“The vast Lumpenproletariat, the product of the devastating Thirty Years’ War, the masses of morally depraved people, of beggars and tramps, accustomed to easy pickings—such was the reservoir from which the Prussian army recruited its soldiers.” PovertyFascismPrussiaThirty Years WarLumpenproletariat Book:Marx and Engels on Reactionary Prussianism Source: Marx and Engels on Reactionary Prussianism
“The war solved no problem. Its effects, both immediate and indirect, were either negative or disastrous. Morally subversive, economically destructive, socially degrading, confused in its causes, devious in its course, futile in its result, it is the outstanding example in European history of meaningless conflict... [a]lmost all [involved]... were actuated rather by fear than by lust of conquest or passion of faith. They wanted peace and they fought for thirty years to be sure of it. They did not learn then, and have not since, that war breeds only war.” WarUselessThirty Years War Book:The Thirty Years War Source: The Thirty Years War