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Prelude to War (1942)
Causes and events leading up
to our entry in the war, Well what are the causes?. Why are we Americans on the march?. Is it because of... ..Pearl Harbour?. Is that why we are fighting?. Is it because of Britain?. France?. China?. Czechoslovakia?. Norway?. Poland?. Holland?. Greece?. Belgium?. Yugoslavia?. Russia?. Just what was it that made us to change our way of living overnight?. What turned our resources, our machines, our whole nation into one vast arsine?. Producing more and more weapons of war, instead of the old materials of peace. What put us into uniform, ready to engage the enemy on every continent?. And every ocean?. This is a fight between a free world and a slave world" Vice President Henry A. Wallace What of these two worlds, or which Mr. Wallace spoke?. The free and the slave?. Let's take the free world first, our world. How did it become free?. Only through a long and unceasing struggle inspired by men of vision. Moses Thou shall not covet that which is they neighbours. Mohammed "Mankind is one community." Confucius "What you do not want done to yourself, so not do to others." Christ The truth shall make you free." All believe in the sight of God, all men were created equal. And from that there developed a spirit among men and nations, that is best expressed in our own declaration of freedom. "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal." It is the corner-stone on which our nation was built. And the ideal of all the great liberators. Washington Jefferson Garibaldi La Fayette Peshutsko Bolivar Lincoln Lighthouses!. Lighting up a dark and foggy world. "Let government of the people, by the people for the people, ..shall not perish from the earth." Fighting! Living! Dying! For what?. For freedom! That for which man has fought, since time began. To be free. Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, ..as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery?. Forbid itAlmighty God. I know not what other course one may take, but as for me, ..give me liberty or give me death. But what of this other world?. Here men insisted that progress lay in killing freedom. Here they were putting out the lighthouses, one by one. Here the march of history was reversing itself. In ltaly it began, when an ambitious rabble-rouser set his followers marching on Rome. The country, like every other country after the last war, ..was torn by political unrest, hard times, unemployment. Two courses were available to the ltalian people. They could solve their problems in a free democratic way, ..or they could let someone else do the solving for them. They made the tragic mistake of choosing the second course. They put their faith and trust in this one man. They believed they represented them. Actually he planned to betray them, with the selfish interest of himself, ..and a group back of him. Just as he had earlier betrayed those who first supported him. In Germany another even more forceful demo go... ..set his marchers following from the Munich beer halls. He too had the sinister opportunity.. ..to take advantage of post-war chaos. But he also had certain distinctive German characteristics to play on. To start with, the Germans have an in-born national love of regimentation and a harsh discipline. He could give them that. The German army, and through them the people, had never acknowledged... ..German defeat in the last war. And were anxious for revenge. That too, he promised them. The wealthy and powerful industrialists were fearful of losing any of their wealth and power And were ready to back anyone who would retain it for them. He promised to take care of them too. This man cunningly played all these ends against the middle. And ruthlessly set out to murder the new-born German republic. Here not one man, but a gang, disguised their little scheme... ..of the will of the Emperor. And to the Japanese people, the Emperor is God. Taking advantage of their worship of the God-Emperor, ..it was no great trick to take away what little freedom they had ever known. Yes in these lands, people surrendered their liberties and threw away their human dignity They gave up their right as individual human beings. They became a part of a mass, a human herd. Although these countries were far apart and different in custom and language, ..the same poison made them much alike. Each got a new uniform. In ltaly the bosses wore black shirts. In Germany the shirts were brown. In Japan they hid behind the uniform of the army. But really they belonged to a sinister-secret society. Their symbol was a black dragon. The other fellows had to have a symbol too. Germany a Swastika. In ltaly, the old Roman symbol. In Germany they called the new order.. National Socialism, ..or Nazism. In ltaly, they had a shorter word: Fascism. In Japan they had lots of names for it. The New Era of Enlightenment, The New Order in Asia. The Co-Prosperity Sphere. But no matter how you slice it, it was just plain old-fashioned... ..materialistic imperialism. The Japs would get the prosperity and the other would get the "co"- They say trouble always comes in three's. Take a good close look at this trio. Remember these faces. Remember them well. If you ever meet them, don't hesitate. Stop