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The Ideology of the Officer Corps (1889)

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The fame and pride of the German officer corps is based on its unquestioning loyalty.

Ratio regis suprema lex!

The Fatherland’s army is the foundation of the state, the king’s shield, the bastion of the monarchy. [ . . . ]

Before all others, the officer is called upon to carry forth the banner of kingship by God’s grace, to let it fly high, and to protect God’s sacred order on earth from the dark powers of anarchy. And never before was his vocation as important as in our day. The officer corps and thus the army shall be the rock in the raging sea of deeply aroused passions: united with the church, it will be the rocher de bronze on which anarchy – God willing – shall be smashed to pieces.

Like an iron wall of loyalty, the German officer corps stands firm before the thrones of its royal houses, keeping a guard of honor over the greatest treasures of the Fatherland.

“Firm in loyalty, loyal in the storm!” [ . . . ]

The position of the officer makes it imperative that he fight against all political currents that oppose rule by the grace of God; against everything that strives to curtail the legitimate rights of monarchy; and against all tendencies that ultimately lead to the denial of divine and human authority, the dissolution of all existing order, and the undermining of the rule of law.

Without being a politician in any way, he [the officer] has to instinctively advocate all those principles that would be described in politics as loyal to the monarchy.

All this is included in the position of officer, is required by the oath sworn to the officer’s king, corresponds to the spirit and traditions of the Prussian-German officer corps, and is demanded by a kind of loyalty that is so much more than mere obedience. [ . . . ]

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