The Final Crisis

Age of Total War

Fall 2005

The View from Number 10 Downing Street

•       Chamberlain told Parliament on Oct. 3, 1938, he want to Munich to agree to a peaceful land transfer that the Anglo-French team had already agreed to before Munich.

•       The crowning achievement that this came without war.

•       Chamberlain then argued that his settlement was better for the Czechs than Hitler’s ultimatum.

•       More important it opened up the possibility for disarmament.

Popular Opinion Following Munich

•       For those who wanted Peace, this was the highlight following Munich.

•       Writers championed Chamberlain as the peacemaker.

•       Those who supported Appeasement believed that following Munich Hitler would be satisfied.

•       In this view, Hitler had enough.

The Opponents of Appeasement

•       Opponents thought that Appeasement was a great defeat for Britain.

•       They felt that Britain had lost the esteem of nations that believed in England.

•       Others argued that British prestige also declined as a result of Munich.

•       Likewise, those who held those views demanded a crash course in rearmament.

Planning for the Rest of Czechoslovakia

•       Hitler wanted more than what he got after Munich.

•       Before he could solve the Polish problem, He had to resolve the Czech problem.

•       Berlin sought to have the Poles demand more.

•       Then encouraged the Hungarians to make additional demands.

•       And then worked with Slovak separatists to break with Prague.

The Second Czech Republic

•       Following Munich Emil Hacha replaced Benes in Nov. 1938 as President.

•       The new components were Bohemia, Moravia, Slovakia, and Carpatho-Ukraine.

•       The Germans encouraged the Slovaks to break with Prague as well as the Carpatho-Ukrainians (or Ruthenians).

•       In this light, Emil Hacha is invited to Berlin.

The Hacha-Hitler Meeting

•       During the early hours of March 15, Hacha was informed by Hitler that the Luftwaffe was ready to attack.

•       Hacha had a heart attack and was revived.

•       He then signed over the rest of the Czech state to the Germans.

•       Hitler went to Prague on March 16, declaring Bohemia-Moravia as a German protectorate.

He Broke His Word

•       Chamberlain realized that Hitler could no longer be trusted.

•       He then had to find Allies.

•       Offered an alliance to Romania.

•       Particularly where and when would Hitler stop?

•       If Russia was out…then who could force Hitler to think of the possibility of fighting a two front war?

•       Poland was the answer.

With a Flick of a Cigarette

•       On March 31, 1939, Chamberlain pledged support to Poland.

•       If Hitler threatened Poland.

•       Especially following the occupation of the rest of the Czech state and the seizure of Memel.

•       The British now offered similar agreements to Romania, Turkey, and Greece.

•       And pondered talks with Moscow. 

Hitler’s Response to the Anglo-Polish Guarantee

•       Hitler renounced the Anglo-German Naval Agreement (1935).

•       He also renounced the German-Polish Non-Aggression Pact (1934).

•       Then he demanded a return of Danzig to Germany.

•       An overland link to East Prussia.

•       Poland join the Anti-COMINTERN Pact.

The Situation in France

•       Yes, London forced France to stand tall.

•       But the public was not it.

•       One of the questions heard in Paris was “Who wants to die for Danzig?”

•       It was obvious that the publics faith was not there.

•       It would be more ominous when Hitler reaches an agreement with Stalin.

•       Did anyone want to stop Hitler?

A Slow Boat to Moscow

•       Chamberlain realized the only way to eventually stop Hitler was to open a dialogue with Moscow.

•       An Anglo-French team was sent to Moscow to negotiate with Stalin.

•       But all of the negotiators were of lower level types.

•       One can argue that Chamberlain was never serious.

A View From the Kremlin Heights

•       A least that is the view that Stalin held.

•       One of his moves was to eventually replace his architect of “collective security,” Maxim Litvinov as Foreign Minister who was a Jew, with Molotov.

•       Molotov took a hard line, no doubt with Stalin’s blessing.

•       Where is the alliance?

•       Where is the military convention?

The Stumbling Block

•       The Soviets demanded access through Poland.

•       Something the Poles would never agree.

•       Warsaw would never accept either.

•       Moscow was now looking to Berlin.

•       Turning the tables on them.

