{"id":1171,"date":"2013-07-13T01:33:03","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:33:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=1171"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:33:03","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:33:03","slug":"35-the-possibility-of-a-world-empire-vol-15-social-and-political-thought-volume-15","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/01-sabcl\/15-social-and-political-thought-volume-15\/35-the-possibility-of-a-world-empire-vol-15-social-and-political-thought-volume-15","title":{"rendered":"-35_ The Possibility of a World- Empire.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n
\n


\nCHAPTER <\/font><\/b>
\nIX<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nThe Possibility of a World- Empire<\/span><\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/font>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0        <\/font><\/span>
\nTHE progress of the imperial idea from the artificial and
\nconstructive stage to the position of a realised psychological truth controlling
\nthe human mind with the same force and vitality which now distinguish the
\nnational idea above all other group motives, is only a possibility, not a
\ncertainty of the future. It is even no more than a vaguely nascent possibility
\nand so long as it has not emerged from this inchoate condition in which it is at
\nthe mercy of the much folly of statesmen, the formidable passions of great human
\nmasses, the obstinate self- interest of established egoisms, we can have no
\nsurety that it will not even now die still-born. And if so, what other
\npossibility can there be of the unification of mankind by political and
\nadministrative means? That can only come about if either the old ideal of a
\nsingle world empire be, by developments not now apparently possible, converted
\ninto an accomplished fact, or if the opposite ideal of a free association of
\nfree nations overcome the hundred and one powerful obstacles which stand in the
\nway of its practical realisation.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/font> <\/span>The idea of a world-empire imposed by
\nsheer force is in direct opposition, as we have seen, to the new conditions
\nwhich the progressive nature of things has introduced into the modern<\/font>
\nworld. Nevertheless, let us isolate these new
\nconditions from the problem and admit the theoretical possibility of a single
\ngreat nation imposing Its political rule and its predominant culture on the
\nwhole earth as Rome once imposed hers on the Mediterranean peoples and on Gaul
\nand Britain. Or let us even suppose that one of the great nations might
\npossibly succeed in overcoming all its rivals by force and diplomacy and
\nafterwards, respecting the culture and separate internal life of its subject nations,
\nsecure its sway by the attraction of a world-peace, of beneficent
\nadministration and of an unparalleled organisation of<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-318<\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

\nhuman knowledge and human resources for the
\namelioration of the present state of mankind. We have to see whether this
\ntheoretical possibility is at all likely to encounter the conditions by which
\nit can convert itself into a practical possibility, and if we consider, we
\nshall find that no such conditions now exist, on the contrary all are against
\nthe realisation of such a colossal dream <\/font> <\/span>
\n–<\/font><\/span> it could only come about by immense changes as yet hidden in the
\nsecrecy of the future.<\/font><\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>It is commonly supposed that the
\nimpulse which brought Germany to her recent struggle with the world was rooted
\nin even such a dream of empire. How far there was any such conscious intention
\nin her directing minds is a question open to some doubt; but it is certain
\nthat, if she had prevailed in the War as she had first expected, the situation
\ncreated would inevitably have led her to this greater endeavour. For she would
\nhave enjoyed a dominant position such as no nation has yet possessed during the
\nknown period of the world’s history; and the ideas which have recently governed
\nthe German intellect, the idea of her mission, her race superiority, the
\nimmeasurable excellence of her culture, her science, her organisation of life
\nand her divine right to lead the earth and to impose on it her will and her
\nideals, these with the all-grasping spirit of modern commercialism would have
\ninevitably impelled her to undertake universal domination as a divinely given
\ntask. The fact that a modern nation and indeed the nation most advanced in that
\nefficiency, that scientific utilisation of science, that spirit of
\norganisation, State help and intelligent dealing with national and social
\nproblems and ordering of economic well-being which Europe understands by the
\nword civilisation, <\/font> <\/span>–<\/font><\/span>
\n<\/font> <\/span>the fact that such a nation should be <\/font>
\npossessed and driven by such
\nideas and impulses is certainly a proof that the old gods are not dead, the old
\nideal of dominant Force conquering, governing and perfecting the world is still
\na vital reality and has not let go its hold on the psychology of the human
\nrace. Nor is there any certainty that the recent War has killed these forces
\nand this ideal; for the War was decided by force meeting force, by organisation
\ntriumphing over organisation, by the superior or at any rate the more fortunate
\nutilisation of those very weapons which constituted the real strength of the<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/font>Page-319<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n


