WAR 2,000 TIMES WORSE THAN IN MEDIEVAL TIME

"War is 2,000 times worse now than it was in the middle ages," stated Pitirim A. Sorokin in a CRIMSON interview yesterday. This statement was made after a four year's research by Professor Sorokin in cooperation with three prominent historians, and with two professors of strategy in military academies who are at the same time generals.

These have made a study of the movement of war in the history of Greece and Rome, and also in the history of eight European countries, England, France, Austria, Germany, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, and Russia. The research was based upon a study of all historical time during which a reliable record of these countries exists. The study was made, therefore, in Grecian history from the 6th century B.C. until the end of Greek independence, and in Roman history from the 3rd century until the end of the Western Roman empire. In European countries, the study was made since the 11th century, taking every war irrespective of how large or small it may have been. The wars were judged from five standpoints, 1. how large was the army, 2. how long the battles continued, 3. how great were the losses, 4. what proportion was the warring population to the whole population of belligerent countries, and 5. how many countries were involved.

"The intensity of all wars," Professor Sorokin said, "was given a number according to their intensity; the higher the number, the greater the war according to these five characteristics. As wars during the middle ages were found to be the least terrible, the number 1 was assigned to those medieval wars occurring between the 11th and 15th centuries.

"From the 11th to the 15th century the index remains at 1 without any definite increase whatever. Since the 15th century, the trend of indices jumps definitely upward. By the opening of the 17th century, the war activity index is at 10, and at the opening of the 19th century, the number has risen gradually to reach 200, showing that war at this time is 200 times as intense as during the middle ages. However, during the second half of the nineteenth century, there is a considerable drop. This is the reason for the sudden appearance at this time of many theories concerning the approach of the millenium and the era of everlasting peace. However, at this time, the index number was still considerably higher than during the middle ages."

Professor Sorokin states that he was startled by the results of the research of the 20th century. "In the past 25 years of the present century, the indices are so high that it is absolutely greater than all European wars taken together between the 11th, and 20th centuries. The index number is more than 2,000 for all Europe.

"If conclusions can be made, let us first examine the graph of indices. We find a gradual climb fluctuating throughout the centuries, and not sign of decrease that is large enough to be considered. Therefore, if the future continues as the past, war will not disappear from the face of the earth, but will continue regardless of efforts to stop it. Although war has been most undesirable, the steady pronounced increase continues; but desirability is one thing, and probability is another