An diesem jüngsten Tag.
Du hast ibn uns herabgesandt auf Erden,
Dass alle Vŏlker, die lebendig sind,
Gezählt, gewogen und befunden werden
Und nichts mehr gelte, was nur Spreu im Wind.

The newest judging, weighing and numbering of the peoples differs from the trial described in this poem of the last war in its greater severity and in its terrible finality. There is no second chance for Christendom. The present conflict is not simply a period of testing from which Europe will emerge, purified or in a worse decline. It is the end of Europe, or it is the painful prelude to a glorious renewal. The very Christianity of Christendom is to-day in question. That is the tremendous theme of Mr. Christopher Dawson’s newest, most carefully written and most readable book.

The essence of the problem is stated squarely. This is neither a war of nations in the old imperialist style, nor even a war of ideologies in the crude sense of Democracy versus Fascism. ‘The conflict which threatens to destroy civilisation to-day is not a conflict of race or culture, or even ideology. It is a conflict of the naked will to power which has swallowed up all the ostensible ideological issues : the racial issue of Aryan versus Semite, the social issue of Communism versus Fascism, and the international issue between the supporters and opponents of the League of Nations.’