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57-730: The earliest examinations of the site were undertaken from 1853 to 1862 by the Nassau Antiquarian Society under the direction of Friedrich Gustav Habel (1793–1867). But the great impulse to provincial Roman archaeology in Germany came in 1892, when the Reichs-Limes-Kommission (the Imperial Commission for the Roman borders), then chaired by Theodor Mommsen began to research the course of

114-527: A Basic National Security Policy paper which stated unequivocally that “the United States and its allies must reject the concept of preventive war, or acts intended to provoke war.” Winston Churchill was more resolved on the preventive war. He argued repeatedly in the late 1940s that matters needed to be brought to a head with the Soviets before it was too late, while the United States still enjoyed

171-601: A border outpost first. In 1940, Germany invaded Denmark and Norway and argued that Britain might have used them as launching points for an attack or prevented supply of strategic materials to Germany. In the summer of 1941, Germany invaded the Soviet Union , inaugurating the bloody and brutal land war by claiming that a Judeo-Bolshevik conspiracy threatened the Reich. In late 1941, the Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran

228-497: A chance to shift in the favor of the targeted party. Preventive war is distinct from preemptive strike , which is the first strike when an attack is imminent. Preventive uses of force "seek to stop another state . . . from developing a military capability before it becomes threatening or to hobble or destroy it thereafter, whereas [p]reemptive uses of force come against a backdrop of tactical intelligence or warning indicating imminent military action by an adversary." The majority view

285-626: A course from the mouth of the Nidda near Höchst , northwards across the low Taunus ridge, as does the modern Bundesstraße 456. A location along major communication routes almost always equals a strategic importance. Thus, it is no surprise that the mountain pass beside the Saalburg was first fortified by Roman troops during Domitian's wars against the Chatti (AD 81-96), when two simple earthen enclosures were erected ( Schanzen A and B, located between

342-559: A large collection of well-preserved military and domestic equipment from the Saalburg and other sites in the area as well as a series of architectural and terrain models. Since its reconstruction, the Saalburg has functioned also as an internationally renowned centre of research, concerned with provincial Roman archaeology in general, the limes in particular. The heart of the centre is a specialised library of 30,000 volumes and 2,200 slides. The Saalburgmuseum regularly organises colloquia and has its own series of academic publications. Since

399-681: A part of Hesse-Nassau after a popular vote, becoming part of the Kassel administrative region. In 1935, the Nazi government de facto abolished all states, so the provinces held little meaning. Nevertheless, effective 1 July 1944, Hesse-Nassau was split into the provinces of Kurhessen (capital in Kassel) and Nassau (capital in Wiesbaden ). On 19 September 1945, after the end of World War II , these two provinces were re-merged and combined with most of

456-425: A question of whether but of when… If you say why not bomb them tomorrow, I say why not today?" Other renowned scientists and thinkers, such as Leo Szilard , William L. Laurence , James Burnham, and Bertrand Russell . joined the preventive effort. The preventive war in the late 1940s was argued by “some very dedicated Americans.” “Realists” repeatedly proposed the preventive war. "The argument—prevent before it

513-598: A suggestion by L. Jacobi, ordered the reconstruction of the Saalburg fort according to the detailed results of its excavation . As a result, the Saalburg became the most completely reconstructed fort on the entire limes . It also houses the Saalburg Museum, one of the two most important institutions dedicated to the study of the German Limes (the other being the Limesmuseum of Aalen ). From 1967 to 1993,

570-509: Is based on that third and last architectural phase, but reminders of the second phase are visible in the retentura (the back of the fort). Part of the second-phase defensive ditch has also been restored and can be inspected there. The cohort fort was occupied by the Cohors II Raetorum civium Romanorum equitata (2. partially mounted Raetian cohort with Roman citizenship), a partially equestrian 500-men infantry unit, probably under

627-580: Is inevitable, and it was senseless to permit the Russians to develop a nuclear parity with the United States. Hence the sooner the preventive war come the better, because the first strike is almost surely decisive and less devastating. Dean Acheson and James Burnham adhered to the version that the war is not inevitable but is already going on, although the American people still do not realize it. The US military sector widely and wholeheartedly shared

