Phot courtesy of Rupert Colley's Flickr Page - Hitler and Rohm, leader of the Nazi SA: https://www.flickr.com/photos/historyinanhour/4810258592
Creative Commons License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
Today marks the 76th anniversary of the beginning of the European part of World War II, even though it could certainly be argued that the war was already being waged in Asia, with considerable Japanese aggression.
Hitler and the Nazis had risen to power in Germany, and once there, they quickly went to work setting up anti-Semitic laws and policies, as well as building up their war machine. Step by step, Hitler calculated (correctly) how the Western democratic powers would react. He took gambles and, at least early on, won each and every one of them, correctly diagnosing that the West would collectively do everything possible to avoid war, and allow Germany all sorts of liberties. He essentially tore up the Treaty of Versailles (which was ill-advised, in any case), and rearmed Germany. Then, he occupied the Rhineland in 1936. Then came the Anschluss with Austria in March of 1938. Hitler wanted more, and he claimed to be fighting for the rights of the Germans in Czechoslovakia during the summer of 1938, leading to the Munich Agreement in September of 1938, giving Hitler the Sudetenland. The Western powers, particularly Britain and France, essentially appeased Hitler, giving him what he wanted, and essentially betraying their ally, Czechoslovakia. Infamously, British Prime Minister held up the paper agreement and declared to supporters back home that this was "peace in our time." That clearly was not the case when Hitler went ahead and occupied all of Czechoslovakia shortly thereafter.
Then came August of 1939, and Hitler took another gamble. He wanted Poland, but this time, the Western powers promised war if he should pursue it. But Hitler found a back way, making a deal with Stalin and the Soviet Union, agreeing to a nonaggression pact, often known as the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. What it amounted to was a Soviet promise not to get involved when (as opposed to if) the Germans invaded Poland. This they did on this day, 76 years ago, and it led to World War II. The Germans quickly took over Poland, while the Soviets took over what was left of Poland shortly thereafter.
In the meantime, the Western powers of Britain and France officially declared war on Germany. Yet, essentially, they still did nothing, as Poland fought alone against the encroaching Germans, and were powerless to prevent a Nazi takeover. Although the countries were officially at war, the next phase is commonly referred to as the sitztkrieg, or "phony war." Germany took over Poland, and the British and French essentially stood by, officially at war, but with no armed conflicts to show for it. William Shirer even describes how the French troops along the German border would play soccer, and the Germans would watch and cheer them along. That would end soon enough, as the Germans stepped up their aggression again in the spring, and took over most of western Europe. The next year, they would invade much of the rest of Europe to the east, including the western Soviet Union, despite the nonaggression pact that existed between the two countries.
Of all Hitler's gambles, this in my opinion is the one he got dead wrong, and his country and empire paid the ultimate price for it. Essentially, Hitler sealed his own doom with the Soviet invasion. I know that this is difficult for many Americans to understand, let alone accept. But Vice-President Harry Truman, soon enough to ascend to the presidency himself before the war would be done, advocated a policy known as "bait and bleed." Truman insisted that the two warring countries should be allowed to fight "so that they bleed each other white."
Truman elaborated on this a bit more:
"If we see that Germany is winning we ought to help Russia, and if Russia is winning we ought to help Germany, and that way let them kill as many as possible."
(Source of quotes used above: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bait_and_bleed)
The only problem with this policy is that the Soviet Union were our allies in the war effort against Nazi Germany. They lost 20 million people in the eastern war against Nazi Germany, in what is often described as the most brutal war in history.
Little by little, the German war machine, which up until then had enjoyed only good fortune and scored successes, were stopped dead in their tracks and began to be pounded back westward, eventually back to the borders of the Reich itself, and eventually towards Berlin, the final scene of the European war. The city went to street to street fighting, as the last Nazis held out following the death by suicide of their Führer. Nazi Germany, which only a few years before had ruled over most of Europe, now lay in ruins, with streets of rubble in German cities. There was an unconditional surrender, thus ending the bloodiest war in history.
It was the Soviets who paid the biggest price of the war, and it was the Soviets who essentially sacrificed the most, and contributed the most, towards eventual Nazi defeat. I know a lot of Americans who would have a hard time swallowing that fact, but not liking a fact does not prevent it from being a fact.
A lot of mistakes were made, and it seems safe to say that this is true across the boards. But the major mistake was to allow Hitler and the Nazis to keep winning all of those early gambles and gain ever more confidence and hunger. When not kept in check, the Nazis were allowed to let their war machine grow, and to make war inevitable.
So on this, the anniversary of the bloodiest war in history that they started, it is fitting to remember what happened, and to dissect a bit how they came to power in the first place, and were allowed to grow to the level that they became such a threat. Here are some links that I believe will be useful in doing so:
A Brutal Pageantry: The Third Reich’s Myth-Making Machinery, in Color by Ben Cosgrove Aug. 5, 2014:
September 1, 1939: Germany Invades Poland, Beginning World War II
World War II Erupts: Color Photos From the Invasion
of Poland, 1939
World War II: The Invasion of Poland and the Winter War by Alan Taylor, June 26, 2011:
No comments:
Post a Comment