Page 614 - Atlas of Creation Volume 3

During those years, General F. von Bernhardi engaged in propaganda on behalf of Social Darwinism.

In his book Germany and the Next War Bernhardi maintained that conflict was a biological obligation and
the best way of ridding the world of the unfit: "War is a biological necessity of the first importance, a reg-
ulative element in the life of mankind that cannot be dispensed with, since without it an unhealthy devel-

opment will follow, which excludes every advancement of the race, and therefore all real civilization." 73
The idea that war is a "regulative element" cannot be justified in rational or logical terms, nor with sci-
entific facts. War is a destructive force that causes enormous losses of life and property, and its effects on
society are enormously difficult to repair.
Nonetheless, those who regarded constant war and slaughter as requirements of so-called civilization

continued to call for them. Elsewhere in Bernhardi's book, for instance, he wrote:

War is not merely a necessary element in the life of nations but an indispensable factor of culture, in which a
truly civilized nation finds the highest expression of strength and vitality. ... War gives a biologically just deci-
sion, since its decisions rest on the very nature of things. ... It is not only a biological law, but a moral obliga-
tion and, as such, an indispensable factor in civilization. 74

No doubt that one of the greatest errors made by those taken in by such ideas was to assume that war

is compatible with human nature and thus, inevitable. In that view, the more people wage war, the more
power and vitality they acquire. This is a great falsehood. God has created human beings in such a way
that they are happiest when at peace. Chaos and conflict cause terrible tension in the human soul. The most
rapid social, economic and cultural progress is made possible in a climate of peace and security. In her

book Darwin and the Darwinian Revolution, Gertrude Himmelfarb makes the following comment:

For the general [Bernhardi], it was the needs of war that came first, the imperialist adventures and nationalist
experiments that followed. For others it was the reverse: the imperialist and nationalist aspirations brought war
and militarism in their wake. There were even some who would have liked the virtues of war without
the onus of militarism or nationalism; this was social Darwinism in its purest, most disinterested

form. 75

Sir Arthur Keith, an evolutionist anthropologist and biographer of Darwin, openly ad-
mitted that he was all in favor of war. Although he personally liked the idea of peace, he
feared the results of such an experiment. Also, he made the illogical prediction that after 500

612 Atlas of Creation Vol. 3