Consider the words of Mr. Churchill from 25 November 1936: "Europe, and it might well be the whole world, is now approaching the most dangerous moment in history. (Gasp! Ear-tickling man cannot believe the audacity of this comment!) The struggle which is now opening between rival forms of dictatorships threatens to disturb the internal peace of many countries and to range them against each other. That alone would bring us into grave danger. Yet I feel that danger can be surmounted and kept within bounds if it were not that in this self-same, ill-starred epoch men had learned to fly. The aeroplane (sic) has put all countries and all parts of every country simultaneously at the mercy of sudden blasting attack."
Please note that at this point no large-scale air operation had been conducted in wartime and the idea Churchill expounded existed only in the minds of military planners - and those were few. This radical idea was not widely accepted as a viable military strategy in 1936. Of course, this is inconceivable to men of this current generation - but the prophetic insight of Mr. Churchill is astounding. England would experience the "Blitz" - Germany's effort to bring England to her knees through air attack - within five year's time.
A great leader offers direction - and so Churchill added later in the speech the following encouragement. (While times change and circumstances change - issues seem to remain the same.) "...we are bound to support all well-considered necessary measures to enable the country to defend itself and bear its part in a combined defensive system against aggression. We view with strongest reprehension activities like those of Mr. Lansbury and Canon Sheppard, who are ceaselessly trying to dissuade the youth of this country from joining its defensive forces, and seek to impede and discourage the military preparations which the state of the world fores upon us.
His seemingly lone voice sounded the cry of alarm in the face of steady opposition - that is, until it was nearly too late and the truth about Hitler was painfully obvious to all. Churchill stands as a great example of a man who did not cave in to fear and stood fast in the face of both the times and the men of the times.
