Causes of the Collapse
Freedom without and daily bread within. The nation grew in number and in this world’s goods. And the honor of the State, and with it that of the whole people, was guarded and defended by an army which was the plainest sign of the contrast with the old German Confederation.
So deep is the downfall which has overtaken the Empire and the German people that everyone seems dizzy, robbed for the moment of his senses; people can scarcely remember the old heights, so unreal and dreamlike does yesterday’s greatness and magnificence seem as against today’s degradation.
So it is natural enough for people now to be too much blinded by the splendor, and to forget to look for the portents of the monstrous collapse, which after all must already have existed somehow.
Naturally this is true only for those to whom Germany was more than a mere place of residence for the making and spending of money, since they alone can feel that the present state is one of collapse; to the others it is the long-hoped-for fulfilment of their hitherto unsatisfied wishes.
The portents even then existed and were visible, though few people tried to draw any instruction from them.
But today this is more necessary than ever. A disease can be cured only if the bacillus which causes it is known, and the same thing is true in curing political ills. Of course the outer form of a disease, its obvious appearance, is more easily seen and discovered than the inner cause. This after all is the reason why so many people never get beyond the recognition of outer effects, and even confuse them with the cause, whose very existence, indeed, they are likely to try to deny. Even now most of us see in the German collapse primarily the general economic distress and the results it brings with it. Almost everyone has to suffer these personally—one sound reason why every individual should understand the catastrophe. But the great masses are far less able to recognize the collapse in its political, cultural and moral aspects. Here many people’s instinct and understanding both are at a complete loss.
223
