Q: Why did Germans in Sombart's time view war some thing sacred, and greater than economic commerce?
A: The Germans believed that, "There is as life higher than the individual life, the life of the people and the life of the state, and it is the purpose of the individual to sacrifice himself for that higher life." (187). The Germans saw the 'completely corrupted' English people as 'trade-unionists sunk in the morass of comfort.' Germans saw War as "the consummation of the heroic view of life, and the war against England is the war against an opposite ideal, the commercial ideal of individual freedom and of English comfort" (187). The Germans prized personal sacrifice, while the English idealized personal comfort. This difference in ideals is a microcosm of Socialism versus Democracy, conformity versus individuality.
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