thinking and follow me cried Hitler I will make you masters of the world. And the people answered, HElL!! Stop thinking and believe in me, bellowed Mussolini and I will restore the glory that was ruined. The people answered ll Duce! Il Duce! Stop thinking and follow your God-Emperor cried the Japanese War-Lords and Japan will rule the world. And the people answered: Banzai! Banzai! Each system was alike and that the constitutional law-making bodies gave up their power. The Reichstag in Berlin. The House of Deputies in Rome. The Diet in Tokyo. And these elected representatives, became collections of stooges. Rubber stamp organizations. Applauding on cue, the words of the leaders. Each system did away with free-speech, and free-assembly. Each system did away with free-press and substituted a press controlled by the party Through their ministry of propaganda, each took complete control of theatre, ..the movies, the radio. Every cultural activity in every channel of information, ..was controlled by the most important members of the party. Each did away with free courts, and trail by jury. And substituted courts and judges, run by the party. Each abolished labour unions, and the rights of bargaining for wages. And under the pretext of patriotism, established the system of forced labour Each enforced its decrees, by an army of secret police, who held the power of life and death, ..over every individual. And for the few who still believed in freedom and said so, there was a ready answer. "Only the application of force used continuously and ruthlessly can bring about the decision... ..in favour of the side it supports." "Mein Kampf" -Page 189 German Edition "The greatest intellect in the world, can be silenced with this." That is an exact translation of the words these black-shirts cheer so lustily. "Whenever I hear anyone mention the word culture, the first thing I do is reach for my gun." Yes, they had the answers, the black-jack and the gun. In ltaly they did it differently. While in Japan. To their names, can be added hundreds of thousands of others ..who stood in the way of the new order Finally there is only one obstacle left, I am the Light of the World, he that follow me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of hope. The word of God and the word of purists can not be reconciled. THEN GOD MUST GO!! "l am absolutely clear in my own mind, and I think l can speak for the Fhrer as well. That both the Catholic and Protestant churches must banish from the life of our people." Thus spoke Dr. Alfred Rosenberg and if you had any doubt he spoke for his Fhrer ..here's what happened. "The Christian cross is to be removed from all churches and cathedrals and to be replaced... ..by the immortal symbol of Germany the swastika." Berlin, 1935 700,000 members of the Protestant Youth organizations were forced to disband. Thousands of other men of God, Protestant, Catholic, Jewish, ..wee persecuted, arrested and confined in concentration camps. "Our Fhrer is the intermediary between his people and the throne of God. Everything the Fhrer utters, is religion in the highest sense. It is only on one or two exceptional points that Christ and Hitler stand on comparison, ..for Hitler is far too big a man to be compared with one so petty." Everyday in all German classrooms, "Adolf Hitler is our savoir our hero" "He is the noblest being in the whole wide world." "For Hitler we live." "For Hitler we die." "Our Hitler is our Lord." "Who rules a brave new world." Yes take children from the faith of their fathers, and teach them that the state is the only church. And the head of the State, is the voice of God. "l want to see again, in the eyes of the youth, the gleam of the beast of prey" --Hitler That was the way of life, or better, the way of death in that other world. Now what of our world?. What did we want?. What did we do about it?. First of all, we wanted peace and security. And to prove our sincerity, in 1921 we initiated the Washington Disarmament Conference. This resulted in two vitally important treaties. One, to reduce the size of the British, Japanese, French, ltalian andAmerican Fleets. And the other, the Nine-Power Treaty, which guaranteed the integrity of China, And incidentally, one of the powers signing this was Japan. Later on in 1 929, we signed the Kellog-Briand Pact... ..which was suppose to abolish wars in a means of settling international disputes. This pact was signed by 47 nations, including Germany and Japan. "Mr. President, I have the honour of handing you the London NavalTreaty." Faithful to our treaty obligations, ..we scraped more than 60% of our Naval tonnage. And our Army was reduced to a standing force of 136,000 men. Smaller than that maintained by Romania. We let our hopes for peace become so strong, that they grew into determination... ..not to fight unless directly attacked. We let ourselves be influenced by those who said we could find... ..security through isolation. The confusion in our way of thinking is apparent. In the slice of public opinion, as it appeared in Athe News in 1939. "Another war?. Not for me. This time America should keep out, and I know I will." "lf war breaks out in Europe, I think this country should heed the advice of the First President, ..and avoid all foreign entanglements" I haven't