Page:General History of Europe 1921.djvu/854

 640 General History of Europe peril of vast standing armies and the competition in dreadnaughts and cruisers, was made a burning question by the war, because the European nations involved were bound to emerge from the con- flict either bankrupt or with unprecedented financial obligations. At the same time the progress of the deadly art of killing one's fellow men advanced so rapidly, with the aid of scientific dis- covery and the stress of war, that what was considered adequate military preparedness before the war would seem absurdly inade- quate after its close. Giant guns, aircraft, "tanks," and poison- ous gases have, among other things, been added to the older devices of destruction, and the submarine suggested a complete revolution in naval strategy. 1157. "Militarism" and "Autocracy." Everyone knew that Germany had the strongest, best-organized, best-equipped army in Europe, but when it was suddenly hurled against Belgium in August, 1914, the world was aghast. The spoliation of Bel- gium, the shooting down of civilians, the notorious atrocities of the German soldiers, the cold-blooded instructions to the officers to intimidate the civil population by examples of cruel punish- ments (Schrecklichkeit), the scandalous and criminal activities of German spies, the ruthless submarines, the slaughter of non- combatants in the air raids over England, the destruction of the noble cathedral of Rheims by German gunners, the "Song of Hate," in which a German poet summoned his fellow country- men to execrate England with undying animosity, all these things combined to produce world-wide horror and apprehension. To their adversaries the Germans, so righteous, so peace-loving, so favored of God! as they seemed to themselves, were "Huns," led by a modern Attila, ready to deluge the world in order to realize the dream of world domination. The fatal readiness of the German military force for instant action had also been thoroughly impressed on the world. The kaiser had but to say, "The country is attacked," and he was the judge of what constituted an attack, posters would appear everywhere ordering those liable to service to be at a certain rail- road station at a given hour, under penalty of imprisonment or