The virtual head is the German Emperor. The actual executive
is called "Chef des Grossen General Stabs."
There is a small, dingy, unpretentious room in the General Staff
Gebaude where at moments of stress and tension or international
complications, assemble five men. His Majesty, at the head of the
table; to the right the Chef of Grossen General Stab; to the left his
Minister of War; then the Minister of Railways, and the Chief of
Admiral Stab. You will notice the total absence of the Ministers of
Finance and Diplomacy. When those five men meet the influence of
diplomatic and financial affairs has ceased. They are there to act.
The scratching of the Emperor's pen in that room means war, the
setting in motion of a fighting force of 5,000,000 men.
Here is another instance:
When the feeling and stress over the Moroccan question was at its
height General von Heeringen on leaving his quarters for his usual
drive in the Thiergarten was eagerly questioned by a score of
officers, awaiting his exit.
"Excellency! Geht's los?" ("Do we begin?")
Grimly smiling, returning their salutes and without pause, limping to
his waiting carriage came his answer:
"Sieben Buchstaben, meine Herren!" ("Seven letters, gentlemen!")
In Germany military parlance this means the Emperor's signature,
Wilhelm II, to the mobilization orders.
In order to give the reader a fairly correct view of this mighty
organization, I have to explain each group separately.
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