rces in case that one nation is unwilling to yield. But the
world witnesses today the clear proof that even the greatest
combination of fighting forces may be unable to subdue by mere number
a nation which is ready to make any sacrifice for its convictions. One
hundred and fifty millions are attacked by eight hundred and fifty
millions, by joint forces from five continents, which moreover are
backed by the economic forces of the richest country in the world; and
yet after ten months of fighting one million prisoners, but no other
hostile soldiers, stand on German soil. After this practical example
the plan merely to join the military forces will less than ever appear
a convincing argument in an hour in which a nation feels its existence
or its honor threatened. For a long time we heard the claim that the
Socialists and the bankers would now make great wars impossible; both
prophecies have failed. The threat that the warring nation will have
to face the world in arms will be no less futile. But the failure in
this case will be disastrous, as the terms of such an agreement would
draw many nations into the whirlpool which would have no reason of
their own for entering the war.

The interests of strong growing nations will lead in the future as in
the past to conflicts in which both sides are morally in the right and
in which one must yield. We have no right to hope that after this war
the nations will be more willing to give up their chances in such
conflicts without having appealed to force. On the contrary, the world
has now become accustomed to war and will therefore more easily return
to the trenches. The break between England and Russia and finally the
threatening cloud of world conflict between Occident and Orient can
already be seen on the horizon; the battles of today may be only the
preamble. In such tremendous hours the new-fashioned agreements would
be cobwebs which surely could not bind the arms of any energetic
nation.

But, worst of all, they would not only be ineffective--they would
awake a treacherous confidence. The nations would deceive themselves
with a feeling of safety, while all true protection would be lacking.
The first step forward toward our common goal must be to learn the two
lessons of the war of today and to face them unflinchingly; mere
agreements do not and can not bind any nation on the globe in an hour
of vital need, and the mere joining of forces widens and protracts a
war, but does not