ing to tear
up the map of Europe and thrust the world into war.

In this condition we have the seeds of perpetual conflict in Europe.
Partly for the sake of increasing the national strength and partly for
the benefit of certain financial groups, the lesser nationalities are
ruthlessly exploited by the dominating nationality within a given
country. The oppression of Roumanians and Slavs by the Magyar ruling
classes of Hungary causes a deep revulsion of feeling in Roumania,
Servia and other countries across the border, just as the ambitions of
Pan-Germans to make Germany a nationalistic state arouse the
indignation of the French and the fears of the Dutch and Danes.
Moreover the nationalistic groups often discover that they have
antagonistic economic interests.

The danger of this situation is immensely increased by the fact that
all these hostile nations impinge territorially on one another, and
modern warfare gives an enormous advantage to the nation gaining the
initial success. Austria, Belgium, France may be overrun and
permanently defeated by a campaign of six or seven weeks, and it is
difficult thereafter to retrieve these early defeats. {114} European
nations therefore live in the fear of immediate attack and conduct a
hair-trigger diplomacy.

This is the true interpretation of _Realpolitik_, of a nationally
selfish policy, devoid of sentiment and laying an excessive emphasis
upon immediate and material ends. A nation in danger of annihilation
cannot indulge in the luxury of sentiment, cannot consider long time
views, cannot be over-generous or trust to the generosity of rivals.
Each nation is compelled to enter into offensive and defensive
alliances, and these alliances, perpetually suspecting each other, are
compelled to prepare for instant war.

But preparation for war under such conditions makes war inevitable. If
a nation believes that it is to be assailed, five, ten or fifteen years
from now, it is tempted to precipitate the "inevitable" war at the
moment when its chances are the best. The doctrine of "the war of
prevention," however perilous, is, in the prevailing circumstances,
natural. It is meeting a supposedly inevitable danger half way.

Still another element adds to the menace of imperialism. Just as a
successful imperialistic policy depends upon the ability of the
European nation to defend itself at home, so also it depends upon
access to the colonies, upon a control of the seas. Had Sp