IT’S A SMALL WAR AFTER ALL
IT’S A SMALL WAR AFTER ALL: Victor Davis Hanson has a very thoughful peace in NRO which makes the argument that the impending war with Saddam is really a continuation of a broader war. He points out that, historically, it has only been after the fact that most of the “great” wars were seen as a single event:
Britain and America — but not Russia — fought Japan for most of the Second World War. Germany, under a non-aggression pact with Russia, fought England, and only later was defeated with the help of Russia and America. There was no more synchronism between Germany and Japan than among the present Axis of Evil. Russia never invaded Italy. Nor did Germany send troops to the Pacific, nor Japan to Europe. Guadalcanal was part of the same war, as was Stalingrad — just as Anzio was connected to the capture of Copenhagen, jungle fighting in Burma, and Hiroshima. If all that is not true, then we are wrong now grandly to speak of a “World War II” — a single conflict that combines the Pacific and European theaters, unified by a common struggle against fascism in its various manifestations in Germany, Italy, and Japan, and started on September 1, 1939, June 22, 1941, and December 7, 1941.
As they say, Read it all. (via RCP)
