Robert Wilson Lynd Quotes
Mr. Shaw came for a short time recently to be regarded less as an author than as an incident in the European War. In the opinion of many people it seemed as if the Allies were fighting against a combination composed of Germany, Austria-Hungary, Turkey, and Mr. Shaw.
Lynd, Robert. Old and New Masters. T. Fisher Unwin, 1919, p. 112.
This quotation is of critical importance as it shows that the Germans were actually planning the First World War. See {642092} for another quotation on the subject.
See the American ambassador’s assessment after the war began {41089}
This referred to ships being torpedoed by the German U-Boats in the poster.
While a pacifist in inclination, Sinclair believed in fighting just and necessary war. Note how civil he was with an organization with whom he did not agree.
Prior to WWI there had been several plebiscites in Austria with the people overwhelming voting to become part of Germany. But after the War, the victorious allies prohibited any more plebiscites as they did not want militaristic Germany to become larger or more powerful. This was a sore point, and one of Adolf Hitler’s first WWII foreign actions was marching into Austria and incorporating it.
German ally, the Austro-Hungarian Empire had declared war on Serbia. See {642085}. The Russian Czar was under great pressure because a large Roman Catholic Empire was warring against a small Orthodox co-religionist of Russia and Russians of all classes wanted Russia to defend Serbia. The Czar was making a good faith effort to stave off the war. What he did not realize was that Germany had actually planned for war against Russia and France and was using the alliance with Austria as an excuse.
The Times regretted that the Germans did not speak to the Austrians more vigorously when they were threatening to attack Serbia who harbored anti-Austro-Hungarian terrorists (see {642085}). What the Times editors did not realize was that the Germans had already made their war plans (see {642092}) and the Serbian issue was just the justification they needed to implement them. So there was no real reason for the Germans to discourage the Austro-Hungarian Empire from its mission to punish Serbia.
The French had also established what they believed to be a strong defensive line protecting France form German incursions. However, the Germans penetrated it relatively easily by going around the fixed installations and moved troops deeply into the heart of France. French men and women were shocked as they had believed their government’s propaganda, which had been supported by the “independent” press.
Hopkins was a social worker with no military of political experience. But the President trusted him implicitly. Most American military officers and Ambassador to England Joseph P. Kennedy, a Nazi sympathizer & father of JFK, believed that England could not stand up to Hitler. Any military aid we gave England would fall into the hands of the Germans. Everyone was shocked when Roosevelt sent Hopkins to England to make a military recommendation. To impress Hopkins with something he thought Hopkins would be interested in, Churchill led a tour of workers cottages built by the government. Hopkins surprised Churchill and his aids who would never forget this statement & then asked to see the military facilities. Hopkins distressed the American military by recommending that Britain could hold out against invasion if they received military aid. Despite the contrary military advice, FDR accepted Hopkins’ recommendations, and the rest is history. He had been right and much of the military wrong.
Robert Wilson Lynd was an Irish writer, editor of poetry, urbane literary essayist and strong Irish nationalist.
