Page:The New Europe, volume 1.pdf/129

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THE LITERATURE OF PANGERMANISM

modern Germany, revealed a truly Pangerman trend, which found fuller scope when he pursued his successful policy of drawing the Germans and Magyars of Austria-Hungary into the Pangerman net It is also quite rightly insisted that even the famous clerical Mayor of Vienna, Dr. Lueger, in spite of his Catholicism, followed in the track of the Pangermans, and, finally, that the German Centrum is not in any way an obstacle to the doctrine of Pangermanism.

Andler's list of Pangerman authorities needs, as it stands, to be supplemented by the addition of several other modern Pangermans whose work has left its mark upon German thought. H. van Winterstetten, for instance, in his book, "Berlin-Bagdad; Neue Ziele Mitteleuropaeischer Politik" ("New Aims of Middle-European Policy"), written shortly before the war, analyses the plans for a "Central Europe" in their relation to Turkey and Asia, and his book has already gone through fourteen editions.

During the war the same author has written two books under his real name, Dr. Albrecht Ritter: "Nordkap-Bagdad. Das Polititische Program des Krieges, 1816," and "Der organische Aufbau Europas, 1916."

In these books he expresses approval of Bismarck's attitude towards Austria-Hungary, and insists on the importance of the Dual Monarchy as a necessary factor in the realisation of "Central Europe." He does not conceal his personal dislike of Austria-Hungary—he is outspoken enough, for instance, to condemn Aehrenthal's Balkan policy as charlatanism—but that does not blind him to the necessity of gaining control of Prague and Trieste as stepping-stones to the East. Bohemia, too, is shown to be of vital importance, both politically and strategically, for the German scheme, and Herr v. Winterstetten quotes Bismarck's saying that the possession of Bohemia is the only guarantee for the control of Europe.

In the pamphlets which he has written during the war, Herr v. Winterstetten has been exercised to imagine the political consequences of Germany's defeat or victory. In case of defeat, Austria-Hungary, he says, will disappear, and in her place will be found the new states of Bohemia and Serbia. Germany may possibly get the German Alpine countries, but the loss of her Slav territory in the East and North will deprive that gain of all its value. On the other hand, if Germany wins, she will consolidate her position

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