The author was a German-born psychologist who lived in the United States. Münsterberg was a prolific writer of books about psychology and sociology, in both German and English. He also was a professor at Harvard when he wrote The War and America.
The goal of The War and America, which was dedicated "To All Lovers of Fair Play," was to:
- Tell Germany's side of the story in the European war.
- Influence the United States to stay neutral in the war.
Münsterberg said that Germany's involvement in the war was to defend itself again its neighbors, who had the following motives:
- Russia wanted control of the Slavic regions of eastern and central Europe, which in turn would help it take control of the Balkan region.
- France wanted to regain control of the Alsace-Lorraine region that it had lost in the 1870-1871 war with Germany.
- England saw Germany as a competitor in the world economy.
All other nations are in a hurry, Russia has time; all other nations economize with men, Russia can waste and waste and will always grow. All other nations have wavered in their enterprises, Russia remains unswervingly loyal to its aim of world control.Münsterberg was very open about Germany's ongoing preparations for war during the rule of Emperor William II (Kaiser Wilhelm II). Münsterberg said it was necessary to keep the peace in Europe, and also help strengthen German society.
He wrote that Germany has "made the training in the army an educative schooling of the whole population for efficiency in every line of national work. The services in barrack and camp became a time of personal happiness, of social growth, of vocational advance. Army and nation became one as in no other land."
This preparation was necessary because "The Germans who must fight to-day have been brought up under the shadow of the feeling that revengeful neighbors were waiting for the hour to burn their villages and towns; they have never been relieved from this tension; they knew that they had to keep the edge of the German sword sharp."
The title of the book makes clear that its main audience is the United States. The author harshly criticized American reporters and editorialists whom he felt were biased in favor of the Triple Entente alliance (France, England, Russia).
Münsterberg talked about the long history of friendship between the United States and Germany. He said that Germany has been more consistently friendly with the United States than England, which was fighting Germany in the current war. He also mentioned the respectful treatment of Americans who were in Germany when the European war broke out.
He also addressed criticisms of Germany's ruthless behavior in Belgium by mentioning the similar behavior of the United States Union army in the Civil War (in particular, during Sherman's march through the South). He also wrote that Germany tried to respect Belgium's neutrality, but had to react when France started moving troops through Belgium.
The book ends on a highly emotional note. It almost sounds like pro-war propaganda that was written in Germany.
So far only one great historic fact stands out, that the German nation and the Emperor were never more than one since the hour when the war against Russia broke out, and that in the twenty-seven years of the Kaiser's reign the love for the Emperor and the conviction that the monarchical state form is the ideal form of government for the great German nation was never so deep and penetrating as to-day.The publication of The War and America provoked strong and often negative reactions.
In the September 23, 1914 edition of The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, a letter to the editor from William Taylor said:
I have followed the professor in his psychological studies for some years and I have believed in the soundness of his teachings, but now I have my faith shaken when, in treating the anti-German sentiment [in the United States] as a psychologist, he concludes that it is simply a case of mob sentiment. To my mind the truth is that the American people would rather have given their sentiment to the Germans had there been sound grounds for their doing so, for, certainly, there was no evidence of any strong sentiment for either the English or the French until the facts became known—facts which have not been confuted even by Germany.In the San Francisco Chronicle on October 12, 1914, George Douglas wrote:
Apart from this unnecessary and undiplomatic attack on a neutral nation [the United States], the book is really a very excellent statement of the German case. Münsterberg is much more the advocate than the judge calmly summing up the evidence, but he certainly makes a very eloquent defense of Germany's position.Hugo Münsterberg died just two years after the publication of The War in America, at the age of 49, on December 16, 1916, during a lecture he was giving at Radcliffe College (at the time, he was a professor of psychology at Harvard).
An Associated Press article in The Coffeyville (Kansas) Daily Journal about Münsterberg's death read:
He has been well known in educational circles for years, and leaped into prominence as the spokesman in education circles of Germany's cause in this country soon after the war began. He presented in addresses and in written articles the attitude of the Teutonic allies as he understood them.
Gradually he came to be regarded as a spokesman in New England for many Germans and others who favored Germany. As a result he was brought into controversies with other members of the Harvard faculty who were outspoken in defense of the allies.
The War and America was published around September 20, 1914, when a review of the book appeared in The Brooklyn (New York) Daily Eagle. Front page headlines in that day's Daily Eagle included:
- CROWN PRINCE'S RETREAT CONTINUES, PARIS REPORTS; NO DECISIVE RESULT IN GREAT BATTLE OF THE AISNE; ALLIES' LEFT TAKES PRISONERS NORTH OF RHEIMS
- 'PRUSSIA, ROAD HOG,' SAYS LLOYD-GEORGE / British Chancellor Says "the Bully Will Be Torn From His Seat." / PREDICTS A LONG WAR / "But in the End We Shall March Through Terror to Triumph."
- 300,000 AUSTRIAN TROOPS WATCH ITALIAN BORDER
Online versions:
Newspaper information from Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/)
No comments:
Post a Comment