It is amazing to what an extent the most insignificant disagreement can become a sacred war, thanks to diplomacy and the newspapers.  When England and France declared war on Russia in 1853 it came about from such insignificant reasons that a long search among the diplomatic archives is necessary to discover it…  The death of five hundred thousand good men and the expenditure of from five to six billion francs were the consequences of that strange misunderstanding.

Motives existed.  But they were such as were not acknowledged.  Napoleon the Third wished by an alliance with England and a successful war to consolidate his power, which was of criminal origin.  The Russians hoped to obtain possession of Constantinople.  The English wished to assure the triumph of their commerce, and to hinder Russian influence in the East.  In one shape or another it is always the spirit of conquest or of violence.  Charles Richet

Can anything be more stupid than that a man has the right to kill me because he lives on the other side of a river and his ruler has a quarrel with mine, though I have not quarreled with him?  Pascal

The inhabitants of the planet Earth are still in a ridiculous state of unintelligence and stupidity.  Every day in the newspapers of the civilized countries, we read a discussion of the diplomatic relations of the chiefs of states aiming at an alliance against a supposed enemy and preparations for war.  These nations allow their leaders to dispose of them like cattle led to the slaughter, as though never suspecting that the life of each man is his personal property.

The inhabitants of this singular planet have been reared in the conviction that there are nations, frontiers, and standards.  They have such a feeble sense of humanity that that feeling is completely effaced by the sense of the Fatherland…  It is true that this situation would change if those who think could come to an agreement, for individually no one desires war…  But there exist these political combinations, which furnish livelihood for a legion of parasites.  Flammarion

When we study, not superficially but fundamentally, the various activities of mankind, we cannot avoid sad reflection on how many lives are expended for the perpetuation of the power of evil on earth, and how this evil is promoted most of all by permanent armies.

Our astonishment and feeling of sadness increase when we consider that this is all unnecessary, and that this evil complacently accepted by the immense majority of men comes about merely through their stupidity in allowing a comparatively small number of agile and perverted people to exploit them.  Patrice Larroque

Ask a soldier – a private, a corporal, or a noncommissioned officer, who has abandoned his old parents, his wife and children – why he is preparing to kill men he does not know, and he will at first be surprised at your question.  He is a soldier, has taken the oath, and must fulfill the orders of his commanders.  If you tell him that war – the slaughter of men – does not conform to the command, “Thou shalt not kill,” he will say, “But what if our people are attacked?” and,  “For the Czar and the Orthodox Faith!”  (In answer to my question, one of them said, “But what if he attacks what is sacred?”  “What do you mean?” I asked.  “Why,” said he, “the flag.”)  If you try to explain to such a soldier that God’s command is more important than the flag, or more important than anything in the world, he will become silent or will get angry and report you to the authorities.

Ask an officer or a general why he goes to the war.  He will tell you that he is a military man, and that military men are indispensable for the defense of the Fatherland.  It does not trouble him that murder is not in agreement with the spirit of the Christian law, because he either does not believe in that law or, if he does, he does not believe in that law itself but in some explanation that has been given of it.  Above all (like the soldier), he always asks a general question about the State or the Fatherland instead of the personal question regarding what he himself should do.  “At the present time, when the Fatherland is in danger, one must act and not argue,” he will say.

Ask the diplomats, who prepare wars by their deceptions, why they do it.  They will tell you that the object of their activity is the establishment of peace among nations, and that this object is attained not by ideal, unrealizable theories, but by diplomatic activity and by being prepared for war.  And just as military men ask a general question instead of a personal one affecting their own lives, so the diplomats will speak of the interests of Russia, of the perfidy of other Powers, or of the balance of power in Europe instead of about their own lives and activities.

Ask journalists why they incite men to war by their writings.  They will say that, in general, wars are necessary and useful, especially the present one.  They will confirm this by misty patriotic phrases, and (like the military men and the diplomats) they will talk about the general interests of the nation, the State, civilization, and the White Race, instead of saying why they themselves – particular individuals and living men – act in a certain way.

And all those who prepare for war will explain their participation in that work in just the same way.  They will perhaps agree that it would be desirable to abolish war, but at present, they say, that is impossible.  At present, as Russians and as men occupying certain positions – marshals of the gentry, members of local government, doctors, and workers in the Red Cross – they are called on to act and not to argue.  “There is no time to argue and think about ourselves,” they will say, “while there is a great common work to be done.”

The Czar, who is apparently responsible for the whole affair, will say the same.  Like the soldier, he will be astonished at being asked whether or not war is now necessary.  He does not even admit the idea that it might yet be stopped.  He will say that he cannot fail to fulfill what is demanded of him by the whole nation, that – though he recognizes war to be a great evil and has used and is ready to use every possible means to abolish it – in the present case he could not help declaring war and cannot but go on with it.  It is necessary for the welfare and glory of Russia.

Every one of these men recognizes the Christian law as binding on him – a law that forbids the killing of one’s neighbor and demands that one should love and serve him.  And yet, when asked why he permits himself to take part in war (that is, in violence, looting, and murder), every one of them will always answer that he does so for his Fatherland, his faith, his oath, his honor, civilization, or the future welfare of all mankind – in general, for something abstract and indefinite.  Moreover, all these men are always so urgently occupied by preparation for war, its organization, or discussions about it that their leisure is taken up in resting from their labors.  They have no time for discussions about their lives, and regard such discussions as idle.