The War: The First Four Months

THE WAR: THE FIRST FOUR MONTHS' c. P. STACEY ASthese lines are written, the fourth month of the new World War has just come to an end. The situation has become:, in some respects, clearer than it was at the end of September; yet to a generation which thinks of war in terms of 1914-18 it is still bewildering enough. If anyone had doubts about the reality of the conflict, they have been removed. The war is only too genuine; but it is a war of a type which lies Dutsi'de our immediate experience, the basic condit;ons under which it is to be fought are only gradually .becoming apparent, and nothing could be more foolish than to attempt to predict its future course. The fact that, except in Poland and Finland-weak countries whom powerful aggressors felt safe in assailing with full force--there has been little loss of Ijfe by comparison with the initial holocaust of 1914, is so far a fundamental distinction; but this relatively happy situation may not endure. To record what has passed is easier; yet even here there are difficulties. The great events-so terrible and yet so fascinatingwhich have taken place in the last few months seem at times to defy classification and interpretation, and the student of affairs may well shrink from the task of evaluating a situation as complex and as fraught with dreadful possibilities as any that has arisen since the fall of Home. It is not easy for a single eye to comprehend every aspect of so vast a panorama and to distinguish with certainty the significant from the unimporta' nt; yet even a very imperfect 'chroniclo of the last four months of 1939 can hardly fail to have some interesc. 1. ON THE DIPLOMATIC FRONT There have been conflicts in the past- our own War of 1812 is an example--in which diplomatic negotiations proceeded pari PaJsu with operations in the field, and many wars have been accompanied by intense diplomatic activity designed to strengthen the position of belligerents by tho acquisition of allies; but there has probably never been an instance of diplomacy playing quite so large and so significant a role as in the struggle now in progress. IThia is the secoed in a series of articles in which Mr Stacey surveys the CQurse o( the War [Editors' DoteJ. 18J THE WAR: THE FIRST FOUR MONTHS' c. P. STACEY ASthese lines are written, the fourth month of the new World War has just come to an end. The situation has become:, in some respects, clearer than it was at the end of September; yet to a generation which thinks of war in terms of 1914-18 it is still bewildering enough. If anyone had doubts about the reality of the conflict, they have been removed. The war is only too genuine; but it is a war of a type which lies Dutsi'de our immediate experience, the basic condit;ons under which it is to be fought are only gradually .becoming apparent, and nothing could be more foolish than to attempt to predict its future course. The fact that, except in Poland and Finland-weak countries whom powerful aggressors felt safe in assailing with full force--there has been little loss of Ijfe by comparison with the initial holocaust of 1914, is so far a fundamental distinction; but this relatively happy situation may not endure. To record what has passed is easier; yet even here there are difficulties. The great events-so terrible and yet so fascinatingwhich have taken place in the last few months seem at times to defy classification and interpretation, and the student of affairs may well shrink from the task of evaluating a situation as complex and as fraught with dreadful possibilities as any that has arisen since the fall of Home. It is not easy for a single eye to comprehend every aspect of so vast a panorama and to distinguish with certainty the significant from the unimporta' nt; yet even a very imperfect 'chroniclo of the last four months of 1939 can hardly fail to have some interesc. 1. ON THE DIPLOMATIC FRONT There have been conflicts in...