War Always Retards Civilization 123 



ing prepared for war according to the unilateral 

 axiom of Winston Churchill (and of the Navy- 

 Leagues of all nations) . It is merely necessary to 

 note that we are still dealing with the hypnotism 

 of the defensive. The true reasoning is as follows: 

 If the Germans had not been prepared for war 

 before 1870 it would not have taken place, hence 

 civilization would have advanced with the greatest 

 rapidity in Europe. Preparation for war is not 

 the cause of civilization, but the chief obstacle 

 which prevents its development. 



Another form of one-sided reasoning runs as 

 follows: War has made it possible to dominate 

 barbarism; therefore, war has made civilization. 

 Thus we are told that without war the white 

 race could not have settled the North American 

 Continent, which would still be overrun by wander- 

 ing tribes of Indians. But the success of a method 

 of justice and friendship used by William Penn in 

 dealing with the Indians and settling Pennsylvania 

 without war, demonstrates that this is not true, 

 and indicates how it might have been possible 

 to civilize the entire continent without the sacrifice 

 of lives and treasure and the waste of time involved 

 in the Indian Wars, which were caused chiefly 

 by the injustice of the white settlers; or by their 

 quarrels, in which they enlisted the aid of the In- 

 dians as in the case of the French and Indian 

 Wars. 



But sometimes it is the barbarians who have 

 attacked the civilized people, as when the Turks 



