Tuesday 30 January 2018

Carl von Clausewitz: Biography

Carl von Clausewitz

Carl Philip Gottfried von Clausewitz (1 June 1780 - 16 November 1831) was a Prussian general and military theorist who focused on the moral (i.e. psychological) and political aspect of war.
Among all his work his prime piece “On War” was unfinished till his death which was later published by his widow Marie von Bruhl in 1832.


Clausewitz joined the Prussian army at the age of 12 where he first saw combat. After Prussia withdrew from French Revolution he engaged himself in education and joined Institute of Young Officers in Berlin where he evolved into a famous Kriegsakademie.

Impressed by his ability Gerhard von Scharnhorst(a key figure in the Prussian state during the upheavals of the Napoleonic wars and Chief of the General Staff in 1806) sponsored him and later became his mentor and a close friend.After the graduation, he was rewarded with the position of military adjutant to the young Prince August.

Clausewitz work was mainly influenced by Scharnhorst and other Prussian military reformers who perceived French Revolution was an astounding success because it was able to tap the energy of the French People. They believed that if Prussian was to survive as a state it has to do the same. This would require sweeping reforms (Political and Social) both in the state and the army(as both were suffered under the successors of Fredrick the Great). Therefore Clausewitz work was a strong reflection of social and military reforms. However, neither Clausewitz nor his mentor s wanted a social or political revolution but only changes which would help in preserving the independence of Prussia as a state and Power.
But this belief made him the target of both the conservative and the revolutionaries. What would what would one day be called “the primacy of foreign policy” made him odd among the liberals and the radicals who believed the constitutional government was the political goal surpassing all the others. Many writers tried to cast Clausewitz as a political hero or the villain in order to serve their political agendas but all in all, it proved to a futile exercise

Later in 1805 alarmed by the French victories over Austria and Russia; Prussia prepared for war in 1806. Confident in the leadership of Fredrick the Great Captain Clausewitz and other Prussian officers looked forward to the war with France but the timing and the implementation Prussia was poor and inadequate resulting I humiliating defeat at Battle of Jena and Auerstedt. Later at the time of retreat of the army Both Clausewitz and Prince August were captured. In the peace settlement, Prussia lost half of its territory and became an occupied French Satellite state.

The defeat was both a shock and the eye-opener for Clausewitz. He later recorded his impression on war and the socio-political conditions of Prussia In several short articles. He also composed the detailed critique of 1806’s Prussia which was so incisive that it was not published in Germany till 1880. It was titled “observation on Prussia in its great catastrophe”.

Later he started helping in restructuring both the Prussian society and the army in preparation for what he felt was an inevitable struggle against the French. He was responsible for the planning for a national insurrection against the French occupation, a movement that would require the involvement of people’s war along with the much reduced Prussian Army.

But his drive and enthusiasm against the French were not shared by the few including the King who was more concerned with maintaining his position in the much-reduced Prussian state than with any patriotic crusade against the French. In the bid for protecting his throne, he agreed to provide the Napoleon to assist in 1812 invasion of Russia. This proved to be the last straw for Clausewitz as he along with thirty officers resigned from Prussian service and joined the commission in the Russian army in order to continue his resistance against the Napoleon.

But before he left for Russia he prepared an essay on war for a 16-year-old Prussian Crown Prince Friedrich Wilhelm (Later King Friedrich Wilhelm-4{1840-1858}) as he was his military tutor. This essay was called “The most important principles of the art of war to complete my course of instruction for his Royal Highness the Crown Prince" (usually referred to as the "Principles of War”)

In Russia, Clausewitz spoke French (and English) as did many Russian aristocrats and Russian imperial family as well ethnic Germans in Russia and in Russian Forces but was hobbled for his ignorance of Russian language.

He fought in the slaughterhouse battle at Borodino and saw the disastrous French retreat from Moscow. He also played a key role in negotiating the “Convection of Tauroggen” which resulted in the defection of General H.D.L Yorck von Wartenburg’s Prussia corps from French Army. This move from the general infuriated King but eventually forced Prussia into anti-French coalition resulting directly to Napolean’s defeat and abdication in 1814 and resurrecting of Prussia itself.

As a deception, Scharnhorst arranged for him to serve as Russian liaison officer to Prussia army. But in reality, he was acting as an influential aide to General August von Gneisenau; Prussian Field Marshal and as one of the principal leader of Prussia’s rebirth.

Having done so much to challenge Prussia’s subjugation by France, however, Clausewitz was seen by many as a national hero. Later on, change of sides eventually led to his reinstatement in the Prussian army, as a full colonel in April 1814.

In 1815’s campaign, Clausewitz served as chief of staff of Prussia’s 3rd corps which fought at Ligny successfully disengaging itself from Prussian defeat. Later outnumbered 2-1 it played a crucial role at Wavre resulting in prevention of Marshal Grouchy's forces rejoining Napoleon at Waterloo.

In 1818 the king promoted Clausewitz to major-general and administrative head of General War College in Berlin. Having little to do with actual instruction at the school, Clausewitz spent his abundant leisure time writing studies of various campaigns and preparing the theoretical work which eventually became On War.

