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    The Rhineland War: 1936: The Way It Might Have Happened
    The Rhineland War: 1936: The Way It Might Have Happened
    The Rhineland War: 1936: The Way It Might Have Happened
    Ebook92 pages1 hour

    The Rhineland War: 1936: The Way It Might Have Happened

    By Laszlo Solymar

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    About this ebook

    It is a what if historical play. It considers what might have happened if Britain and France had reacted to Hitlers rearming of the Rhineland in 1936 with military power rather than ineffectual protests. Would this have prevented the Second World War?

    The play also shows the power of the media in guiding public opinion and raises some more general questions like: Preventative wars do they ever achieve anything? Can democracies ever win against fanatics? How far should a democratic government go in accommodating dictators?

    The scenario painted within the play is plausible. The views and acts of the various characters are in line with what they could have been expected to say and do at the time, and what we now know from various historical sources, e.g. Lansbury statement about disarmament, Lloyd Georges account of his meeting with Hitler, the French Prime Ministers speech on the day the Germans moved into the Rhineland and reminiscences from Churchills war memoirs including his visit to Germany in 1932.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAuthorHouse UK
    Release dateOct 26, 2012
    ISBN9781477231654
    The Rhineland War: 1936: The Way It Might Have Happened
    Author

    Laszlo Solymar

    Laszlo Solymar was born and educated in Hungary. In the aftermath of the Hungarian Revolution he escaped to England. He joined the University of Oxford in 1966 where he is now an Emeritus Professor. During his career he had Visiting Professorships at the Universities of Paris, Copenhagen, Osnabruck, Berlin, Madrid, Budapest and London.

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      Book preview

      The Rhineland War - Laszlo Solymar

      © 2012 by Laszlo Solymar. All rights reserved.

      No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

      Published by AuthorHouse 10/18/2012

      ISBN: 978-1-4772-3164-7 (sc)

      ISBN: 978-1-4772-3165-4 (e)

      Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models,

      and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

      Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

      Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

      Contents

      ACT 1.THE AWAKENING

      SCENE 1

      SCENE 2

      SCENE 3

      SCENE 4

      SCENE 5

      SCENE 6

      SCENE 7

      SCENE 8

      SCENE 9

      ACT 2.THE DECISION

      SCENE 1

      SCENE 2

      SCENE 3

      SCENE 4

      SCENE 5

      SCENE 6

      SCENE 7

      ACT 3.THE AFTERMATH

      ACT 3, SCENE 1

      ACT 3, SCENE 2

      ACT 3, SCENE 3

      ACT 3, SCENE 4

      ACT 3, SCENE 5

      ACT 3, SCENE 6

      ACT 3, SCENE 7

      ACT 3, SCENE 8

      ACT 3, SCENE 9

      THE

      RHINELAND WAR:

      1936

      Laszlo Solymar was born and educated in Hungary. In the aftermath of the Hungarian Revolution he escaped to England. He joined the University of Oxford in 1966 where he is now an Emeritus Professor. During his career he had Visiting Professorships at the Universities of Paris, Copenhagen, Osnabruck, Berlin, Madrid and Budapest.

      For all the grandchildren:

      Tanya, Georgie, Oscar and Juliet.

      ACT 1

      THE AWAKENING

      SCENE 1

      NARRATOR: It was a bleak moment in history when the Great War started. ‘The lamps are going out all over Europe; we shall not see them lit again in our lifetime’, said the British Foreign Secretary. The lamps were lit again four years later but they were less bright and tended to go out when the wind blew from the wrong direction. Recovery from the carnage was slow and painful. The whole of Europe suffered, victor and vanquished alike. No more wars, said the people. Wars are fought with weapons. Get rid of the weapons and there will be no more wars. (PAUSE.) No more wars, said the diplomats of the victorious powers as they gathered in Paris to prepare the peace treaty. There will be no more wars if the martial tendencies of the Teutonic race can be curbed. Reduce the German Army to a bare minimum! Destroy the German arms industry! Ban German troops from the vicinity of the French border, and there will be no more wars. (PAUSE.) No more wars, declared leading members of the Labour Party. Abolish the evils of capitalism and imperialism! Achieve world peace and socialism! War is morally incompatible with the conception of socialist faith, said George Lansbury, the Leader of the Labour Party. He was ready to confirm his views to a journalist.

      JOURNALIST: Mr. Lansbury, how do you think peace could be preserved in the world today? What do you think Britain should do?

      LANSBURY: I think we have been all wrong for centuries. The only path to peace is not to fight. Whether some people in this country like it or not we must give up all right to hold any other country, renounce all imperialism and stand unarmed before the world. We shall then become the strongest nation in the world, fully armed by justice and love.

      NARRATOR: The revulsion against all kind of wars reached even the highest echelons of British society. It affected the flower of British youth at our most famous University.

      USHER (LOUDLY PROCLAIMING): Resolution 1792 of the Oxford Union on the 9th February, 1933: ‘This House will in no circumstances fight for its King and Country’. For 275, against 153. The resolution is carried.

      SCENE 2

      NARRATOR: Numerous were the men of peace; they made their protestations. But the men of war were unaffected by their pleas. It is not that war was their favourite pastime. No, it was more than that. War was their obsession. How to win the next war was all they cared about. One of these men was Captain Charles de Gaulle, a veteran of the Great War. He was a man of towering height, formidable energy, and boundless self-confidence. He also possessed a phenomenally large nose often compared with that of Cyrano de Bergerac.

      NARRATOR 2 (FEMALE VOICE): Captain de Gaulle was sent to work for the Chief Secretariat for National Defence in France, a permanent body at the disposal of the Prime Minister, charged with preparing the state and the nation for war. He took his duties very seriously. His theory of warfare, not warfare in general but how the next war would be fought, was published in the spring of 1934. He was not in favour of the defensive strategy promoted at the time by the adherents of Marshall Petain. He advocated the establishment of a professional army and called attention to the crucial importance of mobility gained by the deployment of independent tank units.

      JOURNALIST: Captain, do you think that God always helps the bigger armies?

      DE GAULLE: No, not at all. He may consider helping a smaller army if it is well organised.

      JOURNALIST: Who do you think we shall fight in the next war?

      DE GAULLE: The Germans of course. Who else?

      JOURNALIST: What do you think of

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