PREFACE I CANNOT pretend that the following account is dispassionate, and I realize that in preparing it I have done what Burke said he did not know how to do. I have drawn up an indictment against a whole people for their complicity in the crimes of the rulers whom they have accepted. As an American of South German blood, I confess readily to an inherited dislike and distrust of the Prussian. I have tried, nevertheless, to represent him in his habit as he lives, and to draw out fully the implications in his attitude and philosophy. My ancestors and the Prussian were poor neighbors, and the traditional bitterness of that quarrel may have obtruded itself. In the interest of making my contentions clear to others not so unhappily familiar with him, I may unconsciously have overstated. For this reason, in dealing with the immediate causes of the war, in my desire to be fair I have treated the evidence the more scrupu lously. The documents quoted, which constitute the most serious indictments of Germany, are therefore drawn wherever possible, and almost entirely, from German sources. The remainder of the volume dealing with our international relations is based upon official communications and the results of government investigations. Though I have presented some material recently discovered, and some old material in a new light, much, if not all, of the evidence has already been sifted by abler hands. I wish, therefore, to acknowledge my indebtedness to those upon whose work I have drawn most freely, especially to the Department of Civic and Educational Co-operation of the Committee on Public Information, the value of whose important monographs is not yet sufficiently recognized. In preparing Chapter I, I have frequently fallen back upon Conquest and Kultur, by Professors Notestein and Stoll. In Chapter V it has been impossible to add anything of importance to "German War Practices," by Professor Munro, and in Chapter VIII I have used the materials offered in the digest of "German Plots and Intrigues," by Professors Sperry and West. Professor Harding's "Outline History of the War," Mr. Altschul's "German Militarism," and the War Cyclopædia have been particularly helpful. I have used also the many publications of the American Association for International Conciliation and am especially indebted to its officers for permission to use their excellent text of Prince Lichnowsky's "Memorandum" in proof. In dealing with the diplomatic correspondence between the United States and Germany, I have quoted the documents from the Special Supplements to the American Journal of International Law of July, 1915, and October, 1916, where they are accessible in accurate text and ordered form. This phase of the subject has been so authoritatively covered by James Scott Brown in his "A Survey of International Relations Between the United States and Germany, 1914-1917," that no later student can cross his path without being guided and enlightened on the questions of international law involved. Although it has in some cases been impossible to compare translations with original texts, in no case has any document been cited about whose authenticity or general accuracy there can be any legitimate question. The important statements in Chapter III by Prince Lichnowsky and Doctor Mühlon have been acknowledged by their writers. The incidental sources of information are so varied that enumeration is here impossible, and some of the more important will be referred to in the notes. › I could have done justice to the friendly suggestions and assistance of my colleague, Professor Dana C. Munro, only by making this volume much more scholarly and adequate to its purpose. His aid and that of many other friends has made my task a pleasure. CHRISTIAN Gauss. PRINCETON, N. J., August, 1918. |