Munich 1938 - Appeasement or buying time?

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Re: Munich 1938 - Appeasement or buying time?

Postby dcunning30 » Tue Sep 27, 2005 9:37 am

If you've ever seen a film of Hitler giving one of his speeches then you can easily see why everyone followed him. He may have been a lousy tactician but he was a fantastic public speaker.


For a very long time, I was curious what was it he was saying that had so many followers so mesmerized.  The I began seeing footages of Hitler speeches with subtitiles.  He wasn't saying anything profound.  He spoke like some moderately educated, yet tough-talking guy from the streets.  I thought "that was it?"  I was unimpressed.

.....Living Color's song Cult of Personality now comes to mind.
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Re: Munich 1938 - Appeasement or buying time?

Postby Woodlouse2002 » Wed Sep 28, 2005 7:31 am

It's never the content, but the delivery. Same applies to almost all public speakers.
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Re: Munich 1938 - Appeasement or buying time?

Postby Hagar » Wed Sep 28, 2005 7:44 am

It's never the content, but the delivery. Same applies to almost all public speakers.

In most cases yes & the Nazi propaganda machine was fully aware of this. No expense was spared to create the right atmosphere at those mass rallies. The whole thing was orchestrated to achieve the desired result which was very much like mass hysteria. Compare that with Winston Churchill's speeches on the radio. Nobody could see him but they wouldn't have had the same effect if spoken by anyone else. He promised nothing but hardship & a long hard struggle. Most of what he was saying was depressing but he succeeded in getting the support he needed from the majority of British people. They're stirring if you listen to them now.

It was suggested here a while ago that some of those famous speeches Churchill made in the House of Commons were later recorded for radio broadcast by an actor impersonating him. I'd not heard of this before then but even if it's true, they wouldn't have had the same effect if not presented in his own unique style.

PS. I can hear him saying it now & quote it almost word for word & I wasn't even born at the time.
"We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender, and even if, which I do not for a moment believe, this Island or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our Empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British Fleet, would carry on the struggle, until, in God's good time, the New World, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the old."
Last edited by Hagar on Wed Sep 28, 2005 8:04 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Munich 1938 - Appeasement or buying time?

Postby H » Thu Sep 29, 2005 3:03 am

"We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender, and even if, which I do not for a moment believe, this Island or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our Empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British Fleet, would carry on the struggle, until, in God's good time, the New World, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the old."
Rather stuck US ::) right in there, huh?
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Re: Munich 1938 - Appeasement or buying time?

Postby Hagar » Thu Sep 29, 2005 4:08 am

Rather stuck US ::) right in there, huh?

Although being a deeply patriotic Briton until he died & seen by most people as a typical Englishman right down to his socks, Winston Churchill was actually half-American as you no doubt already know. His mother is sometimes completely overlooked in biographies but she was the daughter of a New York businessman.
I'm sure he had every confidence that the US couldn't & wouldn't stand by & watch all this happening without intervening if it became necessary. It might be a controversial way of looking at it but the events at Pearl Harbor on Dec 7th 1941 probably saved Europe from the Nazis. I've always thought that Churchill pulled off a master stroke by persuading Franklin D Roosevelt to help settle things in Europe first before concentrating on Japan. it's possible that he was one of the few that could have done that. Roosevelt must take some of the credit & I believe he would have done this sooner if he thought he could persuade the American people that it was the right course of action. He was already supporting Britain with the lend-lease arrangement without which things might have been very different, although paying off the debt almost brought this country to its knees after the war was over.
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Re: Munich 1938 - Appeasement or buying time?

Postby dcunning30 » Thu Sep 29, 2005 9:38 am

Hagar


Excellent points.  There's nothing I can add to that.
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