Because he had little to do with actual instruction at the school Clausewitz spent his maximum leisure time on writing papers on various campaigns and preparing his work “ON WAR”



Read: Clausewitz theory on war

                                                     
Part 1       Part 2

He later returned to active duty in 1830 and was sent to Polish border as a chief of staff to Field Marshal. Before leaving he sealed all his unfinished manuscripts on the basis that this would free him from the ego or career concerns that might affect his style and conclusions.

Even though the war was averted, Clausewitz remained in the east trying to stop the outbreak of Cholera epidemic but later fall ill with cholera and died on 16 November 1831.He was 51 years old.



Sunday 21 January 2018

Jomini: Offensive-Defensive




Jomini defined both the offensive and defensive war and proposed that offensive war for a single operation is somewhat taking an initiative and nearly always it is advantageous
Before reading this article i would recomend you to read → Jomini Biography as it would give an insight how he evolved as a strategist.



Jomini was a great proponent of offensive warfare. As in (ARTICLE XVI.(OF STRATEGIC COMBINATIONShe clearly defined both the offensive and defensive war and proposed that offensive war for a single operation is somewhat taking an initiative and nearly always it is advantageous
"it carries the war upon foreign soil, saves the assailant’s country from devastation, increases his resources and diminishes those of his enemy, elevates the morale of his army, and generally depresses the adversary."
With that, he also pointed out that offensive with respect to the grand invasion was a bit risky as it results in long lines of operation and also the hostility of locals. The plus point is that the enemy is struck at the vital points and deprived of his resources, he will soon be compelled to seek speedy redressal of issues.
"He who invades does so by reason of some superiority;....."
On defensive operations, he said that 
"a defensive war is not without its advantages when wisely conducted". 
He believed that if one's forces are inferior to the enemy, then an active -defensive strategy may accomplish great successes in restoring equality.Jomini explained that this active type of defense (taking the offensive at times),
 "promises many chances for success . . . [and] combines the advantages of  both systems."

Jomini was also a proponent of the element of surprise. He states that 

"it is sufficient to attack [an enemy] in force at the point intended before preparations can be made to meet the attack.

He further cites confusion of the enemy as an advantage. 

But he also condemned the defensive strategy. Jomini wrote:
". . . to bury an army in entrenchments where it may be outflanked  and surrounded, or forced in front even if secure from a flank attack, is manifest folly; and it is hoped that we shall never see another instance of it." 

Tuesday 16 January 2018

JOMINI: Art of War

Antoine Henri Jomini
Antoine Henri Jomini
Jomini’s major contribution to the Art of War concern’s the tangible i.e. physical aspect of warfare. Under all his theories on the subject lies the fundamental principle which defined in the below four maxims (Chapter 3: Section: THE FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLE OF WA

(1) To throw by strategic movements the mass of an army successively, upon the decisive points of a theater of war, and also upon the communications of the enemy as much as possible without compromising one's own.
(2) To maneuver to engage fractions of the hostile army with the bulk of one's forces.

(3) On the battlefield, to throw the mass of the forces upon the decisive point, or upon that portion of the hostile line which it is of the first importance to overthrow.

(4) To so arrange that these masses shall not only be thrown upon the decisive point but that they shall engage al the proper t times with energy.



The Art of War by Jomini is divided into 6 parts:
  1. Statesmanship in its relation to war.
  2. Strategy; or the art of properly directing masses upon the theater of war, either for defense or for invasion.
  3. Grand Tactics.
  4. Logistics; or the art of moving armies.
  5. Engineering—the attack and defense of fortifications.
  6. Minor Tactics.
Here Strategy defines where to act; Logistics brings the troops to the point/front; Grand Tactics involves how troops would be employed and deployed; Minor Tactics includes integration of infantry, artillery, and cavalry for a combined attack and Engineering focus on the attack and defense of fortification.




Thursday 11 January 2018

Jomini : Biography

The 18th and 19th century were centuries full of conflict for Europe. Napolean's war raged between France and series of 3 coalitions of European Countries from 1792-1815. These conflict also produced few greatest military thinkers of all time.Napolean who often regarded as a great military strategist left no written records of his concepts and his military applications but mostly penned mostly novellas, essays, etc.
But thanks to 2 men for recording analyzing and interpreting his strategy and contributions:
  1. Antoine-Henri, Baron Jomini (6 March 1779 – 24 March 1869)
  2. Carl Philipp Gottfried von Clausewitz[1] (1 June 1780 – 16 November 1831)

Antoine Henri Jomini
Antoine Henri Jomini
Antoine-Henri, Baron Jomini was the first among the military thinkers who analyzed Napoleon’s warfare tactics. Swiss by birth Jomini joined the French Army. He was working backend i.e as a staff officer throughout his career.

In 1806 after publishing his views on the current war with Prussia and his exceptional knowledge of Fredrick the Great's campaign made Napolean appoint him at his headquarters. Later he was offered to join Russian Armed service which he did after the consent of both countries. But was caught in a flux when the war between the France and Russia started which he tackled by engaging as non-combatant in the communications area.

