The education of the whole Japanese people, beginning at home and continued at school, was based on a patriotic and warlike spirit. That education, combined with the rapidly acquired successes in culture and warfare, aroused in the Japanese a marvellous confidence in their own strength. They served with pride in the ranks of the army, and dreamed of heroic deeds. ... All the thoughts of the nation were turned towards the coming struggle, while in the course of several years they had spent their last farthing in the creation of a powerful army and a strong fleet. ... The day when the young Japanese enlisted was observed as a festival in his family.

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "The education of the whole Japanese people, beginning at home and continued at school, was based on a patriotic and warlike spirit. That education, combined with the rapidly acquired successes in culture and warfare, aroused in the Japanese a marvellous confidence in their own strength. They served with pride in the ranks of the army, and dreamed of heroic deeds. ... All the thoughts of the nation were turned towards the coming struggle, while in the course of several years they had spent their last farthing in the creation of a powerful army and a strong fleet. ... The day when the young Japanese enlisted was observed as a festival in his family." in the context of "Freiheu von Tettau, The Work of the Russian General Staff; reported in Friedrich von Bernhardi, Germany and the Next War, translated by Allen H. Powles (1912); on the Russo-Japanese War" to mean that wisdom is timeless.