Military Doctrine in Germany

•      Predated Hitler

•      Was offensive in nature

•      Innovative in scope in military thought

•      Integration of doctrine to political objectives of the state

Hitler’s Grand Strategy

•       He wanted to restore German military might.

•       By doing so Germany could regain her lost territories.

•       Likewise, Germany could then press for the acquisition or Lebensraum at the expense of Russia/Soviet Union.

•       To achieve his goal, he had to have a rearmament program that would awe his enemies.

Lessons Learned from Defeat

•       The Reichswehr studied World War I.

•       They discovered they needed Tanks and Artillery.

•       Despite Versailles, they never lost the offensive spirit.

•       They worked on the Hutier tactics developed late in World War I.

•       During the Weimar Republic the army trained.

•       Trained in Russia.

German Rearmament Program

The Work of General Hans Von Seeckt

•      He realized that horses and leg infantry lacked the necessary stamina to continue prolonged movements.

•      He experimented with trucks (motorization).

•      Later, in secret training facilities in Russia, the Germans worked with tanks.

•      Worked on assaulting prepared positions.

•      No need for prolonged Artillery Fire.

•      Adopted the Hutier Tactics developed earlier.

Hutier Tactics

•      Reduced time for artillery fires.

•      Short preparatory fires were used.

•      Assault troops brought forward just before jumping off time.

•      Avoid enemy prepared positions.

•      Coordination of all arms (Combined Arms) during the attack.

•      The limiting factor was mobility and communications.

Hutier Tactics in Operation

Focus of Blitzkrieg

•       Directed against enemy C3I.

•       Breakthrough the enemy front and race toward the enemy’s rear areas.

•       Present the illusion of attacking everywhere.

•       Overload the enemy’s intelligence network.

•       Use air power to disrupt enemy forces moving forward.

•       Combined Attacks to cause confusion.

•       Need to secure your own communications.

The Work of Guderian

•       He studied all the British theorists, Fuller may have had the most impact.

•       As a World War I Signals Officer had a deep understanding of the importance of protecting communication nodes.

•       Thus the Germans had to destroy their enemy’s command and control network.

•       He also placed a premium on Combined Arms.

Hitler’s Role

•       Hitler realized the importance of Guderian’s work and ran with it.

•       He bypassed the Army Command structure that blocked Guderian.

•       He pressed for more tanks and troop carriers.

•       Guderian became Hitler’s favorite general (for a while).

The Rapprochement

•       Hitler was in a great hurry.

•       War was in the offing.

•       So was Stalin.

•       When Zhdanov asked for the Anglo-French to send a military mission to Moscow.

•       And it went by a leisurely boat.

•       It said it all.

•       Stalin reached a trade agreement with Berlin.

•       Opening the way for what followed.

The World Was Shocked

•       Stalin believed that the West was directing Hitler eastward at the Soviet Union’s expense.

•       At least, that was his interpretation from Munich.

•       So he would reach an accord with Berlin.

•       Direct Hitler westward.

•       There Hitler would be drained.

•       But sometimes it doesn’t work out that way.

The Agreement

•       Both sides would refrain from conflict.

•       Redefine borders and zones of interest.

•       Including Finland and the Baltic States.

•       Russia would have an interest in Bessarabia, Latvia, Estonia, and Finland.

•       And Poland would be divided between the two.

•       What did Molotov then say: “Fascism is a matter of taste.”

The British and French Respond

•       Once London received word of the Nazi-Soviet Pact on August 23, 1939.

•       Chamberlain responded with the Anglo-Polish Pact.

•       If Hitler attacked, then it would be war.

•       Was Chamberlain sincere?

•       Was it a bluff?

•       Was Chamberlain tying to bluff the greatest bluffer of all?

Roosevelt and the World Situation

•       FDR faced a serious problem in taking an activist foreign policy.

•       One was the neutrality acts.

•       There were four of them passed during the 1930s.

•       All designed to keep America out of war.

•       By learning from the problems learned from the World War.

The Merchants of Death

•       The prevailing view was that it was the loans.

•       The sale of munitions that amplified the problem and lead the US into the Great War.

•       This was partially the result of the Nye Committee.

