Reinforcements Quotes
The English were at War with Napoleon and Denmark was neutral. British leaders feared that Denmark might either ally themselves with Napoleon or provide him with ships from their well equipped fleet. The English decided on a preemptive attack on Denmark and Paget and other Captains were ordered to Denmark. When they arrived they were ordered to bombard Copenhagen and force the Danes to surrender. When this happened, the British seized the Danish ships and simply took them as war prizes. The issues of the morality and wisdom of preemptive attacks, as with the Americans in the Iraq war, was thoroughly debated but the government view prevailed to the shame of most Englishmen.
One fascinating thing about this quotation is that the assumption is automatic that the war is for the purpose of converting the enemy to Islam. At the beginning of Islam this was the only reason for initiating a war. After the death of the Prophet, greed, jealousy, and power became causes of war for the Muslims just as with most other peoples. This quotation has been used by people in conflict with Muslims to refuse any Muslim overtures for a cease fire or truce, as it will not lead to peace unless they are willing to convert and it is likely that the Muslims are getting the worst of the battle and just want to regroup and obtain respite or reinforcements. According to this fatwa, Muslims will never agree to a truce if they are winning or even taking many casualties. Or they may make a truce with “anti-Islamic” conditions with no intention of adhering to the conditions—that is if they are following the Muslim jurisprudence which some Muslim leaders do not,
The American plan was to capture Quebec and add that province to the 13 colonies. See {636940} . However, the American officers botched the invasion and did not attack as soon as they arrived when the British had almost no troops to defend Quebec.
After the Battle of the Wilderness, just before the Battle of Spotsylvania Courthouse, Grant wrote:
