ABSTRACT
In late 1947, Basil Liddell Hart, Britain's leading strategic thinker, was contacted by Air Chief Marshal Sir John Slessor, soon to become Chief of the Air Staff. Slessor consulted Liddell Hart on his blueprint for accelerating the Cold War against the Eastern Bloc through aggressive measures. He described this programme as the creation of a 'Fifth Column of Freedom', and spoke of the revival of the Special Operations Executive (SOE) and the Political Warfare Executive for this purpose. In early 1948 Basil Liddell Hart gave his encouragement for these schemes and seemed enthusiastic about the blueprint for a clandestine war against the Soviets. I But by the end of 1949 Liddell Hart had changed his mind and set himself firmly against the concept of resistance and insurgency by civil populations. What had triggered this strange reversal?
