Former Associate Director Paul D. Miller reflects on the importance of visiting Normandy in new War on the Rocks publication

Miller points out, the site of the D-Day landings and the resting place of those who gave all is where military history and political history intersect. It is where the principles of the Atlantic Charter were transformed from high ideals to the world we live in today. “Democracy is a better idea than fascism,” Miller writes, “but the liberal international order does not exist because it is a better idea. It exists because the democratic powers built bigger and better guns…overthrew fascist governments and liberated or coercively democratized former fascist countries.” Visiting Normandy is more than a battlefield tour – it is an opportunity to experience history at an emotional level, and a reminder that building a liberal international order required acts of great violence, but also great courage, heroism, and sacrifice.

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