WAR AND THE LIBERAL CONSCIENCE

War and the Liberal Conscience

War and the Liberal Conscience

Introduction

The great misfortune of not only Germany but also the entire world was at that juncture the House of Hohenzollern William II occurred in an individual who embodied the three qualities you might say that characterized the German ruling elite: Militarism archaic excessive ambition and neurotic insecurity. In the new German army was socially dominant as it was in the old Prussia domain extended to all classes by a universal compulsory military service for three years. The great misfortune of not only Germany but also the entire world was at that juncture the House of Hohenzollern William II occurred in an individual who embodied the three qualities you might say that characterized the German ruling elite: Militarism archaic excessive ambition and neurotic insecurity. In the new German army was socially dominant as it was in the old Prussia domain extended to all classes by a universal compulsory military service for three years.

Discussion

Bismarck himself, having established the German Empire, had been content to just preserve it, but the generation that succeeded him was not satisfied that easy. He had every reason to be ambitious. It was a nation of over sixty million strong, with a great heritage in terms of music, poetry, philosophy, and whose scientists, technicians and scholars (not to mention the soldiers) were the envy of the world. Its industries had surpassed the British in the coal and steel production, and industrial along with scientists, they were starring in a new "industrial revolution" based on chemistry and electricity. The Germans were proud of possessing a unique culture and above that maintained the balance between the despotic barbarism of its Eastern and Western decaying democracy.

The upper classes - Germany - fought their own battles, mainly between ...