\n\u00a0<\/font><\/span>great aggressive
\nTeutonic Power. The defeat of Germany by her own weapons could not of itself
\nkill the spirit then incarnate in Germany; it may well lead merely to a new
\nincarnation of it, perhaps in some other race or empire, and the whole battle
\nwould then have to be fought over again. So long as the old gods are alive, the
\nbreaking or depression of the body which they animate is a small matter, for
\nthey know well how to transmigrate. Germany overthrew the Napoleonic spirit in
\nFrance in 1813 and broke the remnants of her European leadership in 1870; the
\nsame Germany became the incarnation of that which it had overthrown. The
\nphenomenon is easily capable of renewal on a more formidable scale.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/font> <\/span>Nor was the failure of Germany any more a
\nproof of the impossibility of this imperial dream than the previous failure of
\nNapoleon. For the Teutonic combination lacked all the necessary conditions
\nexcept one for the success of so vast an aim. It had the strongest military,
\nscientific and national organisation which any people has yet developed, but i~
\nlacked the gigantic driving impulse which could alone bring an attempt so
\ncolossal to fruition, the impulse which France possessed in a much greater
\ndegree in the Napoleonic era. It lacked the successful diplomatic genius which
\ncreates the indispensable conditions of success. It lacked the companion force
\nof sea-power which is even more necessary than military superiority to the
\nendeavour of world-domination, and by its geographical position and the
\nencircling position of its enemies it was especially open to all the
\ndisadvantages which must accompany the mastery of the seas by its natural
\nadversary. The combination of over- whelming sea-power with overwhelming
\nland-power (<\/font>But
\nnow also, in a far greater degree, overwhelming air-power<\/font><\/span>.)<\/font><\/span> can alone bring so vast an enterprise into the domain
\nof real possibility; Rome itself could only hope for something like a
\nworld-empire when it had destroyed the superior maritime force of Carthage. Yet
\nso entirely did German statesmanship miscalculate the problem that it entered
\ninto the struggle with the predominant maritime Power of the world already
\nranked in the coalition of its enemies. Instead of concentrating its efforts
\nagainst this one natural adversary, instead of utilising the old hostility of
\nRussia <\/font>
\n <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-320<\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

and France against England, its maladroit and brutal
\ndiplomacy had already leagued these former enemies against itself; instead of
\nisolating England, it had succeeded only in isolating itself and the manner in
\nwhich it began and conducted the War still farther separated it morally and
\ngave an added force to the physical isolation effected by the British blockade.
\nIn its one-sided pursuit of a great military concentration of Central Europe
\nand Turkey, it had even wantonly alienated the one maritime Power which might
\nhave been on its side.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/font> <\/span>It is conceivable that the imperial
\nenterprise may be renewed at some future date in. the world’s history by a
\nnation or by statesmen better situated, better equipped, gifted with a subtler
\ndiplomatic genius, a nation as much favoured by circumstances, temperament and
\nfortune as was Rome in the ancient world. What then’ would .be the necessary
\nconditions for its success? In the first place, its aim would have small
\nchances of prospering if it could not repeat that extraordinary good luck by
\nwhich <\/font>Rome <\/font> <\/span>
\nwas enabled to meet its.
\npossible rivals and enemies one <\/font> <\/span>by one
\nand avoid a .successful coalition of hostile forces. What possibility is there of
\nsuch a fortunate progress in a world so alert and instructed as the modern
\nwhere everything is known, spied on, watched by jealous eyes and active minds
\nunder the conditions of modern publicity and swift world-wide communication?
\nThe mere possession of a dominant position is enough to set the whole world on
\nits guard and concentrate its hostility against the Power whose secret
\nambitions it instinctively feels. Therefore such a fortunate succession would
\nonly seem to be possible if, in the first place, it were carried out half
\nunconsciously without any fixed and visible ambition on the part of the
\nadvancing Power to awaken the general jealousy and, secondly, by a series of
\nfavouring occurrences which would lead so near to the desired end that it would
\nbe within the grasp before those who could still prevent it had awakened to its
\npossibility. If, for instance, there were a series of struggles between the
\nfour or five great Powers now dominating the world, each of which left the
\naggressor broken without hope of recovery and without any new Power arising to
\ntake its place, it is conceivable that at the end one of them would be left in
\na position of such natural<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-321<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

predominance gained without any deliberate aggression,
\ngained at least apparently in resisting the aggression of others as to put
\nworld-empire naturally into its grasp. But with the present conditions of life,
\nespecially with the ruinous nature of modern war, such a succession of
\nstruggles, quite natural and possible in former times, seems to be beyond the
\nrange of actual possibilities. <\/font>
\n <\/font><\/p>\n


