The Great Illusion
A Study of the Relation of
Military Power to
National Advantage
By
Norman Angell
Fourth Revised and Enlarged Edition
G.P. Putnam's Sons New York and London The Knickerbocker Press
Copyright, 1910, by
G.P. PUTNAM'S SONS
Copyright, 1911, by
G.P. PUTNAM'S SONS
Copyright, 1913, by
G.P. PUTNAM'S SONS
Foreign Editions of this book are now on sale in the following countries: Great Britain William Heinemann London
First published, November, 1909. Reprinted, April, 1910; June, 1910
New Editions: November, 1910; January, 1911; April, 1911; May, 1911; reprinted, May, 1911; July, 1911; November, 1911; January, 1912; April, 1912; September, 1912; October, 1912; November, 1912
France
Hachette et Cie Paris
"
(Cheap Popular Edition) Nelson Paris
Germany
Dieterichsche Verlags Leipzig
"
(Cheap Popular Edition) Vita: Deutsches Verlag
Berlin
Italy
Associazione della Stampa Periodica Italiana
Rome
"
(Cheap Popular Edition) Casa Humanitas
Denmark
E. Jespersens Copenhagen
Spain
Nelson Madrid
Finland
W. Soderstrom Borga
Holland
A.-W. Sijthoff Leyden
1
Japan Hakubankwan Publishing Co. Tokio
Norway E. Jespersens Copenhagen
Sweden P.-A. Norstedt et Soner Stockholm
Russia J. Maiewsky Moscow
In Preparation:
China Christian Literature Society for China Shanghai
Bohemia English Club Prague Arabic Al-Hillal Office Cairo Urdu
Hindi Bengali Gujerati Marathi
Tamil Brooks Madras
The Knickerbocker Press, New York
[Pg iii]
PREFACE TO THE FOURTH AMERICAN EDITION
If this, the fourth American edition, is bulkier than its predecessors, it is chiefly because the events of the last two years throw an interesting light upon the bearing of the book's main thesis on actual world problems. I have, therefore, added an appendix dealing with certain criticisms based upon the nature of the first Balkan War, in the course of which I attempt to show just how the principles elaborated here have been working out in European politics.
That American interest in the problems here discussed is hardly less vital than that of Europe I am even more persuaded than when the first American edition of this book was issued in 1910. It is certain that opinion in America will not be equipped for dealing with her own problems arising out of her relations with the Spanish American states, with Japan, with the Philippines, unless it has some fair understanding of the principles with which this book deals. Its general interest even goes farther than this: no great community like that of modern America can remain indifferent to the drift of general opinion throughout the world on matters wrapped up
with issues so important as those of war and peace.
That the tangible commercial and business interests[Pg iv] of America are involved in these European events is obvious from the
very factors of financial and commercial interdependence which form the basis of the argument.
That the interests of Americans are inextricably, if indirectly, bound up with those of Europe, has become increasingly clear as can be proved by the barest investigation of the trend of political thought in this country.
The thesis on its economic side is discussed in terms of the gravest problem which now faces European statesmanship, but these terms are also the living symbols of a principle of universal application, as true with reference to American conditions as to European. If I have not "localized" the discussion by using illustrations drawn from purely American cases, it is because these problems have not at present, in the United States, reached the acute stage that they have in Europe, and illustrations drawn from the conditions of an actual and pressing problem give to any discussion a reality which to some extent it might lose if discussed on the basis of more supposititious cases.
It so happens, however, that in the more abstract section of the discussion embraced in the second part, which I have termed the "Human Nature of the Case," I have gone mainly to American authors for the statement of cases based on those illusions with which the book deals.
For this edition I have thought it worth while thoroughly to revise the whole of the book and to[Pg v] re-write the chapter on the payment of the French Indemnity, in order to clear up a misunderstanding to which in its first form it gave rise. Part III has also been re-written, in order to meet the changed form of criticism which has resulted from the discussion of this subject during the last year or two.
It is with very great regret that I have seen this book grow in bulk; but as it constitutes the statement of a thesis still revolutionary, it
2
has to cover the whole ground of the discussion, sometimes in great detail. I have, however, adopted an arrangement and method of presentation by which, I trust, the increase in bulk will not render it less clear. The general arrangement is as follows:
The Synopsis is a very brief indication of the scope of the whole argument, which is not that war is impossible, but that it is futile-- useless, even when completely victorious, as a means of securing those moral or material ends which represent the needs of modern civilized peoples; and that on a general realization of this truth depends the solution of the problem of armaments and warfare.
The general economic argument is summarized in Chapter III., Part I.
The moral, psychological,
