Why patriotism matters

Thomas Sowell:

The Fourth of July is a patriotic holiday but patriotism has long been viewed with suspicion or disdain by many of the intelligentsia. As far back as 1793, prominent British writer William Godwin called patriotism "high-sounding nonsense."

Internationalism has long been a competitor with patriotism, especially among the intelligentsia. H.G. Wells advocated replacing the idea of duty to one's country with "the idea of cosmopolitan duty."

Perhaps nowhere was patriotism so downplayed or deplored than among intellectuals in the Western democracies in the two decades after the horrors of the First World War, fought under various nations' banners of patriotism.

In France, after the First World War, the teachers' unions launched a systematic purge of textbooks, in order to promote internationalism and pacifism.

Books that depicted the courage and self-sacrifice of soldiers who had defended France against the German invaders were called "bellicose" books to be banished from the schools.

Textbook publishers caved in to the power of the teachers' unions, rather than lose a large market for their books. History books were sharply revised to conform to internationalism and pacifism.

The once epic story of the French soldiers' heroic defense against the German invaders at Verdun, despite the massive casualties suffered by the French, was now transformed into a story of horrible suffering by all soldiers at Verdun-- French and German alike.

In short, soldiers once depicted as national heroes were now depicted as victims-- and just like victims in other nations' armies.

Children were bombarded with stories on the horrors of war. In some schools, children whose fathers had been killed during the war were asked to speak to the class and many of these children-- as well as some of their classmates and teachers-- broke down in tears.

In Britain, Winston Churchill warned that a country "cannot avoid war by dilating upon its horrors." In France, Marshal Philippe Petain, the victor at Verdun, warned in 1934 that teachers were trying to "raise our sons in ignorance of or in contempt of the fatherland."

But they were voices drowned out by the pacifist and internationalist rhetoric of the 1920s and 1930s.

Did it matter? Does patriotism matter?

France, where pacifism and internationalism were strongest, became a classic example of how much it can matter.

During the First World War, France fought on against the German invaders for four long years, despite having more of its soldiers killed than all the American soldiers killed in all the wars in the history of the United States, put together.

But during the Second World War, France collapsed after just six weeks of fighting and surrendered to Nazi Germany. At the bitter moment of defeat the head of the French teachers' union was told, "You are partially responsible for the defeat."

Charles de Gaulle, Francois Mauriac, and other Frenchmen blamed a lack of national will or general moral decay, for the sudden and humiliating collapse of France in 1940.

At the outset of the invasion, both German and French generals assessed French military forces as more likely to gain victory, and virtually no one expected France to collapse like a house of cards -- except Adolf Hitler, who had studied French society instead of French military forces.

Did patriotism matter? It mattered more than superior French tanks and planes.

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Tactics and strategy matter too. One of the reasons that World War I was such a disaster is the machinery of warfare had overwhelmed the tactics and strategy of the past. It would take new machinery to overcome the stalemate that resulted from having light infantry charge machine guns and trenches.

Once tanks and planes were added to the mix combined arms warfare returned from a 100 year absence. The fruitless attacks ordered before that time certainly contributed to the poor morale of the intellectuals and many have still not recovered from that even though the cost in blood in modern warfare is substantially less.

The German blitzkrieg showed the advantage of combined arms operations, but the Germans were eventually overwhelmed by US and Russian combined arms operation. Sowell's indicates the French may have had superior equipment at the beginning of the war but they did not employ it with much elan. The fact is the German tanks were probably better than the American tanks, but overwhelming force and control of the air made a huge difference at the end of the war.

What has happened in recent times is an attempt by the anti war left to redefine patriotism into wanting their country to lose a war. Their disgraceful position on the war in Iraq is reason enough to challenge their patriotism. The so called intellectuals in France and Britain just did not want to participate. They were more the true pacifist.

The so called anti war left today is very different. They actually want the US to lose in Iraq. They want the war to be a disaster so they can use it as an excuse to avoid the use of force in the future. That is hardly a patriotic attitude. I call them phony anti war activist because they are not true pacifist. They don't oppose the enemy's half of the war, just ours. Have you ever seen them demonstrating against teh mass murderers for Allah?