“The characteristic feature of militarism is not the fact that a nation has a powerful army or navy. It is the paramount role assigned to the army within the political structure.”
Omnipotent Government: The Rise of the Total State and Total War (1944)
Context: The characteristic feature of militarism is not the fact that a nation has a powerful army or navy. It is the paramount role assigned to the army within the political structure. Even in peacetime the army is supreme; it is the predominant factor in political life. The subjects must obey the government as soldiers must obey their superiors. Within a militarist community there is no freedom; there are only obedience and discipline.
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Ludwig von Mises 62
austrian economist 1881–1973Related quotes
“Russia has only two allies: the Army and the Navy.”
Source: Book of memories Appendix to Illustrated Russia for 1933 by Alexander Mikhailovich http://www.rummuseum.ru/lib_a/al_mih05.php
Shri J. C. Kumarappa. Can Indira Accept this Challenge? Dadoomiyan, S. Vijayanand Bharathi. Vora, 1966. as Quoted in Madhya Pradesh (India)., Goel, S. R., Niyogi, M. B. (1956, [1998 reprint]). Vindicated by time: The Niyogi Committee report on Christian missionary activities.
“A ruler that has but an army has one hand, but he who has a navy has both.”
Attributed in Way a River Went: Following the Volga Through the Heart of Russia https://books.google.com/books?id=x9EWDAAAQBAJ&pg=PT163&lpg=PT163&dq=%22A+ruler+that+has+but+an+army+has+one+hand,+but+he+who+has+a+navy+has+both.%22&source=bl&ots=jS__N1LP8U&sig=GuCyl4v-BeAwUpmB1PDaIxAcSeY&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjV_9KHxMjeAhXmY98KHTStBRgQ6AEwBHoECAcQAQ#v=onepage&q=%22A%20ruler%20that%20has%20but%20an%20army%20has%20one%20hand%2C%20but%20he%20who%20has%20a%20navy%20has%20both.%22&f=false (2015), by Thom Wheeler, p. 163
1910s, Address to the Knights of Columbus (1915)
Context: There must be not merely preparedness in things material; there must be preparedness in soul and mind. To prepare a great army and navy without preparing a proper national spirit would avail nothing. And if there is not only a proper national spirit, but proper national intelligence, we shall realize that even from the standpoint of the army and navy some civil preparedness is indispensable. For example, a plan for national defense which does not include the most far-reaching use and cooperation of our railroads must prove largely futile. These railroads are organized in time of peace. But we must have the most carefully thought out organization from the national and centralized standpoint in order to use them in time of war. This means first that those in charge of them from the highest to the lowest must understand their duty in time of war, must be permeated with the spirit of genuine patriotism; and second, that they and we shall understand that efficiency is as essential as patriotism; one is useless without the other.
“Can the Army win the war before the Navy loses it?”
The World Crisis, Vol 3, 1916-1918, Part I (1927), Churchill, Thornton Butterworth (London), p. 283.
“The British Army should be a projectile to be fired by the British Navy.”
Quoted by Admiral 'Jacky' Fisher in Memories p.18 https://archive.org/stream/memoriesbyadmira00fishuoft#page/18/mode/1up (1919).
“It is not possible to foretell the reaction of certain elements in the Army and Navy.”
Quoted in "The Decision to Drop the Atomic Bomb" - Page 107 - by Dennis Wainstock - History - 1996.
On a heroine in Tales of the South Pacific (1947) in Commercial Appeal (31 December 1951)
Source: The Laundry Files, The Labyrinth Index (2018), Chapter 11, “A Dead God Did It and Ran Away” (p. 321)