they fear to be left behind in the race. Thus ensues a mad rivalry in armaments, each State trying to outdo the rest. Gigantic enterprises are formed, the trusts of the cannon kings — Putilov, Krupp, Armstrong, Vickers, etc. The armament trusts make enormous profits; they are in league with the general staffs of the armies; they endeavour to throw fuel on the flames, to promote opportunities for confiict, seeing that the size of their profits depends upon war.
Such was the crazy picture presented by capitalist society just before the great war. The State trusts were bristling with bayonets; on land, at sea, and in the air, everything had been made ready for the world struggle; in the various national budgets, the military and naval estimates assumed an ever larger place. In Britain, for example, in 1875 the expenditure for war purposes comprised 38.6 per cent. of the annual estimates for all purposes, this being not much more than one-third; by 1907-8, the proportion had risen to 48.6 per cent., nearly half. In the U.S.A., the proportion of national expenditure upon war purposes for the year 1908 was 56.9 per cent., this being considerably more than half. It was the same in other lands. “Prussian militarism” flourished in all the great State trusts. The armament kings were filling their treasuries. The whole world was hastening at an accelerating pace towards the bloodiest of all wars, towards the world war of imperialism.
Of exceptional interest was the armament rivalry between the British and the German bourgeoisies. In the year 1912 England decided to lay down three superdreadnoughts for every two laid down by Germany. In 1918, according to the naval estimates, the German North Sea fleet was to contain 17 dreadnoughts as against 21 British dreadnoughts; in 1916 the number was to be 26 German and 36 British; and so on.
The expenditure upon army and navy increased as follows:
In the course of 20 years the expenditure had been doubled; in the case of