Lear — The Grand Strategist

Divide but not be conquered

Lear's tri-nation security plan for Britain had its modern equivalent:

Winston Churchill wrote about one of the treaties signed at the 1925 Locarno Conference:

'..... between France and Germany, Great Britain became solemnly pledged to come to the aid of whichever of these two States was the object of unprovoked aggression. ..... My own view about this two-way guarantee was that while France remained armed and Germany disarmed Germany could not attack her; and that on the other hand France would never attack Germany if that automatically involved Britain becoming Germany's ally. ..... The histories may be searched in vain for a parallel to such an undertaking.'

It fell apart when Britain disarmed and France to some extent followed suit, even though Churchill repeatedly warned that Germany was re-arming. Result: World War II. But it could have worked if there had been courageous intervention instead of appeasement!

Lear's strategic plan for two super-power blocs also had its modern equivalent:

After World War II, countries gathered into super-power blocs. The 'West' lead by USA versus Russia's 'Eastern' bloc. Despite a cold war, no 'hot' war took place simply because both sides had too much to lose.