After every war, all the officials on the losing side who held a higher rank than colonel ought to be executed out of hand, irrespective of their war-guilt.  No doubt there would be a certain amount of injustice in this measure, but the consciousness that death was the certain result of losing a war would have a deterrent effect on those who help to promote and to regulate such engagements, and it might, by preventing a few wars, save millions of lives among the lower classes.  [However], it seems less reasonable than it seems, partly because the responsibility for warfare does not lie wholly with the leaders.  After all, a leader has to be chosen or accepted by those who he leads.  The hydra-headed multitudes are not so innocent as they like to pretend.

• death
• war
• responsibility
• consciousness
• doubt
• guilt
• rank