It may be that the catastrophe, so far as we are concerned, might have been staved off once more if we would have disregarded the obligation of our alliance and would have left Austria in the lurch–the Austria which did not want anything else than to put a stop to the nasty work of a band of assassins organized by a neighboring State. But it requires an extreme degree of political blindness for the assumption that by such cowardly treason we should have been able to purchase a change of mind or a lasting peace from our enemies. On the contrary, they would soon enough have used a suitable opportunity to fall upon Germany, which then would have been completely isolated, and the struggle for our national existence would have had to be fought under conditions very much more favorable to our enemies.
At DP, we’re doing a series of books about WWI. I happened to get part of an article by Gerhart Hauptmann, a Nobel-prize winning dramatist and leader of the realist movement in German literature, in which he tries to explain to Americans that Germany was just protecting its (and its allies) interests, and how could anyone call Goethe or Schopenhauer a barbarian?
Maybe it’s my (lousy) mood, but I considered substituting Austria and Germany with Kuwait and America. But I figured that was old news, and besides, I’m not political. So you get it as I saw it tonight.
I’m gonna go proof something funny, I think.