Comments on: Not the coming world war http://airminded.org/2008/02/20/not-the-coming-world-war/ Airpower and British society, 1908-1941 Sun, 20 Jul 2008 10:38:05 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: Brett Holman http://airminded.org/2008/02/20/not-the-coming-world-war/#comment-70697 Brett Holman Fri, 22 Feb 2008 10:31:54 +0000 http://airminded.org/2008/02/20/not-the-coming-world-war/#comment-70697 I probably should qualify my remarks a bit ... I guess I haven't come across a huge number of writers on the left discussing the possibility (and I've really only looked at fairly mainstream, British writing too). And of course my sources have a heavy aviation bias. But given all that, it's very noticeable that whereas most talked about the possibility of war in Europe or the Mediterranean, there was a subset interested in a Japan-USSR war, which sticks out like a sore thumb. (<a href="http://airminded.org/biographies/l-e-o-charlton/" rel="nofollow">L. E. O. Charlton</a>, <em>War from the Air: Past, Present, Future</em> (London: Thomas Nelson and Sons, 1935) is another example -- he was a socialist, though it's not really evident from his writings.) Conservative writers didn't seem so interested in the possibility -- they (and here I mean writers of popular novels rather than serious strategic analyses) had Japan engaging in race war with the European powers, or a Bolshevik tide washing over Europe ... I probably should qualify my remarks a bit … I guess I haven’t come across a huge number of writers on the left discussing the possibility (and I’ve really only looked at fairly mainstream, British writing too). And of course my sources have a heavy aviation bias. But given all that, it’s very noticeable that whereas most talked about the possibility of war in Europe or the Mediterranean, there was a subset interested in a Japan-USSR war, which sticks out like a sore thumb. (L. E. O. Charlton, War from the Air: Past, Present, Future (London: Thomas Nelson and Sons, 1935) is another example — he was a socialist, though it’s not really evident from his writings.) Conservative writers didn’t seem so interested in the possibility — they (and here I mean writers of popular novels rather than serious strategic analyses) had Japan engaging in race war with the European powers, or a Bolshevik tide washing over Europe …

]]> By: Andy http://airminded.org/2008/02/20/not-the-coming-world-war/#comment-70627 Andy Wed, 20 Feb 2008 07:30:19 +0000 http://airminded.org/2008/02/20/not-the-coming-world-war/#comment-70627 Thanks for the recommendation, Brett! Interesting to hear about Wintringham's views - I wasn't aware that many on the left were predicting a huge clash between the USSR and Japan, so I'll have to see if I can find out more. (Although, in retrospect, their views were pretty sensible - Japan and Russia/the USSR were two large, expansionist powers butting up against each other in an area where other major powers' influence was weak). Thanks for the recommendation, Brett!

Interesting to hear about Wintringham’s views - I wasn’t aware that many on the left were predicting a huge clash between the USSR and Japan, so I’ll have to see if I can find out more.

(Although, in retrospect, their views were pretty sensible - Japan and Russia/the USSR were two large, expansionist powers butting up against each other in an area where other major powers’ influence was weak).

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