the slightest idea of European affairs." In the event of war in Europe, I think we should stay out of it entirely And all our efforts should be made to keep out of the fight.! Let Europe fight their own battles. They mean nothing to us." We should mind out own business. -By all means, NO." Yes, fight.... NO.... NO.. Yes" If my country calls, YES." "-NO!" We simply did not want to understand that our individual and national problems were... ..and always will be dependant upon the problems of the whole world. And we had individual and national problems to worry about. Plenty of them. Just as Germany, ltaly and Japan had, but we faced it in a democratic way. We passed laws to give working men a chance to improve their lot. We established an insurance program for those without jobs. It began to give old folks protection against want and hunger We organized the C.C.C. to provide our young men with healthy and useful employment. A Federal works program came into being and changed the face of our nation with new roads, ..bridges, schools. It built great new dams that brought electricity of millions of our people. These were some of our accomplishments, but there were others, not so credible. We turned our backs on the League of Nations. We passed theTariff Act to ..to set a higher wall of isolation around us. We encouraged lawlessness with the farce of prohibition. But in spite of these mistakes, we never had a thought of losing our free institutions. John Q. Public still ran the country He had his choice of voting for Dewey, Wilke, Roosevelt or anybody else. In Germany they had the choice of voting for Hitler, Hitler, or Hitler. Over here, John Q. still read what he pleased. And although he heard of books being burned in other countries, ..he would have laughed, if anybody told him his books would be burned. And on Sunday, if he felt like it, John Q. went to any church he pleased. Most of all, he got a kick out of seeing his kids grow up. The average American was quite unconscious of the fact that some people, ..had this in mind for the little John Q's "To die for the Emperor is to live forever." Japanese Army Slogan "Three cheers for war, noble and beautiful above all." --Mussolini Yes, while their children were being trained to kill, ..John Q. 's kids were giving their pennies to help them have life. And when we saw these men on the news reels, quite often we laughed. To us they looked like characters in a musical comedy. But they weren't comic, they weren't funny, they were deadly serious. They were out for world conquest. And what made it deadly serious was, they were 70 million Japanese, 45 million ltalians, and 80 million Germans, all hopped up with the same idea. Their leaders told them that they were supermen. Herren Folk" the Nazi called it, the Master Race. Destined to rule all other peoples on earth. Take a good look at these humourless men. These were to be the rulers of the ruling race. Bear us blindly and you will obtain your rightful place in the world. All other people will be your slaves. That's what they promised them. ThatAmericans, Chinese, ..Russians, SouthAmericans, all free peoples would work for them and make them rich. And how they ate it up! We shall restore the glory that was Rome. Today we rule Germany. Tomorrow the world. The Pacific is ours! It was inevitable that these countries should gang up on us. The little fellow is our pal, Kurusu Who smiled his way into our hearts in December, 1941. Here he and his friends are busy carving up the world in advance. Staking out their claims. Take a good look at these claims. Here is the ltaly that Mussolini took over in 1922. And almost his first act was to tell the ltalians they were the rightful... .. owners of Corsica, Nice, Savoien, Albania, Tunisia, Ethiopia, and a land corridor linking it with Libya. Later on he had an even bigger dream, ..the Old Roman Empire as it existed nearly 2000 years ago. To dominate all the lands joining the Mediterranean. Mare Nostrum, Our Sea they called it, just as the ancient Romans did. As for the Japanese, they had some ambitions too. By 1920, they had grabbed of Formosa, Korea and the southern half of the island of Sakhalin. Then Baron Giichi Tanaka, the Prime Minister, ..carefully set down Japanese aims in a document called theTanaka Memorial. It was presented to the Emperor on July 25, 1927. In order to conquer the world, we must first conquer China. Here was their dream. Manchuria for raw materials. China for manpower. Then a triumphant March through lndo China... ..Siam, Burma, lndia, the East lndia, ..and on throughAustralia and New Zealand. In the north, all they claimed was that part of Russia east of Lake Baikal. That was to be the new order inAsia. Then the Japs would move eastward to crush the United States. And really start the Co-Prosperity Sphere. Now take a look at the bite the Nazis reserved for themselves. Here's the Germany Hitler walked into and here's what he wanted. First Europe under his complete political and economic control. Leaving Mussolini a share of the loot, if he behaved himself. Then a drive to the east, through the rich oil lands of lran and lraq and into lndia. Another push south, throughAfrica. Then from Dakar, jump off to meet the Honorary Arians... ..who were to move in on SouthAmerica