" A jolly future! Henri closed his eyes. From Vassieux to Hiroshima – they had gone a long way in a single year. The next war would really be something! And the next post-war period, that would be even neater than this one! That is, if there is a next post-war period – if the defeated don’t take it into their heads to blow up the world. "

― Simone de Beauvoir , The Mandarins