Very often, top executives get talked into really stupid decisions that they have a hard time getting out of. A classic example was Germany’s invasion of France in the early days of WWI.
The invasion had been planned, with typical Teutonic thoroughness, for many years. “In thirty nine days, we will have broken through the French lines and will be attacking Paris!”, the planners announced. The Kaiser was firmly behind the plans.
On the very day the invasion was to begin, the Kaiser got a telegram from his cousin, the King of England. “We have decided”, the King told him, “that if you invade Russia instead of France, England’s army and navy will do nothing to hinder you. Should you attack France, England’s interests dictate that we must help defend her.”
Excitedly, the Kaiser showed the telegram to Von Moltke. “Let’s cancel the invasion of France and shift the railroad trains toward Russia! England has promised not to attack us if we do that!”
Von Moltke, the classic bureaucrat, said “That’s impossible. The trains are already rollling.”, and overrode his commanders’ decision.
The result, of course, was the destruction of a generation of young men, endless waves of whom were marched into machine guns along a Western Front that would not have existed had the Commander in Chief had the moral courage to override his bureaucracy-loving Chief of Staff.
One may hope that a Prince of the Church would have more moral courage in standing up to professional bureaucrats than a mere Kaiser had when it comes to wasting generations of spiritual resources.
One may hope.
