Word: dieoberen
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Germany's nobility was largely to blame for its own decline. Holding themselves aloof from politics, business and the intellectual world, Dieoberen Zehntausend (the Top Ten Thousand), as Bismarck called the elite, devoted their lives either to hunting or to the army; when Hindenburg joined the cadet corps in 1859, 2,000 of 2,900 Prussian officers were of noble birth. However, in its emphasis on a "citizens' army," West Germany's government has even closed off this time-honored avenue for "aristocratic service...
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