Evening star., 1940-09-01

IF AN omniscient prophet had pre-
L dicted a year ago the state of the
world today, he would have been laughed
at as a fool or denounced as a Fascist.
The events of the past II months, follow
ing one upon the other with appalling
and awful sequence, have confounded all
the old oracles.
Looking back at the perspective of
history, it is difficult to find any period
in which the established world order
the picture of life commonly accepted by
masses of people-has been so swiftly
overturned. And there is widespread ap-
prehension that the process has not yet
been completed, that it has in fact only
just begun.
Norway, Denmark, Holland, Belgium,
France have succumbed to Nazi might
and domestic enfeeblement. Great Brit
ain is desperately defending an island
fortress from an attack such as the British
people have never known before. In this
country vast effort at rearmament and
conscription is being pushed under the
handicap of an unprecedented political
campaign.
Appalling Scope of Events.
So much has happened that the mind
is scarcely able to take it in. Yet from
the vantage point of this tragic anniver-
sary it is worthwhile, if only in that it
may contribute to better understanding
of the present, to look back on the grim
milestones marking the past IL months.
t. Erc # oil ie
plete unpreparedness to accept major
change, our unwillingness to face un-
pleasant eventualities This was true no
less in Western Europe than in the
United States. We had been warned re-
peatedly of the horrors of modern war
fare and the power of the Nazis. And
in the early days of last September there
was panic in Europe with Americans
scrambling frantically to come home.
Actually, except for the Polish cam
paign, the war did not begin until eight
months later. There was an accentuation
of the war of nerves, the war of propa-
ganda, the war of threat and counter
threat, but of real warfare there was
very little.
While the collapse of Poland should
have warned the Western democracies of
what the future might hold, the expert
ence was written off to Poland's general
backwardness. 1t was a feudal country,
said every one comfortably in which a
reactionary ruling class had neglected
even rudimentary reforms looking toward
national unity. There was the disquiet-
ing report that the British military INTEL
hgence had given Poland at least four
months to last under Nazi attack Our
own military intelligence gauged 1t far
more accurately with an estimate Of
three weeks.
The 'Phony" Stage.
But with Poland out of the way, every
one outside of Germany settled down to
what was universally believed to be the
start of long and exhaustive war, SIM
liar in pattern If not in technique to that
of 1914-18. The French were inclined,
as the weeks went by, to joke about their
war. The men in the Maginot Line, the
joke went, were so bored that they were
knitting socks for the folks back home
The use of gasoline was curtailed, but
not much. In any top-hight restaurant
| in Paris you could still get the most
superb dinner in the world. The sea-
sonal collection of clothes from the
big couturiers went out to New York as
they always had. American correspond
ents wrote articles about the splendid
morale in France; how in a democracy
discipline came not through regimenta-
ton but through good will.
In England Chamberlain and his
collaborstors remained at the head of the