In his later life, he started Military Academy of St Petersburg (1826) in Russia and then retired in France where he advised Napoleon III for the Italian campaign (1859) and died on 22 March 1869, in Paris at the age of 90.

The famous quote for Jomini was “Devin de Napoléon” or the man who guessed what Napoleon was about.

He along with Clausewitz had done for Defence Studies what Adam Smith had done for Economics.

Wednesday 10 January 2018

Yalta Agreement

The Yalta Conference, Crimea, February 1945
The Yalta Conference, Crimea, February 1945
11 Feb 1945

The leaders of the three Great Powers-the Soviet Union, the United States of America and Great Britain-have agreed that in two or three months after Germany has surrendered and the war in Europe has terminated the Soviet Union shall enter into the war against Japan on the side of the Allies on condition that :
  • The status quo in Outer-Mongolia (The Mongolian People's Republic) shall be preserved;
  • The former rights of Russia violated by the treacherous attack of Japan in 1904 shall be restored, viz:
  • the southern part of Sakhalin, as well as all islands adjacent to it, shall be returned to the Soviet Union, 
  • the commercial port of Dairen shall be internationalized, the preeminent interests of the Soviet Union in this port being safeguarded and the lease of Port Arthur as a naval base of the USSR restored,
  • the Chinese-Eastern Railroad and the South-Manchurian Railroad which provides an outlet to Dairen shall be jointly operated by the establishment of a joint Soviet-Chinese Company it being understood that the pre-eminent interests of the Soviet Union shall be safeguarded and that China shall retain full sovereignty in Manchuria;
  • The Kuril islands shall be handed over to the Soviet Union. 

It is understood, that the agreement concerning Outer-Mongolia and the port and railroads referred to above will require the concurrence of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek. 

The President will take measures in order to obtain this concurrence on advice from 
Marshal Stalin.

The Heads of the three Great Powers have agreed that these claims of the Soviet Union shall be unquestionably fulfilled after Japan has been defeated.

For its part, the Soviet Union expresses its readiness to conclude with the National Government of China a pact of friendship and alliance between the USSR and China in order to render assistance to China with its armed forces for the purpose of liberating China from the Japanese yoke.


February 11, 1945

J. V. STALIN
FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT
WINSTON S. CHURCHILL 

Monday 8 January 2018

Munich Pact

Munich Pact
1938 New York Times
reporting Munich Pact

On 30th September 1938 Munich Pact was signed between
  1. Great Britain
  2. Italy
  3. Germany
  4. France
What Munich Pact really showed was Europe's Policy of appeasement towards Hitler's expansionist desires. The pact was aimed to prevent war in Europe by allowing small territories desired by Hitler to calm his appetite.

The country whose territories were about to be allocated to Germany was Czechoslovakia.

Czechoslovakia was a new relatively new country formed in October 1918. In it were the Sudeten Germans who were ethnic Germans living in the Kingdom of Bohemia and the Margraviate of Moravia (parts of the Lands of the Bohemian Crown) both of which came under jurisdiction of the state of Czechoslovakia in the aftermath of the dissolution of Austria-Hungary after World War I.In September 1938, Adolf Hitler demanded control of the Sudetenland (area where Sudeten Germans inhibited). On Sept 29, 1938, Britain and France ceded control in the Appeasement at the Munich Conference;

Ethnic based census graph showing Czech population in 1921/1938
Ethnic-based Census graph showing Czech population in 1921 & 1930

Territorial Division of Czechoslovakia


Along with Germans Hungary and Poland also had their territorial claims on Czechoslovakia.

Poland initiated and took its piece of Czechoslovakia first with military invasion.Then came Hungary saying Carpatho-Ukraine was its part which was stolen from them in World War 1. This was solved between Germany and Hungary by First Vienna Award a treaty signed on November 2, 1938, allowing Hungary to have his claim

To make things worse Slovaks were also demanding independence from Czechoslovakia and to stop this and trying to appease its own citizens, Czechoslovakia agreed to grant more autonomy to Slovakia, and to hyphenate the country's name, so that it became Czecho-Slovakia.
Czechoslovakia after Munich Pact,1938
                                                        Czechoslovakia after Munich Pact,1938                  Source: Euromaidan Press

Left out by Allies and threatened with civil war Czecho-Slovakia was unable to show its full resistance to its neighbors, thus Allowing them to do their bidding.

Agreement Details

Germany, the United Kingdom, France, and Italy, taking into consideration the agreement, which has been already reached in principle for the cession to Germany of the Sudeten German territory, have agreed on the following terms and conditions governing the said cession and the measures consequent thereon, and by this agreement they each hold themselves responsible for the steps necessary to secure its fulfilment:

(1) The evacuation will begin on 1st October.

(2) The United Kingdom, France, and Italy agree that the evacuation of the territory shall be completed by the 10th October, without any existing installations having been destroyed, and that the Czechoslovak Government will be held responsible for carrying out the evacuation without damage to the said installations.

