The essence of nationality is demarcation from the outside world by a definite boundary to correspond with the personal characteristics of a nation a… - Wilhelm II

The population of Belgium...behaved in a diabolical, not to say bestial, manner, not one iota better than the Cossacks. They tortured the wounded, beat them to death, killed doctors and medical orderlies, fired secretly...on men harmlessly standing in the street - in fact by prearranged signal, under leadership...The King of the Belgians has to be notified at once that since his people have placed themselves outside all observance of European customs - from the frontier on, in all the villages, not only in Liege - they will be treated accordingly. Conditions for Belgium will become immensely more difficult.

Where my Guards appear, there is no room for democracy.

Why did the German Empire sink into decay? Because the old Empire was not founded on a strictly national basis. The idea of universal rule that underlay the Holy Roman Empire precluded a development on national German lines.