THE NEW EUROPE
The establishment of an economic and political union, embracing Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Turkey (the latter being at that time a Balkan as well as an Asiatic Power), would, he argued, be the surest means of striking a blow at Russia and France: meanwhile, Germany should make an alliance with England, her greatest ultimate danger, and concentrate upon the building of a powerful fleet. List's main proposition, the formation of a "United States of Europe" under German control, was a striking anticipation of the modern Pangerman movement. There can be no doubt that Bismarck was very greatly influenced by the ideas of List. He, too, spoke of a "Central Europe," pointing out that the Triple Alliance would re-establish the German Empire of Charles the Great. The Pangermans of to-day have also assimilated List's ideas, and have adapted them to the existing political situation. Winterstetten in particular may be said to have collated the theories of Lagarde, Bismarck, and List.
During the war the "Central Europe" propaganda has developed apace, especially in favour of a Customs Union between Germany and Austria-Hungary. At the very beginning of the war Professor von Liszt in his book "Ein Mitteleuropaeischer Staatenverband" (" A Central European Confederation") (1914), elaborated the idea of Germany and Austria-Hungary as the "compact nucleus" of that union, with Holland, the Scandinavian states, Switzerland, Italy, Poland, the Balkan states and Turkey as their adjuncts. He is even graciously pleased to include France in the scheme, on the ground that after the war that country will have ceased to be a danger to Germany. Spain and Portugal are also at liberty to join. Such a union would be able to hold its own against both Britain and the United States. Liszt only speaks of an economic union, but it must be remembered that the theory of a "compact nucleus," surrounded by subsidiary members of a Customs Union, merely represents the first stage in a process of pénétration pacifique, and complete Germanisation. The scheme, indeed, has found its fuller interpretation in this sense in Naumann's book "Mitteleuropa" (1915). Naumann has been translated into English, and some English critics have praised his quiet style and pacific tendencies. Closer study would have convinced them that his book contains the same elements of crude aggression which underlie all Pangerman writings.
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