(3) The conditions governing the evacuation will be laid down in detail by an international commission composed of representatives of Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, and Czechoslovakia.

(4) The occupation by stages of the predominantly German territory by German troops will begin on 1st October. The four territories marked on the attached map will be occupied by German troops in the following order:

The territory marked No. I on the 1st and 2nd of October; the territory marked No. II on the 2nd and 3rd of October; the territory marked No. III on the 3rd, 4th and 5th of October; the territory marked No. IV on the 6th and 7th of October. The remaining territory of preponderantly German character will be ascertained by the aforesaid international commission forthwith and be occupied by German troops by the 10th of October.

(5) The international commission referred to in paragraph 3 will determine the territories in which a plebiscite is to be held. These territories will be occupied by international bodies until the plebiscite has been completed. The same commission will fix the conditions in which the plebiscite is to be held, taking as a basis the conditions of the Saar plebiscite. The commission will also fix a date, not later than the end of November, on which the plebiscite will be held.

(6) The final determination of the frontiers will be carried out by the international commission. The commission will also be entitled to recommend to the four Powers, Germany, the United Kingdom, France, and Italy, in certain exceptional cases, minor modifications in the strictly ethnographic determination of the zones which are to be transferred without plebiscite.

(7) There will be a right of option into and out of the transferred territories, the option to be exercised within six months from the date of this agreement. A German-Czechoslovak commission shall determine the details of the option, consider ways of facilitating the transfer of population and settle questions of principle arising out of the said transfer.

(8) The Czechoslovak Government will within a period of four weeks from the date of this agreement release from their military and police forces any Sudeten Germans who may wish to be released, and the Czechoslovak Government will within the same period release Sudeten German prisoners who are serving terms of imprisonment for political offenses.

Sun Tzu : Strategy in Art of War


In thirteen chapters, Sun Tzu wrote a remarkable concise work that defines a sophisticated science in a deliberative manner. We can summarize its content in three strategies
    Sun Tzu : Strategy in Art of War
  • Positional strategy, the methods for mapping the relative strengths and weakness of competitive positions
  • Expansion strategy, which identifies and explores opportunities to advance and build up positions.
  • Situation response, which specifies the responses required to address a specific competitive situation.


Positional strategy


The first chapter, "Planning," explores the five key elements that define competitive position (mission, climate, ground, command, and methods) and how to evaluate your competitive strengths against those of your competition. This discussion ends with the idea that information in a competitive environment is limited and that perceptions are often very different from reality. This difference between objective and subjective information is one of the principle leverage points for the working of his strategic system.


Chapter 2, "Going to War," defines the economic nature of competition. It explains how success requires making winning pay, which in turn requires limiting the cost of competition and conflict. This chapter is critical to understanding why Sun Tzu teaches "winning without conflict." By definition, conflict is expensive. Beating opponents and winning battles may satisfy the ego, but Sun Tzu considers that goal a foolish one.

The final chapter, "Using Spies," focuses on the most important topic of all: information gathering. It specifically discusses the value and methods of developing good information sources, specifically the five types of sources you need and the way you must manage them. In this final chapter, Sun Tzu makes it clear that all wars are, at their heart, information wars


Expansion strategy


Chapter 3, "Planning the Attack" defines the nature of strength. It is important to understand that by "attack," Sun Tzu means specifically the idea of moving into a new territory, not necessarily battle or conflict. Conceptually, you must expand or advance your existing position in order to survive. While defense is less expensive than advance over the short term, change undermines existing positions, so if they are not advanced, they must fail.

Chapter 4, "Positioning," explains how you must use competitive positions. Your abilities to defend yourself and to advance are both based on your current position. To get where you want to go, you must start from where you are. You do not create the openings or opportunities that you need to advance because the environment is too large and complex to control. Instead, you must learn how to recognize opportunities created by changes in the environment.

Chapter 5, "Force," explores the energy that drives all human endeavors: imagination. One of the reasons competitive environments are chaotic is that creativity makes prediction impossible. The human imagination is infinite. Its infinite capacity makes the possibilities of human wealth and progress infinite as well. However, this creativity must be tied solidly to reality. Creativity doesn't work alone. It must be paired with proven methods, that is, existing knowledge, to be effective. Together, they create what Sun Tzu called force or momentum.

Chapter 6, "Weakness and Strength," examines the "circulatory system" of competitive environments, the underlying mechanism of change. As water flows downstream, there is a natural balance of the forces in nature. Voids are filled. Excesses are emptied. Sun Tzu uses this process to explain the deeper nature of the opportunity. The multitude of characteristics in the environment can be reduced to emptiness and fullness. Most importantly, human needs are all forms of emptiness, and human produce is all forms of fullness. Using opportunities is largely positioning yourself in the environment to tap into the flow between them.

Chapter 7, "Armed Conflict," explains the dangers of direct conflict. Fighting people over resources is tempting if you don't understand the true nature of opportunity and creativity. However, although conflict is best avoided, it cannot always be avoided. In those situations, you must understand how you can tip the balance in your favor in any confrontation. 


