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so many years of failure in this regard, Hitler had now hardened, and that he doubted whether 
 
Hitler could bring himself to believe that there was any way of destroying the British will to 
 
destroy Germany, except through military victory. He recounted to me his own conversation with 
 
Lord Halifax when the latter visited Gemany two years ago. He told me he had warned him time 
 
and again not to encourage Poland and Czechoslovakia to refuse to reach a reasonable and pacific 
 
understanding with Germany. He told him that if England persisted in this course, war was 
 
inevitable, and that there was no justifiable need of war.
 
          Both the problem of the German minorities in Czechoslovakia, and the Czechoslovak 
 
military threat to the military security of Germany, as well as the problem of Danzig and the 
 
Corridor in relation to Poland, could have been settled readily if England and France had not 
 
refused to permit such a settlement.
 
          The Field Marshal himself had never believed that there was any possible justification for 
 
war, and he had done everything within his power to avert it, but England and France had 
 
persisted in bringing it about.
 
          Now, the situation from the military standpoint, was this: Germany's air force was 
 
supreme and would remain supreme. Her military strength was far greater in proportion to the 
 
strength of the Allies than it had been in 1914. Today Germany had "all the trumps in 
 
her hands".  In 1914 Germany had been attacked on all fronts. Today, Russia and Italy were 
 
friendly, and the Balkans were neutral. The British blockade had already proved ineffective, and 
 
every dsy that passed made it easier for Germany to procure the raw materials which she required
 
from the East and from the South. He could assure me that the