Pig Herder

Prudence was denounced as warmongering.

"The French Government, which was in ceaseless flux in the fascinating game of party politics, and the British Government, which arrived at the same vices by the opposite process of general agreement to keep things quiet, were equally incapable of any drastic or clear-cut action, however justifiable both by Treaty and by common prudence."

British hesitancy to act when Mussolini invaded Abyssinia set a dangerous precedent, carefully observed by Hitler.

"If ever there was an opportunity to strike a decisive blow in a generous cause with a minimum of risk, it was here and now. The fact that the nerve of the British Government was not equal to the occasion can be excused only by their sincere love of peace. Actually it played a part in leading to an infinitely more terrible war."

"His Majesty's Government had imprudently advanced to champion a great world cause. They had led fifty nations forward with much brave language. Confronted with brute facts Mr. Baldwin [Conservative prime minister, Stanley Baldwin] had recoiled."

The fecklessness of good men is one of the great themes of the history [Churchill's History of World War II], and most British men prided themselves on their goodness then.

"Virtuous motives, trammelled by inertia and timidity, are no match for armed and resolute wickedness. A sincere love of peace is no excuse for muddling hundreds of millions of humble folk into total war. The cheers of the weak, well-meaning assemblies soon cease to echo, and their votes soon cease to count. Doom marches on."

It marched into the Rhineland on March 7, 1936, and found no one to offer any resistance. Hitler declared the occupation to be a symbolic one, although the land and the people overrun were real enough.

"This provided comfort for everyone on both sides of the Atlantic who wished to be humbugged."

A violation of the Treaties of Versailles and of Locarno, the invasion also took advantage of the Allied evacuation that had taken place years before they were required to do so. The response was typically weak-kneed.

"If the French Government had mobilised the French Army, with nearly a hundred divisions, and its air force (then still believed to be the strongest in Europe), there is no doubt that Hitler would have been compelled by his own General Staff to withdraw, and a check would have been given to his pretensions which might well have proved fatal to his rule.... More than once in these fluid years French Ministers in their ever-changing Governments were content to find in British pacifism an excuse for their own."

[Later], after Neville Chamberlain's meeting with Hitler at Munich, he (Chamberlain) reported, "I got the impression that here was a man who could be relied upon when he had given his word." Such remarks moved Churchill to a metaphor of jellied ineptitude in the face of metallic ruthlessness:

"The British and French Cabinets at this time presented a front of two overripe melons crushed together; whereas what was needed was a gleam of steel."

Mr. Chamberlain thought that Hitler would appreciate a man of his mettle.... Those hopeful of turning enemies into friends with nothing more than a show of eager friendliness find their hopes disappointed.

"It is a fact that whereas "appeasement" in all its forms only encouraged their aggression and gave the Dictators more power with their own peoples, any sign of a positive counter-offensive by the Western Democracies immediately produced an abatement of tension. This rule prevailed during the whole of 1937. After that,
the scene and conditions were different."

Despite such local variations, the scene and conditions that Churchill presents are really pretty well permanent.... What guides the man who guides nations is honor.... In the political world love does not conquer all; indeed it doesn't conquer much, and tends to take it in the teeth. Hope on its lonesome is mere dust.

"The Sermon on the Mount is the last word in Christian ethics. Every one respects the Quakers. Still, it is not on these terms that Ministers assume their responsibilities of guiding states.... [It is honorable] for a nation to keep its word and to act in accordance with its treaty obligations to allies.... It is baffling to reflect that what men call honor does not correspond always to Christian ethics."