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Hence not seldom such formations will have to bear the greatest blood sacrifices; that is to say, the fittest are
sought out from a great multitude of men and led to war in concentrated masses. Thus the percentage of the best
dead of a nation is disproportionately increased, while conversely the percentage of the worst elements is able to
preserve itself to the highest degree. Over against the extremely idealistic men who are ready to sacrifice their
own lives for the Folkish Community, stands the number of those most wretched egoists who view the
preservation of their own mere personal life likewise as the highest task of this life. The hero dies, the criminal
is preserved. This appears self evident to an heroic age, and especially to an idealistic youth. And this is good,
because it is the proof of the still present value of a Folk. The true statesman must view such a fact with
concern, and take it into account. For what can easily be tolerated in one war, in a hundred wars leads to the
slow bleeding away of the best, most valuable elements of a nation. Thereby victories will indeed have been
won, but in the end there will no longer be a Folk worthy of this victory. And the pitifulness of the posterity,
which to many seems incomprehensible, not seldom is the result of the successes of former times.
