Show GUILTY OF CONDUCT Att atrocious OCIOUS treatment of he he help less ess part of C campaign plans of military Mill tarY leaders POLICY OF frightfulness terrorism declared a necessary prin caple in national warfare brutalities tali ties ma mv be said to be dl di erectly attributable to the emperor himself A pamphlet just issued by the committee m on public information bets 0 of f the horrors deliberately and dyste systematically mat inflicted upon the people of bel glum by the german soldiers under the orders of their commanding cers quotations given are arc from documents already made public or in the possession of the gOv government emment at washington for many years leaders in every civilized nation have been trying to make warfare less brutal broial the great landmarks in this movement are the geneva I 1 and hague conventions convention s thedor the for mer made rules ns as to the care of the sick and woun wounder 3 and established the red cil caws oss at the first meeting at geneva in 1864 it was ans agreed and until them the present war av it athas has been taken for granted that the wounded and the doctors and nurses who cared for them would be safe from all attacks by the enemy the hague conventions drawn up irp in 1899 and 1007 made additional rules tol to soften the usages of war ar and especially to protect ants and conquered lands germany took tock n prominent part in these ings mid with the other nations so solemnly pledged ed her faith to keep air the rules except one article in the hague I 1 regulations tilts this was article 44 wilan forbade the conqueror to force foice any of atlie the conquered to gh give information all the he other rules and regulations she ghe accepted jj a the most binding manner but Ver perm mauls anys military leaders had no intention of keeping these solemn promises they had been trained along different lines their leading generals tor for adny years year had been urging a policy of frightfulness in th the e I 1 middle of the nineteenth century von clausewitz ivas was looked upon as the greatest military authority and the methods which lie he advocated were used bithe by the prussian army in its successful sf 11 by the prussian army in its successful sf U I 1 cause theae hese wars had been successful sf u 1 the wisdom of von methods h seemed to the prussian army to be fully proved policy of FrIghtful frightfulness necO noy now the essence of von clauses itz tea teachings things was that successful war involves the ruthless application of force in the opening chapter of his master wor work I 1 c icom vom kriege on war he says I 1 violence arms itself with the inventions of art ands and science clence self imposed restrictions almost imperceptible and hardly worth ment mentioning ionin g termed usages of international law accompany ac compan it without essentially lm its power now philanthropic souls might easily imagine that there Is a skillful method of disarming jor or subduing ao an enemy wlter ut cau causing too much bloodshed and nd that eliat this Is the tru true e tendency of 0 the art of war however plausible this thia may appear hlll it is an error which must be destroyed for in such dangerous things as w war fir the errors which proceed from a spirit of good natured ness besl ire are precisely the worst As the use of phyll physical eat force to the utmost c extent X by no mean excludes t the he cooperation operation odthe of the intelligence it bolig follows w that hewko he wha uses force ruthlessly lith lessly without regard legard to bloodshed must obtain a superiority it if his enemy does not so use use it in 1877 78 in the course of a serl aerie es of aril articles cles upon military necessity and humanity general von hartman wrote in tie same spirit as von clausewitz Thee state must not be spared the want and wretchedness of war these are particularly useful in shattering its energy and su subduing ung its swill will individual persons may be harshly dealt with when an example Is mra made of them intended intend eil to serve ns its tl a warn itis ink whenever a national war breaks sou out becomes a necessary military principle it is a gratuitous illusion to suppose that modern war does not not demand far more brutality far more violence and an action far more genera geneal I 1 than was formerly the case cage when international war has burst upon uis u terrorism becomes a principle made necessary by military considerations war established F ty by god in 1881 vori von moltke who had been commander in chief of the prussian arav jn the franco prussian war declared perpetual peace Is i a dream and not beautiful dream war is an element afen e ren a men t in theonder the order of the world established dished d bogod by god by it the most noble v virtues I 1 r t aes ues of f ernar roan are developed bourn courage ge abid renunciation fidelity to duty and the spi spart of sacrifice the soldier gives his life without war ivar the world would woud degenerate find and lose loe itself in materialism tile fold ter who endia endures res suffering privation and fatigue who c courts arts dangers cannot take only I 1 lil in proportion to the th e resources of the he loundry tou lou ll 11 ile laust take all that la Is nee essary to his existence ono one has no righetto right to demand of him anything