WAR GUILT

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XX, Issue 73, 10 March 1930, Page 9

WAR GUILT

FAIRY TALE OF ENCIRCLEMENT GERMAN ENLIGHTENS HIS COUNTRYMEN. THE MEN WHO CAUSED THE CONFLICT. Tho main feature in literary art during 1929 was the boom in war literature and the least that can be said of the majority of the books published is that yiey serve as a disastrous index of a declining /popular taste Standing apart from these, however, is Hermann Kantorowicz’s “Der Geist der Englischen Politik und das Gespenst der Einkreisung Deutsohlands,” whose purpose in writing this book was not to bring people to wallow in the horrors of war and hold in dishonour the brave men who fought in the last great conflict, but to reveal to his own countrymen the real causes that led up to the war and their great mistake in believing the legend that it was brought about bv England’s encircling policy. Three men, he says, were responsible for the war, and they were Von Bulow, the Kaiser, and, above all. Von Tirpitz, who was responsible for the building of the German fleet. The death of Admiral Tirpitz on Wednesday last, makes tho moment opportune for a brief review of Kantorowitcz’s book. One of the circumstances, Professor Kentorowicz tells us, which converted him from a Gott-strafe-Eng-land man to a friend of England was the fact that it was his official duty during a large part of the war to translate items of newt from “The Times,” and he repeatedly found letters from the public protesting against exaggerated expressions of hostility to Germany. He pays a high tribute to the ennobling effect of the famous “Letters to the Editor” and to the English Press in general, which is “not onlv the most trustworthy and incorruptible but also the most decent in tone” of any; on its superiority in these respects, he says, there is hardly any difference of opinion.

The friendly feeling for England, so inspired, has developed into this book. Its main object is to counter the story of the encirclement of Germany by England and to induce his countrymen to cease the organized campaign fo: spreading it which is now being -carried on. The war was caused, in his opinion, by the belief of the German people in the encircling policy of England, and this belief rested on false ideas of the English character. It was alleged, fer instance, that England was actuated by envy of German's economic success. RISE OF A LEGEND. For this reason he enters into a long and thorough examination of the salient characteristics of the English people and Government during the last 100 years or so. His researches lead to the conclusion that the alleged encircing policy was impossible because the irt-ationality of English polities made England incapable of carrying through any farreaching plan, and because the strong bent of her people towards humanity, objectivity, and chivalry would have prevented it beforehand, had there over been an/ such plaj But he is conscious of the weakness of reasoning on psychological j grounds, and he goes on to prove from the German archives that there actually was no encircling policy. This he does thoroughly. The history of the relations of the two countries shows how the legend arose. It developed from Bismarck’s anti-Eng-land Hetze /'a term for which we have no equivalent); and all along there was an organized movement in Germany against England, whereas the testimony of successive German Ambassadors and diplomatists proves conclusively that there was no such movement in England against Germany. The German movement aimed at popularizing for political ends the fairy tale (Marchen) of encirclement, which was known by the authorities fo have no foundation in fact. Professor Kantorowioz blames three men in particular—von Bulow, the Kaiser, and, above all, von Tirpitz, who was responsible for the building of the German Fleet. was to make this measure popular that the fairy tale was propagated with the utmost vehemence. The Kaiser himself is credited with nothing worse than vanity; ho wanted to impose at Windsor. A PRESENT DANGER. All this, however, is of the past; the important fact is that the falsehood is being still propagated to-day in a highly organized manner. Denial seems to us unnecessary because we understand how impossible the conception is; but in Germany they do not understand that. It seems to them quite in order that King Edward slwuld receive a far-reaching plan, which his Ministers and their successors should steadily cany out, to satsify the envy of business men, who resolutely refuse to admit any envy or any cause for it.. If they feel envy at all, America is the. object, not Germany. The whole idea is fantastically absurd to us; and if people are crazy enough to believe it. m spite of the many signs of friendliness to Germany shown since the war. we can only shrug our shoulders and trust to time. Kantorowicz knows us well enough to see that we can do nothing. But he sees a real danger in the continuance of the campaign, which has for its object the repudiation of all war guilt on the part of the Germans, with a view to revision of the Treaty of Vervailles. A good understanding with England is important for the future peace of the world, and for this all that the Germans need is “a little good will.” So fie sets his book before his countrymen “without tear.” but also “without hope.”