Left Wings Over Europe, or How to Start a War About Nothing

Left Wings Over Europe, or How to Start a War About Nothing is the title of a book by British man of letters Wyndham Lewis, written in 1936 (the text is available online). The book tries to analyze the pre-war hysteria that was prevalent in England at that time. I'll give some brief quotes ...

"As far as Great Britain is concerned, there is, in 1936, not a shadow of a reason for a war with anybody.- .... It is because that there is no concrete reason that abstract reasons have had to be thought up and trotted out.

"Nationalism may be superseded by the issue between different forms of political structure, between parliamentarism, fascism, and Bolshevism. .... Parliamentarism and Bolshevism seem to feel a remarkable affinity for one another, if for no other reason than that they are both consumed with an equal hatred of fascism.

"So the game of 'encirclement goes on, and all these arrangements carried on over the heads and usually in contradiction to the wishes of the people..., and constantly stimulated by British and French gold.... (Michael Tukachevski stopped behind in England after the funeral of King George to go round the British armament factories to pick his tanks and guns.) There have constantly been rumours of a 50 million pound loan from Britain to France. That is, in plain language, Britain arming France against 'the Hun.

'... the Germans have the pleasure of observing the vast coalition of peaceably-minded states preparing, upon a luxurious scale, regardless of cost, air-bases from which, in every direction, fleets of bombers can be directed against the cities of the Reich.

'The memorandum states than in consequence of the military treaty concluded in June 6 between Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union, Russian aeroplane bases are now being rapidly organized throughout Slovakia."

etc., etc.

While Lewis's book describes what he sees as British policy, it doesn't attempt to explain the why of it. In this regard I just came on a few quotes which indicate one of the missing pieces in understanding British policy ... from Dr. Carroll Quigley, “Tragedy and Hope”

“The Rhodes Scholarships are known to everyone. What is not so widely known is that Rhodes in five previous wills left his fortune to form a secret society, which was to devote itself to the preservation and expansion of the British Empire. And what does not seem to be known to anyone is that this secret society ... continues to exist to this day …There does exist, and has existed for a generation, an international anglophile network which operates, to some extent, in the way the radical Right believes the communists act. In fact, this network, which we may identify as the Round Table Groups, has no aversion to cooperating with the Communists, or any other groups and frequently does so. I know of the operations of this network because I have studied it for twenty years and was permitted for two years, in the early 1960's, to examine its papers and secret records. I have no aversion to it or to most of its aims and have, for much of my life, been close to it and to many of its instruments. I have objected, both in the past and recently, to a few of its policies ... but in general my chief difference of opinion is that it wishes to remain unknown, and I believe its role in history is significant enough to be known."

 

Let's see what wiki says:
Wyndham Lewis - Wikipedia

Doesn't sound like he's much of an authority from that and other info on Wiki. Certainly not one I'd trust to much.

 

Russian airplane bases are now being rapidly organized throughout Slovakia was fake news, especially that Soviet strategic bombers were seriously obsolete - crews exposed to elements, communicating with flags and more.

Rhodes and his "preservation and expansion of the British Empire"(i.e. colonialism) have nothing to do with Europe. Linking Rhodes and "pre-war hysteria" is a pure conspiracy theory.

 

Well the intelligent and reasonable alternative is not to post but given that neither of those two is applicable....

 

No doubt, but Lewis didn't originate it, he was quoting the Daily Mail, Jan.1, 1936.

Of course it's a conspiracy theory, but the precedent was established in the buildup to WW I. Read 'The Secret Origins Of the First World War' by Gerry Docherty and Jim Macmillan, or watch

The WWI Conspiracy : The Corbett Report

Episode 350 – History Is Written By The Winners : The Corbett Report

 

The Corbett series on WW I is based on the book by Docherty and MacGregor, which has Goodreads.com rating of 4.03/5 (70 reviews) and an Amazon rating of 4.5/5 (62 reviews)

After reading Buchanan, who also covers the lead up to WW I, I was surprised to learn that Kaiser Wilhelm, who Buchanan notes had not fought a war in his 25 years history, was demonized in the British press as a war monger, even to the extent that his character became the basis of establishing Germany's 'guilt'. Really, it's all quite extraordinary. If you're only familiar with the court historians account, read Buchanan, it's a great intro to the revisionist perspective. Also, for an intro to Buchanan's book, see ...

all 5 parts + the interview on his sources.

Just to give you an indication of the incredible indoctrination that takes place in education, I'm studying the topic to correct my kid's 10 grade history text (I already submitted corrections to her 8th grade text and they were accepted ! to my surprise), and here is a poster that is in the book !
with the caption .... da da da .... the German warmonger.

But, really, that ain't the half of it .... here is the full page depiction of Hitler, with a writeup on the facing page titled 'The Birth of a Monster'

 

Looked up Jim Macmillan but didn't find anything relevant perhaps because Docherty's coauthor was Jim MacGregor as in:
James MacGregor Burns - Wikipedia
He seems to actually be worth looking at but the book sounds like it's very much a conspiracy theory book.

Can't find much on the other author which is troubling ina nd of itself.

 

We do have at least one thread on propaganda posters. If they are in a history book a lot depends on how they are portrayed..

 

Well let's see what Bismarck had to say about him. From:
Wilhelm II, German Emperor - Wikipedia

Sounds like you need better sources than Buchanan.

 

"A war about nothing" truer words have never been spoken, considering Germany is one of the wealthiest countries on this planet, and the third largest exporter in the world.

So why did the Germans need the provincial Danzig, and autarky, and Lebensraum...

 

The war was about ideology which is something. You are right, Germany had every reason not to engage in a war given its economic potential. Adam Tooze makes a great case for this in his "The Wages of Destruction." Imagine, a leader so demented that he systematically disassembles a first-rate economy over campaign promises and ideological nonsense. Hard to believe.

 

The horror! What historical inaccuracy! They should have used this picture!

 

Here are the facts, as per Buchanan ....

"In 1914 Churchill denounced Wilhelm II as a Prussian warlord out to take over the world. Yet the Kaiser had never fought a war in his 25 years in power and he had never seen a battle. In the two Moroccan crises of 1905 and 1911 it was he who had backed down. The German army had never fought the English and indeed had not fought a battle in nearly half a century. Churchill however, was a veteran of many battles ... (Buchanan continues)....."

Such is the power of propaganda to turn reality upside down.

This poster also appears in the high school history text ....

The caption - ...."This French propaganda poster, "The Heroes of Belgium, 1914", expresses outrage at the German invasion of Belgium.