El 12 de agosto de 1914 Bertrand Russell escribió una carta al periódico The Nation para ser publicada el día 15, en la cual denunció la locura que significaba la declaración de guerra que hizo el Reino Unido a Alemania el 4 de agosto de 1914. Esta carta se hubiera podido publicar durante los últimos cien años, tan solo sería necesario cambiar la nación (Germany) y los gentilicios (Englishman) y (German) por los de las múltiples naciones y nacionalidades que en el mundo han sido llevadas a esas guerras en nombre de los "derechos" que han alegado los respectivos dirigentes de esas naciones.
Así empezaba la carta:
To the London Nation for August 15, 1914
"The Rights of War"
Sir
Against the vast majority of my countrymen, even at this moment, in the name of humanity and civilization, I protest against our share in the destruction of Germany.
A month ago Europe was a peaceful comity of nations; if an Englishman killed a German, he was hanged. Now, if an Englishman kills a German, or if a German kills an Englishman, he is a patriot, who has deserved well of his country. We scan the newspapers with greedy eyes for news of slaughter, and rejoice when we read of innocent young men, blindly obedient to the word of command, mown down in thousands by the machine guns of Liège. Those who saw the London crowds, during the nights leading up to the Declaration of War, saw a whole population, hitherto peaceable and humane, precipitated in a few days down the steep slope to primitive barbarism, letting loose, in a moment, the instincts of hatred and blood-lust against which the whole fabric of society has been raised. "Patriots" in all countries acclaim this brutal orgy as a noble determination to vindicate the right; reason and mercy are swept away in one great flood of hatred...
Espero que no tengamos que arrepentirnos de haber tomado la decisión más equivocada como lo hicieron nuestros antepasados.
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