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684-545: Is that a preventive war undertaken without the approval of the United Nations is illegal under the modern framework of international law . The consensus is that preventive war "goes beyond what is acceptable in international law" and lacks legal basis. The UN High-level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change stopped short of rejecting the concept outright but suggested that there is no right to preventive war. If there are good grounds for initiating preventive war,

741-555: Is the attack on Pearl Harbor by the Empire of Japan on December 7, 1941. Many in the US and Japan believed war to be inevitable. Coupled to the crippling US economic embargo that was rapidly degrading the Japanese military capability, that led the Japanese leadership to believe it was better to have the war as soon as possible. The sneak attack was partly motivated by a desire to destroy

798-636: Is the final chance for the Soviet Government to decide whether it desires to survive or not. In 1953, Eisenhower wrote in a summary memorandum to his Secretary of State, John Foster Dulles : In present circumstances, "we would be forced to consider whether or not out duty to future generations did not require us to initiate war at the most propitious moment we could designate.” In May 1954, the JCS’s Advance Study Group proposed to Eisenhower to consider “deliberately precipitating war with

855-526: Is too late—was quite common in the early atomic age and by no way limited to “the lunatic fringe.” A famous atomic scientist expressed a concern: In 1946, public discussion of international problems, in the United States at least, "has moved dangerously towards a consideration of so-called preventive war. One sees this tendency perhaps most markedly in the trend of news in Americans newspapers." Bernard Brodie noted that at least prior to 1950, preventive war

912-594: The Iran–Iraq War . Supporters of the war have argued it to be justified, as Iraq both harbored Islamic terrorist groups sharing a common hatred of the United States and was suspected to be developing weapons of mass destruction (WMD). Iraq's history of noncompliance of international security matters and its history of both developing and using such weapons were factors in the public perception of Iraq's having weapons of mass destruction . In support of an attack on Iraq, US President George W. Bush stated in an address to

969-475: The Limes Germanicus in its entirety, as well as the location of all its forts. In the course of this enormous project, not completed for decades, intensive exploration of the Saalburg and its surroundings was pursued by the archaeologists charged with this stretch of the limes , Louis Jacobi (1836–1910) and his son and successor Heinrich Jacobi (1855–1946). In 1897, Kaiser Wilhelm II , following

1026-696: The Manhattan Project ) and CIA Director Walter Bedell Smith . NSC -100 and several studies by SAC and JCS during the Korean War advocated preventive war too. In Congress, preventive warriors counted Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Nitze , expert on the Soviet Union Charles E. Bohlen of the State Department, Senators John L. McClellan , Paul H. Douglas , Eugene D. Millikin , Brien McMahon (Chairman of

1083-697: The UN General Assembly on September 12, 2002 that the Iraqi "regime is a grave and gathering danger." However, despite extensive searches during the several years of occupation, the suspected weapons of mass destruction or weapons program infrastructure alleged by the Bush administration were not found to be functional or even known to most Iraqi leaders. Coalition forces instead found dispersed and sometimes-buried and partially dismantled stockpiles of abandoned and functionally expired chemical weapons. Some of

1140-727: The US Pacific Fleet to allow Japan to advance with reduced opposition from the US when it secured Japanese oil supplies by fighting against the British Empire and the Dutch Empire for control over the rich East Indian ( Dutch East Indies , Malay Peninsula ) oil-fields. In 1940, American policies and tension toward Japanese military actions and Japanese expansionism in the Far East increased. For example, in May 1940,

1197-433: The praefurnia (firing places); and all rooms except the apodyterium and frigidarium were served by a hypocaust system (underfloor and wall heating). Archaeologists assume that the overall complex (fort and vicus) housed a population of up to 2,000 (500 soldiers, 1,500 civilians). Although the Saalburg is known mainly as an archaeological park and museum, it also serves a number of scientific functions less obvious to

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1254-467: The 1980s, the Saalburg is also the venue of occasional classical concerts. Only about 200 m north of the porta decumana (back gate), the limes runs by in a west-easterly direction. Part of the border defense (ditch, bank and palisade) has been reconstructed here. As along most of its extent in the Taunus area, the limes near the Saalburg is remarkably well preserved and can be easily followed through

1311-581: The Alemanni entered Roman territory again; further major incursions took place in 254 and 260. Eventually, all areas east of the Rhine were lost during the major political and economic crisis of the mid-3rd century. In the course of these events, the Saalburg fort appears to have been abandoned deliberately and without military action. After the abandonment of the Upper Germanic Limes, the fort

