Abstract
IN this small volume Prof. Lyde makes suggestions for the settlement of European frontiers after the war. Three considerations are laid down as of vital importance: (i) that the frontier should be associated, not with war, but with peace; (2) that the unit of area should have some direct relation to national sentiment; (3) that inability to assimilate should disqualify any Power for territorial expansion. The first suggestion is the most important. Prof. Lyde maintains that frontiers should be identified with features related to the meeting of people, in the ordinary routine of peaceful intercourse. If this be true, it follows that a navigable river makes the best frontier. A defensive frontier-the type of frontier of the past—will never put an end to conflict between neighbours, but may even promote it. An inhabited, in contrast to an uninhabited, frontier belt encourages contact between adjoining people, discourages racial and cultural antagonism, and so minimises the chance of friction, and promotes civilisation. Prof. Lyde is always stimulating, even if he fails to convince at times. His book is crammed with ideas from beginning to end, which should attract the attention of statesmen. But it will be hard to convince those who have treaty making in their hands that accurate scientific knowledge is a real asset in the matter, and that the geographer is the expert who has the knowledge and should be consulted.
Some Frontiers of To-morrow: An Aspiration for Europe.
By Prof. L. W. Lyde. Pp. viii + 120. (London: A. and C. Black, Ltd., 1915.) Price 2s. 6d.
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B., R. Some Frontiers of To-morrow: An Aspiration for Europe . Nature 96, 228 (1915). https://doi.org/10.1038/096228a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/096228a0