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Wood, William (William Charles Henry), 1864-1947

"Flag and Fleet How the British Navy Won the Freedom of the Seas"

Then _Der Tag_ (the day) would come
in the way the Germans hoped when they drank to it with shouts of _Hoch
der Kaiser!_ (which really meant, _The Kaiser on top, the British
underneath!_ though that is not the translation). To get this kind of
_Tag_ the Germans needed to strike down their victims one by one in
three quite separate wars: first, France and Belgium, Russia and the
Southern Slavs; a thing they could have done with Austria, Bulgaria,
and Turkey on their side and the rest of Europe neutral. Then, having
made sure of their immensely strengthened new position in the world,
_Der Tag_ would come against the British Empire. Last of all, they
would work their will in South America, being by that time far too
strong for the United States. A nightmare plan, indeed! But, with
good luck and good management, and taking us one by one, and always
having our vile Pacifists to help them, this truly devilish plot might
well have been worked out in three successive generations during the
course of the twentieth century.
As it was, we had trouble enough to beat them; for they fought well by
sea and land and air, though more like devils than like men.


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