or have fallen upon the world like a bolt from the blue! All
available information of an exact character, all the preparation
of the preceding few years, all the inner statecraft of the world
as revealed in policy and action, prove the fallacy of this
supposition.

THE GROWTH OF GERMAN IMPORTANCE

As a matter of fact one nation had been for nearly half a century
the pivot upon which European hopes and fears have turned in the
matter of peace and war, of military and naval preparation, of
diplomatic interchange. During this period Germany rose to a
foremost place amongst the nations of Europe, to the first place
in strength of military power and organized fighting force, to
the second place in naval strength and commercial progress. The
growth itself was a legitimate one in the main; and, given the
character of its people and their cultivated convictions as to
inherent greatness, was inevitable. For other nations the vital
question asked in diplomacy and answered in their military or
naval preparations was equally inevitable: How would Germany use
this power, against whom was it aimed, for what specific purpose
was it being organized with such capable precision, such splendid
skill?

GERMAN MILITARISM

Great Britain, meanwhile, had devoted her main attention to the
trade and diplomacy and little wars associated with the
maintenance of a world-empire and, in self-defense, had
cultivated friendships with Russia and France and the United