The PanGerman Plot Unmasked: Berlin's formidable peace-trap of "the drawn war"Chéradame, André
History
The PanGerman Plot Unmasked: Berlin's formidable peace-trap of "the drawn war"
Chéradame, André
Europe -- Politics and government -- 1871-1918; Pangermanism; World War, 1914-1918
3. By this fact the 10 millions of Germans, who might seem to be eligible
for incorporation in Germany, are reduced to about 9 millions. These
form on the map the blank group which stretches from Switzerland to the
dotted line which marks the Magyar ethnographical boundary. But there
are serious reasons for thinking that were a thorough investigation made
of the ethnographical facts, that is to say, of the mixture of Slavs
and Germans to the east of this group, and consequently between the
purely Czech group to the north of Vienna and the purely Slovene group
to the south of Vienna, the result of such an investigation would be
to show that this German group could not in its entirety be united to
Germany. As it would be out of the question here to enter into these very
difficult ethnographical details, we shall, under all possible reserve,
and purely for the convenience of demonstration, make the supposition
that the whole of this German group should be united to Germany. But from
these 9 millions of Germans we should certainly still have to subtract
the Slavs who are included in this figure through the systematic garbling
of the Austrian statistics. The typical example of the city of Vienna,
cited above, proves this necessity. As this deception is practised on an
enormous scale at the expense of the Slavs, we may allow that the true
number of Germans in this part of Austria who could be geographically
incorporated in Germany, amounts to not more than 7 or 8 millions. Let us
take this last figure. If these 8 millions of Germans were incorporated
in Germany, then Germany of to-day, reduced for the reasons indicated on
p. 123 to 61 millions, would be enlarged, at the expense of Austria, by
8 millions of inhabitants. She would then have a total of 69 millions of
inhabitants.
Therefore, as the present German empire had in 1914 a population of 68
millions of inhabitants, we see that the application of the principle of
nationalities would allow Germany to gain on the south-west just about
the equivalent of what the same principle would take from her on the
circumference of the existing empire.
Would a Germany of 69 or 70 millions of genuine Germans be really
dangerous for Europe? I do not think so, for, as we shall see, the
application of the principle of nationalities would have the effect of
withdrawing totally from the influence of Berlin’s Pangermanism all the
rest of the inhabitants of Austria-Hungary.
In fact, if out of the 50 millions of inhabitants in Austria-Hungary of
to-day about 8 millions joined Germany, 42 millions of Austro-Hungarian
subjects would remain. Of this number:
Five millions of Poles would join Poland;
Four millions of Ruthenians would join Russia;
Three millions of Roumanians would join Roumania;
One million of Italians would join Italy;
Making a total of 13 millions of inhabitants.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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