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Militarism and Democracy in Germany 249
army is not affected by the bourgeois antecedents
them can make existence a hell for any
of some of its officers. In Ger­
man they do not like. Just as it is hard
many a man of plainest lineage, be he a to prevent some hazing at West Point, so
good soldier, can rise to high rank. A there is always some in the German barracks.
number of the German corps commanders
It is often almost impossible to
are to-day commoners who do not checkmate brutality among the non-commissioned
write the von before their names. But
officers because the presumption
they must have inherited or married
means in order to hold their present positions,
is always in favor of authority; so there are
occasionally suicides in the barracks, fre­
since German officers cannot live quently desertions, and sometimes trials
on their pay. Again, many regiments are of men finally caught in ill-treating subordinates.
wholly closed to men without title, and
When Rosa Luxemburg, the
Jews are, of course, quite good enough to fiery Socialist orator, declared at Freiburg
be reserve officers, and to serve as Kannonenfutter,
whenever the General Staff
pleases. But few, indeed, have been active
last year (1914), in speaking of the case of
a horribly abused soldier at Metz: "It is
certainly one of those dramas which are
officers and none have risen to high rank. enacted day in and day out in German
Yet these are not the only undemocratic barracks, although the groans of the actors
discriminations. Such newspapers as the seldom reach our ears," General von Falkenhayn,
Jewish Frankfurter Zeitung and the Berliner
as war minister, prosecuted the
Tageblatt, as well as the Socialist "Red Rosa" for libelling the army. The
Vorwdrts—the Frankfurter and the Tageblatt
case was promptly dropped when her
are now unreservedly upholding the counsel announced that they proposed to
war and the army—have in the past filled
columns upon columns with discreet criticisms
call one thousand and thirty eye-witnesses
to such wrong-doing, mostly in the form
of the military. When the army in­
of "slaps in the face, punches and kicks,
crease was voted last year certain Socialists
beating with sheathed sabres and bay­
took the opportunity to criticise the onets, with riding-whips and harness
favoritism in regulations shown to the straps; forcible jamming of ill-set helmets
Imperial Guards. Of course, they accomplished
on the wearer's head; compulsory baths
nothing. Why should the Gen­
in icy water, followed by scrubbing down
eral Staff pay attention to mere members with scrub-brushes until the blood ran;
of the Reichstag, and Socialists at that? compulsory squatting in muscle-straining
In a democratic organization criticism of attitudes until the victim collapsed or
the organization is permitted; none is wept for pain; unreasonable fatigue drill,
tolerated in the German army. When an and so on. There were also abundant
exceptionally able military critic of the cases of absurd and humiliating punishments
Berliner Tageblatt, Colonel Gadke, a retired
officer, undertook to criticise the service,
the military authorities tried to deprive
inflicted by non-commissioned offi­
cers, such as turning the men out of bed
and making them climb to the top of cup­
him of his right to sign as "former boards or sweep out the dormitory with
colonel" of an artillery regiment. That tooth-brushes.'' Now, single men in barracks
are never plaster saints, as Kipling,
he is not figuring as a correspondent or
critic now has perhaps some connection
with this incident.
the exalter of British militarism and hater
of German militarism, has made it quite
clear to us. Sporadic cases of abuse happen
in our own American barracks; but
If there is any atmosphere in which democracy
does not flourish it is that of a no one will, it is to be hoped, assert that in
Continental barracks. German discipline this phase of its existence the German
is unyielding as iron. The power of the army even faintly suggests a democracy.
officer is absolute and that of the non­
This army hat had its Dreyfus case, too,
though the victim was not an officer, but
a Sergeant Martin who on a second trial
was found guilty, on circumstantial evi­
commissioned officer little less so. The
men in the ranks change every three years,
but the non-commissioned officers are
usually professional soldiers for a long
term who know the ropes well. The conditions
are such that brutal ones among
dence, of killing his captain. The two
civilian members of the court found him