Nationalgeist und Politik: Beiträge zur Erforschung der tieferen Ursachen des Weltkrieges.Vol. 1 by Friedrich HertzReview by: R. W. Seton-WatsonThe Slavonic and East European Review, Vol. 17, No. 49 (Jul., 1938), pp. 232-236Published by: the Modern Humanities Research Association and University College London, School ofSlavonic and East European StudiesStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4203476 .

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232 THE SLAVONIC REVIEW.

Further explanation of the reduced area to be sown may be found in reports of delayed repair of agricultural machinery and inefficient pre- paration and delivery of seed-grain.

Sowing operations have proceeded more slowly than in 1937, although spring began earlier than last year. Thus on 30 April, 1937, 49'6 million hectares had been sown, as against 44 I million this year. The Soviet press accuses the agencies in charge of sowing with poor management and lack of contact with the peasants. Other sources indicate that peasants in collective farms are giving increasing attention to the plots of land they are permitted to cultivate for themselves, to the detriment of collectivised land.

3. Live Stock. On I January a census of live-stock in Russia was made. As indicated

in the following table, there has been a general increase:- I Jan., I937. I Jan., I938. Per cent. of

(Million heads). increase. Cattle .. ... 47.5 50'9 7'2 Sheep and goats .. 53'8 66.6 23 8 Swine .. .... 20 0 25 7 28 8 Horses .. .... I59 I6-2 2 I

The notably small increase in horses (in some sections the number has actually diminished) is partly explained by the fact that the horse is the one animal individual peasants in collective farms may not buy, hence they are not interested in this section of stock-breeding.

Local Trials. Since the major trial of Bukharin, Rykov and others mentioned in

our last Chronicle, there have appeared only sporadic records of local trials of less significance.

REVIEWS Nationalgeist und Politik: Beitrdge zur Erforschung der tieferen Ursachen

des Weltkrieges. By Friedrich Hertz. Vol. I. Zirich (Europa- Verlag), I937. Pp. 479-

IN this book Dr. Hertz has set himself the difficult and delicate task of probing the deeper underlying causes of the great tragedy of I914-I8, not resting content, like so many writers, with the views of hidebound diplomatists of the old school, but attempting to analyse those decisive forces " which lie in the state tradition, in national consciousness and in the ideology of the leading Estates," and which go to form that evasive thing called "public opinion." In this task he has been remarkably successful: no more penetrating study of tendencies in all the leading countries of Europe has hitherto appeared. This first volume-which

232 THE SLAVONIC REVIEW.

Further explanation of the reduced area to be sown may be found in reports of delayed repair of agricultural machinery and inefficient pre- paration and delivery of seed-grain.

Sowing operations have proceeded more slowly than in 1937, although spring began earlier than last year. Thus on 30 April, 1937, 49'6 million hectares had been sown, as against 44 I million this year. The Soviet press accuses the agencies in charge of sowing with poor management and lack of contact with the peasants. Other sources indicate that peasants in collective farms are giving increasing attention to the plots of land they are permitted to cultivate for themselves, to the detriment of collectivised land.

3. Live Stock. On I January a census of live-stock in Russia was made. As indicated

in the following table, there has been a general increase:- I Jan., I937. I Jan., I938. Per cent. of

(Million heads). increase. Cattle .. ... 47.5 50'9 7'2 Sheep and goats .. 53'8 66.6 23 8 Swine .. .... 20 0 25 7 28 8 Horses .. .... I59 I6-2 2 I

The notably small increase in horses (in some sections the number has actually diminished) is partly explained by the fact that the horse is the one animal individual peasants in collective farms may not buy, hence they are not interested in this section of stock-breeding.

Local Trials. Since the major trial of Bukharin, Rykov and others mentioned in

our last Chronicle, there have appeared only sporadic records of local trials of less significance.

