HISTORY OF THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 33, Issue 147, 16 March 1940, Page 15

HISTORY OF THE WAR

Commander King-Hall Begins A RunningCommentary “History of the War,” by Stephen KingHall (London: Hodder and Stoughton). Month by month as the war proceeds, Commander King-Hall will record what happens for the benefit of the readers of the present and for the historian of the future. The standard of the first volume and the author’s standing as one with an intimate knowledge of the tangled skein of European politics are an assurance that the task is in good hands. Volume One, that under review, deals with tlie causes of tlie war. Subjects covered are the problem of national sovereignty, the Nazi regime, tlie seizure of the Rhineland, the death of Austria, the pilgrimage to Munich, tlie destruction of Czechoslovakia, the assault on Poland and the last days of peace. Simplicity and clarity are the hallmarks of the book. It is concerned with facts and not propaganda, and does not hesitate to apportion blame to the Allies where the author considers it warranted; but the outstanding impression that will remain is of tlie difficulties and disappointments that beset the path of those who tried to find a way of living at peace witli the Nazi regime. Summing up tlie record of that. regime tlie author says: It’is a story of consistent and cunning aggression; of broken promises and hypocritical excuses.

It can be said that there were errors on the other side. This is true. But they wore errors inherent in tlie practice or tlie democratic faith, which demands that toleration lie exercised to the utmost; that trust be extended and faith maintained. The most consistent of all tlie aggressors, tlie most shameless and butul exponents of pure power polities during these fateful six years were tlie Xazi leaders of Germany, of whom Adolt Hitler was tlie chief. Tlie British and French people, slowly but witli conviction, came to recognize that it was tlie Nazi regime which was Public Enemy Number One ot Western civilization, and tlie Nazis were intelligent enough to understand that it was Great Britain which in the last resort was the most formidable menace to their p Great Britain was bound by all historical precedent to stand in the way or tlie Nazis not only because her resources enabled her to resist the armed might ot Germany, but because she -was tlie centre of a Commonwealth of Nations founded on political principles which were as remote from and opposed to those of Nazidom as Heaven is from Hell. To attempt a compromise between these principles was seen after Munich to be lint the creation of a permanent state of purgatory. So the war came unrecognized by many for what it was. It was a turning point in the history of Western civilization: K was a struggle of which the war of Ull4-i» had been the prelude; it was a part of a revolution which must determine decisively which of two conflicting ways of lite shall prevail among wen.