Word: kluck
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Died. Field Marshal Alexander von Kluck, 88, spearhead of the German onslaught on Paris in 1914; of old age; in Berlin. On the German right wing, he marched with startling swiftness through Belgium and northern France. Almost in sight of Paris but separated from von Billow's army and unable to keep communications open, he was beaten at the Marne and subsequently blamed by some tacticians for the German retreat. Few months later he was wounded and retired...
Called from a twenty-year oblivion, the name of Von Kluck appears again on the front pages of newspapers over the world a reminder of the momentous days of September, 1914. While military strategists and historians still dispute the significance of his achievements and defeats, he lies in state in Germany...
...world which he leaves today is as portentous of fear and uncertainty as that in which he rose to prominence, with rampant nationalism, vainglorious leaders, increasing armaments, clamoring minorities, and assassinated royalty. It is useless to debate whether or not Von Kluck might have changed the history of the world in 1914, as he stood--threatening at the gates of Paris. The fact is that he did not and through his failure the war came to a long, frightfully wasting deadlock. Today the world must guard against the possible resurge of that spirit which the name of Von Kluck connotes...
...Kluck was a soldier, an old veteran, leading his army in the field, yet he was only a cog in the awful machine that took no account of the destruction and sacrifice it tolled. He was a patriotic man serving his country. He took orders and asked no questions. His name will be associated in the annals of history with that impersonal and brutal engine of destruction which disrupted the entire world. Unfortunately there are others to take his place, others eager to defend their nation's honor, ready to make the supreme sacrifice for a cause they neither understand...
Long lines of men wound out of Germany and Von Kluck began his race for Paris and the channel ports. But great events swing upon the most trivial axes. A handful of slow moving men came out to meet the onrushing soldiers and the world came to hear of "little Belgium," of Louvain, and of Albert, King of the Belgians...