\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/font> <\/span>We must then
\nassume that the Power moving towards world- domination would at some time find
\ninevitably a coalition formed against it by almost all the Powers capable of
\nopposing it and this with the sympathy of the world at their back. Given even
\nthe happiest diplomacy, such a moment seems inevitable. It must then possess
\nsuch a combined and perfectly organised military and naval predominance as to
\nsucceed in this otherwise unequal struggle. But where is the modern empire that
\ncan hope to arrive .at such a predominance? Of those that already exist Russia
\nmight well arrive one day at an overwhelming military power to which the
\npresent force of Germany would be a trifle; but that it should combine with
\nthis force by land a corresponding sea-power is unthinkable. England has
\nenjoyed hitherto an overwhelming naval predominance which it might so increase
\nunder certain conditions as to defy the world in arms.1<\/sup> 
\nbut it could not even with conscription and the aid of all its colonies compass
\nany- thing like a similar force by land, – unless indeed it created conditions
\nunder which it could utilise all the military possibilities of India. Even then
\nwe have only to think of the formidable masses and powerful empires that it
\nmust be prepared to meet and we shall see that the creation of this double
\npredominance is a contingency which the facts themselves show to be, if not
\nchimerical, at least highly improbable.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n


\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/font> <\/span>Given even
\nlargely superior numbers on the side of its possible enemies, a nation might
\nconceivably prevail over the coalition of its opponents by a superior science
\nand a more skilful use of its resources. Germany relied on its superior science
\nfor the successful issue of its enterprise; and the principle on which it
\nproceeded was sound. But in the modern world Science is a common possession and
\neven if one nation steals such a march <\/font> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

1 
\n<\/font><\/sup>This is no longer true since the enormous
\nincrease of the American navy.<\/font><\/span> <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-322<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

on the others as to leave them in a position of great
\ninferiority at the beginning, yet experience has shown that given a .little
\ntime, – and a powerful coalition is not likely to be crushed at the first blow,
\n– the lost ground can be rapidly made up or at least methods of defence
\ndeveloped which will largely neutralise the advantage gained. For success,
\ntherefore, we should have to suppose the development by the ambitious nation or
\nempire of a new science or new discoveries not shared by the rest which would
\nplace it in something like the position of superiority over greater numbers
\nwhich Cortes and Pizarro enjoyed over the Aztecs and Peruvians. The superiority of discipline and organi<\/span>sation
\nwhich gave the advantage to the ancient Romans or to the Europeans in India is
\nno longer sufficient for so vast a purpose.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n


\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/font> <\/span>We see,
\ntherefore, that the conditions for the successful pursuit of world-empire are
\nsuch that we need hardly take this mode of unification as within the bounds of
\npractical possibility. That it may again be attempted, is possible; that it
\nwill fail, may almost be prophesied. At the same time, we have to take "<\/span> into account the surprises of Nature, the large field we have to <\/span>allow
\nto the unexpected in her dealings with us. Therefore we cannot pronounce this
\nconsummation an absolute impossibility. On the contrary, if that be her
\nintention, she will suddenly or gradually create the necessary means and
\nconditions. But even if <\/i>it were to come about, the empire so created
\nwould have so many forces to contend with that its maintenance would be more
\ndifficult than its creation, and either its early collapse would bring the
\nwhole problem again into the field for a better solution r<\/span> or else it would have, by stripping
\nitself of the elements of force and domination which inspired its attempt, to
\ncontradict the essential aim of its great effort. That, however, belongs to an-
\nother side of our subject which we must postpone for the moment. At present we
\nmay say that if the gradual unification of the world by the growth of great
\nheterogeneous empires forming true psychological unities is only a vague and
\nnascent possibility, its unification by a single forceful imperial domination
\nhas passed or is passing out of the range of possibilities and can only come
\nabout by a new development of the unexpected out of the infinite surprises of
\nNature.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-323<\/font><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CHAPTER IX The Possibility of a World- Empire   \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0        THE progress of the imperial idea from the artificial and constructive stage to the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1171","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-15-social-and-political-thought-volume-15","wpcat-25-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1171","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1171"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1171\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1171"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1171"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}