historiblogography

peace by exhaustion

Back to the nineteenth century:

"For years poverty has kept the peace in Europe. One of the fruits of civilization is the increasing expensiveness of war, so that when the voice of humanity cannot be heard, the hollow sound of an empty treasury is a warning which cannot be slighted."

-- William Ellery Channing, describing the peace that followed the Congress of Vienna.

Meanwhile, back in the twenty-first century, this leads to this. Which leads to this.

Which is, hilariously, interpreted like this.

posted by Chris Bray @ 11:19 AM