The Great Illusion: A Study of the Relation of Military Power to National AdvantageAngell, Norman
History
The Great Illusion: A Study of the Relation of Military Power to National Advantage
Angell, Norman
Commercial policy; Disarmament; Imperialism; War; War, Cost of
We have sometimes been assured by persons who profess to know
that the danger of war has become an illusion.... Well, here is
a war which has broken out in spite of all that rulers and
diplomatists could do to prevent it, a war in which the Press
has had no part, a war which the whole force of the money power
has been subtly and steadfastly directed to prevent, which has
come upon us, not through the ignorance or credulity of the
people, but, on the contrary, through their knowledge of their
history and their destiny, and through their intense
realization of their wrongs and of their duties, as they
conceived them, a war which from all these causes has burst
upon us with all the force of a spontaneous explosion, and
which in strife and destruction has carried all before it. Face
to face with this manifestation, who is the man bold enough to
say that force is never a remedy? Who is the man who is foolish
enough to say that martial virtues do not play a vital part in
the health and honor of every people? (Cheers.) Who is the man
who is vain enough to suppose that the long antagonisms of
history and of time can in all circumstances be adjusted by
the smooth and superficial conventions of politicians and
ambassadors?
The London _Review of Reviews_ said in an article on "The Débâcle of
Norman Angell":
Mr. Norman Angell's theory was one to enable the citizens of
this country to sleep quietly, and to lull into false security
the citizens of all great countries. That is undoubtedly the
reason why he met with so much success.... It was a very
comfortable theory for those nations which have grown rich and
whose ideals and initiative have been sapped by overmuch
prosperity. But the great delusion of Norman Angell, which led
to the writing of "The Great Illusion," has been dispelled for
ever by the Balkan League. In this connection it is of value to
quote the words of Mr. Winston Churchill, which give very
adequately the reality as opposed to theory.
In reply to these and similar criticisms I wrote several articles in the
London Press, from which the following few pages are selected.
What has Pacifism, Old or New, to say now?
Is War impossible?
Is it unlikely?
Is it futile?
Is not force a remedy, and at times the only remedy?
Could any remedy have been devised on the whole as conclusive and
complete as that used by the Balkan peoples?
Have not the Balkan peoples redeemed War from the charges too readily
brought against it as simply an instrument of barbarism?
Have questions of profit and loss, economic considerations, anything
whatever to do with this war?
Would the demonstration of its economic futility have kept the peace?
Are theories and logic of the slightest use, since force alone can
determine the issue?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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