Military alliance

“ The Military skill and prowess of our Army have kept us from being overwhelmed by our powerful enemies; and the political exertions of the CONGRESS have, by the smiles of Heaven, obtained for us an Alliance with the most illustrious Nation in Europe; and the warmest wishes of other Powers. Our affairs appear to be approaching to a great crisis. As momentary visits did not entirely fulfill the purpose of our generous ALLY, we may daily expect from him a naval and land force, designed to co-operate with our own troops ”

“ If the peace-loving nations were sufficiently strong to be obviously capable of defeating the nations which were willing to wage aggressive war, the peace-loving nations might form an alliance and agree to fight jointly against any nation which refused to submit its claims to an International Council. Before the present war we might have reasonably hoped to secure the peace of the world in some such way; but the military strength of Germany has shown that such a scheme has no great chance of success at present. ”

“ The present alliance is of good promise in three important respects—its members refuse to make any separate peace, they co-operate cordially and efficiently in military measures, and the richer members help the poorer financially. These policies have been hastily devised and adopted in the midst of strenuous fighting on an immense scale. If deliberately planned and perfected in times of peace, they could be made in the highest degree effective toward durable peace. ”

“ "Men, since the beginning of time have sought peace. Various methods through the ages have been attempted to devise an international process to prevent or settle disputes between nations. From the very start workable methods were found in so far as individual citizens were concerned, but the mechanics of an instrumentality of larger international scope have never been successful.
"Military alliances, balances of power, leagues of nations, all in turn failed, leaving the only path to be by way of the crucible of war. The utter destructiveness of war now blots out this alternative. ”

“ Now what are the issues for which we are fighting? In due time the terms of peace will be put forward by our Allies in concert with us—in accordance with the alliance that exists between us—and published to the world. ”

“ With respect to certain treaties of alliance, whose object is to collect the greatest possible number of bayonets as a mutual security against other powers, who, on their side, seek to protect themselves by uniting their forces, nobody can see in them anything else than a guarantee for an armed peace, which, by the necessity of its nature, leads to war. ”

“ The clouds have been gathering for a good many years, and we have only buried our heads a little deeper in the sands. We have had our chances and wilfully chucked them away. National Service or three more army corps four years ago would have brought us an alliance which would have meant absolute safety for twenty-one years. ”

“ Thus the nations which join the League will enjoy all the economic and political advantages which come from mutual cooperation and the extension of international friendship and at the same time will be protected by an adequate force against the aggressive force of the greatest nation or alliance outside the League. The League therefore reconciles the demand of the pacifists for the limitation of armaments and eventual disarmament and the demand of the militarists for the protection that armament affords. ”

“ Let us suppose an army crosses the Alps or the Rhine to carry on war in Italy or Germany. It encounters states of the second rank; and, even if they are in alliance, there are always rivalries or collisions of interest which will deprive them of that unity and strength possessed by a single powerful state. ”

“ We were altogether strangers to the happy state of our affairs in France, accident and knavery having suppressed the despatches of our friends, as our former letters will prove, if any attempts shall be made to attribute our late determined conduct to a knowledge of our new alliance. Congress unanimously ratified the treaties on the 4th, and the people have showed their satisfaction, wherever the knowledge of the proceeding has reached. The army also, which is daily increasing in strength, has expressed its joy, and is now prepared either for honorable peace, or a continuation of the just war. ”

“ Second, the most hearty co-operation with the Allies to meet any future situation arising during the present war period. Third, the realization that while a successful termination of the present war must always be the first Allied aim, and will probably result in diminished tension throughout the world, the future position of the United States must in no way be jeopardized by any disintegration of our main fighting fleet. Fourth, the conception that the present main military rôle of the United States naval force lies in its safeguarding the line of communications of the Allies. ”

“ We agreed on the following: "NATO has been and must remain a great alliance. Great alliances do great things. It is possible that NATO’s most important days and most important missions lie ahead in the future." ”

“ But when the invasion is distant and extensive territories intervene, its success will depend more upon diplomacy than upon strategy. The first step to insure success will be to secure the sincere and devoted alliance of a state adjoining the enemy, which will afford reinforcements of troops, and, what is still more important, give a secure base of operations, depots of supplies, and a safe refuge in case of disaster. The ally must have the same interest in success as the invaders, to render all this possible. ”

“ In European politics it has been usual for States to pledge themselves to mutual assistance by an alliance offensive and defensive, not so far that the one takes part in the interests and quarrels of the other, but only so far as to promise one another beforehand the assistance of a fixed, generally very moderate, contingent of troops, without regard to the object of the war, or the scale on which it is about to be carried on by the principals. ”

“ And when they solicit the alliance, offensive or defensive, of a whole nation, they send an embassy with a large belt of wampum, and a bloody hatchet, inviting them to come and drink the blood of their enemies. ”

“ However stringent the conditions which the Allies may be able to impose on their enemies, there will still remain a keen, strenuous, irrepressible race of at least a hundred and twenty millions, endowed with rare capacities for organization, cohesion, self-sacrifice and perseverance, [298] whom no treaties can bind, no scruples can restrain, no dangers intimidate. At any moment a new invention, a favourable diplomatic combination, would suffice to move them to burst all bounds and resume the military, naval and aerial contest anew. ”

