Armageddon--And After | Page 3

the opposite hypothesis. Let us suppose
that the Germans capture Paris, and manage by forced marches to
defend their country against the Muscovite incursion. Even so, nothing
is accomplished of a lasting character. France will go on fighting as she
did after 1870, and we shall be found at her side. Or, assuming the

worst hypothesis of all, that France lies prostrate under the heel of her
German conqueror, does any one suppose that Great Britain will desist
from fighting? We know perfectly well that, with the aid of our Fleet,
we shall still be in a position to defy the German invader and make use
of our enormous reserves to wear out even Teutonic obstinacy. The
great sign and seal of this battle to the death is the recent covenant
entered into by the three members of the Triple Entente.[1] They have
declared in the most formal fashion, over the signatures of their three
representatives, Sir Edward Grey, M. Paul Cambon, and Count
Benckendorff, that they will not make a separate peace, that they will
continue to act in unison, and fight, not as three nations, but as one.
Perhaps one of the least expected results of the present conjuncture is
that the Triple Entente, which was supposed to possess less cohesive
efficiency than the rival organisation, has proved, on the contrary, the
stronger of the two. The Triple Alliance is not true to its name. Italy,
the third and unwilling member, still preserves her neutrality, and
declares that her interests are not immediately involved.
[1] Subsequently joined by Japan.
NEVER AGAIN!
In order to attempt to discover the vast changes that are likely to come
as a direct consequence of the present Armageddon, it is necessary to
refer in brief retrospect to some of the main causes and features of the
great European war. Meanwhile, I think the general feeling amongst all
thoughtful men is best expressed in the phrase, "Never again." Never
again must we have to face the possibility of such a world-wide
catastrophe. Never again must it be possible for the pursuit of merely
selfish interests to work such colossal havoc. Never again must we
have war as the only solution of national differences. Never again must
all the arts of peace be suspended while Europe rings to the tramp of
armed millions. Never again must spiritual, moral, artistic culture be
submerged under a wave of barbarism. Never again must the Ruler of
this Universe be addressed as the "God of battles." Never again shall a
new Wordsworth hail "carnage" as "God's daughter." The illogicality of
it all is too patent. That everything which we respect and revere in the

way of science or thought, or culture, or music, or poetry, or drama,
should be cast into the melting-pot to satisfy dynastic ambition is a
thing too puerile as well as too appalling to be even considered. And
the horror of it all is something more than our nerves will stand. The
best brains and intellects of Europe, the brightest and most promising
youths, all the manhood everywhere in Europe to be shrivelled and
consumed in a holocaust like this--it is such a reign of the Devil and
Antichrist on earth that it must be banished in perpetuity if civilisation
and progress are to endure. Never again!
UNEXPECTED WAR
How did we get into such a stupid and appalling calamity? Let us think
for a moment. I do not suppose it would be wrong to say that no one
ever expected war in our days. Take up any of the recent books. With
the exception of the fiery martial pamphlets of Germany, the work of a
von der Goltz or a Treitschke, or a Bernhardi, we shall find a general
consensus of opinion that war on a large scale was impossible because
too ruinous, that the very size of the European armaments made war
impracticable. Or else, to take the extreme case of Mr. Norman Angell,
the entanglements of modern finance were said to have put war out of
count as an absurdity. We were a little too hasty in our judgments. It is
clear that a single determined man, if he is powerful enough, may
embroil Europe. However destructive modern armaments may be, and
however costly a campaign may prove, yet there are men who will face
the cost and confront the wholesale destruction of life that modern
warfare entails. How pitiful it is, how strange also, to look back upon
the solemn asseveration of the Kaiser and the Tsar, not so many months
ago (Port Baltic, July 1912), that the division of Europe into the two
great confederations known as the Triple Alliance and the Triple
Entente provided a safeguard against hostilities! We were constantly
assured that diplomats were working for a Balance of Power,