nation would survive that was best able to fight. They believed in war,
because they believed that just as nature removes the weak animal or
plant by an early death, so the weak nation should pay the penalty of
its weakness by being defeated in war and absorbed by the stronger one.
War would prove which nation was the most nearly perfect. The Germans
had no doubt that this nation was Germany. Acceptance of this belief by
the German people had much to do with bringing on the present war.

GERMANY WANTED TO GERMANIZE THE WORLD.--As a result of the reasoning
outlined in the last paragraph, German writers taught that those things
which were German--their speech, their literature, their religion,
their armies, in short the manners, customs, and thoughts of the
Germans--were the best possible manners, and customs, and thoughts.
These things all taken together are what is meant by _Kultur_
(kool-toor´),--not merely "culture" as the latter word is generally
used.

Since the Germans believed that their _Kultur_ was the highest stage of
human progress, the next step, according to the view of their leaders,
would be to Germanize all the rest of the nations of the earth by
imposing German _Kultur_ upon them. If possible, this was to be brought
about with the consent of the other nations; if not, then it was to be
imposed by force.

SUGGESTIONS FOR STUDY.--1. Locate Antwerp, Rotterdam,
Hamburg, Bremen, East Prussia, Alsace-Lorraine. 2. Show on an
outline map the regions which Germany desired to control. Who
would have suffered? 3. If all countries adopted the German
idea of war what would be the condition of the world? 4. Has
any nation the right to impose its rule upon another people