The State’s Search for Peace

Abstract

But while many observers of international relations in the nineteenth century saw war as a legitimate instrument of state policy — for promoting national interests or winning national independence, for acquiring colonies or for freeing colonies — by the end of the century there was also increasing recognition of its heavy cost, both in blood and treasure. Were the wars which the nationalist writers demanded likely to prove worthwhile? The view came to be expressed by some that their costs outweighed any gains that could conceivably be won. Modern armaments were increasingly complex and expensive. Casualty figures in recent wars had become heavier and heavier. No advantage that could be gained from any future war, it was widely asserted, could conceivably match the price that would have to be paid.