128 The Special Sociological Errors 



killed Alexander Hamilton, almost universally con- 

 sidered to have had justice and right on his side, 

 in the last great duel fought in the Anglo-Saxon 

 world. 



It is this confusion of war with victory which 

 is at the bottom of our belief in war as a method 

 of solving international problems. Thus the re- 

 vanche party in France has maintained for more 

 than forty-four years that "war is the only solu- 

 tion of the question of Alsace-Lorraine." If this 

 were true, why did not the war of 1870 solve the 

 question? And if the war of 1870 could not solve 

 the problem of Alsace-Lorraine, how can war solve 

 this or any other problem ? Suppose the Germans 

 to be completely defeated and Alsace-Lorraine 

 back in the possession of the French, then the 

 Germans would have lost a province, with great 

 German cities like Strassburg cut off from the 

 living body of Germany, and they would begin 

 to arm themselves to get it back as they did after 

 Louis XIV. took it from them in 1648. It is 

 evident that the assumption that war and victory 

 are synonymous is unjustifiable, and as we shall 

 see more especially in the next chapter, force 

 cannot solve complex social and international 

 problems. All that is meant by solving a question 

 by war is that the victory should be on the side 

 of the one who is speaking. However, no one 

 can be absolutely sure of the victory. If they 

 were, there would be no war. The Prince of 

 Monaco does not declare war upon France, 



