U NFORTUNATELY for the peace of the world, the United
States retreated into its traditional policy of isolation
during the period between the wars. Britain's
strength was seriously weakened as a result of various dis-
armament conferences, so that when Adolf Hitler became
Chancellor of Germany in 1933 a grave situation developed.
Japan, by her invasion of Manchuria, had embarked on her
long war with China, which was the prelude to further expan-
sion. Russia was torn apart internally by the Stalinist purges.
An alliance between two bellicose dictators, Hitler and Musso-
lini, was bound to develop into what became known as the
Axis. The burden of the defence of the democratic West
therefore fell mainly on the French army with its outdated
views on static defence behind the Maginot Line, and on the
British navy and air force, both now dangerously below
strength.

A period of rearmament began after the Nazi attitude to
the League of Nations and the Treaty of Versailles had
become apparent. On the German side, Hitler was bound by
no traditions, moral or military, regarding the form of war-
fare he wished to employ. He therefore developed the use
of the bomber and the tank far quicker than did the allies.
He also made new use of propaganda and psychological war-
fare, by means of which all his early victories were won
without employing force--the reoccupation of the Rhineland,
the conquest of Austria and Czechoslovakia. When it seemed
that Poland would be attacked in the same way, the allies
guaranteed her independence. Hitler realized that this was a
strategically impossible task. So, having avoided the danger
of a war on two fronts by the conclusion of a pact with

-268-