may become a necessity: Si vis pacem, fac bellum. in place of si vis pacem para bellum a similarly sounding principle. the liberation of the world from military domination can in the extreme case only take place by battle. Citing the "The world must be safe for democracy." speech of Woodrow Wilson before Congress on April 2, 1917, Grelling says: when all other means fail.
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In 1918 Grelling wrote again, this time as an ex-patriate in Switzerland. Imperial Germany went to war in 1914 and was castigated by Richard Grelling, a German-Jewish pacifist, in J'Accuse (1915). The solution does not cover the case of the nation that does not desire peace. This Congress says in behalf of the people: Si vis pacem, para pactum, if you want peace, agree to keep the peace. it requires only the consent and the good-will of the governments. These vast armaments on land and water are being defended as a means, not to wage war, but to prevent war. The National Arbitration and Peace Congress of 1907, presided over by Andrew Carnegie, had addressed this issue years earlier alluding to not only the Second World War but also the First: Suggesting that perhaps merely being prepared for war is not enough and that it is necessary to wage war in order to deter war. The idea of ensuring peace by deterring warlike powers through armaments took an ominous turn in the 20th century with the increased militarism of Nazi Germany and other Axis Powers. Conversely, another interpretation could be that preparing for peace may lead another party to wage war on you. Meaning that if you are planning a war, you should put other nations off guard by cultivating peace. Had Bonaparte been a Latin scholar he would probably have reversed it and said, Si vis bellum para pacem. The actual words of Vegetius are not even recognized by a large number of writers, who attribute the saying directly to him.įor example, with reference to the foreign policy of Napoleon Bonaparte, the historian, de Bourrienne, said: Everyone knows the adage.
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Whatever the source, the adage has become a living vocabulary item itself, used in the production of different ideas in a number of languages. Apotheosis of Napoleon, Andrea Appiani, 1807.