Page:At the Eleventh Hour by T. G. Masaryk (1916).pdf/38

 initiated three wars (against Denmark, Austria and France), and all these wars were a success not least of all because they were the means to a well-shaped and grand political plan. The Allies also must have a well-shaped and grand political plan. They have, in fact, proclaimed the liberation of Europe and of the smaller nations from Pan-Germanism and Prussian militarism, and that is a grand and noble plan; but it still has to be clearly worked out in detail.

On the battlefields, of course, strength and orceforce [sic] decide, strength and force as they have been accumulated in years, centuries, ages; one of the forces acting and deciding is our conception of history, the capability and aptitude to understand the direction which historic development has taken, and the strong will to shape the future of our own nation and of Europe as a whole. I never could agree with those critics of Pan-Germanism, who sneered at the ink-wasting German generals like Frobenius, Bernhardi, Eichhorn, Keim, Bronsart, right back to the days of Moltke. These generals prepared this war, and their writings are as essential a part of German preparedness as their stocks of ammunition. Our leaders in the war must have a clear idea as to the direction in which they wish their own nation and Europe as a whole to develop. The war is not only a display of blind forces, but also of intelligence, insight and knowledge. Knowledge is Power.

The programme of the Allies cannot be a mere plan to crush Germany; for a nation of 65 millions (with German Austria 75 millions) cannot be crushed. It must be a plan of defence a plan for promoting the moral and political progress of Europe and of Humanity. It is a plan to force Germany to be human, to accept and to comprehend the humanitarian programme of the best German thinkers. Germany, when she has abandoned the ferocious philosophy of the superman and the policy of the “blonde beast” aspiring to the bloodstained dominion of mankind, will easily find her place as an equal among equals.