Mechanized Warfare - Ernst Jünger
Die Standarte, October 4th 1925
With the arrival of 1916, after the bloodbath at Verdun, the visage of war had changed. By that time the striking force of the great armies was either depleted or successfully held at bay by the opponent, forcing them to resolve to new means in order to sway the outcome of the battle in their favor. Mobilization became more intense, encompassing with no exceptions all the energies and organizational resources of national states. The Battle of the Somme had already shown that persistent combat for the edges of some little village or a patch of scorched forest demanded the strength of the entire nation, all the way down to the last woman factory worker.
All energies of great industrialized countries with their factory centers, transportation capabilities and armies of machines had erupted in fiery currents onto the battlefields. The front was transformed into a churning cauldron that had to be maintained in working order. Development of weapons, with possibly the exception of large battleships, that manifested in themselves imperialistic will in its pure form was lagging behind technological progress. There was a lack of practical experience to realize the hidden capabilities of technology. Lost time had to be made up, war had to become the essence of the modern spirit of big cities. At first the will for technological modernization was reduced to merely stockpiling weapons, and the new period of the war became perhaps the most vivid symbol of the man of the materialist era. This is not at all because military material was utilizing in never before seen quantities; after all, any era uses the resources at its disposal. Indicative was the very character in which military technology was utilized, it was cruel and calculated. In some ways it was similar to the marxist understanding of production.
The spirit of time passes through all phenomena of an epoch - thinking, labor and of course, war. The cost of war was now measured in the cost of production, drawing a logical conclusion to the pre-war technological development. Success was guaranteed to those who in the shortest time sent out trains with tons of explosives or supplemented production with coal and steel. We, and the whole world for that matter, were unbelievably lucky that the war's conclusion came about with a gigantic mechanized battle. Now we see a decline in materialist thinking, people seek to find a productive source in the soul and this tendency is most welcome.
Supremacy of the human soul's inner strength over technology already became noticeable in the first great battles of the modern age. The horribly disfigured landscapes devoid of people, scorched and twisted by explosives and steel with signs of rampage left by the technological force. No matter where you look, everywhere you feel the work of technological machine, everywhere were gaping craters similar to those of some distant lifeless planet. Each time an iron curtain dropped on the soil plowed by shells, one could get the impression of some cosmic soulless process, where there is no place for man. Military technology reached its apex at the Battle of the Somme and ever since only the scale changed, but never the intensity.
It was already during the Battle of the Somme when man found himself at his limit. And then the sons of the materialist age suddenly realized that in reality there was nothing that a man couldn't withstand, there is no such technology that could rival spiritual strength. We were convinced of this countless times, this fact was proven by every unknown soldier, who had passed through all the horrors of military technology and placed his indestructible, sturdy heart on the scales. This is when it became apparent that what was important is man, not technology. We've grown used to hearing from people who lack any capacity for heroism that a dumb piece of metal is still stronger than even the strongest man. Obviously! However if there was no metal there would be no brave men either. Of course technology can lay down anyone, same as how once wild animals easily tore apart martyrs in circuses. But only he is afraid of it, who recognizes nothing but crude matter. A soldier must always remember not only the hardships and sacrifice, but also victory.
Realizing the supremacy of the soul's inner strength over matter, overcoming it in unequal battle, the frontline soldier did not come back to civilian matters empty-handed. However even here he was still faced with a new situation. The endless trench war opened his eyes to what man can do when he must, now he also realized what man can do when he wants it. He gained this knowledge by passing through a horrible school. Of course, not all managed to withstand it: on those fields shrouded with gas clouds remain both those who were crushed by the machine and those who heroically defied it. However the great can be seen only at a distance, thus all that was taken away from those battles plays a significant role. It will continue to live and be of benefit. And even though there are few people like that, they don't rely on numbers for victory.
The battle of military technology had showed us another important lesson: one cannot with impunity equate material and spiritual forces. We've done this, but each of us had our reasons for it.
No matter the difference in material means, moral supremacy made up that difference. Obviously this way the best capital was spent. Instruments are not what's important, however without them the will has no means of expressing itself. The instruments of the modern man are the technological arsenal.
As we are talking about the becoming of a specific man, the frontliner, one sad observation is enough: a poorly developed production led to constantly making up the lack of military technology with the strength of moral resistance. War had revealed the flip side of the era that had not yet mastered the machine, subjugated to its dictate. Here again is found that huge divide which even before the war had cut through the economic and social life of the country.
We see before us ill-fed and poorly dressed German soldiers, who with incredible fortitude resisted well equipped armies of the whole world. Even though fate subjected the strength of the German man to a cruel, almost unbearable test, we can say that he had passed it adequately and can think back to that time with pride, as we remember the unprecedented enthusiasm during the early days of the war. Fortitude before the strikes of fate - this is a German's virtue. It was also seen in the Nibelung struggle beneath the burning ceiling of the Etzel dining hall. In this time people of firm character were formed, declaring their existence already during the war.
We have the right to state that we were the first who had overcome the spirit of mechanized battle and put an end to the simple quantitative machine production competition between empires. Even though our last efforts during the war's end did not lead to success, we were able of giving modern warfare a new visage. Military technology was once again brought down to be an instrument of the spirit, and a poorly equipped army was once again braving assaults on superior, in the materialistic sense, forces of the enemy.
He who had taken part in those battles will never forget that fiery exaltation that erupted in the first days of the war, nor that great will for victory that settled in his heart. It marked deep changes. Not only had the art of war entered a new level, but a new combatant type of man was formed.
When in the spring of 1918 soldiers left the trenches for the last and decisive battle, where was gone that former joy and intoxication of battle? The army was made up of men used to military life, who had learned to soberly judge things and be masters of their will. The outcome of the battle was no longer decided by soulless machinery that trampled over man. Spiritual and material forces had come together as one, war attained a modern character, all the soldiers felt this new spirit. Back then, shortly before the catastrophe, the war reached its second apex and the will had come to completely dominate modern technological means. Thus a hierarchy of values was formed, born in the years of war. Thus was formed a new type of man who would now take his place in history and become the basis for the frontline soldier's movement. He is a distant cry from the image of a hansom youth with a fiery gaze who with song on his lips greeted death at the Ypres in 1914. He is also far from the image of the lonely soldier of mechanized battles who was not broken but powerless. To the contrary, before us comes the image of man forged in the fires of battle, who had experienced for himself the severity of the great task and mastered the external means of power so as to bring his ideas to life. Here they are, soldiers in steel helmets: their ascetic faces reflect a firm will for action, in their somber eyes dances the flame of the idea.
So what if these warriors did not get to experience external success? Heroic values are not the values of merchants1, they value principles, not success. Although what was happening on the fields of battle doesn't have just monumental value but also a direct relation to our time. Even if all that we have achieved internally at the end of the war did not lead us to some tangible success, nobody can take that experience away from us. Metal forged in the hearth of battles is still strong. Soon will come the day when it will be put to use
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