1938 and All That
being an outline of the causes of the Great War

You may well ask, what has 1938 got to do with anything, particularly the Great War? The quick answer is, Everything. Because of all that had gone before, and all that was about to happen after.

At the bottom of this page is to a link to an extraordinary article, of a lecture in fact, given by an unknown naval officer, in November of 1938. I say, 'unknown', as he simply signs himself M.C.R. And I include it here on this website for those fascinated enough with the origins of the tragedy of the Great War, and all the subsequent tragedies that followed. It gives the best summing up that I have ever seen of the main causes of what led up to that terrible August of 1914, and an equally keen insight into the terrible events that led directly to what followed. Just remember that within 3 years of this article being written, Hull city centre was largely reduced to rubble. That terrible event had its roots in what happened 24 years before, the centenary of which we mark this year.

The author, perhaps without realising it, brilliantly outlines the chain of events in the Germany of Bismarck's era and leading up to 1914, the Great War itself and how that war ended, through to the 1930s and the rise of the Nazi Party, and on to the Second World War, even though that hadn't started when he wrote this. I'd love to know who MCR really was. And did he survive the coming onslaught? I hope so, but we really don't know. His writing seems to show an awareness of his own impending fate.  One reason I recommend this is if only because this man was writing about his own times, had lived through the Great War and had plenty of time to think and reason and consider cause and effect; he knew very well indeed what he was talking about, enough to be qualified to give it as a lecture.

It's a long read, and takes about 30 minutes. I recommend it to old and young alike, those with a good knowledge of those events, and also the younger students of history who may well be just delving into this momentous period of European history. I would say that anyone much younger than 14 would struggle to fully understand all that this article says, it was after all meant for other naval officers of good and broad education, from 18 year old Midshipmen upwards to more senior ranks. It appeared in the 1939 Spring Edition of a magazine called THE NAVAL REVIEW, the in-house magazine of the Royal Navy, along with lots of other articles and discussions of naval interest. Once read, anyone will have a far better appreciation of what 1914 was all about, and why it is so important to understand and remember it now, even after 100 years. I wish I could have read this when I was about 16 and first getting really interested in naval history and the origins of the two great wars that cast such a shadow over my family and would be such an influence on myself.

You must understand that, at the time of its publication just before the Second War, these articles were meant only for the eyes of officers of the Royal Navy, to give them some background of the situation Britain was then in, and some idea of what may well be facing them in the near future. On that score, it is amazingly prophetic. The writer hopes there will not be a war, but in his heart of hearts, he knows it's coming, and coming soon. A case of 'hope for the best', and 'prepare for the worst'. As we know, 'the best' did not happen. It's a classic example of the meaning of the phrase we have all become familiar with from the recent TV series, "A WARNING FROM HISTORY." My Goodness, it certainly was that.

To answer the question, 'what has 1938 got to do with anything?', the answer is simple. Munich. The previous September to this article appearing, in 1938, had seen what we now call The Munich Crisis, that last-ditched and doomed effort by the British Government, in particular Neville Chamberlain, to avert another European war. The Munich summit was designed to persuade Herr Hitler to reign in his European military adventures, with no more repeats of the recent 'annexation' of neighbouring countries like Czechloslovakia. It was well known even then that Poland was next on the list.

So the article was written as a lecture, and given in the November, only weeks after Chamberlain returned from meeting Hitler, famously stepping off his aeroplane and waving the piece of paper bearing Hitler's signature, declaring it meant 'Peace in Our Time.' Well, he was right in a way, it was, for just under another year. But for so many millions, their 'time' was just coming to an end. Many men of the Royal Navy, reading this article in 1939, would not be alive six years later when it all came to an end.

If you've got this far, you may well now want to
"READ THE ARTICLE".