through the Pacific. At the same time, start across the Scandinavian countries. To hook up with his buck-toothed pals coming over from Siberia, ..to join in the conquest of the United States. There it is gents. All they left us was Shangri-La. And they'd claim that too, if they knew where it was. And did they think they had a chance?. Listen......... "When war comes between Japan and the United States, I shall not be content... ..to occupy Guam, The Philippines, Hawaii and San Francisco." I look forward to debating the peace to the United States in the White House in Washington." Yamamoto wrote those words of January, 1941. Yes the conquering Jap army down Pennsylvania Avenue. That was the final goal. You will see what they did to the man and women... ..of Mankind, Hong Kong and Manila. I imagine the field day they would have enjoyed if they'd marched through the streets of Washington?. But before striking, a preliminary step was necessary. ..From Berlin... ..From Rome... .. From Tokyo, the Champaign started. Propaganda, to confuse, divide, soften up their intended victims. Put them on the defensive. Put them on the defensive. Scream your abuse! Shout you're oppressed! The World is wrong. You are right! If you shriek it loud enough and often enough, they'll believe you. Above all, use their free speech and their free press to destroy them. Lebensraum" they demanded. Living room! Our lands are over-crowded and at the same time, they gave prizes to mothers, ..who bore the most sons. They brought together large groups of young men and young girls for human breeding. Read what one of their leaders wrote: "Round up a thousand German girls. Isolate them in a camp. Then let them be joined by a hundred... ..German men. If a hundred such camps were set up, you would have 100,000 thoroughbred children in one stroke." --Dr. Williband Hentschel Of course the children from this assembly line, belonged to the state... ..to be scientifically trained for conquest. Another howl, was lack of raw materials. They claimed they were the ""have-nots"" and we were the "haves." But out of this supposed lack, they built up the greatest war machines... ..the world has ever known. These are the published figures from the German Military budget. Actually between 1933, and 1939 Hitler's program of re-armament cost more than 80 billion dollars. The Nazis alone assembled a striking force of... ..30 Panzer divisions, 70 motorized divisions, 1 40 infantry divisions, plus the Luftwaffe, the world's largest air force. And they had no raw materials. Think of the bread the automobiles, the good things of life the German, ltalian, Japanese leaders... ..might have given their people, if they had spent this money for peace, ..instead of war. You know what billions we are now spending to match their military force. No, no these arguments were all smoke screens. When war came, the democracies proved to be the "have-nots." And our enemies the "haves." And when war came, where did it come?. Remember that date, September 18, 1941. A date we should remember as well as December 7, 1941. For on that date, in 1 931... ..the war we are now fighting began. The place was Manchuria, the northern most Province of China, ..6000 miles from San Francisco. Manchuria the first objective in the Tanaka plan. By September 18th, the Japanese, who by treaty patrolled... ..the southern Manchuria railway, had secretly and illegally increased their garrison. On the Korean/Manchuria border an entire Japanese army was assembled, ..conveniently equipped for a winter campaign. All they needed was an excuse. They made their own. At 10:30 that night, just after the Mukden Express passed by, ..a section of track was dynamited, causing damage to one rail and two fish-plates. Japan's honour had violated. In half an hour, the Japanese railroad garrison launched a co-ordinated attack, on the barracks for the sleeping Chinese army at Mukden. The slaughter was appalling. By midnight, the conveniently placed Japanese army, ..poured across the Korean border and the first open act of aggression... ..the invasion of Manchuria was on. In four days they had occupied the whole of southern Manchuria. And shortly after, the whole country. Manchuria became Manchukuo a puppet state with an obedient stooge on the throne. Henry Pu Yi. A weakling, whom the Japanese had prepared for the job... ..was seven years of women and song. In Washington, Henry L. Simson, then Secretary of State. ..was now Secretary of War, ..sent out a blistering denunciation of the attack. The League of Nations sent a committee of five, headed by Lord Litton and... ..including our General Frank McCoy to investigate. In October of 1932, ..the Committee issued its report. "We found that the occupation of this large part of China, ..was not justified on the grounds of self-defence, ..and that the new State which had been set up, is Japanese projected... ..rather than a genuine case of Manchurian self-determination." Shortly after, The League condemned Japan as an aggressor Nation. It is a matter of common knowledge, that Japan's policy... ..is fundamentally inspired by a genuine desire... ..to guarantee peace in the Far East. And to contribute to the maintenance of peace throughout the world. Japan, however finds it impossible to accept... ..that