Thursday, November 03, 2005

The Churchill Series - Nov. 3, 2005

(One of a series of daily posts about Winston S. Churchill.)

Below is the opening paragraph of John Lukacs’ masterful, The Duel, 10 May – 31 July 1940: The Eighty-Day Struggle Between Churchill and Hitler. For ease and comprehension, I’ve segmented the paragraph into four shorter ones. Otherwise, it's unaltered.

If you're new to theThe Duel, it’s a study of Churchill and Hitler’s leadership during the time Britain was first driven from the European continent, and then stood alone on its home islands and fought the Nazi horde.
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In June 1940, a few days before Paris fell, Premier Reynaud broadcast to the French people: if Hitler wins the war, “it would be the Middle Ages again, but not illuminated by the mercy of Christ.”

A few days later, on 18 June, in his “finest hour” speech Churchill evoked the prospect, not of a return to the Middle Ages, but of a lurch into a New Dark Age.

If Hitler wins and we fall, he said, “then the whole world, including the Untied States, including all that we have known and cared for , will sink into the abyss of a New Dark Age, made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of perverted science.”

That was a more precise statement than Reynaud’s - and perhaps more apposite now, fifty years later, when within and without the great conurbations of the Western world many of the signs and symptoms of a New Dark Age are rising. (p. 222)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

"“then the whole world, including the Untied States, including all that we have known and cared for , will sink into the abyss of a New Dark Age, made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of perverted science.”"

Could he be talking about the OBL inspired caliphate that the MSM is ignoring?

Muslim youth burning Paris?

The Spanish retreating from terrorists?

The Prince of Wales.....

-AC

Rebekah said...

You're doing a great job here... just wanted to let you know, I'm hoping to start a discussion on my blog about weapons, military etc.
Hope you can participate.