“All thinking men considered that the interwoven economic dependence on each other among the nations, was so strong that none dare commit suicide by commencing a war.  Thus we spoke to each other, and that seemed an axiom.  Further, it seemed to be true that even if a madman let loose the dogs of war, then it would be all over in a fortnight.  The man in the street imagined that it would be a kind of parade (Aufmarsch), a mobilization test, and the power which succeeded best would be the victor, for no country in the world was strong enough to stand the enormous cost for longer than three weeks.

“Now three months have gone, and we have stood the strain, and we can bear it for another three, six months, a year, or as many years as it must be.  The calculation was wrong, all the calculations were wrong:  the reality of this war surpasses everything which we had imagined, and it has been glorious to experience on so grand a scale that reality always surpasses the conception.  Even that is not true which we learned in all the schools and read in all the books—­that every war is an awful misfortune.  Even this war is horrible; yes, but our salvation.  It seems so to us, and so it has appeared to us from the very first day onwards.

“That first day will remain in our memories for ever; never in all our lives had we experienced anything so grand, and we had never believed it possible to experience anything so magnificent.  Word for word Bismarck’s prophecy (1888) has come true:  ’It must be a war to which the whole nation gives its assent; it must be a national war, conducted with an enthusiasm like that of 1870, when we were ruthlessly attacked.  Then all Germany from the Memel to Lake Constance will blaze up like a powder-mine and the whole land bristle with bayonets.’  The war which Bismarck prophesied was this war, and what he foretold came to pass, and we saw it with our eyes.  We saw the German mobilization with eyes which since then have been consecrate.

“All enthusiasm is splendid, even in an individual, be he who he may and for whatever cause you like.  In enthusiasm everything good in a man appears, while the common and vulgar in him sinks away.  Any enthusiasm either of groups or societies in which the individual ego loses itself is grand, but the mighty enthusiasm of a powerful people is overwhelming.  This was, however, an enthusiasm of a peculiar sort—­it was well disciplined, an enthusiasm combined with and controlled by the highest order.

“In this the fundamental secret of German power was revealed:  to remain calm in enthusiasm, cold amidst fire and still obedient to duty in a tornado of passion.  Then we were all inspired by the thought and feeling:  ’Nobody can achieve that, for in order to be able to do it we have had to perform a huge intellectual and spiritual task.  It is not alone the result of the last century and a half; no, that work has been going on for nearly a thousand years.’