the 'eighties of last century we have lived again in an age of great alliances.
Europe was divided into two camps. International policy was dominated, not by the relations of independent powers, but by the relations of the two great groups of powers. The object of forming the two groups was the safeguarding of peace, and the means to this end was the creation of the balance of power. Notwithstanding, the result of this system has been the outbreak of a war never precedented in history. Although I am of opinion that this system preserved the peace of Europe for a longer period than the conflict of independent nations could have done, I believe that such a conflict of nations could never have resulted in an upheaval so tremendous as the system of great alliances.
Clearly, it was impossible to increase armaments indefinitely at the rate necessitated by the system of big alliances; unless the growth of armaments was healthily limited by the growth of the economic burden, it was obvious that financial ruin, world revolution, or a world war must result sooner or later. Nothing but an international agreement to restrict armaments could prevent a catastrophe, and the fact that no such solution was found is the indictment of European diplomacy.
If we wish to understand the present crisis of the world we must examine how the groups of nations were formed, and how their relationship was poisoned.
The first step towards the system of alliances was
