Summary

Chapter 17: The Flames of Louvain

Although the war had only raged a mere twenty days by the time the Battle of the Frontiers ended, the world had changed forever. Nationhood rose up and swept away all the safeguards that were supposed to prevent war. The Germans felt war was ennobling. Some thought that war sprang from the “unconscious boredom of peace.” Thomas Mann felt that the highly intelligent and educated Germans deserved to dominate.

A German scientist told American journalist Irwin Cobb that Germany would enlighten the world and that there would never be another war. Germans had talked for years about how they would one day basically take over Europe, crushing England and depriving it of its navy. This kind of rhetoric fostered distrust for the Germans on a global basis. H. G. Wells said that the enemy was German imperialism and...