“ They push out skirmishers, and draw them in, throw out flanking parties, plant outposts, race for commanding points, manoeuvre each other out of corners, cut off each others' communications with the water, sap and mine—in fact go through all the artifices of civilized war. If they find themselves well-matched, they eventually make an alliance, and mingle peacefully with each other, dividing the richer spots equally, and going halves in the water. ”

“ Promote a formal ending to the cross-strait state of hostilities, reach a peace accord, and build a framework for the peaceful and steady development of cross-strait ties, including the establishment of a military mutual trust mechanism, to avoid cross-strait military conflict. ”

“ Having already made an extract from, both declarations of war, I shall here give a translation of the eighth article in the grand alliance, which will put this matter out of dispute.
THE EIGHTH ARTICLE OF THE GRAND ALLIANCE.
WHEN the war is once undertaken, none of the parties shall have the liberty to enter upon a treaty of peace with the enemy, but jointly and in concert with the other. ”

“ The valuable services constantly rendered by the Army and its inestimable importance as the nucleus around which the volunteer forces of the nation can promptly gather in the hour of danger, sufficiently attest the wisdom of maintaining a military peace establishment; but the theory of our system and the wise practice under it require that any proposed augmentation in time of peace be only commensurate with our extended limits and frontier relations. ”

“ Finally, to end inter-service disputes requires clear organization and decisive central direction, supported by the unstinted cooperation of every individual in the defense establishment, civilian and military. ”

“ The form of this alliance that the French have demanded hitherto is an entangling alliance, an alliance of America and Britain and France against, at least, Germany and Russia. The necessary alliance to which France and Britain will presently assent, and which America will come to recognize as the only way to its peacemaking aims, will be against no one; it is an alliance of an entirely beneficial character, an alliance not to entangle but to release. ”

“ Already we have established, as you know, unified command of land, sea, and air forces in the southwestern Pacific theater of war. There will be a continuation of conferences and consultations among military staffs, so that the plans and operations of each will fit into the general strategy designed to crush the enemy. We shall not fight isolated wars--each Nation going its own way. These 26 Nations are united--not in spirit and determination alone, but in the broad conduct of the war in all its phases. ”

“ The Allied and Associated Powers agree, so far as they are concerned, from the coming into force of the present treaty, not to enroll in nor to attach to their armies or naval or air forces any German national for the purpose of assisting in the military training of such armies or naval or air forces, or otherwise to employ any such German national as military, naval, or aeronautic instructor. ”

“ Your veterans in diplomacy and in affairs of State, consider 261 us as a kind of militia, and hold us, perhaps, as is natural, in some degree of contempt; but wise men know that militia sometimes gain victories over regular troops, even by departing from the rules. Soon after I had presented the memorial, I wrote to the Duc de la Vauguyon upon the subject of inviting or admitting in concert, the Republic to accede to the alliance between France and America. ”

“ When the alliance is defensive, the treaty binds each party to assist the other only when engaged in a defensive war, and unjustly attacked. By the conventional law of nations, the government that first declares, or actually begins the war, is considered as making offensive war; and though it should not be the first actually to apply force, yet if it first renders the application of force necessary, it is the aggressor; and the other party, though the first to apply force, is engaged in a defensive war. ”

“ The ability of partner nations in the theater of operations of the commander of a combatant command to assist in meeting the joint military requirement or the benefit, if any, of a partner nation assisting in development or use of technologies developed to meet the joint military requirement. ”

“ Any attempt to pledge the two nations beforehand to combine defensive and offensive action in all circumstances must {214} inevitably break down and be a source of danger instead of strength. All therefore that the most sanguine advocate of an alliance can contemplate is that the United States and Great Britain should keep in close touch with each other, and that whenever their policy and their interests are identical they should be prepared to concert together the necessary measures for their defence. ”

“ Should circumstances change and European war become likely, as it has not in fact been likely since 1871, the basis for our alliances, if we needs must have them, lies in our peaceful policy, our vigour, and our fleet. ”

“ The nations have met like partners at a ball and danced to the tune of the dynastic or religious quarrel which 154 happened to be paramount at the time. The grouping of nations in alliances has simply been a means of more effective prosecution of military campaigns, a temporary convenience to be discarded when no longer needed. ”

“ The experience gained, however, from the present operations, which are distributed over several fronts, proves that unity of direction, indispensable to the conduct of the war, can only be assured by the presence at the head of all of our armies of a single chief, responsible for the military operations proper. ”

“ While avoiding entangling alliances, it has aimed to cultivate friendly relations with other nations, and especially with our American neighbors on the American continent whose destiny is closely linked with our own, and we view with alarm the tendency to a policy of irritation and bluster which is liable at any time to confront us with the alternative of humiliation or war. We favor the maintenance of a navy strong enough for all purposes of national defence, and to properly maintain the honor and dignity of the country abroad. ”

“ A most encouraging achievement was realized, a few months ago, emphasizing to the utmost the unity of purpose of the Allies. Every one of them have millions of men under arms and at the front. It is easily conceived how tremendous is the task of properly directing the military operations of such immense armies, unprecedented in the whole human history. Most patriotically putting aside all national susceptibilities, the statesmen governing the Allied nations acknowledged the necessity of supporting unity of purpose by unity of military command. ”