Situation response


Chapter 8, "Adapting to the Situation," focuses on the need to adapt to the conditions that you encounter. This chapter serves as the introduction to the next three long chapters. These chapters give a number of specific responses to specific situations. This chapter presents the idea that every situation is unique but that it combines familiar elements. While we must be creative and flexible, we must also work within the rules of "standard responses" and not react out of ignorance.

Chapter 9, "Armed March," describes the different situations in which you find yourselves as you move into new competitive arenas. It is the first of the three most detailed chapters. It explains both what those situations mean and how you should respond to them. Much of it focuses on evaluating the intentions of others.

Chapter 10, "Field Position," examines the three general areas of resistance (distance, dangers, and barriers) and there are six types of field positions that arise from them. This is again a long, detailed chapter filled with specific responses that must be learned. Each of the six field positions that it discusses offers certain advantages and disadvantages, both in terms of defending and advancing future positions.

Chapter 11, "Nine Terrains," describes nine common situations (or stages) in a competitive campaign and the recognition and response required in each. This is the last and the longest of the detailed chapters. These nine situations can be generally grouped into early, middle, and late-stage conditions, and they range from scattering to deadly. In each of these situations, there is one and only one appropriate response.

Chapter 12, "Attacking With Fire," discusses environmental attacks and responses. As the most deadly form of destruction in Sun Tzu's era, fire attacks are the framework for discussing both using and surviving moves aimed at the destruction of an opponent. The chapter does this systematically, examining the five targets for attack, the five types of environmental attacks, and the appropriate responses to such attacks. However, it ends with a warning about the emotional use of weapons. While competition can go this direction, it shouldn't.

Thursday 4 January 2018

Britain Strategy: WW2

In 1938, Prime Minister Chamberlain regarded Munich Pact as “peace in our time”.
PM Neville Chamberlain
arriving at Heston airport
with the non-aggression pact in hand
In 1938, Prime Minister Chamberlain signed the Munich Pact with Nazi leader Adolf Hitler thereby handing Czechoslovakia to Germany and regarded this peace in our time”. In September 1939 with Hitler’s invasion of Poland that peace was shattered. Chamberlain declared war against Germany but proved ill-equipped in providing protection to Europe from Nazi invasion. After British forces failed to deter Nazi forces from taking over Norway in April 1940 and Hitler’s invasion of Holland, Belgium & Netherland. Chamberlain lost confidence and Churchill came into power.


On 13th may 1940 Churchill gave a famous speech “Blood, toil, tears, and sweat and outlined new and bold plans for British resistance against Nazi Germany. In the initial year of the war, Britain was all but alone in his fight against Nazi in Europe but Churchill promised his country and the world that the British people would “never surrender.”

Part of belief in Britain’s survival was based on the conviction that the Soviet Union was the next target on Hitler’s list. Combined with intelligence and his own personal belief Churchill was convinced that Hitler was more interested in Stalin’s destruction than of Britain’s.

Also from the time, Churchill took office as the PM he realized that the only way to conclude the war was to drag the United States into it and making this his center of strategy. Despite the fact, Chamberlain didn’t establish any dialogue with the United States Churchill as soon as taking power developed a regular and intense correspondence with FDR. In his initial letter to Roosevelt showed a sense of urgency for securing assistance from the United States by warning of the consequences for the American security in case of the British defeat.

Following is the extract from Churchill’s letter to Roosevelt on May 15, 1940

“But I trust you realize, Mr.President, that the voice and force of the United States may count for nothing if they are withheld too long. You may have a completely subjugated, Nazified Europe established with astonishing swiftness, and the weight may be more than we can bear. All I ask now is that you should proclaim nonbelligerency, which would mean that you would help us with everything short of actually engaging armed forces”

After the American formal announcement to enter the war after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7,1941. Churchill aide John Colville stated that the prime minister and American Ambassador John Gilbert Winant, who also supported the British, "sort of danced around the room together" as the United States would now enter the war, making a British victory likely. Churchill later wrote, "Being saturated and satiated with emotion and sensation, I went to bed and slept the sleep of the saved and thankful".

Within the days of Pearl Harbor attack, Churchill along with his military chiefs traveled to America in order to work with the American counterpart to develop a combined strategy for Europe as Hitler was posing as a grave threat to the world.

On December 26, 1941, Churchill for the first time gave a speech in the United States Congress
Churchill adressing the Joint Session of
United States Congress
On December 26, 1941, Churchill for the first time gave a speech in the United States Congress and urged that Americans to join Britain in the war. 
Regarding the Japanese aggressors, he asked, "What kind of a people do they think we are? Is it possible that they do not realize that we shall never cease to persevere against them until they have been taught a lesson which they and the world will never forget?"

As for the German forces, "With proper weapons and proper organization, we can beat the life out of the savage Nazi." These "wicked men" who have brought evil forces into play must "know they will be called to terrible account if they cannot beat down by force of arms the peoples they have assailed."

It may come across as a simple sound bite, but the point of it was to link the United States and Britain into a single, allied front.

