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the construction of strategic railways and introduced measures to increase their 

 army and expedite mobilisation. These steps were obviously directed against 

 the Germans or their allies the Austrians. The French also had increased their 

 army in reply to a similar increase on the part of Germany ; while the French 

 desire for revenge and the reconquest of Alsace and Lorraine had by no means 

 died out. The Germans were, perhaps, actuated by some slight suspicion of fear ; 

 but most men will agree that the idea of fear was put forward as a mere excuse for 

 aggressive and unscrupulous action and as part of the propaganda for gaining the 

 sympathies of neutrals. There is, now, no doubt whatsoever that German ambition 

 was solely responsible for the war. Can this ambition be termed legitimate ? A 

 sharp distinction must evidently be drawn between legitimate and illegitimate 

 ambition. The former arises apparently from the instinct for self-preservation ; 

 the latter from cupidity. And the German ambition, the Pan-Germanism, which 

 sought to destroy France, to seize Belgium and the Channel ports, to establish an 

 empire in the Near East — the whole as a mere stepping-stone to the destruction 

 of British power and the supremacy of the world, was sheer cupidity. 



British intervention in this war has been ascribed to various causes. On the 

 one hand it is said that the motive was idealism, the desire to protect weaker 

 nations and indignation at the aggressive conduct of the Germans. On the other 

 hand, it is said to have been the instinct of self-preservation and the belief that if 

 France were destroyed the turn of the British would come next. Those who 

 desire to test which of these views is correct might ask themselves — would Great 

 Britain have intervened if the Germans had refrained from building a great navy 

 and challenging our supremacy at sea? 



However that may be, it is clear that the British were in no wise responsible 

 for the war, except perhaps indirectly in that they neglected to build up a powerful 

 army on the continental system and so to maintain the balance of power. But the 

 point is of interest, as it is often maintained that idealism and religious and 

 altruistic sentiments are causes of war. These are usually aroused — it will probably 

 be found — after the outbreak of war, and are not, nowadays, the prime cause of it. 

 The intervention of the United States, again, though due partly to idealism, was 

 also largely due to self-interest, to sympathy with democracy, and to wrath at the 

 high-handed and unscrupulous actions of the Germans. There also existed in 

 both the British and the American nations the irrepressible desire to knock down 

 a most obnoxious and insufferable cad. This sentiment may, perhaps, be termed 

 altruistic. 



The Russo-Japanese War was, as is well known, due to the ambition of both 

 the Russians and the Japanese, legitimate on the part of the latter, and certainly 

 illegitimate on the part of the former. There was a certain nobility in the breadth 

 of design of German ambition in 1914 ; but in the case of the Russians there was 

 nothing but sheer sordid cupidity. 



The Balkan War of 1912-13 was clearly due to the ambition of the Balkan 

 States. In this case, again, a certain justification may be found for the somewhat 

 questionable methods adopted by the allied States in the incompetent, reactionary, 

 and cruel administration exercised by the Turks ; but no such justification can be 

 found for the cupidity which led to the second war between the allied States 

 themselves. It was merely a case of brigands quarrelling over their booty. 



The Boer War of 1899 was due partly to the ambition of the Boers, partly to 

 fear lest they should lose their country by " peaceful penetration." In this case 

 the ambition appears to have been legitimate, in that the Boers desired to exercise 

 " self-determination," and to exclude foreigners or deny them all participation in 