REVIEWS Nationalgeist und Politik: Beitrdge zur Erforschung der tieferen Ursachen

des Weltkrieges. By Friedrich Hertz. Vol. I. Zirich (Europa- Verlag), I937. Pp. 479-

IN this book Dr. Hertz has set himself the difficult and delicate task of probing the deeper underlying causes of the great tragedy of I914-I8, not resting content, like so many writers, with the views of hidebound diplomatists of the old school, but attempting to analyse those decisive forces " which lie in the state tradition, in national consciousness and in the ideology of the leading Estates," and which go to form that evasive thing called "public opinion." In this task he has been remarkably successful: no more penetrating study of tendencies in all the leading countries of Europe has hitherto appeared. This first volume-which

This content downloaded from 195.34.79.174 on Fri, 13 Jun 2014 00:03:42 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

REVIEWS. 233

is to be followed by a second, specially devoted to foreign policy during the 30 years' reign of William II-surveys in fourteen admirably balanced chapters the main tendencies of political thought in the chief European countries during last century. " The powers of violence and mendacity unchained by the war are successfully continuing the work of destruction begun by the cannon," and it is vital to get behind the rival propagandas and consider dispassionately the psychological factors which determine the divergences and disputes among the nations. The rich collections of diplomatic documents published since the war by all the Great Powers save Italy contain a mine of information on the outlook and actions of the official world in the particular country concerned, but little or nothing is to be gleaned from them as to such important movements as Pan-Germanism, Los von Rom, Action Frangaise, and so on, for the simple reason that even the ablest of pre-war diplomatists tended to move in somewhat restricted circles and were afraid of unconventional contacts.

In two chapters-the first treating of the origin of the Austrian state idea, down to the upheaval of 1848, the second and much longer, of the complex interplay of national rivalries in the Habsburg Monarchy between 1848 and the Great War-he traces the long historical process by which Bohemia, Hungary and Poland successively failed to achieve that union of the Danubian lands which the Habsburgs were then destined to carry out and uphold for nearly four centuries. He sees the fatal blunder of the Habsburgs in their dissipation of effort in moder times (rdumliche Zerstreuung der Machtziele is untranslatable, yet as apposite as it is involved): the double-headed eagle, facing both eastwards and west- wards from the Danube to the Rhine, from Italy or Germany to Hungary or the Balkans, is the symbol of their fatal habit of over- stretching and so leaving every policy half completed.

The chapter on the Prussian state ideal forms an admirable counter- part to the earlier Austrian chapter. In one direction he probably does not differ greatly from the reinterpreters of German history whom the Third Reich has thrown up-namely in regretting the fatal influence of the Imperial idea upon the medieval Germans, leading them to exhaust their strength on endless Italian wars and the Roman mirage, instead of checking feudalism at home and creating a sound financial and admini- strative system, with the result that the princely power grew like a rank weed and outdid even Italy in particularist and fissiparous tendencies. Dr. Hertz has some daring but thoroughly justified comments to make on Prussian historical writers, and, above all, on the legend that has gathered round Frederick the Great. As he points out, " if today Alsace belongs to France, if Germany in East Europe has forfeited a powerful position and still greater possibilities, if millions of Germans have been handed over to Slav rulers, if the German people alone had no colonial territory, all this is largely a consequence of his activities." He deliberately made over Alsace to the French in order to ensure his own possession of Silesia. He set himself to prevent Austrian expansion

This content downloaded from 195.34.79.174 on Fri, 13 Jun 2014 00:03:42 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

234 THE SLAVONIC REVIEW.

eastwards, and he was, above all, responsible for the partition of Poland; but while he and the Habsburgs fought for the Silesian duchies, Britain was free to found her world empire. Dr. Hertz is absolutely right to challenge the legend, widely believed in Germany, that Frederick and Kant were kindred spirits, linked together by the "categorical imperative," and again he has some plain words on Frederick's supposed "religious tolerance," which was really an attitude of complete and scoffing irreligion, exploiting the Church in the interests of the State and favouring the Jesuits only because they were banned by other monarchs and even by the Pope.

No less frank and critical is his chapter on Bismarckian statecraft. It is made clear that Austria in the middle of last century was widely regarded as " ein dem Deutschtum entfremdeter Staat," and not entirely without reason, despite the political predominance of the Germans. Thus Bismarck's " Little German " policy tended to conserve the purely German character of Prussia and the Reich. The war between Austria and Prussia was naturally unpopular among most Germans, but both it and the other two wars of I864 and I870 were coolly premeditated. The method actually adopted by Bismarck was not inevitable, and the idea that it was indispensable to overthrow Austria and France before unity could be achieved is a legend. On the other hand, the German Liberals were narrow and doctrinaire in their political outlook, and played into Bismarck's hands. Another point rarely stressed by other writers is that Bismarck was highly critical of "racial policy " as such, especially as pursued by the Austrian Germans (p. I42). A special chapter is devoted to Alsace-Lorraine, starting boldly from the thesis that two irreconcilable and equally exaggerated legends had been allowed to form themselves since I87o-that of a vindication of lost rights by Germany, and that of a brutal German conquest in disregard of the wishes of the population. The more than equivocal attitude of the Great Elector towards Louis XIV's seizure of Alsace, and again Frederick the Great's complaisance towards France in the same question (in I752 Frederick wrote "Silesia and Lorraine are two sisters, the elder married to Prussia, the younger to France") are duly stressed. The later revanche outlook of certain French circles is placed in due perspective, but it is pointed out that William II's constant and quite genuine efforts to win over France were altogether pointless if he really thought the idea of revanche to be ineradicable.