Neville Chamberlain "Peace in our Time"


After the summit, the British prime minister Chamberlain returned to the UK where he declared that the Munich agreement meant "peace for our time"

In 1938, Prime Minister Chamberlain signed the Munich Pact with Nazi leader Adolf Hitler thereby handing Czechoslovakia to Germany and regarded this “peace in our time”.
It is regarded as a biggest irony before the world war 2 as in September 1939 with Hitler’s invasion of Poland that peace was shattered.



Churchill's Address to Joint Session of US Congress, 1941

Following is the transcript of Churchill's Address to Joint Session of US Congress, 1941 :

Members of the Senate and of the House of Representatives of the United States, I feel greatly honored that you should have thus invited me to enter the United States Senate Chamber and address the representatives of both branches of Congress. The fact that my American forebears have for so many generations played their part in the life of the United States, and that here I am, an Englishman, welcomed in your midst, makes this experience one of the most moving and thrilling in my life, which is already long and has not been entirely uneventful. 


I wish indeed that my mother, whose memory I cherish, across the vale of years, could have been here to see. By the way, I cannot help reflecting that if my father had been American and my mother British instead of the other way around, I might have got here on my own. In that case, this would not have been the first time you would have heard my voice. In that case, I should not have needed an invitation. But if I had it is hardly likely that it would have been unanimous. So perhaps things are better as they are. 

I may confess, however, that I do not feel quite like a fish out of water in a legislative assembly where English is spoken. I am a child of the House of Commons. I was brought up in my father's house to believe in democracy. "Trust the people." That was his message. I used to see him cheered at meetings and in the streets by crowds of workingmen way back in those aristocratic Victorian days when as Disraeli said "the world was for the few, and for the very few."

Therefore I have been in full harmony all my life with the tides which have flowed on both sides of the Atlantic against privilege and monopoly and I have steered confidently towards the Gettysburg ideal of government of the people, by the people, for the people.

I owe my advancement entirely to the House of Commons, whose servant I am. In my country as in yours public men are proud to be the servants of the State and would be ashamed to be its masters. The House of Commons, if they thought the people wanted it, could, by a simple vote, remove me from my office. But I am not worrying about it at all.

As a matter of fact I am sure they will approve very highly of my journey here, for which I obtained the King's permission, in order to meet the President of the United States and to arrange with him for all that mapping out of our military plans and for all those intimate meetings of the high officers of the armed services in both countries which are indispensable for the successful prosecution of the war.

I should like to say first of all how much I have been impressed and encouraged by the breadth of view and sense of proportion which I have found in all quarters over here to which I have had access. Anyone who did not understand the size and solidarity of the foundations of the United States, might easily have expected to find an excited, disturbed, self-cantered atmosphere, with all minds fixed upon the novel, startling, and painful episodes of sudden war as they hit America. After all, the United States have been attacked and set upon by three most powerfully armed dictator states, the greatest military power in Europe, the greatest military power in Asia-Japan, Germany and Italy have all declared and are making war upon you, and the quarrel is opened which can only end in their overthrow or yours.

But here in Washington in these memorable days I have found an Olympian fortitude which, far from being based upon complacency, is only the mask of an inflexible purpose and the proof of a sure, well-grounded confidence in the final outcome. We in Britain had the same feeling in our darkest days. We too were sure that in the end all would be well.

You do not, I am certain, underrate the severity of the ordeal to which you and we have still to be subjected. The forces ranged against us are enormous. They are bitter, they are ruthless. The wicked men and their factions, who have launched their peoples on the path of war and conquest, know that they will be called to terrible account if they cannot beat down by force of arms the peoples they have assailed. They will stop at nothing. They have a vast accumulation of war weapons of all kinds. They have highly trained and disciplined armies, navies and air services. They have plans and designs which have long been contrived and matured. They will stop at nothing that violence or treachery can suggest.
It is quite true that on our side our resources in manpower and materials are far greater than theirs. But only a portion of your resources are as yet mobilized and developed, and we both of us have much to learn in the cruel art of war. We have therefore without doubt a time of tribulation before us. In this same time, some ground will be lost which it will be hard and costly to regain. Many disappointments and unpleasant surprises await us. Many of them will afflict us before the full marshalling of our latent and total power can be accomplished.

For the best part of twenty years the youth of Britain and America have been taught that war was evil, which is true, and that it would never come again, which has been proved false. For the best part of twenty years, the youth of Germany, of Japan and Italy, have been taught that aggressive war is the noblest duty of the citizen and that it should be begun as soon as the necessary weapons and organization have been made. We have performed the duties and tasks of peace. They have plotted and planned for war. This naturally has placed us, in Britain, and now places you in the United States at a disadvantage which only time, courage and untiring exertion can correct.

We have indeed to be thankful that so much time has been granted to us. If Germany had tried to invade the British Isles after the French collapse in June, 1940, and if Japan had declared war on the British Empire and the United States at about the same date, no one can say what disasters and agonies might not have been our lot. But now, at the end of December, 1941, our transformation from easy-going peace to total war efficiency has made very great progress.

