Mon Fils, Belgium, 1914
Raemaekers’terrible picture represents a scene of frequent occurrence in Belgium during the earlier months of the war. The tragedy depicted requires no comment; it is sufficiently explicit in the cynical smile of the German soldier, the agony of the Belgian mother, and the heap of corpses before her amongst which she is to find her son.
German military ethics have been the wonder and the detestation of the whole world. But they have been practised and carried out by the present army in accordance with principles laid down long ago by German military writers, especially by Clausewitz. It was Clausewitz above all who enunciated the axiom that in times of war every elementary consideration of humanity must be postponed in pursuit of victory. Prince Bismarck adopted the doctrines of Clausewitz and often blamed the German soldiers for the leniency with which they at times treated the French in the war of 1870. It was not enough, so Bismarck thought, to slay the actual combatants. “It will come to this,” he said, “that we will shoot down every male inhabitant.”
It is especially interesting to see what attitude the Teuton savages assumed towards the efforts of those who were anxious to mitigate the horrors of war. In a handbook published in 1902 by the German General Staff, we observe the ruthless effrontery with which all the efforts of the men who negotiated The Hague, Geneva and Brussels conventions were swept away. It was laid down with absolute frankness that “German military authorities do not recognise the validity of any international conventions dealing with the laws of war.”
Thus the scenes which have so shocked us in the present campaign are not inconsistent with, are, indeed, the logical outcome of, principles long since accepted by Berlin. War must be carried to its extreme, even against a peaceful population, because in this way the strongest inducements will be brought to bear upon them to admit conquest and therefore to accept the ultimate conclusion of peace. We know from recent reports of the French Government and other authorities that the murder of prisoners and wounded men has been of frequent occurrence, and that not once but many times orders have been issued to give no quarter. Hostages, also, have been terrorised. Taken in order to serve as securities for the good conduct of the civil population, they have not only been put in the forefront of danger but frequently killed in order to execute the decrees of “Terrorism.”
What in point of fact is the German idea of waging war? Inasmuch as the duty of a nation at war is to conquer, all measures, however indefensible in time of peace, are justified. Moreover, if any engagements have been entered into during the pre-war period, they become cancelled when war has begun.
Is it not absolutely necessary that a nation which adopts, principles like these should be so weakened in military strength as to render it impotent for mischief for at least half a century?
W. L. COURTNEY
MON FILS, BELGIUM, 1914“Ah! was your boy among the twelve this morning? Then you’ll find him among this lot.”
MON FILS, BELGIUM, 1914“Ah! was your boy among the twelve this morning? Then you’ll find him among this lot.”
MON FILS, BELGIUM, 1914
“Ah! was your boy among the twelve this morning? Then you’ll find him among this lot.”