After World War I, Germany was a broken nation. Their economy collapsed, and even the well-off saw their savings evaporate to hyperinflation and a shortage of basic goods. Along came a man who promised to restore Germany, to bring back national pride and put people back to work. Over time, this man was elected to run the nation. He did not seize power. Later, he made himself dictator and only a minority protested. Those who did were put down ruthlessly, of course. And he delivered. He restored Germany’s standing in the world, and the German economy recovered. In 1936, he showcased the new Germany to the world by hosting the Olympics. Later, he began a series of small military moves. He was worried that at any step, the world powers would stop him and he would be utterly defeated. First, he re-militarized the Rhineland. Then he annexed Austria, which had never been a part of Germany but spoke the same language. This was done through a referendum in Austria, but Hitler’s forces were ready to handle any balking on the Austrian side. Next, using the pretext of the abuse of the German minority in the Sudetenland, he convinced the world powers to let him annex part of Czechoslovakia. “Peace in our time!”, claimed Neville Chamberlain, returning to England with Hitler’s assurances that this was all the German people wanted. Calculating that England and France would not go to war over an Eastern invasion, Hitler’s forces crossed into Poland and the rest is history. Where was the United States during all this? We were war-weary and isolationist. We were not getting involved “over there”. We downsized our military. We went through the roaring 20’s and then the Great Depression. We were in our own little world. In the Far East, meanwhile, the Japanese economy had exploded from a 3rd world backwater to an industrial powerhouse. They began expanding their sphere of influence and they invaded China. The world did nothing. Seeing the isolationist “weak” United States and calculating that we would do little, Japan invaded across the Pacific including several U.S. territories (Philippines, Guam, Attu & Kiska) and they bombed Pearl Harbor. In both Europe and Japan, our enemies acted based not on our actual power, but on our perceived power. Whether we were or not, we came off as a paper tiger. Hundreds of thousands of Americans and 40 million people worldwide died as a result. I love history. I find it extremely interesting reading about what civilizations have gone through, and the rise and fall of empires. I enjoy reading about wars, but I don’t want to live one. I don’t want my children to become cannon fodder. But history repeats itself, and I have been thinking a lot about recent world events. At the end of the Cold War, Russia was a broken nation. Their economy had collapsed. Pensioners and workers who had relied on the Soviet system to carry them through their old age found themselves with nothing. They had lost most of their Soviet republics, and national pride was at a low. Along came a man named Putin. He promised to bring back the glory of Russia, and he delivered. Prices stabilized. The economy picked up. In 2014, Putin showed off the new Russia by hosting the Winter Olympics. When Ukraine, a former Soviet Republic but never a part of Russia, wanted to align itself towards the free west, Putin acted. In the recent past, Russia has poisoned Ukrainian leaders or blackmailed them with both military and economic means to stay within Russia’s hegemony, but the Ukrainians threw out Russia’s puppet after he turned guns on his own people. So first, Russian troops entered the Crimea “to protect the Russians living there.” The world has done nothing. We can debate about what right Russia has to the Crimea, but the fact is that we promised the Ukrainians we would stand with them when they gave up their nukes. We haven’t. Now Russia is massing at the borders of Ukraine. What will be the pretext for that invasion? Restoring the “legitimate” government of Ukraine? And what will we, the superpower of the free world, do about it? And China is flexing its new-found power in the east. So far no invasions other than a few disputed islands, but will China’s ambitions stay solely economic? I wish we didn’t have to spend so much on our military. I’d like a peace dividend as much as the next guy. I know after Afghanistan and Iraq, we are war-weary. We should have kept our powder dry, but that is the past. Our own country is in turmoil and we could really use our resources here. But are we about to step once more into the brink? Will historians look back at this time and wonder what would have happened if we had only taken a stand before things got out of control? It is only the Ukraine, right? But that’s how these things all get started. Something bright to think about on your Friday…
Posted on: Fri, 28 Mar 2014 14:44:58 +0000
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