International War, Its Causes and Its Cure

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1919. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER XXV GENERAL CAUSES OF WAR: PARASITICAL CAUSES OP WAR Wars may be conveniently grouped in the following manner: --First--Those which flow directly from the existence of war as a system. The conflicts resulting from these may properly be termed parasitical wars. They would automatically cease with the disappearance of the system. Second--Those due to causes which have operated in the past, but whose force is now negligible. The actual removal of conditions once provocative of war is not immediately recognized by popular opinion. Hence we may fight for a belief which has lost its foundation of fact. But, since the truth will eventually appear, such wars may be called obsolescent. Third--Those due to forces still effective to produce disagreement between nations. It should be remarked that it is not usually possible to trace any particular war to only one motive. Frequently a medley of misunderstandings, and a conflict of various ambitions, contribute to a confusion of our passions, eventually expressed in physical violence. And it goes almost without saying that no absolutely definite lines can be drawn between the dead and the living causes of war. Some are obsolete, some obsolescent, and some are very vigorously alive. Nevertheless, classification will be found helpful in making a review of the past, and comparing it with the present and the probable future of international disputation. Parasitical wars appear chiefly in the five following forms: --(a) Those waged between former neutrals and belligerents over alleged infractions of their respective rights as neutrals or belligerents. (b) Those aimed at the seizure of points strategically important. (c) Those intended to weaken a power whose immediate warlike preparations suggest hostile intent. (d)...