And so the thought that all Europe was transformed into a vast camp filled the General with anger and disgust.

He sighed for the old times when men fought for the pleasure of the thing, just as they hunted; whereas nowadays people were convinced that they would exterminate one another at the very first engagement.
"But surely it wouldn't be an evil if war should disappear," Pierre gently remarked.
This somewhat angered the General.

"Well, you'll have pretty nations if people no longer fight," he answered, and then trying to show a practical spirit, he added: "Never has the art of war cost more money than since war itself has become an impossibility.

The present-day defensive peace is purely and simply ruining every country in Europe.

One may be spared defeat, but utter bankruptcy is certainly at the end of it all.