Girls Latin School - Liber Annalis Yearbook (Boston, MA)

Page 41 text:

...... Classof ...... ...... There have been but two notable exceptions in which the cause was not ruined by the light. If the Greeks had not defeated the Persians at Marathon, Western culture would never have had a chance to develop as it has. And yet the Greeks were not wholy successful-the very fact that the states were con- tinually warring among themselves and could form no lasting union broke their morale and caused their ultimate downfall. When all is said and done, which was the greater state, Sparta or Athens? Which made the greater contribution to posterity, Sparta with its strict militarism or Athens with its love of beauty and logic? The American revolution is said to have been a War that did not defeat its own end. Yet think of the hardships, physical and moral, which were en- dured by both sides, because of the shortsightedness of men who dared to call themselves statesmen! It is true that to live one must struggle, to stay alive one must fight, but why should young men be killed in a quarrel which would be better settled by cool and rational diplomacy? The last war should have proved to the world the folly of brute force. The question now is, will the world benefit by its experiences? Alexander forged a great empire with his sword. It extended from Greece and Macedonia in the west to the Indes River in the east. Thus Alexander did a great thing. bringing oriental riches to the west and occidental learning and cul- ture to the east. His empire brought him little good, however, for he died at thirty-two. Hardly had he expired, when plotting relatives divided his con- quests and consequently the empire fell to pieces. Rome was an aggressive state. Her dominions were far broader and far more lasting than those of Alexander. Still, Rome is not remembered for the wars she fought. Her greatest gift to posterity has been the science of govern- ment which she developed to a greater extent than any other ancient people. She learned that war availed nothing without systematic and efficient govern- ment behind it. Many centuries after the fall of Rome, Napoleon carved his way through Europe, but was eventually banished. He might just as well have stayed in Corsica all his life, for all that was ultimately accomplished. Napoleon's em- pire soon crumbled to pieces. Even before his death, Wellington triumphantly cleared Spain of the French, deposing Joseph Bonaparte. In l8l5 the Con- gress of Vienna made a treaty to punish Napoleon's allies and reward the pow- ers that had served against him. Europe was again divided so that Austria ruled a great territory: and, as several states thought that France should be re- duced to a third rate power, it was only the diplomacy of Talleyrand that saved the nation from severe punishment. The many works of art which Napoleon had taken from Rome were returned, despots sat on all the thrones of Europe, and Louis XVIII was made king of France. In other words, thou- sands of people were put to death, thousands were killed in battle, thousands died of starvation, all to no purpose, for finally Napoleon was defeated, his em- pire went to pieces, and the map of Europe was remade, restoring once again the old balance of monarchical power. The actual cost of war far outweighs the advantages gained. Never, for example, has the United States been so in debt: and, since the country has not yet finished paying for the Civil War, it is impossible to surmise how long it will take to pay for the World War. It has been estimated that the cost to us equalled the sum of the costs of all churches, all education for five years, all sur- faced roads, all medical care for five years, and total fire losses for twenty years QPage Thirty-sevenj

Page 40 text:

