ABSTRACT
The great strength of mystic impulses lies in the fact that they have no rational basis. If the ideal, which they synthesize were to become rational, men would not let themselves be killed for it; for the reason, which rules a learned man in his laboratory has not yet acquired the power to rouse the masses. From a rational point of view Germany was interested in preventing war, but mystic influences dominated it entirely. This chapter shows what influences created the mystic idea of hegemony in Germany and from what material elements it is derived. It includes the psychological elements that animate the armies of the various countries. The chapter shows the small influence, which was exerted by rational elements at the beginning of the war. M. Kostyleff, who belongs to the most mystic of races, says in an important review that he cannot see any influence of mysticism upon the modern German mentality.
