Nations are fortunate to have such leaders in time of conflict, but there are also advantages in leaders who avoid conflict in the first place.

Bethmann-Hollweg era davvero irremovibile non tanto sulle sue richieste territoriali – cercò, a un certo punto, di dissuadere il Kaiser dall’insistere sull’annessione del Belgio – quanto sull’intenzione di imporre una unione doganale sul continente: «è sottinteso che l’unione doganale dovrà rendere possibile il controllo della Germania sull’Europa»

War is full of clichés, because only clichés can match the drama of the moment.

Arguments for war based on the principle of 'setting the world an example' are always dangerous. They can be used to justify quite disproportionate responses, as occurred in South-east Asia in the 1960s and 1970s. They tend to be selective: why for instance did Britain not use force in 1965 to uphold the concept of majority self-determination in Rhodesia?

Na União Soviética, a segunda grande ofensiva alemã (embora com menor número de soldados se comparada à de 1941), no verão de 1942, pretendia conquistar o petróleo do Cáucaso, mas terminou numa catástrofe em Stalingrado — uma batalha de desgaste que durou cinco meses, avançando pelo rigorosíssimo inverno russo, e terminou em fevereiro de 1943 com a destruição total do Sexto Exército alemão, a perda de mais de 200 mil homens (e cerca de 300 mil de seus aliados).

The merits of rival causes are never absolute. Even in the Second World War, the Western allied struggle against fascism was compromised by its reliance upon the tyranny of Stalin to pay most of the blood price for destroying the tyranny of Hitler. Only simpletons of the political Right and Left dare to suggest that in Vietnam either side possessed a monopoly of virtue.

It seems flippant to suggest that Hitler determined to invade Russia because he could not think what else to do, but there is something in this

The prime principle of employing force in pursuit of national objectives is to ensure that it is effective.

It did not occur to Hitler, after his victories in the west, that it might be more difficult to overcome a brutalised society, inured to suffering, than democracies such as France and Britain, in which moderation and respect for human life were deemed virtues.