260. It is proved beyond all shadow of doubt that regular war (_der regelrechte Krieg_) is, not only from the biological and true kultural standpoint, the best and noblest form of the struggle for existence, but also, from time to time, an absolute necessity for the maintenance of the State and society.--DR. SCHMIDT, of Gibichenfels, at meeting of Pan-German League, Berlin, October, 1912. NIPPOLD, D.C., p. 73. 261. War is a biological necessity of the first importance, a regulative element in the life of mankind which cannot be dispensed with.... "War is the father of all things." The sages of antiquity, long before Darwin, recognized this.... "To supplant or to be supplanted is the essence of life," says Goethe, "and the strong life gains the upper hand."--GENERAL v. BERNHARDI, G.N.W., p. 18. _See also No. 386._ =War and Kultur.= 262. It is nothing but fanaticism to expect very much from humanity when it has forgotten how to wage war. For the present we know of no other means whereby the rough energy of the camp, the deep impersonal hatred, the cold-bloodedness of murder with a good conscience, the general ardour of the system in the destruction of the enemy ... can be as forcibly and certainly communicated to enervated nations as is done by every great war. Kultur can by no means dispense with passions, vices and malignities.--FR. NIETZSCHE, H.T.H., section 477. 263. It is here demonstrated with rare cogency and conclusiveness that war is not only a factor, but the main factor, in true, genuine Kultur--not only its creator but its preserver.... Although the author thus recognizes war as an element in the divine world-order, he by no means ignores the blessings of peace, as the second factor in true, genuine Kultur, in a certain measure complementary to war.--_Berliner neueste Nachrichten_, 24th December, 1912, in review of _Der Krieg als Kulturfaktor_, by DR. SCHMIDT, of Gibichenfels. NIPPOLD, D.C., p. 20. 264. No sooner are airships invented than the General Staffs set to work to devise methods of applying them to destruction.... Thus every achievement of "Kultur"[27] and of the human intelligence is only a means to more barbarous processes of war: and yet the pacifists see in the progress of the human intelligence a guarantee of world-peace!--L. GUMPLOWICZ, S.I.U., p. 161. 265. I must first of all examine the aspirations for peace, which seem to dominate our age and threaten to poison the soul of the German people.... I must try to prove that war is not merely a necessary element in the life of nations, but an indispensable factor of Kultur, in which a truly civilized nation finds the highest expression of strength and vitality.--GENERAL v. BERNHARDI, G.N.W., p. 14.