it fought abducted by the assembly." In answer, the Japanese delegates, knowing there were no guns behind this condemnation, ..smiled, took up their briefcases, marched out ofThe League. Northern Manchuria was dead. Collective security was dead. The green light had been given to the aggressors. We and the rest of the world knew that these aggressors should be stopped and punished, ..but we were unwilling to make the necessary sacrifices to back up that opinion. It was impossible to convince a farm-boy in lowa, or a driver of a London bus, ..or a waiter in a Paris cafe that he should go to war, ..because of a mud hut in Manchuria. Yet the subsequent course of history makes it clear that... ..that incident so many miles away is the reason... ..that you and millions of others are in uniform today. The Japs had Manchuria, phase number one of theTanaka plan was completed. Phase number 2, the conquest of China. In 1932, without warning the Japs attacked the city of Shanghai. Here they met such stubborn resistance, that they had to pour more than 75,000 troops... ..into the local battle, before capturing the city. This resistance, made them decide to shift their campaign into the north. And in 1933, they added the Province of Jerold to Manchuria. Yes, the Japs launched the second phase of theTanaka plan. But they had yet to finish it. A United Nations stands against them. Under the inspired leadership of General Chiang Kai-shek. The Chinese people fought and still fight on. Meantime, what of Japan's partners?. What helpless people were they planning to bomb, ..drive into slavery?. Hitler was not yet ready. But Mussolini was. Mussolini had to be. His people were growing restless. Fascism hadn't produced the heaven on earth that he promised them. So he pulled the old trick of launching a foreign war to divert the attention from troubles at home. So Mussolini beat his chest likeTarzan and looked around for a worthy foe. He found one. Ethiopia. Good country for the beginning of a glorious empire. Its army had no machine guns. Its army had no tanks. Its army did have an air force. Exactly one old aeroplane. One aeroplane against the nation which had developed the theory of total air-war. Of the blitz that would wipe out cities, destroy civilians. Man woman, and child. In October of 1935, following the Japanese example, ..an incident was provoked at the little settlement of Wal Wal near the border of Ethiopia... ..and ltalian Somalia land. Italy's honour had been violated. Refusing any arbitration, Mussolini moved the whole might of his army through... ..the Suez Canal, to overrun the undefended country Ethiopia's Emperor, Haile Selaissie, appeared beforeThe League of Nations. "l must still fight on until my tardy allies appear... ..and if they never come, I say to you without bitterness, ..the West will perish." Members of the League, half-heartedly stopped trading with ltaly. But refused the only thing that would stop any aggressor ..force! Ethiopia was left to herself. Native leaders came to pledge their allegiance. The people of Ethiopia, with their spears and bare hands, ..faced the guns and tanks of the invaders. Fighting desperately and gallantly to save their country from conquest. They fought and they died. But in the end, there could only be one result, ..might triumphed. Italy conquered Ethiopia. Many of our elected leaders warned us of danger, .."Without declaration of war, and without warning or justification of any kind, ..civilians, including vast numbers of women and children, ..are being ruthlessly murdered with bombs from the air." But we were still hypnotized by the fact, that two broad oceans stood between us... ..and the rest of the world. We didn't realize that when the time was months to span these oceans, was ended. That the steam ship had cut these months to days. And that now the whole earth's surface could be covered in the space of hours. Yes, we were a nation that wanted peace, ..but we hadn't yet learned that peace for us, depends on peace for all. No one would run the risk of war for some mud huts and barren plains in Ethiopia, ..any more than we would run the risk for some similar huts and plains in Manchuria. Correctly interpreting our attitude, the aggressors were all assure they could get what they wanted. Japan had started on her march of conquest. Italy had begun her new Empire. And now the third gangster What about him?. We take him up in our next film. And show how he joined his partners and put in his bid. For this is what we are fighting. Freedom's oldest enemy. The passion of the few to rule the many This isn't just a war. This is common man's life and death's... ..struggle against those who would put him back into slavery. We lose it and we lose everything. Our homes. The jobs we want to go back to. The books we read. The very food we eat. The hopes we have for our kids. The kids themselves. They won't be ours anymore. That's what's at stake. It's us or them! The chips are down. Two worlds stand against each other. One must die, one must live. 170 years of freedom, decrees our answer! "Victory of the democracies can only be complete with the utter defeat of the... ..war machines of Germany and Japan." --G.C. Marshall Chief of Staff |
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