The House of Hohenzollern and the Hapsburg Monarchy (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1917 edition. Excerpt: ... The Vision of a Central Europe From The New York Nation, December 14, 1916. tE W polemical books written during the present war have called for serious criticism. When passion shrieks, reason can only be silent. Friedrich Naumann's "Mitteleuropa" (Central Europe. Translated by Christabel M. Meredith, London: P. S. King & Son), however, stands in some respects in a class by itself. A fervent economic plea for Germany's future expansion, it is but indirectly concerned with the present clash of arms and ignores international hatreds. The book, which has had an extraordinary vogue throughout Germany and Austria-Hungary, is now obtainable in an English translation (faithful, though by no means flawless) to which Prof. W. J. Ashley has written an introduction. He speaks of it as "far and away the most important book that has appeared in Germany since the world-conflict began." Such a success challenges thought, even aside from the intrinsic merits of the work. It will therefore not be superfluous to examine in detail the arguments that have made so powerful an appeal to German and Austro-Hungarian readers. Herr Naumann is a member of the Reichstag and author of a number of books. His career shows strange mutations of principle--religious, political, and economic. Originally a Lutheran pastor and Socialistic evangelist, he abandoned the pulpit for journalism and politics. He founded Die Hilfe, and through this journal and his book on "Demokratie und Kaisertum" attempted to reconcile the tenets of Social-Democracy with the prevailing furore for naval and colonial expansion. The National-Socialist party being unable to obtain representation in the Reichstag, Herr Naumann allied himself with the Volkspartei, which derived its strength mainly from...