E ...-.. wg cu ...--. wz cu ...... if tw ...--. W THE FUTILITY OF WAR Some twenty years ago the whole world was embroiled in a war to end wars, a war to make the world safe for democracy. What has been the result? Today, once again nations are feverishly arming, trying to outdo one another in the power of their armies and navies. It does no good to have a League of Nations, for the nations which form the League refuse to abide by its measures. Since 1918 Great Britain has built a great air force: in her chemical laboratories Germany has made the most remarkable developments in munitions: and even the United States, a peace-loving nation, has now a greater arms budget than any other country with the exception of Japan. With Spain in a turmoil. which, according to some people is a iight to the death between communism and fascism, according to others between communism and monarchism, and accord- ing to still others between labor and capital, only a very small spark is needed to ignite the explosives of the world and reduce civilization to the nothingness of primeval times. Did the last war end wars? Is the world now safe for democracy? Italy and Germany and Russia make no bones about what they think of democratic government. They continue to accept dictators who stamp out light, cramp the soul, and make every man as much like his neighbor as is humanly possible. What is worse, the contagion is spreading. Today the English speaking peoples and the Scandinavian nations are apparently the only ones with any taste for democracy, and no one knows how long they will remain true to their govern- mental ideals in the face of the hordes who are returning to autocracy under dif- ferent names, like Russia merely changing one set of masters for another. It is disheartening to think that so many men were lost, so many minds ruined in a war which only hurried on the evil against which it was fought. The World War has made a terrible and irreparable impression on all people. Even those of us who were born after the Armistice was signed have felt the effect of its poison. We have seen the wrecks that were made of men, not only in the war, but afterwards when men did not care what they did so long as they could forget. They drank in desperation, and the horrors of pro- hibition-the bootlegging and the poisonous alcohol--could not stop them. There was a wild hysterical gaiety in the air. The gangster became increasing- ly popular, especially to children who were growing up. To some people it is a wonder that the present generation has any ideals at all after the wreck the past generation made of theirs. There have been other wars just as futile as the last: for war, whichever way one looks at it, ends at best in compromise. The country vanquished and the vanquishing country can not help being impaired in the process of try- ing to cut each other's throats: and, when the prize of victory is depleted by ravage and exhaustion, the Cause becomes both ludicrous and empty. We know what little good it did the Germans to sing Deutschland uber Alles or the Allies to cry Save the world for democracy! At the end of the Civil War the Southerners saw with bitterness how little they had helped the cause for which so many had gladly fought and died: for the enfranchisement of the slaves ruined half the industries of the South and brought misery into thousands of homes. It is ironical that the Frenchmen who stirred their people with the nobility of La Marseillaisen as they marched down the streets of Paris, should have created a period of carnage and terror equal to any the world has ever known. CPage Thirty-sixj

Page 42 text:

,li ,...... Gl.rlS, Latin School ...... in the United States. And what was gained by it? Germany again threatens world powers, and democracy is practically a thing of the past. At the outset the war seemed very far away, and no one thought of cost: yet, when the Armistice was signed, 350,000 Americans had been killed or wounded, and for our active part in the fighting, we had spent twenty-five bil- lion dollars. That was just the beginning. The burden of debts increased. Interest charges alone have amounted to eleven billion dollars. Then, too, the wounded and the disabled, the widows and orphans must be cared for, and there are pensions to be paid. So far the World War has cost us over fifty-five billion dollars, and this cost mounts ever higher. Instead of benefiting and im- proving the conditions of the people, that money has gone to pay for a war, the most futile of all wars. Appalling as the cost has been to us, France has suffered far more than we, for it was in her territory that the war was fought. Beautiful cathedrals were ruined beyond repair and whole towns were annihilated. The allies won the war and France regained Alsace Lorraine: but this could in no way make up for the thousands of men killed or disabled. It is bad enough that the country was torn to shreds at the time: but destruction did not end there, for years after peace was declared, not infrequently a peasant would strike with his plow a bomb buried in his field and so be blown to pieces. A rather surprising after- math this to a farmer who was, perhaps, thanking God that he had been spared in battle! Germany is likely to be forgotten when war losses are considered: but she, too, suffered severely. By the Versailles Treaty alone Germany was forced to give up fifteen per cent. of her total area, including two seaports on the Baltic and twelve per cent. of her population, seventy-five per cent. of her iron ore sup- ply, and large portions of other resources. In addition she surrendered all of her colonies-over one million square miles of territory-in which she had in- vested five hundred and five million marks. No matter what one's personal opinion may be of Germany, it is not strange that a proud nation, forced to complete humiliation and degradation for a war she did not cause alone, should adopt a system of militarism and vindictiveness such as is practised by the Nazis under the leadership of Adolf Hitler. The actual cost in dollars and cents is relatively easy to calculate as is the loss in killed and wounded: but the effects of war on the morale and character of a nation are far more difficult to estimate. Not half as many young men who went out to fight came back unharmed: many were even injured perma- nently. Therefore, thousands of young women were constrained either to re- main unmarried or to wed old or disabled men. In some places there were practically no men between eighteen and forty-five years of age. The loss in unborn children was estimated in Russia, as nearly as such things can be calcu- lated, at about twenty-five million. Besides, in unnatural marriages the off- spring could not possibly be as healthy as in more normal ones. Starvation was widespread over Europe during and after the war: for agriculture had been ruined both by bombs and the lack of men to till the fields, while blockaded countries could not import the foods they themselves did not produce. In Czechoslovakia conditions were so extreme that the people ate a particularly nauseating grass because there was nothing else to eat. Starvation and poverty brought tuberculosis and other diseases which spread like wildfire over Europe. Starting in the east and continuing westward there were horrible epidemics of CPage Thirty-eightj