The broad flow of munitions in Great Britain has already begun. Immense strides have been made in the conversion of American industry to military purposes. And now that the United States is at war, it is possible for orders to be given every day which in a year or eighteen months hence will produce results in war power beyond anything which has been seen or foreseen in the dictator states.

Provided that every effort is made, that nothing is kept back, that the whole manpower, brain power, virility, valor and civic virtue of the English-speaking world, with all its galaxy of loyal, friendly or associated communities and states-provided that is bent unremittingly to the simple but supreme task, I think it would be reasonable to hope that the end of 1942 will see us quite definitely in a better position than we are now. And that the year 1943 will enable us to assume the initiative upon an ample scale.

Some people may be startled or momentarily depressed when, like your President, I speak of a long and a hard war. Our peoples would rather know the truth, somber though it be. And after all, when we are doing the noblest work in the world, not only defending our hearths and homes, but the cause of freedom in every land, the question of whether deliverance comes in 1942 or 1943 or 1944, falls into its proper place in the grand proportions of human history. Sure I am that this day, now, we are the masters of our fate. That the task which has been set us is not above our strength. That its pangs and toils are not beyond our endurance. As long as we have faith in our cause, and an unconquerable willpower, salvation will not be denied us. In the words of the Psalmist: "He shall not be afraid of evil tidings. His heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord."
Not all the tidings will be evil. On the contrary, mighty strokes of war have already been dealt against the enemy-the glorious defense of their native soil by the Russian armies and people; wounds have been inflicted upon the Nazi tyranny and system which have bitten deep and will fester and inflame not only in the Nazi body but in the Nazi mind. The boastful Mussolini has crumpled already. He is now but a lackey and a serf, the merest utensil of his master's will. He has inflicted great suffering and wrong upon his own industrious people. He has been stripped of all his African empire. Abyssinia has been liberated. Our Armies of the East, which were so weak and ill-equipped at the moment of French desertion, now control all the regions from Teheran to Bengazi, and from Aleppo and Cyprus to the sources of the Nile.

For many months we devoted ourselves to preparing to take the offensive in Libya. The very considerable battle which has been proceeding there the last six weeks in the desert, has been most fiercely fought on both sides. Owing to the difficulties of supply upon the desert flank, we were never able to bring numerically equal forces to bear upon the enemy. Therefore we had to rely upon superiority in the numbers and qualities of tanks and aircraft, British and American. For the first time, aided by these-for the first time we have fought the enemy with equal weapons. For the first time we have made the Hun feel the sharp edge of those tools with which he has enslaved Europe. The armed forces of the enemy in Cyrenaica amounted to about 150,000 men, of whom a third were Germans. General Auchinleck set out to destroy totally that armed force, and I have every reason to believe that his aim will be fully accomplished. I am so glad to be able to place before you, members of the Senate and of the House of Representatives, at this moment when you are entering the war, the proof that with proper weapons and proper organization, we are able to beat the life out of the savage Nazi.

What Hitlerism is suffering in Libya is only a sample and a foretaste of what we have got to give him and his accomplices wherever this war should lead us in every quarter of the Globe.

There are good tidings also from blue water. The lifeline of supplies which joins our two nations across the ocean, without which all would fail,-that lifeline is flowing steadily and freely in spite of all that the enemy can do. It is a fact that the British Empire, which many thought eighteen months ago was broken and ruined, is now incomparably stronger and is growing stronger with every month.

Lastly, if you will forgive me for saying it, to me the best tidings of all-the United States, united as never before, has drawn the sword for freedom and cast away the scabbard.
All these tremendous facts have led the subjugated peoples of Europe to lift up their heads again in hope. They have put aside forever the shameful temptation of resigning themselves to the conqueror's will. Hope has returned to the hearts of scores of millions of men and women

In a dozen famous ancient states, now prostrate under the Nazi yoke, the masses of the people, all classes, and creeds, await the hour of liberation when they too will once again be able to play their part and strike their blows like men. That hour will strike. And its solemn peal will proclaim that night is past and that the dawn has come.

The onslaught upon us, so long and so secretly planned by Japan, has presented both our countries with grievous problems for which we could not be fully prepared. If people ask me, as they have a right to ask me in England, "Why is it that you have not got an ample equipment of modern aircraft and army weapons of all kinds in Malaya and in the East Indies?"-I can only point to the victory General Auchinleck has gained in the Libyan campaign. Had we diverted and dispersed our gradually-growing resources between Libya and Malaya, we should have been found wanting in both theaters.

If the United States has been found at a disadvantage at various points in the Pacific Ocean, we know well that that is to no small extent because of the aid which you have been giving to us in munitions for the defense of the British Isles and for the Libyan campaign, and above all because of your help in the Battle of the Atlantic, upon which all depends and which has in consequence been successfully and prosperously maintained.

Of course, it would have been much better, I freely admit, if we had had enough resources of all kinds to be at full strength at all threatened points. But considering how slowly and reluctantly we brought ourselves to large-scale preparations, and how long these preparations take, we had no right to expect to be in such a fortunate position.

