The Idea of a League of Nations |
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accept aeroplane Argives armament armies battle belligerent biological Bolshevik cavalry Christendom civilization Clausewitz combatant competition conceivable conception conflict coöperation council criticism defeat dream Europe European example fact fight force Foreign Office frontier German Empire Germany greater hitherto hostility human affairs human nature impossible inclosures individual inevitable instances intense invention ization King of France Lacedæmonians League of Nations league-of-nations project limitation lives logical loyalty Machiavelli mankind ment mental mercenaries military millions mind modern war-process Modern warfare moral munitions mutual nation in arms never objection organized world-peace overgrowth Pathan peace phase political possible power idea preparation prepossession probability realize reason release rentier Roman Empire rules Russia scale scientific social sort Spartan species story substantial truth suffering survive tank theory thing thought thousand three hundred Thyrea tions tribes unification vast vendetta victory wars whole word World-League of Nations world-league project
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 44 - It is clear that, if a world-league is to be living and enduring, the idea of it and the need and righteousness of its service must be taught by every educational system in the world. It must either be served by, or be in conflict with, every religious organization; it must come into the life of everyone, not to release men and women from loyalty, but to demand it for itself. The answer to this criticism that the world-peace will release men from service, is, therefore, that the world-peace is itself...
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 9 - But the outbreak of that struggle [the war of 19141918] forced upon the belligerents, in spite of the natural conservatism of all professional soldiers, a rapid and logical utilization of the still largely neglected resources of mechanical and chemical science; they were compelled to take up every device that offered, however costly it might be; they could not resist the drive toward scientific war which they had themselves released. In warfare the law of the utmost immediate exertion rules; the...
Page 25 - 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, make ultimately for the persistence of war as an institution. They are sops to humanity, devices for rendering war barely tolerable to civilized mankind, and so staving off the inevitable rebellion against its abominations.
Page 6 - ... scope and evil of war and of international hostility as to give what was formerly a generous aspiration more and more of the aspect of an imperative necessity. Under the lurid illumination of the world-war, the idea of world-unification has passed rapidly from the sphere of the literary idealist into that of the methodical, practical man, and the task of an examination of its problems and possibilities, upon the scale which the near probability of an actual experiment demands, is thrust upon...
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...