If the chapter on the Eastern Question, though very sound, is rather dry and conventional, those upon English political thought and nationalism and imperialism are of altogether special interest and more calmly balanced than the brilliant and sympathetic, but almost embar- rassingly complimentary, studies of Professor Kantorowicz. At the outset he reminds his readers that the British have theorised far less than most nations as to the ingredients that make up their national character. He again makes a point too often forgotten, that the Germans have been as

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REVIEWS. 235

great colonisers as the British, but owing to political circumstances did not unite with the Reich many of the territories which they colonised in East Europe. In the British case, too, the religious factor (especially in the American colonies) gave a peculiar turn to the whole evolution. " The development of moder nationalism is everywhere bound up with the drawing back of Christianity and the rise of a purely naturalistic conception . . . The nations took the place of God, nationalism became a sort of substitute for religion."

There follows a sketch of the political ideas of Seeley and Froude (Dilke hardly gets his due), and especially of Joseph Chamberlain; the influence of Hegel's teaching on the State upon Bosanquet, and the role of Darwinism are only touched on in passing. The remainder of the Chapter is devoted to exploding the superficial view that trade rivalry was the main cause of the Anglo-German quarrel, Britain having in 19I3 a larger trade with Germany than with any Dominion save India, and Germany taking from her more than France and Russia combined. Two other vital facts are that the United States was a far more dangerous com- petitor and yet there was no trace of a quarrel between her and us, and again that it was just trade and banking circles (with certain known and notorious exceptions), which were most Germanophil on the eve of the War. But "the bare existence of the English World Empire had an irritating effect on Germany. For how can a nation of warriors endure that an unwarlike state organisation should largely encircle the planet, like Fafner on his treasure ? "

Nothing better illustrates the universality and breadth of Dr. Hertz's political philosophy than the fact that his French and Russian chapters are in every way worthy of his German, Austrian and British chapters. It is impossible to dwell further on the details, but it is worth pointing out the clear distinction which he draws between "Russian" and " Panslav" nationalism, the great influence of Herder on all the Slav peoples, the special appeal of pacifism to the Slav peasant (this he traces back from Herder to Comenius), and his insistence that legends, even when demonstrably false, may exercise great influence.

In the concluding chapter Dr. Hertz traces the development of German nationalism through the Reformation, the Age of Enlighten- ment, the romantic and Liberal movements, and the decisive influence of " the tradition and structure of the Prussian military state," closing with a sketch of the Pan-German movement and some of its more notable publications, while making it clear that the German Government stood aloof from such extravagant designs and that Kiderlen-Waechter, in particular, after a discreet flirtation with the Pan-German League, decided that this was too risky, and drew back, and again that war actually came " over a cause that was not directly connected with Pan- German aims." But he rightly stresses the great part played by its long pre-war agitation in keeping a by no means negligible section of the nation in a state of nationalist ferment and exaltation.

This content downloaded from 195.34.79.174 on Fri, 13 Jun 2014 00:03:42 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

236 THE SLAVONIC REVIEW.

Altogether a book which deserves close attention from all students and whose closing volume will be eagerly awaited. The Austrian tragedy has driven its author to our shores, and it is to be hoped that an English edition will be found practicable, and that his great learning and philosophic outlook will meet with the welcome and appreciation which they deserve. R. W. SETON-WATSON.

Bismarck a Polska (Bismarck and Poland). Jozef Feldman. Warsaw and Katowice. 1938. Pp. 450.