The choice of how to dispose of our hitherto limited resources had to be made by Britain in time of war, and by the United States in time of peace. And I believe that history will pronounce that upon the whole, and it is upon the whole that these matters must be judged, that the choice made was right. Now that we are together, now that we are linked in a righteous comrade-ship of arms, now that our two considerable nations, each in perfect unity, have joined all their life-energies in a common resolve-a new scene opens upon which a steady light will glow and brighten.
Many people have been astonished that Japan should in a single day have plunged into war against the United States and the British Empire. We all wonder why, if this dark design with its laborious and intricate preparations had been so long filling their secret minds, they did not choose our moment of weakness eighteen months ago. Viewed quite dispassionately, in spite of the losses we have suffered and the further punishment we shall have to take, it certainly appears an irrational act. It is of course only prudent to assume that they have made very careful calculations and think they see their way through. Nevertheless, there may be another explanation.

We know that for many years past the policy of Japan has been dominated by secret societies of subalterns and junior officers of the army and navy, who have enforced their will upon successive Japanese cabinets and parliaments by the assassination of any Japanese statesmen who opposed or who did not sufficiently further their aggressive policy. It may be that these societies, dazzled and dizzy with their own schemes of aggression and the prospect of early victories, have forced their country-against its better judgment-into war. They have certainly embarked upon a very considerable undertaking.

After the outrages they have committed upon us at Pearl Harbor, in the Pacific Islands, in the Philippines, in Malaya and the Dutch East Indies, they must now know that the stakes for which they have decided to play are mortal. When we look at the resources of the United States and the British Empire compared to those of Japan; when we remember those of China, which have so long valiantly withstood invasion and tyranny-and when also we observe the Russian menace which hangs over Japan-it becomes still more difficult to reconcile Japanese action with prudence or even with sanity. What kind of a people do they think we are? Is it possible that they do not realize that we shall never cease to persevere against them until they have been taught a lesson which they and the world will never forget?

Members of the Senate, and members of the House of Representatives, I will turn for one moment more from the turmoil and convulsions of the present to the broader spaces of the future. Here we are together, facing a group of mighty foes who seek our ruin. Here we are together, defending all that to free men is dear. Twice in a single generation, the catastrophe of world war has fallen upon us. Twice in our lifetime has the long arm of fate reached out across the oceans to bring the United States into the forefront of the battle.

If we had kept together after the last war, if we had taken common measures for our safety, this renewal of the curse need never have fallen upon us. Do we not owe it to ourselves, to our children, to tormented mankind, to make sure that these catastrophes do not engulf us for the third time?
It has been proved that pestilences may break out in the Old World which carry their destructive ravages into the New World, from which, once they are afoot, the New World cannot escape. Duty and prudence alike command first that the germ-centers of hatred and revenge should be constantly and vigilantly served and treated in good time, and that an adequate organization should be set up to make sure that the pestilence can be controlled at its earliest beginnings before it spreads and rages throughout the entire earth.

Five or six years ago it would have been easy, without shedding a drop of blood, for the United States and Great Britain to have insisted on the fulfillment of the disarmament clauses of the treaties which Germany signed after the Great War. And that also would have been the opportunity for assuring to the Germans those materials-those raw materials-which we declared in the Atlantic Charter should not be denied to any nation, victor or vanquished. The chance has passed, it is gone. Prodigious hammer-strokes have been needed to bring us together today.

If you will allow me to use other language, I will say that he must indeed have a blind soul who cannot see that some great purpose and design is being worked out here below of which we have the honor to be the faithful servants. It is not given to us to peer into the mysteries of the future. Still, I avow my hope and faith, sure and inviolate, that in the days to come the British and American peoples will, for their own safety and for the good of all, walk together in majesty, in justice and in peace.

US Color Coded War Plans

The United States Color Coded War Plans were the realistic response designed for the domestic and international affairs
Chicago Daily reporting
on FDR's War Plan
CThe United States Color Coded War Plans were the realistic response designed for the domestic and international affairs.These plans were based on real and practical world alliances and developments that were taking place in the early 1900s.The basic aim of these plans was to address the strategic problems which could arise in case of a conflict with a particular country.                

Secondly, the existence of these plans was because of Monroe Doctrine for the contingencies for or against the very nations in the Western Hemisphere.

A plan for war with Germany. The best-known version of Black was conceived as a contingency plan during World War I, in case France fell and the Germans attempted to seize French possessions in the Caribbean Sea, or launch an attack on the eastern seaboard.

There were two War Plans named Gray. The first dealt with Central America and the Caribbean, and the second dealt with invading the Portuguese Azores.

Dealt with an uprising in the Philippines

Intervention in cuba

Plan for United Kingdom

Plan for Japan

Plan for 2-front war with Germany and Japan

Plan for China

Plan for France and its Caribbean colonies

Plan for Mexico

Plan for occupation of Iceland

Plan for South American Republic

Plan for Latin America

Plan for domestic Uprising

Plan for peace time operations

Source: United States color-coded War Plans

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