“The Russians had only manpower and inaccessibility in their favor, and to science these two factors are negligible. Of course, Bogardus, you recognize that the object of all the great male civilizations was to crush all competition by evolving a superior form of destruction.” Feeling myself and my sex attacked, I demurred. “Isn’t that a sweeping indictment?” “Why? Look at history. What is it? It is simply the record of a scientifically organized minority overcoming less martially intelligent masses. You are not convinced? Surely you do not ascribe it to moral virtues. Take your America. The white race conquered the red because ten intelligent men with muskets could slaughter a thousand ignorant savages. Take the conquest of Africa by a handful of Europeans. You do not claim it was superior courage?” “We have always regarded it as such,” I volunteered timidly. “Because you looked at civilization only from your egocentric point of view. The courage was always on the side of the savage, fighting against incomparable odds. The intelligence was back of the guns. Do you see my point?” “There is something in your theory,” I said. With the traditional instinct of the male, I have never cared to reason with the opposite sex, but in this instance my curiosity got the better of me. “Yes, there is a great deal in what you say.” “It is the accepted commonplace of history,” said Acquilla sharply. “It was the Macedonian Phalanx that established the Empire of Alexander. The fleets of Athens brought the Periclean Age. Rome? The Legions. Mohammedanism? The utilization of religious fanaticism as a military weapon. Sea power made Portugal, then Spain, then the British Empire. Napoleon’s Empire? A new art of war, crashing through decayed traditions. Germany? Germany failed in 1914 because it discovered no new principle, because it did not wait for its scientists.” “It almost succeeded--” “It would have succeeded if it had developed the submarine and the use of poison gas before it started its conquests. To conquer the world, one must find a new principle of destruction.” “Then how do you explain the rise of the United States?” “What do you know of the United States, Bogardus?” said Acquilla, preparing to enjoy my astonishment. “You speak of a nation that in 1930 had existed only a century and a half.” “Yet in my day it was admitted to be the greatest country in the world in power and in resources,” I protested loyally. “You can’t deny that.” “A country that fatuously developed the great standardized age of materialistic wealth and forgot to protect itself. A country that drove all Europe into a defensive alliance; by not only exacting a yearly tribute, but by its blind policy of tariff discriminations, aroused the passions and hatreds of Europe’s Socialistic masses. The United States never fought a great war until 1984 and then it was completely destroyed.” “Destroyed--America!”