National war

“ This war has shown to us that we are not at the level of earlier days. We have lost our national unity, our sense of direction. The war has revealed in us an unpreparedness in foreign and domestic policy. ”

“ Is democratic government capable of looking ahead, making adequate and timely preparation, calling for and obtaining from its people the sacrifices which are necessary in order to preserve their own existence? Can it recover ground which has been lost, and maintain a long, costly, and arduous struggle, until, by victory, it has placed national security beyond the reach of danger?
Defeat in the present war would shake popular institutions to their foundations in England as well as France ”

“ The rule which declares that war makes all the citizens or subjects of one belligerent enemies of the Government and of all the citizens or subjects of the other, applies equally to civil and to international wars. ”

“ If any at the opening of the war supposed that those powerful States, comprising a great and energetic population, would ever consent to a peace that would put the lower course of that great national outlet to the sea in the hands of a foreign power far weaker than themselves, they were blind indeed to the lessons of history. ”

“ Citizens met and congratulated each other upon Union victories, and upon the probable speedy close of the national strife, and at the firesides of home discussed the terrible ravages of war, and as they knelt at the family altar, thanked God that our own city, and our State, and our section of the Union, had thus far been spared the immediate horrors and desolation which ever mark the theatre of warfare. ”

“ United States Army.
[v] FOREWORD THIS is a popular narrative history of the world’s greatest war. Written frankly from the viewpoint of the United States and the Allies, it visualizes the bloodiest and most destructive conflict of all the ages from its remote causes to its glorious conclusion and beneficent results. The world-shaking rise of new democracies is set forth, and the enormous national and individual sacrifices producing that resurrection of human equality are detailed. ”

“ The greed of territorial aggrandizement, the spirit of national adventure, the longing for commercial supremacy, the honor of a country, the pride of racial achievement—each is urged to justify the necessity for bloodshed and carnage. Such are the arguments of the advocates of war. ”

“ In national wars the country should be occupied and subjugated, the fortified places besieged and reduced, and the armies destroyed; whereas in wars of opinion it is of less importance to subjugate the country; here great efforts should be made to gain the end speedily, without delaying for details, care being constantly taken to avoid any acts which might alarm the nation for its independence or the integrity of its territory. ”

“ I want every citizen to understand this cardinal fact, for only from a clear conception of the vast importance of the issue at stake can come the great national, moral impulse without which Governments, War Ministers, and even navies and armies can do but little. We have enormous advantages in our resources of men and material, and in that wonderful spirit of ours which has never understood the meaning of defeat. ”

“ One may afford now to write about mistakes, even the mistakes of our French Allies, who have redeemed them all by a national heroism beyond the highest words of praise, and by a fine struggle for efficiency and organization which were lamentably lacking in the early days of the war. ”

“ Let no one forget for a moment that the present war, certainly NATIONAL so far as the existence of each one of the Allied States is concerned, is, above all preeminently a world's conflict which favourable [399] issue deeply concerns the destinies of all the peoples of the earthly globe. ”

“ In this surrender, if such it may be called, the National Government does not even “stoop to conquer.” It simply lifts itself to the height of its own original principles. The early efforts of its best negotiators, the patriot trials of its soldiers in an unequal war, at length prevail, and Great Britain, usually so haughty, invites us to practise upon principles which she has so strenuously opposed. ”

“ The victories and the commanding position of France from 1792 to 1799 were regarded as so entirely the necessary result of the Revolution, that a conviction prevailed that the formation of a republic, with a national army for its defense, would have an especial effect on the rest of Europe. ”

“ Moreover, broad plans commensurate with our national purpose and resources would bring conviction of our power to every soldier in the front line, to the nations associated with us in the war, and to the enemy. ”

“ That national armaments be limited to purposes of internal police, no nation be allowed to have a force sufficient to be a menace to general peace, and a League of Peace be formed which shall have at its hand sufficient armed power to compel order among the States. ”

“ It must ever be kept in mind that war is not merely justifiable, but imperative, upon honorable men, upon an honorable nation, where peace can only be obtained by the sacrifice of conscientious conviction or of national welfare. ”

“ Our arms having been everywhere victorious, having subjected to our military occupation a large portion of the enemy's country, including his capital, and negotiations for peace having failed, the important questions arise, in what manner the war ought to be prosecuted and what should be our future policy. ”

“ SIR.—The United States, in Congress assembled, receive with emotions too affecting for utterance, the solemn resignation of the authorities under which you have led their troops with success through a perilous and a doubtful war. Called upon by your country to defend its invaded rights, you accepted the sacred charge before it had formed alliances and whilst it was without funds or a government to support you. You have conducted the great military contest with wisdom and fortitude, invariably regarding the rights of the civil power through all disasters and changes. ”

“ But this country which I have been in part describing is now the scene of one of the greatest calamities that can afflict mankind. After seventy years of almost uninterrupted peace, it has become the scene of a civil war, more gigantic, perhaps, than any that we have any record of with regard to any other nation or any other people; for the scene of this warfare is so extended as to embrace a region almost equal in size to the whole of Europe. ”

“ An idea seemed to be entertained that all that was necessary to constitute a war was organized hostility in the district of country in a state of rebellion — that conflicts on land and on sea — the taking of towns and capture of fleets — in fine, the magnitude and dimensions of the resistance against the Government — constituted war with all the belligerent rights belonging to civil war. ”

