Armageddon—And AfterCourtney, W. L. (William Leonard)
Philosophy
Armageddon—And After
Courtney, W. L. (William Leonard)
Europe -- Politics and government; World War, 1914-1918 -- Causes
What, then, are some of those nebulous visions which come before the minds
of eager idealists? We have got to envisage for ourselves a new idea of
what constitutes greatness in a state. Hitherto we have measured national
greatness by military strength, because most of the European nations have
attained their present position through successful war. So long as we
cherish a notion like this, so long shall we be under the heel of a
grinding militarism. We have set out as crusaders to destroy Prussian
militarism, and in pursuit of this quest we have invoked, as a matter of
necessity, the aid of our militarists. But when their work is done, all
peoples who value freedom and independence will refuse to be under the
heel of any military party. To be great is not, necessarily, to be strong
for war. There are other qualities which ought to enter into the
definition, a high standard of civilisation and culture--not culture in
the Prussian sense, but that which we understand by the term--the great
development and extension of knowledge, room for the discoveries of
science, quick susceptibility in the domain of art, the organisation of
literature--all these things are part and parcel of greatness, as we want
to understand it in the future. It is precisely these things that
militarism, as such, cares nothing for. Therefore, if we are out for war
against militarism, the whole end and object of our endeavour must be by
means of war to make war impossible. Hence it follows, as a matter of
course, that the new Europe must take very serious and energetic steps to
diminish military establishments and to limit the size of armaments. If
once the new masters of Europe understand the immense importance of
reducing their military equipment, they have it in their power to relieve
nations of one of the greatest burdens which have ever checked the social
and economic development of the world. Suggestions have already been made
as to the reduction of armaments, and, although such schemes as have been
set forward are, in the truest sense, speculative, it does not follow that
they, or something like them, cannot hereafter be realised. Nor yet in
our conception of greatness must we include another false idea of the
past. If a nation is not necessarily great because it is strong for war,
neither is it necessarily great because it contains a number of
cosmopolitan financiers trying to exploit for their own purposes various
undeveloped tracts of the world's surface. These financiers are certainly
not patriots because, amongst other things, they take particular care to
invest in foreign securities, the interest of home investments not being
sufficient for their financial greed. It will not be the least of the many
benefits which may accrue to us after the end of this disastrous war if a
vulgar and crude materialism, based on the notion of wealth, is dethroned
from its present sovereignty over men's minds. The more we study the
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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