superhuman 11 the great good in war Is that it should be ended quickly in view of this every means except those which are positively condemnable must be permitted I 1 cannot in any way agree with the declaration of st petersburg burg when it pretends that the weakening of the military forces odthe of the enemy constitutes the only legitimate method of procedure in war no I 1 one must attack nil all the resources of the enemy government ills his finances his ra railroads ills his stock of provisions and e evett hlll liis its prestige 11 many other examples might be cited from the writings of german generals the very best illustration of this attitude however is to be found in the emperors various speeches and especially in his speech to his soldiers on the eve of their departure tor for china in 1000 on july 27 97 the kaiser went to bremerhaven Bremer haven to bid farewell to the german troops A they were drawn up ready to embark for china lie he addressed to them a lost last official message from the fatherland the local newspaper reported ported Te his speech in full in it appeared this advice and admonition from the emperor empei or the commander in chief of the army the head of all germany m any soldiers told to so be merciless As soon ns as you come to blows with the enemy he be will be beaten no mercy will be shown I 1 no prisoners will be taken I 1 As the huns under king attila made a name for themselves which Is still mighty in traditions and legends today may the name of G german L r be so fixed in china by your deeds that lio no chinese shrill ever again dare even to look at a german askance open themay the way for Kul kultar tuis once for nil 11 even the imperial councilors councillors counci lors seem to have been shocked at the emperors emperor s speech and efforts were promptly made to suppress the circulation of his exact words the efforts were only partly successful A few weeks later when the letters from the german soldiers in china were being published in local german papers the leadill lending 9 socialist newspaper excerpted from them reports of atrocities under the title letters of the huns many of the leaders in the reichstag felt very keenly the brutality of the emperors speech the obnoxious word huns had excited almost universal condemnation when t the b e reichstag met in november nov ember the speech was openly discussed herr lieber cleber of the center catholic party after quoting the no mercy portion of the speech added there are alas in germany groups enough who have regarded the atrocities told in the letters which have been published as the dutiful response of soldiers so addressed and encouraged the leader of the social democrats herr bebel spoke even more pointedly toward the end of a two hour address on the atrocities committed by tiie the german soldiers in china and on the speech of the emperor he said if germany vv wishes ashes to be the bearer of civilization to the world we ve will follow without contradiction but the ways and means in which this world policy has been carried on thus far I 1 in n which it has been defined by the emperor are not in our opinion the way to preserve the world position of germany to gain for germany the respect of the world the consequences of the emperors speech debel bebel aptly described by it the r signal ignal was given garbed in the highest authority of the german empire which must have most weighty consequences not only for the troops who went to china but also for those who stayed staved tit at home an expedition of revenge so barbarous bai barous as this tins has never occurred in the last hundred years and not often in history at least cast nothing worse than this tins has happened in history either done by the huns by the vandals by genghis khan by tam tamerlane alane or even by tilly when lie he sacked Alag magdeburg deburg atrocities in china these atrocities in china or letters of it the he huns continued to be published in the for several years and appeared intermittently in the debates of the reichstag as late as 1900 at that time the socialist herr hen kunert reviewing the procedure in a trial of which lie he had been the victim in the previous summer stated that alia t he had offered to prove that german soldiers in china had engaged in wanton and brutal ravaging that plunder pillage extortion robbery as well as rape and sexual abuses of the worst kind hat had occurred on a very large scale and that german soldiers had participated in them 11 he hab not been given an opportunity port unity to prove ills his allegations but had been sentenced to prison for three months for assailing the honor of the whole german army 11 the out of this sentence was made clear by the revelations made in the reichstag shortly afterwards of similar atrocities committed by german geimann officials and soldiers in africa in the campaign against the herreros these ideas which have come to control the minds of the military class fire are best shown in the german war book im am arnd kriege published in 1902 the tone of this authoritative book may be judged from the following extracts teachings of f germin german war book baxt bu since the tendency of thought in the fast ast century was dom dominated I 1 n a t ed essentially senti ally by humanitarian considerations not infrequently