TEUTON v. SLAV

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVIII, Issue 60, 8 September 1914, Page 2

TEUTON v. SLAV

GERMANY'S FEAP OF RUSSIA "NOW— OR NEVER." A few days before Germany declared war on Russia Mr. Sidney Low, one of Britain's best-known reviewers, had an article, "Teuton v. Slav," in the Daily Mail. The gist of German policy, in Mr! Low's opinion, is : War with Russia is inevitable; the sooner it comes, the better for Germany. "UNITED STATES OF THE SLAVS." "Behind the dissension of Austria and Servia lies another and wider rivalry, that of the Teuton and the Slav," wrote Mr. Low. "For the break up of Austria or its enfeoblement would leave Germany more exposed to the menace, as she deems it, of the tremendous mass of Slavonic population which impends upon her eastern frontier. Austria was tormerly the bulwark of Europe against the Turkish hordes from Asia. To-day, in German eyes, she .nlay& the same role, with a difference. She i& supposed to be the bastion that protects Central Europe against that other semi-Asiatic flood — for so it seems to the Germans — that is gathering to pour through the south-eastern gates. In Germany they do not believe in the 'Illyrian' idea. They think that the Serbo-Croats, and Slovenes, and Ruthenians, if they were wrested from the Hapsburg monarchy, would merely become Russian protectorates, if, indeed, they were not incorporated with the Muscovite realm. There are Serbs who have very much ! the same impression themselves, and | they do not find it distasteful. I read the oflier day some confidences which a Servian diplomatist and literary man gave to this representative of a London newspaper. He said that his compatriots are dreaming of the coming 'United States of the Slavs,' which will combine all membeis of the race. 'There j are 180 millions of us,' he said significantly ; and he implied that the whole might be brought together in one poli- j tical association." MOVING TO THE WEST. "This ma.y appear fantastic enough, no more practical than Pan-Germanism or Pan-Islamism or the other panisms, which are the stuff for wild poets and wilder professors. But to vast numbers of highly-practical Germans — statesmen, soldiers, manufacturers, plain business j people — the Sla.v menace does not pre- • sent itself as a mere fantasy. They believe that this mighty reservoir of. humanity must breali westward and southward ; all the more so since Japan has banked it off from the open waters eastward. They do not forget that Germany, as well as Austria, has many Slav subjects still imperfectly assimilated. They 1 have a vision of Bohemia, Ruthenia, Moravia, established as Muscovite outposts, with the Cossacks over-running Posen and Pomerania, and with^ Danzig and Settin converted into harbours for the Tsar's battleships. Not that any German intends the vision to be realised or supposes that it will be. But they hold that this is the trend of Russian policy, and that first through Austria and then more directly attempts will be made to carry it into effect. DREAD OF THE COLbSSUS. ''For years past this obsession has weighed upon the Germans, and it is really much more in their minds than the dread of France. That is why they are so irritated and alarmed over tho Franco-Ruesian Alliance. They see in it a move in the great world-game of German versus Slav. .The millions of Russian peasants whom the autocracy can turn into food for cannon affect them more than all the gallant regiments of the Republic. France, they know, will never move alone, and France alone they do not fear. But they cannot think without apprehension of that open eastern frontier, with five or 6ix million armed men behind it, ready to cross whenever Germaoiy is engaged elsewhere. It is on Austria they depend to enable them to meet the -twofold attack if ever it should be made ; and that, of course, is why Germany would make any'sacrifice to keep Austria stable and united. This is the key to German policy at tho present time; but the question w whe- , ther that is all. "There are statesmen and strategists in Germany who ask whether they are to submit to this pressure on either flank indefinitely, whether they must sleep for ever in their armour lest the slightest relaxation of i vigilance should bring down the storm upon them. There are those who hold j that, since the quarrel between Slav and Teuton must be fought out «om» time, it had better be fought out while Germany , is at the top of her strength, while Aus- , tria can etill be relied upon, while the new military system in France is incomplete, before a few more million, peasants are fit for ■ the conscription in Russia. Perhaps it may be felfc in Berlin that the time has come to decide the issue, without war if possible, but if not then even with war and all that war involves. This is the greater danger that lie* behind the Austro-Serb quarrel."