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Description

For many years Germany has been the troublemaker of Europe. Over-populated lacking in food and raw materials sufficient to meet the growing demands of an aggressive and war-like people, Germany has long coveted the land and resources of her weaker neighbors. Germany has experienced an unusually rapid growth, having risen from a confederation of states, since 1871, to become a powerful and leading commercial nation, second only in Europe to Great Britain. Except for ample supplies of coal and potash, Germany is deficient in natural resources. During the glacial period, sand was deposited over the plains region and as a result the soil is naturally fertile. Only by intensive cultivation and the heavy use of fertilizer, made from potash, is much of the soil made productive. Germany’s great scientific development has been largely the result of solving agricultural problems, and of searching for new uses to utilize the coal reserves.
Recognizing that their hope for future greatness lay in overcoming natural handicaps, Germany has stressed the importance of technical education and training. The state has therefore disciplined its people in school and military training to make them obedient to the will of their leaders and ready to follow their advice and orders. Germany’s only access to the ocean, and world trade, is through the Baltic and North Seas. To make the most of this she has developed remarkable system of waterways. The Rhine rises in the Alps and flows through the fertile lowlands of western Germany to the border of Holland, and thence to the sea. The Elbe, Weser, and Oder flow north across the low plain of Germany. The Oder empties into the Baltic. The Elbe and Weser flow into the North Sea. All three are navigable far inland for ocean-going vessels. The rivers, together with fifteen hundred miles of canals, form a network of waterways which provide cheap transportation. There are two natural regions in Germany, the northern plain, and the southern highlands. The former is the most extensive agricultural region. The land which borders Denmark is favorable to the grazing of cattle, and, in the northeast, large numbers of sheep and goats are raised. The minerals found in the Central Highlands have had the greatest influence upon the development of Germany in the last fifty years.
Germany is primarily an industrial country, the leading manufacturing center being the Ruhr Valley. A Great chemical industry is in the Rhine Valley. Loss of foreign markets and sources of raw material following the First World War were contributing causes to Germany’s later acts of Aggression. Bohemia, Moravia, and Slovakia, comprising the area we have known as Czechoslovakia, contain several strategic routes, between North and South Europe, of both economic and political value. The people are energetic and progressive and there are moderate forest resources, fertile soil, scattered deposits of coal and a few other minerals. The only important minerals are graphite and magnesite. The principal industries are steel and iron, munitions, and machinery. Leather goods, paper, textiles, and chemicals are also important. The country occupied by the once powerful Austro-Hungarian Monarchy has met the same fate as the other land-locked countries bordering Germany. Bordered on the south and west by the Alps and in the heart of the rich valley of the Danube, it lay an easy prey to German might. Because of the variety of nationalities and languages spoken in this section it has been called the “crazy quilt of Europe”.

Description

For many years Germany has been the troublemaker of Europe. Over-populated lacking in food and raw materials sufficient to meet the growing demands of an aggressive and war-like people, Germany has long coveted the land and resources of her weaker neighbors. Germany has experienced an unusually rapid growth, having risen from a confederation of states, since 1871, to become a powerful and leading commercial nation, second only in Europe to Great Britain. Except for ample supplies of coal and potash, Germany is deficient in natural resources. During the glacial period, sand was deposited over the plains region and as a result the soil is naturally fertile. Only by intensive cultivation and the heavy use of fertilizer, made from potash, is much of the soil made productive. Germany’s great scientific development has been largely the result of solving agricultural problems, and of searching for new uses to utilize the coal reserves.
Recognizing that their hope for future greatness lay in overcoming natural handicaps, Germany has stressed the importance of technical education and training. The state has therefore disciplined its people in school and military training to make them obedient to the will of their leaders and ready to follow their advice and orders. Germany’s only access to the ocean, and world trade, is through the Baltic and North Seas. To make the most of this she has developed remarkable system of waterways. The Rhine rises in the Alps and flows through the fertile lowlands of western Germany to the border of Holland, and thence to the sea. The Elbe, Weser, and Oder flow north across the low plain of Germany. The Oder empties into the Baltic. The Elbe and Weser flow into the North Sea. All three are navigable far inland for ocean-going vessels. The rivers, together with fifteen hundred miles of canals, form a network of waterways which provide cheap transportation. There are two natural regions in Germany, the northern plain, and the southern highlands. The former is the most extensive agricultural region. The land which borders Denmark is favorable to the grazing of cattle, and, in the northeast, large numbers of sheep and goats are raised. The minerals found in the Central Highlands have had the greatest influence upon the development of Germany in the last fifty years.
Germany is primarily an industrial country, the leading manufacturing center being the Ruhr Valley. A Great chemical industry is in the Rhine Valley. Loss of foreign markets and sources of raw material following the First World War were contributing causes to Germany’s later acts of Aggression. Bohemia, Moravia, and Slovakia, comprising the area we have known as Czechoslovakia, contain several strategic routes, between North and South Europe, of both economic and political value. The people are energetic and progressive and there are moderate forest resources, fertile soil, scattered deposits of coal and a few other minerals. The only important minerals are graphite and magnesite. The principal industries are steel and iron, munitions, and machinery. Leather goods, paper, textiles, and chemicals are also important. The country occupied by the once powerful Austro-Hungarian Monarchy has met the same fate as the other land-locked countries bordering Germany. Bordered on the south and west by the Alps and in the heart of the rich valley of the Danube, it lay an easy prey to German might. Because of the variety of nationalities and languages spoken in this section it has been called the “crazy quilt of Europe”.