THE dismemberment of Czechoslovakia marks the beginning of a new era in European and hence in world affairs. In this new era the outstanding factor is the domination of Europe by a highly armed, aggressive totalitarian state based immutably on the theory that force is the determinant in all political and international relations. The first objective of this new German Empire is to make itself economically self-sufficient. When that has been achieved by redrawing the map of Europe it will be in a position to demand and obtain the redrawing of the map of the world. Hitler has demonstrated anew the truth proclaimed two thousand years ago by Wu, the Chinese philosopher of war, that the greatest general is he who wins his battles without fighting. By making his enemies believe that he is stronger than in truth he is, Hitler has bluffed them into yielding. In the process he has broken down the last vestiges of the system based on international law and agreement and has proved to the world that the democracies will sacrifice their friends, their allies and their principles when threatened by brute force. That this change in Europe will have repercussions in the Far East goes without saying. For the last half century the interrelation between European and Asiatic political trends has been intimate. Remains to inquire, therefore, first, in what manner the new growth of Germany is likely to influence Europe, and, second, how this in turn is likely to affect the Far East. What this means for Western Europe can best be understood in the light of the German thesis of world power. For a half century or more German political scientists have preached the doctrine of the geographic determination of world power. Not only the lay of the land, but what lies under it and what it can produce, they insist, determine a nation's policy. Lacking important resources such as oil and copper, and needing markets for industrial products, Germany has had to look abroad for both. The most popular doctrine before