A great melee of the civilized nations is in sight. A
tremendous conflict is at hand. The world is at the threshold of a most tragic
struggle.… Vast armies—millions of men—are being mobilized and stationed at
their frontiers. They are being prepared for the fearful contest. The slightest
friction will bring them into a terrific crash, and there will be a
conflagration, the like of which is not recorded in the past history of
mankind.
- 'Abdu'l-Baha (Remarks made in Haifa, August 3, 1914; ‘Baha’u’llah
and the New Era’, by John Esselmont)
