What set that army in motion?
Much has been written and spoken as to the origin of the Great War, and as to who and what was responsible for so overwhelming a cataclysm2. No one ever believed that it was the assassination3 of a royal archduke. Some said it was the working out of the pan-German scheme to rule the earth; some contended it was the German fear of the growing power of Russia, the nervous apprehension4 of what looked like an encircling movement by Russia, France and Britain.
The great French marshal's dictum is the real explanation. Unless due weight is given to this outstanding fact the diplomatic muddle6 of July, 1914, becomes unintelligible7.
Were it not that the German army was more[Pg 52] perfect and more potent8 than either the French or the Russian army—were it not that every German officer was convinced that the German military machine was superior to all its rivals—there would have been no war, whatever emperors, diplomatists, or statesmen said, thought, or intended.
All nations have their ambitions, but they are not tempted9 to impose them upon their neighbours if the hazard is too obviously great. But a sense of overpowering force behind national aims is a constant incitement10 to recklessness, to greed, and to ambitious patriotism11.
The more one examines, in the growing calm, the events of July, 1914, the more one is impressed with the shrinking of the nominal12 rulers of the attacking empires as they approached the abyss, and with the relentless13 driving onward14 of the military organisation behind these terror-stricken dummies15.
Navies are essentially16 defensive17 weapons. No capital in the world can be captured by navies alone, and no country can be annexed18 or invaded by a fleet. But armies are grabbing machines. A transcendent army has always led to aggression19. No country can resist the lure20 of an easy military [Pg 53]triumph paraded before its eyes for two successive generations.
The inference is an obvious one. To ensure peace on earth nations must disarm21 their striking forces. Without disarmament, pacts22, treaties, and covenants23 are of no avail. They are the paper currency of diplomacy24. That is the reason why all the friends of peace are filled with despair when they see nations still arming and competing in armies whilst trusting to mere25 words and signatures to restrain the irresistible26 impetus27 of organised force.
A statistical28 survey of European armies to-day is calculated to cause alarm. Europe has not learnt the lesson of the war. It has rather drawn29 a wrong inference from that calamity30. There are more men under arms in Europe to-day than there were in 1913-14, with none of the justification31 or excuse which could be pleaded in those days.
In pre-war times the statesmen of each country could make a parliamentary case for their military budgets by calling attention to the menace of prodigious32 armies across their frontiers. Germany and Austria built up great armaments because their frontiers were open to the attack of two great [Pg 54]military powers who had engaged to pool their resources in the event of war. France and Russia raised huge armies because Germany possessed33 the most redoubtable34 army in the world, and could rely in the case of war upon the assistance of the not inconsiderable forces of the Austrian empire. And both Austria and France had always the uncertain factor of Italy, with her army of 3,000,000, to reckon with.
But since the war these mutual35 excuses no longer exist. The two great military empires of Central Europe have disappeared. Germany, which before the war had a peace establishment of 800,000 men and reserves running into millions, has to-day a total army of 100,000 men—about one-third the size of the Polish army. The formidable German equipment which for four years pounded the cities and villages of northern France to dust is either destroyed or scattered36 for display amongst the towns and villages of the victors. The Austrian army, which had in 1913-14 a peace establishment of 420,000 men and a reserve of two or three millions of trained men, has to-day been reduced to a tiny force of 30,000 men.
In spite of these facts France has still an army[Pg 55] of 736,000 men now under arms, with a trained reserve of two or three millions more. She is strengthening and developing her air force as if she feared—or contemplated—an immediate37 invasion. In 1914 France had an air force of 400 a?roplanes; to-day she has 1,152.[1] But numbers signify little. The size, the power, and the purpose of the machines signify much. Amongst the 1,152 air machines of to-day will be found bombers38 of a destructiveness such as was not dreamt of in 1914.
Should human folly39 drift once more into war these preparations are full of evil omen40 as to the character of that conflict. A single bomb dropped from one of the new bombers contains more explosive material than one hundred of those carried by the old type. And the size of the machine and of its bombs is growing year by year. Where is it to stop? And what is it all for? Where is the enemy? Where is the menace which demands such gigantic military developments? Not one of the neighbours of France has to-day a force which reaches one-fourth the figures of her formidable army. Germany no longer affords a decent pretext41. The population of Germany is equal to the[Pg 56] aggregate42 population of Poland, Rumania, Jugo-Slavia, and Czecho-Slovakia, but her army barely numbers one-seventh of the aggregate peace establishment of these four countries. Rumania alone, with a population of 15,000,000, has an army twice the size of that allowed by the Treaty of Versailles to Germany with her population of 60,000,000. These countries have in addition to their standing5 armies reserve forces of millions of trained men, whilst the young men of Germany are no longer permitted to train in the use of arms. Her military equipment is destroyed, and her arsenals43 and workshops are closely inspected by Allied44 officers lest a fresh equipment should be clandestinely45 produced. An army of 700,000 is, therefore, not necessary in order to keep Germany within bounds.