1368-610: The Atomic Energy Committee), William Knowland and Congressman Henry M. Jackson . The diplomatic circle included distinguished diplomats like George Kennan , William C. Bullitt (US Ambassador to Moscow), and John Paton Davies (from the same embassy). John von Neumann of the Manhattan Project and later a consultant for the RAND Corporation expressed: "With the Russians it is not

1425-613: The Bad Homburg tram company constructed a direct rail link, the Saalburgbahn . After a pre- World War I flourish, the company was badly affected by post-war inflation and a massive drop of visitor numbers to the spa. Eventually, the service was closed; scanty traces of its embankment and the (closed) station remain. Today, the fort can be reached by an hourly bus link from Bad Homburg. Hessen-Nassau The Province of Hesse-Nassau ( German : Provinz Hessen-Nassau )

1482-518: The China coast … and that we intend to destroy every military base in Manchuria … by means now at our control and if there is any further interference we shall eliminate any ports or cities necessary to accomplish our peaceful purposes. This means all-out war. It means Moscow, St. Petersburg, Mukden, Vladivostok, Beijing… and every manufacturing plant in China and the Soviet Union will be eliminated. This

1539-653: The East-West confrontations that marked the first decade of the Cold War, well-placed officials in both the Truman and Eisenhower administrations urged their Presidents to launch preventive strikes on the Soviet Union. Entry in Truman’s secret personal journal on January 27, 1952 tells: It seems to me that the proper approach now would be an ultimatum with a ten-days expiration limit informing Moscow that we intend to blockade

1596-771: The Russians by 1953. “1950 may have marked the high tide of ‘preventive war’ agitation…” According to Gallup poll of July 1950, right after the outbreak of the War, 14% of the polled opined for the immediate declaration of war on the USSR, the percentage which only slightly declined by the end of the War. “So preventive war thinking was surprisingly widespread in the early nuclear age, the period from mid-1945 through late 1954.” The preventive warriors remained minority in America’s postwar political arena, and Washington’s elder statesmen soundly rejected their arguments. However, during several of

1653-429: The USSR in the near future,” before Soviet thermonuclear capability became a real menace. The same year, Eisenhower asked in a meeting of National Security Council: “Should the United States now get ready to fight the Soviet Union?” and pointed out that “he had brought up this question more than once at prior Council meetings and he had never done so facetiously.” By the fall 1954, Eisenhower made his mind up and approved

1710-430: The actual troop quarters, subdivided into contubernia . Two such troop barracks have been reconstructed in the southeast part of the fort. For the general arrangement and terminology of Roman fort architecture, see Castra . The Saalburg is not only the most consistently reconstructed limes fort, it is also the only one to have had its vicus (adjacent civilian settlement) partially excavated and preserved. The parts of

1767-526: The assistance of a Prussian government-appointed provincial council. The flag of Hesse-Nassau is identical to that of the Netherlands . The Dutch royal house originates from the Duchy of Nassau . The coat of arms is split into three parts, each part showing the coats of arms for the three entities that formed Hesse-Nassau: Preventive war A preventive war is an armed conflict "initiated in

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1824-708: The base of the US Pacific Fleet that was stationed on the West Coast was forwarded to an "advanced" position at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu , Hawaii . The move was opposed by some US Navy officials, including their commander, Admiral James Otto Richardson , who was relieved by Roosevelt. Even so, the Far East Fleet was not significantly reinforced. Another ineffective plan to reinforce the Pacific

1881-412: The belief that military conflict, while not imminent, is inevitable, and that to delay would involve greater risk." The party which is being attacked has a latent threat capability or it has shown that it intends to attack in the future, based on its past actions and posturing. A preventive war aims to forestall a shift in the balance of power by strategically attacking before the balance of power has had

1938-504: The caches had been dangerously stored and were leaking, and many were then disposed of hastily and in secret, leading to secondary exposure from improper handling. Allegations of mismanagement and information suppression followed. Since 1945, World War III between the US and the USSR was perceived by many as inevitable and imminent. Many high officials in the US military sector and some renowned luminaries in non-military fields advocated preventive war. According to their rationale, total war

