Nationalist Book Review

30. The Will to Freedom and Nationality Since the discovery of America by Europe the two parts of the world were coupled like two cogwheels. At first, the drive always came from this side of the Atlantic. Even to the people of the second half of the 18th century it seemed self-evident that all impulses came from the Old World. Then, with the American Revolution, the mechanism that had hitherto been considered natural began to falter. It was as if sand had gotten between the wheels. It was not long before the gears began to turn in the opposite direction, the impetus coming from America. The ideas of the American Revolution had been the intellectual property of Europe; indeed, the European "Enlightenment" had turned a petty colonialist concern, which had originally been merely about better treatment by the mother country, into a fundamental matter of humanity. These thoughts then had an effect on Europe again in their American version and set the great French revolution rollin

 29. The New Continent Hard by the edge of chaos and anarchy, the young American state reached the saving harbor of the Constitution of 1787 and a social and state order that was once again secure. In order to keep up the fight against England, it had been necessary to call up forces that could not easily be gotten rid of after peace had been concluded. All the big words "against tyranny", "for freedom and equality" had not been meant so seriously. The frontiersmen, farmers, and artisans who fought under the star-spangled banner formed an uncomfortable, even dangerous force. Congress wanted to send them home without pay. But they did not agree to this. A troop of soldiers marched to Philadelphia, took up camp in front of the building where Congress was meeting, and demanded fulfillment of its demands at the point of the bayonet. The famous march of the "veterans" of the World War to Washington to enforce the "bonus" thus has its model in that eve

  V. The German Mass Immigration in America 28. Human Rights and the Anglo-Saxon Supremacy As it was in no small part Americans of German blood, under a German leader, who fought through the last decisive hostilities of the War of Independence, so it was a German who proclaimed the news of this in the night streets of Philadelphia, the seat of Congress. The American historian John Fiske reports in his History of the American Revolution that the German night watchman of Philadelphia proclaimed the third hour of the morning of October 24, 1781 with the words: ,,Bascht dree oglock und Corn-val-lis is da-kenl" In the following years, the old American Germanism reaches its peak: In Pennsylvania, a German-born man becomes governor. Here, as in Ohio, the German language is introduced into the schools. Publications of the state legislatures appear in German as well as English. The backlash, however, comes unexpectedly quickly. Half a century later, when German mass immigration begins, it

 27. The German Tragedy In the North, Washington had now been standing idly on the Hudson for three years, ever since the Battle of Monmouth, watching over the main British force at New York, over which Clinton, brought back from the South, had again assumed supreme command. In the meantime, a French relief corps of six thousand men had been landed in Rhode Island. After this had waited a year without exchanging a shot with the enemy, the two armies united. Their commanders-in-chief intended a joint attack on New York. Then they received word that a French fleet under Count de Grasse was approaching from the West Indies to Chesapeake Bay, just off the coast where Cornwallis lay at Yorktown. Immediately the plans were changed. It was decided to make a joint strike against the British force in Virginia. Four thousand men were left on the Hudson to guard against Clinton, and the rest of the American and French troops moved in single file to Virginia, united there with divisions of Green,

  26. A German saves American  Military Honor The Battle of Monmouth was the last significant combat action in the Union North. The British realized that their four-year attempts to silence the heart of the Revolution that beat here had been unsuccessful and would be unsuccessful in the future. So they changed the battle plan and decided to move the theater of war to the South. In the southern states, a lower battle price beckoned, but success seemed easier. The population here was much more loyalist, and in some cases the partisans of the British crown even outnumbered the loyalists. Thus, one wanted to first get Georgia and the two Carolinas firmly in hand, in order to wait, based on this possession, to see what negotiations could finally be reached with the northern colonies. The enterprise seemed simple and safe. England still ruled the seas, although the intervention of a French fleet from the West Indies was already expected. In December 1778, Sir Henry Clinton first sent a force

 25. The German Inspector General and German bodyguard of Washington General Steuben had made good use of his time. As summer dawned, he was able to provide Washington with an army of fifteen thousand well-drilled and disciplined soldiers, a force such as the American commander in chief had never had under his command. For the first time, British troops faced American ones of equal combat value. The British, however, dodged the decision. General Howe, who had spent the entire winter idle in Philadelphia, was recalled and replaced by Sir Henry Clinton. At the same time it was decided to evacuate the American capital and transfer the army to New York. Washington did not hesitate to attack them. The clash of the two armies, equally strong and this time equally well trained, would probably have resulted in an American victory, had there not been a traitor in their ranks, and in a leading position at that. It was an American of English descent, Major General Charles Lee. Lee had opposed Was

