These ideas, then, were systematically impressed upon the military and official classes. It was necessary, however, to work upon the minds of the German people, so that they might lend themselves to the inhuman policies advocated by the military leaders. To do this was difficult, for, as has been shown above, many of the civilian leaders of public opinion, time and again, expressed their horror of the new spirit which was animating the military authorities. The Reichstag debates give ample evidence of this, and the task of the military leaders would have been still more difficult if the Reichstag had had any real power. (See War Information Series, No. 3, _The Government of Germany_; see also Gerard's _My Four Years in Germany_, Chap. II.) [Sidenote: Hatred against Belgians.] The military authorities and those in sympathy with them have done all in their power to stimulate a hatred of other peoples in the minds of the Germans. A campaign of education before the war was carried on with the object of impressing upon the minds of the Germans the treacherous nature of the peoples against whom the military leaders were anxious to wage war. Not only were the Germans gradually led to believe that it was necessary to fight a defensive war against unscrupulous foes, but also that these foes would violate every precept of humanity, and consequently must be crushed without mercy as a measure of self-defense. The fruits of this campaign of suspicion and hatred became evident when almost at the outbreak of the war many Germans became possessed with the belief that the whole population of Belgium, the first country to be invaded, had violated every rule of honorable warfare, that the _francs-tireurs_ (guerillas) were everywhere present doing their deadly work in secrecy or under the cover of darkness; that women and even children were mutilating and killing the wounded or helpless prisoners. The effect of the fables upon the popular mind may be seen in the following extracts from German letters: Extract from a letter written by a German soldier to his brother. (This letter, now in the possession of the United States Government, was obtained for this pamphlet from Mr. J.C. Grew, formerly secretary to the United States Embassy at Berlin.) "NOVEMBER 4, 1914. "The battles are everywhere extremely tenacious and bloody. The Englishmen we hate most and we want to get even with them for once. While one now and then sees French prisoners, one hardly ever beholds French black troops or Englishmen. These good people are not overlooked by our infantrymen; that sort of people is mowed down without mercy. The losses of the Englishmen must be enormous. There is a desire to wipe them out, root and all." Extract from another letter to a brother: "SCHLESWIG, 25, 8, 14 [Aug. 25, 1914].