Epilogue: The Threat of World Anarchy

Abstract

Five hundred years ago the center of world power lay in Asia. Four centuries later Europe had gained dominion over the earth. Inspired by the messianism and dynamism of Christianity, by the rationalism and sense of curiosity and progress which emerged from the Renaissance, as well as by the new stress placed upon individualism by the Protestant Reformation, the Europeans laid claim not only to the lands but the seas and the oceans of the earth. Supporting those claims was their will to power, their sense of racial superiority, and their superior naval technology and weaponry. Except for China and Japan, which soon shut their doors to the West, European interests and European values gradually became paramount.