Chapter I

THE CAUSES OF THE WAR AND THE FOUNDATION OF PEACE


Since the war, foreshadowed in these pages, has come and finds public
opinion in America gravely shocked at a war it believes to be solely
due to certain phases of European militarism, the writer is now
persuaded to publish these articles, which at least have the merit of
having been written well before the event, in the hope that they may
furnish a more useful point of view. For if one thing is certain it is
that European militarism is no more the cause of this war than of any
previous war. Europe is not fighting to see who has the best army,
or to test mere military efficiency, but because certain peoples wish
certain things and are determined to get and keep them by an appeal to
force. If the armies and fleets were small the war would have broken
out just the same, the parties and their claims, intentions, and
positions being what they are. To find the causes of the war we must
seek the motives of the combatants, and if we would have a lasting
peace the foundations upon which to build it must be laid bare by
revealing those foundations on which the peace was broken. To find
the causes of the war we should turn not to Blue Books or White
Papers, giving carefully selected statements of those responsible
for concealing from the public the true issues that move nations to
attack each other, but should seek the unavowed aims of those nations
themselves.

Once the motive is found it is not hard to say who it is that broke
the peace, whatever the diplomats may put forward in lieu of the real
reason.