•       Named after Gerald P. Nye, U.S. Senator from South Dakota who chaired the Senate Committee.

The Neutrality Acts

•       The First Neutrality Act (1935) - passed after Italy's attack on Ethiopia in May 1935, empowered the president, on finding a state of war, to declare an embargo on arms shipments to the belligerents and to announce that U.S. citizens traveling on belligerents' ships did so at their own risk.

•       The Second Neutrality Act - The 1935 act was replaced by the Neutrality Act of 1936 (February 29), which added a prohibition on extending loans or credits to belligerents.

•       The Third Neutrality Act - When the 1936 law expired, the Neutrality Act of 1937 (May 1) included civil wars, empowered the president to add strategic materials to the embargo list, and made travel by U.S. citizens on belligerents' ships unlawful.

•       The Fourth Neutrality Act - The Neutrality Act of 1939 (November 4) contained a "cash and carry" formula devised by Bernard M. Baruch. Belligerents were again permitted to buy American arms and strategic materials, but they had to pay cash and to transport the goods in their own ships 

Roosevelt Faces a Troubled World

•       When Mussolini attacked Ethiopia the President could not help the victim.

•       Later, when the isolationists felt that there was a likelihood of war…then war credits were added before the Spanish Civil War.

•       Not to hamper China…FDR did not identify the war in China as a war.

•       But when war did breakout in 1939 the only alternative was “Cash and Carry.”

FDR and the Quarantine Speech

•       FDR tried to warn the nation of the need to do something about foreign aggression.

•       He did this in Chicago on Oct. 5, 1937.

•       FDR was ahead of American public opinion.

•       But then…others were not willing to take that chance.

•       They were the American Firsters.

One of Early the Anti-Roosevelt Haters

•       This was John T. Flynn.

•       Who started out as a Roosevelt supporter.

•       Earlier he had written for New Republic, Harper’s  Weekly, and Colliers.

•       The his attitude shifted in 1936 by the results of the Nye Committee, since he wrote the reports for the Munitions Committee.

•       He saw FDR as another Mussolini.

Why did Flynn Dislike Roosevelt?

•       He abhorred the regimentation of the NRA.

•       He believed that Roosevelt was a born “militarist.”

•       In September 1940 he helped form the American First Committee.

•       Along with Robert E. Wood of Sears, Charles Lindbergh, and worked closely with Burton K. Wheeler and Hamilton Fish.

The Birth of the American First Committee

•       Much discussion had emerged concerning the AFC.

•       Which was founded at Yale Law School by R. Douglas Stuart Jr.

•       Gerald Ford and Potter Stewart eventually joined even though they both left.

•       What did FDR do for this to cause the birth of the AFC?

•       He proposed weakening the Neutrality Laws…which concerned Stuart and others who argued that World War I was a tragedy.

•       General Robert E. Wood of Sears agreed to chair the AFC.

The Tenets of The American First Committee

•       The United States must build an impregnable defense for America

•       No foreign power, nor group of powers, can successfully attack a prepared America

•       American democracy can be preserved only by keeping out of the European War

•       "Aid short of war" weakens national defense at home and threatens to involve America in war abroad

Flynn’s Overarching View

•       Flynn played an important role in the AFC’s propaganda campaign.

•       He argued: "The Last War Brought: Communism to Russia, Fascism to Italy, Nazism to Germany. What Will Another War Bring To America?“

•       Even Charles Coughlin supported the AFC in his Social Justice.

American First and Anti-Semitism

•       Charles Lindbergh, a militant member of the AFC, made an inflammatory speech in Des Moines, Iowa.

•       He claimed: “three most important groups who have been pressing this country toward war are the British, the Jewish and the Roosevelt administration.”

•       But so did Gerald Nye who added that “the Jewish people are a large factor in our movement toward war.”

•       These speeches led some to consider the AFC anti-Semitic in scope, but was it? 

Growth of the AFC

•       The AFC got their message out via speeches and publications.

•       Soon there were over 450 chapters.

•       And the membership rolls reached 800,000.

•       But then…so when the war broke out on December 7, 1941, the organization went out of business.

George Santayana Dictum

•      Santayana once said those who forget the past will be forced to relieve it.