Among the mighty mountain of books on my night table, there’s always a few volumes about war.
To any clear thinking person it should be obvious that war is the final arbiter of all great conflicts. Those who speak of negotiated peace speak of fiction.
The great World Wars have made this world what it is and there are numerous lessons to be learned militarily in terms of the present War on Terrorism. Thus I draw your attention to two very fine books.
The Guns of August by Barbara Tuchman, and A World at Arms by Gerhard L. Weinberg.
Tuchman’s volume is about World War I, and Weinberg’s about the World War II. Tuchman is a riveting historian who has the ability to tell a great story and make history come alive. Weinberg is more academic, there are thousands of footnotes. But he does detail, oh boy does he do detail.
An interesting theme crops up in both books, it’s timely and intensely important.
Pacifists, Peace Movements, and their murderous aftermath.
Tuchman points out that the peace movements in France and England that preceeded WWI practically immobilized both countries’ heavy industries to such an extent that when war finally did break out, France and England were at least sixteen months behind the Germans in heavy production. You see, the peace movements advocated a policy of–surprise–appeasement. Give the Germans what they want and they won’t go to war.
As if.
Tuchman also points out that France and England were tragically behind Germany even in small manufacturing so that her soldiers marched to the front with not even proper winter uniforms. Her soldiers froze to death on the Western front.
Yes, it is true, millions of soldiers perished on the Western front from the new technology of machine guns, from Generals impaled on outmoded military doctrine.
But on a deeper level, millions were slaughtered because of the peace movements that self-righteously refused to recognise reality, that refused to confront evil.
By the way, one of the best films about WWI is King Vidor’s The Big Parade, 1925. Also, not to be missed is Stanley Kubrik’s Paths of Glory. The loooooooong tracking shots through the trenches were done before the Steadicam was invented and you can see Kubrik’s obsession with long takes even at this stage in his career.
But I digress.
You would think that lessons would be learned from World War I. You would think that the pacifists and appeasers and so-called peace activists would have lost all credibility, but truth has a funny way of getting buried in the avalanche of big lies.
And, I suppose, the word “peace” has an almost narcotic effect on man. They hear the word often enough and they get, well, kind of stupid.
The peace movements that preceeded WWII were an almost carbon copy of the nonsense spewed before WWI — except that communications had improved greatly. Newspapers like the NY Times wielded immense power. And of course, The NY Times, then as now, astonishingly dim, saw no reason to get involved in foreign conflicts. The peace movements in America, France and England were utterly penetrated by Hitler’s and Stalin’s ruthless agents. And Hitler in a replay of the Kaiser’s attitude, well, Hitler absolutely adored the peace movements. He kept a close eye on them, and smiled the whole time. They were, he understood, his best allies. As long as these fools kept up their blather Hitler would be able to swallow whole countries.
Once again, the pacifists and peaceniks advocated appeacement. Just give Herr Hitler what he wants and surely he won’t go to war.
Rule # 1 of Peace Movements: They cannot imagine nor confront evil.
Rule # 2 of Peace Movements: They do not care about history.
Rule # 3 of Peace Movements: They are always secretly financed and penetrated by the enemy.
Weinberg points out that by the time Great Britain declared war on Germany, England (and America) were two full years behind Germany in armament production. Once again, the peace camps made sure that the great Democracies were at their weakest at a time when they were literally fighting for their very existence.
Thus another world war dragged on for more years than should have been necessary and millions and millions of lives were lost when again, these lives could have been saved if evil had been confronted at an earlier stage.
It’s not a great leap to the Viet Nam War. Because of the “peace movement” at home, we betrayed our allies and the North Vietnamese slaughtered hundreds of thousands of “political enemies.”
After that, The Khmer Rouge were emboldened to commit genocide in Cambodia: a million men, women and children were murdered, mostly suffocated with plastic bags. These barbarians knew that America would not interfere, not after Viet Nam. Not after the Peace Movement.
And now the Peace Movement is on the march again.
About Iraq.
About the War on Terror.
God protect us.
And so, the next time you see a “peace demonstration,” cloaked in all their moral vanity, keep in mind that these people will probably end up committing mass murder.