My Secret Service: Vienna, Sophia, Constantinople, Nish, Belgrade, Asia Minor, etc.Man who dined with the Kaiser
History
My Secret Service: Vienna, Sophia, Constantinople, Nish, Belgrade, Asia Minor, etc.
Man who dined with the Kaiser
World War, 1914-1918 -- Personal narratives; World War, 1914-1918 -- Secret service
It will aid the Allies nothing to underestimate German cunning and
German efficiency. I firmly believe that in the long run Great Britain
can hold out far better than her foes; but Great Britain is not
fighting alone, she has to consider France, Russia and Italy, and
finish this fight with the utmost possible expedition.
It is incumbent upon this country to put forth its entire manhood,
as well as to husband all its resources for the great struggle that
is looming in the very near distance. In short, all must wake up to
the great German danger. Away with kid gloves! Away with all thought
of the Hague Convention! Fight the reckless, ferocious, wild animal
which has broken loose over Europe, fight it with every weapon at your
disposal! If Great Britain allows this animal to conquer it, there will
be no pity, and the glorious British Empire will be a thing of the
past. Those thousands and thousands of young men of the Empire from
every corner of the globe who have died on the battlefields of France
and Gallipoli shall then not have died in vain, and the most glorious
monument to the memory of those fallen heroes will be the complete
defeat of the brutal Hun.
This is not the hour for seeking personal glory, but it is the moment
for searching for efficiency, be it in the field of battle or on the
Government benches in the House of Commons.
Britons, as well as neutrals, who love this, to me, dear old country
and all that it stands for should give their all to crush Germany. The
blunders that have been made are for the most part almost excusable
blunders. No one can expect that in a short time a country that has
always been anti-militarist can turn into a highly organised military
power. The Germans themselves have taken some forty years to achieve
this. I repeat, Germany is still very far from being beaten. Personally
I firmly believe in the eventual victory of the Allies, but only if
every man according to his ability throws the weight of his influence,
his money, or his life into the scale. Then, and then only, shall we
see the German War Machine break down, one part after another, and once
more peace shall be restored to a Europe torn with strife and soaked
with blood.
France, Russia and Italy are merely Great Britain’s helpers. Great
Britain is the real opponent to German Militarism. She is the great
store-house from which supplies and munitions pour, and without which
her Allies cannot continue the struggle. It is she who is fated to be
the great factor in the crushing of German ambition, and its mad lust
for world-wide domination. Germany is to this century what Napoleon was
to the last, a menace to individual and national independence. It has
been seen what German Kultur did for Belgium and Serbia. “Wait till we
get to England!” is a remark I have heard from German lips, uttered in
a tone so significant, so sinister, that I have involuntarily shuddered.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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