Munich Agreement

An MRV pattern similar to that of Minuteman silos. The current British Polaris missile “front end” is officially described as an mrv as its two warheads are targeted on the same general area, but it seems to possess a post-boost vehicle and is hard to distinguish technically from a mirv. EJG.

Munich Agreement. The Agreement between Hitler, Mussolini, Chamberlain and Daladier was signed on September 30 1938. Under its terms the Germanic parts, and in the event several other parts, of Czechoslovakia were ceded to Germany. This averted war, which had been imminent, until September 1939. Chamberlain announced it as bringing “peace in our time”.

Munich Putsch (1923). On November 8 1923, at a political meeting held in a Munich beer hall, Hitler launched a national uprising. Although supported by Gen Ludendorff, Hitler’s plans were inept. The next day, state police fired on the Nazi demonstrators, killing 16. With the subsequent arrest of Hitler and the ringleaders, the coup was at an end.

Munitions Crisis. Towards the end of 1914 and in the opening months of 1915, the c-in-c of the bep French, repeatedly complained of a shortage of shells. He communicated his discontent to the military correspondent of The Times, Col Repington, who gave it sensationalized publicity. This led to a reduction in Kitchener’s powers, to the establishment of a Ministry of Munitions under Lloyd George and to the formation of a coalition government between Liberals and Conservatives.

“Musketeer” Operation. Anglo-French operation against Egypt, 1956. See also suez crisis (i9.56).

Mussolini, Benito (1883-1945). Italian. A schoolteacher turned political journalist, Mussolini split from the Socialists over Italy’s participation in World War I, in which he saw active service. His miltaristic, nationalistic Fasci di Combattimento (fascist) party, formed in March 1919, rose to power in the postwar political chaos: Mussolini formed a government in October 1922 and assumed dictatorial powers in November. “II Duce” (“The Leader”) planned domination of the Mediterranean and the creation of an Italian empire in Africa, but his Abyssinian conquest, 1936, alienated Britain and France, while intervention in the Spanish Civil War proved both economically and diplomatically costly. He had entered into alliance with Germany by the “Axis” agreement of October 1936 and “Pact of Steel” of May 1939. Expecting to share the spoils of a German victory, Mussolini declared war on Britain and France on June 10 1940.

Many Italians lacked enthusiasm for the conflict, and Italian forces fared badly, especially in North Africa and Greece, increasingly reducing Italy to a client state of Germany. Yet Mussolini, his grip on reality clearly weakening, declared war on Russia and the US. On July 25 1943 he was ousted by the Grand Fascist Council, supported by King Victor Emmanuel III, and imprisoned. Spectacularly rescued by Skor-zeny’s German commandos, he was established as head of the puppet Salo Republic in German-occupied northern Italy. As German forces in Italy collapsed, Mussolini and his mistress, Clara Petacci (1912

45) were captured by Italian partisans, April 27 1945, shot next day, and their bodies degradingly put on public display. MS.

Mustang see p-51 mustang.

Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD). A formula for strategic stability in which each side has enough secure second-strike forces to be able in all circumstances to inflict unacceptable damage on the other, defined by the Americans in the 1960s as between a quarter to a third of the other side’s population and about two-thirds of its industrial capacity. Although the Americans never abandoned more flexible targeting policies, maintaining an assured destruction capability became the major criterion for strategic force sizing in the late 1960s once the Soviets had acquired secure second strike capabilities to match those of the US. The maintenance of stable mutually assured destruction was the aim of the Strategic Arms

Limitation Talks. The USSR, however, still tended to emphasize the war-fighting role of nuclear forces if deterrence failed, and maintained counter-force capabilities that encouraged the Americans to move away from assured destruction as public strategic rhetoric after the signature of the SALT-1 treaty. Mutually Assured Destruction however still remains the ultimate fact of the nuclear age. EJG.

MX missile. The latest American iCBM, dubbed “Peacekeeper” by President Reagan, originally intended for mobile deployment in some form. The first 50 were actually deployed in modified Minuteman silos in 1986-88. MX carries ten 300 kiloton MiRved warheads with great accuracy (328ft/100m cep) over 6,600 miles (11,000km).

My Lai massacre (1968). On March 16 1968, a company of the newly created US Americal Division entered My Lai hamlet of Son My village, Quang Ngai province. South Vietnam. Told to expect resistance and to destroy the hamlet, the platoon led by Lt William Galley Jr herded 70-150 civilians into a ditch and shot them. An orgy of slaughter, rape and pillage brought the number of noncombatant women, children and old men killed by the company to a conservatively estimated 175—200 and possibly as high as 350. Still more were killed by other units in the area. Ambiguous orders, inadequate training, permissive leadership, low morale, lack of previous combat experience and a pervasive perception that residents of the village were communists or sympathizers were among the factors blamed. Americal Division commanders ignored or concealed the incident until it was disclosed a year later in a letter from an ex-soldier, Ron Ridenhour, to Pentagon and Congressional leaders. Following an inquiry headed by Lt Gen W R Peers, 25 officers and enlisted men were charged, but only six were actually tried and only Galley was convicted, specifically for the murder of 22 civilians. In 1971 President Nixon reduced Galley’s sentence to 20 years, and on March 19 1974 he was paroled. WST.