Mein Kampf
which people talked such fine unctuous nothings—to succeed, that is, without ever having to resort to arms.
No: if we took this road, some day England was bound to be our enemy. It was more than silly (but quite in character with our native innocence) to be indignant because one fine day England took the liberty of rudely opposing our peaceful activity with an egotist’s violence.
We, unhappily, actually would never have done such a thing.
If European territorial politics could be carried on only against Russia and in league with England, conversely a colonial and world-trade policy was thinkable only against England and with Russia. But in that case the logical conclusion must be drawn here too—and above all, Austria must be sent packing at once.
Considered from any angle the alliance with Austria was, even by the turn of the century, true madness.
But they never dreamed of allying themselves with Russia against England, any more than with England against Russia, for in either case the result would have been war, and it was only to prevent this that the commercial and industrial policy had been decided on in the first place. In the shape of “peaceful economic” conquest of the world they had a formula which was supposed to break the neck of the old power policy once and for all. Perhaps they were sometimes not quite sure of the thing, particularly now and then when England uttered incomprehensible menaces; and so they decided to build a navy, but, once more, not to attack and annihilate England, but to “defend” the above-mentioned “world peace” and the “peaceful” conquest of the world. It was therefore kept on a somewhat more modest scale in general, not only in number, but in tonnage and armament of individual ships, so that the really “peaceable” intention might still be clear.
The fine talk about “peaceful economic” conquest of the world was probably the greatest nonsense ever elevated into a guiding principle of state policy. The nonsense was made yet worse by the fact that people did not hesitate to point to England as the chief witness for the possibility of this achievement. The
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