1 Chapter I Chapter II Chapter III Chapter IV Chapter V Chapter VI Chapter VII Chapter VIII Chapter IX Chapter X Chapter XI Chapter XII Chapter XIII Chapter XIV Chapter XV Chapter XVI Chapter XVII Chapter XVIII CHAPTER I CHAPTER II Blood and Iron, by John Hubert Greusel 2 CHAPTER III CHAPTER IV CHAPTER V CHAPTER VI CHAPTER VII CHAPTER VIII CHAPTER IX CHAPTER X CHAPTER XI CHAPTER XII CHAPTER XIII CHAPTER XIV CHAPTER XV CHAPTER XVI CHAPTER XVII CHAPTER XVIII Blood and Iron, by John Hubert Greusel The Project Gutenberg EBook of Blood and Iron, by John Hubert Greusel This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org Title: Blood and Iron Origin of German Empire As Revealed by Character of Its Founder, Bismarck Author: John Hubert Greusel Release Date: July 21, 2009 [EBook #29473] Language: English Blood and Iron, by John Hubert Greusel 3 Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BLOOD AND IRON *** Produced by Markus Brenner, Irma Spehar and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) BLOOD and IRON Origin of German Empire As Revealed by Character of Its Founder, Bismarck BY JOHN HUBERT GREUSEL THE SHAKESPEARE PRESS 114-116 E. 28th St. New York 1915 Copyright, 1915, John Hubert Greusel Dedicated to Stella My Wife CONTENTS BOOK THE FIRST: BISMARCK'S HUMAN ESSENCE Chapter I 4 Chapter I --The Man Himself 1. The Giant's Ponderous Hammer 2. Grossly Human Is Our Bismarck 3. Despite Political Bogs 4. Genius Combined with Foibles Chapter II 5 Chapter II --Blood Will Tell 5. Iron-headed Ancestry 6. Animal Basis of Rise to Power 7. "The Wooden Donkey Dies Today!" Chapter III 6 Chapter III --The Gothic Cradle 8. The Child of Destiny 9. Soft Carl, Spartan Louise Chapter IV 7 Chapter IV --Sunshine and Shadow 10. Amazing Powers of Hereditary Traits 11. The Wolf's Breed 12. Twenty-eight Duels! 13. Fizzle of First Official Service BOOK THE SECOND: THE GERMAN NATIONAL PROBLEM Chapter V 8 Chapter V --The Great Sorrow 14. The German Crazy Quilt 15. The Diamond Necklace Chapter VI 9 Chapter VI --Prussia's De Profundis 16. The Lash and the Kiss 17. The Prussian Downfall 18. Prussia Becomes Germany 19. Kingcraft Comes Upon Evil Days 20. The Star of Hope 21. The King Keeps Reading His Bible 22. The Deluge BOOK THE THIRD: BISMARCK SUPPORTS HIS KING Chapter VII 10 Chapter VII --Fighting Fire with Fire 23. Voice in the Wilderness 24. The Young Giant 25. Speechless for One Whole Month 26. Bellowing His Defiance Chapter VIII 11 Chapter VIII --Bismarck Suffers a Great Shock 27. Bismarck Scorns French Political Millennium 28. Militarism as National Salvation 29. King Marches with Mob! Chapter IX 12 Chapter IX --So Much the Worse for Zeitgeist 30. Not Politics--Human Nature 31. Setting Back the Century Clock 32. The Master at Work 33. Bismarck Nudges His King 34. Mystical High-flown Speeches BOOK THE FOURTH: BLOOD IS THICKER THAN WATER Chapter X 13 Chapter X --Socrates in Politics 35. The Frankfort School of Intrigue 36. Preparing for German Unity 37. Tyrants Are Necessary 38. Bismarck, in Naked Realism Chapter XI 14 Chapter XI --The Mailed Fist 39. Democracy Stems from Aristocracy 40. Parallel Elements of Power Chapter XII 15 Chapter XII --By Blood and Iron! 41. The Man of the Hour 42. Rough and Tumble 43. On Comes the Storm 44. Bismarck Decides to Rule Alone Chapter XIII 16 Chapter XIII --The Dream of Empire 45. Bismarck Tricks Them All 46. Prussian Domination Essential 47. By Faith Ye Shall Conquer 48. Was Bismarck a Beast? BOOK THE FIFTH: THE GERMAN PEOPLE ARE ONE AND UNITED Chapter XIV 17 Chapter XIV --Windrows of Corpses 49. Devil or Saint, Which? 50. Sleeping Beside the Dead 51. The Rejected Stone 52. His Ikon? 53. "The Dying Warrior" 54. Sadowa Summed Up 55. Manure Chapter XV 18 Chapter XV --The Great Year, 1870 56. "These Poor Times" 57. The Bugle Blast 58. Bismarck's Ironical Revenge 59. The Weaver's Hut 60. Zenith! Chapter XVI 19 Chapter XVI --The Versailles Masterpiece 61. The Kaiser's Crown 62. Divine-right, a Politico-Military Fact BOOK THE SIXTH: ONCE A MAN AND TWICE A CHILD Chapter XVII 20 Chapter XVII --The Downfall 63. Bismarck's Secret Discontent 64. "Who Made United Germany?" 