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3401   THE TWENTIETH CENTURY- THE GREAT WAR. 

<P>

<P>

waiting for an opportune moment. Then, 

like his ancestors, he would draw &quot;the good 

German sword&quot; and add dominions to the 

ancestral possessions of his house. Meanwhile, he was building up Germany's power 

against &quot;The Day.&quot; His life's ambition 

was summed up in the words: 

<P>

&quot;From childhood I have been influenced 

by five men, Alexander the Great, Julius 

Caesar, Theodoric II., 

Frederick the Great, 

and Napoleon. Each 

of these men dreamed a 

dream of world empire. 

They failed. I have 

dreamed a dream of 

German world empire, 

and my mailed fist shall 

succeed.&quot; 

<P>

In the summer of 

1914, the Kaiser believed that his hour had 

come. The international situation seemed to 

be favorable, and Germany was ready. In 

the words of Ambassador Gerard: &quot;It was in 

June, 1914, that the improved Kiel Canal was 

reopened, enabling the 

greatest warships to 

pass from the Baltic to 

the North Sea. In the 

Zeppelins the Germans 

had arms not possessed 

by any other country 

and with which they 

undoubtedly believed 

that they could do 

much more damage to 

Great Britain than was 

the case after the actual 

outbreak of hostilities. They had paid great 

attention to the development of the submarine. Their aeroplanes were superior to 

those of other nations. They believed that 

in the use of poison gas, which was prepared 

before the outbreak of the war, they had a 

prize that would absolutely demoralize their 

enemy. They had their flame throwers 

and the heavy artillery and howitzers 

which reduced the redoubtable forts of 

Liege and Namur to fragments within a 

few hours, and which made the holding of 

any fortresses impossible.&quot; 

<P>

Such quotations as those given above 

could be multiplied indefinitely, and the 

deplorable part of the whole matter is 

that most of the European states were 

organized more or less in accordance with 

such principles. Ostensibly most war preparations were for defensive purposes, but 

there was hardly a nation that, had 

favorable opportunity arisen, might not 

have been tempted into using its armaments for purposes of aggression. The 

words of Goethe still reflected the opinion 

of a large part of Europe on the subject 

of war: 

<P>

<div align="right"><a href="3400.cfm"></a><a href="3402.cfm"></a></div>