THE LESSON OF HISTORY
Those who fail to learn the lessons of history are doomed to
repeat its mistakes
On the 7 March 1936 German troops re-occupied the Rhineland, a
de-militarised zone set up, and in direct contravention of, the Treaty of Versailles which had ended the
First World War.
The
victorious powers, France and Great Britain, made only a token protest at this
gross violation of the treaty.
On the 30 September 1938, after
threats from Germany to invade Czechoslovakia, Britain, France, Italy and
Germany reached an agreement generally called the Munich Agreement, hailed by
the then British Prime minister Neville Chamberlin as 'peace in our time' to allow Germany to annex the Sudetenland, the
border areas with Germany of Czechoslovakia.
Emboldened by this easy
victory in March 1939, Germany occupied the
remainder of Czechoslovakia in direct
contravention of the Munich Agreement.
The seeds
were now sown in Germany's mind that they could get away with invading and
taking over another sovereign state and the great powers, Great Britain and France,
would stand idly by and let it happen.
German
invaded Poland on 1 September 1939 and Great Britain, at last, issued Germany
with an ultimatum, "withdraw your
troops from Poland or a State of War will exist between us".
No such undertaking
was given, the Second World War began,
and 40 million died.
Had the
Great Powers resisted Germany's 'pushing
of the boundaries' it is possible that the Second World War might never
have occurred.
In February and March
2014, Russia invaded the Crimean Peninsula, part of Ukraine, and then annexed it, in a mirror image of Germany's actions towards Czechoslovakia in 1938, some 76 years before.
Whilst various countries, and
the United Nations, condemned the Russian invasion as a violation of international
law nothing was done and Russia got away with this annexation of part of the sovereign
state of Ukraine.
Just as Hitler in 1939 so Putin in February 2022
thought the Great Powers would not interfere so Russia invaded the Ukrainian
mainland.
President Trump of the USA is now prepared to compel the
Ukraine, under threat of removing its military assistance, to reach a settlement
which would include the Ukraine ceding some 20% of its territory to Russia.
Peace in our time? Perhaps not.
How long before Putin's Russia, sensing the west's, especially
America's reluctance to stand in its way, moves to occupy all of Ukraine
as German did with Czechoslovakia in 1939?
And what then? Which country will next fall to Russian expansionism? Estonia, Lithuania, and will the world and Trump's America, stand by and let it happen?
Those who fail to learn the lessons of history are doomed to
repeat its mistakes
