French invasion of Russia part of the government. During the Cold War, many Western historians were inclined to see Russia as "the enemy", and there was a tendency to downplay and dismiss Russia's contributions to the defeat of Napoleon. As such, Napoleon's claim that the Russians did not defeat him and he was just the victim of fate in 1812 was very appealing to many Western historians. Russian historians tended to focus on the French invasion of Russia in 1812 and ignore the campaigns in 1813–1814 fought in Germany and France because a campaign fought on Russian soil was regarded as more important than
The Arts of War and The Arts of Peace introduced the Prime Minister of Italy, Alcide De Gasperi, who offered the statues to the United States as a gift of the Italian people in gratitude for American assistance in rebuilding Italy after World War II. President Harry S. Truman accepted the statues, which were then unveiled by the wives of James Earle Fraser and Leo Friedlander. In his remarks following the unveiling, President Truman pledged to remove certain military, economic, and other constraints on Italy imposed by a 1947 peace treaty. "The Arts of War" consists of two statue groups, "Valor" and "Sacrifice". Both are in a style of