65. The Irony of Fate 66. Last Illusion Dispelled 67. Binding Up the Old Man's Wounds 68. Awaiting the Call 69. Refuses to Pass Under the Yoke 70. Glory Turns to Ashes Chapter XVIII 21 Chapter XVIII --Hail and Farewell 71. His Final and Most Glorious Decoration 72. "As One Asleep" BOOK THE FIRST Bismarck's Human Essence CHAPTER I 22 CHAPTER I The Man Himself 1 Hark, Hark! The giant's ponderous hammer rings on the anvil of destiny. Enter, thou massive figure, Bismarck, and in deadly earnest take thy place before Time's forge. ¶ It is, it must be, a large story--big with destiny! The details often bore with their monotony; they do not at all times march on; they drag, but they do indeed never halt permanently; ahead always is the great German glory. ¶ Forward march, under Prince Bismarck. He is our grim blacksmith, looming through the encircling dark, massive figure before Time's forge. The sparks fly, the air rings with the rain of blows: he is in deadly earnest, this half-naked, brawny Prussian giant; magnificent in his Olympian mien; his bellows cracking, his shop aglow with cheery-colored sparks as the heavy hammer falls on the unshapen ores on the big black anvil. ¶ Thus, toiling hour after hour in the heat and sweat, our Pomeranian smith with ponderous hammer beats and batters the stubborn German iron into a noble plan--for a great Nation! * * * * * ¶ From a human point, we do not always see the ultimate glory. For that is obscured by dark clouds of party strife, extending over years, the caprices of men and the interplay of ambitions both within and without the distracted German lands. Russia, Austria, Italy, Great Britain, France, Spain, have their spies engaged in all the under-play of political intrigue; there are a thousand enemies at home and abroad, in camp, court and peasant's cottage. CHAPTER I 23 ¶ And at times, weary of it all, we throw down the book convinced that, in a welter of sordid ends, the cause is lost in shame. But, somehow, some way, Germany does in truth ultimately emerge triumphant, in spite of her amazing errors and the endless plots of enemies. She does indeed justify her manhood--and thus the Bismarck story is of imperishable glory. * * * * * ¶ We say that Bismarck had to re-inspire the Germans to be a fighting nation. What we mean is that the spirit of the ancient Teutons had to be aroused; for though it slumbered for centuries, it never died. Rome found that out when she was still in her infancy; the Germans burnt the town by the Tiber; and the fearsome struggle between the Romans and the Germanic tribesmen lasted almost unbroken for nearly five centuries. ¶ The Romans regarded the Germans as the bravest people in the world. The migrations of the Cimbri and Teutones, and the frightful struggles in which after superhuman endeavors the Roman Marius destroyed his German enemies is one of the heroic pages of all history. It was a hand-to-hand contest, and torrents of human blood ran that day. Menzel tells us, (Germany, p. 85), that the place of battle enriched by a deluge of blood and ultimately fertilized by heaps of the slain, became in after years the site of vineyards whose wines were eagerly sought by connoisseurs. ¶ The Cimbri were drawn up in a solid square, each side of which measured 7,000 paces. The foremost ranks were fastened together with chains, that the enemy might not readily break through. Even the German dogs that guarded the baggage train fought with animal ferocity. The battle went against the Germans and the slaughter was frightful. When all was lost, the CHAPTER I 24 Germans killed their women and children, rather than see them fall into the hands of the Romans. German courage inspired terror and created foreboding throughout the Roman world. It is a heroic story and sustains the German tradition that Germans born free under their ancient oaks never will be slaves, though the whole world is against them. The success varied, but the Germans conquered, even in death, becoming lineal descendants of the Empire. And on the ruins were builded the German nation, as the successor of the old Holy Roman Empire. * * * * * ¶ We picture to you these shadowy glimpses of remote battle-scenes to show you that Germans were ever fighting men, who preferred death to loss of liberty. On the ruins of Roman imperial glory, Teutonic conquerors founded an Empire that defied time and chance for upwards of 1,000 years; then there crept in a peculiar dry rot. The ancient German oak died at the top. Along came Napoleon, hacking away the limbs and scarring the gnarled trunk with fire and sword. The ruin seemed complete. Dead at the top, dead at the root, men said. And what men say is true. There is no longer a Germany, except as a mere geographical designation; when you speak of the German Empire you recall merely the echo of a once mighty name.