1995-557: The command of the legionary headquarters at Mogontiacum (modern Mainz ). The cohort had initially been stationed at Aquae Mattiacorum ( Wiesbaden ), had then been moved to the Butzbach fort (ORL 14) and finally to the Saalburg. The fort existed in that form and with that occupancy until the fall of the German limes in c. AD 260. During the intervening period, the name of the unit is repeatedly mentioned in stone inscriptions, as are

2052-603: The former Landgraviate of Hesse-Homburg from Hesse-Darmstadt). These regions were combined to form the province Hesse-Nassau in 1868 with its capital in Kassel and redivided into two administrative regions: Kassel and Wiesbaden . The largest part of the province surrounded the province of Upper Hesse in the Grand Duchy of Hesse ( People's State of Hesse from 1918). On 1 April 1929, the Free State of Waldeck became

2109-461: The higher officers, which was flanked by a roofed hall for assemblies of the fort's garrison. The praetentura (front part of the fort) contained the praetorium (the fort commander's residence) to the west of the via praetoria , and a large horreum (grain store) to its east. The rest of the fort's interior, today a park-like area of grass and trees, should be visualised as packed with further buildings: stables, magazines, workshops and, of course,

2166-419: The idea of preventive war. Most prominent proponents included Defense Secretary Louis A. Johnson , JCS Chairman Admiral Arthur W. Radford , Navy Secretary Francis P. Matthews , Admiral Ralph A. Ofstie , Air Force Secretary W. Stuart Symington, Air Force Chiefs Curtis LeMay and Nathan F. Twining , Air Force Generals George Kenney and Orvil A. Anderson , General Leslie Groves (the wartime commander of

2223-461: The landscape. Ditch and bank are distinctly visible for long stretches, and many of the former watch towers have been partially preserved or are visible as small mounds. Thus, the Saalburg is a good starting point for further exploration of the limes . ' The Saalburg in the context of the local limes between the Kleinkastelle (small forts) of Heidenstock to the southwest and Lochmühle to

2280-663: The matter should be put to the UN Security Council , which can authorize such action, given that one of the Council's main functions under Chapter VII of the UN Charter ("Action with Respect to Threats to the Peace, Breaches of the Peace, and Acts of Aggression") is to enforce the obligation of member states under Article 4, Paragraph 2 to "refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against

2337-639: The museum was directed by the well-known archaeologist Dietwulf Baatz, whose many publications fostered a broad interest in provincial Roman archaeology well beyond specialist circles. Since prehistoric times , trade routes like the Lindenweg or Linienweg connected the Rhine-Main plain with the Usingen basin, which had been a centre of population since the Neolithic . Such routes would have followed

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2394-609: The names of some of its commanders. In the early 3rd century, the situation along the limes became increasingly unsettled. A preventive war under Caracalla , who marched against the Alamanni and their Chatti allies from Raetia and Mogontiacum in AD 213, lowered the Germanic pressure on the border only temporarily. The town of Nida (capital of the regional civitas ) was given a defensive enclosure around that time. Already around 233,

2451-656: The neighbouring People's State of Hesse to form Greater Hesse , which became the modern state of Hesse in 1946. Parts of Nassau were also moved into the Rhineland-Palatinate . The Oberpräsident ('High Commissioner') was the chief administrator of a Prussian province, appointed by the King on the advice of the Prussian Minister for the Interior . The Oberpräsident administered the province with

2508-459: The northeast: Near the Saalburg, a copy of the Jupitersäule (a type of painted tall sandstone stele dedicated to Jupiter and common in the German provinces) of Mainz has been erected. The reerection of the fort in the late 19th and early 20th century led to a surge of interest by the local population, including visitors using the spa at Bad Homburg . To provide comfortable access,

2565-425: The reign of Hadrian , c. AD 135, the numerus fort was replaced with a much larger (3.2 hectare) fort for a cohort , a unit of about 500 men. The new castle was reoriented to face the growing Roman city of Nida (now Heddernheim ). Originally, it had dry-built wood-and stone walls, which were replaced in the 2nd half of the 2nd century with mortared stone walls and an earthen ramp (147 × 221 m). The reconstructed fort

2622-412: The restored fort and the modern road). Shortly after the two enclosures, around AD 90, a simple wood-and-earth fort was built to house a numerus . A numerus was a unit of auxiliary troops consisting of 2 centuriae and numbering about 160 men. There is some evidence that the troop stationed at this fort was a numerus Brittonum , i.e. a unit from Britain , but this is not entirely clear. Late in

