i8o Declining Effectiveness of Force 



In fact, it is easy to show from militaristic 

 writings that the belief in the effectiveness of 

 aggressive physical force, provided only that this 

 belief is held by a sufficient number of influential 

 men in the nation concerned, renders inevitable 

 the employment of such force; in other words, 

 that this belief logically makes war inevitable. 

 For if force can be used aggressively to advance 

 national welfare, armed conflict will be the logical 

 result of the selfishness of nations, and therefore 

 to them, a law of nature. Defence will therefore 

 be necessary sooner or later. Since, according 

 to the militarist philosophy, attack is the best 

 means of defence, it then becomes a matter of 

 duty for the ruler of the nation which is compelled 

 to defend itself to choose the most favourable 

 moment for attack. The logical chain is thus 

 complete from a belief in the effectiveness of 

 aggressive physical force to the inevitability of 

 war. This chain of reasoning has been concisely 

 stated, in its practical application, by a German 

 advocate of the philosophy of force. 



No one will thus dispute the assumption that, 

 under certain circumstances, it is the moral and 

 political duty of the State to employ war as a political 

 means. So long as all human progress and all natural 

 development are based on the law of conflict, it is 

 necessary to engage in such conflict under the most 

 favourable conditions possible. 



When a State is confronted by the material impos- 

 sibility of supporting any longer the warlike prepara- 



