Evening star., 1942-03-08


taking, war possesses a dynamic char
acter of its own. With the passage of
time, original purposes are modified and
altered, objectives change and new poll
cies appear. From day to day the
changes may be imperceptible. but over
a period the course of evolution is un-
mistakable.
Prior to our own era the campaigns
of Napoleon provided the most striking
illustration of the dynamic qualities in
war AS that generals armies pene-
trated to every corner of the European
Continent, the original aims of the
French Revolution were largely forgot
ten and new ambitions took their place.
Boundaries were obliterated, govern
ments overthrown, alliances shifted.
Yet through the whole tangled picture
a certain logical pattern was maintained.
Attempting to analyze this upheaval,
In the closing chapter of War and
Peace" Tolstoy summarizes as follows:
"In 1889 there was ferment in Paris
It grew and spread and found expression
in the movement of peoples from west to
east. In the year 1872 it reaches its
furthest limit, Moscow and then, with a
remarkable symmetry, the counter
movement follows from east to west.
The counter movement reaches the
starting point of the first movement
Paris-and subsidies
What" asks Tolstoy, docs all this
mean? What did all this proceed from?
What were the causes of these events?
What is the force that moves nations?'
These most legitimate questions" he
points out, must be answered before
there can be any reasonable hope OF
renouncing war as an instrument of
national policy.
Power the Motive Force.
Writing in 1866, Tolstoy concluded his
searching analysis by maintaining that
men seek power which is usually at
tainable for the individual only when
associated in effective political units
under a leadership expressing the mass
will. To conceal this underlying aspira-
ton in war, says Tolstoy, publicists in
vent as aims the most obscure, intan-
gible and general distractions" Among
these the most usual are: Freedom,
equality, enlightenment, progress, civili-
cation, culture
But the real motive force in war, in
the opinion of this great Russian philo-
sopher, is the quest for power. And that
explains why national aims and objec-
tives and groupings may altar so COM
pletely in the course of prolonged hos
tilities.
If the present war is regarded as a
continuation of the other world con-
f1ict, political changes more remarkable
than any which took place during the
generation subsequent to the French
Revolution have already occurred.
France and Italy have shifted from
bitter opponents of German expansion
to a position which is in the one case
passive and in the other active acqui-
escence Japan has moved from tacit
cooperation with Anglo-American i'm
perialism to an aggressive championship
of Asia for the Asiatics." The United
States more clearly recognizes and as
serts its interest in world movements. The
British Empire mas weakened and Rus
sia, under Communism, has greatly in
creased its national strength.
Denunciations Futile.
For those to whom history means
more than a succession of names and
dates, these tremendous developments
are Of the most profound significance.
Whether they are emotionally pleasing
or disturbing to us as individuals is i'm
material If we desire our Nation to
exercise its strength in constructive
fashion, we must as preliminary at
least dimly understand the meaning Of
the trend which is in operation.
Merely to denounce changes brought
by that trend Is comparable to reviling
a disease which attacks one who is
dear to us. Already there has been
too much idle denunciation over, and too
little attempt at understanding, the bio
logical alterations in our stricken inter-
national society. There are many Amer
leans today who would rather not be
reminded Of what they were saying just
two years ago regarding the heroic
democracy of Finland and the ruthless
aggression Of tyrannical Russia
But 1t is we'll to recall such short