The only other powerful army in Europe is the Russian army. It is difficult to gather any reliable facts about Russia. The mists that arise from that unhealthy political and economic swamp obscure and distort all vision. The statistics concerning her army vary according to the point of view of the person who cites them. The latest figure given by the Russians themselves is 800,000. On paper that indicates as formidable a force as that possessed by[Pg 57] the French. But the events of the past few years show clearly that the Russian army is powerful only for defence, and that it is valueless for purposes of invasion. It has neither the transport that gives mobility46 nor the artillery47 that makes an army redoubtable in attack. The Polish invasion of 1923 was a comedy, and as soon as the Poles offered the slightest resistance the Bolsheviks ran back to their fastnesses without striking a Parthian blow at their pursuers. The state of Russian arsenals and factories under Bolshevism is such that any attempt to re-equip these armies must fail. The Russian army, therefore, affords no justification for keeping up armaments in Europe on the present inflated48 scale. The fact is that Europe is thoroughly49 frightened by its recent experience, and, like all frightened things, does not readily listen to reason, and is apt to resort to expedients50 which aggravate51 the evils which have terrified it.
Militarism has reduced it to its present plight52, and to save itself from a similar disaster in future it has become more militarist than ever. Every little state bristles53 with guns to scare off invaders54. Meanwhile no country in Europe pays its way, except Britain, with her reduced army and navy.[Pg 58] But by means of loans and inflated currencies they all, even the smallest of them, contrive55 to maintain larger armies than Frederick the Great or the Grand Monarque ever commanded in their most triumphant56 years. And the cost of armaments to-day has grown vastly out of proportion to the numbers of the units that compose them. France—in many ways the richest country in Europe—displays a gaping57 and a growing rent in her national finance which has to be patched up by paper. The deficit58 grows in spite of the fact that a large part of her army is quartered on Germany to the detriment59 of reparations, and that the German contribution conceals60 much of the cost of that large army.
A good deal of the borrowing is attributable to the cost of repairing her devastated61 area, but the burden of maintaining so huge an army is responsible for a considerable share of the deficiency. The economic recovery of Europe is seriously retarded62 by the cost of the new militarism. The old continent is throwing to the dogs of war with both hands the bread that should feed her children. One day those dogs will, in their arrogant63 savagery64, turn upon the children and rend65 them.
Algeciras, December 26th, 1922.
点击收听单词发音
1 organisation | |
n.组织,安排,团体,有机休 | |
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2 cataclysm | |
n.洪水,剧变,大灾难 | |
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3 assassination | |
n.暗杀;暗杀事件 | |
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4 apprehension | |
n.理解,领悟;逮捕,拘捕;忧虑 | |
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5 standing | |
n.持续,地位;adj.永久的,不动的,直立的,不流动的 | |
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6 muddle | |
n.困惑,混浊状态;vt.使混乱,使糊涂,使惊呆;vi.胡乱应付,混乱 | |
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7 unintelligible | |
adj.无法了解的,难解的,莫明其妙的 | |
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8 potent | |
adj.强有力的,有权势的;有效力的 | |
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9 tempted | |
v.怂恿(某人)干不正当的事;冒…的险(tempt的过去分词) | |
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10 incitement | |
激励; 刺激; 煽动; 激励物 | |
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11 patriotism | |
n.爱国精神,爱国心,爱国主义 | |
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12 nominal | |
adj.名义上的;(金额、租金)微不足道的 | |
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13 relentless | |
adj.残酷的,不留情的,无怜悯心的 | |
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14 onward | |
adj.向前的,前进的;adv.向前,前进,在先 | |
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15 dummies | |
n.仿制品( dummy的名词复数 );橡皮奶头;笨蛋;假传球 | |
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16 essentially | |
adv.本质上,实质上,基本上 | |
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17 defensive | |
adj.防御的;防卫的;防守的 | |
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18 annexed | |
