Book Description

Excerpt from Fifty Years of Europe, 1870-1919 The fifty years that have elapsed since the Franco-Prussian War possess a unity that is quite exceptional among the so-called "periods" of history. They constitute a period of German ascendancy in Europe, an ascendancy acquired by force, maintained by force, and dedicated to the perpetuation and the extension of the rule of force - that is, to the great principle that might makes right. Within that era are included the rise and the fall of the German Empire, whose history was summarized in a lapidary phrase pronounced by President Poincare at the opening of the Conference of Paris: "It was born in injustice; it has ended in opprobrium." For the convenience of those who may wish to review this period I have brought together those chapters of my Modern European History which bear upon it, making, however, numerous changes in the narrative, condensing here, amplifying there, transforming and rearranging wherever it has seemed advantageous. To complete the story I have added a chapter on the Great War, the closing pages of which were written on the day the armistice was accepted and which therefore represent only the incomplete knowledge and the hurried impressions of a mighty moment in history. However, for that very reason, they may have a certain value, at least as a contemporary document. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.