Almost all the great European states have fortified their national being
by militarism. Everything almost in their development has been
subordinated to the necessities of national defense, and hence it is
only in times of war there is any real manifestation of national spirit.
It is only then that the citizens of the Iron Age feel a transitory
brotherhood. It is a paradoxical phenomenon, possible only in the Iron
Age, that the highest instances of national sacrifice are evoked by
warfare--the most barbarous of human enterprises. To make normal that
spirit of unity which is now only manifested in abnormal moments in
history should be our aim; and as it is the Iron Age, and material
forces are more powerful than spiritual, we must consider how these
fierce energies can be put in relation with the national being with
least debasement of that being. If the body of the national soul is too
martial in character, it will by reflex action communicate its character
to the spirit, and make it harsh and domineering, and unite against it
in hatred all other nations.
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