Men Fight Only for Moral Ideals 225 



high ideal of justice, or of altruistic motives. In 

 the Great War the support of the German people 

 was gained only by the appeal to their devotion 

 to the existence of the Fatherland and the altruistic 

 motive of protecting its ally, Austria-Hungary. 

 In the same way the appeal to the Russian people 

 emphasized the need of their little Servian brother. 

 To the French people the liberation of Alsace and 

 Lorraine from the Prussian conqueror was the 

 motive. The British people enlisted to free 

 Belgium; and the Italian people were carried into 

 the war by a passion for "unredeemed Italy," 

 the Italia irredenta. The war was proclaimed as 

 a great moral crusade to crush militarism or naval- 

 ism, to overthrow Prussianism or Russianism, and 

 to free Europe from its reign of terror. Under the 

 influence of these moral ideals, in every country 

 all consideration was abandoned for the great eco- 

 domic interests of national welfare, the sacrifice of 

 life and treasiire, the immense burden of suffering 

 and misery for the present generation and their 

 posterity. 



But soon after its beginning a marked degen- 

 eration of purpose became evident. ^ As the forces 

 of reaction were strengthened by the war, the de- 

 mand for retaliation replaced that for the sanctity 



' A remarkable collection of the evidence of this degeneration 

 of moral purpose during the first twelve months of war has been 

 published in War and Peace, vol. iii,, numbers 22-26, August- 

 November, 1915. See also Norman Angell, America and the New 

 World-State, Part II., for a discussion of the moral reactions of 

 force. 



IS 



