Armageddon--And After | Page 2

reforming course steadily directed
towards ideal ends, patiently working for the reconstruction of Europe
and a better lot for humanity at large.
Once more let me repeat that it is only young idealists who are
sufficient for these things. They may call themselves democrats, or
socialists, or futurists, or merely reformers. The name is unimportant:
the main point is that they must thoroughly examine their creed in the
light of their finest hopes and aspirations. They will not be the slaves of
any formulæ, and they will hold out their right hands to every
man--whatever may be the label he puts on his theories--who is striving
in single-minded devotion for a millennial peace. The new era will
have to be of a spiritual, ethical type. Coarser forms of materialism,
whether in thought or life, will have to be banished, because the scales
have at last dropped from our eyes, and we intend to regard a human
being no longer as a thing of luxury, or wealth, or greedy passions, but
as the possessor of a living soul.
W.L.C.
_November 10, 1914._
* * * * *
I wish to acknowledge my obligation to Mr. H.N. Brailsford's The War
of Steel and Gold (Bell). I do not pretend to agree with all that Mr.
Brailsford says: but I have found his book always interesting, and
sometimes inspiring.

CONTENTS
PAGE
CHAPTER I
PROBLEMS OF THE FUTURE 1
CHAPTER II
LESSONS OF THE PAST 32
CHAPTER III
SOME SUGGESTED REFORMS 63

ARMAGEDDON--AND AFTER
CHAPTER I
PROBLEMS OF THE FUTURE
The newspapers have lately been making large quotations from the
poems of Mr. Rudyard Kipling. They might, if they had been so
minded, have laid under similar contribution the Revelation of St. John
the Divine. There, too, with all the imagery usual in Apocalyptic
literature, is to be found a description of vague and confused fighting,
when most of the Kings of the earth come together to fight a last and
desperate battle. The Seven Angels go forth, each armed with a vial, the
first poisoning the earth, the second the sea, the third the rivers and
fountains of waters, the fourth the sun. Then out of the mouth of the
dragon, of the beast, and of the Antichrist come the lying spirits which
persuade the Kings of the earth to gather all the people for that great
day of God Almighty "into a place called in the Hebrew tongue
Armageddon." Translated into our language the account might very
well serve for the modern assemblage of troops in which nearly all the

kingdoms of the earth have to play their part, with few, and not very
important, exceptions. It is almost absurd to speak of the events of the
past three months as though they were merely incidents in a great and
important campaign. There is nothing in history like them so far as we
are aware. In the clash of the two great European organisations--the
Triple Alliance and the Triple Entente--we have all those wild features
of universal chaos which the writer of the Apocalypse saw with
prophetic eye as ushering in the great day of the Lord, and paving the
way for a New Heaven and a New Earth.
A COLOSSAL UPHEAVAL
It is a colossal upheaval. But what sort of New Heaven and New Earth
is it likely to usher in? This is a question which it is hardly too early to
discuss, for it makes a vast difference, to us English in especial, if,
fighting for what we deem to be a just cause, we can look forward to an
issue in the long run beneficial to ourselves and the world. We know
the character of the desperate conflict which has yet to be accomplished
before our eyes. Everything points to a long stern war, which cannot be
completed in a single campaign. Every one knows that Lord Kitchener
is supposed to have prophesied a war of three years, and we can hardly
ignore the opinion of so good a judge. If we ask why, the obvious
answer is that every nation engaged is not fighting for mere victory in
battle, nor yet for extension of territory; but for something more
important than these. They fight for the triumph of their respective
ideas, and it will make the greatest difference to Europe and the world
which of the ideas is eventually conqueror. Supposing the German
invasion of France ends in failure; that, clearly, will not finish the war.
Supposing even that Berlin is taken by the Russians, we cannot affirm
that so great an event will necessarily complete the campaign. The
whole of Germany will have to be invaded and subdued, and that is a
process which will take a very long time even under the most
favourable auspices. Or take