ABSTRACT
Projections of history, extrapolation from the present and stereotyped observations about national character are all reflected in the formulation of British policy towards wartime Europe as a whole. Stereotypical thinking fed by British insularity, it has been argued, also led to a priori assessments' of European resistance. The theme of Allied solidarity in war and peace surfaced after the German invasion of the Soviet Union. It was a double-edged weapon as shown by the propaganda history of the Anglo-Soviet Treaty. The Eastern front was first used in order to expose the myth of German invincibility and then as evidence that the defeat of the Axis was only a matter of time. In this connection, Hitler's boast of 3 October 1941 that the enemy is already broken and will never rise again' could be repeated in order to discredit Nazi propaganda.
