From the anthropological point of view, history can be looked upon as a
vast laboratory for the purpose of studying humanity and assisting in
its progress. In the past anthropology has concerned itself mainly with
savage and prehistoric man, but it is due time that it take up the more
important and much more difficult subject of civilized man, not only as
an individual but as an organization[2] or nation, or group of nations.
It is true that other departments of knowledge, such as history and
political science, have pursued these fields, but unfortunately not
always in the scientific sense; to use an ancient pun, it is his story,
rather than all the facts. Anthropology in this new field should seek to
establish only those truths which can be based upon facts. There are
doubtless many very important truths which can not be established by
scientific methods, but perhaps they can be better treated in political
science, psychology, ethics, philosophy, and theology.
In the present inquiry the anthropological problem is this: As religious
wars are admitted to be the most intense, most idealistic, and most
sacrificial of all wars, and therefore most difficult to stop, can it be
ascertained just how the Thirty Years' War, culminating in the peace of
Westphalia, brought about the end of all religious wars? This might
suggest how all political wars may be made to cease. If the seventeenth
century accomplished the more difficult task, the peace conference at
Paris ought to succeed in the less difficult one. If the twentieth
century prides itself on being superior in diplomacy, practical
statesmanship, and general mental caliber, it will now have an
opportunity to show such superiority by formulating a treaty which will
make all future political wars not only improbable but impossible.