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Table of Contents
The Complete Maisky Diaries: Volume 3
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© 2025
12 December
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By Liakhovetsky, Ivan Mikhailovich (Maisky)

The Complete Maisky Diaries: Volume 2

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12 December
I visited Vansittart today. I hadn’t seen him for several months and I was struck by his appearance: he looks emaciated, much older, and has become very highly strung. The wrinkles on his face are deeper. His hands tremble. Although he is only 59, he is almost an old man. He has a cold. His wife is losing weight and is confined to her bed. In general, his life has not been a bed of roses recently.
Maisky’s unflattering description might have been triggered by a harsh private letter he had received from Vansittart, warning him that ‘an increasing number of complaints are being made against your Embassy for offences against the black-out. I am sure that you personally must be unaware of what is going on, but it is evident that a firm hand on your part is required. I hope you will see to this at once.’ RAN f.1702 op.4 d.1267 l.12, 27 Nov. 1940.


Page 953

Nonetheless, Vansittart was in high spirits today: the British are gaining victories in Egypt. He said that since the beginning of the war he had never been as optimistic about the future as he was today. It was patently obvious from what he said that the British government had definitively decided on its course for 1941: to try to crush Italy.
Vansittart spoke eloquently and at length about the misunderstanding and underestimation of the English character abroad. It has been so since time immemorial. Napoleon, Bismarck, the kaiser, and now Hitler, Ribbentrop and Mussolini – they all were and are grossly mistaken in fancying the English to be a ‘nation of shopkeepers’, ‘degenerate gentlemen’, ‘depraved plutocrats’, etc., who cannot and will not fight whatever the circumstances. A profound mistake. True, in peace time the English like comfort, convenience, sport, travelling. They dislike drills, gaudy uniforms, goose-step and spurs. They give the impression of being a deeply ‘civilian’, pampered nation. And a little too much fat has grown on their bones in recent decades.
However, if their backs are against the wall and their lives are endangered, if they are irritated or enraged, they change beyond recognition. They become malicious, stubborn, ready to fight like animals and sink their fangs into the enemy. That is why the English, despite entering every war unprepared, with scarce forces and often with poor leaders, never lose wars. This leads Vansittart to the conclusion that England will defeat Germany in 1942 or 1943.
Such is now the typical philosophy of the ruling class, and not of the ruling class alone.
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Document Details
Document Title12 December
AuthorLiakhovetsky, Ivan Mikhailovich (Maisky)
RecipientN/A
RepositoryN/A
ID #N/A
DescriptionN/A
Date1940 Dec 12
AOC VolumeThe Complete Maisky Diaries: Volume 2
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