloody deeds of the French Revolution are purposely held up before the children's eyes that their hearts may sicken at the thought of any attempt to change the Government by violent means." At Altenburg, the Workmen's Protection Act was carefully explained to the children and was represented as the exclusive work of the Kaiser. This leads to the question: "What are your duties towards the Kaiser P" and to the inevitable answer : "To be grateful to him and to wish him long life and a long reign." On the receipt of this answer, the teacher said : "There is a fine song about him which you all know—it is exactly suit- able. Sing it, then ! "—upon which the whole class of girls sprang to their feet and sang Heil dir ion Siegesleranz. Instances of this sort might be multiplied.
In the suggestions for the consideration of teachers in the British elementary sehoels, the Board of Education lays down the principle that "when dealing with the story of our Empire, the teacher will have abundant opportunity to bring tome to his class the fact that in learning British history they are learning a part of a larger whole, and that their sympathy and respect are due to other nations and races, with whom, whether as enemies, allies, rulers, or traders, English- men have had and still have so many dealings." Sentiments of this sort appear to be wholly excluded from the Gorman curriculum as interpreted by Treitechke and others of his sort.
These teachers have endeavoured, not merely to encourage an ardent love of Germany, but also to stimulate by all possible means a profound hatred of all other countries. Napoleon once said that "what one nation most hates is another nation." The rest of the civilized world has spurned this detestable doctrine, and has been laboriously endeavouring to eliminate it from the creeds of nations. Germany, on the contrary, has adopted it as the corner-stone of her scholastic policy. That sturdy old Tory, Thomas Love Peacock, makes one of his characters observe that in some cases the only result of educe,- tion is to give a fixed direction to natural stupidity. German education, in its most recent phases, is open to a somewhat similar charge. Though it develops the intellect, it gives a fixed direction to such minds as are naturally disposed to be receptive of non-moral ideas. The fact that the German ideal is monstrous, and that the teaching in the German schools has, in so far as the subject immediately under discussion is concerned, been anti-Christian and subver- sive both of public and private morality, should not, how- ever, blind us to the fact that the views propagated by these professors of immorality have been generally accepted by the whole nation, and that their teaching has modelled the thoughts of the present generation of Germans. We may hold that the ideal is altogether false, and that the means adopted to ensure its acceptance are deeply tainted with moral and intellectual corruption, but we must not forget that it has generated a very real, earnest, and fervid patriotism, which is capable of prompting the most heroic deeds of self-sacrifice. Let us, therefore, wholly abandon all conclusions bused on the theory that German patriotism is a manufactured article, that it is wanting in spontaneity, and that its outward manifestations give an incorrect idea of German public opinion. To a German the coarse adopted by the London County Council a few years ago of refusing to allow Empire Day to be celebrated, and forbidding the use of the Union Jack in the schools under their control, would be
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