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Of course, the general idea of and the efforts to bring nations together in an international community are not new; however, all such attempts, including the very significant Holy Alliance and the concert of Europe have failed. We believe that among the reasons for the failure of early attempts were the basic insincerity of many of the participating nations and the limited scope of the action they were willing to take. The League of Nations offered for the first time in human history an opportunity whereby all responsible peaceful members of international society could join as free, independent nations in the active struggle for peace. That this organization could not deter the exercise and wholesale practice of sheerest despotism within certain areas, or resist the preying of the strong upon the weak, or even save humanity from the appalling conflagration of the Second World War was a sad but revealing commentary on the evolving pattern of history. Without attempting to analyse the reasons for our self-imposed inability to avoid the Second World War - a duty for historians - we may safely indicate some general impressions. (it) |
