Nelson Evening Mail TUESDAY, MAY 16, 1933 EUROPE'S INCREASING DIFFICULTIES

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXVI, 16 May 1933, Page 4

Nelson Evening Mail TUESDAY, MAY 16, 1933 EUROPE'S INCREASING DIFFICULTIES

Tit.!-: situation. in Europe to-dav is not very diriment from what it was in 1914, prior to the outbreak of the Great War, except that to-day the position of the great nations is reversed. In those, days Germany and Austria were among the most important of.the world’s Empires: to-day Austria is reduced to a negligible republic, and Germany, though as great in population, is but a shadow of her former self, commercially, industrially, and in a military sense. In 1914, France dreaded the impending and unavoidable trial of strength which it was evident Germany was determined to force upon her. She was not afraid, but she knew that she would have to fight for her life, and that the most which she could hope for was victory obtained at great cost. The cruelty of the situation was in the fact that France had done absolutely nothing to provoke invasion by the armed hordes of the Kaiser. Yet she could do nothing to prevent that invasion. No pleading, no parleying, no diplomatic representation could avail, for Wilhelm had made, up his mind to subdue France and extend his territory westward, and he did not intend that any scruple or appeal should stop him. It never occurred to him and his people that France would fight with a courage and determination born of the desperate

situation which her enemy had created. It never occurred to the Kaiser that his passage through Belgium would force Britain into the lists against him, in fulfilment of her pledge’ to defend that country against invasion. And so it was that lie found himself fighting France and Great Britain in the West, and Russia in the East, and. so ignored Bismarck’s advice, which was that Germany must never go to war with France and Russia simultaneously. These facts have been recalled, in order that the situation as it is to-day rnay bo the better appreciated. The greatest military Power in Europe is France. She has refused all persuasion that she should disarm without some effective guarantee that she shpuld be protected from a recurrence of the invasion of 1914. No such guarantee has been forthcoming, and so to-day she is a first-class military Power, and tile greatest stabilising force on the Continent. Linked with her in a defensive alliance arc the Little Entente (Rumania, Jugoslavia, and Czechoslavakia) and Poland. But for the purpose of upholding the Versailles Treaty (which it seems Germany proposes to defy) Great Britain is linked with France, as Lord Hailsham’s speech in the House of Lords recently disclosed. That speech must necessarily have a. widely reaching effect. It. explains exactly where Great Britain stands in relation to the necessity of Germany fulfilling her obligations under the Versailles Treaty, which was specially framed, for. the purpose of discipline ingGier,:. (for lief , excesses in' the .years 1914-18, and to prevent her from committing the like again. Apparently she has not learnt her lesson, for her political leaders seem to lose no opportunity of representing her downfall as a result of a conspiracy of encircling nations, which effected her downfall fourteen-and-a-half years ago, and to-day are bent on keeping her in a state of subjection. Hence we find ex-Chanccllor von Papen saying to an assemblage of Nazis and Steelhelms, "A foreign political ring, resembling that of August, 1914, is built around us.” totally misrepresenting the position of Germany when sho invaded Belgium and France without provocation or declaration of war, and failing to explain that any pressure which Germany feels to-day is the result of her exhibiting the same spirit of disregard for the feelings and interests of other nations, which she displayed in so marked a manner in 1914. However, the concrete fact is that she has played her cards so badly that she has alienated completely the great nation whose people were inclined to think she had learned her lesson, and would in future act like a civilised n.ition. Then 'suddenly there occurred the revolting persecution of Jews in Germany, and that country’s declaration, made by Baron von Neurath, that in spite of her obligations under the Versailles Treaty, she will arm herself as she thinks fit. Great Britain has plainly expressed her opinion on those two matters. To-morrow Chancellor Hitler is to reply to Lord Hailsham. All Europe and the British Empire awaits with no little interest to hear what the German Dictator lias to say in defence. The situation is critical, for through liis lieutenant lie lias already' said that regardless of her obligations Germany intends to re ami, and Great Britain has said, “Any attempt on Germany’s part to re-arm will bring into operation the Versailles Treaty’s sanctions,” which means the application of force.