Warfare entails physical activity, force and quite a bit of intelligence. Moreover, the use of force is futile if there is no proper evaluation of the terrain, battle conditions and the enemy. The army that emerges victorious in a battle is one that consists of well-trained and adequately armed soldiers whose leaders are competent and who have a well thought out strategy to repulse and overwhelm the enemy forces. Intelligence in essential in such endeavors due to the fact that the leaders have to possess foresight and because these leaders have to correctly analyze the circumstances obtaining on the battle field. It is essential to employ intelligence in battle, since, it is futile to conduct warfare even with superior forces and technology if there is an absence of intelligence and if the enemy invests in intelligence (Elder).
The importance of intelligence cannot be underestimated and dismal intelligence failures like Pearl Harbor and Tet stand testimony to the damage that can be caused in the event of an intelligence failure. Another instance of intelligence failure is provided by Britain’s underestimation of Japan’s military capabilities, which led to the defeat of its 146,000 strong army in Singapore at the hands of 35,000 Japanese soldiers during World War II (Elder).
It was the considered opinion of General Hugh Shelton; the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff that intelligence was indispensable in warfare and in the successful deployment of modern weapons systems, implementation of new operational concepts and combat strategies that utilize highly mobile and lethal forces. Therefore, it would be the height of foolishness to relegate intelligence to the background (Elder).
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill was the Prime Minister of Britain during World War II. In addition to leading Britain in the war he also made significant contributions to British politics. His political career spanned sixty four years, which is indicative of his popularity and his competence as a statesman. In 1924 Churchill became the Chancellor of the Exchequer. However, in 1929 he relinquished his office and devoted ten years of his time to painting and writing. At this juncture, he was vociferous in drawing the attention of the public towards the war that was looming in the horizon. However, his warning was ignored by the pacifist government of Stanley Baldwin.
Instead of taking things lying down, Churchill rejoined the government as the First Lord of the Admiralty and was successful in becoming the Prime Minister in 1940 and he retained this post for succeeding five years. His symbol of V for Victory, during World War II, gained universal recognition and acclaim.
These were difficult times for Britain as France had lost the war, the U.S.S.R had entered a non – aggression pact with Germany and the USA had declared its neutrality, which in effect meant that Britain had to take on the German onslaught on its own. Hitler launched massive air strikes against Britain but the British under the able leadership of Churchill refused to succumb to these murderous assaults and this represented the true British spirit of “never say die”. In his first speech to the House of Commons as Prime Minister, he stated that he had nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat and that the sole objective of the British Government was to emerge victorious at all costs, since, defeat connoted the end of all that the British Empire had stood for (Blood, Toil, Tears and Sweat).
However, in the latter half of the 1940s, help was forthcoming from the Unites States and this aid, which in the form of naval destroyers, tanks and weapons proved to be of great help to the British. In June 1941 Germany reneged on its nonaggression pact with the Soviet Union and invaded it. In the month of December in the very same year, Japan conducted an attack on the Pearl Harbor US naval bases and this resulted in compelling the US to participate in the war (History of the United States. World War II).
Churchill immediately grasped the strategic defects in these attacks and initiated moves to form the Grand Alliance whose members were the United States, the Soviet Union and Britain. This Grand Alliance brought about Hitler’s defeat. Despite his contribution to ensuring the defeat of Germany in the World War, Churchill lost in the general elections of 1945 (Winston Churchill).
Subsequent to subduing Poland, Germany conquered Denmark and Norway in 1940. In the month of May in that year, Germany embarked on a very fast and furious attack on the countries of Holland, Belgium and France and in this manner was successful in reaching the English Channel. During the Battle of Britain, Hitler attempted to bomb England into submission and this aerial attack lasted from August to October in the year 1940. Despite the daily bombardment of London and other British cities by Germany, the fighter planes of the RAF or the Royal Air Force conducted continuous dogfights with the German Luftwaffe fighter planes. This prevented the invasion of England by Germany and this extraordinary effort on the part of the RAF fighter pilots prompted Churchill to state that “Never have so many owed so much to so few.” (World War II . Retrieved June 24, 2007 , 2004).
From 1933 till his death Adolf Hitler remained the dictator of Germany. He was responsible for starting World War II, conducting the Holocaust, massacring millions of Jews and dissidents. Hitler was almost successful in demolishing the social and economic structure of Europe. Hitler was an expert politician and had sufficient charisma to almost mesmerize the German populace. Hitler commenced to fortify his military might and his strategy resulted in the near abolition of unemployment, which increased his popularity tremendously. At the same time he established several laws that were designed to persecute the Jews. Several European countries kept silent as this terrible persecution of the Jews was conducted unabashedly. Over a period of time Germany’s military prowess broke out of the bounds imposed by the Treaty of Versailles. Britain and France remained silent spectators to these terrible events and declared war with Germany only after Poland was invaded in 1939. Hitler attacked the Soviet Union in 1941 and declared hostilities with the USA immediately after Japan declared war on the USA (Adolf Hitler).