[法] 附加的,附属的 | |
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19 aggression | |
n.进攻,侵略,侵犯,侵害 | |
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20 lure | |
n.吸引人的东西,诱惑物;vt.引诱,吸引 | |
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21 disarm | |
v.解除武装,回复平常的编制,缓和 | |
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22 pacts | |
条约( pact的名词复数 ); 协定; 公约 | |
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23 covenants | |
n.(有法律约束的)协议( covenant的名词复数 );盟约;公约;(向慈善事业、信托基金会等定期捐款的)契约书 | |
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24 diplomacy | |
n.外交;外交手腕,交际手腕 | |
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25 mere | |
adj.纯粹的;仅仅,只不过 | |
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26 irresistible | |
adj.非常诱人的,无法拒绝的,无法抗拒的 | |
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27 impetus | |
n.推动,促进,刺激;推动力 | |
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28 statistical | |
adj.统计的,统计学的 | |
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29 drawn | |
v.拖,拉,拔出;adj.憔悴的,紧张的 | |
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30 calamity | |
n.灾害,祸患,不幸事件 | |
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31 justification | |
n.正当的理由;辩解的理由 | |
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32 prodigious | |
adj.惊人的,奇妙的;异常的;巨大的;庞大的 | |
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33 possessed | |
adj.疯狂的;拥有的,占有的 | |
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34 redoubtable | |
adj.可敬的;可怕的 | |
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35 mutual | |
adj.相互的,彼此的;共同的,共有的 | |
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36 scattered | |
adj.分散的,稀疏的;散步的;疏疏落落的 | |
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37 immediate | |
adj.立即的;直接的,最接近的;紧靠的 | |
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38 bombers | |
n.轰炸机( bomber的名词复数 );投弹手;安非他明胶囊;大麻叶香烟 | |
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39 folly | |
n.愚笨,愚蠢,蠢事,蠢行,傻话 | |
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40 omen | |
n.征兆,预兆;vt.预示 | |
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41 pretext | |
n.借口,托词 | |
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42 aggregate | |
adj.总计的,集合的;n.总数;v.合计;集合 | |
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43 arsenals | |
n.兵工厂,军火库( arsenal的名词复数 );任何事物的集成 | |
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44 allied | |
adj.协约国的;同盟国的 | |
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45 clandestinely | |
adv.秘密地,暗中地 | |
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46 mobility | |
n.可动性,变动性,情感不定 | |
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47 artillery | |
n.(军)火炮,大炮;炮兵(部队) | |
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48 inflated | |
adj.(价格)飞涨的;(通货)膨胀的;言过其实的;充了气的v.使充气(于轮胎、气球等)( inflate的过去式和过去分词 );(使)膨胀;(使)通货膨胀;物价上涨 | |
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49 thoroughly | |
adv.完全地,彻底地,十足地 | |
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50 expedients | |
n.应急有效的,权宜之计的( expedient的名词复数 ) | |
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51 aggravate | |
vt.加重(剧),使恶化;激怒,使恼火 | |
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52 plight | |
n.困境,境况,誓约,艰难;vt.宣誓,保证,约定 | |
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53 bristles | |
短而硬的毛发,刷子毛( bristle的名词复数 ) | |
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54 invaders | |
入侵者,侵略者,侵入物( invader的名词复数 ) | |
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55 contrive | |
vt.谋划,策划;设法做到;设计,想出 | |
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56 triumphant | |
adj.胜利的,成功的;狂欢的,喜悦的 | |
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57 gaping | |
adj.口的;张口的;敞口的;多洞穴的v.目瞪口呆地凝视( gape的现在分词 );张开,张大 | |
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58 deficit | |
n.亏空,亏损;赤字,逆差 | |
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59 detriment | |
n.损害;损害物,造成损害的根源 | |
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60 conceals | |
v.隐藏,隐瞒,遮住( conceal的第三人称单数 ) | |
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61 devastated | |
v.彻底破坏( devastate的过去式和过去分词);摧毁;毁灭;在感情上(精神上、财务上等)压垮adj.毁坏的;极为震惊的 | |
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62 retarded | |
a.智力迟钝的,智力发育迟缓的 | |
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63 arrogant | |
adj.傲慢的,自大的 | |
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64 savagery | |
n.野性 | |
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65 rend | |
vt.把…撕开,割裂;把…揪下来,强行夺取 | |
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