io6 The General Sociological Errors 



that war has been the cause of civilization because 

 it alone has rendered possible the formation of 

 the great nationalities like France and England. 

 Exactly the opposite is the truth. War has always 

 retarded the formation of great collectivities 

 because it has created hatreds and bitterness. 

 It was the wars between Scotland and England 

 which prevented the union of these two countries 

 for so long. It was the war of 1870, with the 

 bitterness and desire for revenge left in its train, 

 which has been one of the principal obstacles to 

 the organization of a European Federation. The 

 second Balkan War of 191 2, with the hatred and 

 bitterness which it caused, prevented the forma- 

 tion of a Balkan alliance. Without war the 

 federation of the entire human race would have 

 been accomplished long ago. 



It is often asserted that war has produced the 

 unity of the German Empire. Nothing could be 

 further from the truth, which is that war pre- 

 vented the unity of the German Empire for nearly 

 nine centuries. As late as the fourteenth century 

 Germany was divided into between five hundred 

 and six hundred sovereignties which were almost 

 continually at war with each other. In spite of the 

 passionate longing of the German people to be 

 united, the unity could not be accomplished even 

 as late as i860 because the kings of Hanover, 

 Bavaria, and Wiirttemberg would not give up 

 their sovereignty, which means the right to declare 

 war upon each other whenever they felt inclined 