FOR two reasons it was to be expected that the person and work of the Iron Chancellor should come in for fresh attention in our time : (i) because, with the opening of various archives, a wealth of new and unmined materials has been brought to light, and (ii) because of what is now going on before our eyes in Central Europe, amounting-as many think, to an effort to complete what Bismarck began. Dr. Valentin's book on the Founding of the Reich (in German), has a fitting mate in this comprehensive study by Professor Feldman of Cracow, in the Polish Tongue. (There is a brief resume of the argument given in English at the end of the book.)

"Europe has lost a Mistress, but gained a Master," was one of the cryptic comments made on Sedan. Certainly few men have left their mark more visibly on the world about them than the " Smith of the German Empire." And among those who, as a national group, felt the force and fury of that Master, the Poles occupy the first place. It was not Bismarck's fault that he found himself in such a pass. He was the heir of the ages. A perverse fate had decreed that a sea-going commercial people should push along the Baltic eastward, crossing the path of an inland, agricultural nation, which sought a window on the world around the mouth of the Vistula. The conflict grew with the coming of the Teutonic Knights; and the alliance of the Great Elector with the roving Swedish Protestants against Catholic Poland was but another stage of it. Things came to a head when the restless spirit of Frederick II got to work, under whose tutelage " Prussia starved her way to greatness." A century later came the man on whom the mantle of Frederick fell-Otto von Bismarck.

Dr. Feldman has not ventured on this work without years of prepa- ration. Already a number of special studies have appeared, one each in French and English among them. He did not choose the way taken by Wendt in Bismarck und die Polnische Frage, but something much more ambitious. On the background of European affairs he has given us a picture of the life and work of a man to whom " the Polish question was not only a vital matter of Prussian politics, but an issue inseparable from the whole international situation." To this wider issue the essay now under review is a real contribution.

We are reminded at the outset of the inevitability of Polish-Prussian rivalry-vita mea, mors tua ! But it all took on a new phase when, with the Partitions, Poland lost her independence and became the victim of

236 THE SLAVONIC REVIEW.

Altogether a book which deserves close attention from all students and whose closing volume will be eagerly awaited. The Austrian tragedy has driven its author to our shores, and it is to be hoped that an English edition will be found practicable, and that his great learning and philosophic outlook will meet with the welcome and appreciation which they deserve. R. W. SETON-WATSON.

Bismarck a Polska (Bismarck and Poland). Jozef Feldman. Warsaw and Katowice. 1938. Pp. 450.

FOR two reasons it was to be expected that the person and work of the Iron Chancellor should come in for fresh attention in our time : (i) because, with the opening of various archives, a wealth of new and unmined materials has been brought to light, and (ii) because of what is now going on before our eyes in Central Europe, amounting-as many think, to an effort to complete what Bismarck began. Dr. Valentin's book on the Founding of the Reich (in German), has a fitting mate in this comprehensive study by Professor Feldman of Cracow, in the Polish Tongue. (There is a brief resume of the argument given in English at the end of the book.)

"Europe has lost a Mistress, but gained a Master," was one of the cryptic comments made on Sedan. Certainly few men have left their mark more visibly on the world about them than the " Smith of the German Empire." And among those who, as a national group, felt the force and fury of that Master, the Poles occupy the first place. It was not Bismarck's fault that he found himself in such a pass. He was the heir of the ages. A perverse fate had decreed that a sea-going commercial people should push along the Baltic eastward, crossing the path of an inland, agricultural nation, which sought a window on the world around the mouth of the Vistula. The conflict grew with the coming of the Teutonic Knights; and the alliance of the Great Elector with the roving Swedish Protestants against Catholic Poland was but another stage of it. Things came to a head when the restless spirit of Frederick II got to work, under whose tutelage " Prussia starved her way to greatness." A century later came the man on whom the mantle of Frederick fell-Otto von Bismarck.

Dr. Feldman has not ventured on this work without years of prepa- ration. Already a number of special studies have appeared, one each in French and English among them. He did not choose the way taken by Wendt in Bismarck und die Polnische Frage, but something much more ambitious. On the background of European affairs he has given us a picture of the life and work of a man to whom " the Polish question was not only a vital matter of Prussian politics, but an issue inseparable from the whole international situation." To this wider issue the essay now under review is a real contribution.

We are reminded at the outset of the inevitability of Polish-Prussian rivalry-vita mea, mors tua ! But it all took on a new phase when, with the Partitions, Poland lost her independence and became the victim of

This content downloaded from 195.34.79.174 on Fri, 13 Jun 2014 00:03:42 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions