Page:The Slavs among the nations by T G Masaryk.djvu/39

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
THE SLAVS AMONG THE NATIONS.
35

cerned themselves with the strategical importance of Bohemia. They have explained to their compatriots that an independent Bohemia would constitute an immense danger to Germany.

Moreover, Bismarck had already declared that he who was master of Bohemia would also be master of Europe. At the same time some German political writers have tried to show us that Pangermanism is favourable to the Czechs, and that it will save us from the Panslavic peril. These Pangerman “sirens” are becoming more and more numerous.

The situation is quite clear to anyone who observes the facts and gives them a little consideration.

The most irreconcilable opponents of Pangermanism are found among the Poles, the Czechs, and the Southern Slavs. Were Poland to be reconstituted, Bohemia to become independent, and the Jugo-Slavs to be united, then an impassable natural barrier to the German march on Bagdad would arise.

The Germans have frontiers which march with the Slavs more extensive even than the Russians. They border on the Russians,