Mein Kampf
Germany itself, perhaps because of this very alliance, might be involved in a conflict of which Austria was not the direct cause, and that then the Austrian State for domestic political reasons would not have the resolution to back up its ally. Even though the decision were made, the Slavic majority of the Empire would have begun to sabotage it at once, and would rather have shattered the whole State than have afforded the help demanded by their ally. This danger was now removed. The old State had to fight whether it would or no.
My own attitude toward the conflict was to me perfectly clear and simple; what I saw was not Austria fighting for some Serbian satisfaction, but Germany for its all, the German nation for its existence or non-existence, for its freedom and future. Bismarck’s creation must now go out and fight; what its fathers had once conquered in battle with their heroes’ blood, from Weissenburg to Sedan and Paris, young Germany had now to earn anew. If the battle was victoriously sustained, then our people had rejoined the circle of great nations again in outward power; then the German Empire could again prove itself a mighty stronghold of peace, without having to put its children on short rations for peace’s sake.
As a boy and young man I had often wished I might at least show by deeds that my nationalistic enthusiasm was no empty mania. It often seemed to me almost a sin to cry Hurrah without perhaps having any real right to do so; for who could rightfully use the word without having tried it where all trifling is at an end, and the Goddess of Fate’s implacable hand begins to weigh peoples and men for the reality and force of their convictions? My heart, like millions of others, overflowed with proud happiness that now at last I could be free of this paralyzing feeling. I had so often sung Deutschland über Alles and shouted Heil at the top of my lungs that it seemed to me almost like Heavenly grace, granted after the fact, now that I could appear in the Divine court of the Eternal Judge to bear witness that my convictions were real. For I knew from the first hour that in case of a war—which seemed to me inevitable—I must certainly leave
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