The winning streak of the Germans came to an end in 1943, with their defeat in Stalingrad and North Africa and this was attributed to a great extent to Hitler’s increasing inability to govern properly. Nevertheless, Hitler remained popular amongst the citizens of Germany and he also made an effort to aid Italy’s Mussolini and his Fascist government (Adolf Hitler).
In 1944 an unsuccessful attempt was made to depose Hitler, and despite the fact that Hitler emerged unscathed his judgement exhibited increased impairment. To add to his woes, France had been liberated by the Allied Forces and the Soviet army was on the verge of conquering Berlin. At that point of time it became evident that the war had been irretrievably lost, moreover his trusted aides proved to be disloyal this prompted him to commit suicide with his wife Eva Braun on the 30th of April 1945 in Berlin (Adolf Hitler).
Hitler resorted to several ingenuous stratagems in order to beguile people into believing that he possessed a superhuman aura. This was in direct contrast with Churchill’s method of leadership. Churchill was totally opposed to such mannerisms and was chary of employing speech writers, psychologists and stunts to impress his gigantic audiences. He was a true Victorian who adopted the exemplary methods of Gladstone and Lord Randolph Churchill; his illustrious father (Roberts, 2003).
Despite the fact that Hitler was better at man management, his penchant to attend to even the minutest of details in the Third Reich after the World War had started, lead to his defeat, because it was not possible to take all the decisions by one person. In fact his success till the time that the war broke out could be attributed to the fact that he maintained a distance between himself and the day to day administration of Germany. However, after the year 1939 he made it a point to interfere and give his own decisions even in comparatively insignificant matters. His interference in such matters can be estimated from the fact that he was participating in the deployment of troops even at the battalion level (Roberts, 2003).
In direct contrast, Churchill concentrated on the overall direction that the war was taking rather than on the individual events. He left the minor decisions to his subordinates and this served to boost their confidence and efficiency. As the First Lord of the Admiralty and prior to the commencement of the war, he took decisions even in seemingly trivial matters and instances of these are his enquiry into the number of duffel coats issued to ships and his insistence that backgammon should be indulged in instead of card games aboard the Royal Navy Vessels. However, he exhibited a remarkable volte face the moment that war was declared and left all minor decisions to his junior officers. His approach to the whole issue was holistic and his concern was with the war as a whole rather than the individual details of the war (Roberts, 2003).
Moreover, unlike Hitler, Churchill was not endowed with the nature of a dictator and this allowed the British chiefs of staff to contradict and argue with him if they felt that such argument was warranted. On several occasions, their chairman Field Marshal Lord Alanbrooke opposed what had been proposed by Churchill. Such a free exchange of opinions was impossible in the German camp. This strategy of Churchill to never overrule his service chiefs paid rich dividends as the war was conducted in a rational manner. The Germans did not have this advantage and their strategy was accordingly flawed (Roberts, 2003).
The objectives of Hitler and Churchill were diametrically opposite. The former was out to subjugate and enslave the world, whereas the latter was a champion of freedom and fairplay. Therefore, it is not astonishing that Hitler is considered to be a leader whose qualities are not only despicable but are to be avoided at all costs. In contrast, Churchill has been extolled as an exemplary leader whose qualities are worthy of emulation. His qualities have stood the test of time and even today they are considered to be worth adopting (Roberts, 2003).
Even in death the disparities in these persons is evident. Hitler committed suicide in order to avoid having to answer for the crimes against humanity committed by him and his corpse was quickly destroyed by being set on fire. It was an ignominious end for an ignominious life. On the other hand Churchill died in his nineties after having received several awards and decorations. Moreover, Churchill was considered to be a paragon of virtue and as a person who would never give up. In fact his never say die attitude was instrumental in leading Britain to victory (Roberts, 2003).
References
Adolf Hitler. (n.d.). Retrieved June 24, 2007, from IEEE Virtual Museum: http://ieee-virtual-museum.org/collection/people.php?id=1234762&lid=1
Blood, Toil, Tears and Sweat. (n.d.). Retrieved June 25, 2007, from The Churchill Centre: http://www.winstonchurchill.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=391
Elder, G. (n.d.). Intelligence in War: It Can Be Decisive Winning with Intelligence . Retrieved June 24, 2007, from https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/csi-studies/studies/vol50no2/html_files/Intelligence_War_2.htm
History of the United States. World War II. (n.d.). Retrieved June 24, 2007, from About the USA: http://www.usinfo.pl/aboutusa/history/warII.htm
Roberts, A. (2003, February 26). Secrets of Leadership: Hitler and Churchill. Retrieved June 24, 2007, from World Wars. World War Two: http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/hitler_churchill_04.shtml
Winston Churchill. (n.d.). Retrieved June 24, 2007, from IEEE Virtual Museum: http://ieee-virtual-museum.org/collection/people.php?id=1234765&lid=1
World War II . Retrieved June 24, 2007 . (2004). Retrieved June 24, 2007, from The Great American History Fact-Finder: http://www.credoreference.com/entry/6601881World War II.