degenerated into sentimentality and flabby emot lor S und welch atcher there have not been bet n wanting attempts to influence the development of the usages of war IV ar ln in a way ava which was in fundamental contradiction with the nature of war and its object Af attempts tempts of tilts this kind will also not be wanting in the future the more so BO as these angl ap hove have found a kind of moral recognition in some provisions of the geneva convention and the brussels and hague conferences by steeping himself in military history an officer will be able to guard himself against excessive humanitarian notions it will teach him that certain severities are indispensable to war nay more that the only true humanity very often lies in a ruthless application ot of them for the guidance of the officers in case the inhabitants of conquered territory should take up arms against the german army the german war hook book quotes with approval the letter napoleon sent to ills brother brot lier joseph when the inhabitants of italy were attempting to revolt against him the security of your dominion depends on how you behave in the conquered province burn down a dozen places which are not willing to submit themselves of course not until you have first looted them my soldiers must not be allowed to go away with their hands empty have three to six persons hanged in ever every y village which has joined the revolt pay no respect to the cossack that Is to members of the clergy officers trained to be savages some of the rules laid down in the german war book are illustrated and their spirit made more definite in zum Ge brauch tin F eind esland military interpreter for use in the country this Is a manual edited at berlin in 1900 1000 it contains says the introduction the french translation of the greater part of documents letters and proclamations and some orders of which it may be necessary to make use in time of war thus eight years before this war began the german military authorities were not only preparing their officers to wage war in a man manner ner wholly contrary to the hague regulations but also were looking forward to the use of these pro proclamations cing lamat ions in french or belgian territory among its forms ready tor for use by inserting names date and places are the following A fine of marks in consequence of an attempt made by to assassinate a german soldier Is imposed on the town of 0 by order of efforts have been made without resu result it to obtain the withdrawal of the fino fine the term fixed for payment expires tomorrow saturday december 17 at noon knoon bunk notes cash or silver plate w will III be accepted 1 I have to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated the ath of this month in which you bring to my notice the great difficulty which you expect to meet beet in levying the contributions I 1 can but regret the explanations which you have thought proper to give me on this subject the order in question which emanates em anstes from my iny government Is so clear and precise and the instructions which I 1 have received ceia c d I 1 in n the matter are so cate categorical gorl th that a t if the sum due by the to town wn of it is not paid the town will be burned down without pity ruthless Destruct destruction iop ordered on account of the destruction of the bridge of I 1 P I 1 order the district shall pay a special contribution contri aution of francs by way of amends this Is brought to the notice of the public who are informed that the methot method of assessment of the said suit sum will be enforced with the utmost ost severity the village of ps 14 will be destroyed immediately by fire with the exception ot of certain buildings occupied for the use of the troops these forms have been of great use to the german commanders in bel glum and northern france the closeness with which they have been followed in these conquered lands during the present war may be seen by reading these two proclamations the city of brussels exclusive of its suburbs tins has been punished by an additional fine of francs on account of tle attack made upon a german soldier by Ry kere chere one of its police officials the governor of BARON VON 11 november 1 1014 placard posted on the walls w ills of lune ville by order of the german authorities au thorl notice to the people some of the inhabitants of lune ville made tin an attack from ambuscade on the german columns and wagons trains the same day some of the inhabitants shot at sanitary formations marked with the red lied cross in addition german wounded and the military ambulance were fired upon because of these acts of hostility a fine of francs Is imposed upon the commune of e the mayor Is ordered to pay this sum in gold or silver up lip to francs september 0 1914 at nine in the morning morningto to the representative of the german military nu authority tho rity all protests will be considered null and void no delay will be granted if the commune does not punctually obey the to pay the sum of 0 f francs all property that can be levied upon on will be seized I 1 in cas basof gp f nonpayment non payment visits from house to house will be made and all the inhabitants will be searched it if anyone knowingly has concealed money or attempted to hold back his goods from the seizure by the military |