Such is Herr von Bethmann Hollweg's explanation. He is, I have no doubt,
sincerely convinced of its truth, and he explains the grounds of his
conviction in detail and with much ability. But there is a fallacy in
his reasoning which becomes transparent when one reads along with his
book that of his colleague. If we put out of sight the deep feeling
awakened here by the brutality of the invasion of Belgium, to which
violation of Treaty obligations the former declares that Germany was
compelled by military considerations that were unanswerable, and look at
the history of Anglo-German relations before the war, the inference is
irresistible that it was not the object of developing in a peaceful
atmosphere German commerce and industry that England objected to. Such a
development might have been formidable for us. It would have compelled
great efforts on our part to improve the education of our people and our
organization for peaceful enterprises. But it would have been
legitimate. The objection of this country was directed against quite
other things that were being done by Germany in order to attain her
purpose. The essence of these was the attempt to get her way by creating
armaments which should in effect place her neighbors at her mercy. We
who live on islands, and are dependent for our food and our raw
materials on our being able to protect their transport and with it
ourselves from invasion, could not permit the sea-protection which had
been recognized from generation to generation as a necessity for our
preservation to be threatened by the creation of naval forces intended
to make it precarious. As the navies of Europe were growing, not only
those of France and Russia, but the navy of Italy also, we had to look,
in the interests of our security, to friendly relations with these
countries. We aimed at establishing such friendly relations, and our
method was to get rid of all causes of friction, in Newfoundland, in
Egypt, in the East, and in the Mediterranean. That was the policy which
was implied in our Ententes. We were not willing to enter into military