Page 78 - Age of Peace Goodword.indd

A Prediction that Proved to be True

History repeated itself in the twentieth century in the case
of the Second World War in which Great Britain was one
of the major participants. When the war began, the British
Empire was spread over so vast an area that, as the Scottish
newspaper Caledonian Mercury once wrote,
‘On her dominions the sun never sets.’
2
But towards the end of the Second World War, Britain’s
strength became greatly diminished and, because of its inability
to retain its control over the empire, it had no option but to
set free all its colonies, including India, whose independence
was announced by the British Viceroy Lord Mountbatten on
August 15, 1947.

The example of war is like a plant with thorns,
which will produce nothing but thorns when it grows
into a tree. One who expects flowers from a thorn
tree is living in a fool’s paradise.

The greatest disadvantage of war is that its result is generally
unforeseeable. In history no war has ever been fought whose
consequence turned out to be exactly as expected. War is an
entirely unpredictable game, one which causes little other
than destruction. Thus, war is like jumping into a blind alley.
The case of peace is quite different. Peaceful planning
inevitably produces the desired result. The example of war
is like a plant with thorns, which will produce nothing but
thorns when it grows into a tree. One who expects flowers
from a thorn tree is living in a fool’s paradise. Peace, on the
other hand, is like a fruit-bearing plant which will yield fruits
when it matures.

If the way of war and violence proved detrimental even in
the earlier ages, the invention of weapons of mass destruction

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