The Spectator at war: Attempts at invasion

From The Spectator, 24 October 1914:

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Matthew Lynn

Spain will regret its 100 per cent expat property tax

Time being against her, a condition of stalemate on her frontiers is a hopeless business for Germany. Invasion, then, is a logical necessity. It is true that the chances are small, and that failure might mean the loss of a quarter of a million Germans or more, but to the German military philosopher that matters nothing. He would ask you: “What object is there in possessing a quarter of a million armed men unless you use them? And the only way to use them is to fling them on the enemy. To keep them unused is, from the strategist’s point of view, just the same as letting them be killed in sunk transports or mowed down on English battlefields.