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been evoked in older to justify the absorption of Austria, 
Czechoslovakia and Poland and could be given no other 
characterization than that of a deliberate violation of 
the sovereignty and national integrity of neutral countries 
solely for the strategical purpose of furthering the military 
aims of a belligerent. From that date the world was confronted 
with the absolute certainty that the elements of 
reason, intelligence and practical sense were no longer
applicable, that the exercise of force was the sole factor
involved and that this factor could be opposed only by
force.
 
 
The power of the German military machine was never in
doubt and, whatever may have been the opinion regarding the 
resource, of Germany both as to material and as to morale, 
there never should nave been any question that Nazi Germany 
if faced with firm opposition by the Allies would within
a reasonable time be confronted with a limitation on the 
exercise of its military strength through the operation of 
restraining influences both material and psychological 
within the country, The elment of surprise in the present 
situation to the failure of the opposition to combat that 
strength effectively and that failure, which, on the other 
hand, has weakened of not destroyed confidence abroad in
its ultimate check, confronts the American people with
 
 
the