The role of Italy and of Austria has diminished as has that of France and Britain; Germany and Japan have suffered catastrophically.

The desire for liberty has also made itself felt as struggle against domestic tyranny or arbitrary rule.

The First World War, and especially the latest one, largely swept away what was left in Europe of feudalism and of feudal landlords, especially in Poland, Hungary, and the South East generally.

The future will be determined in part by happenings that it is impossible to foresee; it will also be influenced by trends that are now existent and observable.

Men who are scandalized at the lack of freedom in Russia do not ask themselves how real is liberty among the poor, the weak, and the ignorant in capitalist society.

As to judging our own time, and thereby gaining some basis for a judgment of future possibilities, we are doubtless not only too close to it to appraise it but too much formed by it and enclosed within it to do so.

It is natural to try to understand one's own time and to seek to analyse the forces that move it.