add, as
did they, to the domains of the Hohenzollerns, that he return
from war in triumph at the head of a victorious army with the
keys of fallen cities borne before him in conquering march.

One-tenth of Frederick the Great's people fell, but to the
poverty-stricken peasant woman of Prussia, lamenting her husband
and dead sons, did it matter that the rich province of Silesia
had been added to the Prussian Crown? What was it to that broken
mother whether the Silesian peasants acknowledged the Prussian
King or the Austrian Empress? Despots both. And what countless
serfs fell in the wars between the King and the Empress! I once
asked von Jagow when this war would end. He answered, "An old
history of the Seven Years' War concludes, 'The King and the
Empress were tired of war, so they made peace.' That is how this
war will end." Will it? Will it end in a draw, to be resumed when
some king feels the war fever on him? No, this war must end
despots, and with them all wars!

It is all such a matter of personal whim. For instance before
Bulgaria entered the war on the side of Germany, even the best
informed Germans predicted that King Ferdinand would never join
Germany because of an incident which occurred in the Royal Palace
of Berlin. This is how it happened:

It is the custom for one monarch to make his pals in the King
business officers of his army or navy. Thus the German Emperor
was General Field Marshal and Proprietor of the 34th "William the
first, German Emperor and King of Prussia" Infantry, and of the
7th "William the Second, German Emperor and King of Prussia"
Hussars, in the Austro-Hungarian Army; Chief of the "King
Frederick William III St. Petersburg Life Guards," the 85th
"Viburg" Infantry and the 13th "Narva" Hussars, and the "Grodno"
Hussars of the Guard, in the Russian Army; Field Marshal in British Army;
Hon. Admiral of the British Fleet and Colonel-in-Chief 1st Dragoons;
General in the Swedish Army and Flag Admiral of the Fleet; Hon.
Admiral of the Norwegian and Danish Fleets; Admiral of the
Russian Fleet; Hon. Captain-General in the Spanish Army and Hon.
Colonel of the 11th "Naumancia" Spanish Dragoons; and Hon.
Admiral of the Greek Fleet.

The King of Bulgaria was Chief of the 4th Thuringia Infantry
Regiment No. 72, in the Prussian Army. As per custom, on a visit
to Berlin he donned his uniform of the Thuringian Infantry. He
had put on a little weight, and military unmentionables, be it
known, are