In other words, all the European States are capable of developing a
passionate patriotism, and all possess the railroads, roads,
conveyances, telegraphs, and telephones which make rapid mobilization
possible. No perfection of military forces, and no amount of previous
study of feasible campaigns against neighbors, can give peaceful
security to Germany in the present condition of the great European
States. In the actual development of weapons and munitions, and of the
art of quick intrenching, the attacking force in battle on land is at a
great disadvantage in comparison with the force on the defensive. That
means indecisive battles and ultimately an indecisive war, unless each
party is resolved to push the war to the utter exhaustion and
humiliation of the other--a long process which involves incalculable
losses and wastes and endless miseries. Americans have always before
them the memory of their four years' civil war, which, although
resolutely prosecuted on both sides, could not be brought to a close
until the resources of the Southern States in men and material were
exhausted. In that dreadful process the whole capital of the Southern
States was wiped out.
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