Alianora:
"'As evil waxes, the very man who stand for good will in their fear use ever worse means o' fighting, and therefore give evil a free beachhead.'
"Holger thought of his own world, where Coventry had been avenged upon Cologne, and nodded." (pp. 71-72)
But people can create symbols for completely contradictory circumstances. St Paul's Cathedral surviving the Blitz boosted morale and symbolized proud resistance whereas Coventry Cathedral destroyed but later rebuilt came to symbolize peace and reconciliation. In Britain, the Dunkirk evacuation symbolizes not defeat and retreat but rescue and survival - waxing evil transfigured.
3 comments:
As Churchill mentioned, "wars are not won by retreats".
Kaor, Paul!
That picture of St. Paul's cathedral framed by billowing clouds of smoke is rightly famous as a symbol of British defiance.
I'm also glad Westminster cathedral also escaped destruction.
Strictly speaking, the Dunkirk evacuation was a retreat. The UK's army in France had been defeated by the Germans alongside the French. But, while forced to abandon heavy weapons/equipment, it was a fighting retreat by the British, with the BEF refusing to surrender to Germany. Retreat, to fight on and win in the future.
I think Hitler made a bad mistake, not ordering the Wehrmacht to relentlessly press the pursuit of the BEF, preventing most of it from reaching Dunkirk. But he was still hoping to make a deal with the UK, ending the war on terms favorable to Germany.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean: if Halifax had been PM instead of Churchill -- and Churchill nearly died half a dozen times between 1914 and 1940 -- then a deal would have been made.
That's what Hitler wanted. He didn't intend to conquer the world -- he thought his successors would.
What he wanted was to conquer -Europe-.
A short sharp campaign that would cast France down, a deal with Britain that would isolate Europe from America, and then to turn on the Soviet Union.
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