Prelude to War Page #4

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..sent out a blistering denunciation

of the attack.

The League of Nations sent a committee

of five, headed by Lord Litton and...

..including our General Frank McCoy

to investigate.

In October of 1932,

..the Committee issued its report.

"We found that the occupation

of this large part of China,

..was not justified on the grounds

of self-defence,

..and that the new State which

had been set up, is Japanese projected...

..rather than a genuine case of

Manchurian self-determination."

Shortly after, The League condemned

Japan as an aggressor Nation.

It is a matter of common knowledge,

that Japan's policy...

..is fundamentally inspired

by a genuine desire...

..to guarantee peace in the Far East.

And to contribute to the maintenance

of peace throughout the world.

Japan, however finds it

impossible to accept...

..that it fought abducted

by the assembly."

In answer, the Japanese delegates, knowing

there were no guns behind this condemnation,

..smiled, took up their briefcases,

marched out ofThe League.

Northern Manchuria was dead.

Collective security was dead.

The green light had been given

to the aggressors.

We and the rest of the world knew that these

aggressors should be stopped and punished,

..but we were unwilling to make the

necessary sacrifices to back up that opinion.

It was impossible to convince a farm-boy

in lowa, or a driver of a London bus,

..or a waiter in a Paris cafe that

he should go to war,

..because of a mud hut in Manchuria.

Yet the subsequent course of history

makes it clear that...

..that incident so many miles

away is the reason...

..that you and millions of others

are in uniform today.

The Japs had Manchuria, phase number one

of theTanaka plan was completed.

Phase number 2, the conquest of China.

In 1932, without warning the Japs

attacked the city of Shanghai.

Here they met such stubborn resistance,

that they had to pour more than 75,000 troops...

..into the local battle,

before capturing the city.

This resistance, made them decide

to shift their campaign into the north.

And in 1933, they added the

Province of Jerold to Manchuria.

Yes, the Japs launched the

second phase of theTanaka plan.

But they had yet to finish it.

A United Nations stands against them.

Under the inspired leadership of

General Chiang Kai-shek.

The Chinese people fought

and still fight on.

Meantime, what of Japan's partners?.

What helpless people were

they planning to bomb,

..drive into slavery?.

Hitler was not yet ready.

But Mussolini was. Mussolini had to be.

His people were growing restless.

Fascism hadn't produced the heaven

on earth that he promised them.

So he pulled the old trick of launching a foreign war

to divert the attention from troubles at home.

So Mussolini beat his chest likeTarzan

and looked around for a worthy foe.

He found one. Ethiopia.

Good country for the beginning

of a glorious empire.

Its army had no machine guns. Its army had no tanks.

Its army did have an air force.

Exactly one old aeroplane.

One aeroplane against the nation which had

developed the theory of total air-war.

Of the blitz that would wipe out cities,

destroy civilians.

Man woman, and child.

In October of 1935, following

the Japanese example,

..an incident was provoked at the little settlement

of Wal Wal near the border of Ethiopia...

..and ltalian Somalia land.

Italy's honour had been violated.

Refusing any arbitration, Mussolini moved

the whole might of his army through...

..the Suez Canal, to overrun

the undefended country

Ethiopia's Emperor, Haile Selaissie,

appeared beforeThe League of Nations.

"l must still fight on until

my tardy allies appear...

..and if they never come,

I say to you without bitterness,

..the West will perish."

Members of the League, half-heartedly

stopped trading with ltaly.

But refused the only thing

that would stop any aggressor

..force!

Ethiopia was left to herself.

Native leaders came to pledge their allegiance.

The people of Ethiopia, with their

spears and bare hands,

..faced the guns and tanks

of the invaders.

Fighting desperately and gallantly

to save their country from conquest.

They fought and they died. But in the end,

there could only be one result,

..might triumphed.

Italy conquered Ethiopia.

Many of our elected leaders

warned us of danger,

.."Without declaration of war, and without

warning or justification of any kind,

..civilians, including vast numbers

of women and children,

..are being ruthlessly murdered

with bombs from the air."

But we were still hypnotized by the fact,

that two broad oceans stood between us...

..and the rest of the world.

We didn't realize that when the time was

months to span these oceans, was ended.

That the steam ship had cut

these months to days.

And that now the whole earth's surface

could be covered in the space of hours.

Yes, we were a nation that wanted peace,

..but we hadn't yet learned that peace

for us, depends on peace for all.

No one would run the risk of war for some

mud huts and barren plains in Ethiopia,

..any more than we would run the risk

for some similar huts and plains in Manchuria.

Correctly interpreting our attitude, the aggressors

were all assure they could get what they wanted.

Japan had started on her march of conquest.

Italy had begun her new Empire.

And now the third gangster

What about him?.

We take him up in our next film.

And show how he joined his partners

and put in his bid.

For this is what we are fighting.

Freedom's oldest enemy.

The passion of the few to rule the many

This isn't just a war. This is common

man's life and death's...

..struggle against those who would

put him back into slavery.

We lose it and we lose everything.

Our homes. The jobs we want to go back to.

The books we read. The very food we eat.

The hopes we have for our kids.

The kids themselves.

They won't be ours anymore.

That's what's at stake.

It's us or them!

The chips are down. Two worlds

stand against each other.

One must die, one must live.

170 years of freedom,

decrees our answer!

"Victory of the democracies can only be complete

with the utter defeat of the...

..war machines of Germany and Japan."

--G.C. Marshall Chief of Staff

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