GAULLE Charles de. 2 autograph manuscripts, [Conditions of the conflict and return to peace, 1918]; 3 pages in-8 each. Two draft lectures at the end of his captivity. [Conditions of the conflict and the return to peace]. The presentation is divided into six numbered points. 1. It seems definitive that all peoples have recognised the folly of excessive armaments and have resolved to put an end to them after the war. 2. But the pre-war arms race did not just happen. It had deep-seated reasons"... De Gaulle examines the reasons for the conflict in Germany, Russia and Serbia, and the role of "unfinished nationalities or those considered as such, as well as the formation of alliances... He was concerned about a twofold danger: "A. Economically, the rivalry between peoples will not cease. [...] B. Politically, the rivalry between peoples will be exasperated because no question will undoubtedly be resolved"... Hence B. Politically, the rivalry of peoples will be exasperated because no question is likely to be resolved"... Hence "the idea of compulsory arbitration for conflicts, with the corollary of compulsory limitation of armaments"... The 6th point serves as a conclusion: "So for the limitation of armaments, the great peoples, especially those who have suffered much, will accept it, but none foreseeing the future will agree to disarm completely." LNC, I, p. 433-435. [General Principles of the Military Institutions of a State]. This project took the form of an outline intended to be developed orally. The military institutions of a State must respond to: 1° "its mores (political, social) which determine the character of recruitment. 2. Its geographical position and foreign policy, which determine the extent of its resources (manpower, equipment). 3. The form that can be attributed to a possible war on the basis of experience gained in the previous war or wars, with sufficient provisions to deal with unforeseen situations where the war takes a different form (which determines the preparation for the use of resources: choice of command, nature of training, accumulation of material resources or provisions)". As far as France was concerned after the war, a "general democratic trend" made it necessary to maintain the "principle of compulsory military service equal for all". The proximity of Germany and its many colonies meant that France had to have "a national army sufficient to discourage our neighbours from starting the war again; and a colonial army capable of contributing to the defence of the soil and also of defending our colonies on its own". The new form that war had taken, mobilising "all the forces of the people at war without exception, moral, social, economic (industrial, agricultural, communications)", and having become "for the most part a war of positions or more or less and a war of varied material resources being created as we go along (new manpower, heavy artillery, aviation, submarines)", would authorise "in peacetime a reduction in armaments", in particular to avoid maintaining enormous manpower and accumulating considerable material resources... "The major European states will therefore probably find it fairly easy to agree to reduce their peacetime armaments. The number of draftees present in peacetime will be easily reduced, as will training. [...] The same applies to equipment". LNC, I, p. 435-436.