me proudly conscious of belonging to a great civilized nation
which, in spite of all the weakness and mistakes of bygone days, must,
and assuredly will, win a glorious future; and it is out of the fulness
of my German heart that I have recorded my convictions. I believe that
thus I shall most effectually rouse the national feeling in my readers'
hearts, and strengthen the national purpose.

THE AUTHOR.

_October, 1911_

CONTENTS

PREFACE

INTRODUCTION

Power of the peace idea--Causes of the love of peace in Germany--
German consciousness of strength--Lack of definite political aims
--Perilous situation of Germany and the conditions of successful
self-assertion--Need to test the authority of the peace idea, and to
explain the tasks and aims of Germany in the light of history

CHAPTER I
THE RIGHT TO MAKE WAR

Pacific ideals and arbitration--The biological necessity of war--The
duty of self-assertion--The right of conquest--The struggle for
employment--War a moral obligation--Beneficent results of war
--War from the Christian and from the materialist standpoints--
Arbitration and international law--Destructiveness and immorality
of peace aspirations--Real and Utopian humanity--Dangerous
results of peace aspirations in Germany--The duty of
the State

CHAPTER II
THE DUTY TO MAKE WAR

Bismarck and the justification of war--The duty to fight--The teaching
of history--War only justifiable on adequate grounds--The
foundations of political morality--Political and individual morality
--The grounds for making war--The decision to make war--The
responsibility of the statesman

CHAPTER III
A BRIEF SURVEY OF GERMANY'S HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT

The ways of Providence in history--Christianity and the Germans--
The Empire and the Papacy--Breach between the German World
Empire and the revived spiritual power--Rise of the great States
of Europe and political downfall of Germany after the Thirty
Years' War--Rise of the Prussian State--The epoch of the Revolution
and the War of Liberation--Intellectual supremacy of
Germany--After the War of Liberation--Germany under William
I. and Bismarck--Change in the conception of the State and
the principle of nationality--New economic developments and
the World Power of England--Rise of other World Powers--
Socialism, and how to overcome it--German science and art--
Internal disintegration of Germany and her latent str