2679-521: The territorial integrity or political independence of any state . . . The Charter's drafters assumed that the Council might need to employ preventive force to forestall aggression such as initiated by Nazi Germany in the 1930s. The Axis powers in World War II routinely invaded neutral countries on grounds of prevention and began the invasion of Poland in 1939 by claiming the Poles had attacked

2736-468: The time of the excavations - a mithraeum , a shrine to the Mithras , a deity popular among the Roman army. The fort's bath was relatively large and quite elaborately designed to have all the main features of Roman Thermae . It has an apodyterium (changing room), a frigidarium (cold bath), two tepidaria (lukewarm baths', a caldarium (hot bath) and a sudatorium (sauna). The complex was heated from

2793-502: The vicus visible today are located mostly to the south of the fort, on both sides of the road that linked it with Nida, the regional capital and base of further garrison behind the border. The village begins immediately outside the main gate, where the ruins of a mansio (an official hostel) and, behind it, of a bath for the soldiers were found. These are followed along the road by the preserved basements and foundations (partially reconstructed) of residential houses and of - as believed in

2850-535: The visitor. The most striking features for the modern visitor are the fully reconstructed walls and gates, the principia with its aedes (shrine containing the signa militaria or standards), the assembly hall, the horreum (provisions store), the two barracks buildings with their rebuilt interior contubernia and the partially reconstructed praetorium . The horreum contains an informative exhibition, focusing on cultural, historical, architectural, and military aspects of Roman Germania . The museum exhibits

2907-681: Was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1868 to 1918, then a province of the Free State of Prussia until 1944. Hesse-Nassau was created as a consequence of the Austro-Prussian War of 1866 by combining the previously independent Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel), the Duchy of Nassau , the Free City of Frankfurt , areas gained from the Kingdom of Bavaria , and areas gained from the Grand Duchy of Hesse (including part of

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2964-687: Was a rather late relocation of fighter planes to bases located on the Pacific islands like Wake Island , Guam , and the Philippines . For a long time, Japanese leaders, especially leaders of the Imperial Japanese Navy , had known that the large US military strength and production capacity posed a long-term threat to Japan's imperialist desires , especially if hostilities broke out in the Pacific. War games on both sides had long reflected those expectations. The 2003 invasion of Iraq

3021-408: Was a “live issue … among a very small but earnest minority of American citizens.” The dating of Brodie is too short, as the preventive war doctrine has had increasing support since the Korean War started. The late summer 1950 saw “a flurry of articles” in the public press dealing with preventive war. One of them in Time magazine (September 18, 1950) called for a buildup, followed by a “showdown” with

3078-409: Was carried out to secure a supply corridor of petrol to the Soviet Union. Iranian Shah Rezā Shāh appealed to US President Franklin Roosevelt for help but was rebuffed on the grounds that "movements of conquest by Germany will continue and will extend beyond Europe to Asia, Africa, and even to the Americas, unless they are stopped by military force." Perhaps the most famous example of preventive war

3135-573: Was framed primarily as a preemptive war by the George W. Bush administration , although President Bush also argued it was supported by Security Council Resolutions: "Under Resolutions 678 and 687--both still in effect--the United States and our allies are authorized to use force in ridding Iraq of weapons of mass destruction." At the time, the US public and its allies were led to believe that Ba'athist Iraq might have restarted its nuclear weapons program or been "cheating" on its obligations to dispose of its large stockpile of chemical weapons dating from

3192-448: Was placed along the length of the wall, to enable defenders to access the top. The corners were rounded and not crowned with towers, but all four gates were flanked by two towers each. The fort was oriented in such a way that its main gate, or porta praetoria faced south-south-east, that is away from the limes but towards Nida. The central structure of the fort was a large principia , a central plaza surrounded by housing or offices for

3249-425: Was used as a quarry. The Saalburg in its final architectural phase, in the form reconstructed today, as a cohort fort typical for this part of the limes, a 147 by 221 m rectangle with 4 gates. The 3.25 hectares (8.0 acres) interior was enclosed by a double ditch and a mortared defensive wall; its external face was whitewashed and painted with a trompe-l'œil pattern of ashlar blocks. On the inside, an earthen ramp

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