So when the war broke out and Germans were attacked for being
uncivilised in Belgium, for breaking treaties and for disregarding the
opinion of the world, it was but natural that German vanity should
resent it. Germans feared nothing but God and public opinion. They
had such exalted faith in their army they believed they could gain by
Might what they had lost in prestige throughout the world. This is one
of the reasons the German people arose like one man when war was
declared. They wished and were ready to show the world that they were
the greatest people ever created.


II

The German explanation of why they lost the battle of the Marne is
interesting, not alone because of the explanation of the defeat, but
because it shows why the shipment of arms and ammunition from the
United States was such a poisonous pill to the army. Shortly after my
arrival in Berlin Dr. Alfred Zimmermann, then Under Secretary of State,
said the greatest scandal in Germany after the war would be the
investigation of the reasons for the shortage of ammunition in
September, 1914. He did not deny that Germany was prepared for a great
war. He must have known at the time what the Director of the Post and
Telegraph knew on the 2nd of August, 1914, when he wrote Announcement
No. 3. The German Army must have known the same thing and if it had
prepared for war, as every German admits it had, then preparations were
made to fight nine nations. But there was one thing which Germany
failed to take into consideration, Zimmermann said, and that was the
shipment of supplies from the United States. Then, he added, there
were two reasons why the battle of the Marne was lost: one, because
there was not sufficient ammunition; and, two, because the reserves