The Idea of a League of Nations |
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accept affairs agree appear armed armies battle become belligerent biological bound brought carried centuries civilization collective common conceivable conception consider continue coöperation cost criticism dream educated effective Empire entirely Europe European example face fact fight follows force foreign German give greater human hundred idea impossible individual inevitable instances intense invention League of Nations less limitation lives logical loss mankind material matter means mental merely method military millions mind nature never objection organization peace phase political possible practical preparation present probability problem produce realize reason regard release remain rules scale scientific selected side social sort stand story strength suffering suggestion tank theory thing thought thousand tions tribes vast village warfare wars whole world-league world-peace
Popular passages
Page 42 - I found, in brief, that all great nations learned their truth of word, and strength of thought, in war; that they were nourished in war, and wasted by peace ; taught by war, and deceived by peace; trained by war, and betrayed by peace; — in a word, that they were born in war, and expired in peace.
Page 18 - Von der Goltz in The Nation in Arms (English translation, page 22) : — If, from humanitarian principles, a nation decided not to resort to extremities, but to employ its strength up to a given point only, it would soon find itself swept onward against its will. No enemy would consider itself bound to observe a similar limitation. So far from this being the case, each would avail itself of the voluntary moderation of the other to outstrip him at once in activity. If it be said that, in past times,...
Page 42 - We talk of peace and learning, and of peace and plenty, and of peace and civilization ; but I found that those were not the words which the Muse of History coupled together : that on her lips, the words were — peace and sensuality, peace and selfishness, peace and corruption, peace and death.
Page 22 - THE IDEA OF A LEAGUE OF NATIONS. II' MANY people have said to themselves, like Jeannette in the touching old ballad, — If I were King of France, or, still better. Pope of Rome. I'd have no fighting men abroad, no weeping maids at home; All the world should be at peace, or, if kings must show their might, Then let those who make the quarrels be the only men to fight. But even Jeannette evidently realized that the idea of making the fate of a tribe or a nation depend upon the fortunes of one or two...
Page 21 - If I were King of France, Or, still better, Pope of Rome, I 'd have no fighting men abroad, No weeping maids at home." But. squire, are you really for peace at any price ? I remember what you once wrote in approval of the extermination of the Canaanites by the children of Israel, and of the soldier's duty, taught not only at the Pass of Thermopylae, but in...
Page 25 - It must be remembered that undisguised atrocities on a stupendous scale — such, for instance, as the massacre in cold blood of whole regiments of helpless prisoners — would be too strong for the stomach of even the most brutalized people, and would tend to bring war into discredit with all but its monomaniac votaries. If we look into the matter closely enough, we shall find that all Geneva Conventions and such palliative ordinances, though excellent in intention and good in their immediate effects,...
Page 6 - All political and social institutions, all matters of human relationship, are dependent upon the means by which mind may react upon mind and life upon life — that is to say, upon the intensity, rapidity, and reach of mental and physical communication.
Page 42 - I saw it to be quite an undeniable fact. The common notion that peace and the virtues of civil life flourished together, I found to be wholly untenable. Peace and the vices of civil life only flourish together. We talk of peace and learning, and of peace and plenty, and of peace and...
Page 25 - ... redeeming features' of war. But the necessities of war completely override all such weaknesses as soon as they begin to endanger actual military interests. And the logic of war tolerates them only as cheap concessions to a foolish popular psychology. It must be remembered that undisguised atrocities on a stupendous scale — such, for instance, as the massacre in cold blood of whole regiments of helpless prisoners — would be too strong for the stomach of even the most brutalized people, and...
Bibliographic information
| Title | The Idea of a League of Nations |
| Authors | Herbert George Wells, Edward Grey Grey of Fallodon (Viscount), Lionel Curtis, William Archer, Henry Wickham Steed, Alfred Zimmern, John Alfred Spender, James Bryce Bryce (Viscount), Gilbert Murray |
| Publisher | Atlantic Monthly Press, 1919 |
| Original from | the University of California |
| Digitized | 23 May 2007 |
| Length | 44 pages |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |