So long as they
want their revenge, they will be able sooner or later to take it. If
evidence of this were wanted, the often-quoted case of Prussia after
Jena will suffice.
And, in the third place, the defeated nations, so treated, will, in fact,
want their revenge. There seems to be a curious illusion abroad, among the
English and their allies, that not only is Germany guilty of the war, but
that all Germans know it in their hearts; that, being guilty, they will
fully accept punishment, bow patiently beneath the yoke, and become in
future good, harmonious members of the European family. The illusion is
grotesque. There is hardly a German who does not believe that the war was
made by Russia and by England; that Germany is the innocent victim; that
all right is on her side, and all wrong on that of the Allies. If, indeed,
she were beaten, and treated as her "punishers" desire, this belief would
be strengthened, not weakened. In every German heart would abide, deep and
strong, the sense of an iniquitous triumph of what they believe to be wrong
over right, and of a duty to redress that iniquity. Outraged national pride
would be reinforced by the sense of injustice; and the next war, the war of
revenge, would be prepared for, not only by every consideration of interest
and of passion, but by every cogency of righteousness.
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