WHO ARE THE HUNS?

A FOREWORD.
T he dispassionate historian of the future, of a future not
far distant, striving with proper intellectual honesty to
ascertain the truth that underlay and accompanied the titanic
world war, will be forced to delve among mountains of material.
But dead material is not and cannot be living evidence. Indeed,
under the circumstances it may be said that the vast accumulations
of printed news, reports, documents and what not are
in many cases the absolute negation of evidence.
This war has produced not only a falsification of facts, of
causes, of motives, of representations, on a scale never before
approached in the history of the world, but it has produced the
hypnosis and intoxication and even the persistent poisoning of
entire peoples. The influences that were formerly confined to
small, restricted circles have, through the monopolizing of the
press and the cables by one party of belligerents, spread
until they have created all-pervading mental atmospheres and
climates, not only among the warring powers but among the
neutral.
That truth is entirely relative has once more been proved
in this tragedy of civilization. That falsehood may usurp its
place and powers is appallingly evident. But it is no less
apparent that the immortal vitality of truth will assert itself
despite the most desperate and extensive attempts to slay,
distort or smother it.
I believe that among the few reliable documents of the
World War, which have been compiled during its progress,
the conscientious historian cannot fail to yield a high place to
this work by Dr. Ernst Muller-Meiningen, which is now given
to the world in an English translation. Dr. Muller-Meiningen is
not only a prominent personality of the Reichstag, in which he
represents a Bavarian constituency, but he is likewise one of the