153.

258. "War is the father of everything," says Heraclitus. It will be
the father of the new German race of the future.--PROF. E. HASSE,
Z.D.V., p. 126.

259. The efforts directed towards the abolition of war must not only
be termed foolish, but absolutely _immoral_, and must be _stigmatized
as unworthy of the human race_.... The weak nation is to have the same
right to live as the powerful and vigorous nation! The whole idea
represents a presumptuous encroachment on the natural laws of
development.--GENERAL v. BERNHARDI, G.N.W., p. 34.

260. It is proved beyond all shadow of doubt that regular war (_der
regelrechte Krieg_) is, not only from the biological and true kultural
standpoint, the best and noblest form of the struggle for existence,
but also, from time to time, an absolute necessity for the maintenance
of the State and society.--DR. SCHMIDT, of Gibichenfels, at meeting of
Pan-German League, Berlin, October, 1912. NIPPOLD, D.C., p. 73.

261. War is a biological necessity of the first importance, a
regulative element in the life of mankind which cannot be dispensed
with.... "War is the father of all things." The sages of antiquity,
long before Darwin, recognized this.... "To supplant or to be
supplanted is the essence of life," says Goethe, "and the strong life
gains the upper hand."--GENERAL v. BERNHARDI, G.N.W., p. 18.

_See also No. 386._

=War and Kultur.=

262. It is nothing but fanaticism to expect very much from humanity
when it has forgotten how to wage war. For the present we know of no
other means whereby the rough energy of the camp, the deep impersonal
hatred, the cold-bloodedness of murder with a good conscience, the
general ardour of the system in the destruction of the enemy ... can
be as forcibly and certainly communicated to enervated nations as is
done by every great war. Kultur can by no means dispense with
passions, vices and malignities.--FR. NIETZSCHE, H.T.H., section 477.

263. It is here demonstrated with rare cogency and conclusiveness that
war is not only a factor, but the main factor, in true, genuine
Kultur--not only its creator but its preserver.... Although the author
thus recognizes war as an element in the divine world-order, he by no
means ignores the blessings of peace, as the second factor in true,
genuine Kultur, in a certain measure complementary to war.--_Berliner
neueste Nachrichten_, 24th December, 1912, in review of _Der Krieg als
Kulturfaktor_, by DR. SCHM