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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Naofumi" data-source="post: 47484" data-attributes="member: 39">existence even should the ruling power be grossly inefficient. When a stateis composed of a homogeneous population, the natural inertia of such apopulation will hold it together and maintain its existence throughastonishingly long periods of misgovernment and poor administration. Itmay often seem as if there were no life in such a body-politic. But a timecomes when the supposed corpse rises up and displays to the world anastonishing manifestation of its indestructible vitality.But the situation is utterly different in a country where the populationis not homogeneous, where there is no bond of common blood, but only aruling hand. Should that hand show signs of weakness, the result will notbe a kind of hibernation of the state, but rather an awakening of theindividual instincts that are slumbering in the various ethnicities. Theseinstincts are dormant when the state has a strong central government. Thedanger that exists in these slumbering instincts can be attenuated only bycenturies of common education, traditions, and interests.The younger such states are, the more their existence will depend onthe ability and strength of the central government. If they survive only dueto the power of a strong individual leader, they often collapse as soon ashe dies. But even after centuries of effort, these separatist instincts cannotalways be completely overcome. They may suddenly awaken when thecentral government shows weakness, or when centralizing efforts proveunable to counteract the vital energies of the separate nationalities, as theyforge ahead towards shaping their own individual existence.The failure to see the truth of all this constituted perhaps the tragic guiltof the House of Habsburg.3.6 JOSEPH IIFor only one Habsburg ruler did Destiny hold aloft the torch over thefuture of his country. But the torch was then extinguished forever.Joseph II, Roman Kaiser of the German nation, was filled with growinganxiety when he realized that his House was moved to an outlying comerof the Reich, and that before long it would be overturned and engulfed inthe whirlpool of Babylonian nationalities-unless something was done atthe eleventh hour to overcome the dire consequences of longstandingnegligence. With superhuman energy, this 'Friend of Humanity' made everypossible effort to counteract the carelessness of his predecessors. Within onedecade he strove to repair centuries of damage. If Destiny had granted him1 05MEIN KAMPF40 years for his labors, and if but two generations had carried on his work,the miracle might have been performed. But when he died, broken in bodyand spirit after ten years of rulership, his work sank with him into the grave.They now rest forever in that Capuchin crypt, never to awake.His successors had neither the ability nor the will-power necessary forthe task they faced.When the first signs of a new revolutionary epoch appeared in Europe,they gradually scattered the fire throughout Austria. And when the firebegan to steadily burn, it was fanned, not by the social or politicalconditions, but by forces that had their origin in the nationalist yearningsof the various ethnic groups.The European revolutions of 1 848 primarily took the form of a classconflict in almost every other country, but in Austria it took the form of anew racial struggle. Insofar as the German-Austrians there forgot theorigins of the movement-or perhaps had failed to recognize them at thestart and consequently took part in the revolutionary uprising-they sealedtheir own fate. They helped to awaken the spirit of Western democracy that,within a short while, shattered the foundations of their own existence.3.7 THE DISSOLUTION OF THE HABSBURG MONARCHYSetting up a representative parliamentary body, without first insistingthat only one language be used in all public discourse, was the first greatblow to the German element in the Dual Monarchy. From that moment on,the state itself was lost. All that followed was nothing but the historicliquidation of an empire.To watch that process of progressive disintegration was a tragic butalso instructive experience. The execution of history's decree was carriedout in thousands of details. The fact that great numbers of people wanderedaround blindly, even as they were surrounded by signs of decay, onlyproves that the gods had decreed Austria's destruction.I don't want to dwell on details here, because that would lie outsidethe scope of this book. I want to treat in detail only those events that aretypical among the causes that lead to the decline of nations and states, andwhich are therefore of importance to our present age. Moreover, the studyof these events helped to furnish the basis of my own political outlook</blockquote>

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