There is one thing that will certainly be said about this book by someof its readers. It will certainly be said to exaggerate the horrors ofmodern war; and, just as certainly, that is a thing which this book doesnot do. It is appallingly reticent; and, for every touch of horror inits pages, the actual records of recent warfare could supply an obscureand blood-stained mass of detail which, if it were once laid before thepublic, would put an end to militarism in a year. It is not theopponents of militarism who are given over to "cant" and "hypocrisy" and"emotionalism." It is the supporters of militarism who on the eve of agreat war go about crying for suppression of facts, censorship of thefacts not only of military plans, but of human suffering. For if thereis one thing that the military journalist dreads it is the sight andsmell of blood. "Let us enjoy this pleasant compaign. Let us present ourreaders with a little military music played upon the brass bands of thepress. But for God's sake do not waft over Europe the smell of iodoform,or of the slaughter-house. Man is a fighting animal; let us enjoy thefight. And—pollice verso!"
Unfortunately for these gentlemen, whose good taste is so impeccablethat they shrink from the whole truth, man is also a fighting god. 'Andthe next thing we are going to fight is militarism. There is hardly agreat commander in the history of modern warfare who has not describedhis own profession as "a dirty trade" and war itself as hell. The partyof "bad taste" which is going to destroy militarism is not likely toreject the testimony of Wellington, Grant and Napier in favor of thesensational journalist. This book deals chiefly with the physical andmental horrors of war. It presents just that one side of the case; butit must not be forgotten that there are vast battalions of logic andcommon sense on the same side. From a logical point of view a warbetween civilized peoples is as insane as it is foul and evil. Thepacificists are fighting the noblest battle of the present day. They arenot going to win without a struggle; but they will win. And they willwin because they have on their side the common good of mankind, commonsense, common justice, and common truth.
ALFRED NOYES.
INTRODUCTION
WILHELM LAMSZUS
LETTER FROM THE CONGRES UNIVERSEL DE LA PAIX
CHAPTER I MOBILIZATION
CHAPTER II SOLDIER
CHAPTER III OUR FATHER WHICH ART IN HEAVEN
CHAPTER IV THE LAST NIGHT
CHAPTER V THE DEPARTURE
CHAPTER VI LIKE THE PROMISE OF MAY
CHAPTER VII BLOOD AND IRON
CHAPTER VIII THE SWAMP
CHAPTER IX THE WHIRLING EARTH
EPILOGUE—WE POOR DEAD
Few books of its size—one hundred and eleve