"The Great War’s vindication of liberal ideals and democratic forms, and its severe rebuff to rampant authoritarianism, was a mighty accomplishment. At the present time, when – anyway in the West – the decencies and humanity inherent in the liberal state are so widely experienced and appreciated, it is hardly appropriate for Westerners to denigrate a bygone struggle which served to vindicate those values and preserve those decencies from deadly peril."