“ World at War
By 1779 the war had spread across the globe. In spring Spain entered the war as an ally of France and soon declared war on Great Britain. As the year closed, the Continental Army entered into winter camp at Morristown, New Jersey, where they would endure fiercer weather conditions and subsist on fewer supplies than they had at Valley Forge. ”

“ But, sir, we are told that peace is in our power without a farther promotion of the war. Appeal not, say our opponents, to the fear, but to the generosity of our enemy. England yields nothing to her fears ”

“ The period of time during which a natural person’s whereabouts is unknown shall be counted from the date when the natural person has not been heard of ever since. If a person is missing during a war, the time of his whereabouts becoming unknown shall be counted from the date the war is ended or from the date as determined by the relevant authority. Article 42
A missing person’s property shall be placed in the custody of his spouse, adult children, parents, or any other persons willing to take such custody. ”

“ Every nation is fighting in self-defence, every nation is fighting to destroy the tyranny of armaments, every nation is fighting to show that unprovoked aggression cannot be practised with impunity. Every nation pays homage to peace by maintaining that its enemies began the war. ”

“ After Greene frustrated General Cornwallis' designs in the Carolinas, the British general moved to Virginia where the Allies trapped his army. Yorktown was not the end of the war, as Washington and his generals had to contend with the British garrisons that remained.
January
Pennsylvania and New Jersey troops mutiny over pay and enlistment grievances. To prevent further spread of revolt among army, Washington and his officers deal harshly with the mutineers, executing several men. ”

“ Nothing grander has ever appeared to the eyes of men than to fight against barbarism and despotism, against the system of provocations and threats which Germany called peace, against the system of murder and wholesale pillage which Germany calls war, [Loud cheers.] And it is against the insolent supremacy of a military caste that France and her Allies have flung themselves as emancipators and avengers. ”

“ But we are fighting the fight which is the fight of all freemen everywhere—against the wantonness of military power, against the spirit that tears up treaties and makes peaceful agreement between nations impossible—against a cruelty and barbarism in war which brings our civilisation to shame. We have a right to your sympathy—you who are the heirs of Washington and Lincoln, the trustees of liberty in the New World as we, with France, are in the Old. ”

“ So, full of this mad obsession, full of this frenzied infatuation, full of lust of power and conquest, Germany struck swiftly, blindingly, perfidiously—struck with the forces secretly organized for instant war, while yet the peaceful peoples were unprepared. ”

“ Is our country invaded, or even in danger of invasion? Nothing like it. We are spreading all the horrors of war in a foreign country; we are taking the advantage of the weakness and poverty, of the distraction and disorders of a sister republic, to overrun her territory, that we may filch from her a portion of her possessions. ”

“ Washington bids farewell to his officers at Fraunces’ Tavern in New York City.
December 23
Washington resigns his commission before the Continental Congress in Annapolis, Maryland.
Legacy
On a personal level the Revolutionary War produced a mixed legacy of positive and negative consequences. On the patriot side, the cost of founding an independent republic was high. Approximately 25,000 sacrificed their lives, and many forfeited their livelihood. The success of the Revolution brought scorn to those loyal to the Crown, and most of them lost fortunes and homes. ”

“ Now, unhappily, there arises a conflict in our own country, which presents the case of an armed military rebellion—a revolt of certain portions of population, maintaining, if you please, to a certain extent, the mastery over a certain portion of our soil, using against us the actual means and processes of war, and compelling from our Government, in maintaining dominion against their aggressive assaults, the means of military power, naval and land forces, and all the authority and violence of war. ”

“ With a profound sense of the solemn and even tragical character of the step I am taking and of the grave responsibilities which it involves, but in unhesitating obedience to what I deem my constitutional duty, I advise that the Congress declare the recent course of the Imperial German Government to be in fact nothing less than war against the Government and people of the United States. ”

“ After the French and Indian War, Britain initiated policies aimed at bringing the colonists under closer control. Tensions grew. Many Americans stood firm in their belief that the King had suspended their natural rights. Increasingly, resistance leaders banded together. ”

“ A worsening economy, military disaster in the South, and treason, all undermined the war effort in 1780. Two South Carolina defeats: the capture of Charleston and its large American garrison, and subsequent loss at Camden, made the patriot situation in the South extremely tenuous. Benedict Arnold’s treasonous attempt to hand over the plans to Fort West Point, New York, added insult to injury.
March 14
Spanish take British-held post at Mobile (Alabama) . ”

“ Not only states, which either have wars to maintain, or precarious possessions to defend at a distance; not only a prince jealous of his authority, or in haste to gain the advantage of discipline, are disposed to employ foreign troops, or to keep standing armies; but even republics, with little of the former occasion, and none of the motives which prevail in monarchy, have been found to tread in the same path. If military arrangements occupy so considerable a place in the domestic policy of nations, the actual consequences of war are equally important in the history of mankind. ”

“ And is it to that ministry, is it to those agents of the executive power, that you would entrust the conduct of the war? Is it thus you would abandon the safety of the country to those who wish to destroy you?
"The thing which you have most cause to fear, is war. War is the greatest scourge which can, in our present circumstances, menace liberty! For it is in no wise a war kindled by the enmity of peoples. It is a war concerted by the enemies of our Revolution. ”

“ In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign states to invite and provoke their aggressions, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere, except in the theater of military conflict ”

“ To avoid the danger of what men who have seized upon forts, arsenals, and other property of the United States, and continue to hold them by military force, may choose to call civil war, we are allowing a state of things to gather head which will make real civil war the occupation of the whole country for years to come, and establish it as a permanent institution. ”