 24. Valley Forge . . . the Valley of Resurrection It is extremely instructive to repeat the marches from campaigns of earlier times with a modern means of transportation. Nothing better illustrates the almost inconceivable changes that technology has brought to warfare. From Philadelphia to Valley Forge today is an afternoon's drive in a car. One hundred and fifty years ago there were so many marching days between the two places that the British Army could take up winter quarters in one, the American in the other, without taking any notice of each other. The roles were quite unequal, the British enjoying all the comforts in Philadelphia, which was then the capital of the United States. They had warm quarters, excellent food and, moreover, every entertainment. One ball chased the other. It seemed as if the whole town was made up of loyal people, and the farmers in the vicinity and the farmers in the area had no hesitation in supplying the British army with everything it needed in e

  23. General von Steuben joins the American Army The highway leading from Philadelphia to Valley Forge is like any other in America: paved, smooth, straight, with many signs on either side. These signs are characteristic of American roads. They are advertising hotels or even shaving soap and shoe polish. Often they recommend the nearest towns to visit or settle in. Often they are also historical references to the Independence War or the Civil War, or they are virtually school blackboards with science or language lessons. After all, people in the United States are extremely religious about education. In any case, there are so many signs along the way that you don't even look at them anymore, let alone read them. But the sign that now appeared in front of me I did read, yes, I even stopped to take a closer look at it. It said "King of Prussia" in large letters, and underneath that the next town was named after the great Prussian king Frederick II. The name of the little to

 22. The Fateful Hour of American Freedom The British had left Boston, independence had been declared, and a cry of joy echoed through America. King George, however, was not so quick to admit defeat. The British came back, three times as strong. They landed on Long Island. Washington, opposing them, narrowly escaped annihilation with his entire army. New York was occupied, the Hudson forts were lost, and disaster followed on the White Plains. Defeat followed defeat until Washington's bold crossing of the Delaware and victory at Trenton at least temporarily restored the fortunes of war to the star-spangled banner. The situation remained difficult enough, however. The Congress in Philadelphia talked and talked, made resolution after resolution, but still had not been able to bring itself to a unified organization of the states declared independent as well as to decisive political leadership. Under these circumstances, the eagerly awaited recognition by the European powers failed to m

 21. From Rebellion to Revolution In order to understand the nature and course of the American War of Independence, one must not lose sight of the fact that it was not really a war, but a revolution, not so different from those which we ourselves had witnessed and still witness. Men who today are regarded as brilliant patriots and paragons of American youth appeared at that time as a kind of evil Bolsheviks, not only in the eyes of the English, but even of those Americans of standing and property who, though they did not wish to be taxed by England, looked with the highest displeasure on people who preached that one should not pay one's debts and should plunder the possessions of the rich. That in the troubled times that preceded the outbreak of hostilities and even in the first years of the Revolution among the rebels the number of those who had nothing to lose was greater than that of the propertied, who were more exposed to the vengeance of the British authorities, is only too u

  20. The Americans of German Blood as Freedom Fighters When the American War of Independence broke out, one hundred and seventy years had passed since the founding of Jamestown, the first British settlement on American soil. A race had grown up which, while it certainly felt British, was no longer in living touch with the mother country. It must not be forgotten that the 3,000 miles separating America from Europe did not mean five or six days' sea voyage at that time, but as many weeks, sometimes even months. Puritan immigration had already ceased in the main by 1640, and that of the "Cavaliers" had ended a few decades later. What came next were primarily non-Britons, Germans above all, Irish and French Huguenots.  Nevertheless, one could not speak of an American people, nor of a general spirit of revolt against England. As long as the economic situation was tolerable, no one in the thirteen colonies thought of apostasy. In a sense, these thirteen colonies were already a

  19. Who fought for American independence? Inevitably linked to the idea of the American War of Independence is the name of Boston, the "Boston Massacre," the Boston Tea Party, Boston's occupation, siege, and liberation as the prelude to the long struggle for America's freedom. Boston and Puritan New England appear as the heart of the Revolution as well as the genius and guiding thought of America from its first beginning.  One as well as the other is only very partially true. But unfortunately both are striking proof of the experience, hitherto neglected by us Germans, that in the life of nations and in politics it is not so much the facts that matter as their interpretation. It is not so much the event as the myth attached to it that is effective, that builds up or destroys the future. The Puritan myth had known how to use the great deed of the German Luther's spiritual revolution for its own purposes, even to seize it for itself, so to speak. In exactly the sa

 18. The Seventy Years War If the saying that war is the father of all things has justification for anything, it is for the emergence of Anglo-Saxon America. The nearly two hundred years from the landing of the first settlers to the Declaration of Independence are really one struggle. Even the people who crossed over at that time were fighters, and had to be. They left the old homeland because they did not want to bow to the prevailing views, laws and customs. They crossed the ocean to live the life they wanted, and they paid the price of almost unceasing struggle. Already on the crossing, a relentless selection began. What was not necessarily resistant died. After landing, the struggle for existence became even harder. In fact, for a considerable part of the newcomers it meant fighting with weapons against an opponent who was as brave as he was cruel and deceitful, the native inhabitants of the country. In this struggle the German settlers paid their blood toll abundantly. Even that w