STRIKING PARALLEL

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21212, 7 September 1940, Page 11

STRIKING PARALLEL

Hitler and Napoleon :: Creat Britain's Role

(By Thomas Boy dell in the Cape Argus)

{JENERAL SMUTS recently reminded us that Napoleon was once master of the whole of Europe, yet he ended his days as a prisoner of St. Helena. The Prime Minister rightly added that Hitler’s efforts today for world domination would also be frustrated. It is fitting that we should, at this juncture, take courage from the past. To secure world domination by sheer military aggression Napoleon set up a mighty organisation. In a most striking manner history today is—mutatis mutandis —merely repeating itself. Nation after nation went down, before Napoleon’s terrific onslaughts. He proved himself a genius in military strategy. His main policy was always the same. His army was well equipped, his plans carefully prepared, he selected the weakest points in his enemies’ lines; then came intense troop concentration and attack, attack, attack. As these attacks were always sustained with tremendous intensity Napoleon won victory after victory, and conquered country after country. Only England Stood Between Him and world domination. “ Give me the English Channel for six hours,” he said, “ and I will be master of the world.” But then as now the British Navy did not give the freedom of the English Channel for even six minutes—and Napoleon’s dream of world domination ended on that lonely island in the Atlantic. Napoleon came into power in much the same way as Hitler did. France, tom asunder by revolution, exhausted by internal dissension and mob rule, attacked from outside by supporters of the monarchy, was quite ready to rally round anyone who would take the reins, restore order and give a strong lead. The “ little corporal ” of artillery seized the psychological moment. With his famous policy of a “ whiff of grape shot,” and making full use of the organising and executive ability of men he found ready to his hand, he soon established himself as a successful leader, rallied his countrymen, and became their master and their idol. In due course he was made First Consul for life. Having established himself firmly at home, he turned his attention to aggression, beyond the boundaries of France, and later assumed the title- of emperor. Hitler, too, was a corporal. He saw hi* country defeated in the Great War. He, too, seized the psychological moment. The German people—depressed to despair by their unexpected defeat and their war misery, suffering under the terms of the Peace Treaty, tom asunder by “ internal dissension and warring factions threatened by Bolshevism and mob rule ” —were only too ready to listen to and rally round a plausible and forceful rehabilitator. So Hitlerism was bom. Having firmly established himself at home, Hitler at once turned his attention to outer aggression. This policy occasioned no surprise. In his book, “ Mein Kampf,” he had already told the world that he intended to embark on a Policy of World Aggression. And so came the invasion of Austria, Sudetenland, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Denmark, Norway, Holland, Belgium, and then France. Hitler’s Gestapo is well known. But Napoleon also prohibited freedom of expression against his rule and suppressed the press. His word became the supreme law. He was, in fact, the “ Fuehrer.” Napoleon, too, believed in “jobs for pals.” No sooner did he “ protect ” Holland then he made his brother, Louis Bonaparte, King of Holland. Three conquered territories—Hesse, Cassel and Hanover—were lumped together and called Westphalia, and brother Jerome was made King of Westphalia. Another brother, Joseph, was made King of Naples, the rest of Italy, including Rome, being annexed to France. But still there were more worlds to

conquer. Napoleon made a pact with Spain, and agreed to divide Portugal between them. The reigning House of Braganza at once fled to Brazil. But no sooner was Portugal seized than Napoleon doublecrossed Ferdinand and seized Madrid. Having no more brothers to go round, for the ablest of them, Lucien, was estranged from him, brother Joseph was forcibly persuaded to become King of Spain—and so the merry game of monarch-making went on. His brother-in-law, Murat, took over the Kingdom of Naples. Previously, Napoleon had soundly defeated the combined armies of Austria and Russia at Austerlitz, and crushed Prussia at Jena and Auerstadt. Denmark also came under his “ protection.” But in this case England was determined that he Should Not Get The Danish Fleet. So she sent a naval force to Copenhagen, and after a fierce naval battle brought Denmark’s fleet back to England. Then, as now, Britain had two traditional policies. The first was at all costs to keep command of the seas. The second was to send one expeditionary force after another to try to help the victims of Napoleon’s aggression. In this way Britain felt that she was not only helping the weaker nations against a bullying military tyrant, but that it was also the most effective way in -which she could protect her own freedom and independence against ultimate aggression. Napoleon determined that, come what might, England had to be conquered. This, he said, could only be done in England itself. So he organised a gigantic expeditionary force with which to invade that country. He assembled more than 100,000 picked soldiers at Boulogne ready to cross the Channel. He also had ready a host of flat-bottomed boats to take his men over and land them on the south coast beaches. Everything was ready for the invasion. The only thing left was to get his soldiers across. Meanwhile England, like today, prepared herself for the attack. A volunteer force of over 300,000 was got ready to resist and fight the invaders. England’s total population at that time was only 15,000,000. Thanks to the British Navy, Napoleon’s invasion never came off. The naval strategy of the French admiral was to divide his fleet and draw Britain’s fleet away on a wild-goose chase toward the West Indies. Meanwhile the main portion ol the French fleet, supported by the quick return of the decoy fleet, was to protect the crossing of the soldiers. The British fleet was lured away but Nelson brought it back again just as quickly as the decoy fleet. The result was the Battle of Trafalgar. And the “ invasion ” of England by Napoleon Ended Before It Started. I After Trafalgar the war on land still went on. But at last Napoleon overleached himself. His military might did not long survive his march to Moscow, though some of his most brilliant feats were performed with a handful of troops, vastly outnumbered, in the campaign of France of 1814, to which there could be only one end. He returned from Elba, but before he met his final defeat at Waterloo the Allies met in solemn conclave. They mado a declaration which emphasises how history does repeat itself. It reads. “ The Powers therefore declare that Eonaparte has placed himself outside the pale of civil and social relations, and that as the general enemy and disturber of the world he is abandoned to social justice.” William Pitt, exhausted and worn to a shadow by the strain and work of the war years, died a few months after the battle of Trafalgar—at the youthful age of 47. Almost the last words he uttered m public were:— “ England has saved herself by her courage. She will save Europe by her example.” And eventually, with the assistance of her Allies, she did.