Military Objective Quotes
Four years later the President embarked on a nation-building effort in Iraq which was beset with many problems.
The Turkish Ottoman Empire controlled most of the Middle East and at times Arab areas and tribes would revolt. Egypt was considered the prize of the Middle East. The Ottomans not only controlled the Middle East militarily and civilly, but also religiously. The Turkish Sultan was the spiritual leader of almost all of the Middle Eastern Muslims.
The German war plan called for attacking France through Belgium. However, Belgium was intent on remaining neutral. International law prohibited a neutral country from allowing troops of either side to enter and maneuver in its territory. The Kaiser and the German leaders know they were violating International law and rationalized it by stating that after they defeated France, they would treat Belgium well.
Von Richthofen, cousin of the “Red Baron,” was justifying tactics that the Germans tried out in Spain before the Second World War—specifically the complete obliteration of Guernica by bombing and strafing although there were no military targets in the city. Guernica was the first city ever completely destroyed by aerial bombardment. The atrocity inspired Picasso’s great paining of that name.
Bethe and other European refugees joined American and British scientists at Los Alamos, NM, for the development of the atomic bomb.
